I made a fabric house

I don't know how long this table Centre piece will last as George has a habit of removing things, the fabric birds I had there before all got carted off and now live in the hall which he is shut out of, most of the time. He loves carrying things in his mouth. We had friends in for dinner last night and in tidying things up this was the new setting. I made the little house over a few days and am now slowly making another smaller one. At the moment everything takes time. We had a great night last night catching up. R and I were at school together so we go back a long way. Not Tha we sat at the dining room table, it was outside until it got too cool and then around the kitchen table with George not sure about these strangers. John has been fishing, my foal was caught in the fence this morning, no injury thank goodness, she was very sensible a out it but I seemed to walk miles to get help. The weather is warming up. John has just got home, with a couple of fish the time, we had a power black out this morning, always frustrating when it is during milking but came on again much earlier than they estimated, but the dishes did finally get done and all put away from last night.

Wonderful clouds this morning

I am afraid I havent really felt up to doing my blog for the last few days, worry over the terrible bushfires north of Adelaide and knowing we had friends in that area, terrible stories of loss and survival. I spent that day and a lot of the next watching here, although we were cooler and the winds fierce but no one thank goodness dropped a match. I am having a bad run of aches and feeling a bit sorry for myself, but have an old school friend and her partner coming for dinner tonight so have had to get my act a little bit together. My beautiful Section B mare finally foaled yesterday, a bay filly by the stallion we lost, I think she will be a stunner although had a bit of a hiccup today as she hadnt had a drink for a while over night and the mare was full and tight, but she is finally ok and getting her fill. I will put up a photo when she has unscrunched a bit. We have been lucky with our fillies one mare left to foal and so far 2 colts and 5 fillies, not like a friend who so far has had I think 16 colts. We walked this morning, I have to somehow keep moving, and the clouds were wonderful. I am trying to get some sewing done but am finding reading easier. Did I say I had about 8 chicks hatched? They seem to be growing well, but there may be a heap of roosters in amongst them. Better go and start organising dinner, feed George who has been a terror, as I mopped I think I mopped with a kitten more than the mop and feed Max and the chickens.

Look what I found on my beach walk.

A paper nautilus!! I last found a very broken one so many years ago I cant remember when and that was on the southern beaches of Kangaroo Island. I have never seen one here. We have had some odd weather, no storms here but something down south as there was more sea weed on the beach and big surges of water, so different to yesterday. I love walking the beach, you have no idea what might be found. This one was pretty newly dead, no animal and it did have a small hole but on the whole, the best one I have seen. Some lovely walks, although my aching body tries to tell me that I should be more careful, but heavens, if I dont go out and do it am I just to sit in a chair in the corner? At least the weather has been a bit cooler but warming up and we have a busy week, the silly season is approaching. I have cakes to make next month for all the families and then we will be off to kangaroo Island for a week. Bliss, even if money is tighter than it has ever been. I just love where I live.

More angels and walks

I have been slowly finishing off another couple of angels, my fingers dont like me much so they have taken more time than I would normally take. We have been walking, the grasses by the footpath have gone this incredibly silvery gold, so little rain they have just bleached very well. The sea has also been that incredible colour it goes at this time of the year. I think I have 2 chickens hatched but John saw a black snake in the hen house yesterday so I hope it has moved on and is not going to eat whatever hatches. Finally it has cooled down, that is the trouble we have stinking hot days, and then a change and all you want to do is sleep. I think I have now made enough dolls for the moment, perhaps a house would be fun to make next.

Sea sand and garden

It is warming up and I dont know how much longer my pansies will last, I love their cheerful faces. We walked along the beach this morning, the sea weed has shifted and there is much more sand. Incredible how quickly it can all happen. I let the chooks out for a bit of grass, they have a very large yard but they have wiped it clean. This is where max spends the night but I shut him out during the day if the hens are out. The weather is still dry, although we had a fog this morning but that soon burnt off and the sky is clear and the sun getting hotter.I am having a lot of problems swith aches and pains, but have still managed to get a bit done in the garden, and general household chores as well. Now for a bit of sewing.

Random photos

I feel quite sick, has the world gone mad. The news from Paris is heartbreaking. This will do no one any good. Perhaps a few photos from around my part of the world will help, I hope so. A couple of walks, two days apart, one this morning on the beach, the other on the cliffs. Clouds, large round bales, sea and sand. Finally a photo from my work room out the window. I hope tomorrow the world will be a saner place but somehow I doubt it.

One thing and another

I have been busy and now the weather has cooled down I feel sleepy but am trying to get a few things finished. the doll on the bed is almost finished, she just needs some wings. On the ironing table in my bedroom, away from George, are more bodies waiting for things to be done to them. The print of the Modigliani has been above our bed for most of our 56 years of married life, once the children thought it was me! I wish now. The original has just been sold for 170 million. Wow. In Adelaide the other day, the jackeranda trees are out, not quite as spectacular as last year, but this dry funny year must have some affect on them. It always means it is exam time when those trees are blooming. Walking yesterday in a rush above Pt Elliot we found this sleepy lizard and this morning it was much cooler and overcast with a low tide. My days, my weeks. I seem to get very tired at times. Walking over to talk to S this afternoon I passed one of the small dams and heard a splash and a quack and a big fox had tried to catch the mother duck and her ducklings. Right in front of me. I dont know if it got ducklings but certainly not the mother duck.No camera of course. Off to organise dinner, I am later than I meant to be.

George is growing

I haven't blogged for a few days. I have been busy and then it got very warm for a couple of days. Our big Welsh pony show was held on Saturday, we did relatively well and thought the ponies we took looked good and were well behaved, several firsts and seconds, and champions and reserves and a Supreme. A long and tiring day for me as to get there entailed a drive of 2 hours each way and a 5 am start. We had been to granddaughter Millies 8th birthday the night before. I think it took me nearly 2 days to get over it all. So a photo of my very pretty moth orchid and George sitting on Johns lap. Hope everyone has a good week.

A bit of this and that

It is warm and humid today, we had a bit of rain last night, about 8 mm but I hate this weather and the flies are awful. We had a walk along the beach this morning and the clouds were threatening but nothing eventuated. John took my photo, the strange orange lady in a hat, one of Lynda Jenkins from Kangaroo Island. I finished off one of the country angels I have been working on, a present. she took me ages and I dont know whose pattern as it was one I had copied off, well parts of it, years ago. I love making country dolls, but they seem to have gone out of fashion a bit lately. Double click to enlarge the collage. What a day yesterday, the Melbourne Cup won by a 100-1 outsider, ridden by a girl, the first to win the cup, trained by a country trainer, owned by a syndicate who bought a $50,000 New Zealand yearling and beat the almost entire field of international horses. The lovely part too is that Michelle Paynes' (the jockey) brother Stevie was her strapper and he is a downs syndrome lad,so many good things to come from this win and all done in true Aussie/NZ style. I think a lot of tears have been shed over this and as someone who has watched so many Melbourne Cups this was the absolute best. I dont bet but I do wish I had!!