Walking the house paddock

One of the very old Welsh Mountain mares who has been the mainstay of our stud looking very hairy, at 24 is she in foal again or not? Time will tell. With her a last years foal we bought in to get another bloodline.
At the top of the house paddock which is quite steep there is this wonderful pile of logs from a dead tree, lovely textures here.
Then the clouds coming in as I came home, I did get a bit damp on my last few steps to the back gate.
A magpie in a dead tree told me off and I assume there is a nest some where around.So long as he doesnt swoop me I dont mind.
On the dam behind the house I disturbed this little grebe, they are terribly shy and I expected him to dive at any moment. I was a bit far away and the photo is a bit fuzzy.
Still cold and still showers around. I am desperately trying to finish a jacket I am knitting and also some book marks that dont look much but I have sweated over and I know others will have much more fancy ones than mine.
Tomorrow, well go and look here to see what I do tomorrow.
this quote is by Jimmy Zero who I have never heard of

"Risk is what separates
the good part of life from the tedium"

Walking Fitzroy

Love the old buildings and the tops that were put on them, I have no idea what these buildings were originally but they certainly were worth photographing.
Trams and tram lines and graffiti.
The flowers and the people, the inside door of the lovely french restaurant Madame Sou Sou where we had coffee and a late breakfast, it is such a fun place to go to.
Finally a terrace with magnolias out in full flower.
What a delightful city to wander in if it is not raining or too hot, but then that applies any where.
There is a very eclectic mix around here, odd ethnic deli's, pubs on corners, good food shops and not so good, great and not so great fashion and everything in between and like us you can be asked for money by a couple working one of the corners, twice!
Click on the photos to enlarge them.
My quotation for tonight is by Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Shallow men believe in luck.
Strong men believe in cause and effect."

A bit of this and that

I have had a dreadful day, driven up to Adelaide, talked to a not particularly sympathetic woman and seen the room they want to put my mother in in the high care area of the nursing home.
I think my mother will hate it and it is a share room. I have had to talk to my other two sisters, one is on holiday in Broome and she is the one with the power of attorney and our decision was that we would not take it. Well then the blackmail began, if you dont take it and she falls you may not be able to get her back in, and when I finally rang to say we just couldnt take it told me that my mother would never get a private room any way.
I have been upset and had to drive the 1 1/2 hours home and shop etc etc when my brain was realing.
I hope I just drop dead!
So to the photos.
I have made two more beaded buttons, I did these while I was in Melbourne.
The lemon tree by the bedroom door is covered but is in its usual winter state of not many leaves, the geranium maderense leaves are getting bigger and I hope I am home when they flower.
This magnificent red gum is on the edge of the oval at the end of the valley and I have been meaning to take a photo of it for ages and I finally had time yesterday, not the best light but it came up reasonably.
Finally the sea was really rough yesterday morning at Encounter Bay, so much so that there were surfers surfing where normally there would be none. So I took a couple of shots, you can see the white horses in the first one and the second one has The Bluff and Wright Island in the background.
I do feel a bit better after that winge is off my back!
I rather think that tonight's quote is possibly appropriate, certainly I drank tea when I got home.
It is a Chinese saying

"Drink tea and forget the world's noises"

Bayside suburb

I am back from Melbourne, we had such a wild and windy time I have come home feeling pretty battered and it is still wild and windy here and likely to be for a few more days.
I did come home feeling relaxed but have just been to the physio who has done things to my back and it feels rather uncomfortable.
The good news is that we walked every day and sometimes for the whole day.
Visiting the family is always a joy as we dont see the Melbourne family very often, the grand children are at the stage of growing fast and Evie is now a tall very slim and attractive almost teen ager while Will is very busy just being Will.
Here are a few photos taken on walks not far from the house and one of Evie picking up the ball at netball which they unfortunately lost. That was Saturday. I dont seem to have a photo of Will, he has very uncanny knack of not being around when there is a camera. Both have grown and it was lovely to catch up with them.
So the view of the beach from the top of the cliff before we cross the road on the beach walk we do.
A house I rather liked on another walk in the more suburban part, the freesias that were out in the garden. I have to say the garden is almost non existent, the back is being remodeled and the front is waiting for time to put a new underground garage in, it all takes time and they are busy working people.
Then the view back to the Yacht club and the exposed reef that had all sorts of interesting things on it, and finally Evie at netball.
Getting home of course means food, washing, emptying out the suitcase and collecting the cat.

My quote for today is by one of my favorite childrens authors, Arthur Ransome, I was brought up on the Swallows and Amazons series and still enjoy re reading them today.

"Grab a chance
and you won't be sorry for
a might-have-been."

Millie and my mother

Yesterday was a full on day, up early and off and in Adelaide by 9.30, and from there on on it got busier. Tabby and Millie and I went to see my mother, she wasnt good and sometimes I think it is sad to take photos of her at this stage as she was always such an elegant woman.
Millie was wonderful as she was such a diversion and quietly went about her business of trying out the chairs, looking at photos and paintings and drawing in my sketchbook. However a bit over an hour was enough and mummy got very tired so we went off for lunch with a friend before collecting Mary who has to have a nasty operation on her back and collect Tabby's John from the airport where Millie kept say MY Dad.
Today I have been to the physio and finally decided on a hotel in London, that took most of the afternoon.
Tomorrow we go to Melbourne for a few days and I have not got anything ready for that.
To nights quote is by Albert Einstein

"Knowledge is limited.
Imagination encircles the whole world."

View to the East and Spring flowers and it is still winter

I seem to have spent most of the day sorting out travel stuff. We now have our airline tickets and a bed in Paris.
Tomorrow I go to Adelaide and it will be a long day as I have to take Tabby's partners mother to a specialist visit, collect Tab and Millie and head up and then see my mother, and finally collect Tab's partner from the airport. Some where in the middle I hope to see Paddy.
While I am away I hope John will organise the train tickets to Paris and London and then I hope on Thursday I will have time to find a London hotel. It is amazing how long it all takes.
I did manage a quick wander around the garden and a short walk, so a view looking east from the top of the house paddock and some bulbs and flowers that I found were out while coming up through the orchard.
Quite warm today but we did have 10 ml in the last rain but not a lot more to look forward to this week, and still quite warm.
To nights quote is by Aesop

"No act of kindness,
no matter how small,
is ever wasted."

Wet and windy

I took these photos as a squall and thunderstorm were going past, the lemon scented gum was waving around like mad, the gutters were overflowing and the rain was pelting down. I dont think we have had a huge amount of rain as it came down very quickly and then it was calm and then off with another front coming through.
If you click on the photos you can see the rain pelting down.
So a good day to stay inside and try to finish sorting out my two rooms, I dont know what I would do if it was only one! Give up I think.
Just a short post tonight but I found some small quotes on friendship that I had taken off the net in 2006 so here is one, a Nigerian proverb

"Hold a true friend with both your hands."

Today's doings

I am absolutely exhausted, I spent all day tidying one of my work rooms as I have started an on- line lino cutting course and I had no where to cut stuff so one sewing machine has gone into where all my other machines are and now of course that room needs a good tidy, and the pink room has a table that I can get at both sides of, much better.
While I was doing this and it has been a beast of a day far too hot for this time of the year, and high winds and my hay fever is telling me off, any way I suddenly thought I could hear a very heavy vehicle along the road and when I went to look this was flying over head, I was a bit late grabbing the camera but although we see lots of helicopters not usually ones like this.
I have been busy all day but did have a very nice early morning chat with friends at the farmers market and they will be in Paris at the same time we are so we may catch up with them there.

tonight I am again with Rudyard Kipling and The jungle books, this part of the Dirge of the Langurs

"The night we felt the earth would move.
We stole and plucked him by the hand,
because we loved him with the love
that knows but cannot understand"

Oscar

He is no longer young and likes to spend a lot of his time asleep inside near the fire.
He moves from favorite place to favorite place this orange cat of mine.
I think he knows we are going away again, and although he doesnt mind the cattery he does not like the large furry flat faced cats that live there.
At least he has an outside run, here he is very polite and asks to go out for 1/2 an hour in the morning and mostly for about that time at night.
It is too dangerous to have an outside cat here in the summer, I lost so many to snakes.
I have been busy, so a short post tonight, and I have found and been re reading Rudyard Kiplings The Two Jungle books, with wonderful illustrations by J. Lockwood Kipling and W H Drake, published in 1926.
I thought I would just do this quote which heads The Kings Ankus and is a jungle saying.

"These are the Four that are never content,
that have never been filled since the Dews began -
Jacala's mouth, and the glut of the Kite,
and the hands of the Ape,
and the Eyes of Man."

Walking behind the house this morning

I needed to try out my knee and try to get some walking in to get some weight off so I headed up the hill it was pretty rough but I did manage a bit over 1/2 an hour.
The first photo is of what we call a Yakka, this one is in flower and you can see the other side of the valley behind it.
Then the view down the hill I have walked up, this lovely gum tree perched on top of the hill with further hills behind, another Yakka, we call them blackboys but its not really politically correct these days.
Finally last years fillies just getting up to see if I was going to feed them. These are a mix of Welsh Mountain and Welsh B.
I am still trying to work out where we will stay in Paris and London, but I have found some reasonable rates so we will have to see if they are still there next week.
My sister rang to say she has pre paid a funeral for our mother. Great!
No rain for the moment and 25 degrees over the weekend a bit scary, ok if we really get some rain at the end of it.
As I am not really in the mood for painting and I usually put a Haiku on the other blog, tonight I will put a Haiku here, this one is by Basho


An old silent pond...
into the pond
a frog jumps,
splash! silence again

Shadows and a bit of a collection

I love shadows and these fascinated me when I walked the other morning, the Palm trees in particular left quite spectacular ones although the fence by the railway line was interesting too.
Then there is a bit of my other collections, a pair of old shoe or boot forms I found locally the other day, from the size children's, and then a tiny corner of the hall which is getting far too cluttered, this is a small part of the cloth doll collection.
I promised to give the recipes I made the other day, the cake is on my other blog here.
So here is the frittata
2 tbspn olive oil
2 medium zucchini trimmed and thinly sliced
7 eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 tbspn finely chopped fresh dill
1 x 220 gm pkt smoked salmon
Heat half the oil in a 20 cm (base beasured ) non stick frying pan over medium heat.
Add Zucchini and cook stirring for 5 minutes or until golden
Transfer to a paper towel lined plate
Wipe pan clean
Whisk eggs and 1/4 cup sour cream together. Season with salt and pepper, stir in zucchini mix and 1/2 the dill.
Heat remaining oil in pan over medium heat, Pour egg mix into pan.
Reduce heat to low and cook 6 -7 minutes or until set around the edges but runny in the centre.
Pre heat grill to medium. Place pan under grill and cook for 3 - 4 minutes or until golden brown and just set.
Combine remaining dill and sour cream in a small bowl, Cut frittata into wedges. Divide amongst serving plates top with salmon and sour cream with dill. Serve with salad.
Makes 4 generous serves or 6 as a starter.
Dont burn your handle under the grill. Can be pre cooked 2 hours before serving, then add the salmon and cream.
to nights quote is my Anon

"The optimist is wrong as often as the pessimist.
But he has a lot more fun."

I cooked, went to lunch and walked

Just to show that on occasion I can cook, we were going to a friends for lunch and I said if she did the salad and provided the wine I would do the rest. So first up was a frittatta with zuccini and dill and then I made a really yummy cake I found in a New Zealand gardening magazine, chopped nuts and chopped dates and chopped apples were part of the ingredients.
Well I have to say that the fritatta with smoked salmon and a dob of sour cream was delicious and the cake oh it is so yummy.
When I have time I will put up the recipes.
We went on from there to an opening of some ones or actually several peoples art, I dont know why some people bother, or perhaps I should be nice and say it wasnt my style.
However the gallery (shed) backed onto a bit of natural bushland and we went walking along a marked trail and there we saw this Kangaroo who posed nicely for me, there were other things as well but they are for another day.
On the way home this kangaroo sculpture was in someones front garden. Sorry the other way around, I hope you can see the roo he is well camouflaged.
Click on the photos.
A lovely damp drizzly day but I have come home rather annoyed I feel so tired.

Today's quote is by Thomas A Edison, I rather like it.

"As a cure for worrying,
work is better than whisky"

Railway tracks and other things

This is a hodge podge of bits and pieces.
The railway signals interested me on my walk, one by the tracks of the cockle train, this is sometimes a steam train and in summer a diesal but the train runs on school holidays and at week ends. I rather like the slightly overgrown nature of the whole thing. It is a wonderful run from Victor to Goolwa and most of it along side the beach, called the cockle train as people would take it from Victor to gather cockles along the surf beach at Goolwa.
So a signal, another signal and the odd shapes of the playground

Then an out of focus button I have beaded, I used to do these ages ago and was reminded of it with new ones in the bead and button magazine, whatever I did scan or photo it was not clear but fun to make so I have covered a few more buttons to do some more.
Then the orchid in our bathroom at the moment. It is a native dendrobium, one that has been crossed with another native dendrobium to make this lovely thing. I have lost its label so no idea what it is but they flower at this time of the year. Native to New South Wales and Queensland, we have to keep them under cover down here.
We are slowly trying to get together our trip to Europe and England in October, so far we are staying with friends in Germany, then hopefully I will find somewhere reasonable to stay in Paris for a few days and then on to London, same thing, need to find somewhere to stay that we can afford and finally a few days touring in a hire car, Yorkshire and North Wales I think, hope.
Of course the plane ticket is not booked and so far we are looking at train from Frankfurt to Paris and then to London. If I play my cards right we will be in London for the Knitting and Stitching show.