Day by slow day.

I have been feeling a bit depressed about what is happening in our world. Only phone calls from family and no personal contact. We do walk most days, sometimes twice, on the beach and cliffs. There are more pole about but we all keep our distance. I am trying to keep up with ,y sketchbook revival on line classes but sometimes I just fall asleep watching the videos so I am way behind, although I have taken notes. I just loved these made birds done in Tamara's class and I think I will go on to make more. In our gravel the globe chilli are ripening, finally. The vine is a sweet potato. West in egg plants, a bit late but have had some fruit from them and there are lots of flowers, we had 1 mm of rain over night, would love a lot more. We looked for seed in the shed, very out of date but the radishes have germinated abd the silver beet thinning were put to good use last night. We have put in our first on line Woolworth order, not easy on the first one. We asked for an order next week so we will see what comes. I am so used to wandering the aisles and some brands were not available. One tends to forget what one wants. We are living in interesting times but I am missing my family, especially the great grand babies.

Today I did day 2 of sketchbook revival, this was my version of Mary Beth Shaw's lesson. Not something I am not comfortable with but I enjoyed doing it. Keeping me from getting too bored.

Another day, another walk.

I am listening to the sound of Bryn Terfel singing through the house. I am going back to my cd's and enjoying the sounds. We met, at a distance a lovely young puppy on the beach this morning, his walk out and he was a little nervous. Something I think to keep his owner occupied through the next 6 months. There were pelicans on the outer reef but they dont really show up on the photos. A cold wind blowing up my skirt but lovely walking non the less. I have spent the rest of the day doing a bit of the first day of sketchbook revival, today Carla Sonhieim's blob "things. Great fun. I have her book. I may put some up tomorrow but my walk photos are enough, especially with the delicious Bryn in the background. We saw him but didnt meet him when we were in Wales all those years ago. Such a full life, good to look back on, but for how long?

Playing

Keeping me occupied. I wonder how long it will last. Not terribly good, I was never any good at butterflies.

The last few days

I have been quite unsettled over the last few days. I think it is the feeling of being a bit isolated and shut away. Thank goodness for our walks, although my back has been killing me. Oh dear I cant remember what order I put these up, but there were crabs on the beach the other day, dead but rather interesting looking, a common rock crab and I think a type of spider crab. This morning we went over to Parsons Beach and walked along the cliffs. Not a terribly good path as a lot of odd rocks but I did manage it with my stick and didnt fall over. Lovely clouds and the big sandy beach, more fishermen than surfers this morning. Oh and some leaves I picked to sketch, I have a few sketch book pages done but I will put them up another day. I think the first few were of our normal beach walk at the bay. It has been lovely to get out and about and in the fresh air. I am not sure how we are going to manage 6 months of this but thank goodness for my kindle and lots of not too expensive books and I have been re reading some of my older ones on there. I think I will have lots of free online classes ahead of me too. I just have to get my body working. Yesterday I pulled a heap of plants out of my garden as they were looking very tired. Only trouble is it is not good for my aged back. I couldnt believe how dry the garden was. We had a whole 0.6 mm of rain overnight but it really didnt make much of an impression. Enjoy our walks.

Flowers from my garden.

A bit of play yesterday with some paint and this morning some photos of my front garden, pink sage and a holly hock. Love holly hocks as I could never grow them on the farm as the crusader bugs gave them a virus. In to shop early this morning, still a lot of empty shelves and as it was a nasty hot and windy day a lot of people. I think apart from milk and fresh fruit and veg I have enough for 2 weeks and we have a great green grocer that should have all of that. I couldn't believe what was not on the shelves but I normally have a reasonable stock of stuff, that's what being a farmers wife does to you. I came home aching so I hope the cooler weather isn't too far away. No walk this morning, shopping was enough. We had 2 yesterday and I think one late this afternoon. Lots of on line courses are appearing, some free too so that is good. Back to some sewing to see if I really have got this bag sorted.

Still low tides, lovely walking.

This is becoming a worrying time, but we can still walk on the beach, not many people out there. The weather is warming up and so far in South Australia there are not a lot of cases of the virus but I suppose that will soon alter, we dont see many people but shopping is going to be my biggest worry. I just hope neither of us get this wretched virus as we are both in our 80's and with underlying health problems. Still we will soldier on. I think it is the uncertainty of it all that is so frustrating.We were so pleased to hear that our grandson W who was in Canada was home before the shut down has occurred> Not fun reading the papers (on our kindles) but it does keep us up to date. Now if only the weather would cool down and give us some rain.

Very low tide this morning

At least we can still go walking on the beach. Very cold and a wind from the south so I was glad to finally get back into the car and some warmth. We dont often have tides as low as this. Two pelicans out there if you can see them. Nice to get out of the house, all this corona virus stuff is tending to get rather frightening. I think I wish we would get on with it, so many conflicting things so much being shut down and so far not a lot of people with it. Although I know it will escalate and probably with frightening speed. We isolate ourselves any way up to a point but I am still shopping. Yesterday we went to Adelaide to have our hair cut, our lovely M has moved from a salon into her home, which is beautiful, she doesnt have many private clients but for how long? We also are finding that the trip up and back is becoming very tiring. Getting whimpy in our old age. We only had the haircuts and got petrol, much cheaper than down here and home, didnt even stop for a burger for lunch but had a late one here. Today a cold walk on the beach and aother cold one this afternoon on the cliffs. Lovely.

Walks over the last few days

It has warmed up but walks on the beach have been great. I have put away my bag for a few days as I am still having problems with getting it together. I think I will have to unpick it again but think for the moment I will just sit on it and try not to sort it out. Giving myself a head ache and not feeling very clever abut it. The walks have been lovely, although this mornings shopping expedition was a bit fraught, although the loo paper was back in stock in Woolies. So I bought some. I really dont know where this corona virus is going, we only have 9 in South Australia but will it suddenly escalate? I am just glad I have not decided to go any where for a while and walks on the beach are in the open and lovely. John has been off to meetings, but only for a few people, to get the hospital history organised. I need to settle to something but...

Around the garden and I have unpicked.

The last image is a bit of my bag I am making in India Flint on line class, now finished. I have unpicked this piece and now hope I have it right. I don't think I am terribly clever when it comes to doing this. So out around the garden, love my geraniums and they and the roses have done so well. The sky overhead with clouds. The shells are some from the last few days beach walking. Love my small collections. We are having a very mild autumn so far, lovely cool walks on the beach most mornings not much but a bit of rain most days. I was reading an article by Nigella Lawson this morning in the week end Australian on turning 60 I like the way she writes and use one of her cook books a lot (an early one). At 80, I felt she had a lot of sensible things to say but I did feel like saying wait until you turn 80. I really did not want that birthday! Now with happy things like Corona virus a round my age and stage worries me even more. I am not frightened of dieing, I have had a great life but I would rather not be surrounded by people dressed like aliens when I do.

Slowly slowly

My on line class with India Flint is going slowly but steadily. I have done 2 fronts and 2 linings and 2 pockets. I am now slowly getting them together and have got another piece of fabric marinating in a dye bath. I now know what I am making but I have a fairway to go until I finish but I am enjoying doing it. This one is silk, I have another cotton one to play with later.