Antechamber Bay

A lovely cool day today and a good morning for me to walk and John to fish not that anything more than a sandcrab was caught which he ate for lunch (I was wicked and had his pate on a rice cracker, with a glass of white.)
So here are some of the roly poly seed heads of marrum grass (Ithink, not sure) on the side of the path to the beach.
Then the incredible blue of the water here, even on a cloudy day like today.
As I walked I could see thes black dots which turned out to be black swans swimming in the sea, they are more often seen in fresh water.
This place is so lovely I couldnt help taking photos, the clouds were very paintable, if only I could, and there was no one else to be seen, one day perhaps I will be able to paint clouds.
Then on the way home this wonderful and very typical avenue of mallee over the road.
I really love this place.
Tomorrow is Christmas day and to all who read my blog I hope you have a lovely day with health and happiness, laughter and good cheer.

Reeves Cottage

This little cottage sitting on a point over looking the
Bay of Shoals is being lived in by friends of ours, a lovely place and the garden is wonderful.
The sheds and old boats etc are some of the winery on whose land it is, and some is her partners workshop/studio, full of wonderful things but he wasnt home when we visited.
Then some of the spurge that grows in the sandhills and was flowering magnificently, I took this as I walked down to the beach, which is the last photo and as you can see it was rather stormy looking, it has been odd weather all day as we have tropical cyclone coming down from the west coast, we hoped for rain but it seems to have dropped most of it in the north west.
I am sorry this will be a short post but we have visitors for dinner tonight, had some last night too and I seem to be rather on Island time so I had better get on with crumbing the fish.

Kangaroo Island day 1

Last night I raced out and took these photo at well after 8 pm, over Backstairs Passage to the mainland from the front door. We do have a roof infront and power lines but one tends to forget them.
Today was Johns 72nd Birthday and we will go out to dinner tonight but really we celebrated it here on our favorite beach, Pennington Bay.
He fished and I walked and took photos.
The sea was the most incredible color, it was not too hot, and a low surf was running.
I dont have my normal photo manipulator on this little notebook and I cant get my head around picasa, I think I have edited, or rotated photos and then cant find them wretched thing, I think I am just used to adobe but John wont have it.
I managed the steep descent to the beach but had trouble getting back up with my knee. Grrrr.
Thinking of you who have snow, the photos have been wonderful, but I can imagine that in the lead up to Christmas it must get frustrating.
Virginia, J tells me your temperatures have been cold, cold hope you are coping.
Here it is so lovely although warming up, and I am finally relaxed! Although I think rain forcast for later in the week, remnants of a tropical cyclone off Western Ausralia. Maybe a damp Christmas.

Cape Jervis to Penneshaw

I have managed to upload these in the incorrect order, again!
We were up very early this morning packing and loading the red ute for the 3/4 hour drive to Cape Jervis, the last not the first photo, taken from the ferry as we waited to leave, another almost an hour for the crossing, very windy and quite cold but thank goodness not rough and arrived at Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island.
I forgot to take photos of the farmers market which was on as we arrived, we rushed in to buy the yummy lamb chops that they produce here and a jar of fig chutney, that went well with the lunch ham.
Greeted lots of friends and up to our rental house, also owned by friends, they hadnt quite finished cleaning so we went off to visit a fantastic glass artist friend we know to tell him we were here and to come in for a drink, I also bought some wonderful beads from him while I was there and wished I could afford some of his wonderfully exotic stuff he is producing.
No photos of course, I wasnt thinking very straight, but these photos are of what we can see from our little house.
I am now trying to relax and enjoy it all.

Strange dolls

Every so often I love making strange looking dolls and these are a couple I have made. Sometimes I wonder what exactly makes me tick!
Not much to report, we have again been busy, Adelaide in the heat yesterday, and then some lovely rain overnight and this morning.
I am wrapping presents and hope I have stuff for most of those I give them to.
Yesterday some were delivered and tonight and tomorrow some more then I can clear the tables a bit and think about what I need to take for the Island. Usually I buy myself a small present, usually from The Thread Studio but not this year as money has suddenly got very tight.
John tells me we have been selling our milk for less than the cost of production for the last 6 months. That just cannot go on. We have to buy hay and grain to feed the cows and at this time of the year no one will sell unless they are paid up front.
We have had lots of enquiries for ponies but no actual sales there either.
At least we have had rain so the dams are full which is better than last year but of course the downside of that is that the dry feed has gone down! I am afraid farming is a very hand to mouth exercise in Australia, droughts, floods or fires and governments, the four curses of farmers.

On my work table

I have nearly finished the urgent stuff, and am trying to sort out what I take with me to Adelaide to leave with family and friends for their Christmas presents.
A basket of hearts and felted tree ornaments, I had fun making these, and a collection of earrings and necklaces and bracelets I have made.
I have wrapped some up and am on the down ward side of getting it all done I think. I have got dates to see friends and drop in presents and have a drink before the major packing for the trip to the Island.
I have to get through Adelaide tomorrow first.
My knee is apparently more swollen than when my physio saw me last week which is a bit of a worry, a bit more rest and ice packs are required.
I had a busy morning this morning as I had to collect Gaby and Mason to get them to the Doctor early, so some shopping and get me to my appointment and then collect them and take them home. I didnt do terribly well over my shopping and forgot a few things but I will get it all done by the end of the week.
Very hot and humid today, hotter in Adelaide tomorrow but thank goodness a change. There is also a tropical cyclone off northern Western Australia.
Hope my knee holds out tomorrow.

An early morning walk in the garden

I thought as we will be away and there is sure to be more hot weather it would be nice to wander around the garden this morning and see what was out.
The red bouganvillia was showing some lovely flowers, it shouldnt grow here as we have frosty winters sometimes but if I place things in the right place they sometimes seem to grow and this one is as tough as tough but doesnt get as rampant as it would in a wetter and more tropical climate.
Then the sun giving a halo to the pencil pine that is now surrounded by shrubbery, once a pony ate half of it and I didnt think it would ever recover but as you see...
The dark blue plumbago is just starting to flower, this is deeper than the original and has such a lovely colour of blue, again here it is as tough as tough, and of course it is another South African plant.
As is the miniature blue agapanthus near the bedroom door, my big old ones got badly burnt by the over 4-degree C day a month ago but this one is more sheltered.
And finally this bit of garden is straight out of the bedroom door, a heap of bits and pieces and pots and is one of my favorite bits of the garden.
Weaver in her blog was talking about getting old, and I think this little bit is possibly my idea of what I can do in a tiny garden if the time comes to leave here.
Talking of getting old we watched the very sweet film last night called Albert's Memorial on tv, a rather nice little portrayal of old age. My joints ache and I felt for Weaver when she said she couldnt or rather didnt get up on chairs any more to sweep away cobwebs but then she couldnt see the cobwebs any way and that is rather my attitude.
Another blog with a lovely and beautifully done bit on her parents aging is Nina Bagley's
whose blog is on my side bar, I only hope one of my children feels about me as she does about her parents.
Having a mother still alive at 97 but not enjoying life makes me want to do as much as I can and enjoy life as much as I can while I can, then probably jump off a cliff when I cant!