Walking this morning

 It is quite hot and there was a northerly blowing so the waves were quite spectacular as we walked on the beach near Kent Reserve.
We left not long after 8 am and were home around 9.30, about all I can manage.
We havent walked for a week and I was feeling it by the time I got back to the car.
Hoping for rain.

In the garden

 My geranium maderense in full head of blooms, love this plant and it has lovely leaves when not in flower.
P's rhododendron, I have three flower heads on it this year, it always seems to flower late and this year the windy weather has not helped it, but it is now out of its pot and I hope enjoying being in the ground. I am a bit worried as we had to cut back the plum tree and wisteria it was under and it will need to be shaded in summer.
Zepherine Drouin, she was waving around in the wind but is by the garage and luckily is almost thornless, rather a strident colour but I really dont mind as she flowers steadily through the year.
The wind has been awful, I keep sniffing and sneezing and snuffling from the hay fever so going out in the wind is not pleasant. Just once I would love a soft, mild spring ( and followed by a nice summer too) but it wont happen.
The dreadful fires in NSW are all giving us much to think about as there is a lot of growth along the road sides.

Travelling shrine

 Arrived today, one of Barry Smiths amazing travelling shrines. I am not sure why these things come when I am feeling down ( knee and joint aches, changeable weather, dont ask!!).
Any way here it is with a small offering of pink hawthorn flowers. I love it and I can see I will have a new travelling companion.
Next photo is the beautiful box it came in with black silk and felt inside. I love the whole concept.
So thank you for Maya of the rosebud gallery for organising this for me, as I cant get to things in person it is wonderful to occasionally get something for myself (the fact that I had a birthday and family had given me some money helped)
Barry's blog rustnstuff is here.
Hope this works, google seems to have changed a few things again.
Weather is awful, cold and still windy, yesterday was hot and windy. I wish the wind would stop as it plays merry h... with my hayfever.

Stitch and walk

 Here is my week in stitch, Walking the beach on Monday, washing and ironing on Tuesday. very windy on Wednesday with both wet and sun.
Losing my best and favorite mare during foaling, and losing her foal as well on Thursday. A horrid day.
Friday Max was attacked by willy wagtails whose chicks had just come out of the nest. On saturday we went to the local agricultural show and I bought a 'named' geranium and Yesterday, Sunday, I didnt do a lot but did do some embroidery.
I have also been playing around with fabric scraps and doing some embroidery on small scale pieces. W"e will see where that will go, perhaps several put together as a small art quilt.
This morning it was cold and damp and windy but we walked along the cliffs near Petrels' lots of noisy thumping waves and froth and bubble a great walk.

A lovely day yesterday

 After all the traumas of the week it was lovely to catch up with Joy and her family for a cup of coffee in town, they were going on so we then headed over to Pt elliot for the Agricultural show. No photos, I am not sure why not.
Caught up with Sarah and the ponies who had done well, always nice to get a ridden championship in open company.
Caught up with a few friends and bought myself a new geranium (named!!) but its flowers have gone off a bit and for a $1 a lovely big pot of Johnny jump ups that are gracing the new area I now have around the new water tanks. No photops as the weather has been foul, windy damp and cool.
I shouldnt say it is foul as I really prefer that weather to what we are going to get in summer.
Then when we got home friends rang and suggested an impromptu dinner from her deep freeze, as she is a brilliant cook it was great and to catch up with friends I havent managed to see for ages.
I felt quite the social butterfly after the very quiet life we have been leading.
A walk around her garden was a delight, no weeds in sight, not like mine.
I was inspired this morning though to take a couple of photos, the first is the view from our bedroom window, see things are flowering all on their own.
John has brought in to the bathroom from the orchid house this heavenly zygopetalum, not only does it have exotic looking flowers but it has a heavenly perfume to which is added the perfume of the dendrobium delicatum 'red'. I had forgotten I had this one until it flowered, usually they are non descript pink.
so with the hope of a windy walk later on just at the moment all is well with my world.
Amazing what an evening and day out can do.

RIP Rivington Sunday

When you have animals losing them is awful, when you breed ponies it can be the most awful of all.
This is my beautiful, home bred mare 'Didi' as she was known. All of my breeding for 4 generations.
Yesterday we realised she was having a problem foaling.
A breach birth, one of the dreaded things with horses.
Vet out, dead filly foal eventually pulled after a lot of manipulation by our wonderful vet.
She was terribly tired after fighting to get this foal out.
Horses are such fragile creatures and tend not to be able to cope well. Foaling mostly takes between 20 minutes to at the most an hour, she had been trying for at least 2 hours.
Then she couldnt get up, then she really stressed out and eventually had a heart attack and died.
Some mares would take this calmly, but not this mare, shown over and over for many Champions and Supremes since a foal, she like her mother couldnt take the pain or stress.
We are all heartbroken that her life should end this way.
Never to be forgotten, my beautiful Welsh B mare.

Bugs and another doll

I made these bugs a while ago, felt is so nice to play with, especially wool felt.
Another little girl was finished the other day too, she is Rona who has an adventurous spirit but was shocked when the witch doctor put a rather smelly fish skeleton around her neck to ward off evil spirits. I really dont know what to do with this collection of dolls, they are all residing in the cupboard at the moment, although a couple have gone off but the really have been rather addictive to make, I have so much lovely material and so many stories to tell.
The weather is heating up and the silage stacks are getting bigger.
I am washing and ironing, such a boring job but for some reason the aches are back so I am doing relatively easy things.
Hope all my readers, and I really dont think there are many, have a lovely day.