2paw

I Name This Day, Fiona!!

I'm sorry you'll read that again, and wonder whatever I am talking about. This afternoon I went to Petrarch's Bookshop and the lovely Fiona McIntosh:

signed her new book, The Lavender Keeper, for me. It begins in Vichy France WW2 and tells the story of Luc, a lavender farmer, adopted into a Jewish family. I have only read three chapters, but it has already drawn me in.

Set in France, it is no spoiler to say that the sequel will be partially set in Tasmania. Fiona was inspired by The Bridestowe Lavender Farm and if only I could transmit scent through the internet, you could smell the fragrant French Lavender Perfume she spritzed over the page after she signed. I keep opening the book and smelling the perfume. Scent is a powerful trigger for memories, and I think I will always associate lavender with Fiona now!! I have read all of her books: fantasy, children's and crime, apart from Fields of Gold. I missed that somehow.

She is a lovely person, and listened attentively as I chatted away to her about how much I loved her books, and had read them all. She graciously signed the first three of her books I had brought along and then gave me a hug. It was so exciting to meet her. And after I have finished posting I am off to bed for a little R&R, that's rest and reading!!

Peri and Gilly had an Easter Carrot Hunt. Peri was quite happy to sit for an Easter Carrot picture, but Lorelai Gilmore thought I wanted to take her carrot away and she was off. But off slowly, as she didn't want to be too disobedient and I think she was conflicted!!

The weather has been very Autumnal: long, loud and bright electrical storms and then 1*C icy cold mornings. I knew the weather would be windy and rainy because my white Camellia is in bud, and you can guarantee as soon as it blooms the wind blows and the rain falls to make the delicate flowers brown and bedraggled.

Peri and Gilly love the cold weather and they are extremely happy and full of joy.

The NextDoor Neighbours have a party every Easter and Peri spends the whole day at the fence, joining in vicariously. This year Gilly spent quite a lot of time there too. Sadly for them, the guests know that there are no treats for The Labradors, but they live in hope.

This week is the week when I catch up with all my friends, except MrsDrWho who is still away overseas. I have been dining out with my Knitting friends where we waxed lyrically about the wonders of turning a heel, something we still find miraculous after all these years:

I had some yummy veal last week and some Trevalla with a tangy crunch salad yesterday. Tomorrow I am off for Grand Afternoon tea with friends I used to teach with and then again on Friday I am off to The Gorge for lunch with two friends I met when I first moved here to teach. Even though we don't see each other as often as we would like, when we do catch up it is as if we last met yesterday. I don't have a Facebook full of friends, but my friends are the loveliest I could hope for!!

We have been going to bed early as it makes me very fatigued to be social so many days of the week. On Saturday I am going to visit Toddler Lucy and Baby Zoe for afternoon tea to wish them well as they leave soon for The Mainland.

Next week I am planning on sleeping every day I think!!  At long last it's cold enough to knit, so I might spend a couple of hours sorting out the patterns for my two Half Finished Cardigans: You Only Rib Twice and Short Scene. I have two new emerald coloured tops for Winter and I must have a new emerald cardigan to wear with them. I shall have to knit like the wind!!

The Internet is conspiring against me. I wouldn't let me comment on Wordpress blogs, though I have changed my email address to one I never use and I seem to have out manoeuvred it, and now Typepad won't let some people leave a comment. Ha!! I have turned off the new Word Verification and now comments are moderated. By me. So your comment won't appear immediately.

I am sure it is not just me who finds the new Word Verification thingies terribly hard to interpret. I hope that this has ameliorated the problem. Happy commenting. I am slowly, but surely, answering my comments so I may email you soon.

Now I am tired so please excuse any errors I haven't caught......

That's When Good Neighbours Lead To Good Ends

Today is a day to remember Harki-Parki-Parker-Posey. It's been two years since she died and I don't know where the time has gone. Harki was the most wonderful Labrador, and we still (in the style of The Waltons), say good night to Harki, Vundy and Tori every night.

Today is also Neighbour Day.  The idea behind The Day and how it began is explained on their website. In our little part of the street three of our neighbours came for several hours and cut down the branch that had fallen over in the garden, and some other branches and ivy and things and took two ute loads to the tip.

Here's the before:

And here is the after where it is too sunny for Peri, but Gilly's young eyes are working really well.

Good neighbours do make good friends!! I baked Chocolate Stout Cake, Sticky Gingerbread Cake, Banana Caramel Muffins and Raspberry Brownies for each of them: to say thank you. And I made scones, jam and cream and sausage rolls for morning tea. It will be a sunny, open backyard in Winter and the wire strung across near the house, that we use for a clothesline, will get so much more light and air.

Thank you Neighbours!!!

The mornings have been very cold, so cold that we had a frost and The South had the coldest morning for fifteen years.

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the technology. We have the technology to build the world's first bionic hut. This hut will be that hut. Better than it was before. Better, stronger, faster. Well maybe not faster, but the steel is definitely stronger than the old treated pine supports which were destroyed by vandals.  I think the new picnic hut at the dam will be a good one and so do Peri and Gilly. They have given it The Sniffs of Approval.

This morning we went outside the back door to discover water was cascading through the garden, down the steps and through to the next house. It was barrelling down the garden.  The water is still running in torrents, thankfully down the drain outside the gate once I moved the leaves, nine hours later and it is a horrid brown colour. We have a reduced water flow to the house as well. There has been a big digger excavating parts of the road. Who knows what happened???

Knitting? Sewing?? Any kind of craft?? No. Nothing at all. I'm just not feeling the craft 'love' and I have no idea why. It is very strange, especially as the weather is lovely and cold.  Maybe this week the 'love' will be back and I will be motivated? I've been thinking about Me Made May. It's not Me Made March or Self Stitched September this year. May is just not a good month for me to wear things I have stitched. Basically I wear jeans/ trousers, a long sleeved t-shirt or top and a cardigan. The cardigan is the only thing I have 'stitched' and it's going to be pretty boring seeing the same five cardigans six times. I think I will give it a miss.

North By Northwest is on TV and it's become a film I must watch to the end. Each time I see or hear something new. I'm addicted to it!!! So The Labradors will have their dinner, and we will watch Roger and Eve wend their way through the twisty-turny plot.

The Lovely Bones Marrow

Since it has been on the news, and you can see the video here, I feel I can talk about the awful thing that I mentioned a little while ago, which has happened to my dearest and closest friends. It is so very sad and we are all devastated. I can't donate bone marrow because mine is compromised. I wish I could.

My heart breaks regularly. I think of them every day, and send them my love.

Today was the Turning of the First Sod of our new Northern Cancer Support Centre. It cheers me no end to think that there will be much happiness for people who are able to use the centre when it is finished.

Peri and Gilly have been engaging in circus worthy activities. They are up very high. It must be the cool weather, which is so lovely, urging them to such heights.

MrsDrWho and I finished one of February's Craftsy blocks on the Cup day holiday. It was an easy block and hers looks fabulous.

Remember this material??

I dyed it chartreuse and it's almost a dress.

And now I am off to a Vietnamese restaurant for tea with my knitting friends. I''m taking the scarf and I hope to have it finished soon. It's so Autumnal I think I can pull out my cardigan in a few weeks and finish it off.

Tea For The Tillerwomen

There's no cooking today. It's too hot to use anything other than the toaster for some English Fruit muffins. I'm feeling a bit poorly and not quite up to par thinking-wise either. I went to lunch at MrsReno's house and lots of friends were there. MrsReno knitted me a scarf. Isn't it lovely?? It is soft and feels very nice against the skin. Lorelai Gilmore thinks it is the best thing since sliced bread and wants to play with it. I have had to put it way up out of reach.

At High Noon I shared a cup of tea, virtually, with Janette and Antoinette. We all had some of the new Australian Afternoon tea: a blend of Orange Pekoe, Russian Caravan and Irish Breakfast. I love meeting my friends and having a chat and a cup of tea (or bubbly!!) and so it was fun to email as we had our tea and cake or muffins internetally!! The tea is strong and rich, but not bitter. I drank my plain, and it was delicious. Peri and Gilly shared a biscuit from MrsValley.

I love my childhood desk. It must be at least Vintage by now!! We chatted for about half and hour on the email, shared some photos and talked about knitting and how some people might think we were strange!!

I knitted a hat for the new Baby Electric 2. She's just arrived and Aunty Dutch rang half an hour ago to let me know. I think it is just lovely. Doing garter stitch in the round is a bit of a horror and I made the ear stalks and bulbs flat and seamed them. It was much easier. It's the I Name This Day Fiona (In It's I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again Tim Brown-Windsor says to Fiona: "Oh Fiona, name the day." Fiona then says in her best QE2 ship launching voice:"I name this day Fiona.") I used a ball of Full o'Sheep left over from my Freshly Cut Grass Cardigan.

If my next door neighbours don't seem to be paying enough attention, or doling out enough seaweed rice crackers as treats, Peri and Gilly have found that this works for them:

I couldn't resist their plaintive gazes either.

This Year Of Living Dangerously

I have been sitting on the verandah following our New Year's Eve tradition of Filling-In-The-New-Buffy-Diary. To ease the burden of writing in all the dates, holidays and birthdays I rewarded myself with some dip at the end of each month and a sip of cider whenever I liked. The cider is in a glass my dad used to drink his beer from.

Peri and Gilly met a new friend called Jet on their walks this week. They ran and played together very happily.

The veranda was the coolest place to be, after a walk and a swim for Peri and a paddle for Gilly this morning, we went back to bed until 3-45pm: avoiding the hottest part of the day. It's a good thing there is a liner in the car because Peri gave a big shake again after she hopped in.

Last night I went to late dinner with MrsDrWho and her family and friends. MrsDrWho and I had Wagyu beef. It was utterly delicious. It is grown in the North West of the state. Mine was medium well with a mushroom and bacon sauce. It truly was melt in your mouth meat.

2011 has been an interesting year. The most horrid part was when I had to go to hospital unexpectedly with the septic shower in my blood stream, and then I spent the rest of the year working hard, and I think successfully, not to be depressed and anxious.

Peri and Gilly have lost over 7kg each and, despite of The Widdler and The Winky Eye, they have had a very happy year.

My new car is still going nicely, the big oak tree is gone from the garden and I have my nice new computer with which to surf the Internet.

I am so lucky to have wonderful friends, real and imaginary, and a kind family who have all helped me in many ways.

This evening I made some collages of the craft I have completed this year and Self Stitched September too. I am quite amazed at all the things I have made, though there are some projects languishing and I have yet to produce another wearable dress: my bete noir. I will finish them off when the weather is cooler.

 

I am now officially agog, I must have buried myself in my craft. Oops, the christmas tea towel bags are there twice.

Next year I am looking forward to The Olympics, spending lots of time playing with Peri and Lorelai Gilmore, making a wearable dress, finishing my two cardigans and generally being more organised. It's a Leap Year so that makes it extra special. I think I shall be doing Friday Food and cooking from magazines this year: I always mean to but hardly ever do.

Lorelai Gilmore has been racing about searching for the source of the fire cracker noise and Peri is saving us from the party at the back. They are very good girls.

Happy New Year: welcome 2012*!!!

I say Twenty Twelve 2012, just like I say Ten SixtySix 1066.

Ding Dong Merrily On Eye!

Normally, I would make myself wait till I had read the one hundred or more posts sitting in my Reader before I posted to my blog, but tonight I am throwing caution to the wind!!!

Christmas Day has come and gone in a lovely flurry of lunch (with fresh broad beans!!) with MrsDrWho and her family. I have been extremely spoiled with gifts, though I still have Christmas catching up to come.

Here is Peri and Gilly's Christmas Day picture. I added some sparkly stars for them.

I made some Christmas cup cakes. I just used a basic cup cake recipe,

Cream 150g butter with 150g sugar, mix in two eggs and one teaspoon of vanilla. Stir in 2 cups of sifted self raising flour and 125 ml of milk alternately and gently. Put 1/4 cup into paper cases in a muffin tray and bake for about 20 minutes at 180*C,

to which I added almost a jar of Christmas fruit mince, some extra dried fruit, some grated orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground cloves.

When they were cool I swirled on some white chocolate and added a glace cherry. Very pleased with them.

I sewed the annual coasters for The GardyGardeners. They are on coasters dating back to 2004.

Gilly as not very well yesterday. She was 'winky'. Her eye seemed to be bothering her when we came home from our walk. I rang the vet and we saw Dr Tim.

He looked in here eye and then put in some local anaesthetic drops and there was a 2cm long grass seed in poor Lorelai Gilmore's right eye.

Dr Tim removed it and then checked under her third eyelid and it was all clear. But this morning she was winky again. I looked in her eye and couldn't see another seed, but I rang the vet again and we went back to see Dr Tim. He put a stain in her eye and there was a tiny ulcer caused by the seed scratching her eye. We are so lucky to have such wonderful doctors and nurses at the vet. Dr Tim said it was out Christmas Visit To The Vet and he was right!! When I said that I would put a picture of the seed on my blog he put it in a little bottle. I can't believe poor Lorelai Gilmore had it in her eye, she is so very brave. Now she has some special ointment to put in her eye three times a day and we go back next week to have it checked.

I don't think it is so painful anymore and she seems much happier.

Peri is no longer The Widdler, she is very happy about that and has been playing with renewed vigour in the garden. She howled and cried all the time we were at the vet. She was so cross she didn't even eat the treats I left for her: really cross!! This afternoon she chased Gilly about and was not very happy. I think she was a bit jealous of all the attention poor Lorelai Gilmore has been getting. I gave her lots of tummy rubs.

It has been very hot, and so there has been a lot of lethargic lying about with the evaporative cooler making a cold breeze and icy cold drinks. I find it especially difficult when it is hot for more than a day or two in a row. Gilly has been in the paddle pool every day. The weather on the news says it is 27*C but my barometer in the back yard soars into the 30s. That water in the paddle pool is getting a jolly good nip. I love her swishy tail!!

Tomorrow my mum and aunt are coming to visit for the day and we are going to lunch at The Casino. I have cooked cup cakes, made coconut ice and peppermint fondants, Christmas spice shortbread and a Bishop's Cake.

Now there is ointment to be applied, Peri needs her tablet and I need lots of mine too, and then we are off to bed.

Tom's Just-Right Garden

I just love Tom's Midnight Garden. I didn't read it when I was a child, but when I was at College/Uni. My teacher training was a bit unusual. I went to the TCAE for a year or so, and then College moved to the Uni campus in town. We kept our College tutor and lecturers and had classes in both places. In the end it was the better College course with the bonus of a widely recognised Uni degree. I digress, as usual. So, at College we read loads of children's literature as part of English as a Language. I don't know how I missed reading Tom's Midnight Garden, The Chocolate War, The Eighteenth Emergency, Stig of the Dump, The Machine Gunners, The Silver Sword, and I am David, for example, before then*. I still find Children's or YA fiction is often of a much higher quality than Adult fiction.

Back to the garden. Once again the Befores :

Became the almost matching photos of The Afters:

Courtesy of the wonderful Uncle and Auntie Dutch. The garden, and I use that term loosely, had been OK until the last three weeks or so when we had quite a lot of rain and very warm weather. The weeds went wild.

Peri and Gilly had a lovely time all day, from about 9am till 2pm. There was a lot of paddle pool play. Gilly has a special lying down action to get the maximum wetness. Peri just likes to cool her feet.

You can see all the leaves that later disappeared!!! I can't garden but I did cook some sticky gingerbread cake, raspberry brownies, sausage rolls and some filo pastry quiches which I sent home with my grateful thanks. The Dutches are fabulous to give up their time to help clean up our garden!! I was worn out and I didn't really do anything other than go up and down the stairs and sit and chat.

There has been an awful lot of sleeping since then and a lot more to come. I must be up and about in the morning because tomorrow I am off for my annual dental check up. I hope I just need to have my teeth cleaned and nothing else...

Peri and Gilly love the newly cleared spaces.

The Advent Calendar embroider is going reasonably well, though a sequinned 7, and another below 10 number, is missing. It's Gilly. I caught her tearing a hole in the 6-10 bag once and thought I'd saved it. Obviously not.

The new Colette Sewing Handbook arrived this week. It has five patterns included: three dresses, a  scalloped skirt and a wafty blouse/top.

I really like the way the spiral binding allows the book to lie flat. It's much easier to use.

Peri and Gilly are asleep and I think that's an excellent idea. Maybe I should have some lunch. Maybe just a snack because I'm going to MrsDrWho's for tea. Snack, then nap I think.

*I am so old that some of them were only published while I was at College. So old..........

Dinky Boots

People cast aspersions* on my car and its smallness yesterday, but I am beastly careless, and they were only joking. The Boot Protector I ordered last week arrived this afternoon and so I went up immediately and put it into the boot of the new (old new) car. Well it is the Only Car now. I can not only fold down the back seats, but I can then lift the base of the seats up and the hook to the front seats for safety. The Boot Protector is meant for 4WD vehicles so it is a tad short, but the flap that is meant to pull out over the bumper fills the gap nicely and velcros securely. It isn't quite high enough at the sides but I am going to MacGyver some heavy duty plastic that will cover that section.

Peri and Gilly have never been in the new car. Peri hopped straight in, but Gilly was a bit worried. But once Peri was in, so was she. There is plenty of room. They can stand up or sit down. They can't put their heads out the windows. Gilly tried to jump up on the seat twice, but I said no in a cross voice and that was it. They are such clever Labradors, they learned so quickly, adapted so well and had a lovely ride in the car.

The dam was so full of smells, but we only had a short walk, and then it was back in the car and we were home by 6pm.

I stopped just at the reservoir and took this photo on the way home. I bought the boot protector from Running Dog and am very happy with the service and the product. We are very glad to be able to go for a ride in the car to the dam to walk again.

I've not been well the last five or six days, I've had a weird 'thing': a temperature and rapid pulse and wooziness, but all my tests were OK when I rang today. I have some lovely antibiotics which are two shades of green and they seem to have knocked whatever it was on the head. Because I have a compromised immune system I get to take antibiotics as a safety precaution, normally healthy people wouldn't have been prescribed them.

This morning I felt well enough to take Peri and Gilly for a short walk around the block and then I decided not to Spring Clean, even though it is Monday, and I finished the Citizen Kane Hat. I've had all the flowers and leaves and the actual hat sitting in a basket since Autumn. It wasn't a difficult job, but there were 130-ish ends to be threaded through the hat above the rolled brim, tied and then sewn in and snipped. I made ten more small roses to fill in the gaps. I am a bit worried that the sewn in ends might irritate Toddler Electric's delicate head, but since it will fit on my head, it probably won't be too tight. I shall find stretch ribbon or some-such to sew inside and cover the ends if needs be. I am amused that I took one photo on two packets of Four Roses Plain Flour!!

MrsDrWho gave Peri and Gilly some excellent rawhide teats for my birthday and I put them away for a rainy day. It was a 'rainy' day on Saturday when they missed their walk as I was poorly,

and so they had 36 fun filled minutes of rawhide frisbee fun!!! And then it was over......

I did bake a nice lemony lemon tart. Because I was resting, the pastry also rested in the fridge once in plastic wrap and then a second time in the flan tin, so it was nice and crisp.

And now I can take my tablet and we can all go to bed at last. I have some new Gunpowder Mint tea but I think I'll have some Sleep Tight instead!!!

* I always think in my mind 'casting nasturtiums!!!

 

Stick Of The Dump

I can't remember when I first read Stig Of The Dump, but it is a book I think of fondly and must read again soon. We don't have dumps here, we go to the tip. Auntie and Uncle Dutch came yesterday and took the oak tree to the tip, in stick form. I can't say I miss the tree at all, and it is off to make mulch I think. Thank you again, kind Auntie and Uncle Dutch!!!

Auntie and Uncle Dutch bought me a beautiful whisk in Stanley of all places!! And some excellent people/Labrador wipes for when Peri and Gilly get a little dirt on themselves when we go for a walk. Which hardly ever happens. Uncle Dutch cleaned the exhaust pipe mark from Peri's head, so the wipes work very well.

Today MrsValley and I ventured out for lunch at Kouklas (no website). It is a Greek restaurant up the river. I had seafood pie, full of prawns, white fish,and salmon and MrsValley had moussaka. We shared a slice of lemon curd tart for dessert. It was a perfect afternoon, the Sun shining and lots of conversation and a glass and a half of wine!!! Kouklas have the most delicious food.

The river was so still and wide, which is amazing because the dam is overflowing right to the tippy top. The water just rushes over and makes a very loud noise and really, when I am standing near it, I feel a little afraid. Nature is frightening sometimes. There was much spray and Sun: a rainbow appeared.

I sewed MrsValley a bag from a teatowel with lots of her favourite animals. I cut the teatowel in half so all the animals were right way up, and I used a little grass green poplin for the handles and base for optimum animal viewing pleasure.

I've also knitted a hat, the Zumthor hat, for MrReno's birthday. It is an easy pattern, but I liked the simplicity and I know MrReno will enjoy the hat's back-story. I used some Loyal Naturally 10ply as I stayed home all day Wednesday and I only had green wool. Who would have guessed?? I shall try to take a picture of the hat being worn, which will show off the interesting structure.

I popped into KMart this morning to buy a container and there were no real people at any of the checkouts. I could only go through the self-serve area. I gave a surprised staff member my container and went next door to the supermarket where a nice young woman served me, and the container was half price.

And finally Peri and Gilly, waiting for one of their yummy treats from MrsValley. They are so lucky. I received some beautifully fragrant Rosemary from her garden.  I am already thinking about what I shall cook with my R for Rosemary. The Labradors have had so many extra pats in the last few days. I believe it has made them cuter, if that is possible!!

I Wandered Lonely As A Crowd

I think the jonquils are flowering, well, flowers are blooming and I think they are jonquils. I thought I would take a nice landscapey picture of the flowers/daffodils/jonquils.

Not a chance. Everywhere I go there is a rent-a-crowd of Labradors. It is nice to know I am so popular with them they're like my own personal puparazzi!!

It is very early for the bulbs to be out. I think they are confused by the weather, which is either fairly warm for the time of year, or forty-three year record low temperatures.

I have been very tired, so we had a day at home today where we all lounged in bed, or on the couch, and napped. I went to the car to fetch something and no, I could not go by myself.

There have been a lot of cute noses today. Noses I love, noses that investigate everything that's going on, noses that can smell a treat at 500m and noses that nuzzle my hand so I will pat them.

I went to the car fetch two bags of fabric samples and offcuts. Auntie and Uncle Dutch are back from their overseas holiday and they brought back the greenest chopsticks they could find, a beautiful aqua pendant and another Terracotta Warrior. I have two now: almost an army.......

Auntie Dutch had spotted some bargain fabric bits and bobs and so she invited me along on her next fabric foray. This is a tiny selection of what Auntie Dutch bought for me as a gift, I am so lucky. Apart from two pieces, everything we chose was French, so we have good taste the owner told us. Here are two panels, one with a pale green scene on a cream background and the other a lush tropical bird scene. I am thinking of using one, or both, as a panel for a skirt. The fabric feels beautiful too.

I made a small selection of some of the fabric with embroidery on the left, and then the beautiful velvet fabrics on the right. They have a plain fabric background and then the velvet is raised up and very thick and luscious. My favourites are the hot pink flowers on the lime, the tiny chocolate stripes on pale aqua silk, the green leaves and the big red ovals. I love them all!! The lady in charge at Joan Horwood Interiors, I think, gave us a generous discount. Some of the fabrics were originally $250 per metre, but they are utterly gorgeous.

Back at The Dutch House we ate macaroons and drank Chinese tea that looked very strange. When the boiling water was poured in, the little pellets unwound into long green leaves. It was absolutely delicious to drink.

Tomorrow evening MrsDrWho and I are off to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at The Princess!! I am not as knowledgeable as she is and though I know most of the songs I have never seen it live. There will be more resting tomorrow afternoon in anticipation!!