Sew Grateful

It seems quite a few people had a very disturbed sleep last night. Hedy Lamarr kept us all awake, and even Lorelai Gilmore went into the paddle pool at 3am. Was it a full moon?? I am so very tired, but I was out of bed like a shot this afternoon when the LovelyChemist rang to say there were puppies to be cuddled. 

There are five tiny puppies and I held the little girl called Brownie, she’s on the bottom right with a brown head. They were so calm and quiet and I could have held her all day.

My sewing machine has stopped working and is being looked at, but I hold out little hope. MrsDrWho lent me her spare machine, she is so very kind, but I was almost brought to tears when the Puppies’ owner, MissHansen, gave me her surplus sewing machine. So many kind people in our lives : we are very grateful.

Gilly and Hedy were very concerned and interested, maybe it smelled of puppies?

Ms KN&W gave me some potted mint, and I have managed to keep it alive. I am the kiss of death to plants. I used some mint in my couscous last night, it is so much more minty that mint from the supermarket.

Arnie came to visit again this afternoon, and the front garden was mowed and trimmed while he played with Gilly and Hedy.

Take This Job and Bucket.

Thank you for all the lovely birthday wishes for Hedy Lamarr. Hedy has been a rascal while we were out. She has been somewhere grubby, I don't know where.

And she has chewed the new buckets. They only cost a dollar each, but these are buckets three and four. One and two went into the bin last week.  The buckets fill up with rain water, and those marks in the aqua bucket are where Hedy likes to pop a front paw in, and try to empty the bucket.

Lorelai Gilmore would never chew a bucket, look at how good she is, and how lovely!!! Autumn is four days old and already the mornings are crisper and the nights are closing in. Gilly runs to greet Rafa and then runs back to tell me she has greeted him. So much running for an older dog.

Oh and back to Hedy's birthday, we assigned comments ordinal numbers as per the post and then employed a random number chooser, and the bag and chocolate treat goes to: Deb!! I know Deb in real life and so this will perhaps give us a much needed excuse to catch up for coffee, tea and cake!!

We had two medical emergencies this week. On Wednesday Gilly was bitten on the leg by a wasp floating in the paddle pool. We rang the vet and they saw us within twenty minutes. Here are The Labradors waiting for Dr Michelle to bring back Gilly's antihistamine injection. Because she takes Imuran to suppress her immune system we have to be very careful of her treatment.

Is Dr Michelle coming back?? Gilly and Hedy think they hear her......

Yes, she's here and she has liver treats!!!

There were quite a few wasps, not a nest, but enough to be a worry. My neighbour helped me to hang some wasp traps. Hang them Very High. But not high enough. Somehow Hedy jumped up and ate the wasp trap contents. It was a hard decision to make: should Gilly run the risk of being bitten again, or should we use a wasp trap? There was less than 1/2 a teaspoon of the wasp powder in the trap. We rang the vet and they rang poison hotlines and thankfully, a dog Hedy's size would not be affected. But they both had to skip dinner, as the vet said not to induce vomiting. The lovely chemist at the corner says she knows of a very stinky, but safe, wasp trap filler, and so I shall be able to use that. I feel terrible, but I truly had no idea Hedy could jump higher than I could reach. I baked the vet a very large Banoffee sheet cake as a thank you, for they didn't charge me at all for their advice.

I know it is difficult to believe, but I am about to sew a dress. The Kimmy Dress was one of this month's Seamwork patterns. I really like it, and I am going to make the hack with a flared skirt, a longer flared skirt. MrsDrWho's mum brought this material back from Singapore. It is less than a metre wide, so I have bought some plain green to be a border at the hem. The fabric itself has borders, and I want to try use them as well. I'll also have to add a dart, as I need an FBA. And I know I am behind the times, but I finally realised The Officeworks is able to print out patterns in PDF in A0. Thanks to Beth who talked me through the email process. No more taping 32 pages together, I am happy to pay $8-50 for two sheets.

Lorelai Gilmore and Hedy Lamarr are very accommodating and stopped half way down the steps so I could take a photo for The Blog. On the right is a tortoise... I want to say bird bath, but it is really a kind of teeny tiny pond that Hedy likes to drink from. The gardener comes tomorrow, so there will be some at long last weeding and trimming. The grape vine is taking over the entrance.

I have three new balls of sock wool, so I am eager to finish the socks I am working on. I just have the foot and then the toe.

I also have a new-to-me phone, an iPhone 4. WeeJock and Bessie's family had a passing down of phones and I was lucky enough to be on the end of the line.

My older phone costs just $9 and really just did texting. My new phone might be eight years old, but it is so exciting to be able to text my mum and not say: "I am knitting rocks today", or "Fear Mum". I can iMessage and I can add photos to The Instagram. I am so very grateful!!

MrsDrWho and I watched the last episode of Star Trek Discovery this afternoon. I loved the entire series. There were parts that shocked us with their unexpectedness, and the plot was riveting. The characters were both familiar and new and I especially liked that it was a darker version, more like DS9 than TNG. The cliffhanger ending has us eagerly awaiting the next season. And the theme music, very good music and the music over the last credits was perfect.

The weather has been cooler and I have been feeling much better, though I see it will be 28*C at the end of the week. Bah humbug.

 

Weather You Like It, Or Not.

Life has been so busy this week. Monday was a holiday, and I can't actually remember what we did. On Tuesday I went to Leukaemia Support Group and found that one of our number had died. I don't have the local paper delivered any more so it was a bit of a shock. Two of our group have died in the last six months, but their other halves have continued to attend, and we are all pleased to see them. I baked a big batch of Coconut Rough Muffins and went and spent a little time with WeeJock & Bessie whose Mum and Dad had to elsewhere unexpectedly.

Yesterday I baked some TimTam Brownies and went to the wool shop for some knitting time with knitting friends. I went to pat WeeJock and Bessie and there may have been some slight miscommunication between their Mum and Dad because I set off the alarm. Oh, it was so loud and piercing and went straight through me. I had no idea what to do, but luckily their kind next-door neighbour knew what to do and we were able to disarm the alarm. I had to go home and have a cup of tea and a little lie down. Then I took some muffins to MrsDrWho, because I had promised to, and she is writing reports. We went to bed at 7pm last night.

Today has been just as hectic. We went for a walk, I baked more muffins, had lunch with friends. I am sitting here now and I can hear we have a mouse. It is rustling in the wall. I shall have to do something about it tomorrow. I made a scarf for one of my lunch friends, a simple Feather & Fan stitch in charcoal Jet 12ply. I knitted two halves so that the ends both had a nice curve and then grafted them together at the back of the neck. The socks are in Crunchy Salad, Fresh'n'Juicy from Opal. They are almost finished, for MrsDrWho's birthday.

I knitted the Cowl for MrsMichigan last year, but I hadn't posted it and now it is Summer, but she will have it for their Winter. It is a Craftsy free pattern in a knit-along by Kate Atherley: the Waverton Cowl.

Lorelai Gilmore's health continues to improve. She runs and plays with the other dogs and jumps up for a treat, even though she knows she shouldn't.

Hedy is just full of happiness and wickedness. She is sometimes so happy she quivers with joy.

For only the second time in maybe fifteen years, there are lemons on the lemon tree: there were three, now there are two. I am a terrible gardener and plants volunteer to come to our house and die. Still, I am hoping this is a sign of things to come.

The lemon tree is in The Forbidden Zone and The Labradors are only allowed in there under strict supervision. So, late in the evening when I came home from Sewing, they went mad. They went round and round the tree, one going one way to try and catch the other. It was a good game!! Hedy has laser eyes, and Gilly is so fast.

I sewed a new dress sometime in the last few months. It is the Cashmerette Upton Dress in some lovely Christmas tablecloth poinsettia material. MrsHouseOf paid the grand sum of $4 for four metres and gave it to me, so it was free!! I love that I didn't have to do a Full Bust Adjustment. I followed the instructions and cut out a toile and it fitted almost perfectly. I always have to raise the armholes and lower the waist a tad, but I am so pleased. I love the swooshiness of the skirt. I sewed the pleated skirt, v-neck version. It is a little loose and needs some tweaking, but I couldn't be happier. I like a loose dress when the weather is warm. I obviously have ONE pose, because each of my neighbours took these photos at different times during the day!!

The ABC TV News decided to update their weather map. That is a good thing, but when they updated it, they put the numbers for the forecast first and then the name of the town or city. I couldn't work out why I was having difficulty reading the chart when the sound was down. My eyes were searching wildly for the place name in the few seconds the map was up, and then it was gone before I could find the numbers.

I know we read from left to right, not middle to end, then back to the start and then to the middle again. I taught many children to read when I was teaching, so I know I have some expertise in this area. I rang The ABC and explained why I thought they needed to revise their chart almost three weeks ago. They said the graphic designer would ring me, but no-one did. Tonight I watched the News and something seemed different with The Weather: yes!!! They have changed the order and the place name is first and then the forecast numbers. The map is so much easier to read. I feel it is a victory for common sense and teachers of reading everywhere. Thank you ABC!!

We all had a nap this afternoon, and it is very late. The Labradors are in bed already. Tomorrow I am thinking of making some Nutella-like truffles for Friday Food. It will be an experiment, so I may need a back up plan.

Wasp The Eye Doesn't See, The Heart Doesn't Grieve Over.

Hello Denizens of The Internet. It has been Some Time, though I tried to keep up with Friday Food. The end of February, and all of March, has been hot (30*C and hotter in some places), and we suffer from heat stress, The Labradors and I.

And now I am sick. I have a sore throat that has worsened and I have fifty antibiotics to take. They are less powerful and more targeted, but it has been five days and I am not feeling terribly much better. I may have to go back to the doctor. I was going to have lunch with MrsDrWho and Mrs HouseOf today and I went for a little lie down and overslept by an hour. Even the phones ringing out didn't wake me up.

What we do have is a wasp nest. I went outside yesterday in the late morning and there were a bazillion wasps circling outside the back door. There was a nest between the rocks in the retaining wall. My next door neighbour saw me looking worried and came over and put some wasp killing powder in the niche. As the gardener was here whipper-snippering we all had to stay inside, so no Labradors were in danger. They did have a middle of the day walk instead of a morning one:

Hedy was confused,

Gilly took it all in her stride.

Lorelai Gilmore has taken to running interference when Rafa and Hedy Lamarr play in, what she considers to be, a rough way.

Lorelai Gilmore is just checking up to make sure everyone is OK.  Hedy is showing everyone her belly!!!

Christmas has long gone, but I have been catching up on a few late gifts. First a Christmas banner print fabric sewn as a bag for AuntieDutch and a Star Wars bag for me!! I know: for me. Bags 108 and 109.

And for The Dutches a Reindeer apron. I bought the panel off the roll, but the pocket was too small before I even started sewing, so I added a border to the top, and a lining, all in one. Now it looks like the apron is smiling, and not in a good way.

I also made a Christmas Grumpy Cat cross stitch for MrsDrWho. Actually I made two. A certain puppy may have knocked a cup of tea over the first one in the middle of last year. I glued a teeny tiny bobble border around the little frame. If you click on the clicky Grumpy Cat link, the pattern is free, just scroll down the page.

And now it is time for a cup of tea and a rest. It has been hot again today, 28*C, and the same tomorrow. The BOM have forecast a cooler week ahead and some rain, at last.

Thank you for all the lovely comments, I plan to reply as soon as the weather is cooler and I feel better. I do appreciate that despite the unplanned interruptions to blogcasts, kind people (and dogs) leave us comments!!

Rainspotting

We are a country "of droughts and flooding rains", as Dorothea Mackeller's My Country poem says. So while we have had record low rainfall, water restrictions and record high temperatures, last week we had the most rain ever to fall in one day: since records began. The East Coast had 500mm, that's half a metre or 20 inches in one day. The highway below our house was cut by flood water: yes, there's a four lane highway divided by a wide strip of trees and grass under the water.

The water collects above our house, flows through the garage, down the steps, the path to next door and then into the garden and finally the street. Last year The Council removed the lovely garden beds on the nature strips and replaced them with clay coloured granite chips (or something). So this happened:

And then this:

Two street sweepers spent an hour trying to clean it up, and then it rained torrentially again and they gave up. I don't blame them, the whatever-it-is stuck to the road.

Ironically, the rain didn't help with the bushfires, in fact the electrical storms started fourteen new fires and there were over eighty still burning this week. The smoke was replaced by mist from the rain.

The dam, which is in the process of having three valves replaced, spilled over and the work had to stop and the road and pad built by the workers was washed away. Oh and it is loud.

Lorelai Gilmore has been fascinated by the insects that have appeared, lots of crickets are chirruping in the early morning and evenings. She likes to investigate and stalk them.

We have had some good news on the Puppy Front: due to an iPhone update the Puppy Man lost our phone number, and we aren't in the book. So he texted from his overseas holiday and then rang from Sydney. He said there will always be a puppy for us. He is not sure if there is a puppy right now, but there are two more litters arriving soon. Peri spent a lot of time standing on the coffee table going "Eek" when Gilly arrived, so it will be interesting to see how much Gilly's nose is out of joint- if at all.

When it is not so hot that I feel poorly and Georgette Heyer "decline-y", I have been knitting along with The Solstice Cardi. I have knitted both sleeves and started the body, which is knitted in one piece to the underarm. I am doing Moss stitch instead of Garter. The wool is Cascade Heritage Sock Wool in Pine.

I finished The Colourful Zebra Crossing Cowl for MrsReno's birthday. It was a very enjoyable knit.

The X Files Season 10 has started on TV. Oh when the music began and the badges - all signed with the same handwriting- appeared and the weird things happened: I wanted to believe all over again!!

Well, the weather forecast is for hot days and hot nights. Gilly is in and out of the paddle pool and last night she was a big bundle of hotness. I poured water over her and spritzed her belly. We sleep after our walk in the coolest part of the day: such as it is. And Summer can last until well into March. How we long for the cool. I can't operate any kind of technology properly when it is hot: can't type, can't make The Ravelry clicky links, can't set the DVR to record.

I am so whiny and moany in the hot weather, but we live in the very South of The World, and it is meant to be cold. I remember the cold: it was chilly. Maybe it will be chilly one day soon??

Bye, Baby Bunting, Gilly's Gone A-hunting.

Our walks at the dam are being interrupted and curtailed as The Hydro replace three giant valves at the base of the dam wall. We always thought the swooshy curve was an Art Deco feature, turns out it is just higher to accommodate the valves!! Only one valve is working so they have to carve out and build a temporary road on the other side of the Gorge, and amidst the water that flows out the base of the dam.

There are two big blue machines, one is like a giant jack hammer and breaks up the rock, and the other is multi-purpose and builds the road. On the right side, in the centre, you can just see that only one valve works. The dam picnic area is cordoned off with bunting. Gilly does not let that stand in her way. I hasten to add that is is very safe, and I would not let her go anywhere dangerous. The best smells are across the divide, and it is also a good spot to check to see if Rafa is coming: he is!!

We went to see if Gilly would like a swim instead of just a dip in the paddle pool. She would not. At all.

I sewed a zippy pencil case for my mum. She, like me, keeps a pen, lip balm, spare keys and other bits and bobs in a little bag and transfers it from handbag to handbag, I especially love the ends of the zip, where it doesn't pull and drag down. It makes me very satisfied.

I also sewed a zippy chip bag, covered with vinyl, for our Knitting Christmas tonight. Well is is a zippy popcorn bag. Still, I did the same nice zipper ends too.

We shared a delicious selection of dishes at the restaurant and conducted our annual Secret Santa. Onyi has been away on a long holiday and gave us all some special Christmas Easter Eggs from South America. She remembered I can't have chocolate proper, and so mine are white chocolate and all of them are filled with dulce de leche.

I have signed up for the free Lucy Neatby Sock Knitalong on The Craftsy. I am making the first pair of socks, but not smocked. I did try the pattern, but the wool looks so much better smooth. I have learned a new cast on trick, an easy way to Slip Purl for the heel flap and I am about to learn a new heel turn. Old dog: new tricks!!! My Unsmocked Sock is looking good. When the weather is hot, socks are the only knitted things I can bear to make.

It has been hot, not unbearably so, but hot enough. We like to stand under the sprinkler and lie beside the cool breeze coming in the window. It's going to be a high of 34*C and a low of 28*C during the day over the next week. I see A Lot of ice in our future.

Yesterday we had what is most likely our last Morning Tea with The GardyGardeners. I don't know how to tell Gilly that they won't be coming on Wednesdays any more.  She waits impatiently at the gate at 8am, every Wednesday, for a special pat. Things change, life moves on. We're quite sad, but glad The GardyGardeners are moving closer to their son, to a more appropriate house and a much smaller garden. So long, and thanks for all the gardening....... 

Hat's The Name Of The Game

I am a bit chuffed with myself.

Every year I make MrsDrWho an Advent Calendar with 25 gifts. I have a few things on the go, Santas, and a Nativity, but because we are all going to The Star Wars:The Force Awakens in the middle of the night, which feels so wicked and decadent, I decided to knit her a hat- The Force Awakens Hat from The Ravelry. It is a free pattern, but I did not have much hope that I could do it. I am not very good at colour work, intarsia or fairisle, at all. Still, I decided I would give it a go. And lo, I have almost made a what I like to call acceptable hat.

My 'K' needs a little work and the 'S' disappears into the decorative border, and it needs a good wash and press, but I think it is OK!!  I took the picture with my Ipad so it is a little creamier than in real life. But, I can see the words and the ships and the storm trooper. I have just a few more rows to go and I have finished the decreases. Then there are the ends to sew in....... The pattern only calls for two colours at a time, and so I wound off a little ball of the secondary colour to make it easier to work with and I tried to make as many joins as I could at the place where I joined in the round at the start. Not too many considering.

My hamstring is good, but now as part of a Domino Effect I have hurt my medial ligament and my hip. Thank goodness for sensible friends who listen to me moan and then reassure me, in the face of my worries. Although my knee still aches, I can go down the steps in a normal walking fashion instead of each step, one at a time with a rest in between. And I still take Lorelai Gilmore for her walk.

Lorelai Gilmore so looks forward to her walk. She runs and plays with Rafa: here recreating The Creation of Adam with The Walking Man, who we meet on our walks.

Gilly runs so fast her ears don't know where to be and she blurs in the photo.

In good Labrador diet news, Gilly has gained health and lost 2 kg. It's been an up and down month for her. She has been burying and digging up her special bone again, she's not terribly good at it, and gets dirt up her nose. She snorts and sneezes, but it must be worth it.

Peri's Rose has been transplanted into a new pot in a safe part of the garden thanks to The GardyGardeners. It is blooming and beautiful.

I didn't mean to, and I didn't want to, but I ended up watching part one of Sarah Ferguson's series Hitting Home, about domestic violence. I couldn't watch some of it, it was just too terrible, and the other parts moved me to tears. It is frightening to think that two women a week have been killed by their partners, or ex partners, in Australia this year. Countless others and their children have been injured. I don't really know what to say, it is just awful. I have never smacked any of the dogs, and I don't believe smacking children works either. It is just a big person hurting a small person. I have smacked a child's hand out the way when they put the fork near the plugged in toaster, and I have lifted children out of the way or held them apart when there was a fight in the playground at school. Teachers are not meant to become involved, but you can't stand by as one child hurts another.

I am glad that the new blog design works. It gives me pause every time I look at it, because it is so different!! I just looked back to see my very first blog post ever. It was a Bravenet blog on the 10th September 2004, so I have been blogging for eleven years. I look at my list of blogs in the sidebar and only about 8/38 are still regularly blogging. Times change and people move on. I try to embrace change, although not always successfully. Trying new things is good, and I would never have made such a nice Star Wars hat if I had not mustered up my courage and started knitting.

Oh Mother, Where Art Thou???

Well, I almost went with The Day My Mum Might Have Gone Psycho. It started when my sister rang from The Mainland to say that the Doctors' surgery had rung her to say my mum had missed her appointment. My mum never misses an appointment. No-one could contact her by landline, mobile or email. I knew she was going out with some friends, but I didn't know their numbers, or the new next-door neighbour and my Aunt was on The Mainland too.

So I did what any good daughter would do, I rang the Police and asked for help. I also told them her age. I was more worried about that really. In about half an hour the Police rang back to say that her car was not there and there was no sign of violence at all, and she wasn't lying inside unconscious. So we sat by the phone, ringing and messaging until my mum arrived home at about 3pm.

Turns out her appointment at the doctor was on THURSDAY and she had been on a tour of the Menzies Centre and had not turned her phone back on. Everything was fine, and I am glad the doctors' surgery rang, but very cross they had the wrong day and then sent my mum a letter chiding her for missing her appointment. It took me more than a few days to recover from the day, but I did go into the Police Station in town and thank them very much. I am grateful to live in a place where the Police will look for a person who has been misplaced for just a few hours.

We have also updated all our contact numbers and my mum's new mobile has an alarm and automatically dials for help.

Look, Gilly and Peri: happy girls.

Peri's blood test showed two of her liver enzymes are high, and she must have another test in three months. She is sometimes wobbly on her back legs and only goes up the steps if it is really worth it. When Uncle Dutch came, he said she looked at him and he saw her think: "He'll come down the stairs and pat me," and he did and she was right!!

The Whipper-snipper Man came again and made the paving weed free and like new. He also took out lots more weeds.  Gilly can run in great circles from the bottom to the top and up the side and the paddle pool is in service again. Peri is pleased to have the side to sniff new smells.

My mum and Aunt came to visit last week. We shopped and ate and I helped mum choose a new mobile and then we shopped and ate a little more. For three days. I had a lovely time and it was so nice to see them both. Plus, my mum wasn't missing, which was a bonus. I felt fairly fine on Friday, but went downhill and on Saturday I didn't wake up till almost 10am and I had to pretend it was Sunday so The Labradors didn't know they had missed their walk. We had a catch up walk on Sunday proper.

Peri had the best day ever when she found a huge bone from a wallaby. It had been stripped clean and was not smelly at all. She ran, in her own fashion, all the way from the gate to the dam, proudly carrying the bone. Neither Rafa nor Gilly could get a look in.

She didn't want to chew it, just carry it. In the end we threw it over the fence before she wanted to bring it home.

I have nothing crafty to show, as although I feel well, what with my mum almost disappearing, the vet visits and then visitors, I feel quite tired. Yesterday I felt a bit better and of course I did too many things. A new book arrived a few weeks ago at the PO at the corner, but there was no card in the letter box. Luckily they know me and sent another card today and I went to pick up my book. Since it was 19*C today, I need to sew a dress. MrsDrWho has suggested I cut out two at once. I think she might be on to something there.

Cadbury have a new kind of chocolate treat. They have been around for a few weeks so I bought some and made MrsDrWho taste them. There is a sweet, and a savoury, chocolate 'biscuit'.

The sweet version has little Nice biscuits without the sugar, which taste vaguely of Malt'o'milk biscuits. The savoury version is reminiscent of the Lemon Crisp biscuits, which has two sweet biscuits sprinkled with salt and a creamy lemon filling.: obviously with chocolate and not lemon. I am not sure they will catch on, but they are soooo much better than Vegemite Chocolate. That was a mad creative flop!!

Cleo is very apprehensive about the whole thing, but determined to be involved.

And now I am going to watch some TV (Hinterland on The Netflix and then on real TV The Chaser's Media Circus. Gruen was back last night after almost two years) and then we are all going to bed. We have new cotton sheets with 250 thread count. They are as smooth as silk and I think I may need some more. The old sheets have a lower thread count and have developed dreadful bobbles. I am throwing them out and there is no way of using them for anything else really.

And there will definitely be Friday Food. I had prepared for last week, but then the sleep over.

Maintain The Range!!!

I have made a slide show. Click the right arrow to start, but I have no idea how to stop!!!

Gilly and Peri, mainly Gilly, are digging a hole. It is a long term project and they are jointly managing it. It started off as a bit of a dip and they put a lot of effort and energy into making it large enough for a Labrador to hide in. The dirt goes out the back and then, often, through the fence. Luckily my NextDoor Neighbours are collecting the nice dirt and using it in their garden. There is a new batch of pine bark to try and alleviate the dirt + water = mud problem that has arisen lately. Peri likes to lie on it. The pine bark must have nice insulating properties.

I have worked out why my dresses have worn out in a rather unusual place: under the bust on the left rib cage, which is a place that experiences very little action let me tell you. My Pear dress has been repaired, and then I noticed my favourite green dress with a circle skirt is developing wear in the same place. Then the other day as I sat in the car and pulled over the seat belt it dawned on me: seat belt wear. Enter the Seatbelt Cover 1.0.

It is made from RowanSpun Tweed, 10ply and various buttons. I used the Seat Belt Snuggles pattern from the old MagKnits. I spurned the bobbles as buttons idea and made sixteen button holes, and sewed on a variety of buttons. Sadly, it is not quite right. It is too wide and the buttons too small for the holes. But the general idea is good and I will ponder upon it.

Our Sewing/Quilting group has started again. We have sewn one block already, but I can't find mine. This week we sewed The Holiday Ribbon block. It was quite easy, and the others were surprised at how well it went together. I am sure they just have better sewing skills now.

And it wouldn't be a post without a tote bag. I sewed this one for my sister. She has a SharPeri and I have to find some appropriate material, but I made do with a variety of dogs.

Malcolm Fraser died this week. I am all about Maintaining The Rage. I think The Dismissal was a misuse of the Governor-General's power and undemocratic. I wasn't sad when Fraser cried when he lost the election in 1983. But now I am ambivalent. He came to stand for things that I believe in too. Can a leopard change its spots?? I don't know, but I think Fraser was more of a statesman after he left office. Or maybe I have mellowed over time. Still, I do Maintain The Rage.

I like to think that's three: Malcolm Fraser, Terry Pratchett and Leonard Nimoy. No more dying for a while please PTB.

Peri and Gilly had THREE walks today: one by themselves, a shorter one with Sandy who was walking down to the gate at the dam as we left, and then an even shorter walk with Rafa who came as Sandy left. We were all very tired and had a very long sleep till the afternoon. I am trying to stay awake so I can sleep tonight, but The Labradors never need to budget their sleep time. They could sleep for Britain!!! Gilly is lying on the couch, gently snoring. Well maybe not so gently!!!

 

 

 

GreenHouse Of Cards

Regardless of my care and attention, I fear the greenhouse teeters on the edge of collapse. It has made progress: basil and coriander have poked their little heads up and the watercress is going great guns. Gilly and I sampled a little and it is deliciously peppery.

It rained quite heavily this morning, for just long enough that The GardyGardeners went home after ten minutes and there was No Morning Tea. Peri and Gilly were sad. Gilly was so sad that she sat on The Ottoman at the window and/or looked longingly through the fence for an hour or so. Peri is used to life's disappointments. Gilly is more Oliver Twisty: please may I have some more?? She is just as cute as a button and I cuddle her and squeeze her tight. She asks with her paw so beautifully.

Peri is more independent, though not averse to a good tummy rub. When we walk down the hill she is allowed off the lead. She walks more comfortably at her own pace and is relatively trustworthy.

I was lucky enough to visit The Dutches on Monday and see Toddler Zoe and her mum. Toddler Zoe is talking so well now and has a wicked sense of humour. Of course, I had sewn some tote bags. One is a lovely reindeer Christmas print and the other is really little houses but I like to think of them as TARDISes.

I have had to put my knitting away. One of the four dogs on our walk was taking a treat, not very gently, and split the quick on my important knitting forefinger. Now around the nail it is all red and puffy. I wrapped it in a hot cloth this morning and then slathered on some ointment. I have to watch I don't get a line running up my finger. I saw my very excellent psychologist on Monday and we looked at the things I do every week and I realised that the beginning of the cooler weather signalled a rapid increase in my level of activity. No wonder I was feeling harried. I have homework: to draw up a chart for the rest of the year, for every month, and write in all the important things I must do, and the things I would like to do. And then make a reasonable plan.

I have liked working on the Dalek-table Dalek, it is almost complete. My Kaled is too big, so I have to make the opening in the Dalek larger.

I started new socks in some marvellous striped Heart and Sole sock wool. I love stripes.

I am not planning to do any knitting for the rest of the week, in the hope my finger will miraculously heal. I might just wrap it in a warm cloth again and see what happens.

I have been perusing lots of Easter recipes and I have plenty of time to bake something cute and delicious by Friday. I am a tad excited!!!