Month: October 2012

I think the above emoticons possibly echo the thoughts, feelings and attitude of some of those that have had dealings with ‘Sandy’ over the past few days.

Some could have been casual to begin with
– what are ‘they’ going on about – I’m fine nothing will touch us –
– then apprehensive –
wondering what was in store for them, when and if it did happen
– then very unhappy and sad –
at what did actually transpire when the storm arrived.

Nobody likes disasters
and this certainly is one reputed to be three times the size of Cyclone Yasi
That was the cyclone that hit Queensland early last year

Please keep in your thoughts all those affected by this disaster as it made its way up from the Bahamas and northwards along the east coast of America
Like Australians they say they are ‘tough and resiliant’
but they are also human with human thoughts and feelings

There are some who have already been coming to grips with what has actually happened
There are some who are seeing it for the first time as they begin the massive clean up today

Also keep in your thoughts those who may be affected as this storm moves on across the USA into Canada
People there will have seen the wrath of ‘Sandy’ on TV and will be wondering what is in store for them
Lets hope ‘Sandy’ calms down a bit – but the forecast doesn’t look

Wikipedia has put out a detailed page on
‘Hurricane Sandy’ and the trail of disater she has caused so far

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Sandy

Well it’s finished – I finally finished the sampler yesterday.  I do hope the couple like it as it’s certainly been a trial to me.  Somehow I don’t think I will attempt this particular one again.  There’s a photo of it at the bottom of the post – have a look at it – looks really simple doesn’t it – but it has caused so much grief I’m quite sick of the sight of it.

I had it finished the other day – washed and framed and then realised one of those bl….birds was one square lower than the other!  So out came the minature scissors and a needle – two hours later I start to sew again.  Took twice as long to stitch as I kept checking the graph and then rechecking with the other bird to make sure it was coming out where it was supposed to.

When it was washed, ironed and framed (again) I took a quick snap of it
I had found a simple wood photo frame which had a smooth melamine like finish
but have a look at what I saw when I checked the photo.
Can you see the big mark on the glass – first rule is to actually clean the glass!!

So out it came again for the glass to be cleaned
After reframing it ‘again‘ the sampler was just wrapped
(no new photo taken!)

and placed in a safe place ready to take with us on Friday.

Now if anyone mentions the word ‘Wedding’ to me in the near future
I’m going to hope they subscribe to the Wishing Well idea
Dropping cash into an envelope for them to buy whatever they want
at the moment sounds like a much better way to go.

Or is it??

I see things beginning to bloom
Like these in the garden earlier this week

Actotis – Marguerite Daisies – and early unanmed roses 

Cornflowers from last year
that I hope will give me another display next year

Scabiosa – Pincushion Flower – that gets wider each year

The tiny flowers of Sisyrinchium Devon Skies
that also grows in size each year
along with the last of the purple flowered Cuban Lillies

I see spaces I hope will be filled by summer’s start
And the Abutilon (Chinese Lanterns) in the background by Kiera’s pen

There’s that and lots more

‘Cept it can’t be enjoyed this afternoon
because the weather can’t make up its mind
what it wants to do.

Beautiful one day
Horrid the next
Don’t you just love Spring in Melbourne!!

I’ve spent the past couple of weeks in a bit of a daze – Living life but not seeing much of what’s going on around me.  Certainly haven’t been in a chatty mood but that I’m sure will pass.

A few weeks ago there were moist eyes at the passing and saying goodbye of a dear friend – she accepted the terrible illness that was thrust on her about 19 months ago and was so fearless right to the end even organising her own service that certainly celebrated the very full life she lived.  Bye for now Peg – I’m sure you are stunning them wherever you are with your beautiful smile and lovely nature.

Then I felt my eyes glaze over earlier in the month when a birthday came around – not one I really wanted to see and tried desperately to avoid – the head in the sand approach doesn’t work though does it!  Three score years and ten rolled around and now the day has been and gone – all the cheerful greetings and the lovely lunch with Dh on the day and another a few days later with some of the family didn’t help – I was quite cranky for a while and to be honest I wondered what all the fuss was about – forgetting it was their way of saying they loved me – or at least I hope it was!

Now I’m using my eyes to try and finish a wedding sampler in time to take with me to Perth at the end of next week.  Silly me decided it would be a fabulously easy gift for the daughter of my cousin – silly me only started it when we got home early in September!  It is an ‘easy’ pattern I’ve used several times before, mainly wording with a side border along with a little bit of design and I moved along quite quickly with the sewing – until I came to the places I have struggled with before.

On each side of the top ‘banner’ are two birds representing the blue birds of happiness.  Only each time I sew this sampler these ‘bl…. birds’ are anything but the giver of happiness.  White on white and a very pale blue thread next to the white is a pain to stitch – especially when there are only a few stitches involved. They have been stitched and unpicked several time accompanied by quite a few words my mother certainly didn’t teach me!  I think all is well now – just have the names and date to add and it’s finished.

One year I even put a little bit of silver thread in with the white thinking I’d see it more clearly.  It had been a special order for the daughter of a friend, certainly stretched my friendship and I won’t be doing that again lol

Theres one good thing about the good weather over the past few days and that is that I’ve been able to stitch outside where the light is much better and a certain ‘person’ has been my constant companion.  Mind you she doesn’t see much ‘cose her eyes are closed most of the time!

For some reason my eyes have been ‘playing up’ whilst I been sewing – not had this problem before but I suppose theres a first time for anything isn’t there.  They were itchy and irritable, hard to focus at times almost like I had double vision, needed to squint, sometimes I needed enlargers on top of my regular glasses to see the right spot on the aida cloth.  By coincidence it was time for my eye check at the opticians and when I mentioned it she just went ‘Hmmm’ lets have a good look.  She said the itchy irritable bit could have been to do with the wild windy weather – but the rest of her delivery had me floored.  Seems I now have to go and see a cataract specialist –  ‘the beginnings’ I knew about two years ago have developed to ‘needing to be seen about’ now.

Never a dull moment in our house is there??

The power of the written word
Or the internet 🙂

Back in June as part of my ‘Post a Day’ challenge
I wrote a post about family and horse racing
It was a quick post about how horses were part of life then and now
Didn’t think anymore about it until last week and a new comment was posted

Well you’d never guess what!
I am now in contact with a branch of the family
I thought I’d never have contact with.

Yes the internet is a weird and wonderful thing!!

Undara National Park 
where we saw it all
Before we went down into the caves we’d climbed the long trail

To the top of the  Kalkani Crater

We were walking along minding our business looking out over the area below

And there it was
I was lucky enought to see this beautiful brown spotted butterfly
sunning itself on some grass and definitely not bothered by the group of people walking by.

Euploea core
Goes by the name of:
Common Australian Crow Butterfly Common Crow Butterfly Oleander Butterfly

The Common Crow (Euploea core) is a glossy black butterfly with brown underside with white marks along the outer margins of the wing. The wingspan is about 8–9 cm and the body also has prominent white spots.

The Common Crow is distasteful due to chemicals extracted from the latex of the food plants consumed in their caterpillar stage.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euploea_core

There were plenty of them around

The adult butterflies only have four normal legs, as the first pair of legs is not fully developed
source: http://australianmuseum.net.au/Common-Crow-Butterfly

Don’t ask my why but I’m always surprised when I see the wild cousin of plants we have been used to and tend to think of as cultivated garden plants.
More often than not the ‘wild one’ is just as interesting as the cultivated one
like the Australian Native Pandorea.

Heres Julian talking to us about the smallish bush we came across
Pandorea pandorana

Pandorea is a genus of 6 species, of woody climbing vines and creepers in the family Bignoniaceae.  Pandorea pandorana ranges in habit from a scrambling plant to a vigorous vine, growing on larger trees in forested habitats
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandorea

We had a great walk round the top of what was an extinct volcano and look what we saw as we were driving out of the park
Is this my good side?

No I think this is!

Great day out and I wouldn’t mind going back some time
For a clearer look all photos will enlarge with a click 

Clean kitchen windows meant fresh flowers were needed for the window sill – sadly there aren’t a lot to choose from at the moment.  The constant winter and spring rains have made the Azaleas all mushy and the majority of the Camelias seemed to have dropped quickly but those that stayed for the game are all brown round the edges.

Except for these few I found this morning

There are ‘Old Friends’ to chat to whilst I’m doing the washing up – Curly the permanent resident  of the window sill, the Lucky Black Cat as well as the sleepy black cat from Zenstone Sculpture in Devon.  Sleepy has been with me for quite a few years – cheeky thing jumped into my carry on luggage during a trip to England and insisted on coming back to live here.   

I felt at the moment I needed ‘Memories’ to look at so there are a few of the shells and a little piece of coral I found in Queensland that made the journey home to Victoria this year – as well as the last photo taken of my Dad and us before we left Uk in 1972.

And of course this view couldn’t be complete without the sight of lazybones herself.  Sound alseep as usual – testing out another of the chairs on the deck.

All is well 🙂

How do you dress your kitchen window?

We finally made it – We were now in Gulf Savannah Country and one of the reasons for the long trip was see the Lava Tubes at Undara.  We had chosen not to stay in the famous accomodation at the actual national park which ‘contains the remains of one of the earth’s longest flows of lava originating from a single volcano’ but at Joe and Jo’s Bedrock Village – a van park in Mt Surprise itself about half and hours drive down the road  – the road being The Savanna Way

Our guide on the day we took the tour to Undara was Julian – one of the knowledgeable Savanna Guides allowed to take tours there – a fun fella who looked after us really well and answered all our questions.

All photos will enlarge with a click

After doing the Crater Rim walk it was off to the actual caves – walking along bush tracks that had been kept to a minimum width to not disturb or affect the land in any way.    That way the cave entrances are not evident – known only to the guides.


We visited a couple of the big caves and as you can see had to negotiate our way down the rocky entrances very carefully – some were bigger openings than others, all surrounded by forest, but if you look really hard you can see Julian standing alongside the rope ladders ready to lend a hand whenever it was needed.  These are from both our cameras, they turned out a little dark so I’ve altered the exposures by hand.  Enlarging them (with a click) will make them clearer

So once our eyes had become adjusted and with the help of the fabulous little torches we were loaned we were eager to see what was hidden down there.

Rather than just write loads of information in the post I’ decided to put lots of links in.  Do click some of them to see what it was all about.
More to come next time
See you then