And slowly we are beginning to notice the season is changing. It’s taken such a while for Summer to make itself known that it comes as a bit of a shock to realise Autumn officially begins this Friday coming – a couple of days time! Day light isn’t appearing until nearly 6.30am and it’s dark by 8.30pm. We aren’t going to be happy when the temperatures really start to dip and warmer clothes get worn more often.
The little Melaleucas that line the pool car park bloomed – hardly at all. Very few ‘flower heads’ on the bushes. I saw these a couple of weeks ago but last week they had all gone. Just the seed heads left
Bookings have been confirmed for the yearly winter retreat to Far North Queensland. Yes it’s several months away but our preferred motel accommodation on the road needs to be secured early. A deposit has been paid on the cabin..
Apart from the inevitable rate rises we’ve noticed a definite trend towards tightening up terms and conditions with regards to future bookings and establishment losses. More motels are asking for ‘cash up front then a possible refund’ rather than the ‘24hr notice before charges are made on credit card.’ The van park in Bowen has now declared (for their long term seasonal cabin bookings) 30 days notice of any change in arrival dates as well as 30 days notice if you want to leave earlier than agreed. Plus a whole weeks accommodation deposit rather than the 1 day as used to be. Going the way of cruise lines whose refund policies start at 90days!
Happening – something that happens an event or series of events designed to evoke a spontaneous reaction
Last Monday I slipped into my Assistant Tour Director role going with some very sprightly (when they ‘drive’ their ‘chariots’) ladies along with their gentleman ‘escort’ to lunch at a home right on the water, down the bay in Aspendale.
Lots of jokes about why they hadn’t worn their bathers – not one of them under 85 but they reckoned they still ‘had it’ and if it’d been a bit warmer they might have – how it had been a perfect day – bit cloudy in the morning but they’d seen yachts and sea gulls, walked along the board walk (but weren’t too happy about looking like ‘those old people you see who go to the beach and spend their time sitting on a bench staring out to sea’) – they agreed they’d had the best beach lunch of fish and chips and ‘fizzy lemonade’ and to top it all off the sun finally made an appearance just before they left to come home
*
Tuesday was pool day! After being on the go most of Monday I needed the quiet warm water cure – slow movement to rejuvenate my weary bones.
So it seemed did many others. It reminded me of the saying – ‘the gang’s all here’…several (some I’d never seen before) turned up the same time as me all intent on doing the same thing, so there was a bit of (what I thought was) light hearted banter ‘move on down the bus’ as we jostled spread out trying to get a spot on the side.
The slope means I (and other shorties) can only move so far down or the water’ll be over my head – which could be a problem- so the taller ones (most of were the ‘new people’) decided there was nothing for them to do but reluctantly ‘move on down’. There was a bit of ‘muttering’ (that I wasn’t the only person to hear) about how there should be seperate times for all these ‘clapped out oldies’ so that those ‘exercising’ could have room to do so – which isn’t what this pool is designed for. And I could swear (like teenagers) some of the clapped out oldies altered the distance between each other so there appeared to be less room for the ‘new ones’😊
Each time I use the warm pool I’m reminded of a comment once made by a physio about how – “You don’t have to be a ‘marathon man’ to be devoted to fitness’ – slow and sure (like the tortoise) will achieve my needs. So I make sure I’m doing all he suggested (plus more from other sources)
Yes it’s in French but seemingly it was one of the best instruction charts he had because it actually showed the muscles you were working
Sometimes life doesn’t play nice and ‘we’ have to accept the limitations that are almost thrust upon us if pre-existing ‘ailments’ decide through no fault of our own to worsen.
* And this is last week’s overheard gem from a regular:-
“I’m trying a new way of eating. I’m eating foods that are ingredients- not foods that have ingredients”. “What about bread?” her walking partner asked. “It’s got lots of ingredients” “Oh that’s different, you have to have bread to put salad on and make a sandwich”
Out of all the videos she has put online this has to be my ‘favourite’. So put the kettle on, sit back, relax And enter the world of ‘how it used to be done’
There is no commentary as such – just gentle music..maybe bird song with the occasional ‘exclamation’.
For a written explanation of ‘what’s happening’ click on this (safe) link
This ‘quest’ to use up those left overs has changed course. Still in the baby dept, just altered focus a fraction.
Abt 2019
After having discovered found – who am I kidding… remembered there was another lot of white acrylic outside in a large container I put the newborn setsto one side. They were mainly half + balls from when I used to make all white sets for a different charity and I knew this ‘find’ could be paired with other (brighter) half balls of similar weight 8ply acrylic to make cardigans. It also gave me a chance to highlight different ways of doing the colour change.
It looks like I’ve been going hell for leather over the past couple of weeks – not so. Several warm (really hot) days with nothing planned meant plain knitting of small things happened faster than patterned (where you have to think about it). Luckily our suburb didn’t cop the damage so much as other parts of Victoria did after a storm went through on one of those days. I’ve been able to add four to the charity box, the same size as before but because it was a slightly different weight it knit up quickly also making a slightly larger garment.
I’ll get back to the baby sets soon but really must continue and finish something begun last November Trouble is, (and this will probably sound daft) knitting something for a 4yr old to wear during the winter is almost like wishing the summer season away. The front and one sleeve are done so it’s half finished- just the other half to go. But as it’s such a lovely day while I’m writing this – and there’s a new library book sitting there waiting to be read – Our souls at night…..”This is a love story. A story about growing old with grace” …..maybe tea, bickies and a book are the way to go instead
‘Bring your Scottish music next week’ we were told as the choir was packing up a couple of weeks ago. ‘We have been invited again’ This brought lots of cheers and laughter
This little choir I’ve returned to after a years break is for people who enjoy singing for pleasure. Mainly songs well known to the age group (retired!), like musicals, 40s/50s/60s pop,- as well as folk of all sorts but it is also known for the leader’s interest in Scottish, Irish as well as some Welsh songs. So on the years it’s being held the choir is sent an invitation to perform at the local Highland Games and Celtic Festival .
Hearing this sung (and others in the same vein) will certainly draw a crowd of onlookers…misty eyed long time expats as well as those who wander over to the music tent to find out what all that noise is about.
There’s been a real mix of things going this month so on the table is One I’ve lined up to read – Two I’ve read and are waiting to be returned plus One I’m ‘dipping into’. However lower down you’ll find it’s been a case of. . But wait there’s been more😊
Kent 1940 In the idyllic village of Chilbury change is afoot. Hearts are breaking as sons and husbands leave to fight, and when the Vicar decides to close the choir until the men return, all seems lost. But coming together in song is just what the women of Chilbury need in these dark hours, and they are ready to sing
It’ll be interesting to see how they’ll go about changing the vicar’s mind
I seem to have been hard put recently to describe a book as ‘A cracking good story’ – well all I can say is this definitely has to be one. An old fashioned, humorous at time, police detective story filled with so many twists and turns (red herrings if you like) as the reader follows the thoughts and ideas of various people as they try to unravel the disappearance of a well known author.
There’s nothing outrageous about this book, yes there’s a bit of a grizzly murder scene, but there are no difficult witnesses, no station politics, no home life distractions, the language is right for the time – use of word ‘queer’ in its original meaning strange, odd, peculiar or eccentric (all of them implied) plus lovely phrases like – “Well I’ll be jiggered” A great read!
It was a strange read based on a true story, blending real time events into a storyline told from two fictional librarians point of view. After an intriguing opening chapter set in 2020 that was supposed to set the scene but as the pages were turned you began to wonder how, you learn that, yes, after the above ground library in Bethnall Green was bombed during WW2 the space allocated in an underground tube station became very much like a community centre.
With countless chapters covering daily life underground and what was going on ‘up above’ it’s no wonder so many topics were built into the storyline – loss, grief, regret, fear, compassion, depression, alcoholism, racism, family violence (DV) family planning, a book club, suicide, PTSD, romance and happiness- at one time I thought ‘you name it and the author will include it’ but they were the happenings and emotions of those years. There was one incident, not of black marketeering more like hoarding/profiteering that I thought was added for the sake of it. Oh and could a ‘novice’ (a migrant at that with few connections) write and have a novel published which then became an overnight sensation in a very short time in those post war days.
(As an aside I believe another book will be published this year featuring the same underground library.I shouldn’t say this because authors put so much work into their new releases but it sounds the same as every television channel getting on the cooking show bandwagon)
****** Also thanks to a blogger’s recommendation I spent a ‘delicious half hour’ with my eyes closed listening via YouTube to the tale of Buddy and his distant female cousin Sook
Memories of cooking fruitcakes and all that that involved, a dog called Queenie, earning small amounts of cash over the year – giving homemade paper kites as a present to each other, leaving home and sadness at her death forever looking for kites in the sky.
I think these two little descriptions will stay with me “fifty cent pieces heavy enough to weight a dead man’s eyes” and “weeping into a pillow already as wet as a widow’s handkerchief”
***** A comment about rereading plus seeing an authors name crop up on a couple of blogs – a couple of nudges in the right direction – and this happens:- I had not one but two rereads – both involved widows, younger persons, family, superstitions, folklore, talk of faeries plus a murder. Both had unexpected endings!
The Brimstone Wedding is a newish/oldish novel (1996) written by Barbara Vine aka Ruth Rendell. Set in modern day Essex but with flashbacks to post WW2
Like the other residents of Middleton Hall, Stella is smart and elegant and in control. She keeps her secrets to herself, revealing nothing of her past. Only Jenny, her young care assistant seems aware that her heart harbours a dark painful mystery. And only she can prevent Stella from carrying it to the grave.
The Good People, Hannah Kent’s second novel (2016). Set in 1825, in a remote valley lying between the mountains of south-west Ireland, near the Flesk River of Killarney
Nôra Leahy has lost her daughter and her husband in the same year, and now is burdened with the care of her four year old grandson……Unable to care for the child alone, Nôra hires a fourteen year old servant girl, Mary, who soon hears the whispers in the valley about the blasted creature causing grief to fall upon the widow’s house.
They sound so different yet In some ways are alike – because both are full of expressions, thoughts, customs and deeds belonging to another time yet still retained in some lives today.
These are some of the modern day girl’s handed down from her Nan :-
Don’t take dead people’s clothes to wear for yourself because the clothes of the dead won’t wear long – they fret for the person who owned them
Blood must be shed at a funeral or the dead person’s ghost will walk
There’s wearing blue to a funeral, it’s a lucky colour and provides protection but don’t wear green because that’s what the fairies wear
Touching wood for luck, picking ferns for luck and the throwing salt over the shoulder – to blind the devil so he does you no harm.
Whereas the thoughts and beliefs and way of life of Nôra and others in the valley would have been handed down for many generations.
A big mention in The Good People is given to the ritual of the wake – before the funeral not after.
Ashes are thrown at the outside door to banish those (the fairies) that would stop the soul passing into another world.
A young pregnant woman is told she shouldn’t be there, – in a corpse house (house with a dead person inside) – so is told ‘Put salt in your pocket and leave. Before you breathe death in and infect your child.’
As well as salt; charcoal and cinders/ashes played a big part in protecting the mind, body and the spirit.
But what I really liked about this book were all the little unusual sayings – ones that had your head nodding after you’d thought about the words and realised the meaning:-
A man’s mouth often broke his nose.
Your tongue collects no dust with all the stories you tell.
It’s a lonely place without a man’s shirt on the washing line
Constant company wears out its welcome
Then there’s the way family/kin are described:-
They are ‘Blood tied’ or ‘Bound by marriage’
(Work this one out😊) “I’m a relation of the widow. My man is the brother of Nôra’s dead sister’s husband”
******
After all the dithering around last year I’ve decided to set some little personal challenges for this year. I don’t do well with ‘prompts’ (think 52 book club) so they’ll be easy ones like A-Z of previously unread authors, aiming for more non fiction, a classic a month, maybe take the easy way with children’s books, short stories/novellas, even A-Z of places in the title- anything that will make me encourage me to put my nose in a book. It certainly won’t be the end of the world if I don’t succeed but I’ll have fun trying.
Monday’s post brought some ‘interesting’ forthright comments from some readers – strangely they chose to email their opinions /suggestions instead of posting them here on the blog
“That’s just silly, surely you don’t have to go through all that rigmarole each time you want to go in that direction”
“You don’t need that stress while driving, there has to be another way”
“Why don’t you take another route”
Well yes, there are ways to bypass the roundabout – for example, let’s say I want to go to the library in Mooroolbark or the train station on Brice Avenue just across from the library.
These are the roads I’d usually take from home, it’s the most direct way – drive to Cambridge Road then the same way I described before
(The roundabouts are where Hull Road and Cambridge Road meet)
Click/ tap or finger slide to enlarge
You’ll have to imagine that the twisty turny bendy streets coming off slightly wider roads are filled with suburban homes so driving here might look easy but there are local (slower) speed limits, parked cars to be manoeuvred around (more people in some households owning cars) and believe it or not some mums still walk littlies to the nearby local primary school or kinder (not every household has two cars)
Going on slightly ‘straighter’ roads still means local streets, crossing over oncoming traffic and waiting at traffic lights that work in conjunction with another intersection slightly further up the road
And this is the easiest (less stressful for some) way But almost twice as far to drive!
The Golfer occasionally goes that way – I prefer the roundabout way😊
Here in Australia (as well as other parts of the world) we call the place where roads meet and cross an intersection. Some are simple like T junctions or Y junctions/Forks or busy like some Crossroads. Lots of busy intersections are controlled by traffic lights but there are others that require a Roundabout which is sort of like a circular intersection where all the traffic moves in one direction round a central island.
As you can see in this moving diagram (below) we drive on the left here in Australia so following the road rules means we give way to all traffic on the roundabout coming from our right.
This (below) is a diagram of a busy intersection close to where I live – it’s a series of roundabouts – in fact it’s three roundabouts – put there supposedly to allow traffic on five roads to merge without any problems or hassles for the drivers! At one time not too long ago I would pass through/go round this intersection about twice a week – in both directions.
So giving way to traffic on my right means that some of the times I use this ***** intersection it is so **** busy it’s often nigh on impossible 🙁
On my way out I’m usually driving down Cambridge Road (bottom right) needing to go round the big circle in front of me, then skirt the smaller one across the way to make my way down Manchester Road. That means I would look to my right to see what’s coming down Hull Road and also what’s approaching the smaller ‘circle’ at Manchester Road.
That traffic could be turning left into Hull Road or left into Cambridge Road (where I’m waiting) or even carrying on past me.
Until I see their indicators I have no idea about where they intend to go or even if they know where they are going.
That’s if they have their indicators on at all lol
When it’s busy I sit and wait and also look across the roundabout to see if anything is making it’s way round it – any traffic at the roads on my right will have to give way and wait until it’s passed, in which case I have time to get onto the roundabout and make my way to my exit.
But wait – even tho’ I’m off and running and on my way round to Manchester Road I still have to keep an eye on traffic coming down Hull Road in the right hand lane because it could be turning right to go round the same ‘little’ circle that I’m aiming for and into Manchester Road as well. In which case I’ll have to stop at the road markings and give way to them.
However on those days when it all seems to be too much I’ve turned left and driven ‘back’ to the first roundabout (the one on my left) taken the right hand lane at the bottom of the Croydon end of Hull Road, driven past Lincoln Road which is on my left then sailed on past my usual ‘big one’ and taken the left exit into Manchester Road.
Only thing is that this method can have it drawbacks as I can get held up giving way to traffic coming round from Cambridge Road (the place I’ve just given up on because I couldn’t find a break in the traffic) and also got caught up in Hull Road traffic turning right.
I almost give a sigh of relief if I can see no other cars as I make my way down Cambridge Road – with several schools in Hull Road I try very hard to avoid the kiss and ride parent times before 9am and after 3pm!
The thing is you can’t win with this intersection – and there’s no point in chucking a wobbly and chancing your luck as right there on the corner of Hull and Cambridge Road (the building with the light coloured roof in the picture below) is the Mooroolbark Police Station! 😊
No source available – I’ve had this aerial view in my files for a long time
I don’t use it quite so much these days – unless I’m going to Chirnside Park at the other end of Manchester Road – but I must say tackling it is one way to keep your brain active
Monday Musings – a time to think and ponder
Five Ways
One of Melbourne’s unusual roundabouts – located between Hull Road, Lincoln Road, Manchester Road and Cambridge Road. It consists of three consecutive roundabouts which if used according to road rules works well but can be quite daunting to those who do not know the area. It was designed to eliminate accidents caused by drivers failing to give way to those coming from adjoining streets.
“The charity needs newborn sets for the baby packs”. is what I was told late last year. “They’re open to ancient and modern, so there’s no excuse for you not making some”
Don’t you love friends who talk in riddles - ‘ancient and modern’ to my crafting friend meant soft traditional baby colours as well as loud bright (or dark even) colours – simple basic ‘old fashioned styles as well as different ‘up to date’ ones. Thinking, plotting and planning is why I had a leftovers sorting session early in January. And as so often happens with me things didn’t go quite to plan
Newborn size. 16” in older knitting patterns – 0-3 months in others – 41cm in newer ones. Small in size taking no time at all to finish
Do any of you remember the time three years ago when I sewed a sleeve seam to a side seam – well memories of that returned when I began to put the first cardigan together. The back side seams didn’t match those on the fronts The back was much too long!
I’m not a top down knitter, prefer straight needles making garments in pieces rather than in the round. And because I’ve knit these little basic cardigans so often over the years I’ve simplified the instructions – instead of ins/cms I use rows. So that side seam for both fronts & back will equal 42 rows – 10 rib plus 32 with cast off for armholes on row 43/44.
The front length is easily calculated by counting the number of ridges on the front button band. The back is different, now and again there’s a quick row count and you can guess what happened – intent on reaching 42 rows I forgot to take into account the 10 rib ones already knit🙁
So it’s unravel it down to the correct number of rows ready to cast off for the armhole. Finished, ready to sew together again- one side fits nicely – there’s a slight problem with other one. Not happy Jan! I’ve only gone and forgotten to cast off on the purl row!
Unpick again- begin again. Cross your fingers. . third time lucky! The Golfer banished, iPad closed, tv off. Time to concentrate properly.
Sucess, finished, just have the band to sew on the neckline. Paired with a Babbity hat and bootees it’ll soon be ready to go Now I’m on a roll – most of a blue/white striped set was finished on Monday ******
Yesterday there was (shush) housework – but it didn’t happen until after a break for coffee and a quick squizz at a new library book
Link to (freely available) online basic cardigan pattern. Waterwheel 890
*******
Kat hosts Unraveled Wednesday . which features Reading Crafting Chatting – you’ll find it all there – pop over, see what’s going on – maybe stay and say hello.
Bright and sunny on Saturday morning and we were off down to the ‘ Big Green Barn’ aka Bunnings but before that I needed something from another place in the same ‘complex’.
These large (read enormous) stores all seem to be conveniently placed close by each other, like an old style shopping centre, outdoor strip mall style with the shops set out around the carpark, where you walk from shop to shop in the sun or rain, which is great until you have to return to your car with your first purchases battling the circling cars to get to yours. On a Saturday morning when lots of people are there you often find a trail of cars following you hoping to get your spot when you leave – you’ll get one who stops, blinker on, waiting, holding everyone up only to get a bit uppity when you don’t get in but open door, close door and then walk away.
One of the local sports clubs was having a fundraiser sausage sizzle out the front of Bunnings. The smell of fried onions came wafting across the car park and I thought b…….. it. Theres nothing like a sausage cooked on a BBQ. Fried Onions and tomato sauce to go with it are a treat these days as I’m finding the sausages have too much fat in them.
All finished and coming out of the store my hand went into my bag for a gold coin donation so fast even I was more surprised than The Golfer who was with me.
Oh it tasted fabulous – one sausage and onions in a piece of folded bread (white at that something I never eat) and with dead horse as the grandkids call it all over it. With of course the obligatory square of kitchen roll to act as a napkin.
Those little spur of the moment ‘treats’ do you good- don’t they😊
*****
And the bit about ‘on top’ relates to the controversial decision a few years ago by the hardware store of telling community groups to place the onions beneath the sausage.
Still Waters 