Tag: make the most of what you’ve got

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Days come

Here it is Monday again – wonder what’s in store for this week?
Strangely life has been quite unstructured while we’ve been here this past 8 weeks . We don’t seem to have found the usual rhythm of this time away ….Some years (a bit like at home) there’s been a pattern to the days……but even that has been replaced by an easy come easy go attitude.
Nothing has been planned too far in advance – not much talk about ‘we’ll go here or we’ll go there’ – lots of last minute day before – same day even decisions- if something has been marked on the calendar it’s often been removed/changed if ’a better offer turns up’ 

We’ll just continue to take things as they come – hopefully these last remaining couple of weeks will be a bit a lot warmer than it has been. It’s decidedly chilly when those strong south easterly winds blow (which they have done with a vengeance recently- there seem to have been more Marine Wind Warnings this year than I can remember before) I really would like to get more wear out of the lighter weight clothes I brought with me. Not grumbling- really….just looking at the forecast for home has me shivering 🥶

The wind might be hanging around but for the time being there is no rain forecast. The times it did rain during those cold weeks early on it wasn’t like the torrential monsoon rains that come earlier in the year during ’The Wet’ …..it was constant soft gentle rain just like The Irish Descendants sing about in this song

A gentle mist all heaven kissed
Like teardrops off an angel’s wing
Don’t you know you’ll cleanse your soul
With a walk in the Irish rain

*******

Anyway there is one good thing to do at Rose Bay on a windy day – as well as sitting in a sheltered spot up the back of the beach

Kite Flying!
This little family had the time of their lives recently with Dad showing the boys how it’s done….

(As I’ve mentioned before- these are taken at a distance, then had miles of sand cropped out. Enlarging shows a much better picture)


The Back has been playing silly bug*ers which is part of the reason for the quiet life …..however it does mean I’ve something rather nice to show you on Wednesday. See you then.

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I am longing for home….

Well what I actually mean is – I’m not longing to go home.
(It’s warm and sunny up here – cold wet and blowing a gale down south)
Just longing for home so I can sleep in my own bed…..which is at home.

*****

Life in our little home from home cabin is trundling along nicely as it usually is at this stage of our stay. I don’t mention it but I still have reservations before we arrive about how I’ll cope in the small space ….same as when I wrote this post several years ago
👉- Just for a few weeks – 👈
It’s just that this year because of the ongoing ‘back issue’ the bed is bothering me.
I know the mattresses were replaced not long ago and even though commercial standard they are only ‘medium firm’, unfortunately this year the mattress topper I bring from home each visit isn’t making a difference. So I’ve gone to the extreme of placing spare blankets underneath as well in the hope of making it firmer…..which isn’t giving me quite the support I hoped it would.
Result……ouchy stiff back and legs plus cranky Catherine!

2024

And then there’s the blinds…..

2016

When we first started coming up (2008) the cabins were only a few years old – 4* luxury compared to others on the road – well maintained but starting to look a little tired the new owners (4 yrs now) had them ‘renovated’ over the past low season – not redesigned… brand new fixtures and fittings in the same layout as before….with just one difference- the window curtains were replaced with Holland/Roller blinds. Two sorts – one privacy (see out not in….unless the lights on) the other a heavier blackout one.
Nice clean lines, just not my favourite window covering…..I find them a PITA nuisance
Get a breeze and it’s clatter bang against the window frame…..try sleeping with that going on….nah not possible.
Try lifting them up or getting your hand round the side in the middle of the night to close windows……bl*** awkward in the dark.
Result…..some mornings (because there’s never a time in Bowen when there is no breeze) a tired annoyed cranky Catherine!

2016

*****

2024

Thankfully the door still has curtains so it’s left open at night (screen closed)

You know what’s evident in these photos……I’m able to survive with a lot less clothing than at home
PLUS
I pack my craft supplies in the same ‘bags’ which are left at the bottom of the bed each time
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It’s been one of those weeks when things haven’t gone the way I wanted them to – I should back on Monday, hopefully not in such a Moaning Minnie mood

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🧶Some days you just can’t win….

I finished the little newborn jacket (bar sewing the sleeves) such an easy pattern that took no time at all to knit – unfortunately there’s just one thing wrong….apart from the sleeve length (because it was actually ‘knit xxx inches not xxx rows) it’s too small for an average full term babe. The chest and length are about right for a large prem (which wasn’t what the charity was asking for) so a little unravelling has taken place.

It was partly my own fault I suppose, my first time using that yarn – one of those mill end packs – knowing it wasn’t as heavy as most 8ply/dk I still went ahead and used it.
What I could do now is go up a needle size which would probably result in a bigger garment but I think would make the fabric too ‘loose’.
Or maybe try using the yarn with a 4ply pattern and see how that goes…or knit something using two strands and see how the sizing measures up to a recognised 8ply pattern
All ideas for another time because something else called to me.
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The Golfer is an ‘old fashioned’ fella – I’m not saying he lives in the past except he does like/prefer things he’s familiar with. Take shorts for example……
He likes the ones he wears at home – short!.
His brand of choice since forever has been Stubbies.

Working life in summer meant ‘longs’ had to be worn rather than tailored ‘walk shorts’ back in the day so the elastic waisted cotton drill ones were and have continued to be his favourite for after hours at home. But over time the manufacturers have altered the leg length. It’s difficult to find the short ones – which means the ones he’s got are really beginning to show wear
Wearing right out!.

Fed up seeing these ones with a large hole in the b*** (they’re alright for the garden he said) I brought them along to have a go at patching – by hand (something not done for years)

I didn’t think I did too badly – he looked and muttered- ‘alright for round the house and garden’ – then do you know what the cheeky so and so said….
‘but you haven’t fixed the hole’
Pardon?…….
‘The little one in the pocket!.’.
*****
Anyway, what I do know is going well, and that is the boy’s guernsey I’m making. Another sleeve finished and up to the cabling on the front.
Along with a ‘literary find’ at the op shop (one I might have read previously but you know….ageing mind sometimes forgets things) plus a new blue mug (because I dropped last year’s blue/white striped one)…..it all adds up to a happy Catherine


You might be thinking all I do is read, knit and sit on the beach
Well, it’s been a quiet week so you wouldn’t be wrong there

Plus the internet has been a real pain up here in the park and I can get a better signal down at Rose Bay. Visiting blogs and commenting has been minimal. Composing posts there has been interesting
I get sidetracked watching the sky, the waves
and lone seagulls having a swim

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Kat is having a break from hosting Unravelled Wednesday – wish her well as she grieves

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