Counting down

Only eight days until we leave for our trip down south, and those eight days are going to be fairly busy.  The worst part is always deciding what clothes to take as it's such a changeable time of year where we will be going - warm one day, cool and rainy the next, even downright chilly at times.  Layers, layers.....at least we aren't going to a far-flung outpost several days from civilisation so if a different selection of clothing is required, there are always shops.  

We don't take much food with us, our little caravan has limited storage so we buy fresh as it's needed - and, of course, there might be a quilt shop or two (or three) to visit.

And there will be autumn colours.....

This was taken on a cool late afternoon at the beautiful Japanese garden in Cowra.

A magnificent oak tree in Boorowa.....for such a small town, Boorowa has excellent cafés; it's often a coffee or lunch stop depending on the time of day we are passing through.

Dahlias adorning our morning tea table at an 'open garden' visit outside Canberra.

A park in Bathurst.

A magnificent tree in Sofala, now quite a small village, but in the 1870s when some of Kevin's ancestors lived there it was a hive of activity during a gold rush.

This pic was taken back in 2011.  A year or so later we again stopped off at Sofala....."something is missing".....we said......then we realised that this beautiful tree was no more.  According to the woman in the local store it was clandestinely chopped down very early morning before anyone (other than the chopper/s, of course) was awake.  Next time we drove through I dropped off a print of this photo to the store lady and it was prominently displayed in the store.  The tree removal, it seems, was controversial and done by very few people.

Notes have been plinked and sung, as we have a gig at a retirement community on Wednesday afternoon.  We played there a few months ago and were treated to a beautiful afternoon tea - something to look forward to again, and the audience was very appreciative of our songs.

Words have been read, some stitches have been knitted.  A little music sorting has happened.....the end is getting closer, yay!  

Diamonds have been cut but many more need to be done, as I need a lot to take away with me.  A few were sewn yesterday at quilt group, a few more will be sewn on Tuesday during my monthly volunteer 'job' at a local gallery.  My duties are just to 'meet and greet' visitors when they arrive, and Tuesday afternoons are often quiet, so I sit and stitch.  Recently I was asked to bring in one of my quilts to be possibly featured on their social media pages - how good is that?  Perhaps I should take my blue-ribbon-winning hanging.....or perhaps I should take my tumbler quilt, as some of it was stitched while 'meeting and greeting' at the gallery.....or perhaps my blue and orange quilt so they can see that not everything I make is brown......decisions, decisions.....

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"Shouting.

Never speak to your acquaintances from one side of the street to the other.  Shouting is a certain sign of vulgarity.  First approach, and then make your communication to your acquaintance or friend in a moderately loud tone of voice."

Even back in the days this was first written a street would have been a fairly noisy place, with horses, carriages, carts, etc., no doubt making it difficult to hear someone calling from the other side unless they were indeed shouting.  With traffic these days, it would be well nigh impossible.

Enjoy your days!

Forty seven years and counting......

Yesterday was the 47th anniversary of the day we stood up in front of family and friends, and said nice words to each other.  47 years!  My gawd, that's a long time!

To mark the occasion we harnessed up the trusty steed and drove up the hill to a town an hour north, because their annual quilt show was being held.  I entertained myself at the show for a while, and Kevin strolled around enjoying the architecture and streets of Armidale.  Once again I met up with my Armidale namesake - another Jennifer Richards, how cool is that?  Her quilts on show were lovely, and her hand quilting beautiful.  I have been to that show before; it's not a large one as the hall isn't big, the group isn't huge, and because they have an annual exhibition there is usually only one year's worth of quilts to be shown.  I was impressed by the standard, however, especially the quilts of this young feller.....he is very talented and has great colour sense, while his quilting is superb.

It was International Quilting Day on Saturday, so a show on that weekend is very appropriate!  Here's a few of my quilts, even though they weren't done at the weekend.

Every quilter, it is said, has a blue and yellow quilt.  This is one of mine.

This was made from the leftover star triangles of the quilt above - same blue and yellow fabrics, different borders.

Love this one, just a study in black and white.  It was started in a class back in the Big Smoke and finished here.

Autumn - my favourite season!  Started in another class with the same tutor, after moving here here to the Small Smoke.

A soft pretty quilt made for a friend undergoing some health issues.

If I was asked which of all my quilts is my favourite - and of course there more than these shown - this one would be very close to the top of the list.  I love its exuberance, how could you not?

Words have been read this week, stitches have been knitted.  No diamonds have been joined - indeed, more need to be cut so as to have enough to take away for a few weeks in the caravan; it is only two weeks now until we leave so I had better get cracking with the cutting.  More music has been sorted, in fact I can almost - almost! - see the bottom of those piles.  Songs have been plinked and sung.

It's going to be a busy couple of weeks with shopping, a musical gig, and various appointments for both of us.  Once we are in the car heading off down the road, I suspect there will be a big collective sigh of relief.  We are going down south to catch up with the family, and for me to attend the big folk festival.  Kevin will probably spend time with our son while I am off making music, they can do Boy Stuff together and perhaps The One And Only Grandkid will join them for some of it.  There has been a marriage split so the aforementioned Grandkid now lives with his mother, although of course he spends time with his father.

We will just keep out of the way as much as we can, and smile sweetly while offering no opinion on anything or anybody.

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"Carrying packages.

A gentleman will never permit a lady with whom he is walking to carry a package of any kind, but will insist on relieving her of it.  He may even accost a lady when he sees her overburdened and offer his assistance, if their ways lie in the same direction."

Not sure about the use of the word "accost"?  These days it has cme to mean "to approach someone boldly or aggressively", something I hope a proper gentleman would not do to a lady of his acquaintance.

Enjoy your days!

I won a blue ribbon!

Never won a blue ribbon before!

This is special because it's the 150th anniversary of Tamworth Show - even the artwork on the prize card is from a design used on similar cards in the 1930s.  An Aussie show would be like an autumn fair or state fair, I suppose, with farm animals and birds being paraded and judged.  There were various cooking and handicraft sections, and there was even a recipe provided for a boiled fruit cake which had to be used by all entrants in that section.

My hanging (my prize winning hanging, how cool is it to be able to say that!) in full, plus some carpet.  One of the rules was that entries had to be finished in the past year.....mine was a little older, but as it hadn't been exhibited previously I was assured that entering it would be fine.

Last time I won a prize with my sewing was back in nineteen-umpty-um....might have been 1996 or 97.....my quilt group in the Big Smoke had a competition for a pieced or applique basket block.  Mine was pieced, and it was judged the pieced winner; the blocks were eventually made into quilts and raffled for charity.  I won a book and a pack of fabrics, but not a blue ribbon.

Some knitting has happened.  The decision to write out the cable pattern for the front of my jumper was, after a few minutes, abandoned as a lost cause, and a PDF pattern bought - this one, with the pattern all written out for me.  That's the cable I plan to use up the centre front, two repeats wide; it's not so difficult that it will take forever to do, but is interesting enough to be a fun knit.  I like intricate twisted and interlocked cables.  I don't care if they are in fashion or not.  It's my jumper, and I can make it how I like.

A few diamonds have been joined, more have been cut.  Words have been read.  Notes have been sung and plinked.  More sorting of music has happened but the 'waiting to be sorted' piles are very few and quite small now; a couple of folders containing Christmas songs were unearthed the other day, so they will now go into the Big Christmas Song Folder from whence they will be pulled out again in November.  Once the music sorting is done the next big sort will be the books which are in dire need of sifting and sorting, and which will be much bigger job.

It has even rained, lovely soaking rain last night and this morning, and very welcome it is too after the past few dry months.  Over the past couple of years we had a lot of rain, we even had several floods, but since the rain stopped late last year it has been very dry.  I'm sure the town will look a lot greener tomorrow than it did on Friday.

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Streets:

"Offensive behaviour.

No gentleman is ever guilty of the offence of standing on street corners and the steps of hotels or other public places and boldly scrutinising every lady who passes."

Indeed not.....the men of the mid 1880s really weren't much different to the men of today, were they?

Enjoy your days!

Sifting and sorting

Those many piles of music are gradually being sorted.....goodness, I had no idea there was quite that much....but it will be good to have it done, and to have it all in alphabetical order.  It has gotten to the stage where I couldn't find songs I knew I had so I would make another copy, and that is wasteful.

As a resuly not one stitch has been sewn, not one stitch knitted, although that will change once the music is sorted.  Words have been read, songs have been sung and plinked.

Consequently there are no pics of anything in progress, so we will visit the vault instead and enjoy a taste of autumn to come.

The pic doesn't quite do this tree justice - its colouring was spectacular and caught my eye when we parked behind the shops in Midland.

The building behind the tree was a child care centre.  I would have also photographed the carpet of fallen leaves under the tree but a person with a camera approaching a child care centre might seem suspicious, yes?

After several visits we have decided that Vancouver Island should be called 'The Land of Tall Straight Trees'.

Taken on a cool damp day.....the ground under the trees probably doesn't see much sun, so perhaps it never really dries out.  

A fallen tree with its coat of - moss? lichen? - not sure, but it was pretty.

Speaking of knitting, the Big Decision has been made as to the cable pattern on my in-progress jumper.  There will be two repeats of a twirled and twisted cable running up the centre front, and on each side will another narrow rope cable; enough to make it interesting to knit, but not so complicated or difficult that it will never get finished.  So....one will sit down with pencil and paper and write out the pattern sequence, then one will type it in large font so it can be easily read in a moving car.

Later this afternoon we will be taking a trip to the other side of town, across the river - it never ceases to amuse us that locals here, no matter where they live, seem to have an aversion to crossing the river, as though they are going to the deep dark depths of a different country - and collect my wall hanging which I entered in the show.  I could have gone yesterday to see it hanging but it was a bit too warm to venture out, and in any case I very much doubt that it will get an award....but that's all right.  As I have been saying for many years, blessed is she who expecteth nothing, for she shall never be disappointed.

Summer is hanging on by the fingernails, reluctant to let go, but this is usual for March.  We have noticed, however, that many trees are starting to change colour so perhaps they know something we don't.  Our trip down south next month will be a taste of autumn - something to look forward to, indeed.  The autumn equinox is in just a couple of weeks, and another year is rolling on.

My recent visit to the optometrist for the annual eye check-up had a good result, and my reading glasses don't need to be changed for now.  There is a cataract slowly growing on my left eye, it seems, and eventually it will be need to be fixed - but not yet, indeed probably not for quite a while.  Oh, the joys of getting older.....

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"Smoking upon the streets.

In England a well-bred man never smokes upon the streets.  While this rule does not hold good for this country, yet no gentleman will ever insult a lady by smoking on the streets in her company, and in meeting and saluting a lady he will always remove a cigar from his mouth."

I am not sure which country is meant by "this country", as my book was first published in - I think - North America, but my 1886 edition is "Revised, Illustrated and Compiled expressly as a Household Treasure for Australian Homes".  Either way we prefer that no man, well-bred or otherwise, smokes on the streets, and indeed very few do so nowadays.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer