Sounds of Summer

In the afternoons lately I have been coming in from working outside in the garden and spending an hour or two quilting this quilt that I first started several years ago. Because this is rather monotonous work I have been entertained by watching past episodes of TV shows on the laptop.

Today, whilst wondering why I could hardly hear the verbal exchanges between Donald Draper and his band of merry mad men, I realised that the cicadas have arrived ...whole colonies in fact.

I have all the windows and doors open because yes, it is a beautiful summer's day here...but hey, I can't be outside all the time can I ?

I think February the 1st must be the official birthday of the cicadas here in the 'Top of the South'.

They have quite an orchestra up there in the gum tree. I would love to know the decible count.

I thought I would show you their hazardous route from under the ground. They crawl from a hole in the ground, climb their way to the nearest tree, shed their crunchy brown skin, and become very noisy green little creatures.

I remember when I was eleven and it was the first day back at school after the holidays, my friends and I would spend the whole lunch hour collecting as many cicada skins as we could find and attaching them to our school uniforms...their little leg skins have tiny barbs that would stick on to the fabric of our uniforms. Those were the days !

Aqua Blue

It has been very hot this week, perfect golden weather for everyone to enjoy.

I found some time to sit in the shade and finished spinning some merino/silk blend that I had dyed and prepared before Christmas. It is now sitting happily in my Etsy shop, and I can think about what shade I might like to dye next.

But first I promised this little friend of mine a swim in the river.

He has waited so patiently for me and is contemplating having to resort to begging.

I am looking after Olly whilst his family are having a much needed break away. I have tried to make it a permanent arrangement ( he is my son's dog) but he is just loved far too much, and everyone wants him !

But I think he likes it best living here with me :-)

Singing Aloud (Allowed)

When I am by myself and feeling just a wee bit uptight, and sad, I sing.

My favorite place for singing is when I am driving in the car, the tension starts to disappear and by the end of a few old favorite numbers, I am feeling calm and a tad more cheerful. Try this one( you need to see a few clouds when you're singing this)

then sing along with this, it truly does help, I promise.

This singing business has increased somewhat lately, and I was thinking to myself, as I climbed out of the car to take these pictures

while I was on my way to complete a small job for the day,

that this month of January has for the most part been pretty awful, and I am not just thinking about my own little corner of the world, but thinking globally of all the things that have happened in the last few weeks.

I shall be very pleased to welcome February in, maybe with this one.

Starting anew

My plans were to finish a few things before I started anything new....

I managed to knit one side of the border on this scrappy handspun blanket, BUT

we have a new grandchild arriving in a few weeks and he or she will need something warm and cosy to snuggle into at night

so I am going to cast on for this dear little sleeping suit tonight. The pattern is in the magazine "Yarn" and is knitted in a possum/merino/silk mix.

I am not going to add on the ears though...they are cute, but I think it will look better without. What do you think?

In a pickle

I spent the best part of the day yesterday getting all steamed up in the kitchen yet again.....finishing the last of the plums and making more sauce. I managed to find these lovely bottles at Living and Giving, they are the perfect sizes, and I can use them over, and over again.

We had a power cut in the middle of the afternoon, ( just when I wanted to turn the heat up again, and was longing for a cup of tea), but it gave me some respite and a chance to snatch a few rows of knitting.
Talking of which, I finished this shawl the other day.



This was my knitting project for the car, I started it last year when we drove up to the North Island in March.
I found the pattern on Ravelry. It is just a simple increase each end, and in the middle alternate rows, I have used two balls of Noro Sock yarn, alternating them with garter stitch and stocking stitch.

We have lots of family staying with us at the moment and Kristin (our daughter in law) kindly modeled it for me.

We have a wedding to attend on Saturday and then we are heading off to the Sounds for a week with all the grandchildren. It will be a blog free week because we don't have access down there, so this will be the last post until the middle of January.

Thank you all for your comments and friendship and I shall see you again very soon !

Bread and Chutney

We have had a bumper crop of plums this year and I decided the other day to have a go at making some plum sauce, and chutney.

It turned out quite well, and a new friend that we met on Christmas Day brought with him to our lunch some beautiful bread that he had made himself, and he very kindly gave me the recipe.

I have been making a loaf every day since Boxing Day, it is delicious toasted with freshly made plum sauce or plum chutney, and a spread of blue camembert cheese.

We are having a feast of family get togethers, B.B.Q's and sizzling summer times, and my bread is going down a treat!

Celebrations

A Very Happy New Year to you all.

My friend Lori has written a list of all the simple, special things she would like in each and every day of this New Year, and you can find it here. Her post says everything I am feeling today. Thank you Lori, for expressing it so beautifully.

Yesterday was a day of celebrations, a birthday for Ian (DH) and the knowledge that he is a year younger than he thought he was ! Yes, he has been telling everyone that he has turned 59, when the reality is that yesterday he turned 58..thanks to our daughter Melissa, who calmly pointed out that we have a more time than we thought before we celebrate the big 60 !

We spent the best part of the day at the beach with our family and went home with sand between our toes, and a little fishy story to recall.

We are not sure what happened to this fish, and why it was found lying on the sand when it should have been swimming around in the shallows.

It was buried carefully and with much ceremony.