Reverse trees

The fabrics used for this week's trees have also been used for past trees, but in reverse - which makes for interesting results.

A tree using fabric from my prize bundle, and contrast that was a bright tree several months ago.

A tree which puts me in mind of light shining through foliage.

Both blue and green, but both very different......that makes 72 trees.

The view from just outside our kitchen window of sunlight filtered through the wattle bush, with trees on the hill beyond.

It's a noisy bush, as there are many bees a-buzzin' in it.

How has everyone been this week?  We have hunted and we have gathered, and we have been hither and yon for appointments and meetings.  Words have been read, stitches have been sewn and knitted; the first sleeve is now well up in the raglan armhole decrease so every second row is shorter by two stitches, which makes for quicker rows.  Songs have been plinked and sung.

As of next term, starting in mid-October, I am moving the U3A ukulele group to Monday afternoons so I can once more attend choir on Thursday afternoons.  The email announcing this was duly sent around and garnered several replies, some of which made the writers sound like chooks with their feathers ruffled, but I am adamant.  I am moving to Monday afternoons.  Those who cannot do Mondays are welcome to have their own strumming group on Thursdays (which I suspect they will) and I wish them well.  I am by far the most experienced musician in the group, so we'll see how it goes. 

Early in the week I received a call from one of the workers at the gallery where I used to volunteer - I decided at the start of this year that, as I was nearly 15 years older than when I started, it was a good time to gracefully bow out - during our many hours there together our past work history occasionally came up and we realised that we had both, at one time, worked for the library which is downstairs in the same building.  I started there as a 15YO school leaver (that's right, folks, I was a high school dropout, but that's a story for another day) in January 1963 and left when I moved to the Big Smoke in October 1970, nearly eight years later.  The library service is celebrating its 75th birthday tomorrow with a morning tea, and as an employee from so many years ago, possibly one of very few left from those days, I am officially invited.  Hizzoner Mr Mayor will be there.  I would not be surprised if there were cameras, so better make sure I wear a good bra and some lippy, yes?  As it's a daytime occasion the tiara will probably be left at home.....and how does one address the mayor?  Mr Last Name? Mr Mayor? or 'Russ', which is the short form of his first name but which might be regarded as just a teeny bit disrespectful for an Official Occasion?

I'll let you know next week.

Winter has been reminding us that whoever said, way back in late autumn, that we would be in for a warm mild winter was wrong.  This morning was a minus temperature which, of course, felt much colder and which equalled the previous cold temperature back in mid-June; the fire is very welcome as the wind has been biting.  Blossom trees all around town are blooming, however, so we know spring is on its way, and before we know it we will once more be complaining of the heat.  Days are getting longer, mornings are too bright too early - I am not an early riser by choice, you know - and evenings are hanging on for longer before the curtain of night falls once more.

Our parents are still keeping an eye on their girls.

"A watchful care required by parents.

Parents, especially mothers, should also watch with a jealous care the tendencies of their daughter's affections; and if they see them turning toward unworthy or undesirable objects, influence of some sort should be brought to bear to counteract this.  Great delicacy and tact are required to manage matters rightly.  A more suitable person may, if available, be brought forward, in the hope of attracting the young girl's attention.  The objectionable traits of the undesirable suitor should be made apparent to her without the act seeming to be intentional; and if all this fails, let change of scene and surroundings by travel or visiting accomplish the desired result.  The latter course will generally do it, if matters have not been allowed to progress too far and the young girl is not informed why she is temporarily banished from home."

I suspect that these remarks pertain to those folk of a certain social level and above.  Ordinary working class folk could not afford to be so choosy.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

More golden goodness

One of this week's trees could be a wattle tree.

There are apparently so many species of wattle that somewhere in Australia, every day of the year, wattle trees are blooming.  Some are dark gold, some are so pale as to be nearly white, and there is every shade of yellow in between.....we have certainly seen wattles this colour.

The second tree reminds me of an underwater scene in a tropical lagoon.  It's quite a bit paler than many of the trees, but then an Arboretum needs trees which are light and trees which are dark.

This week's trees.  

We're now into re-using fabrics but each fabric is only used once for a tree, and once for a contrast.  Once all the blocks are together I am hoping it won't be too obvious, but the alternative would have to be 198 different fabrics - and while I have a good stash of batiks, it's not that extravagant!

These two pics are fabrics chosen to make bags.  In a few weeks the Historical Society museum will have its Spring Fair and Open Day, and will also celebrate the house's 150th birthday.  As I have done in past years I will be taking along one of my 1920s Singer treadle machines and demonstrating how sewing used to be done - and, indeed, still is.  All fabrics will be already cut out and any pressing will be done in advance, as I won't have access to an iron on the day.

This bag may be donated to charity but I quite like the yellow fabrics, so that bag might stay with me.

The garden from the other end.  You can see how green it all is, and this week's rain has certainly helped.  I even managed to avoid the wash line with my undies flapping gently in the breeze, for which you are no doubt thankful

Snowdrops planted by the previous owner, which pop up annually in late winter.

How has everyone been this week?  We have had even more rain, so much in fact that the river flooded again for the second time in a couple of weeks.  Fortunately it was classed as a minor flood - there are, it seems, minor, moderate and major floods - so while two of the three river bridges were closed, the water went down quickly.  The ground is already saturated, so it doesn't take much rain for a flood.

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn and knitted, in fact I may have overdone it because last year's broken arm has been rather painful, so it's having several days' rest from knitting.  At my quarterly check-up earlier in the week the doctor suggested going back to the exercises prescribed by the physio while my arm was healing, so I have been doing that.  Songs have been plinked and sung in readiness for performance at the Historical Society's open day, so it will be a busy day.

A shout out to Barbara, wherever you are - thank you for visiting my blog!  I wasn't able to reply to your comment as you came up as 'no-reply-blogger'.

This quote reminds us how things have changed in the past 140 years.

"Parents should exercise authority over daughters.

Parents should always be perfectly familiar with the character of their daughter's associates, and they should exercise their authority so far as not to permit her to form any improper acquaintances.  In regulating the social relations of their daughter, parents should bear in mind the possibility of her falling in love with any one with whom she may come into frequent contact.  Therefore, if any gentleman of her acquaintance is particularly ineligible as a husband, he should be excluded as far as practicable from her society."

I don't think so.  How will she ever learn to pick good from bad if she is not given the chance?

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Taking over the universe

One of these days it might, you know.  One of our darker blue rosemary bushes is growing, and spreading....and growing and spreading some more......

.....and of course, if brushed against, it smells wonderful.  Yes, it does get used in the kitchen.

This week's wattle pic taken a few minutes ago, which is about as up-to-date as you can get - and it, too, smells heavenly.

The forecast for the coming days is for rain so it may get somewhat bedraggled, but will soon bounce back when the rain stops.

This week's trees.  First an interesting brown tree with a rich blue/green contrast, which was one of the Summertime Blues fabrics.

This fishy fabric has been in my stash for many years, so long that I had nearly forgotten about it....it was near the bottom of the Big Basket.  The contrast has affirmatory words such as 'peace' - 'beauty' - 'love' etc.  All a bit hippy dippity, but it makes a fun contrast.

These two make 68 blocks which is very apt, as our house number is 68.

Way back in the mid-1990s when I was branching out from dressmaking into patchwork, I found a quilt in a now-defunct Ozzie quilting magazine which I thought would be within my capabilities.  The pattern is called 'Road to St Louis' and uses lots of two inch squares and two main fabrics; the magazine example used navy and cream as the main fabrics, but that wasn't quite 'me'.  I saw the same quilt at a show, and thought - wow!  The smaller scraps were all autumn prints while the two main fabrics were two shades of olive-khaki, and it was very striking.  That inspired a shopping trip for my two main fabrics, and I decided on a light green mottled tone on tone and this fishy batik.

I was very happy with the result.  It was the first quilt I quilted on My Lovely New Bernina - one of the first quilts I ever quilted at all, actually - so I didn't really know what I was doing, but it worked just fine.

You can see the fishes on the batik print here, as well as my somewhat shaky stitches which were done in variegated Aurifil thread.  

For many years it travelled with me in our caravan, and now it keeps me warm here at home.

How has everyone been this week?  Stitches have been seen and knitted; the first sleeve is progressing well, and will soon be up to the armhole.  Words have been read.  Songs have been plinked and sung.  Choir is much missed.  On Thursday we discussed moving the ukulele group to another day, and every day or time mentioned had someone saying "Oh no, I can't do that time".  So....I have decided that, as leader, I will find another time and another venue, and present it as a fait accompli.  Those who can come can do so, and those who can't, can't   There are only so many mornings or afternoons during the week; weekends most people are doing family Stuff, or social Stuff, or whatever Stuff.  At this stage I am looking at Monday afternoons.

We'll see what happens.  

Thank you to the anonymous person who left a comment a couple of weeks ago, who came up as 'unknown' - yes, we survived the flood which was nowhere near us, fortunately.  Today is sunny but cold, the sun is shining brightly but has very little warmth, so the fire is welcome.

Earlier today I was downloading a book to my tablet which, it turned out, I had previously read, so I deleted it and found another.  Its title has subsequently gone from my mind, but it was something akin to "empty grave", which set me thinking - can a grave be empty?  it would just be a hole in the ground, surely - a grave only becomes a grave when it contains someone buried, you would think?

We are still courting:

"Custom insists that the consent of parents must always be obtained before the daughter is asked to give herself in marriage.  Still in this country, with our social customs, it is deemed best in some cases not to be too strict in this regard.  Each case has its own peculiar circumstances which must govern it, and it seems at least pardonable if the young man should know his fate directly from the lips of the most interested party, before he submits himself to the cooler judgement and the critical observation of the father and mother, who are not by any means in love with him, and who may possibly regard him with a somewhat jealous eye, as having already monopolized their daughter's affections, and now desires to take her away from them altogether."

This is so.  

Along a similar line, to my mind, are public proposals of marriage in which a (usually young-ish) man goes down on one knee before a (we presume) (perhaps) unsuspecting woman, opens a ring box to display a sparkling trinket, and pops the question.  Sometimes it works out with tears of joy all round - and sometimes it backfires.

That is a horrible thing to do.  If it goes well then it is smiles all around, but if not.....she is humiliated, and he is even more so.  Do not do it.  Such occasions should be private.  You can share the joy once she says yes and the ring is safely ensconced on her finger, but if the answer is no then both parties are spared the embarrassment of a public refusal.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Two thirds of an Arboretum

66 blocks are now finished, and there are only 33 to go.

Would you call this colour greyish-green, or greenish-grey?  Not sure about the creatures either, they look like something which lives under the depths of the deep dark ocean.  It's leftover from fabric which came with a bag kit purchased in Canada several years ago, the fabric quantities given were very generous.

Such a dull colour needs a bright contrast, yes?

This blue fabric also made an appearance in Summertime Blues.  It puts me in mind of life under a coral reef, seaweed gently waving with the movement of water.

This week's underwater blocks, or sub aquatic if you like.

The weekly wattle pic, more of those little yellow balls of fluff have opened since this was taken a couple of days ago.

Next year's flowering shoots are already growing!

Wattles are known for not being very long-lived compared to other trees, but this keeps hanging on; I can't remember when we planted it, but it was several years ago now.  We have had native plants which were going along quite happily suddenly turn up their toes and die for no apparent reason - Aussie native plants are notoriously finicky, but that doesn't stop me from loving them - we keep expecting the wattle to succumb to a similar fate, but no.  Not yet.  If we had known when it was planted that it would grow so big, it would have been put in a different spot.....but perhaps then it might not have considered that to be the 'perfect' spot, and might not have grown as well as it has.

Not bad for a plant which nearly died soon after being planted.  Something was eating its tender green leaves and it looked a poor sick little thing; Kevin was going to rip it out....don't you dare I said, it's not dead yet, it has three little green leaves....so he left it......those leaves are slightly larger than a fingernail.  The card which came with it has been lost along the way, but it could be Knife Leaf Wattle.

How has everyone been this week?  We mooched around as usual; words have been read, stitches were sewn and knitted, the back of my jumper is finished and work is coming along nicely on the first sleeve.  (The decision has been made - it will be a jumper rather than a cardy.)  Songs were plinked and sung.  Sadly I am now on a break from choir, at least until such time as the U3A ukulele group moves away from Thursday afternoon.  An email was sent to members this week laying out the options which were - find another time to meet, or find another leader.  To date there have been a couple of replies, so we will talk about it on Thursday. 

We are still properly courting.

"It seems that circumstances must determine whether courtship may lead to engagement.  Thus, a man may begin seriously to court a girl, but may discover before any promise binds them to each other, that they are entirely unsuited to one another, when he may, with perfect propriety and without serious injury to the lady, withdraw his attentions."

These days we have forgotten how much damage could be done to a young woman's reputation by a broken engagement, haven't we?  Once tarnished it was very difficult to polish it up again, and indeed she could be considered 'damaged goods' which could make it hard to find her true love.

Australian writer Andrew 'Banjo' Paterson, as a young man, had a reputation for being of the love-'em-and-leave-'em persuasion.  For several years he was engaged to a woman named Sarah but the engagement was broken off - Sarah never married.  Her friend Christina was also pursued by young Mr Paterson, there were rumours of a dalliance - Christina never married.  It was said that mothers of eligible women did not trust young Mr Paterson.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Well - that's been interesting!

What a time we have had....and it's not yet over!

Many places in the region - not us, which is probably a good thing - had their heaviest snowfalls for over 20 years, and possibly longer.  The main highway north has been (and indeed still is) cut in several places due to snow and ice on the road, and now many more roads are cut due to flooding.  Tamworth has three crossings over the Peel River, and as we speak two of them are cut due to water over the road; the bridge on the closest crossing to us is above the river level, but the approach road on the west side is not.  The main bridge, the only one remaining open, isn't far below major flood level; folk have been posting pics on social media showing water lapping onto the roadway as the river flows swiftly - very swiftly - just below.  You can read some of the news stories here.  One person is missing after driving through a flooded crossing a few hours south-east of us.  The rain has stopped for now, but more water is still making its way down the river toward us so it's not over yet.

While the story about the missing woman is tragic, I couldn't help a little smile at the yellow duck sign in the picture.

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment on the other side of the river, so fingers crossed that getting there (and home again!) isn't too much of a drama.  My memories of growing up here are of regular floods; my parents' house was on a hill, and from their backyard we had a view over the town and a very good view of the flooded river.  In those days there was no levee so when the river overflowed its banks the water would go right into the main business district, but that is now a thing of the past....some of the flood gates failed last night, but the water was pumped away.  Those childhood memories are the reason we bought our house on a hill well away from the river - if our house ever goes under, the rest of Australia is in deep trouble!

And now onto our regular programming.  This week's trees:

Another blue from Summertime Blues, an interesting print in smokey blue with red contrast.  There aren't many blue fabrics left unused now.

Our wattle bush is starting its annual blooming, so of course there has to be a wattle tree!

I love this deep gold, and the contrast was bought in Canberra during our trip there a few months ago.  I can't resist sharp lime green.

Now we're up to 64 trees.  Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64.....I was once, you know.....

Some of those wattle blossoms at the beginning of their annual flowering, not quite the same colours as the fabrics in the golden tree but close enough in spirit.  Several species of wattle have deep gold blooms, while others are so pale they are nearly white.  Mine is bright lemon yellow.

It's not easy getting a photo on a windy day; those are my fingers on the left as the branch needed to be held still.

How has everyone been this week?  We shopped to avert starvation, stitches were sewn and knitted.  Words were read.  Songs were plinked and sung, and thereby lies a dilemma.  When we first moved here one of the things I did was to join the choir of which I am still a member, and our regular rehearsal has always been on Thursday night from 7.15 to 9 p.m.  Our recent concert didn't enjoy a huge audience; having it on a cold winter night is not a guaranteed way to draw a crowd, especially as many of  the folk who support these concerts are not on the young side.  Our leader Bill has now decided that we should meet in daytime and any future concerts should be in daytime too, which is probably a good idea - except that he decreed that we would meet on Thursday afternoon from 2p.m. to 4p.m.  

Guess when U3A ukulele group meets?  Yes indeedy, Thursday afternoon from 2p.m. to 4p.m......oh, just change your U3A day, said a few choir members to me when I pointed out that I would never be able to get to choir.....but when one is a small cog in a larger wheel it's not always easy.  Bill is going to see if that is the only time available to us, and I will sound out the U3A people about a change of day.  The issue with that is, many members are also enrolled in other courses so clashes would seem inevitable and venues are not always available when needed..

Oh well.  We shall have to see how it goes.  I'm certainly not going to do what the previous U3A leader did and drop my duties like a hot potato.

This week's etiquette quote is short, it is part of a topic which will be spread over a few posts as it is much too long for just one post.

"Proper manner of courtship.

It is impossible to lay down any rule as to the proper mode of courtship and proposal.  In France it is the business of the parents to settle all preliminaries.  In England and Australia the young man asks the consent of the parents to pay addresses to their daughter."

Did your parents arrange your courtship?  Mine certainly did not; by the time Kevin and I were married my parents were divorced and my father was...we knew not where.  Our courtship was self-service.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer