Day 31 (c'est finis)
Today was a meet up day for the Rubi and Lana knitting group. I dutifully left home later than previously and trained up to Gordon and still arrived early, but less early than last time.
I was winding a ball of Anne (Schaffer) which was driving me batty. The whole skein was snarled in an epic fashion, and in the end I left it to finish when I got home and had another set of hands and a couple of chair backs to wrangle it. All up it took approximately three hours to wind. In contrast the second skein took about 20 minutes, and during this time I was also cooking dinner.
Anyhow October is drifting to a close. Today we enjoyed a really summery day in Sydney with brilliant sunshine and gentle sea breezes. Temperatures were a balmy 30degrees c.
I will play with the new camera and post photos again, and all will be good and right with the world.
Labels: blogtoberfest
Day 30 (stealing time)
My oldest son has just nipped in and stolen the computer from me. I am going to Rubi and Lana's knitting group tomorrow, and hopefully will have time on the train to pick up the stitches in the sea silk shawl. (fingers crossed). Because its purple its just too hard to do at night after a long day of work, and my eyes are too tired, so its Ben's neverending socks again tonight.
The boss is doing examining for the College of Psychiatrists this weekend, so spare a thought for all those she has to judge. She is a brilliant and exacting task master, but they will be better for her critique.
cheers, happy weekend all.
Labels: blogtoberfest
Day 29 (still no internet * sigh*)
It's been a good day. Even though I had to go by train to work I had fun because I had Kat to talk to, and while we were powering along between Birrong and Regents Park, there by the grassy verge on the side of the track were bunnies!!!!! Not gray/feral rabbits, but lovely black fuzzy bunnies. There were four, in two groups of two just sitting there eating the rubbishy grass growing along the tracks. I know they are a pest, and probably escaped from someone's yard and in the future will just breed and become feral, but right now they are cute, and they made me smile. No mean feat on a Thursday morning!
Some lawyers messed up the first appointment of the day, and so after sitting around for 90 minutes we were ready for some light entertainment. Doc sees clients for the Motor Accident Authority as an independent expert. Today's offerring was a doozy! She thinks either he's stark raving mad (which coming from a psych is a serious description) or malingering, either way as soon as he was gone in the lift she truly fell about laughing. She was pouring coffee and giggling uncontrollably! From then on the day got better. We both love laughing at life! (ps he was found to a 0% impairment, so no hard feeling buddy, but you're okay)
Labels: blogtoberfest
Day 28 (I have no internet)
So :
I went to the pub,
I was knitting sea silk,
I was using Addi turbos (can you see where this is going)
I dropped *eeek* about 20 stitches (with yo's, k2togs ssk)
sigh, tomorrow, when I can see again, I will correct the small puddle of purple.
Labels: blogtoberfest, small disasters
Day 27 (shhhh, I'm posting from work)
It's been a busy and expensive week so far. The fax machine, which was well used when I first came here 9 years ago, has run out of toner. Not so bad you say, but you missed the 9 year (plus whatever came before). Turns out the machine is 14 years old and by today's standards is considered a dinosaur. No more replacement parts are available, which means a perfectly functioning machine has had to be recycled because the manufacturer does not produce the consumables any more. They can't be replicated by the cartridge people next door either. I have coffee every morning with the techie, and he just laughed at me when I brought in the bits to be refilled. No way he said between laughs! Bugger. So now we have a bright shiney new fax, which will wear out in no time at all I betcha.
In other news I won a prize in the Ravelry Socks from the Toe Up KAL, which arrived yesterday. 2 Skeins of Louet Gem sock yarn, pale mossy green colour, with a bottle of soak. It's a very long time since I have won anything, so this was very exciting, but since it was the August prize it was spread out excitement.
I think I might leave work early, since I have to be back early to speak to a Barrister tomorrow.
Another exciting installment to follow then .......
Labels: blogtoberfest, socks from the toe up KAL
Day 26 (Cats)
Cats and rain, is there anything funnier? Okay, realistically there is, but at 6am with wind and rain howling around the house, it's pretty funny.
My cats sleep in the laundry, all four of them. Every night they call a truce from the tumbling wars they play all day, and settle down in pairs in the nice warm laundry to sleep. Every morning around 6 they start to speak to each other. If I don't let them out pretty soon after this, the place is wrecked. When I let them out they all make a bee line for the front door, flying out when it is opened.
Today because of the rain, two dashed out as is their wont, one skidded to a halt just inside the door and looked at me, and the other sat in the kitchen and "lol catted" the other three. The two outside both ran out, jumping off the verandah before they realised it was raining, scrambling and slipping they turned around and headed back towards the door. They gave me such dirty looks when they realised I had shut the screen door as soon as they were out, and pretty quickly they had "talked" me into letting them back inside. Right now they are draped on furniture around the lounge room, as if nothing happened. The two who went out have washed off all the rain, and look their usual cool selves, "nothing to see here human, just move along".
Cats, endless source of humour.
Labels: blogtoberfest, cats
day 25 (heck it's Sunday, what more can you ask for?)
dinner tonight - chicken noodle soup and pizza. yummy, salty goodness.
Today's activities - corralling stash, knitting stash, finished the second half of my Christmas swap buddy's present. Had a nap, was woken up by visitor about 20 minutes into this nap. Drinking tea. Put out the washing, but due to rain, no need to bring it in, fold it, or iron it (shucks).
Watched the first five minutes of Bones, and have decided to have my cats euthanasia (ps, I have never seen such fat and docile feral cats, why aren't the ferals around here like that?).
Have put the cats to bed early, just in case they were watching Bones too, and got any ideas......
goodnight.
Labels: blogtoberfest
Day 24 (fete accomplished)
Today was the fete at John Paul Village. Turns out it was an old fashioned fete, with lots of stuff really cheap. My sister picked up two lovely tiny wine glasses, cut crystal for 50 cents, they sang when flicked and split the light into such lovely rainbows, they were a superb bargain. I got 6 books, 5 novels and 1 fantasy cross stitch reference book, some were old, but all were in good condition. When I look back over the blog, it is rather clear (to me at least) that I love looking through bargain books, and never come home with nothing. Today yielded a Buchan (Greenmantle), Greene (may we borrow your husband - short stories), Kipling (captains courageous), Alexander McCall Smith and Morgan Llywelyn. I love it.
I also took my spinning wheel. There were little old ladies who related spinning stories to me, little old men who love anything mechanical and were dying to give it a try, but maybe too shy. The kids were the best of all, and some even spun the wheel, learning about how the drive band, brake band, mother of all and flyer each did part of the job. One little boy, called Ben (dare I say it of course!!! It had to be a Ben) played with the drive shaft and ended up bruising his finger rather spectacularly when he spun the wheel while holding on to the piece, but he was okay. One boy even took the chair and spun some yarn while I drafted it for him. He dragged his mother over to show her what he had done. He was so excited!
Mum sold $158 worth of raffle tickets for a beautifully dressed bride doll, which was so much more than she expected, but she blames the fact that I was sitting beside her spinning, and so people stopped to look, making them an easy target for the "come on, it's only a dollar" approach.
The weather was lovely and just to see how the spinning effected so many people was rather special. Must do it again.
Labels: blogtoberfest
Day 23 - workspeak
my current favourites:
"The symptom complaints are not consistent with the injuries documented" - you're lying through your teeth.
"The cranial contents do not appear to have been disrupted at the time of the accident." I loved this one, it seems to mean that there is no brain injury, but this is so much a more eloquent way of putting it.
The boss was sent literature today from some shonky firm, looking for tame doctors to turn out reports that say what is needed, not necessarily what is full truth. She shredded it. She has such a good reputation that judges often appoint her now to do a report when there is a dispute between the experts engaged by the opposing parties. That one is always a feather in the cap, even when it makes so much more work for both of us.
It's lovely to work for a smart boss, even better when they are so ethically outstanding and well thought of as well.
Any how it's Friday, and there are only three more patients to go. Yay for weekends.
Labels: blogtoberfest
Day 22
When I sit to type my posts mostly I have an idea of what I am going to say. Since much of the recent posting has been negative, I think an attitude shift is in order.
Tomorrow I am not going home from work. I have had a better offer. I am going to my mum's place to spend Friday night and all day Saturday, and if I am still tired I am going to sleep over again on Saturday night. A weekend away even. There will be take out for tea on Friday, probably Chinese, as there is a good restaurant at Engadine where she has eaten before with both of my brothers, and on Saturday at
John Paul Village there is a fete (if you clicked the link, I have no idea where this waterfall is???). Nothing is as much fun for browsing as a good fete. Mum has been volunteered to sell raffle tickets, and I said I would bring along the spinning wheel and try to drum up business by sitting with her and doing something quaint. It helps that the second fibre club offerring from
Mandie arrived and looks like boiled lollies, so is completely intriguing. It is a BFL (my absolute favourite fibre) bamboo viscose blend, and if I get really organised there will be a photo of before and after on the blog soon. Anyway that is the grand plan for this weekend.
I will have to post on Friday from work (which is where I am posting from today) and hopefully the dial up interweb will work at mum's place for a saturday special, otherwise one of my daughters will have to post a very random guest post, which seems to be all the rage anyhow this week.
So I have a smile plastered to my face, I have finished all my work and will be reduced to random filing tomorrow to fill in time, since the boss gets a little cross if I spin/knit while she is busy and I am not. c'est la vive!
Labels: blogtoberfest
Dat 20 (presents!!!)
Kat is home from her second trip round the world. She started in Sydney three months ago, flew to Chile, Venezuela,and then Brazil. It's a long trip from Australia to the east coast of South America. She was in Rio for an astronomical conference.
Following this she spent the rest of her time away in Cambridge at the Issac Newton Institute, doing star stuff (astrophysics for her PhD). She brought home presents. I got two sew on patches, one has a lama on it. I got a dragon pin, since she knows I love dragons, and from somewhere in Rio, I got a St Anthony amulet, since he is my favourite saint.
She tells me that in the depths of her bag there is also chocolate, but it may just be empty packaging. She is almost back into Sydney time, but coming from an English summer into an Australian spring, and yesterday and today Sydney has really turned on the heat, is just a little hard for her, and she is wilting. No doubt she will soon get used to being hot again. She bought herself souvenir yarn (a Malabrigio painted lace weight, in hot pink) and some Harmony wooden needles. She is knitting an Ishbell! Now I feel the challenge to do one also.
I have tonight finished the Christmas present for the Chrissy swap on Ravelry, now all I have to do is block it. It's purple and I love it. Photos will follow, now I have a camera.
Pub night tomorrow, a special meeting to "debrief" following the visit to our local guild of President Carolyne. I wonder are we in trouble for asking her questions, and suggesting the guild is in danger of becoming irrelevant in today's knitting world (although not in so many words, but I have first hand knowledge that neither of my girls can see any value in spending money to join the guild, because "what will we get out of it?" {a direct question at dinner tonight from the 24 year old, and I was hard pressed to find something that she wanted that the guild could give her}).
It does sum up though what younger people think, the Guild is not for them .... I have yet to convince them otherwise.
Labels: blogtoberfest, home stuff, Knitting Guild
Day 19 (still no glasses)
To follow on from yesterday's wallowing, I have made sure the few parties I have thrown for my kids were affairs to remember. I made party invites, or bought really good ones, made party bags of lollies/gifts for kids to take home (with brown paper bags and cut up wrapping paper, so the party person and their sibs were all included in the getting ready part). We have hosted some real rip snorters, complete with tantrums and laughter.
It's rather hard to pin down, but probably the party which left the biggest impression was my third child's 13th birthday sleepover. Picture teenagers, stacks of makeup (they were mostly heading towards a goth phase, so there was much black and really shiny red lips and nails). They were quite hysterically funny girls, there was singing to the video camera behind the closed bedroom door (which strangely enough Elizabeth we could still hear outside), there was giggling and posing for photos. The funniest thing (to me) was that one of them brought "Romeo and Juliet", the one with *huge sigh* Leo in it. They lay around in sleeping bags and blankets on the loungeroom floor and their eyes never left the screen, and at the end there was sobbing, like their little hearts were breaking. OMG!!!!! I was really solicitous for one of them who was particularly badly hit, asking her was that the first time she had seen the movie? It turned out it was her copy and she had seen it like 1000000 (well maybe not that many, but you get the picture) times.
I had to take myself away where she could not hear me, and broke down laughing.
Kids eh? They keep you young. more anon
Labels: blogtoberfest
Day 17 (a grand adventure)
Like all the best adventures this began with a journey by train. I love train travel. I have been by train to the Gold Coast, Ballina, Grafton, Melbourne, and various places closer to Sydney (and sometimes by exotic trains, steam, vintage diesel). Today was just a combination of Tangara and inter city express. You get to meet all kinds of people and like during the Olympic period in Sydney, the Master's Games brings lots of people on public transport from all over the world. I have spoken to Iranian people (who are really loud when they argue/discuss things with each other), Canadians, A Fijian lady (who turned out to be a medal winner in the double's badminton, and even some softballers from Queensland. I had a ball, and visitors always love to talk about what they came to Sydney to do.
Anyhow, the purpose of the trip was for me to go to the Blue Mountains Guild for a sock knitting workshop. There were five of us from West Ryde Guild, and the ladies from BM (Blue Mountains) were welcoming and fun to learn with. In the group there were many levels of sock knitters, but even though I have knitted many pairs of socks, I learned two things today which will make life easier for me and reopen the book of top down socks. We learnt a tubular cast on which was so easy (really really), and despite being all thumbs, I also grafted the toe on my sock to finish. I need seriously to knit some swatches and practice grafting them together, because my first effort was seriously really loose, and yucky. It can only get better from here. Morning tea was yum, and Helen from our group brought a lovely lemon slice to share too.
Now I am home, but about to run out again to see Spamalot (the musical) performed by the Regals Musical Society. Report tomorrow.
Labels: blogtoberfest
Day 15 (can you feel it?)
We're half way through October, although technically since it's only 11.33 not quite half way, but here we are.
Tonight is Guild night, and our president Mme Caroline is visiting. It is also the night I said I would provide a report to the meeting on the trip to the Southern Highlands, Exeter to be exact, where Kerry and I went to check out the tea cosy competition. Apparently the exhibited tea cosies were much more elaborate in Morpheth, so it was hard to get ideas for next year at this exhibition. Still there were some lovely things to see.
In other news,
Geffo, the ex is doing the MS Ride to Wollongon and looking for sponsorship, so if you feel like helping a good cause feel free to add a little to his donations. I felt kindly towards the cause since every day I work with people with this crappy disease. No known cause, no known cure, more women than men get it. It's a really sad story and we see it every day, so just saying, anything that can help improve the lives of people with MS is a good research topic in my book.
Labels: blogtoberfest
Day 10 - Excursion
I have had a lovely day. Early this morning Kerry and her husband David came by my place and picked me up for a trip to the Southern Highlands of NSW to Exeter for the tea cosy competition. We had not entered a cosy, but we wanted to scope out the designs priming ourselves for Morpheth next year. On the way we stopped at the Salvos store on Milperra Road, where I picked up a set of
cuisinaire rods, some wooden sewing thread reels, and a couple of books. That was great fun.
Next stop was Wool Addiction in Bowral, for a little stash enhancement, but to be fair, it was a very little bit, and it was to enable me to use the last of some Annie Blatt mohair my daughter gave me for my birthday a couple of years ago now.
Finally on to the CWA at Exeter Community Hall for the exhibition/competition. Some of the cosies were lovely with so much work in them, and some were quite simple. We thoroughly enjoyed looking and touching, since no one seemed to mind if we picked them up to have a better look. On the way out we discovered we could fill a plastic bag (medium sized like you get at the fruit market) with all the yarn we could cram in for $5. Kerry and I went through the offerings with a fine tooth comb, and came away with a whole of good quality wool, 3/4/5 and 8ply (some still with labels of Bluebell, Totem,Jet(which we left), Shepperd baby wool). We had a country lunch and then scones,jam and cream + tea to finish. Yummmmm, it just got better and better. Unfortunately there was no tomato relish to buy, but I got a jar of lemon curd which looks great.
On the way home we stopped at Bowral Uniting Church, which had a very small fete thing happening, and at last I was able to get the country tomato relish I had been longing for. As a bonus there was also a luscious deep purple plum jam which I could not leave behind. I got a lot of knitting done, thanks to the fact that for the first time in 4 years I was chauffered on a long trip, and it was rather blissful to just relax, sing along to the CD, and knit. Many thanks David and Kerry, you are very good company and I had a lovely time.
Labels: bargains, blogtoberfest, Exeter
Day 8, At work (stealth post)
Th
is is what I am knitting. Sorry if your not on Rav, as its a Rav link.
credit for photo to Wooly thoughts, thanks and I bought the pattern, if you like it you should too. It's no more tricky than socks, but reading it ahead of working it was doing my head in. I decided I should just jump in and go for it, and surprise surprise the first piece looks just like the one in the photo!
There's no real reason for knitting it, just the love of a challenge, and life should be full of challenges!
Labels: blogtoberfest
Day 7, the posts get shorter
Today I have had a mental blank. I have no idea what I want to cook for dinner, and so in desperation I have bought some lamb chops on the way home. I love lamb, tender, not overcooked, and I lightly sauted the chops with lemon sprinkled on. I cooked diced potatoes in the fry pan (covered) and since it is a non-stick one, the only grease came from the chops, and they were lovely and lean. Add in a couple of onions. Delicious. I did peas and carrots, and served with mushroom sauce.
So from having a mental blank to dinenr, not too shabby, and there were about six leaves of silver beet, which I threw into the boiling water, just before I tipped it off the carrots.
I will be running off now to knit the second piece of the toy I am preparing for Penny's Christmas competition at West Ryde Knitting Guild. Yep it's in December, but i have a fear of running out of time, so I do things early. With any luck it will be finished in plenty of time (fingers crossed, touch wood etc etc).
Labels: blogtoberfest
Day 6, Back to work and the theory of relativity
I always find going back to work after a long weekend a shock to the system. I have no idea why. I have been working full time at this job now for nine years, shepherding the mentally ill in and out and generally being a bit of bar tender as I listen to their stories. Its a job that suits me very well, they're mad, I'm mad and well we all understand each other most of the time. But man oh man, add in a long weekend with the changeover to daylight savings (the dumbest idea of all time) and add in waking up in darkness again, and today I'm totally stuffed.
But enough of that, there was a lightening storm in Sydney last night that was a ripper. The cats thought so too! And listening to one of the patient's parents today, there was also a beaut storm up in the Blue Mountains on Saturday. At least I was inside, but this family were having a walk in the Wollami National Park, when a tree 2 metres in front of them was hit by lightening. Now that's invigorating. When they got over the shock they raced back to their car and relative safety. Makes our storm, where I was safe inside wrapped in a blanket cowering, positively tame! It's all relative really.
Labels: blogtoberfest, storms.
Day 5 (part two)
My family can tell you, I'm not fond of thunder, and today was a day of really good storms. Lightening is not to bad if I am inside, but thunder overhead (and we had thre or four of those in the last few hours) is pretty frightening for me. (yep there is a childhood link in there too! In year four we used an old cottage as our class room, and after school, several students and the teacher were stuck on the verandah while a storm passed over. From the tail end of the storm, when the rain had all but stopped, a bolt of lightening struck the power lines running from the street to the tin roof of the cottage, right in front of where we were standing. The thunder seemed to happen before even the lightening (but of course it's all tied up in how your body receives the input). I was already falling down to my hands and knees from the fright of it all.
But talk about deja vu, when we were having our home fitted for a new verandah roof a few years ago now, from an overcast but dry sky when we were standing round discussing quotes with the verandah guy, the power lines across the road from our home were it by lightening. There was even brown smoke drifting up from the wires after the strike. Unfortunately I was flat on the ground, quivering like a jelly. I was so scared, the husband had to physically lift me up and help me into the house. I was crying and shaking so hard.
Today during the storm, Bandit shot across the bed (and my legs) like a rocket and hit amongst my shawls in the cupboard, behind the almost shut door. I knew just how he felt, and wondered if it would be too weird to climb in there with him. You know? I hate being a grown up sometimes. Ben came into my room and made sure I was okay, while Lizzie comforted the dogs. Once the storm passed the dogs had the best time ever though, as the yard was full of puddles and they love nothing better than splashing through the mud and rain. Just don't mention a bath okay?
Labels: blogtoberfest, childhood memories, storms
Post the next
It's lunchtime. Early maybe, but I am an early riser, so breakfast is around 5.30am, therefore lunch at 12 is as long as I can wait. Today it's whole mushroom, sitting on a bed of jasmin rice, and with a home made sauce of chopped mushroom, bacon and chicken stock. It's really yummy, and although the mushroom was purpose cooked for lunch today, the rice and sauce are left overs from last night's dinner.
It was good!
I'm checking out the Darling Harbour Fiesta and wondering if my favourite Salsa Group, Salsa Vibes are going to be on over the weekend. Might have to go to the festival to check it out myself.
Have a nice long weekend, and be good to yourself.
Labels: blogtoberfest
