Early Pickings

Yesterday brought a cool change in weather. After being cooped up inside hiding from the heat I felt the need to venture out and get some fresh air.I knew it was early in the season for blackberries but hoped that the hot weather conditions might have bought on an early show of berries, so off I headed to Mt Compass to try my luck

It rained the whole way there and the clouds in the sky looked ominous - threatening to rain the whole day through. I'm not complaining as the rains are a welcome relief for the firefighters and mean that the fires are now under control. In fact our whole weather pattern is bizarre . We are expecting the heaviest rains ever for the month of January in the next three days, with warnings of flooding to widespread northern areas, Never a truer word was said when someone coined the phrase " Ït never rains it pours!"

Anyway as luck would have it the skies didn't decide to deluge me and dampen my spirits. All I got was a light drizzle and because of the heat to the previous days it was almost muggy/ humid, not in the least bit horrible or cold

The blackberry bushes are laden and promise a good fruiting season. Even though pickings were scarce I still managed to pick 2 kilograms worth of berries but I had to pick over a large area and over a long period of time. I do my picking on the roadside and there is a lot of passing traffic usually but because of the cloudy conditions probably fewer holiday makers than normal. Still some ventured a hello with a toot of their horns.

Even though it is a major road the country side is beautiful and two steps off the road and you are gone from view. So here are my happy snaps from yesterday

Can you see the spider in the photo above, my camera wouldn't focus on him (I was using my phone camera- my daughter has stolen my good camera to go away on holidays with friends)

I found the one and only thistle in amongst the brambles and risked life and limb to go and photograph. I was a bit worried about all the holes in the ground which I am hoping were due to rabbits and not some other dangerous animal..too big for snakes but that is not say that there weren't any snakes about but less likely in the cool weather.
Do you think the fur in between the thistles is due to spiders or part of the plant in growth?

 The alpacas came for a nosey at the fence as I picked on the otherside

What doing

`Thank you for your well wishes and concern for my pooch. Matilda has started some steroids and hopefully that will reduce the tumour in the short term. She certainly hasn't lost her appetite although steroids are known to cause increased thirst and appetite. You can see she is troubled at the end of the day when her abdomen is bloated and she needs to go to the toilet. She wont go outside unless we accompany her, which is unusual seeing she has always been an outside dog and generally never allowed inside. Now is the exact opposite- we let her come and go as she pleases. Today seems a better day. Despite the high temperature 42 degree C she is resting comfortably under the air conditioner.

The bushfires are still raging in the Adelaide Hills, now 38 homes destroyed. The fire service has another hard day ahead of them because of changing wind directions and impenetrable scrub and extremely high temperatures. Thankfully tomorrow cooler weather is predicted
If I walk over the hills out the back scrub I can see the glow of the fire many miles away, we are quite safe though.

To amuse myself today ( I am so bored with being cooped up hiding from the heat) I ventured out op shopping.
My younger sister was here over Christmas mentioned that she had taken a liking to pink/ rose coloured glassware and wished to start collecting. Bingo! I found some and will be gifting them to her for her Birthday in February. I can show you them because I had to get her approval before doling out dollars  6 glasses for $20 and 4 dimpled dessert glasses $25 - not cheap but not overly expensive either - and I have a present for her which she likes- Yeah!

I gave them a quick dress up  and set the table and sent my sister this photo as well. I really love the dimpled dessert glasses. I think the long stemmed wine glasses are crystal based.

In between shopping I have been crocheting my neutral toned blanket- so far 126 squares completed, about half the size of my king sized bed. The tone of the blanket varies as I add new balls of wool in to the mix so some to the blanket has mustard and yellow tones and then moves to the pink and apricot notes, but its basis is neutral.

 The reverse side

Every now and then I leave this earth toned field and venture into brighter and more playful colours- not so monochromatic....but I still like it for all its dullness

Happy New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015

Hailing in the new year I have already mixed feelings.

Life is turbulent. around here . I am having great difficulties in my personal life  and find that I need to make some decisions about the direction my life will take.

It also saddens me that we found out the day before New years that our dog is sick and will soon die. She is such a lovely and loyal member of this family that she will be sadly missed when the time comes and that wont be too long away. I am tearful as I write this, To be honest I am more upset about my loss of this wonderful animal than any other influences relationships may play in my life, I suppose I have had way more time to come to terms with what is not in my life over the years.

All that said I am still blessed with wonderful family and friends whom are understanding and caring of my needs and got to spend New Years Eve with the best of them. 

We dined out in our local area and had prime position to watch the fireworks whilst we dined. I pays to book ahead. (well ahead) My three besties and partners and me.

And just a belated shot from the ward decorating , over a hundred snowflake ballerinas, hundreds of snowflakes and lots of inventive use of bandaging to decorate the many meters of corridors.

Would you believe we were disqualified from entering the decorating competition because someone used softban bandage to decorate the hand rails - misuse of hospital property....but its okay if we donate all our time and money to decorate. Next years theme ... A Grinch Christmas!

Anyway the patients and relatives enjoyed it, and it was a good team building exercise.

2014 My Year In Craft

2014 

My Year In Craft

a photographic review

Cherry Picking

Cherry Picking (our first time) at Marble Hill

Such attractive animal life in the cherry orchard

     

 Yolly must have got a pit in her eye (After I taught the kids how to cherry pit spit!)

We picked over 6 kilograms of cherries and probably ate just as many

 The bright red cherries are morello cherries, they look beautiful but are sour cherries for cooking.

                        Cheeky and flamboyant attire worn in the cherry orchard, what a monkey.

How many kilos of cherries did we eat? Some people obviously ate too many because tummy grumbles could be heard in the car and some were none to pleasant to sit near!

                          Some of the most attractive people are found cherry picking!