Scatterdays "Q"

A difficult letter this week - caused me to think deeply. Thought of lots of things, but nothing that I could photograph easily. Finally made some decisions - hope you think them appropriate.

The topics  are:  a plant;  night time;  healthy;   something quick from my sewing room.

A plant 

             My Quince tree came to mind. This year we have our best crop ever and I am determined to get more than the birds, so have bought a net to put over the tree. I love quince trees at all stages. Gorgeous green, beautiful blossom, delicious golden fruit and striking autumn leaves.

Night time - what better than a cosy Quilt on the bed. This pretty Dresden Plate was the result of a birthday swap at a local quilt group - Woodpatch Quilters. I love this one.

Something quick from the sewing room - what could be quicker or more useful than the Quick Unpick.  As you can see I have at least 3 of them just to be on the safe side. I'm sure there are a few more lying around in unlikely places too.

Healthy had me stumped for a while, but I settled on the Quality of life in this Quiet serene spot in which we live.

Liz Needle

Friday Fences 4

Oh dear. Friday again. Where has the last week gone?

This week's fence is a rather pretty picket fence with roses that I saw on my way home the other day. The old house is  made of blue stone which was very popular in Adelaide and the Hills  in the 1800s.

The iron roof is typically Australian as is the veranda which goes all the way around the house and gives protection from out hot summers.

Liz

The Family is Home

My daughter, Mandy, her husband, Gerald and their two beautiful girls, Niamh and Erinn  are back home in Sydney after 5 weeks overseas, first in Ireland, then a week each in London and Thailand. From the photos, I'd say they had a grand time.

And the two girls are looking so grown up!!  We haven't seen them since September and they change so much in that time.

These London photos look very cold, but they had a great time doing all the touristy things and navigating The Tube.

Thailand looks a lot warmer than London.

Now they are off to new schools tomorrow.  have fun girls.

Liz Needle



Friday Fences 3

This week I found this old church in Woodside, not far from where we live.  I guess it's not really old by European standards - or even American, I suppose, but it is about  150 years old as is the old stone fence.

And for those of you who were curious about the house behind the very grand entrance gates last week, here it is.  Just a very standard old Australian stone farmhouse with outbuildings behind that have been extensively renovated and look like they might be stables..

 Its the grounds that continue to amaze me. They now have dozens of old style street laights along the drive  and each tree along the road has its own ground light to illuminate it at night. They are now preparing the front area for instant lawn. Every day something new happens.

Fridays Fences 2

Fridays Fences  is a new activity for me, but we'll see how it goes.

Not far from us, someone has bought an old farmhouse with barns etc and has spent a HUGE amount of money doing it up. Everytime we drive past there is something new. Haven't a clue what is going on there, but my guess is a horse stud. My DD reckons it is some middle eastern potentate who has bought it for a holiday shack for his race horses when he come to Australia once a year for the Oakbank races. LOL!!

They've  built a new stable? complex matching the original stone, planted mature trees, miles of post and rail fences, instant turf and so on and on.

Here are the entrance gates, not finished yet.

Liz Needle

SCATTERDAYS 'R'

This week has gone so quickly - I seem to have been busy every day. It wasn't helped by me breaking a tooth and having to go to the dentist. I could not believe what it would cost to save the tooth - there's not much left.  I have decided at my age there's not much sense in spending thousands to save a tooth that no-one can see unless I really grin and that I am not really going to miss. I have 28 others I can use.

This week the letter is 'R' - not quite as difficult as the 'W'.

Transport  -  What could be classier than this Regal Red Rolls Royce. She is a gem.

Technology - the Radio is something I remember with fondness as a child. This is a Reproduction of an early Radio. I remember we had something similar when I was little. It is partnered by a very recent digital Radio. Somehow the old one is more appealing.

Something Red from the sewing room - Recycled Red  folders that I used at school and have now been seconded into other duties.  I must re-label them sometime.

Mammal - I though of plenty of mammals but photographing them was difficult. Those pesky rabbits in my vegetable garden just wouldn't sit still and I got the shock of my life when I opened the door of the granny flat and startled a Rat that had got itself trapped inside and was trying to find a way out. Fortunately he has been trapped and disposed of.

Inspiration hit when I realised that I still had my Christmas decorations on display and there was Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, just waiting to be the star of the show. Here he is checking out the garden.

I hope you all enjoy my interpretation of the letter 'R'.

Liz Needle

Owls

My eldest grand daughter has developed a passion for all things owly, so in November Jo and I went shopping for owls. We could hardly find a thing in any shops. A month later we went to Adelaide to complete our Christmas shopping and the shops were full of owls. What a difference a month makes!!

I found quite a cute cushion, but the price tag of $40 stopped me short. Not that I don't think we should pay well for hand made things, but I doubt if the poor craftie got anywhere near $40 for her time and materials. Anyhow I decided that I could do it better and cheaper and this week I have been sewing. Here are two of my creations.

Kind of cute. I hope the girls like them.

Liz Needle

Excitement

Great excitement on Friday night. We'd had a horror of a day - 46 degrees in town and a couple of degrees cooler up here in the Hills.  Perfect set up for a fire.

I was cooling off on the veranda when just on dark I heard the fire siren and then a police siren on the road above our house. A few minutes later Don came out to say a neighbour had rung to tell us that there was a big fire at the end of our road. Don jumped in the ute and roared off to see what was going on. Meanwhile Mark checked the CFS site and discovered that the fire was a vehicle fire. Don came back and said the fire was at the end of our property - about 300 metres away down the hill and the CFS were in attendance, then he roared off again.

I ran up to the road to find a group of neighbours there watching the CFS fire trucks deal with the fire.

We watched in the dark amid much speculation as to the origin of the fire and, as the danger was past, much laughter as the theories became sillier and sillier.

We learnt the next day that the old fellow down the road was driving down the hill when his car slipped off the road, then as he tried to get back onto the road, it rolled into the ditch on the side of the road and caught fire. Luckily he was only 50 metres from home and his son, hearing the revving of the engine came out to see what was going on and was able to get the old boy out safely. There was a 50 metre patch of paddock burnt - luckily it had been closely mown and the fire ran along the verge for a distance, but was quickly contained by the CFS who only had a couple of kms to come to the fire.

Could have been a tragedy and we have one very lucky old neighbour.

Liz Needle

Scatterdays

My first Scatterdays post. After much frustration because Blogger appears to have changed its uploading options, I have finally got my photos sorted, thanks to Ramona - also a Scatterdayer.

The theme this week was  'W' and the categories were Expensive, Exciting, Musical and  a WIP.  I actually found this letter very difficult and am not entirely pleased with my efforts this time.

Water is expensive and it is costing me an arm and a leg to keep my precious garden alive through this extremely hot spell. I am dreading the news that there will be 'Water Restrictions' this summer.

Wine is exciting, especially when it was my first bottle of real French champagne.

Wind in the Willows is musical, a lovely soft whispery sound. I had hoped to create a video here, but can't work out how to download from my camera onto the blog.

And finally the only WIP - Work in Progress I have at the moment is the organising of my new sewing room. It's a long story and a long process, interrupted by the comings and goings of my son. One day I will get it sorted.
   

  Next week the theme is the letter "R' and the categories are a Mammal, Technology, Transport and Something Red from my sewing room.  Off to put on my thinking cap.   Liz Needle

A New Thing to Do

On a fellow quilter's blog, I found a photo project called Fridays Fences, so I thought I'd join in. The idea is to take a photo of a fence or through a fence, so here is my first effort.  Although it is Saturday here, it is still Friday in USA - I think.

My fence is historically very famous in Australia. It is of the Dingo Fence, taken when we were on a trip to Lake Eyre. We took some very out of the way outback tracks and found ourselves at the Dingo Fence. It was originally erected in the 1880s to keep dingoes out of the south eastern part of the continent. It is the longest fence in the world at 5614 kms.

Not the best shot in the world, but it was taken with one of those old fashioned (non-digital) cameras and then scanned. Will do better next time.

Liz Needle

Koala Count

On November 28th we were involved in the Koala Count in South Australia. We were required to record any koala sightings on that day. All told over 1000 sightings were recorded , but this figure was probably lowewr than expected because we had a day of temperatures over 39 degrees.  Any self respecting koala would have been snoozing in the coolest spot it could find, not gallivanting about for silly humans to find.

Since then we have become quite obsessed with koala counting and regularly record sightings and photos on the Koala Count website.  Here are some of the photos I have been lucky enough to snap.

This beautiful boy has been around for a few years. We call him Kenneth and he is quite unafraid. He is distinguished by a white speckled patch on the bottom of his nose.


This is a younger fellow, lacking the white chin that Kenneth has. We have called him Kelvin.

 

                                                                                                     Kenneth again - or is it Kelvin. Not sure. Doesn't seem to be any white around his nose. Also seems to be a younger boy than Kenneth.

This female and her joey  have been in our garden twice that we have noted, usually in response to the very loud growling and calling from either Kenneth or Kelvin.

This is Kenneth again, You can clearly see the white under the nose.

This mother and joey were spotted while I was driving to town. Quite unperturbed by a noosey woman and her camera.

Below is the mother without her joey.

I hope you enjoyed our koala gallery.

Liz

Scatterdays

I have joined the Scquilters Scatterdays group. Scatterdays is a bit like categories.  Every Saturday a letter and four different categories will be listed.  Scatterers have one week in which to find one thing for each category, photograph it and upload it to their blog.  The following Saturday surfers often cruise around to check out what you found.  After you have checked out other scattering blogs you can then start on next week's list..

This is the first week of Scatterdays and we have 2 weeks to complete the assignment.

The letter for this week is 'W' and the categories are:-

EXPENSIVE
MUSICAL
EXCITING
and a quilt related one
WIP  - for the uninitiated this means Work In Progress. (this might pose a problem as I don't actually have a quilting project at the moment - Quilters block!!!)

At least Scatterdays might make me get off my butt and do something with my blog. If you would like to check out what other Scatterdayers are doing, click on the Scatterdayers list of names.

Now to put on my thinking cap. Hmmmmm.

Liz

The Story of the Nativity

Check out this video written and performed by children from a school in New Zealand. The story of the Nativity.

http://youtu.be/kWq60oyrHVQ

Enjoy.

Liz Needle

A New Toy

Don is having a ball. We have bought a new ride on lawn mower - a John Deere.  Our last one, although not really old - about 7 years - has been nothing but trouble, so we traded it in for something hopefully more reliable. Don also bought a trailer and he spent today mowing lawns with the new toy, which he pronounces much better to use and much quicker, and collecting and carting stuff in the trailer. 

We have nit sighted Kenneth the koala in nearly 2 weeks and are a little worried about him. I hope he has not come to any harm. However we have had some other visitors and they spent a warm afternoon under the pine trees.

There are quite a few kangaroos in the vineyard next door and Ollie and I often come across them on our daily walks. Ollie likes to chase them, but not for long. They are far too quick for him and he gives up quite soon.

Liz Needle

Firebugs

More cleaning up today.

Ollie and Mark had a great time stacking wood and lighting a fire. Like most Jack Russells,

Ollie gets fixations on things and one of his is for fires. He loves them. He snaps and snarls and gets his nose in as close as he can. As a result he has very few whiskers left - just curly singed stubs. He finds branches sticking out, grabs them and pulls them out if he can.

At one stage he set fire to the grass, but he was onto it and let us know what was happening. He wasn't happy until Mark had stamped it out.

Liz Needle

Down on the farm

This year the garden is looking the best it ever has, thanks to my retirement and Mark's extended leave. I have been busy weeding, planting, mulching and redesigning.Check out my garden blog for photos of the garden.
 Don is busy in the vegetable garden and keeping the lawns trim and Mark has been amazing - removing and burning dead trees, cutting down twisted and broken willows, building bridges and redoing the fallen down fences.

 Even city girl Mandy joined in helping when she was here and had a ball - "Just like when we were kids."

Next on the list of 'Things to be done" are a hen house and yard - our own free range eggs!!

Liz

The Disappearing Koala

The koala saga deepens. This morning there was no sign of mother koala and her baby, but there in his usual tree was the big male koala - Kenneth!!  And we thought he had turned into Katie.  But no, he is back again as large as life and doing his usual 'nothing' all day. At least Katie and the baby were fairly active which
 surprised us when we thought Kenneth had become Katie.

Our old friend Kenneth

But what of Katie and her little one?  Where are they?  Will we ever see them again? Is Kenneth the father of Katie's baby?  Will we ever know?  So many questions without answers.  I hope this story continues to develop like "Days of Our Lives".

Liz

Kenneth

Last year sometime I posted some photos of the koala who visits the garden on a regular basis. We call him Kenneth as it seemed to have a nice ring to it.

Well, Kenneth hasn't been around for a few weeks and we were beginning to feel as if we had been abandonned. Last Thursday I came home from school and was immediately dragged out into the garden to, "Come and see what has happened!".

I was led down to the native garden area and told to look up. I obliged.  There to my amazement was Kenneth, perched in the tree  -  except Kenneth has turned into 'Katie" with a baby on his/her back.

How exciting!!!!!!!!

I haven't been posting much lately - too busy gardening, but I will try to do better. I have started a blog devoted to the garden where I hope to record a year in the garden. If you are interested it is
http://alovesomething.blogspot.com.au/


Liz Needle

Dance of the Flowers

This is a truly beautiful video - if the link works!!

http://vimeo.com/vorobyoff/flowers

In the Garden

This weather is just perfect for gardens - not too hot, but pleasantly mild with rain every week or so. More to come tonight.

The vegetable patch certainly appreciates it with a great crop of just about everything. This summer all we have had to buy have been onions - everything else has been harvested in abundance. We have picked tomatoes - 4 varieties, cucumbers, zucchini, baby squash, artichokes, french beans, broad beans, peas, sweet corn, aubergine, capsicum, chillies, potatoes, green onions, garlic, carrots, beetroot, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, salsify, radishes, lettuce, bok choy, spinach, silver beet, cabbages, Chinese cabbages and butternut pumpkins.

Some of the root vegetables have been very large.

And quite weird shapes


The good weather has meant that other areas of the garden are also thriving and I have had mt time cut out keeping up with the weeding and trimming. I guess it keeps me fit.



But it is worth the effort.

Liz

Beautiful

Isn't this just the most beautiful photo.

Just love this sunset taken from our back verandah.