Christmas is Done and Dusted

Oh dear! 6 weeks since I have even looked at my blog. How slack. Term 4 was so hectic, I was sure I would never get everything done. I can't recall being quite so busy and rushed in other years. I'm not sure whether there was more to do, more pressure or whether I am getting more disorganised and less multi-tasked as I get older.

Finally finished Christmas shopping a few days before Christmas and got the tree up - as is ordained by family tradition, it has to be big enough to touch our 11 foot ceilings - and it was.

Oops! That was last year's tree. Wonder where the photo for this year is. No matter. Looks much the same - just no little kids around this year.

Small group of 8 of us this year, but we made up for it with 32 to tea the next day - all family. That was a hectic but fun day. Little kids everywhere, with a new one on the way - another great niece or nephew in June. Very exciting.

One of the things Don and I got for Christmas was an iPod from Mark, so we can listen to our music more conveniently. I've had fun the last 2 days going through my CDs and putting them on the iPod. Now I'll have to persuade Don to learn how to use it. He tends to resist modern technology - more out of perversity than anything else.

I remember years ago in the early 70s when he was still teaching high school maths and he used to take his classes on excursions down to Adelaide to play on these computer things. All they ever did was print out long pages of words or make calendars and Don swore that it was a waste of time and computers would never be of any use to schools. Hmmm. Eating his words now!!

Off to record more albums.

Have a safe and Happy New Year .

Liz

Old Photos

We were chatting by email about old photos yesterday, so I went searching. I have hardly any photos of myself before I was about 10 - they've been lost somewhere along the way. But I did find some facscinating ones of my husband Don and his family, so I though I would share some of them.

Don's mother and grandmother and their dog.




Don's father and his
twin brother




Don, his mother, grandmother, a family friend, older brother and twin brothers










Don and his 4 younger brothers


I'll have to go searching for photos of me now. Heaven only knows where the few we had have got to.

Liz

Sadly.............

A friend recently sent a photo by email showing her son holding the most glorious armful of Waratah blooms. Quite breathtaking, but also heartbreaking. Why?

I'll show you my waratah - a prized possession carefully nurtured over 10 years and bringing joy to many over that time. They are a relatively rare species here in South Australia and many passers-by stop to admire this specimen - or they did!!!



This was our lovely Waratah 2 years ago. The Community bus used to drive along our road just so the old folk could see it.










This is it now. It was the first our our shrubs - and the most heartbreaking - to succumb to the drought.

There will be others this year. Already, despite a fair winter, some of the plants are looking less robust than usual. I guess sights like this one will be come more and more common in gardens as the water restrictions hit home. With over 2 acres of garden, my allotted 3 hours of hand watering doesn't go far.
We're going to learn the hard way what plants are going to be most suitable for South Australian gardens!!

Liz

October in the Garden

October in the Garden
Originally uploaded by lulubelleliz

There always seems to be happening in the garden - always something coming to life around each corner - apart from the weeds, of course. The winter and early spring bulbs and the camellias have just finished and now it is the turn of the perennials, the late spring bulbs and the flowering shrubs and trees.

Here is a selection of what is on offer at the moment in our garden.
1. White camellia 2. Miniature violet
3. Scabiosa 4. Iris
5. Peruvian lily 6. Malus ioensis

7. Michelia 8. Iris
9. Nasturtium 10. Howard Florey rose
11. Babiana 12. Perennial Forget-me-not
13. Arum Lily 14. White Flowering Chestnut
15. Pink Dogwood 16. Camellia

Liz Needle

More broken

Some more 'broken' photos. Our place is just full of them. The trouble is that with me working full time and Don retired, but not very fit, we just can't get to fix these things - and to pay someone to do it is well beyond my means ( about $15 000 to clear away all the fallen willows!).

Thirty odd years ago 10 acres was fun - hard work, but fun. Now it is getting too hard. Trouble is that we have made this place so perfect (for us), that we can't bear to bite the bullet and sell up. Where else could we have the peace and solitude, the birds, koalas, echidnas and possums, the beautiful garden? Nowhere that we can afford, that's for sure!

Liz

Scatterdays

Scatterdays theme this month is "Broken" and I have tons of 'broken around this old farm. I'll sart with the old house - not the new one which was built around 1902, but the old one at the back.
When we moved in 37 years ago, we planned to do this old place up and use it as a B&B, but the architect took one look and threw his hands up in horror. It was built of cement and rubble - an old cheap method and the weather wall was sored up and covered with iron to keep the rain out. It could have been rebuilt, but at huge cost to us - poor struggling 30 year olds with 3 kids to raise and an old farm to re-fence and farmhouse to do up. So, the old house was left to die gracefully.

The blackberries have taken over the outside and the swallows, bats, rats and snakes the inside.







Liz Needle

Daffodils

Daffodils
Originally uploaded by lulubelleliz

I mentioned yesterday that the bulbs have been stunning this year. Here are a few photos I took while the daffodils were out.

A pity in a way that they don't last until the bluebells are out. The blue and yellow combination would be amazing. There probably is a way of managing this, but I like things to happen in my garden without my intervention.

Below is another view of the garden. Last Friday the fog came in about 5 pm and I tried to catch it on film. It actually looked thicker than this in real life, but I still like the effect.



Liz

Bluebells

Bluebells
Originally uploaded by lulubelleliz

Don and I have been busy trying to get the garden in order. The drought and water restrictions were very discouraging and we let the garden go last summer. After a good winter the garden had sprung to life again and is looking quite lovely. The spring bulbs have all come up regardless of the drought - bulbs are so rewarding. They seem to forgive all.

The daffodils have all but finished and the bluebells are holding sway. The blue is just amazing, but unfortunately, the colours lose their splendour once they are photographed. The garden is awash with shades of blue at the moment. And the occasional pink clump. Such a satisfying bulb. No matter what you do to them, they flourish in the shady areas. I love them. To add to the blue we have babiana just about to flower and grape hyacinth and iris as well.

Soon the roses will wake from their winter sleep and the pinks, whites and golds will add to the spring colour in the garden. It will be interesting to see how the roses recover from the lack of water during the summer. We were amazed at the hardiness of the camellias (we only lost one) and the magnolias. Plants are surprisingly adaptable.

Spot the Difference

Finally finished the blocks for the Web Challenge quilt and spent today trimming and putting them together - block by block, row by row, being careful to match everything up, get seams butting, blocks in the right position - you know the drill. Done it many times over. Checked it out with my spyhole and everything looked in place. Great!

Photo take. Quilt spread out on the lounge room floor. Dogs locked outside. Ladder in so I could get high enough to get good shots. Finally photos taken and I stood back to admire the effect. Then........................ big expletive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I won't tell you what I said. It was very naughty. Can you see what I saw?

I couldn't believe my eyes. And I had checked it so carefully. Looked at it over and over.

So back I went and carefully unpicked what I had to and did it again, but what a bummer!!!

Below is the corrected quilt. Much better. Now I have to add sashing and borders, then get someone to quilt it. Too big for me to manage under my sewing machine.

It's my first significantly red quilt and I rather like it. Not sure where to put it mind you as my house doesn't cater for red, but I am sure it will find a home.

Liz

Our River

Earlier this week we took advantage of the beautiful Spring weather and drove along the lower reaches of the Murray River. We had not done this for 6 months or so and wanted to see the deterioration since our last visit in Summer.

I guess for people not familiar with the river it doesn't look too bad - there seems to be a lot of water still, but for those living on and depending on the river, the changes are devastating. Even for visitors such as us, the changes are scary. Every year I take a group of Year 6/7 kids to Murray Bridge for an Aquatics Camp and we have noticed the receding water level over the past few years. Where once the water lapped the lawn verges of the camp site, now there is a stretch of sandy beach. The jetties and loading ramps are high out of the water and worst of all, the lovely billabongs along the river are dry, cracked mud. Where once there was abundant bird life sheltering on these quiet backwaters, now there are only birds in the willows along the banks and a few larger birds on the river itself.

It is difficult to see how these billabongs will ever fill again. It would take huge amounts of water from upstream to see them flourish as they did a few years ago.

The large grey expanse was once water teeming with wildlife. Note the irrigated grain crops on the left hand side of the photo!

What horrified me most was seeing large areas of grain crops (barley or oats) being watered by large overhead sprinklers around Purnong. To me watering such crops is pure waste. But then, I am not an expert on such matters. I guess it's no worse than irrigating rice and corn in the middle of the Hay Plains?

Liz

Web Sampler Blocks

Web Sampler Blocks
Originally uploaded by lulubelleliz

These are the quilt blocks I have been working on this week. They are part of a quilt called 'Web Sampler Celebration #2', that was put out last year as part of the Shop Hop in USA.
They are a Civil War Classics range of fabrics by Julie Rothermel for Marcus Fabrics and I just fell in love with the range. My final quilt design is from Quakertown Quilts and I can't wait to see it finished.

Wet Photos

Hmmm,. You can tell I'm on holidays - I have time to spend on my blog. As you can see if you have visited before I have changed the colour and style. I like this green for a change.

Have to say I was disappointed at the size my 'wet' photos turned out with Mosaic Maker. Mine always seem to be small, whilst similar ones on other blogs seem quite large. Wonder why that is? So, I have decided to publish them again because I like them.

These are photos I took of the TV screen during the Women's Road Cycling Race in Beijing.

Wet

Wet
Originally uploaded by lulubelleliz

I am really pleased with these photos of the Women's Road Race in Beijing. I took photos of the TV screen and crossed my fingers. I like the reflections I got from the rain and the screen.

Cheesemaking

For my birthday this year, my daughter, Jo, paid for me to attend a cheesemaking workshop with her. It was held in Angaston at the Barossa Valley Cheese Company and the workshop on making washed rind cheese was run by Carole Willman of Cheeselinks, Little River, Victoria.

Having purchased a new pair of clean rubber galoshes, unearthed an apron in the depths of my kitchen cupboard and found a plastic tub with two lids, I presented myself at the venue, ready to make cheese. Jo and I were introduced to the other 5 participants and Carole introduced us to the art of making cheese.

I won't go into details - hopefully the photos will do that, but suffice to say that it was totally fascinating and at the end of the workshop we proudly carried home our embryo cheeses with instructions on how to proceed to mature said cheeses over the next few weeks.

At home we had to keep our cheese at a constant temperature between 11 and 14 degrees until the mould started to show. The hardest part was actually maintaining such a temperature as it has been so cold and unless I put it on the mantlepiece over the fireplace, I could only get a temperature of 10 degrees anywhere in our cold old house. Next we had to wash and turn our cheese every few days until the washed rind culture became established (it was supposed to go reddish, but neither Jo's or mine did). Instead it started to go runny inside the rind, so I wrapped it in baking paper and foil and popped it into the fridge to mature slowly.

Well, mine is maturing! I'm not sure that it is maturing as it should, but it is sitting there doing something. It smells OK and tastes OK, but I'm not sure that it looks exactly as it should. Despite this I will purchase some cheesemaking supplies and try again, because it was fun and a challenge. When I actually taste my cheese in a couple of weeks, I will give you a taste report. Until then I check it regularly and give it more care than I did my children. LOL.

Liz

I have won an award!!!

Yeah!! I would like to thank Katie for my award.
This is my first ever.





Rules for this award

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs for an award.
4. Put links to those blogs on yours
5. Leave a message on the blog of the person you have nominated.

I am nominating some of my favourite blogs.
Laurie, Taniwa, Lindi, Mandy Sue, Loz, Dawn, Random Applique . Well done, ladies.

Liz

Musing about books

I have just been adding lists to my blog. Books and authors. I thought it would be an easy task, but I found it really difficult. Who and what to put on - who and what to leave out?

I read through my book diary - yes I do keep records: my friends think I am anal!! As I browsed I pondered how tastes in reading change. There are always some books and authors forever ingrained, but many of my favourite authors of yesteryear are forgotten - or tucked away in the dark recesses of my mind and only brought out and dusted when I spend time browsing in a second hand book shop.

On my bookshelf are many books that I devoured avidly when I was younger, but which I haven't touched for years. One of the problems is that there are so many good books around these days that one has a hard time keeping up with them, let alone re-reading past favourites.

My new resolution - I will not borrow/buy any new books until I have read some of those old ones that have previously given me so much pleasure.

I wonder how I will go? I'll keep you posted.

Liz

Cold Spell

As I look out of the window this morning, the fog moves in from across the paddocks- another cold wintry day. It has been raining all night - very much needed rain, but not adding to the winter's cheer. It seems to be the longest wintry spell we have had in years, with temperatures regularly down in the single figures and several morings here where it was -1 on our front lawn. We have had a good lt of rain, but it's further north they still need it and even more in the catchment area of the Murray River and it's tributaries. The Murray is desperate - it is dying.

The theme for our photography this month is wet - well, it's wet all around us, but nothing like on the scale of earlier years up here. These photos, taken in different years are actually of the paddock to the side of our house.

We don't seem to get wet winters like this anymore.

Liz

Reflections

Reflections
Originally uploaded by lulubelleliz

For my reflections I have chosen reflections of the sky.
The first one is the sky using my car window - I found, once I started looking for reflections, that car windows are actually amazing.

Unfortunately I couldn't bring myself to taking photos of other people's cars in case they thought I had an ulterior motive. I could imagine myself being taken in tow by the local copper for snooping.

The second shot is a large puddle of water (almost a mini lake at the moment) at the lowest point of our property and the third shot is a closer one of the same reflection. The colour in the water amazed me.

Liz

ATCs

Atcs
Originally uploaded by lulubelleliz

Such a while since I blogged. Too much else happening in my life at the moment.
I have the grand children staying and though they are a delight, they take up time. Soon they will disappear back to Sydney and it will seem like a dream that they were ever here and once again I will fret because I miss so much of their growing up.

I have spent a little sewing time catching up on my ATC commitments. Here are a few more:
- a kimono postcard done with foundation piecing - gorgeous fabrics on black taffeta
- an ATC entitled Midnight Lace for a 'Different Fabrics" swap - I found this gorgeous piece of sequinned lace in Spotlight and was waiting for a chance to use it.
- two oriental fans for an "Oriental" swap. These were fun to make.

Now off to finish some butterflies, then a series titled "Checks". No ideas for this one.

This is one of my favourite sets. It is entitled "Oriental". Love the fabrics and the colours that were used. All of these cards were delightful.

Sometimes the cards are a little disappointing, but I guess that's the same with all swaps. We don't all have the same fabric and colour tastes, which is what makes life more interesting.

I am getting quite a collection of these little cards now and so far my interest is not flagging, though it can't last forever - can it?

Liz Needle

Frames

My reports are nearly finished - only another 8 hours to go. LOL. But, I am nearly there, one more subject and an overall comment - 25 times!!!

Time to choose my favourite frames. I wish I'd had more time to play with this theme as it was interesting. Had me looking at things a whole new way.

My final selection:

The Rose Arch. My garden is divided into separate areas - "rooms" I think Edna Walling called them. This archway leads us from one room to another and gives a glimpse of what is to come. I love the effect. In Spring and Summer it is entirely different as the roses come into prolific flower.



Cousins. I loved the effect of the dark background and the light forground with the two children playing in the pool. Has a nice summery feel to it.



Autumn Leaves. The garden again - it isn't difficult to see where my interests lie. Here I like the contrast between the dark tree trunks framing the tree in the background and the coppery autumn leaves in the foreground.

Now I'm off to see if anyone else has posted their final choices - much more creative than mine, I imagine.

Liz Needle