End of holidays

I finally found a lemon verbena...

... Freya is exhausted after the last couple of weeks...

... and I go back to work tomorrow :*(

Not much to say, really - it's been good to have time off work, away from the daily hassles, and just spending time with people I choose to, rather than those I have to.

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Slapper's having a rough time - keep him in your thoughts. He's a very, very special man.

Just berserk kiwi-berks!

Meet the Topp Twins!

They're worth googling on Youtube, particularly to hear how Jules (the yodelling twin) dealt with breast cancer more recently.

Pretty inspiring.

Early Christmas debrief ... we love a project.....

Well, the parents have gone home but we had a really good few days.

Sunday was chaotic and busy, but fun. Early Christmas dinner (lunch) was roast beef with roasted root veggie medley, roast potatoes (of course!), beans, gravy and individual Yorkshire puddings - in this case, they were Berkshire puds 'cos I've never made them before, but they turned out well and there were definitely no leftovers! Dessert was orange almond macaroons with mixed berries and icecream, then we opened presents before the dog-walking tribes came and joined us for afternoon drinks and nibbles.

Over the next few days, Mum and I were chauffered around by Dad - the priority was finding fabric for a quilt for Dobby's room and for a maxi-dress for my niece, finding a Eureka lemon tree (and hopefully a lemon verbena) for the garden. Apart from the lemon verbena, we did it!

Here's the quilt fabric. This will be Mum's next quilting project, to finish sometime before next winter, I hope! It won't look much like this once it's made up, but it'll give you an idea of the colours.

What you can't see in the picture is the gorgeous textures of the materials. (It helps a little if you click on the picture to see it larger.) The beige linen in the middle for the sashing and background is French, the purple and green-grey are shot cottons for a narrow (purple) and wider border, and the patterned one on the left is a very textured Japanese fabric called.... wait for it ... Dobby! I lost it when I read the name on the end of the bolt!! That fabric will be pieced to create kaleidoscope squares. These are really clever - identical squares of fabric cut and pieced to form a literal kaleidoscope effect. This is one Mum did for my niece a few years ago.

The materials are all from a very lovely quilt and yarn shop called Calico and Ivy, in Mosman Park. The staff were just what you'd hope to find in a quilting fabric place - patient, helpful and really fun. They put up with Mum and me dithering over yardage and colours, and I'll take the quilt back when it's finished to show them.

Time to just enjoy the quiet tonight - I'll take a pic of the lemon tree tomorrow.

Scene of the drama!

Gaia's population rose by three yesterday, and almost reduced by one before you could say "crumbed fish in a white-wine sauce".

The new pot seemed to be crying out for occupants, so Dobby and I chose three small goldfish, brought them home and set them free after a litle while to acclimatise.

When we checked a bit later, we could only find two in the pot - one had managed to flip over the edge and onto the garden-bed below.

Miraculously, after being found, put back in the water and brushed clean of dirt, the escapee (now known as Lazarus) seems fine.

Soooo ... garden is looking good, house is clean, Christmas tree is up early, and we're ready for an invasion of family on Sunday :*)

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Keep your chin up, git - RS xxxxx

Dobby in the garden

This is Dobby (the house-elf) caught in action in the garden.

Strangely, Dobby bears more than a passing resemblance to my sister, who's been staying with me on-and-off thanks to Quaintarse's reluctance to be sensible and give her a transfer back to Sydney. Still - we have fun when she's here!

I'm on leave for a couple of weeks, now, so we're Spring-refreshing the garden. Dobby has weeded and pruned the back yard to within an inch of its life, and today was planting day. The results are above.

I supervised, directed, and made encouraging noises and cups of coffee. Over the past few months, my back, neck and left shoulder have been giving me grief, and after a few aborted attempts, they have let me know that gardening is off the agenda for a while. No big deal, but very frustrating.

Here's the front courtyard. The bouganvillea is glorious, so I just wanted to fill in a little bit at ground level, and the rest is weed-mat and river pebbles. No - more - weeding!

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I miss Slapper like mad. Catching up with him most days has been so good and has always put a grin on my face, no matter how shitty I might feel. Now he's looking for work in the UK's crap job market, so send him good thoughts.....

...... or job offers in Oz :P