GREEN AND GOLD

Today is Wattle Day.

The wattle is the floral emblem of Australia. 

It's what our country's colours - green and gold - are based on.

There are lots of different types of Wattle .

They all have little pompom flowers and the most amazing scent.

Some are lemon,

some are bright yellow

and some a deep gold.

Some have tiny pompoms and some have large pompoms.

They flower at different times throughout late Winter and early Spring.

At the moment the scent of wattle is everywhere where I live.

These wattles grow in Victoria, aren't they glorious? 

The tree below is growing just around the corner.

More than anything else, to most Australians the wattle stands for home.

 

Cheers.

INTO THE NEW WEEK

Hello, I hope you all had a nice weekend.

We did.

I tried out a new recipe to take to Sally's place where we did a little more to the ongoing job of slowly sprucing up her duplex.

Just a variation on a quiche replacing loads of fattening cream with low-fat ricotta.

It received the tick of approval from the hungry recipients accompanied by a healthy salad.

Our daytime  temperatures are beginning to climb and there is a definite feeling of warm weather ahead but the nights are still cool enough to snuggle under the warm covers.

 I really LOve the cold nights of winter all snuggled up under my doona!

I have temporarily abandoned my little granny garden squares - can't face all those ends at the moment!

I am busily practising my new crochet skills on this...

It is just a very large granny square that is a good way to practise my "skills".

It has grown quite quickly and I will keep going with it till it reaches lap blanket size. Then I will attempt to put an edge all round it.

 The "wool" is very cheap and not very nice ( acrylic yarn ) but I am really enjoying the rhythm of the easy stitch and I am beginning to achieve a more uniform looking result.

I plan to finish a whole ball of blue before I bring in another band of white so not too many ends!

I am also trying to crochet over the ends as I go, though this is proving a bit difficult, but as I am leaving longer ends, if I have to sew them in at least I will be able to thread the needle !!!

I have also been buying material for a couple of new projects.

These for a lap quilt...

and these are the beginnings of a larger project.

I think choosing the material is one of the the hardest things to learn when you start quilting

but I really enjoy searching through the shops.

 I am finding there are lots of friendly shopassistants out there with a wealth of knowledge and experience to share.

Finally, today was the day for my two yearly mammogram. Most of us know someone who has been touched by this disease so it is important that we do not neglect our regular checks.

This afternoon while I was looking on the internet for the pink ribbon insignia I found these cute wellies

It's a pity we don't wear wellies in Queensland, I can see myself in a pair of these

AND I'd be helping a good cause too !

MOVIE REVIEW

I love going to the movies.

I like all sorts of movies....

comedies,

love stories,

historical dramas,

contemporary dramas,

even some action films.

Not many westerns

or war movies

or movies with lots of violence.

I love a good story ....

uplifting, ....

that makes me feel good...

smiling as I leave the theatre.

So on Monday we decided to go to the movies as you can when you have retired.

Just out of the blue we threw on some decent clothes and off we went

to see this movie.

About a ghost writer who is allocated a month to turn the drab memoirs of former British PM Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan) into a riveting page turner.

The main star was Ewan McGregor who played the ghost writer who was never named in the film ( odd?)

and the film was directed by Roman Polanski (he's obviously odd - and possibly twisted !!!)

The film was based on Robert Harris' best-selling book, 'THE GHOST' which caused a fuss when it was published because of the obvious similarities between the fictional Adam Lang and Britain's former PM, TONY BLAIR.

Well I didn't leave the cinema smiling or feeling uplifted.

It was a very dark and brooding film -

all grey and colourless

rain, wind, grey concrete bunker-like house, brooding seas,

full of gathering suspense.

Not bad

but not that good either.

Cheers. 

OOPS !

Oops, I nearly missed it!

Kate, of The Garden Bell fame, noticed on the weekend that it was a year since I began blogging.

I had forgotten !!

Let me just say that in the last year I have come to "know" many of you and consider you friends.

Each day I look forward to visiting your blogs and "talking" with you.

I've enjoyed taking a peep into your lives all over the world,

sharing your joys and your worries.

I've been inspired by you,

encouraged by you,

even had an occasional rant to you.

I've shown you a glimpse of life in Oz like this,

 

or this

shared recipes like this

boasted about my handwork like this  

and taken you on holidays with me like this

It's been a WONDERFUL experience.

I look forward to many more shared experiences with ALL of you

Cheers.

W I P s and U F O s

I've been reading about WIPs and UFOs on this blog today.

I rather like the fact that I have a few projects on the go.

A few WIPs

and even a couple of UFOs !

I don't really know the difference but I guess if it's nearly finished it's a UFO

and if not it's a WIP !!

So this week I finally finished the second pillow case to match my quilt
which means that UFO is now finished !

The second UFO is this wheelchair bag.

It 's handles velcro together over the armrest of a wheelchair so that a person can carry things around with them.

This one is destined to go to a child and only needs the binding round the top and the velcro to be added.

Recently my CWA  group had a daylong working bee to make these for sufferers of MS.

Next come the WIPs

I now have seven tops done of my set of eight tablemats.

This is a slow project as Ionly learn one block a month.

I am also doing a table runner to go with this set.....

... and I think it will be long enough with one more star.

So if you add my little crochet learning project I have a variety of projects on the go

and that feels good !!!

Cheers.

STEP TWO

This is step two in my crochet journey.

I found the instructions on Attic24's tutorial.

Even managed to master the "bobble" stitch !

They were a bit "wonky" but I saw from several blogs that I must block them into shape by pinning them so this I did on my ironing board.

Thank goodness for all my blogland mates !

Now before I can crochet them together I need to do something with all those ends !!!!

Cheers.

SUNDAY OUTING - Part 2

Are you ready for the second part of our Sunday in sunny Brisbane outing?

If so read on. 

If not, you are excused. See you another day.

After lunch we wound our way through the city streets till we reached the river once again.....

... then boarded a cross river ferry to cross to Southbank.

As we crossed, the Kookaburra Queen passed with her cargo of luncheon passengers enjoying their lunch and cruise along the river in the sunshine.

All around us were people enjoying our lovely Winter weather in our pretty city.

This side of the river is all parkland ......

and there were people lazing in the sun reading the Sunday papers...

as well as picnics and BBQs on the go everywhere.

A few crazy people were climbing the cliffs ....

... which seems to be a very popular activity for reasons that I am unable to fathom !!

The entrance to the Southbank Park was ablaze with colour from the Bougainvillea Walk ...

.. which winds it's way right through the park.

The man-made beach area was a popular destination....

especially with the children and the Life Guard was on duty.

( You can see the river there in the background, )

The markets were in full swing, but from what I could see, were mainly selling beaded necklaces and candles

so we walked on past buskers entertaining the crowds ...

and more open spaces where frisbees seemed to be in full use, while Mums and Dads and grandparents too, sat and chatted in the sunshine

It wasn't long before our CityCat ferry arrived to take us home.

We had spent a lovely five and a half hours and

walked about six kilometres.

A lovely way to spend a lovely day.

Cheers.

SUNDAY OUTING - Part 1

Saturday night was a mite chilly at around 6 degrees but, as with our usual August weather, Sunday was a bright sparkly day with a forecast temperature of 25 degrees.
Just the weather for a river walk into the city.

I know I've taken you  on this walk before but there is always something new to see in a city that was only born in 1842 when it changed from a goal for difficult convicts from New South Wales and was opened up to free settlers.

As usual we drove to the CityCat terminal near Queensland University so we could travel across the river to start our walk.

It wasn't long before one came speeding up the river......

and we were qickly off to the other side of the river.

From here we set off towards the city through the parkland that lines the river.

Families were out and about with children making good use of all the lovely play equipment provided and Mums and Dads had the BBQs fired up with sausages, steak and onions sizzling.

There were several birthday parties along the way too....

....like this one where the little boys were all dressed up with swords and shields to fight a couple of the Dads dressed up as knights !!

We walked along, sometimes in sunlight, sometimes in welcome shade.

This section of the Brisbane river is tidal and salty and those trees you can see growing along the banks are mangroves which are very important to the ecology of the river.

Usually the river bed is muddy but occasionally you come to little sandy sections too.

As we neared the city there were more and more people out on the river enjoying the sunshine.

Just fooling around ....

water ski-ing ....

and kayaking.

We have a new bridge recently opened to relieve traffic congestion but not well used yet because it is a toll bridge.......

but it has lovely sweeping lines, don't you think?

We walked under an older bridge with an interesting mural adorning it ...

before heading towards another new bridge, this time for pedestrians only.

This is a favourite of mine as it is designed to remind you of the rigging on tall ships.

The path continues on towards Southbank parklands past the new Gallery of Modern Art and the State Library .....

but we walked across the Kurilpa Bridge and into the city......

....taking in some lovely views of our very modern city as we walked.

Once in the city we were just in time to witness quite a large protest rally - a " Save the Planet" type of affair

 which ended in our new, very ugly city square.

I'm glad you can't see what the "new " square is like for all the people, but let me just say that all progress is not good and our old square was much nicer than this bare replacement !!!

The city was very busy with all the shops doing a roaring trade especially the food ones. ( Don't people eat out a lot these days ?)

We chose noodles for lunch and rested a while before setting out on the second part of our walk.

More tomorrow.

Cheers