Flea-Bites

Moving on ...

2010-01-23T13:51:00.001+11:00

Because of the difficulties I'm having running two blogs simultaneously on Blogger, Flea-bites is moving to Wordpress - www.grandmaflea.wordpress.com - I don't know how I did it, but the blog also has a new name - at least on the URL - see you there!

Perhaps it's time ....

2009-03-28T23:27:00.003+11:00

So, 18 months ago I last posted - and said I'd return "soon(ish)" ..... perhaps it's time to start again.

Normally, I'd have no problem writing a post. Once the words start to appear on the page, they gain momentum and tumble out, willy nilly. But since we moved out of our home 18 months ago, I seem to have lost both the desire and the ability to put pen to paper (fingers to keyboard doesn't quite have the same ring about it). I've thought about this, long and hard, and have come to the conclusion that it's because we are no longer surrounded by bushland with the wonderful wildlife that lived and visited there.

The things that I miss most keenly, are some of the neighbours and the wildlife. Apart from that - zilch. I don't miss the location, down a very steep hill, then down a long battleaxe drive. I don't miss the heat in summer and the cold in winter. I don't miss the lack of sunlight for 8 months of the year, brought about by 40 years growth of the trees surrounding the house. I don't miss the leeches that would sometimes decide to take up residence - indoors. Although I do miss the geckos that lived on the brick walls, indoors and out. I don't miss the oven that was a lemon from the day it was installed. I don't miss all the things that were showing their age and needed repairing. I don't miss the yard with the constant battle to keep the flourishing exotic weeds under control, nor the usually lost battle to grow anything else in the shallow depth of soil over the enormous sandstone ledge on which we had built. Surprisingly, I don't miss the privacy.

I do miss the birds - rainbow lorikeets, crimson rosellas, King Parrots and sometimes Eastern Rosellas and black cockatoos that fed and played outside the windows, and filled the air with their calls. I miss the tawny frogmouths that sat motionless, close to the trunk of the turpentine tree - so well disguised by their colouring that it would often be hours before I noticed them. I miss the boo-book of the owls at night and the vast swarms of fruit bats that would cover the sky at twilight, on their way to feed. I miss the possums that visited us, often with their babies on their backs. I miss the echidna that honoured us by its presence when we least expected it. I miss the croaking of the frogs.

And I miss Judy and Tony, Michael and Ian - our neighbours. I miss the dull rumble and the way the windows in the house rattled when Ian played and replayed his favourite DVD with an earthquake scene, through his home made speakers which were each as big as our sideboard. It took me months to work that one out. I miss opening the door to find Michael there, holding a tray of Chinese delicacies, covered with a snowy white napkin, for us to try. I miss the glasses of wine that would appear over the fence when we did battle with the weeds down the hill.

I miss bumping into Judy at our letterboxes and swapping our news over a cup of coffee (or glass of wine); putting our heads together to write to the neighbours asking them to keep their cats inside at night to protect the possums. I miss the "homework" she would leave me in the letter box when I professed my ignorance of things such as contour maps, relative and absolute temperatures, or the finer details of possum behaviour. I miss the phone calls, asking me if I knew that my washing had been on the line for a week! I miss the "Atholie Steps" that Tony built to facilitate our passage through the yard; his laidback, gentle nature; his embarrassment at some of my jokes.

Next post, I'll tell you what I love about our new home. But not before I respond to the emails that have been sitting in my "Reply" box - for months.

Encycopedia of Me Meme: Z is for .. the END of the alphabet ...

2007-09-09T20:16:00.000+10:00

..... but the beginning of a new life for the Fleas. Talk to you all soon(ish). And, thank you again.

Encycopedia of Me Meme: Y - is for YOU

2007-09-09T20:14:00.000+10:00

I have so enjoyed YOU, my cyber friendships and exchanges with you all. I haven't reponded to the last several lots of comments, and I've really fallen behind with reading your blogs, which I enjoy very much. I'm glad that some of you have enjoyed reading this blog and seeing the photos of our wildlife. I have enjoyed all your comments and promise to catch up when I start blogging again. Thank you.

Encycopedia of Me Meme: X is for ......eXtraordinary

2007-09-09T20:10:00.000+10:00

It's eXtraordinary what crisis and change reveals about people - good and bad aspects of their nature that you had not appreciated in the ordinary turn of events.

We have had a lot of help from friends and family - and as always, when the crunch comes, have discovered who our true friends are. Disappointing to find that someone you would move heaven and earth to help, because of your friendship, is not prepared to move out of their own way to do you even a small favour. It's a bit reminiscent of when Gpa Flea had cancer, 11 years ago - all sorts of unexpected people came out of the woodwork to lend their support, moral and physical, while someone we thought was amongst our closer friends showed their true colours in a quite unnecessary and hurtful way. That sounds a bit judgmental - it IS judgmental, but the hurt lingers long after the event. However life moves on and we don't take those people on our journey. (See why I find blogging so demanding? - the potential to be misunderstood is enormous - do I sound bitter and twisted? I hope not - just disappointed.)

The photo is the Flea family - minus the little Fleas, whose faces I don't like to expose to the world at large. The biggest Flea (third biggest in height, biggest in age) is in the purple jumper, second biggest (actually the biggest but second oldest) has the goatee, third biggest (but second tallest) is in the heavy duty jacket while Gpa and Gma Flea are the two oldies. Clear as mud? They have been a great help and support. They all came home to this house as newborns and did all their growing up in it, but have all said their goodbyes. Gpa Flea is a bit short-tempered and I'm sure it's because he's sad to be going, but he seems excited at the prospect of moving into the new place - he's a stoic like his Mum. My dear neighbour came down today and was quite upset and I felt a bit guilty that I'm so happy to be leaving - although I will miss some of the neighbours and our beautiful wildlife. Our two lovely young male neighbours have been so helpful with lifting things for us, and on Friday night had a good-bye neighbourhood get-together for us - we are only moving one station away, so we'll have no trouble staying in touch.

Encycopedia of Me Meme: W is for ....a While

2007-09-09T20:07:00.000+10:00

It will be a While before I post again. Once we leave this house I'll be off the air for some time - so check back in again in late October - I can probably post from my daughter's computer.

Encycopedia of Me Meme: V is for ... Venturing Forth

2007-09-09T20:02:00.000+10:00

Venturing into a new life.....

Today is Sunday - tomorrow someone is coming to take the washing machine (we hope) - a freebie because of its age and idiosyncratic ways. Our two lounges (sofas) and the dining room chairs ( a misnomer since we don't have a dining room!) are being collected to be recovered while we are away.

Tuesday, the moving people come and take our very few pieces of furniture and our 150 boxes to storage. Tuesday night we move our suitcases and files and computer to Maroubra to our daughter's place (she is in Canada at present) and sleep there until later in the week.

Wednesday, we come back here to clean up the yard and the inside. The cleaners are also coming in the afternoon to help.

Thursday, I go shopping to buy some summer clothes that fit my 15-kg-heavier-than-last-summer body. I'll also buy a swimsuit if I can do so without looking in the mirror.

Friday, we fly to India and Thailand for 4 weeks - and while the rest of our group are out looking at the Taj mahal and other things, I intend to explore the cultural differences of massages in the East!

October 10 we return to Sydney, stay with our daughter until October 13, when we move to her sister-in-law's (luxury, I have been told) apartment at Coogee where we will house and cat sit until October 23, when we will resume our nomadic existence until our place is finished - mid -November we have now been told, but I'm counting on Christmas.

When we do move in, we're faced with the enormous task of again sifting and throwing out, as our new place is for over-55s - that is, on the small size. About a 50 box size! I suspect that when we get there, so much of our stuff will be so obviously unnecessary that Vinnies and the Salvos (both within walking distance) will have a bonanza.

Encycopedia of Me Meme . . U is for Unknown

2007-09-09T19:10:00.000+10:00

Yes, UNKNOWN - the completion date of our new home. My blogging has, of necessity, been neglected for the last couple of weeks. The sorting, packing and throwing out of 40 years of accumulated junk takes a lot of energy. When faced with an overwhelming task - I postpone/avoid. I have to confess to playing scrabble online instead of writing my blog. Writing my blog requires thought - of the introspective kind - do I say this - do I reveal that - what have I done that others might find interesting - while scrabble is in the moment - racing the clock and concentrating only on the things immediately on the screen. My apologies.

Somehow, despite my worst efforts, it all seems to be coming together.

Encycopedia of Me Meme .. T is for teeth ..

2007-08-30T20:41:00.000+10:00

T is for the teeth I still have - despite the prognostications of a dentist that I had gone to when my children were all very small. My dentist was a train trip away - I didn't have a car, and with three little people 4 and under, and no family to help, getting to the dentist was a major undertaking. So I tried another dentist, closer to home. Imagine my horror when he informed me that my (regularly checked and already heavily filled teeth) needed all sorts of major work, preferably done all at the one time, under sedation and at a very large price. When I expressed some concern about this, he really put the heavies on, telling me that unless I had the work done, I would have no teeth left by the time I was forty. He suggested that my previous dentists had probably been older (which they were) and were not up to date with their procedures. I agonised about this for some time, and eventually, with my cap in hand, went back to my own dentist and told him the sorry story. He said that technically, what I had been told was correct, but that as my teeth were so heavily filled, and fillings had a limited lifespan, that by the time I was forty, the problem fillings would have all been replaced anyway.

When I rang the "new" dentist to tell him that I wouldn't have the work done, he was very unpleasant about it - uttered dire warnings again and put a lot of pressure on me, but I stuck to my guns. Thank heavens - because about twelve months later he was arrested and struck off the roll for molesting his female patients while they were sedated! A couple of local women had been having coffee when one told the other about a strange dream she'd had when sedated at the dentist's - when her friend said she'd had the same dream, they decided that it wasn't a coincidence and went to the police. A young female officer went undercover for a dental appointment and was given the story about needing a lot of work under sedation. She returned with some sort of communication equipment, ostensibly to have the work done, and the dentist was caught in the act. Life works in strange and mysterious ways.

Encycopedia of Me Meme . . S is for sister ..

2007-08-30T20:37:00.000+10:00

S is for the sister I always wanted when I was a teenager. I desperately wanted someone to share girlie things with. My brother is six years younger than I am, and was at a particularly annoying age when I needed an inhouse support group. I left home at 19, when Mr Mooney was only 13, so I really didn't know him when he was growing up. We are good friends and supportive to each other now - which I love. I still would like to have had a sister though!

Encycopedia of Me Meme . . R is for RIDICULOUS.

2007-08-30T19:51:00.000+10:00

R is for ridiculous - I'm talking about the scrabble dictionary and the "words" that are allowed. How can words that have NO MEANING in English be considered words for the purpose of the game, when the rules say that no foreign words are allowed? eg "Li" is in the scrabble online dictionary is defined as:
1. A Chinese measure of distance, being a little more than
one third of a mile.
[1913 Webster]
2. A Chinese copper coin; a cash. See {Cash}.
[1913 Webster]

Yet "dux", being the "top pupil at a school", listed in the Oxford Dictionary, is not listed in the official scrabble dictionary. I have used the word "dux" (one of our daughters was dux - twice) but I have NEVER used the word "li".

Well, that's my wobbly for the day! Good news - we have a new baby!

I have been watching the possums for the last couple of months and have seen a certain expansion in the size of at least one. Then, yesterday when we were having lunch on the balcony, the possum opposite woke up and was fussing around in the box, when a baby possum appeared on it's head, squirmed across its Mama's back and generally made a nuisance of itself! Poor Mama Possum - she had a long-suffering look on her face as if to say "these broken days! I need my sleep!".

The baby is too small to ride on her back yet, and mama is very hungry - yesterday she appeared at her window before it was fully dark, and squirmed out and across to the feeding tray when I appeared with some fruit for her. These nursing mothers have big appetites! I am really going to miss the wildlife when we move.

R is also for ROOF - the roof is now on our new place, so the R is for RAIN won't hold the building up as much. It is now due to be completed in mid October until mid November, so we'll be homeless when we get back from India/Thailand on 10 October. Our furniture is being R is for removed on 11 September and goes into storage until the house is finished.

The Australianism for today is : "Received Standard English" - not exactly an Australianism, but this is the English to which we all aspired when I was a child - only people who had private school educations, or came from the upper classes in England spoke that way. All the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission") announcers spoke "Received Engish" - they spoke "proper" unlike the rest of the rabble. Nowadays RSE is not often heard on the airways - we seem to be quite comfortable with our own Aussie accent. Another blow struck for a classless society!

Encycopedia of Me Meme . . Q is for ....

2007-08-19T16:17:00.000+10:00

Q is for Quokka - a small Australian wallaby for which Rottnest Island is famous. (Rottnest is a small island off the coast of Fremantle, near Perth, in Western Australia) Rottnest Island was named by Dutch explorers and means "rats' nest" as they mistook the tiny quokkas for rats.

Q is also for quandong - an Australian tree with an edible berry used as "bush tucker". Bush tucker is food gathered from native Australian flora and fauna as eaten by the Aboriginal people. Some bush tucker has become popular with more adventurous chefs - I have seen wattle seed ice-cream, quandong jam (as made by our son), pepper berry seasoning, lilli-pilli jelly to name a few. The Macquarie Dictionary, Australia's national dictionary, notes that the word quandong is a colloquialism for a "person who exploits or cadges off another", with another obsolete colloquial meaning of a " a stupid person, a country bumpkin". Apparently another obsolete colloquialism is to "have the quandongs" or, in modern speak, "to be stupid". Now, I may be a quandong, but I've NEVER, EVER heard the word quandong used for a person of an exploitative, or cadging nature - although The Macquarie Dictionay may feel that I'm a living example (albeit obsolete!) for using their definitions when I could make up my own!!!! In my view, "quandong" would be perfect for those days when you're all at sixes and sevens - "I've got the quandongs" - without any of the perjorative meaning of stupid attached. In fact, henceforth this blog will use its own definition of "quandong" when appropriate!

Roxie was very taken with " don't come the raw prawn with me" - so now I expect to see her "having the quandongs" occasionally and we shall all know that she is using "flea speak" (two invented concepts in one day - I'm firing!)

Q is also for Queen - I am a staunch republican and believe that in this day and age it is ridiculous for Australia to remain a colonial outpost, with a head of state across the sea, in a country that bears little resemblance to our own, despite our shared history. Bring on the Republic of Oz is what I say!!!

P is for ... Pedro

2007-08-17T19:42:00.000+10:00

Word(s) of the Day: Those things that some people call "shrimps" are called "prawns" in Australia. "Don't come the raw prawn with me" has nothing to do with food - it means don't try to hoodwink me with whatever was being spoken of. It's not a saying I use myself!

P is for Pedro, my son, six foot five, 38 years old, No. 1s over the head, widow's peak and goatee - I hate goatees. I think he looks like a bikie! He is a gentle, caring man and father of Ms 11 and Master 7. Speaking of whom - Ms 11 applied for, and has been accepted into, one of the schools of creative and performing arts for her high schooling. She starts next year. I am delighted for her - she applied for two different places and I was worried that her self-esteem would be badly damaged if she wasn't accepted into one - but she gained entry to both - so much for Grandma's anxiety.

P is for plague - that flea plague is not getting any better - again, many, many hits looking for information on, and photos of - "f*l*e*a*b*i*t*e*s" - my sitemeter page comes up with all these advertisements for flea control products too. Most of the searches seem to be from the USA.

Encycopedia of Me Meme .. O is for ....

2007-08-17T19:21:00.000+10:00

O is for oranges - I love juicy navel oranges, but don't like Valencia oranges which are widely grown in Australia. When our own navels finish, I buy California navels - but I'm beginning to think about the carbon footprint now .... O is for Ohhhhhhh!

O is for the colour orange - I love it - the burnt orange kind, or the apricot kind, but not bright orange. Orange is not a colour I can wear, but I still love it.

O is for - ordinary people - like you and me - ordinary people who have extraordinary lives and talents if we bother to scratch the surface and get to know them and - if they will let us.

O is for opportunity - it's not always to recognise an opportunity when it comes along, especially when we're bogged down in "just living". I don't know whether there really is a Chinese proverb that says " in every crisis are the seeds of opportunity" - but it is true - mostly. Crisis can make us strong if we can learn from the experience; crisis can cause us to take paths and follow directions that we may not ever have considered. I say mostly, because my heart goes out to those who are in the middle of war, famine, persecution/abuse, or suffering from a severe mental illness. Sometimes crisis is just crisis with no up side.

Carson and Roxie have both commented on some of the Australian/American language comparisons that I have been making. So each post I'll give an idiomatic Australian word or expression for your delight (or horror!). By the way, I am spelling "Encyclopedia" that way only for the purposes of the "Encycopedia of Me Meme" We all know that the correct spelling is "encyclopaedia" don't we? - it's just those people from that large northen land mass who can't spell!

Encycopedia of Me Meme - N is for Nancy

2007-08-15T00:03:00.000+10:00

When I was child I had a celluloid doll called "Nancy". I loved that doll. Then I got an N is for "new" little brother who reached the teething stage, and HE BIT Nancy's nose, leaving her permanently disfigured. I was extremely upset and never felt the same attachment to Nancy after that. Talk about a shallow, fickle, unfeeling child! Just as well no-one bit Grandpa Flea on the nose - I might have left him out in the rain!

Encyclopedia of Me Meme - M is for ... Me

2007-08-14T23:58:00.000+10:00

In case you haven't noticed, my avatar has put on a lot of weight ... just like ME. She also has new glasses ... just like Me. She has also changed out of her jammies and gone to the beach, as the weather became so hot we all thought the winter was over a month before it should have been. But yesterday, it suddenly became icy again and today I've been shivering around in a J is for jumper.

Encycopedia of Me Meme - L is for Laughs!

2007-08-14T23:34:00.000+10:00

I am still L for laughing about the number of hits on this blog over the last week or so. There really must be a f-l-e-a plague, especially in the USA - of the hits that I can identify, 35 of the last 48 on this blog have been searches for information on f-l-e-a b-i-t-e-s and most of those are from the USA. The Ancient One has commented that her local school in eastern NC (is that North Carolina?) has been closed because of a plague of the afore-mentioned creatures. I'm frightened to use the word as I feel quite bad that poor itchy people are being diverted from their quest. I have, in fact, much experience with those pesky, little hoppers. We have had dogs over the years and periodically would have to resort to letting off f-l-e-a bombs in the house. In fact, when my kids were younger, it was a great boredom buster to search the dogs for the unmentionables. It was always a family saying for fat little tummies after meals that "I could crack a fl** on that tummy" - the children would race around to Grandpa Flea and shout "Crack a fl**" and present their bare tummies for a tickle. It's become a family tradition and currently little Ms 5 likes to have a fl** "cracked" on her tummy.

Roxie has asked in response to "J is for ..", what we call the "hood" of the car - well, here we call it the "bonnet" and the "jockey box"/"glove compartment" is the "glove box". I guess you already know that your "trunk" is our "boot". I read a book called "Trunk Music" - "Boot Music" doesn't have quite the same ring, does it - sounds a bit like line dancing! (i.e. boot scooting).

Which reminds me, L is also for line dancing. I tried to learn line dancing last year, but my spatially challenged brain came into operation again. Whenever we had to do the turn bit, I'd end up facing a whole room of people .... I may try it again one day, as it's good exercise.

K is for Kindergarten

2007-08-11T19:52:00.000+10:00

K is for Kindy. When I was a little girl in Kindy, we had to sit on the floor on little hessian mats with a cloth binding that our mothers had to make for us. The girl who sat in front of me had long plaits and I was fascinated with them. I was always in trouble for squeezing them - I wanted to know if the plaits could feel - I knew my own short hair couldn't, but those big fat plaits looked so ALIVE - I can still remember trying to puzzle it out. No matter how carefully I tried to squeeze them, this girl would start to flick her head and look over her shoulder - and the teacher would be on me like a ton of bricks.

J is for ....

2007-08-11T19:37:00.000+10:00

J is for the first initial of my only sibling's name - Mr Mooney. He is a sweet, gentle man who lost his beloved wife to breast cancer just over eighteen months ago - she had just turned 47. They were true soulmates and Mr Mooney is, of course, still grieving. I love him dearly and wish I could make it better.

J is for June, the month of Ms 5's birthday and her Grandma Flea's birthday.

J is for July, the month of her Mamma's birthday and her Grandpa Flea's birthday. There is a nice synchronicity there.

J is also for "jumpers" - those things that Aussie's wear in cold weather. They are called "jerseys" in the deep south of New Zealand, and I do believe that those people who speak the President's English call them "sweaters" (I hope sweater wearers remember to bath every day!). We do have regional variations in English in Australia, maybe, just maybe, jumpers are called jerseys in South Australia, but I'm not sure. "Sweater" is becoming more common here - the pervasive nature of television is stealing our identity. I know that when I lived in Victoria as a little child, we called our swimmers "togs", and our suitcases were "ports". We also used an American "a" in words like "castle". I only ever said it once in NSW. I was a quick learner! Amazing how the ridicule of your peers speeds up the ability to learn!

Encycopedia of Me Meme: I is for icord

2007-08-11T19:11:00.000+10:00

I is indeed for icord - a useful little trick to have up - or on - your sleeve, especially applied icord.

I is also for island - the tropical kind, where the beaches are long and white, the water is like a cool bath and little ripples run gently up the shore; where the cool, dark vegetation provides a welcome respite from the heat of the midday sun; where my cabin has a shady verandah with a view of the water and my comfy chair which sits next to a low table where my knitting awaits my pleasure, and a tall pitcher of iced water with lime slices has little cold drops of condensation running down the side - where is this island, I hear you ask? In my dreams, dear child, in my dreams.

The littlest Flea saw her cousins furry scarf with pockets for keeping little hands warm (in the absence of a magical grandma who could knit Sanna, Sorceress Apprentice's self-heating mittens), and promptly ordered one in the same colour - a colour which I could not get again. So, I used some faux fur from my stash and edged the pockets with the left over yarn from Ms 11's scarf, then used the remainder to knit an earwarmer/headband. The yarn is multi-coloured - hence the orange pocket trims and the pink headband. Ms 5 is a PINK girl - I hope she is happy with it.

H is for Hoosier ...

2007-08-10T15:57:00.001+10:00

I had wondered what Hoosier meant, but found out when this package of goodies arrived at my door from Kathy of Indiana, winner of the prize from the knitting trip around the world on the magic shawl. But where does the word "Hoosier" come from?

I can't wait to try the sweet and sour popcorn, but thought I'd keep it until the biggest Flea comes over again, as she had a year in Atlanta as an exchange student and is still very interested in things from the USA. The wool from an Indiana sheep, no less, feels soft and lovely and I feel a beanie coming on for Master 7 - one with earflaps and pom pom trims in the two natural colours. My fingers have all split from too much getting-the-house-ready-to-move -. I seem to be washing my hands all day long, so I'll be interested to see if the lanolin soap helps - it smells beautiful. But wait, there's more! The James Whitcomb Riley Cookbook, described on the cover as "A cornucopia of delectable delights from the turn-of-the-century world and the great Hoosier poet AND MORE". "AND MORE" is piles of information and illustrations from the "olden days". Wonderful! Thank you so much, Kathy. I am so lucky. I'll have to have a few more competitions if I receive wonderful goodies like these in return! I really enjoyed the knitting trip around the world, and we might repeat it again one day.

If you get a chance, pop over to Kathy's blog and look at the socks she knitted from the sock wool in her possum parcel. She calls them a "Homage to the possum"! They are so pretty - a wonderful match of colour and pattern.

There must be a flea plague in the northern hemisphere at present - I seem to be getting LOTS of hits from Google seaches for pictures and information on flea-bites.

Being a non-technical nerd, when Ravelry started asking for Beta Testers, I assumed that BTs would be technical wizardy type people (maybe you are!) but as people started to fret about being thousands down the list, I thought I'd sign up too - the worst they could do was reject me. So slowly, ever so slowly, I'm making my way up the waiting list - it sounds almost as long as the waiting list for elective surgery in this crazy country of ours.

You signed up on July 20, 2007
You are #18956 on the list.
10335 people are ahead of you in line.
5461 people are behind you in line.
34% of the list has been invited so far

One day ..... I'll find out what it's all about!

G is for GIRRRLS

2007-08-07T20:25:00.000+10:00

Yes, little GIRRLS - what I don't understand, is why little girls love pink? Is it because from birth, they are dressed in pink by their parents and this Grandma who should know better and promulgate non-sexist clothing, but can't help herself (or that's my excuse)? When I was a little girl, I loved blue - but then, I did really want to be a boy because everything I wanted to do was forbidden, because I was a girl ...

Speaking of which, reminds me - in response to B is for books, Gemma commented that she always saw herself as George in the Famous Five books- now that is unfortunate, so I had to email her, and tell her that sadly, SHE can't be George, because I AM!

Kate said that she too loved the "Coral Island" when she was a child. I spent many happy childhood hours marooned on the Coral Island with Robinson Crusoe and the Swiss Family Robinson for company - that's when I wasn't having midnight feasts at boarding school with all those jolly English lassies. ( I'd still like to know what breadfruit tastes like. Does anyone know?)

F is for Front Teeth and F is for Feet

2007-08-07T19:58:00.000+10:00

Now we come to TEEF - oops - I mean TEETH. The other night, the shy little possum looked out of her box to see what the possum fight below was about - and for the first time I saw these cute little teeth! I hope you enjoy them too.

Yes, FEET - what can I say about them, except that whilst I am glad that I have a pair, they are a downright disappointment! When I was young(er), I LOVED shoes - quirky shoes, shoes with embellishments, goofy coloured shoes, strappy shoes .... get the picture? I went to my GP the other day, and she was wearing a pair of low heeled, peep-toe shoes, made out of red patent leather with white polka dots! I didn't know whether to kiss her feet or rip the shoes off her and run! In the end, I settled for saying (through gritted teeth) "I love your shoes" and she said, with a HUGE smile "Aren't they wonderful? I just HAD to have them".

Yes, FEET. I have now entered the age group where I have to wear "orthoses" - inserts that go in your big-unfashionable-because-they-won't-fit-in-any-other-shoes shoes. These are to correct flat feet, and bunions, achilles tendonitis and hip pain. Just add any other complaints to the list - I probably have those too ... However, totally unrelated to the dreaded orthoses, I had made the decision many years ago to never wear high heeled shoes again - this was partly in response to having my consciousness raised about high heels and straight skirts being tools of the oppressive male class to hobble women, and partly in response to having fallen down the front steps when my heel caught in a crack in the concrete. Not that there aren't wonderful flat heeled shoes - take my GP's for instance (yes please!), but high or low, it just isn't possible to wear those beautiful to die for shoes I regularly pass in DJ's shoe department. Sigh.... But, if that's the worst of my troubles, I'm doing okay.

E is for .....Eloise, Extra and Egg

2007-08-07T16:29:00.000+10:00

When I was checking earlier posts to see if I had posted this before, I discovered that I have posted photos of ELOISE and Ms 11's scarf .... twice! That's indicative of the my state of mind at present - EXTRA stupid! The jumper above is for Ms 11. I bought the wool, Patons Vintage Hues, to do the jacket that Kate knitted in Vero, but in my haste to knit it, I automatically started doing it in the biggest size. Being lazy, I did the two sleeves first, rather than knit a tension square. When I was a few inches into the back, it became apparent that the thing was going to be HUGE. So, checked the tension - okay. Checked the pattern - right number of stitches - BUT - for once, the pattern catered for a number of larger sizes, the largest being for a 122cm bust. Now, while I am rather larger than my Avatar (I didn't like the clothes for the fuller figured avatar!) and my hips may well hit the 122 or larger mark, I certainly don't take that size in a jacket! So I unpulled the back, but at that point I couldn't face reknitting the sleeves in a smaller size, so I picked another pattern in the book with a semi funnel/boat shaped neck, and knitted it for Ms 11. Fortunately, I have been told that it fits but I have yet to see it on. I like the way that the shorter rows in the sleeves give a mottled effect while the body is striped.

E is also for EGG - I have a rather ambivalent relationship with eggs - I like the chocolate kind, but am not too fussed about the other sort - and certainly not those with runny , or even moist, yolks. UGH!

C is for .... and D is for

2007-08-04T19:52:00.000+10:00

carton - but that's just a box which is" B is for box" - what a relief! That's C done! Just kidding.

C is for - what? Colour! Colour is an essential part of our lives - imagine a grey world with only shades of black and white - and yet, when I look at black and white photos, I'm blown away by the clarity of perception that they induce - have a look at Ree's blogs and scroll back through until you find her black and white photos - in one post she compares the same photo in colour and B&W. Somehow the essence of the face in black and white seems to come through in a depth not present in the colour photos - if that makes sense. I fell in love with B&W photos years ago when my youngest daughter was in a B&W photography phase - she is talented with her photography and does take beautiful photos.

Colour is also a thing that I'm wrestling with for our new place. The floors and paint coloours are set in stone by the builder, but I'm having the lounge recovered and have to get window coverings. But what colours to choose? The last time I had to choose colours I used the local interior designer and loved the final result so he is organising things again. But it seems to take forever to reach agreement! He is very keen to use a neutral palette with some hideous patterned highlights, but I love really bright colours - Noro yarn, Indian numdah rug colours. I have told him this and he takes NO NOTICE. He is keen to give us a "smart new look" - but I'm a slobby casual person! Yet I know that eventually I'll do what he wants and I'll be pleased with it. That's why I use him, as I'm no good with imagining things from a small swatch, nor am I good at putting colours together. My friend the ID just smiles and says "trust me" - just what the crocodile said when I smiled at it!

D is for dogs. We don't have a dog at present, but they have been faithful companions all my life. When I was child I had a black and white cocker spaniel called "Ben" (Chifley) and my brother had a golden cocker called "Doc" (Evatt). Later we had another cocker called "Timmy", then a pair of puppies whose mother was a pregnant stray that my parents took in. The twins were called "Boof" and "Tweedle". Later, after I'd left home my parents had an Irish wolfhound called "Gough" - no prizes for guessing our political persuasion! (Ben, Doc and Gough are all the names of Labor politicians - similar to the Democrats). Gough met with a nasty end, a bit like his namesake, and later my parents had another refugee - an English Border Collie, called Margo, that we were all terrified of - she'd been maltreated as a puppy and was very protective of Mum and Dad - she'd run snarling to the gate, barking and generally bluffing us all. I wouldn't go in until Dad came and called her off. Once inside, it was alright.

My own children had first a severely inbred Maltese Terrier - given to my first child on her first birthday - without consultation, by my father. This dog had the peculiar appellation of "Seaswirl Dodo Boy", but we called him "Smokey". Smokey nearly drove me to the brink of desperation - when he wasn't mounting my little crawling babe, he was having fits of diarrhoea all over the house - apparently a problem with some of these dogs. Charming with a little baby. Sadly, but fortunately, the wretched little thing kept escaping, and was run over by one of the neighbours, who was very upset. I tried to look as if I was upset, but I truly was overjoyed, horrible as it sounds. Our next dog was given to our son when he was five - we arrived in the country at the other grandparents' house after a VERY long drive. Grandma, who was waiting out the front, rushed over to the car and said "Pedro, I've got something for you, IF YOUR MOTHER WILL LET YOU HAVE IT" - what was a mother to do when a tiny little black and white fox terrier puppy was produced? Promptly named "Pooch" by it's new proud father, Pooch was a part of our family for many years. After she died, I would hear the jingle of her collar around the house for many months.

Before we lost Pooch, both my parents died. What to do with their animals? Someone took the peacocks and peahens, but that still left the cat and the dog. My brother was clever and got in first - "I'll take Chairman Miaow because I've already got three dogs and that's the limit allowed by the council - you'll have to take Margo". Poor Margo was so distressed after Dad's death that she was quite prepared to love anyone who'd feed her, so we became best friends. I drove back to Sydney from the country with Margo breathing down my neck and drooling in my hair. Once home, we had to let her sleep in our bedroom because she was fretting so much - I think she must have slept on Dad's bed after Mum died. I couldn't even visit the bathroom without the dog - she shadowed me constantly. And because Margo was allowed to go on the carpet (how could I stop her?), Pooch decided that if it was good enough for the intruder, it was good enough for her. SCREAM! That's how we became a doggy smelling household. So, we lived in smelly harmony for many years and replaced the carpet after Margo died. We lost both the dogs quite close together, around the time that the Fleas were leaving (and coming back and leaving etc) home. In the later years of their lives, the dogs would fret very badly if we put them in kennels when we went away, so we had to organise our holidays around a timetable that involved one of the children coming to stay to look after them while we were absent. So we decided not to get another dog until we stop travelling.

All blogged out ..

2007-08-03T16:53:00.000+10:00

I guess it's obvious that I'm feeling all blogged out - I had been spending so much time reading and writing blogs and putting on weight with my sedentary lifestyle, that I was fearing that my life was slipping away as I sat at the computer. I think what I'm really feeling is overload with the move-after-40-years coming up. I've been feeling too blah to leave comments on blogs, let alone write one. But today, in a break between packing boxes and carting all my size 14 clothes to the op shop, I was reading some blogs I haven't visited in a while and came across Bella Dia's Encyclopedia of Me Meme. She was talking about "A for Ageing" - not a good thought for a blahed out oldie! So I have decided to join in, a few days late. Please refer to her blog for the details - I'm too blah to go over them! So, as today is 3 August (here) I'll have to do A, B, and C in one go - no doubt my alphabet will be very move oriented, but it may provoke me into some knitting blogging - who knows? who cares? . At least it will keep me in touch - I start to worry when other fairly reliable bloggers don't post for a while . So here goes:

A is for the first letter in my "maiden" name. I was always very self conscious and shy when I was a child. It was absolute purgatory for me to have to stand up in front of the class and read or give an answer. It was sheer hell when the teacher decided to call our names to do that, by reverse alphabetical order (afferbeck lauder in Aussie speak).

B is for boxes. Our downstairs room is FULL of boxes - we can't envisage even using half of them, but we trust that the moving man has done the odd box estimate before.

(At this point I decided to take a photo of the boxes, and it has started to lift me out of the blogged out feeling.) This photo doesn't do justice to the number of boxes in this room - believe me. They are stacked flat behind the two assembled boxes and also behind a lounge that you can't see....

B is also for books - we are getting rid of as much as we can, and the time has come to let go of my childhood favourites. When I was a child we lived in country towns. At Swan Hill (on the Murray River) one of our neighbours was a school teacher and he had a little lending library at the end of his shed - I loved it. I can't remember ever going to the Public Library there, so I assume there wasn't one. Books were very precious, and unlike the kids of today, we only received presents on our birthdays and at Christmas - or when we were very sick - and usually, only one book, at that. I was an early reader and I loved the Enid Blyton books - especially "The Secret Seven" and "The Famous Five" books. I referred above to my self consciousness - when I was six, I was learning Scottish dancing, and we had to do a performance at the local Show - on a stage, with everyone looking. To this day, I am sure that came down with pneumonia because I didn't want to get up in public. I remember feeling guilty about it, even as a six year old. My mother and father hovered over me with worried looks, the doctor came and ordered poultices for my chest - horrible things made up of something gooey and brown paper. It sounds like a Dickens novel!! Because I was so ill, my father came home one day with a great surprise for me - a book! A copy of Gulliver's Travels! I will never forget my disappointment! I was only six, after all. To have a book wasted on something I didn't want to read was a huge tragedy. I could have had a "Famous Five " book!

Back to the subject - so today I photographed the inscriptions in my childhood favourites - as it is the sentimental value of the books that I really want to hang onto. My mother was very keen on signing my books "with special love" to a "special girl", and for years I thought I was adopted! Here we have "Robinson Crusoe", "The Swiss Family Robinson", "What Katy Did Next and What Katy Did at School", "Fifth Form at St. Dominics", "The Father Brown Stories", "The Coral Island" (which I absolutely loved!) and "The Dean's Watch" (which was given to me by my friend, Ingrid, who now lives in Vancouver). Did you notice that "Gulliver's Travels" is absent? Along with "The Water Babies" which I think I received during the same illness. "Little Women and Good Wives" is the only book from my childhood that I've kept. It is falling to pieces, like the others, from having been read and reread so many times. It was given to me by people that we came to know when we lived at The Entrance, a coastal village (at that time) that was popular, even then, with holiday makers. There was no public library at The Entrance. Once a term we would get a box of books from the State Library and we'd all get to take one home. I'd devour mine overnight and I'd then have to wait for days or weeks for other class mates to return theirs. Purgatory again.

We moved to The Entrance when I was 8. It is now a huge, bustling community, but when we lived there, we had tank water, the "night cart" for sewage, and the place was so small that the shopkeepers had two sets of prices - one for the residents, and one for the summer holiday visitors! I used to save the newspapers for pocket money as the greengrocer would buy them for a halfpenny a pound. If we found a soft drink bottle it was celebration time, as we got threepence for returning it to the shop. (Talk of getting old! This is really making me feel ancient!) Those were the days when the grocer had big barrels of flour, sugar etc around the shop. Married women were addressed as "Mrs" so and so. Once a week my mother would visit the grocer's, where she would sit on a chair while she gave her order. The grocer would measure things out on the scales and later that day, he would knock at the back door and place the box of groceries on the kitchen table along with the bill, which was paid in cash. For the children, there was always a small white bag of boiled lollies that the grocer gave to good customers.

It was a special treat when Mum would send me up the street with a shilling, to buy " a shilling's worth of broken biscuits" - biscuits didn't come pre-packaged in those days. There were always large tins of Arnott's biscuits on the shelves which were weighed out on request. Broken biscuits were put in a separate tin to be sold at a cheaper price. My mother used the broken biscuits to make "Hedgehog Cake". I'd carry them home in a brown paper bag with the sides twirled together, in great anticipation of the finished cake.

Grocers didn't carry things like bread, milk and ice-cream at that time. Every day the baker's horse and cart would come around. The bread was carried in large cane baskets covered by white cloths. In school holidays, my mother would ask me to go out and get half a high top loaf for lunch. The baker would break the loaf in two and give me the half to take in. The smell of warm, fresh bread would invariably prove too much for a hungry, growing child and by the time I'd walked down the front path and into the kitchen, I'd have eaten the bit that bulged out and also pulled the fresh bread from the centre of the loaf. No wonder my mother got cranky! I used to love the burnt high top crust with lots of butter. It had the added advantage, that if I ate it, I was increasing my chances of getting curly hair. Sadly, no matter how much crust I ate, my hair remained straight. Damn! I still love crusts, although they don't taste as good as they did then.

Milk was delivered fresh each day by the milkman. My mother would leave a billy with a lid on the front door step each night. Each morning, before the sun was up, the milkman would carry a huge urn of milk down to the step and ladle the milk into the billy. On special occasions he would leave some cream, in response to a note left out with thebilly. Once a week he would leave a bill under the billy, and Mum would leave an envelope with the money in the billy. Milk wasn't homogenised back then, and my father would scald the milk and lift off the clotted cream on to eat with fresh bread and jam. Far nicer than the cream we buy today in the supermarket.

Every Sunday "the ice-cream man" would come around in his van, ringing a bell. We always had a baked dinner for Sunday lunch and the big treat of the week was having dessert. Mum would send me out to the ice-cream man to buy a small block of ice-cream, which she would cut carefully into four pieces to go with tinned peaches. But my all-time favourite dessert was baked rice pudding with melted butter and nutmeg on top. Again, the pudding served just four people. and it was always a squabble over who would get to scrape out the pan - I think my father had more than his fair share of wins!

Well, for a "blogged out" person, I'm not doing too badly. I'll leave "C" until tomorrow with "D". In case you think I never knit:
This is "Eloise" knitted in Noro Blossom that I made for the oldest Flea. I was pleased with the final result (good grief! I hear you say - pleased? you must be sick!) with the knitting-in elastic carried all through. It has made the fabric denser and with a bit of luck, less stretch-out-of-shapey (love that English).
This is a scarf with the ends turned up to make pockets, in the absence of self-heating mittens a la http://Roxie's Sanna, Sorceress Apprentice. Ordered by Ms 11 of course. (Roxie, I haven't forgotten about Ms 11's review - I'll check it out with her Mum tonight.)

The possum has landed ....

2007-07-21T23:33:00.000+10:00

I have had a comment from Kathy to say that her prize has arrived, so I can now reveal the possum: I love these mugs with Australian animals and flowers, so a possum mug seemed very appropriate. There is also a piece of fabric with Australian wildflowers, some sock wool imported by Bendigo Woollen Mills, postcards from " A Cavalcade of Fashion" - I love the embroidery detail - and a Nikki Tervo thing for your scissors so you don't lose them all the time (mmm - wonder who does that?), which is, don't faint, "Made in Australia"! There is a name for those things, but I can't recall it, offhand. So, thanks again for participating, Kathy and everyone else. It was fun.

We had three kookaburra visitors this morning -

I love their fluffy chests and the beautiful blue on their wings - unfortunately the camera doesn't do them justice.

I spent today with a very dear friend , spending her money, and shamefully, buying myself a ring. I still can't believe I did it, but having done it, I intend to enjoy it (apart from the momentary senses of panic I get at the thought of having spent such a lot of money on myself). The woman in the jeweller's shop assured me that I was on the cusp of a brand new life where I would acquire a wonderful collection of "jewels" - I haven't told Grandpa Flea that this is only the beginning - ssshhhhh - not a word! he might hear!! Tomorrow - the Lyn Johnson workshop. It's probably illegal to have so much fun in one weekend!

Is that knitting content??!!

2007-07-20T19:44:00.000+10:00

Oh yes - at last. I have at last finished the Noro Eloise cardi for the oldest Flea - this will no doubt elicit many rude words from youngest Flea Katie, and her partner FiFi who will remind me of the Jo Sharp jumper I started for FiFi some years ago - it was a wide loose fitting style, but FiFi wanted it much shorter with longer sleeves. It languished half done for months because I couldn't bring myself to make it shorter when all the cold air would just circulate up the body - when I eventualy checked the fitting, it was too big (in MHO) so despite FiFi's protestations, I frogged it - then reknitted it - and it was too small - so I gave it to my DIL. Every time I see Katie & FiFi they give me stick! When I mentioned this to eldest daughter, she reminded me that she's been waiting for a handknit for longer than we have known FiFi ...... still, I MUST do the FiFi jumper - I just don't think I can face that Jo Sharp pattern again - it was a pain to knit. Mmmm - maybe I feel another Eloise coming on in a different colour.

Eldest daughter's Eloise is longer than the pattern - I humoured her on this despite my reservations. I used knitting in elastic with the yarn because my own Eloise has stretched so much - the fact that I have worn it nearly every day for the last 10 months hasn't helped! Originally I was just going to put it in the ribbed part, but decided to do it all over as my own was getting bigger by the day. The elastic made the fabric much firmer and denser, but I like it.

Last weekend while the 11 year old little Flea was here she spotted a scarf at Cherryhills and wanted one - that instant - BUT (why do my family always want variations?) she wanted pockets at each end for her hands. The yarn is Funky Fur (or some similar name) and the scarf was done on 10mm needles, so the pockets stretched when sewn up and I had to gather the tops in, but it should do the trick. Ms 11 has just read Roxie's book - Sanna, Sorceress Apprentice. She loved it, and can't wait for the next in the series. I loved it too - Roxie writes very well (and I'm very critical), and it is a delightful story incorporating Roxie's love of knitting. Apart from nagging me to ask Roxie to give her a pre-release version of the book (which I declined to do, as I want to buy her one for Christmas so she can have a matched set - and I also want to support Roxie's foray into the world of publishing), Ms 11 was very keen for me to knit her a pair of self heating mittens, the pattern for which is in the book. Unfortunately, I flunked out of sorceress school, apart from a low grade in ESP, so I can do the mittens (if I ever get the book back - it's been reread at least once) but can't do the self-heating part. She also has a yen for a bag that is bigger on the inside than the outside - you can see it hanging from Sanna's waist on the cover of the book. I must admit to a hankering for one of those too! Guess I'll have to go back to sorceress school! I asked Ms 11 to do a book review - here it is as left on the voice mail:

"Hi Grandma - and Pa - can't forget about you, Pa - just calling and here's my book review. I finished it in 2 days which is a new record for that sort of book, Grandma. And here's my book review. It was funny, romantic and very obvious that the writer is also a knitter. I couldn't put it down and I can't wait for the next one, however I think the ending was a bit short and that it didn't finish well - it could go on a bit longer and I never found out what happened to that cape, unless I skipped some. Would you please knit me a pair of self heating mittens, thank you. That's what I've written down on a piece of paper, but I still stand by that the ending was very, very short. He arrives and then he just says some stuff and he leaves. And then you're sort of left with the impression that the horse is just standing there and you want the book to go on. So, all in all, I think it depends on the sort of 11 year old reader. If it's someone who's into books, they'd enjoy it. And if it's someone who really isn't into books and more into, like, magic and sorcery, they should also enjoy it, but if it was someone who wasn't into things like that, they should also enjoy it. I keep laughing when I think of the power gem in Sanna's mouth, with the two chains coming out of her mouth. " (There is more, but I have mislaid the piece of paper I transcribed it on. I will post it, Roxie, as soon as I find it.)

I have explained to Ms 11, that books with sequels always leave you wanting more - but she still wants the contents of the NEXT book, in this one! I think you have a hit on your hands here, Roxie.

CORRECTION
I said in my last post that the glider possum was a squirrel possum glider, but after talking to the Council's wildlife officer today, and checking the internet again, I realise it is a sugar glider.

I'm doing a workshop at Cherryhills on Sunday with Lynne Johnson - I'm really looking forward to it.

Sometimes life gets in the way of blogging ....

2007-07-20T00:03:00.000+10:00

Sometimes life gets in the way of blogging - and the jetlag from that knitting trip around the world didn't help! But it was fun. Kathy should receive her prize soon - I only posted it last Friday (sorry, Kathy) - but there has been a lot happening. I hope you like it - a small possum is involved!
.

The three big Fleas accompanied by various partners and baby Fleas congregated here, recently, to work out what they wanted to take from the various pieces of furniture that won't fit in our new, yet-to-be-completed, downsized home. It was lovely to have them all together, for the last time, in the home where they grew up. The eldest Flea was three weeks old when we moved in. The builder had gone bankrupt early in the piece, and we had lost money in the process. I was pregnant and had to work until later than we had intended and had no sooner left work than I was put to bed with toxiaemia. Meanwhile, Grandpa Flea would come home and tell me that the tiles (or whatever) we had chosen weren't available, so "choose one of these" that the builder had given him. The builder who finished the house was a darling and let some of our friends, who were tradesmen, do the electricals and plumbing, which meant that Grandpa Flea could labour for them on holidays and weekends to save money that way. We were on a short term lease in a small flat, in a house which had been sold, so we HAD to move out just after the baby was born. Again, another darling, the bank manager, came to our aid and let us move into the house before it was painted. And then our friends came and helped do the painting. So, despite the financial hardship, we were very lucky.

But I've become distracted - in the process of prowling around the closed-in storage area under the house, yet another possum guest (pictured above) reared his/her head to inspect the intruders, then went quickly back to sleep - although I suspect it was operating on the principle that if it couldn't see us, we didn't exist!

We have had a bit of a possum party recently. One night there were two little glider possums on the feeding tray with a rather nose-out-of-joint brushtail, peering down from a higher branch. I haven't seen this particular little glider possum before - it has a long tail like the brushtail, but is much, much smaller. I think it is a squirrel glider, but have to check it out further. Squirrel gliders are on the "vulnerable species" list.

Glider possums have a flap of skin between their front and back legs. There is different fur on the underside of the flap.If you look carefully at these photos (below on the right) you can see the edge of the flap - it looks white/cream along the side of the possum.

I haven't cropped the first photo so you can see the difference in size between the brushtail (the large, blurry shape reaching the feeding tray on the left) and the glider (in focus on the lower right). The other little glider hid on the other side of the tree when the brushtail buzzed them off.
Our new house is taking shape - slowly. There has been a lot of rain which has delayed things, but after beginning to believe that the end of the world was nigh, with the lengthy years of drought and the water crisis, I am not complaining. We are able to stay in our present home until the very day we leave to go to India, as the new owners wanted an extension to the settlement date so that has been very fortuitous for us.

On the knitting front - I started to knit the jacket that Kate did - have a look at it on her site archive (http://bluemountainsknits.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html). However, (does this sound familiar), in my haste, I knitted the two sleeves, then started the back - which was HUGE - and I'm no small person. On reading the pattern (notice I say "reading" the pattern - why didn't I do that first!) I discovered that the biggest size (the one I started) was in fact for a much bigger bust size than I could ever hope to achieve - my spare tyre would fit, perhaps, but they don't make bras for spare tyres! So after frogging the four inches or so of the back, I couldn't face it again. It's now on its way to becoming a jumper for Ms 11.

I finished one sidewinder sock from Nona's site, but will unpull it, and do an ordinary pair as I'm not too happy with it. I had a lot of trouble with the pattern, despite every other blogger in the world saying how well written it was. It may have had something to do with the fact that I tortuously followed the instructions - "do this and that for thousands of rows" - then when I'd begin the next part, it would say "AT THE SAME TIME ..." - get the picture? I'm a slow learner!!

I will put knitting photos up, next time. I have been using Grandpa Flea's camera and have managed to destroy the download port. The photos above were read off the card at the camera shop. It appears that the damaged port is part of the ?motherboard which costs $500 to buy! So things have been what we might call "a little tense" here. However, fortunately, I can get a card reader for only a few dollars and access photos that way. As I'm the only person who uses the download to computer feature (GP Flea always does it with the card at the camera shop), it really doesn't affect him, but it IS his camera. I will have to resurrect my smaller camera I think - but then again - his camera does take much better photos!

Tomorrow has come at last ....

2007-07-08T14:32:00.001+10:00

Sorry about tomorrow being almost a week later - things have been busy and complicated in the FleaPa household.

So, today we fly all the way to our final destination, Fairbanks, Alaska to visit Eero. And Yes! I have been to Fairbanks - in 2005. Grandpa Flea and I had a wonderful trip via the Alaska Marine Highway - ferries to the uninitiated. We started in Bellingham and stopped at so many places along the way - Ketchikan, the salmon capital of the world, where 40 jewelry stores opened overnight when the first big cruise liner arrived (we'd arrived a few days before); Petersburg, where we didn't have enough time; Sitka, the old Russian capital where the Russian influence is still very visible and there are many wonderful forest walks, parks and an interesting raptor centre; then Juneau, capital city of Alaska. Juneau is the place where we fell in love with the bald eagle - they were everywhere and we got some magnificent photos; we caught the local bus and then walked to the Mendenhall glacier and saw for ourselves how far the glacier has retreated in recent years - on the way we passed beaver dams, a new experience for us; and we also went to the Tracy Arm Fjord and the Sawyer Glacier in a small tourist boat. On the way we saw icebergs, whales, and seals and the glacier calving - what an experience. The operators of the charter boat were bits of cowboys and in my view went far to close to the glacier for safety - and I was not alone in my concern, but Grandpa Flea thought it was all fine (men!). Then on to Skagway via Haines (where we didn't stop).The scenery is magnificent - snowy mountains everywhere and all sorts of wildlife to see. In Skagway, the ferry docks at the end of the mainstreet - it's as though you are going to sail up the road.

At Skagway we said goodbye to the ferry and caught an old-fashioned train on the "WhiteHorse Pass and Yukon Railway" - across viaducts over huge chasms, through miles of forest, over Dead Horse Gulch on an amazingly insubstantial looking steel bridge, through the White Pass and the summit with several feet of snow outside the train, then on to the end of the line at Fraser, where we transferred to a bus which took us to Whitehorse. In Whitehorse we saw an old "skyscraper" - a three storey wooden building of just one room per floor, bulit for workers on the Alaskan Highwy, to minimise heat loss. Amongst other things we visited the MacBride Museum and Sam McGee's cabin where a young person in dress, recited Robert Service's ballad of Sam McGee to great effect. I was so impressed I bought a book of the poetry to give to our oldest little Flea who was about 15 at the time. Robert Service's poetry reminds me of the poetry I grew up on - the poems of Banjo Patterson, an Australian bush poet from the early 1900s.

After a visit to the "Frantic Follies" and the paddle steamer "S.S. Klondike" we joined the Dawson City Courier for our trip to - you guessed it - Dawson City in the Yukon in Canada. In Dawson City we stayed at a B&B run by a young woman who played "Diamond Tooth Gertie" in the casino's music hall show. Again, we did walks around town, through the forest (such as it was), and along the the Yukon River, visited Robert Service's cabin, the Jack London Cabin and Cache Museum, and the casino to watch the show.

Then we joined another minivan which took us across the Yukon River on a small vehicular ferry - apparently in winter the river freezes and the cars etc just drive across the ice - and heavy movements are left until then. Then on to Top of the World Highway - an amazing experience across the barren landscape of the permafrost - the Arctic Desert. Back into the US again, through a place called "Chicken" and into Eero's home town - Fairbanks. Our hotel posted a notice each day - a typical day was "High 71F, Low 50F; intervals of cloud and sunshine; sunrise 3.41am, sunset 11.57pm; length of day: 20hrs, 16min, 2sec" - we had had long days in Dawson City too, and is it hard to sleep. I like to sleep with the curtains and windows wide open and that was impossible, of course. Thank heavens for sleeping pills! So more walks around town, along the Chena River, and a trip on the riverboat to the Chena Indian Village. I was so impressed with the beautiful traditional clothing - the embroidery is magnificent.

While in Fairbaks we took a light plane trip up through the mountain range called the"Gates of the Arctic National Park" , across the Arctic Circle to the Nunamiut Inland Eskimo Village at Anaktuvuk Pass. This was supposed to be a "mail run", stopping at a number of small settlements along the way, but as it was a weekend, there was no mail to deliver. So we flew direct to the village, landed, got out of the plane, gawked at a few kids who arrived on bikes and gawked at us, got in the back of a pick-up truck which took us to a large hanger type building where we could use the toilet then returned us to the landing strip, got back in the plane and went back to Fairbanks. I have to say it was not my favourite activity on our holiday - it seemed to be a lot of money to pay for an uncomfortable flight over a long distance. Sure, it was interesting to see the country from the air, but we were disappointed in the experience and do not recommend it.

Leaving Fairbanks, we travelled by the Alaska Railroad to Denali National Park and that is where we shall leave this long extended story which has no doubt, bored you to tears. I hate long texty blogs without photos and as our photos are not stored in the computer I can't post any - easily.

And the winner is .....

2007-07-02T18:11:00.000+10:00

Kathy from Indianapolis, Indiana, USA - congratulations! Grandpa Flea did the honours, closing his eyes (I don't know why!) and picking a tightly folded piece of paper from the knitting basket. Thank you to everyone for entering into the spirit of fun and sharing your location with us all. Kathy, if you would email me your snail mail address (stellathestar"AT"bigpond"DOT"com) , a little surprise will wing your way. I'll put photos up here after I know you have received it.

The magic shawl is now stretching itself out to whisk us even further out to the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. No prizes for guessing why they are called that! Again, when I worked in outer Sydney, there was one point in my drive when I'd come to the top of a hill and see the Blue Mountains in the distance - it never failed to make me feel better about the drive to work. It used to be a place where city people went for holidays - now it's a place where people can live and enjoy the benefits of small community life but still commute to the city to work or for pleasure.

This is where Kate hails from. If you read Kate's blog you'll see some wonderful photos of the recent falls of snow there.

When I was a child - more than 50 years ago!!, we went for a holiday to Katoomba, one of the furthermost towns in the Blue Mountains. We lived on the Central Coast then, about (now) a couple of hours drive from the Sydney CBD. We didn't have a family car, and made the trip by steam train to Sydney, and I assume, by another steam train to Katoomba. We had a rented house, which was bitterly cold and I SO wanted it to snow. All our things were packed in a large metal trunk which accompanied us in the goods van. My mother was almost paralysed by the cold and I can't recall us doing much walking as a family, but every morning I would get up early and wander all around, blowing clouds with my breath. I remember starting to go down the Giant's Stairway near the Three Sisters, but getting a bit scared and turning back. I am horrified, now, to think that I was running around those cliffs and things without my parents' knowledge. We stayed there for a week - and it didn't snow. I was 21 before I saw the soft white stuff.

Now we are off to visit Michelle, flying high above the Blue Mountains and the Great Dividing Range, across the central west of NSW which has just had some relief from a seven year drought, across Mungo Lake National Park part of the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area. We then cross into South Australia, down towards Adelaide and west across the Nullabor Plain and into Western Australia. WA is one of the most beautiful states - and it has great yarn shops! What more could you want? Michelle lives in Perth, the capital city of the State. Perth is a beautiful city, well set out, wide, spacious streets and with little free buses that tootle around the city area. Last time I visited there, we stayed in an apartment in east Perth and the lttle bus stopped opposite our door. Perth is home to King's Park Botanic Gardens - a must see for lovers of Australian native plants. WA is known as the "wildflower State" for good reason. I will never forget smelling the intense, sweet perfume of brown boronias when we were on the south coast. We looked everywhere for them, and eventually discovered the source of the perfume hundred of metres away in the bush around a little lake. If you have ever smelt brown boronias, you'll understand why the memory is so strong. Perth is a great place to go for a holiday - there are so many unique places you can visit as day trips, and for a longer stay, it is a great place to use as a base for longer trips. I have never been to the north of WA, but it's ON THE LIST!

One more stop to visit Eero - tomorrow.

Competition - Around the world on the magic shawl ...

2007-07-01T14:06:00.000+10:00

I'm not too sure what time it is elsewhere - it is 1 July here, so midnight tonight will be the cut - off for the knitting trip around the world competition.

I am a bit disappointed that more people didn't leave their "where do you come from" details. A friend down south (Hi!) told me that she doesn't leave comments because of privacy concerns. So I suppose that a lot of people are worried about revealing too much information on the www. I hate to think what sort of a profile the CIA, ASIO, MI5 and any other secret monitoring agency has on me by now! Probably I should be more worried about the internet advertisers who now know all sorts of things because of the number of surveys I've filled in and competitions I've entered. Some months ago, now, I received a Yazzii needle roll and knitting bag in the mail -no information on who had sent it. The padded postbag and computer mailing label and franking made me think that it must have been a prize from some competition I had entered - but who knows? (Stop Press! I know now - when I was looking for the Yazzii site so I could post the link, I read a "testimonial" on the site that referred to the same prize that someone had won in a "Creative Knitting" magazine competition! I haven't put the link to the Australian "Creative Knitting" here, as it has become a clone of the English magazine "Simply Knitting")

Back to the topic. Today the magic shawl is landing at inner Sydney, Outer Sydney, the Blue Mountains, - INTERRUPTION:
would you believe it - having just written about my disappointment in this draft, an email arrived fromEero who lives in Fairbanks, Alaska! I wondered how she had wandered into my blog, but saw a comment by Carson on her last post, so I guess that's how! - RESUMPTION :
Perth and Fairbanks, Alaska.

Miss Fee hails from the Sydney inner city area. I have had the privilege of visiting her at home. The inner city is densely populated and like the suburbs, each area seems to have a unique personality. Miss Fee is close enough to walk to the CBD if she wishes (I'd get the bus!). The streets of inner Sydney are a mix of the old and the new with old terrace houses, shops, blocks of apartments, and an increasing number of high rise residential units. Many of the inner city areas were once regarded as "slums". My parents and I (only a little person then) lived briefly at a place called Surrey Hills after WWII. Mum regarded it as one of the low points of her life - a place infested with cockroaches and rats and all sorts of strange people. An aunt lived at nearby Paddington and when I was about 9 and stayed there for a few days, I was not allowed to play with the children in the street - they were not "nice". These days, Surrey Hills and Paddington in particular are expensive suburbs - too dear for the likes of us! I haven't followed the real estate market in Miss Fee's part of town, but anywhere in the inner city is now a highly prized place to live. I don't want to reveal too much about Miss Fee's without her permission, but her place reminded me, in a way, of old New Orleans, where many homes present a blank, unprepossessing front to the street, but magic lurks within.

Now we're whooshing over the suburbs to the outer north western area where Janette lives. I don't think Janette actually put her name down for this, but as she left a comment or two, I'm assuming she knows that I know where she lives. (You should see her knitting room!) I used to drive through Janette's general area when I worked in outer Sydney. I used to pass many open, grazing areas, a huge paddock full of cut firewood for sale, small roadside stalls with veggies for sale, a feedlot for cattle which you could smell before you could see it, and a few houses usually well set back from the road. There was the odd pub and service station, but it was basically a semi-rural area. The road was a double lane in most places (i.e. one lane in each direction) and if there was an accident, the delays were enormous. These days, Sydney's suburban sprawl has reached Janette's area and there are new suburbs by the dozen. The open spaces (and the feedlot!) have been replaced by new streets, a mixture of large homes, townhouses and duplexes, children's playgrounds, and small shopping centres. The road system has been widened and traffic lights placed at many of the intersections which used to be "take-your-life-in-your-hands-if-you-want-to-turn-right" territory - much to my relief. The one great disadvantage of living there is that there is NO yarn shop. Not that that stops our Janette from maintaining a substantial stash!

The Blue Mountains, Perth and Fairbanks will have to wait until tomorrow.

Two days left to tell me where you come from ...

2007-06-28T11:12:00.000+10:00

There are only two/three more days until 30th June (depending on whether you live downunder or in a different timezone where foreign languages are spoken - the US for instance!) for you to leave a comment telling me where you come from - see my earlier post for details -I'm going to the Craft Show at Darling Harbour on Saturday, so who knows what goodies might be in the surprise for the lucky blogger. At midnight on the 30th, your names will all go into the knitting basket for the lucky draw.

I haven't forgotten the magic shawl ride to Kate, Miss Fee, and Janette - I'm just a bit short of time.

Possum paradise and next stop on the knitting trip around the world ...

2007-06-22T19:40:00.000+10:00

Before we arrive at our new destination I have to share these photos of one of our resident possums. We are having the three big Fleas and partners and assorted little fleas over on Saturday to go through the various bits of furniture, books, junk etc we are not taking with us in the move. As Grandpa Flea was going around the house "making an inventory" (isn't that like a man , I was just going to make a list! ) we moved outside to the area referred to as "under the house" - it's actually an open carport under the house. On a raised concrete area to one side, various tools etc are stored and also the junk we didn't want in the house while we were "open for inspection". There, just cuddled up in a ball on the cold concrete floor, in amongst the various bits and pieces, was a fat furry bundle of possum.
It woke up and had a bit of a scratch,
decided we were only nuisance value, not a threat, and then went back to sleep again.
Today our magic flying shawl is landing in Scottsdale, Arizona where Rachel lives. Aaahh, I remember it well! It was the spring of '85 and I had a fifteen year old boy who thought all females were the devil's spawn, and a thirteen year old, rebellious girl in tow on our first ever overseas trip. We had just come from the Grand Canyon where the 15 year old had bought a book on walking in the Canyon. His favourite part was the page where it warned against taking menstruating women with you, as bears have a very keen sense of smell and are liable to give chase and eat everyone for breakfast. This fitted perfectly with his (then) views about women and if he read the page aloud once, I swear he read it out a hundred times. This did a lot to ease tensions between the siblings (ha ha) not to mention with their long-suffering mother!

Grandpa Flea had flown off to Houston or somewhere on business and left us to our own devices with a rented car. We stayed in a motel/hotel in Scottsdale. This was spring, remember, early May, and the temperature was about 50 Celsius - it was HOT. It was even too hot to swim in the pool! We were all very nervous about being in the US and even more so without the biggest male of the family to protect us (we're not stupid - we'd heard about the range of various violent crimes, race riots and serial killers that lurked around every corner).

The first day we were there I had to visit the doctor as my ears had started to give me terrible pain on the flight from Australia and then on the internal flight to Phoenix. And I mean PAIN. So we spent most of the first day in the emergency department of some hospital, where I was tagged around the wrist and put in a bed with the sides pulled up while the kids loitered forlornly in the corner. Eventually a doctor came and explained to me that I had a pressure build up in the middle ear, and he would have to bore little holes in my eardrums!!! - if I didn't have this procedure, my eardrums would burst and it would probably leave me partially deaf. Now, I'm a coward and I don't mind admitting it. There was no way I was going to have holes bored in my eardrums by some strange man in some strange hospital in some strange city while I was responsible for two kids and had no Grandpa Flea there to hold everything together. To be honest, there was no way I was having it done - period. So after much "discussion" and dire warnings, I was sent on my way with some antibiotics, but not until after I had signed a waiver acknowledging that I had been WARNED and if anything happened to me, it would be ALL MY FAULT. Oh, I also had to pay for the consultation, the drugs and TEN MINUTES OF HEALTH EDUCATION.

I had desperately wanted to drive out to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Park, but it was so hot that I was too anxious to go - I was worried that if we broke down and managed to escape the resident and transient murderers, that we'd die of heat exhaustion. Instead we lingered in the hotel room all the next day and eventually went for a walk downtown in the late afternoon. I bought myself a necklace in one off the shops and we bought a few trinkets for the rebellious one's friends back home.

Later, we set out to drive to some restaurant on the top of a hill with a beautiful view. It's main claim to fame seemed to be that if you wore a tie there, they cut it off and pinned it to the ceiling with the hundreds of others snipped from hapless customers. We drove around for what seemed like hours - hopelessly lost and me getting increasingly anxious. In the end we stopped at a some sort of chain restaurant, where we had one of the most memorable experiences of our trip (I'm like Roxie - easily amused!). We were trying to order our food and drinks from a waitress who spoke with some sort of broad Arizonian accent. We had trouble understanding her, and she didn't understand us at all! but there was goodwill on both sides. We were trying to establish if the orange drink on the menu was a fizzy drink or a cordial type drink, or fresh juice (my kids were fussy!). After several attempts, the answer was " Well, ah cain't say yais 'n ah cain't say no, 'cahs ah don't rahtly know what y'all tokking abaht". We still laugh about it. So much for English being a universal language.

Scottsdale (as it was then) reminds me a bit of Noosa - it seemed to be a tourist destination for the seriously trendy and well-to-do. Is it still like that, Rachel? It was very charming but I'd only ever visit there again in the dead of winter. With a bit of luck it would only get to 40deg.Celsius!

Back on the magic shawl and home to Australia. Next post we'll visit Janette, Kate and Miss Fee.

A Knitting Trip continued .... with a small detour ...

2007-06-19T18:03:00.000+10:00

My whirlwind virtual trip around the world was interrupted by a birthday party for the littlest Flea who turned 5 on Sunday. The house was a great happy chaotic mess of the birthday girl, two little cousins and assorted Mama, Daddy, aunts, uncles and the FleaPas. We had pink balloons, pink icing, pink presents, and a swimming pool cake with blue and red water and the two little cousins and the littlest Flea swimming in it! Oh -do you know how many people it takes to light the candles on a birthday cake? - three - one Grandpa to hold the match and one Daddy and a birthday girl to supervise! Look at the concentration on those faces.
My apologies to Roxie - I forgot to take a photo of the cupcakes with pink icing and smarties (M & Ms) decoration.

Now back to the knitting trip around the world - Maud, Miss Fee,and Rachel have all left a comment about where they come from. This is exciting (to me!). I'm falling behind in my responses, so:

Dianne admits to two knitting homes - California, USA and Exeter, Australia. I've been to California but without knowing the general location, can't say if I've been near Dianne's knitting lair, there. Exeter is in the Southern Highlands of NSW, about an hour and a half to two hours drive from my home. I have been to Robertson and Bundanoon in the same area, but can't recall Exeter, although I must have passed through there. It is a beautiful part of NSW with proper winters, unlike my part of Sydney. Robertson is the home of the "Big Potato" - Australians have a fascination for "big things" - we have "big things" all around the country - the big merino, the big banana (the first big thing in Australia, I think), the big oyster, the big prawn, the big bottle! and so on. Robertson is a potato growing area and so I guess someone had the bright idea of having a "big Thing" to attract the tourists - unfortunately, the big potato looks like a giant dog dropping (my apologies to the good people of Robertson if I've offended you - but someone had to tell you ...)

Next, Kathy of Indianapolis - I have never been to Indianapolis - the closest I've gone is Chicago about 15 years ago. I fell in love with The Field Museum - Grandpa Flea and I spent hours there and still didn't get off the ground floor! It's a bit like Questacon in Canberra, but a thousand times better. My favourite exhibit was the very large clear perspex incubator containing hundreds of hen eggs. As you watched, an egg would start to hatch and it was absolutely mesmerising to watch the little chick struggle to break out of the shell. Nothing like the sped-up sequences you see on TV! I also loved the The Art Institute of Chicago although when I just did a search of its website, I couldn't find the paintings that I remembered. Perhaps they are on loan or maybe even sold.

Willow hails from Los Angeles but is about to move north west to Camarillo. I have changed planes in Los Angeles - I even had a shower at the airport - but have never actually looked around there. The closest I have been is Las Vegas, which is not close at all. I found Camarillo on the map, but again Las Vegas would be the closest I have been. When we went to Las Vegas, it was the first time we had been overseas and we had three weeks travelling around - everywhere. We saw a lot of airports! and learnt from that experience.

Gemma lives in Bankstown, a south western suburb of Sydney. It's an area that I used to know quite well, as Grandpa Flea was living in a boarding house in the nearby suburb of Punchbowl when I met him. But that was many, many years ago and I probably wouldn't recognise it now. My eldest daughter was working there some years ago in the Environmental Protection Agency, but her department then moved into the Sydney CBD. Grandpa Flea's sister used to live at Padstow which is also in the same general area so over the years I've circled around Bankstown.

We now have to do a lightning speed hop over to Finland, where Maud lives in a place called Espoo. Check out Maud's posts on her Venezia sweater - it is a work of art. I can see on Google Earth that Espoo is inland and west of Helsinki but still on the south coast. I now know that it is the second largest city in Finland with about 250,000 people, and is part of the Greater Helsinki City area. And it has a Marimekko shop! I have been to Finland - to Helsinki airport! where I changed planes on my way from somewhere to somewhere - I can't recall now. The airport has some lovely examples of Finnish design in the shops but sadly that is the only part of Finland that I have seen to date. However, for many years - thirty or more, I have worn a Finnish designed silver heart around my neck. We used to have a shop at Eastwood a couple of suburbs away that only sold items from Finland. I fell in love with this particular heart and had to have it. It is looking a bit battered now from years of wearing - I've dropped it a few times on a concrete surface which has left a few marks and when my grandchildren were teething, they used to "gum" it when I was holding them. When we visited Stockholm we stayed in a funny little hotel/bed and breakfast place which was owned by a Finnish family. The owner's brother greeted us like long lost friends and gave us a discount as he had emigrated to Australia and was visiting his brother on holidays! He lives in Granville, the suburb that Lara is moving to. So I do have Finnish connections!!

More next post when I visit Rachel from Scottsdale and Israel and Miss Fee.

A knitting trip around the world ...

2007-06-17T16:26:00.000+10:00

Thank you Lara, Carson, Roxie, Gemma, Willow, Kathy, Dianne and Emma for stepping up to the challenge! Your names are in the hat!

I had to refer to the atlas for Roxie - talk about the geographically ignorant! I always thought Oregon was somewhere in the middle of the US - about where Dakota turns out to be! And I'm the person who says that Americans are usually very ignorant about the world outside the US (no offence meant, but y'all ask us Aussies some pretty strange questions!) So now that I KNOW where Oregon is, I can say that the closest I have ever been to Orgon was on a shuttle bus en route from Vancouver BC (now I know there is another Vancouver in Oregon!) which passed through Seattle on the way to Bellingham (oh! I'll never forget the horror of it all- so near,and yet so far from the wonderful yarn shops of Seattle!). And because of the interesting "hub" arrangements of the US domestic airlines, I have flown over Mt St Helens en route to Vancouver from Australia via Los Angeles and Houston! What a flight that was - it felt like we'd left Sydney about 3 weeks before instead of thirty something hours! So I really know very little about Oregon.

Now, Emma from Merdrignac in Brittany in France - Bonjour! (that's about the extent of my French!) I found Merdrignac on Google Earth and on Google. I may have passed through there in a minibus tour we did in 2000 with a company called Back Roads Touring as we went to Normandy and Brittany before heading back towads the south-east but I think the closest I have been to Merdrignac is St Malo - I have fond memories of St Malo, as I had my hair cut there! I spent an hour or so in the hairdressers, practising my schoolgirl French while half the salon practised their English. It was good fun. The other people in the group went off looking at historical things, but I'm sure my memories are stronger. I was amazed (and probably very naive) at the regional cultural variations in France. The group leader come bus driver was an Englishman, who lived in France most of the time - he spoke fluent French and made sure we were introduced to all the regional specialties in food and drink. He was an outstanding guide. I think his background as a school teacher helped.

Carson comes from the inner western suburbs of Sydney, an area that I got to know when my youngest daughter lived at Stanmore. What a great place to live - close to the city, buses around every corner, coffee shops around every other corner, beautiful old homes, many semi-detached, but a lot of old "mansions" from the 1800s, interesting shopping (I love All Buttons Great and Small at Newtown) and despite the high density of the housing, an amazing variety of wild-life to be seen. I'm really sorry that we didn't move in towards the city when our daughter was living there, but "old dogs" are hard to shift! And sadly, now that my "old dog" has retired and is involved with lots of locally based things, it would not be a good move.

Now I know the area where Lara hails from. It is not that far from where I live, and I have an amazing knitterly friend called Pia who lives there. She is absolutely delightful and a beautiful knitter to boot. Denistone East is a good place to live - there are buses and trains to the city, good local shopping and and it's closer to the city than Beecroft. But, Lara says, she is considering a move to Granville. Granville is not that far from Harris Park where I lived when I was first married, but the area has changed greatly since then with an influx of people from middle eastern cultures. So, I must take a trip to Granville soon and wander around to feel and see the changes.

Having asked everyone else to nominate where they live, it's only fair that I should 'fess up too. I currently live in Beecroft, a leafy suburb in the north-west of Sydney, but later this year we are moving to Epping, two suburbs closer to the city. Epping is much more densely populated than Beecroft, with many more blocks of home units and some medium rise office buildings.

The shopping centre in Beecroft has a variety of small boutiquey type shops and is a nice place to meet friends for coffee or lunch and a wander around, window shopping. Epping's shopping centre is much more spread out - the railway line and a main road divide the shopping area into two parts and there aren't the same number of small boutiques. However, Epping has many restaurants, two opportunity shops (thrift shops to those who don't speak the Queen's English!), a branch of the local library, a public swimming pool, and a railway/bus interchange that allows you to travel to many places by public transport quite easily. Where we will be living also has nice long, flat streets for walking as opposed to the mountain we have to climb in Beecroft - perhaps I'll lose some kilos!

We won't have the wildlife that we have here and we'll miss that, nor the privacy which will be hard to lose. I love having all the blinds right up and hate sleeping in a room with the windows covered. We can do that here without any worries about casual passers by looking in, but in Epping we'll have a street frontage. Our children think we'll have a lot of trouble adjusting to living so close to other people. I think we'll have trouble adjusting to living in a much smaller space! I'm cleaning out cupboards, sorting and throwing (and packing!) but hate parting with things like the hundreds of knitting patterns I've downloaded from the internet and will never, in my wildest dreams, get knitted. Despite this, I think it is a good move for us, and a timely one. Grandpa Flea turns 68 this year and I'll be 63. I've seen too many people leave the decision to move until someone else has to make it for them. And much as I love and respect my children, I'd rather choose, myself, where I'll live!

This is turning into a really interesting project - I'm learning so much - I was just looking for some Beecroft photos on the internet and discovered that:
"On the main northern train line from Sydney’s Central Station, Beecroft is a natural bushland village. Within a few kilometres of such attractions as Koala Park, where you can get nose-to-nose with Australia's cutest marsupial, and Cumberland State Forest, the only metropolitan forest in the southern hemisphere, Beecroft is less than 25 minutes by car from Sydney along the M2 motorway.

The main north rail-line which passes through the suburb offers links to the city, Hornsby, Parramatta and neighbouring suburbs.

The small but compellingly quaint shopping precinct of Beecroft is only minutes from the major commercial centres of Epping, Castle Hill and the Macquarie shopping complex.

Beecroft and neighbouring Cheltenham are rarities in the metropolis that is Sydney. They are just a 20 to 30 minutes drive on the M2 from the heart of Sydney, yet they retain the charm and tranquillity of bushy, elegant country villages." (Travelmate.com.au) Now, when we moved here 40 years ago, the shopping centre could have been called "quaint" but I wouldn't use that term these days! And the "elegance" of the "village" as some of the locals like to call it, is fast being knocked down by people who are building fence to fence Mc Mansions. True, there are some absolutely beautiful old homes in Beecroft (not ours!!) but the trend to knock old places down (and all the old trees in the garden) is very disheartening.

I also found on www.answers.com that: "Beecroft residents tend to vote conservatively, and for fiscally conservative political parties, while often being socially liberal in their political views. Its leafy, tree-lined steets are reminiscent of a village in the home counties. Some of Sydney's most historically important houses are found in Beecroft, many of which are distinctively Australian, including several Federation houses on one of Sydney's oldest and most expensive residential streets, Malton Road." What a surprise! I will never forget the day the Governor General sacked Gough Whitlam (a reformist Labor Prime Minister in 1972) - I was on canteen duty at the primary school with all the "socially liberal" mothers of the area - they all cheered when the news came through. I ended up having to go home early as I was so upset by their joy!

More tomorrow.

Where do you come from?

2007-06-15T18:26:00.001+10:00

One of the things I love about blogging, is watching the amazing variety of places that people come from. It is absolutely fascinating to think that every day it is possible to communicate with people in so many different countries. So far I have noted knitters and people seeking information on fleabites (many apologies again!) from Australia, New Zealand, mainland China, Turkey, the USA of course including Hawaii, the UK, France, Denmark, Estonia, Norway, Finland, Canada, somewhere at the top of India ... I love visiting countries around the globe, some more so than others, and each time I look at the list of countries or the map with red dots, it brings back memories and also the desire to travel again to places that I loved, and of places so far unseen. We are going to India and Thailand later this year, but in my heart of hearts I want to live in another country for a time. Maybe after we have moved we'll join a house swap site and have a period of time living overseas, even if only for a few weeks. It is a huge temptation when you live in Australia to cram too much into an overseas trip, because it is so far to go (and SO uncomfortable in cattle class!) and also so expensive. We travel quite a bit, but I want to live in the centre of Paris for a few weeks, in a Japanese city, in Scandinavia, in the UK and the USA, everywhere!! - will I live long enough? I'll give it my best shot!

Please leave a comment and tell me where you come from, then I'll look up that town in the atlas and the internet and leave a post telling you if I've ever visited that country, that state/area/that town or city. If you live in Australia, the name of your city/town/suburb/or area - whatever you feel comfortable with. It's a bit frustrating looking at the pie chart from Sitemeter (above), as it only lists the last 500 hits, and only by country, and quite a few hits are from "unknown". Between it and the Clustermap I can get a better idea. Tell me where you are! Please!! At the end of June, I'll draw a name from a hat, and have a prize for that person - I'm not quite sure yet, what it will be - perhaps a surprise would be best! I look forward to hearing where you are from.

Oh, I'd love to know too, if you are a knitter, or looking for information on flea bites!!

Confessions of ... cont'd

2007-06-12T23:20:00.000+10:00

Well, the long socks saga (try saying that quickly when you've had a couple of glasses of wine!) is nearly over. All that remains to be done is to pass them on to their new owner. Grandpa Flea very obligingly modelled the socks for the photo - can't you see why I married him? Such a shapely pair of legs! Sorry about the photo quality - not helped by the dark colour of the socks. They are a Patons pattern in a 3x3 rib, knitted in Patonyle. I astonished myself by grafting the toe on the first sock with no trouble once I found a book with clear how-to illustrations. Unfortunately I couldn't manage it when I tried to follow Montse Stanley's directions. But I have a couple of old multi-craft encyclopedia type books and the illustrations and directions in one were very clear. However (my knitting always has a sorry end!), when I came to graft the second toe, I had uneven numbers of stitches on the two needles. Being absolutely sick of the socks, I grafted the first two stitches on one needle to the first stitch on the second, and it made a little bump in the side of the toe. It would be annoying if the socks were worn with shoes, but the recipient lives in slippers, so I think it will be okay.
True to my word, I am confessing to another UFO which I have just come across in my clean-up. I have knitted this pattern a number of times and it always works well. I started this at the beginning of last summer for the Littlest Flea but it somehow got to the bottom of a pile of knitting and I forgot about it. Fortunately I was making a size 5-6 as Little Flea is rather sturdy, but she has had a recent growth spurt and shot up so she is slimmer and I think this will still fit her come summer as she only turns 5 next Saturday. When the knitting is finished, Little Flea and I will make Fimo buttons to match. I did this with Ms 11 when I knitted her the same pattern at about the same age and we had a wonderful time. The buttons looked a bit wonky after little fingers had prised them up off the benchtop and put them on the baking tray, but that only added to the charm.
So this will be a UFO that is finished.

Somehow, confessing them publicly seems to make them get finished. I wonder why?

I had lunch with Janette today - lots of good knitting talk and general gossip. Janette is a beautiful knitter, plus designer plus teacher. I did a workshop with her at Virginia Farm a couple of years ago and her instructions were so clear that I amazed myself - I still haven't mastered Dorset buttons though. She published a knitting book about three years ago (it only seems like yesterday) but has since been waylaid by the arrival of three beautiful grandchildren - two of them twins. Have a look at her website http://www.styk.com.au

Lesson No. 4: You can't knit socks while you watch SBS ...

2007-06-10T15:15:00.001+10:00

SBS is our multicultural TV channel, and it has some great movies and series - most of which are sub-titled. Our current favourites are: a gory Argentinian detective series, shown late on Monday night, called 'If the Dead Could Speak'; and our extra-favourite 'The Eagle: A Crime Odyssey', a Danish crime series set in Copenhagen with little sidetrips to other parts of Europe. We particularly like this show as we spent some time in Scandinavia a couple of years ago, and it's wonderful to look at the action and recognise the places. It brings back a lot of memories.

However shows on SBS have the disadvantage, for us monolingual knitters, of being sub-titled. Grandpa Flea is very well trained now and gives me a running commentary if I'm distracted by the dropped stitch or frogging-in-progress, but I have learnt this week, after many aborted attempts (five in total!) to turn the heel on the second of my first ever pair of socks that I cannot watch SBS and do the sock thing simultaneously. This poor pair of knee length socks has already been dragged all over New Zealand, to and from various other places, been frogged once already from the ankle back up to the basque below the knee (because it is a K3 P2 rib and on my return from three weeks sightseeing in NZ I discovered many purl stitches where I had dropped back into the habit of K2 P2 - damn!) and they are looking quite old and pilled (it's Patonyle). However, I have at last turned the heel and whilst I'm not proud of the quality of the knitting and the turn, I'm ecstatic that I have managed to do it! I think I'm about to develop a sock knitting habit. One more FO to send out into the world. I'll add a photo to this post as soon as I can pin Grandpa Flea down long enough to wrestle his shoes and socks off so he can model them for me!

Lara has started coming to the Cherryhills knitting group, and at a recent meeting she had some hand-dyed Patonyle which looked great. I think I might have to give it a try. Lara used food dyes, and I have just bought a pile of extremely toxic looking food dyes to make cup-cakes a la Yarnstorm for the littlest Flea's 5th birthday next weekend.

Fleabites apology ....

2007-06-07T10:45:00.000+10:00

To all those people who wander onto this site through a google search for information on fleabites - please accept my apologies. I obviously have some experience with fleas - otherwise, how would I know that fleas resemble children? It is very true that if you have a flea plague - or even ONE flea - that it makes life very difficult - just when you are quietly settled down - or even when you're fast asleep in bed - or even when you're actively involved in doing something, your quiet/sleep/activity is bound to be interrupted by that pesky little flea - the same thing that happens when you have children or grandchildren. Unlike children and grandchildren, however, there is no up-side to fleas. They don't give you cuddles and kisses; they don't want to snuggle quietly on your lap; they don't look lovingly into your eyes and say "I love you Grandma Flea" - but then again, they don't examine your face intently and say "Grandma, when are you going to die?" or "Grandma, you need to get new teeth" (a bit difficult when you don't have dentures).

It is possible to exterminate fleas, and we often do, while we only wish that we could put children and grandchildren into suspended animation from the time they turn thirteen until they are twenty or so and all done with the teenage rebellions.

As for fleabites - a mixture of baking soda and vinegar is a handy remedy for itching when you don't have any proprietary stop-itch stuff around. For the other sorts of fleas, when all else fails, a video or a computer game may leave you feeling just a little bit guilty, but will give you some relief from the itching for a little while.

Good luck!

Stash ....gulp ..... enhancement ....

2007-06-06T13:59:00.000+10:00

You know how it is - one minute you're vowing that you'll reduce the UFO pile, that you WILL NOT start anything new until you have finished more than one UFO - and then, across a crowded yarn shop, your eyes see - someone else, holding THE most beautiful combination of yarns that you have ever seen .... all the good resolutions run out the door. You feel the silver tongued devil sitting on your shoulder whispering in your ear - go on girl - you KNOW you want it - what harm can come from a little bit of wool? - the little Flea will look bee-ute-i-ful in those colours - you know she's been asking you to knit her a pink shawl FOR MONTHS - and you haven't even started one - how can you look into those big brown eyes again and tell her that?? And if you're careful, Grandpa Flea need never know!!

Five minutes later, you're walking out the door, bag heavier, purse lighter - justifying yourself, as the guilt slowly creeps up to meet you - it wasn't very much - less than $50 - only $49.99! - of course I'll need to put some other yarn with it - but little Flea will LOVE it - she'll be so pleased - I hope Grandpa Flea doesn't see the bag ..... he'll say "I thought we were decluttering" - "you've already got more wool than you can ever knit" - "you could knit all day, every day until you die and you'd still have wool left over" ....."where are you going to put it in our new house - it's smaller, REMEMBER" ... "you should be selling it, not buying it". Who needs self generated guilt when Grandpa Flea's around? But he does have a point .... just a small one, but a point, nevertheless.

Once home, a quick flick through the SMALL amount of stash that has not been packed away during the house sale, and the yarn for the prospective shawl has grown to this.
An hour or so later, and a shawl is on the needles. What happened to the UFOs? I hear you ask - ah, well, um .. it's like this - the squares for an indeterminate purpose have been hastily put together for a doll's blankie - and the remaining yarn returned to stash. The long socks - half knitted in New Zealand last year, have made some progress - one is finished and the other is up to the heel. It would have been finished except that two balls of Patonyle were not enough! and I had to join another ball in, half way along the instep, so I decided to frog back and make the join before the ankle. The last sock should be finished very soon and it can then go to the elderly gentleman with cold legs who lives near my daughter (I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I did buy him a pair of long possum fur and wool socks while in NZ as it was clear the socks wouldn't be finished last winter. Possums are a protected animal in Australia, but they are an imported pest in NZ and cause a lot of problems for the NZ wild life - destroying the native habitat with their voracious appetites, and breeding like fruit flies because there are no natural predators to keep the numbers under control).

Speaking of possums, there has been a lot of fighting going on over the last couple of weeks, and the shy possum who nested in the tree house opposite our deck disappeared and there was quite a lot of possum fur around on the ground all over the yard. I'm not sure if the possum was taken by a cat or fox, or vanquished by a superior possum and gone off to sulk somewhere. The possum box is inhabited again, but I think it is a newcomer - it's a bit hard to tell. The other night the inhabitant of the second box, who is REALLY shy, was making its appearance, well after dark and I managed to catch part of it with the camera. It's hard to take photos at night as I can't see anything on the little screen, and just have to point and click and HOPE!

Meme correction ...

2007-05-30T19:38:00.000+10:00

The Knitting Curmudgeon recently gave some good links explaining the term "meme". Until I read these, I had thought "meme" was a symptom of the current social order - ME! ME! ME! - as they all seem to be about the tagee. The word is not in the third edition of The Macquarie Dictionary (Australia's National Dictionary) though, which makes me think it is a word originating in the internet. Maybe the links I mentioned actually say that, as I have a bad habit of only half reading things. However, to come to the subject of this post (ME!) - No. 6 of my seven random facts is something you could know about me from reading earlier posts - i.e. I have no spatial ability. So here is a replacement:

6. I learnt to knit when I was 18. The first thing I made was a bright red crew neck jumper in bluebell crepe. It had crossed and split stitches all through it but I thought I was so clever. The second thing I made was a large dark green cardigan/coat in a boucle yarn. This was my first contact with the world of intuitive knitters. One of the girls in my year of training had knitted herself this cardi/coat and lined it with a some sort of polyester satin material. I was absolutley amazed that she did this WITHOUT A PATTERN FOR THE LINING! She explained to the rest of us, that she just put the pieces of knitting down on the material and cut around them - and bingo! she had a lined cardigan. Back then, (in the olden days) it used to be VERY cold. I had a two hour journey to and from classes, with long waits for connections on windy train stations and bus stops and I was ALWAYS cold. So I followed the instructions and had a wonderful warm jacket to wear. It didn't have any ease in the lining but I was as skinny as a rake in those days, and it was a big loose fitting garment, so it didn't really matter. I don't think any other piece of knitting I've done has ever given me the same sense of achievement.

Possums and things that bite ...

2007-05-29T17:08:00.000+10:00

Possum lovers - hop over to Susan's site for a possum story!

Whenever we have overseas visitors, invariably, almost the first thing they tell us, after they get over the jet lag, is that Australia is a VERY dangerous place - poisonous spiders, crocodiles, the most poisonous snakes in all the world, kangaroos that disembowel you, and sharks, lurk around every corner. They know this because they watch the Discovery Channel. We, of course, find this very funny - but the boot was on the other foot a few years ago, when we visited Canada and took a trip up into the Rockies - in Spring - when the BEARS! are starting to come out of hibernation.

Now, I have no trouble admitting that I belong to the order of WIMPS - I'd read all the stuff about BEARS! in the forest, the importance of making noise to let them you are there, backing away, not getting between a mother and her cubs and ...... the list of things went on. I was TERRIFIED of meeting a BEAR! - did you know they can rip your head off? And I don't even have the Discovery Channel! Needless to say, our friends in Vancouver thought this was VERY funny (- but what would they know? They live in a city!) So we set forth, intrepid travellers. Every time we took a walk into the forest, my heart rate would go up to 160, my blood pressure would rise and I felt SO anxious. Every leaf that moved or branch that rustled was a BEAR!. I was almost paralytic with fear. Two weeks later, the BEARS! had still not been sighted. We were beginning to feel very deprived. We started to walk rather more softly, in case we scared them away ...... and then, when we least expected it ..... we saw a BEAR! ..... from the car. It was sitting on the railway track eating grain that had fallen from a freight car. We flew out of the car - a BEAR! - down in the culvert - hah! - we weren't afraid! As Grandpa Flea pointed the camera at it, it turned around and spotted us - it started to change position (so I thought) and my flight response went into overdrive. Before you could say BEAR! I was back in the car with the doors locked (great defence that one!). BEAR! went back to his dinner and Grandpa Flea took a photo.

Some days later we were on the Rocky Mountaineer. They have a poetry competition as a way of passing the time while the train sits for hours, waiting for the freight trains to pass on the way into Vancouver Station. Today, when I was cleaning out one of the MANY cupboards full of bits of paper, I found my entry. Here it is for your enjoyment or ridicule - I am no poet, but I had fun (and I now won't need to keep the bit of paper as a souvenir).

BEAR! Phobia

We come from the land downunder, where skies are blue and sands are white,
And there are lots of things that bite - crocodiles and poisonous snakes,
Not to mention sharks that wait - for tourists on their dinner plates.
And yet it's strange that we survive - even all the children thrive!

But now we've ventured far from home, to Canada where wild things roam
Apon the stony mountain tracks, waiting for a tourist snack.
I fear them here, I fear them there, but most, I fear those big black bears.
I walk with weak and trembling knees, making noise as I pass trees.
And every now and then I shout, to let them know that I'm about.

The days have passed, I'm still alive - I wonder where those bears all hide?
I seek them here, I seek them there, I seek those black bears everwhere!
I hold my breath and make no noise, I walk with ballet dancer's poise -
And still those bears don't give two hoots, about MY need for photo shoots.
You'd think they'd know that it's just not, the way to treat the tourist lot.

But now, at last, I see a bear! He's big and black with lots of hair,
Sitting on the railroad track, munching on a morning snack.
He hears the noise - I make to run - bears are really not much fun!
But all his does is lift his head - looks at me with great disdain
Turns his back and eats again.

Let's play tag ...

2007-05-24T18:58:00.000+10:00

Miss Fee has tagged me for the 7 random facts meme -

Rules of engagement: "Each person tagged gives seven random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write on their blogs seven facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and need to read your blog".

So here goes - 7 random facts that you would not know from reading this blog:

1. I finished school at 16, and at 19 was loosed apon the world as a licensed speech pathologist. I had no idea what I was I doing and the world was a better place when I left work a couple of years later.

2. I have one sibling - a brother 6 years younger than me - he briefly and mistakenly appeared on this blog as my avatar.

3. At 35, I returned to study and graduated with a BA in psychology.

4. I have been married longer than anyone else I know (more or less) - 42 years - and all to my first husband (aka Grandpa Flea)!

5. I love baked cheesecake.

6. I have no spatial ability.

7. When I was a child I had a black and white cocker spaniel called Ben Chifley. My brother had a golden cocker called Doc Evatt. (For those of you who do not know Australian political history, they were both Labor politicians)

It is actually very hard to nominate 7 people that I think wouldn't be, or haven't been, tagged already. I hereby pass the tag onto these people whose blogs I read and enjoy - if anyone objects to their name being here, I'm more than happy to remove it:

Janette

Roxie

Maud

Susan

Marie (1)

Franklin

Marie (2)

Enjoy!

Biggest Morning Tea

2007-05-24T14:02:00.000+10:00

So, a few days ago at the Guild, we had a "Biggest Morning Tea" for the NSW Cancer Council. This is a fund raising activity to aid research and development in the field of cancer. Morning teas are held all over NSW. It has a special significance for us this year, as three of our members are currently battling cancer - they were all there at the Biggest Morning Tea, looking wonderful. In conjunction with the morning tea, we have a tea cosy competition. This year we had the largest number of entries yet, about 35 and Sue from our LYS, Cherryhills, paid a visit to do the judging.
Just in case you think you can spot a beanie or two, one of the categories was "When is a tea cosy not a tea cosy - when it's a hat".
In the photo above, my tea cosy is the cyclamen pink one with the handle of the teapot pointing towards the viewer. It is a chevron pattern with a rose on top. The yarn was given to me by Janette - I think for the skirt I started to knit for Ms 11, but it went to a good cause as the tea cosy was donated for sale for charity. It cost $5 to enter the competition and that included morning tea. Morning tea was $5 and we also had a raffle with a large basket of donated goodies - being shown off here by our raffle organiser extraordinaire.
Members of the group all brought plates, a small band of people came in on the weekend to set up and dcorate the room - it looked amazing.
One of the women in the Guild had won a first prize in a local show and had brought the winning tablecloth in to show us - this a shot of the pattern detail:
What can you say to this - it's beautiful - and there was so much of it.

We had a great day knitting, talking, eating, laughing, buying raffle tickets and of course, washing up! In all we raised $800 for cancer research. Well done to all involved!

Confession is good for the soul ...

2007-05-23T23:34:00.001+10:00

So, having confessed to SOME of my UFOs, I suddenly find that there are now FOs appearing - first the jacket for Ms 11 (last post) and now this - - a little baby cardi I have been knitting for my chiropracter whose baby is due any minute. In my effort to get the cardi exactly right (unlike most of my knitting) I frogged the left front about a dozen times trying to make sure the buttonhole and three needle shoulder join were perfect - well, after wrestling with the damn thing for days, I finally had it all joined up, only to discover that I had LEFT OUT the button hole! How dumb can one person be! I refused to undo the whole thing again, so ended up crotcheting a loop to go over the button. This is a beautiful cardi for a baby as it doesn't sit right up under the chin. I haven't worked out how to link back to an earlier post, but the pattern is from Pipsqueaks (post of 17/2/07) and I used Zara. Note the way the sleeve is folded up - that's to hide the mess I made of the seam! C'est la vie where I'm concerned. It's the thought that counts! I still can't preview, so again, forgive any typos.

Thank You and Questions Answered

2007-05-23T17:14:00.000+10:00

I've been very remiss in responding to comments and questions left on my blog and want to play catch-up.

First of all, Roxie asked what PROBUS is - it's an organisation for PROfessional and BUSiness people who have retired - an off shoot of Rotary, except that there is no fund-raising or "good works" involved - people meet for fellowship and recreation. There are male, female and mixed groups. Grandpa Flea belongs to a male only group. He has a committee meeting once a month (he always gets involved in organising things), has a PROBUS meeting once a month with a guest speaker (partners are invited to these a couple of times a year), an outing once a month to all sorts of interesting places (partners go on these), and a day walk once a month (partners go too). Twice a year there is a bus trip away for 5 or 6 days (partners go too). So while Grandpa Flea is busy with PROBUS he is not at home organising me, so I enjoy it too!

Next, thank you to everyone who has commented on my possum pals and expressed concern for their welfare when we move. I will certainly take up the suggestions to leave the new owners a note asking them to start a blog with photos - and I'll let you know if they do (that is, if they let me know). I have started a folder for them with guarantees, instruction books etc and I'll add a possum page. So, Roxie, Carson, Kate, Willow, and Celia I hope that is reassuring.

Thank you, also, to everybody for the advice and words of reassurance about the move and the process of packing up. I appreciate it. Also to Roxie, Kate and Willow for the stash and UFO comments! There are certainly more UFOs yet to be confessed ....

The rare and unusual sighting of a FO brought a lot of very lovely comments and suggestions about a suitable closure. I think I'll have to finish a few more things! So thank you Janette, Roxie, Carson, Kate, Willow, Lynne and Sandra. The pattern was from Patons Book 1253, for size 2 - 10 years, "Zhivago for Kids". I knitted a size 10 as Ms 11 is quite skinny and my tension is a bit loose (the word "swatch" is in a language I don't understand!). The book looks like this (excuse the poor quality, blurry image!): Also a correction - I said in my last post (since corrected) that the yarn was a wool/tencel mix. It is in fact, 50% acrylic and 50% tencel.

Last, but not least, thank you to Roxie and Dodi Raz for your comments on my David Hicks rant. I feel very strongly about this issue.

Blogger won't let me preview this post, so I'm sending off as is - please overlook the typos etc.

FO sighting! Rare & unusual event!

2007-05-22T00:03:00.000+10:00

Before I got Ms 11's jacket in the post, I had an unexpected visit and was able to give it to her in person. It fits well - a little bit long at the back, but she's growing quickly. The sleeves would not have wanted to be any tighter though. She was thrilled. The yarn is Paton's Zhivago - a tencel and acrylic mix. It is beautifully soft, but not a happy yarn to knit with. The colour in the photo isn't true - it's really a mauve/light purple, not jacaranda blue. And I still need to find a brooch or a matching ribbon for the front (it's held with a pin in the photo).

How do we know an election is looming?

2007-05-21T19:48:00.001+10:00

David Hicks arrived home in Australia yesterday, after more than five years in detention at Guantanemo - for most of the time without legal charges, without trial, without access to legal representation except when it suited his gaolers, without sunlight for most of the day, and with few exceptions, without visitors. Without the human rights afforded by the Geneva Convention. Instead, he had the ludicrous title of "enemy combatant", not prisoner of war; he had a light on in his cell 24 hours a day making sleep difficult, if not impossible - but we are told he was not subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment; he had one hour a day out of his cell in the open air - at any time, day or night, decreed fit by his gaolers; he was held in solitary confinement; and if his story is true, subjected to torture.

We are told that this young man is a dangerous terrorist - but the best charge that could be laid after FIVE years, was that of giving material support to the enemy.

I don't believe in terrorism as a means to an end; I don't have any time for religous fundamentalists of ANY persuasion who try to dictate the way I live my life; I don't have any time for any government which practises or condones extraordinary rendition, which condones torture, which denies that captives taken in armed conflict are prisoners of war and which denies the rights afforded by the Geneva Convention. I therefore have no time for George Bush, John Howard or Tony Blair. I am ashamed that the government of my country could be so short sighted as to engage in sycophantic, brown tongueing of another foreign power. I am even more ashamed that my government would follow another country into war for no good reason. I am amazed that ANY government would think that it could IMPOSE democracy on another country - did they never hear of social change as a bottom up process? Did they not study the culture of the country they invaded - a culture based on tribal loyalties that go back thousands of years. Did they never consider the consequences of their actions, or were they blinded by the oil in their eyes? Did they never consider that their denial of the Geneva Convention, and their use of semantics to condone their behaviour would have implications for the treatment of their own fighting men and women in times of war?

Regardless of his plea of "guilty", David Hicks has been a pawn in the power play of Australian politics. The sudden haste to charge, try and repatriate David Hicks has been a cynical exercise coordinated by the US and Australian governments, due solely to the growing dis-ease within the Australian community about his lengthy incarceration in inhumane conditions. We are not meant to notice that there is a Federal election looming, that John Howard is lagging in the opinion polls, and that the Hicks affair has been a growing source of concern to many members of the voting public. Dream on, John Howard, dream on.

Chapter 2: Confessions of a Serial UFOer

2007-05-15T16:59:00.000+10:00

At last, a UFO which is nearing completion - as I knit the edging I keep breaking into that Johnny Cash song - And the Road Goes on Forever!. I still have about a quarter of the edging to do, but it's not the edging shown in the pattern photo - it's off another jacket in the same book.

This jacket is for Ms Just 11 - I know she'll love it (provided it fits) because when I asked her what colour she'd like, she said "Grandma Flea, it doesn't really matter because I love everything you choose for me ..." and my heart nearly broke with love for her. She is a special little Flea, our first grandchild, born the day after Grandpa Flea came out of an extended hospital stay for his bowel cancer operation. She was the "light at the end of the tunnel". I hope to have this one finished in the next few days so that I can post it to her.

Confessions of a serial UFOer

2007-05-14T18:24:00.000+10:00

Yes - that's me. I didn't mean to do it ... and I'm really sorry .... but somehow it all got away from me .... but what's a girl to do? You know - you're happily knitting away and suddenly you're bored - that snazzy new ball of yarn winks at you - or maybe the subtle mixing of colours in the stash catches your eye - and before you know it, you're flirting with a new relationship - you vowed it would never happen - that you'd be faithful until the last seam was sewn - but now you're dancing with a new partner and your old love is lying discarded in the corner .... how did it happen?

I didn't mean to confess - but the enormity of my sins became apparent when I started to rationalise my knitting supplies in preparation for the move. Well, that's not quite true - it really started when I was rationalising the toys in the little Fleas' room - deciding how few dolls ' beds we could survive with - how many bedtime stories were past their use by date - how many toys, how many boxes of old calendars and Christmas cards, old wrapping paper, assorted pieces of ribbon, foil, pieces of cardboard, half used vials of glitter, toilet roll inserts, empty cardboard boxes (all for drawing and snipping, stamping and glueing) etc, I could palm off on my eldest daughter and the littlest Flea. And there, in the wardrobe, were two boxes of yarn I had totally forgotten about - odd balls of cotton that I had left in the house for TV knitting of washers and kitchen cloths. The rest of the stash had been secreted in boxes wrapped in garbage bags and hidden in a large cupboard under the house when we were pretending to live a life of elegance and ease while our house was being sold .....

So, leaving the little Fleas' room in total disarray, I decided to investigate the other places where I knew knitting things to be, with a view to finishing a few UFOs and tidying things up in readiness for packing into boxes for the move. Note that this is not stash we're talking about - that's another story - this is the accumulated baskets of projects etc that seem to multiply in corners at night. What a mistake. Mea culpa, mea culpa. How could one person have so many baskets? and how could so much stuff fit into so few baskets? And how could one person have started so many projects without finishing any? Of course, it isn't really my fault - no, I blame Grandpa Flea. If he hadn't had the temerity to RETIRE, I would still be happily knitting all day until about 5 o'clock, at which point I would run around and start the dinner and make like I'd been very busy all day - well, I had been, hadn't I? just not with housework ....

So, here it is - the results of my investigation - mind you, it may well take the next ten posts to document it all ... but it may spur me into action - well, they do say, while there's life there's hope .....

Some of these photos are not too good - but they tell the story ... first, the relatively empty looking basket in the study:
How did all these things come out of that basket?

My Montse Stanley book (I've been looking for that), numerous printouts of downloads from the internet of things I'll(never) make one day , a ball of mohair (I wonder what I'd been doing with that?), an odd coathanger waiting for a cover (part of my plan - the first part, actually - to cover all the wooden coathangers in the house ), an old Guild newsletter and ..... a bag of yarns I keep forgetting to give to a friend of mine so she can knit herself a shawl ... OKAY! I'll put it near the front door so I remember to give it to her - better still, I'll ring her and ask her over for lunch and so I can't forget, I'll ask her to remind me!

Now, while I was in the study I remembered that the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet had a few things in it .... including: a half-finished bag knitted in the back of the car in Western Australia about five years ago after I saw a sample in a shop in Albany - I lost interest when it didn't look like I thought it should ... OKAY - I"LL FINISH THIS .... the beginnings of a mitred hat. I think the pattern was in a Knitters' magazine - we know what's going to happen to this, don't we? a small jumper I was knitting for THE SHACK's street stall. A friend gave me a lot of yarn to use for charity knitting when she was moving - OKAY - I"LL FINISH THIS .... and some crocheted squares started to use up some left over yarn from a granny rug I made for the littlest Flea when she was tiny. This new rug was going to be a capsule cover but I forgot what size crochet hook I was using and the squares are two different sizes - and now I have NO idea what size hook to use - BUT I'll finish this by turning into a rug for one of the doll's beds I'm giving away ... and another half-finished capsule cover started out of sock yarn in the stash after I decided that I would never master the art of sock knitting... hmm - this will either be finished or become another doll's blankie ... and some little squares that I'd started to do for a back-pack ... looks like a Barbie sleeping bag coming up ... or a doll's cushion .. and a scarf being made to use up some donated yarn (for The Shack again) - not that I can imagine anyone buying it - that's the problem with a lot of donated yarn - it's useless/horrible/too little/etc. Maybe I'll finish this one, or donate it to the rubbish.

And that's only scratched the surface of that drawer - it's like the Magic Pudding - cut and come again. I know you can hardly contain your excitement, but you'll have to wait until another day for the rest of the filing cabinet drawer to reveal itself. Just in case you're in lorikeet withdrawal here's a more cheerful sight to finish with: and a Mother's Day gift from my eldest daughter - a vintage needle gauge -

Possum Magic ...

2007-05-11T13:46:00.000+10:00

For everone who loves the possums - the other day we were having lunch on the deck when a couple of large dogs sudddenly charged through our bush - the neighbour's dog immediately started barking and within a few seconds there was a dog chorus in progress. It's usually very quiet around here and it's unusual to have dogs wandering in, so the shy little possum was understandably rather concerned about the noise and its implications for her safety. However, she is not as sleepy as she looks - every time she looked out of the nest and saw the camera pointed her way, she'd bob down! I managed to get a photo at last - she looks so sweet. I seem to be obsessed with possum bits, but I love being able to see the detail, although this photo has been enlarged beyond sharpness - look at the stripes on her toes and the strong nails.

Kate, Carson, Roxie and Susan for your kind words about the possums and your concern for their future. I hope the new owners will care for them and resist the urge to remove the possum houses - although once they hear the noise the pesky little things make on the roof and the deck at night, they might be tempted! I think there was a possum party in progress again last night, and judging by the possum poos and the HUGE brown pools along the rail of the deck, they were there for quite a long time - it's like hearing the rain on a tin roof - the noise makes me drift off to sleep.

Thank you all for the words of encouragement about the process of moving - I had to laugh at the way Roxie expressed it - "This is how you eat an elephant - one bite at a time" - I think she captured the process very well!

I met Lara at Cherryhills on Wednesday - she had that beautiful look that pregnant women have - and I'm glad to hear that all went well with her scan. I'm amazed at the amount of technology that is routinely employed in pregnancy these days - when I was expecting either my first or second child, my obstetrician was using ultrasound as a very new procedure in very special cases. None of us knew what it was.

The other thing I noticed when my eldest daughter had a baby five years ago, was the amount of support that is offered to new mothers - she was put on a "depression watch" because of my history of severe depression, and the birthing centre stayed in close touch with her. When she had a few "settling" problems they sent the "settling team" out to visit and helped her develop a routine get the littlest flea to sleep. Same when she was finding it took her an hour to feed the little twerp when she started on solids - someone came out and stayed at mealtimes to see what she was doing and to advise on what was a reasonable time to persist. We used to drive our baby around and around the block to get her to sleep! And as for feeding! I used to breast feed and also complement with a formula so I had all the boiling up of bottles and making the formula as well. I did that with my second child too and in both instances was advised by the Baby Health Centre to stop breast feeding at three months. I felt like an absolute failure. But with the third child, I had heard about the Nursing Mothers' Association (now called something else). They lent me "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" and I went to their meetings - the poor baby only went to the BHC every now again - and we both thrived on breastfeeding for 12 months. I used to say I'd still be feeding her except that she weaned herself - but after watching "Little Britain" I've changed my mind!!

40 years of memories ...

2007-05-08T22:43:00.000+10:00

It's hard to believe, but our house has sold and now we have to condense 40 years of accumulated junk into a much smaller home! I'm very pleased, but every now and again (5 minute intervals!) I get the heebie jeebies about how much there is to be done, will I be able to live in close proximity to other people? (I hope so), will I miss the possums (YES!), the birds (YES!) and the echidna (YES!), a couple of the neighbours (YES!). We have 12 weeks before settlement which helps. Our stuff has to go into storage for a couple of months so we'll be living out of suitcases for a while. Theoretically our new place should be finished by the end of August, but I doubt it will be ready then. We are going to India in mid September, so we'll potentially not be able to move in until mid-October on our return. Once we're actually homeless, I'll feel better - it's just the thought of it ... some people are never happy!!

The other day one of the possums had a bit of a stretch and left two little toes peeping over the hole. I just love how much detail it's possible to see with a photo - I could never get this close to little possum toes, and if I did, they'd probably be moving very quickly in the opposite direction! Although we built the box according to the specifications from WIRES you can see where the possums have been gnawing the wood to make the hole a better size.

I've had a knitting week so far - went to the Guild yesterday and quite enjoyed the morning - we had a spinning demonstration, but I couldn't manage the treadle with my two bad knees (my "bad" knee, which is still visiting the physio twice a week is now my better knee . I'd post a photo of the bruise on my "used to be good" knee, except that I haven't waxed my legs for a long, long time! I'm not vain, though!!). Today I had an enjoyable lunch and lots of chatting with Janette and then a very productive wander around the shops (I love helping other people spend their money). Tomorrow is Cherryhills knitting group and we are having a birthday celebration with cake and champagne and probably very little knitting. It should be fun. Perhaps I'll post some knitting content next time (but don't hold your breath!).

Scrabbling Around ....

2007-04-30T19:24:00.000+10:00

This is my excuse for not posting for some days - the "new" home that we are moving to, and the need to sell our current home of 40 years (how can I be that old!). Our unit is the one on the right as you look at the sign. There are two in the front and nine behind.

I asked permission of the two men working on the site to post their photos on this blog - I promised them fame and stardom and of course they both agreed! This young man is working in "our" new garage.

I didn't worry about asking Grandpa Flea's permission - he looks very happy and proprietorial standing in "his" new car space.

This is the head honcho in the block laying department. The builder tells us that he is an expert and that his skills are highly in demand. The walls for the garage are nearly finished and once the suspended concrete floor is poured, the frame should go up in no time.

This is a kitchen in one of the other units - I'm not sure yet whether we will have the same colour scheme or something different.

I am glad Janette declined my invitation to hold her breath in anticipation of my next post which would be about knitting .... my excuse is that we have been very busy trying to keep the house clean and TIDY while it is on the market. We are surrounded by large eucalypts and various other trees. Eucalypts are supposedly evergeen, but in reality they shed copious amounts of leaves all year round, and bucketloads of blossom and gumnuts in spring and summer. Every day we need to sweep the driveway, patio and deck so that we appear to live a tidy life in a natural environment, every day I need to make the beds (darn, now you know I don't always do it!!), unpack the dishwasher, clean the mirror in the bathroom, not hang the washing on the line, but manage to miraculously dry it anyhow (you can see the clothes line as you walk up the front steps),etc etc, and every night I need to bring the cyclamens inside, off the balcony or the possums eat all the leaves. Then in the morning I need to put them out again ... Yesterday I had moved the two kettles with pineapples growing in them, so the large pot of red cyclamens would have centre stage on the outdoor table - and today, I discovered that the possums had been trying to eat the pineapple leaves ... fortunately for both the plants and the possums, they hadn't eaten too much - I think the leaves were too tough.

For the last few days I have intended to photograph ALL my UFOs and post them, so there would be evidence that I DO knit - but each day something has gotten in the way - today I was racing inside to get the phone and in my haste, fell UP the step onto my (used to be) good knee. It now feels as though I have done some terrible damage to it, whilst my BAD knee, which has been responding to twice weekly physio, seems like a two year old's by comparison. C'est la vie!

We had our first "open for inspection" day last Saturday after a number of weeks without advertising and "by appointment" inspections. We had a few people come back several times to look at the house, but no offers. However, people who had looked at the house twice before, and had arranged a pre-purchase building and pest inspection, indicated to the agent on Saturday that they were going to see their solicitor today with a view to buying! Until they actually sign on the dotted line we are not getting over-excited, but it's looking hopeful. The good news is, that if they buy, they are the sort of people who will appreciate the wildlife and not pull down the possum boxes. Speaking of possums - a few more possums for your enjoyment. There were two in the tree near the feeding tray last night - one up the top, looking very hopefully down at the other:

And one hanging on to the tree and greedily eating the apple peel we had put out.

Monday seems to have turned into Scrabble day - you know, that game with all the little letters on tiles .... I hated it when the fleas were little, but on my recent trip to Ballina, I started playing with some other "500" widows and fell in love with the game - and now we are continuing to play every other Monday afternoon or so, leaving the Scrabble widowers to amuse themselves! I feel an overwhelming desire to read the dictionary in bed at night - and do I need to! One of our Scrabblers was born in Malaysia and has only been in Australia for ten years or so - she often asks for clarification of not-so-common word meanings - and it's unbelievable how many times it's a word that we might use in our speech quite appropriately, but have absolutely no solid idea of its dictionary definition! Needless to say, I can't think of an example right now. English as a second language is not a major disadvantage for our friend - she is an excellent player, and has a very competitive spirit when it comes to snaffling those triple word scores!

No Knitters' Guild yesterday - too busy, and no Cherryhills group tomorrow as we have to see the solicitor about the sale of the house! And tomorrow afternoon I will be seeing my friend the physio and asking his opinion about my once GOOD now BAD knee!

What do you think of this ....

2007-04-25T19:49:00.000+10:00

I have been feeling very honoured to be tagged as a "Thinking Blogger" by Roxie (maybe I don't have Alzheimer's after all ...), but I've also been feeling a bit bemused by it - I'm new to these games and am not sure how they work - if I tag other people, how do they know? What happens if I want to tag someone who's been tagged already? What happens when I don't tag people - will they still love me (I have "need to be liked issues"!)? Can I tag the tagger? I guess not ... The responsibility is weighing very heavily on my shoulders! Oh well, here goes.

The first person I'd tag as a Thinking Blogger is Marilyn, the Knitting Curmudgeon. The very first time I did a google for knitting in an internet cafe (before I had the internet), the Knitting Curmudgeon's site came up. I fell in love with her in-your-face style, the way she takes no prisoners, and her honesty (I have "dealing with anger issues"!!). Her 'honest to god serious writing' is gut wrenching. Grandpa Flea had cancer ten years ago and I know how I felt then - 'Essay: 25 April', taps deeply into my soul.

Next is Yarnstorm. This blog has changed the way I look at the world. I have never been "artistic" or good with colours and design, but looking at Yarnstorm's photos has stimulated me to try other ways of looking at the world - and I love it!

Then, Franklin - his blog is always interesting to read, it covers a wide range of topics, he has a cheeky, wry sense of humour, and again, a sense of honesty comes through to me.

This is so hard!

Then .. My Name is Heather - always full of beautiful photos, colour and from-the-heart writing.

So many blogs, so few in five .. so Ree of Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. I'm not sure why I enjoy reading this blog so much - maybe because it's so removed from my daily life, yet the daily dramas across the world in another family take me back to the time when our family was young - you know, the old "the more things change the more they stay the same" or something - there's a wonderful French saying that I can never remember, that sounds much more impressive. Beautifully written, honest (again), beautifully photographed and Malboro Man lurking in the wings. Who could ask for anything more?

There's a number of other blogs I'd like to add, but I've run out of numbers. So here are the rules for you thinking bloggers:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme, http://www.thethinkingblog.com/2007/02/thinking-blogger-awards_11.html

Publish and be damned!

Saturday Sky

2007-04-21T23:00:00.000+10:00

We were at La Perouse yesterday - it had been a beautiful day - sunny and warm and we'd had a wander on the beach at Congwong Bay before checking out the location of various things that Grandpa Flea needed to know for a Probus outing that he is organising. Late in the day the sky was filling up with cotton wool clouds and the sun was sending out long rays of "God's light" . Flocks of sea gulls and crows were circling around, riding the thermals and looking for scraps left by litterbugs. I was trying to catch the sun's rays in a photo - without a lot of success, but the silhouette of the birds against the sky really appealed to me.

While we were wandering around I became very conscious of how little I know of the geography and history of this land that I live in. La Perouse is on a bay at the end of the bus line in the south eastern suburbs of Sydney. The link above to Wikiipedia has a good summary of it's history. Named after Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse, and traditionally an area with a large aboriginal community, it is still a relatively unspoiled waterfront suburb, but signs of the great middleclass sprawl are showing. Just up the road, the magnificent site of the now defunct Prince Henry Hospital has been broken up into small building lots for those with plenty of money, and high rise apartments are starting to encroach on the once unbroken view of Little Bay.

Fortunately, some historical parts of the site will be protected and retained. One of these is the Nursing and Medical Museum. We are going there for a Probus outing in June and will have a conducted tour by one of the nurses who worked there in the fifties and sixties. Prince Henry was known as "The Coast Hospital" and had originally been a quarantine hosptal for infectious diseases. A friend of mine studied medicine when we left school and one of her placements was at Prince Henry. At that time there was still an operating "leprosaurium" there. We were both amazed (and very young!) to think that there were people with leprosy living in Sydney - we'd only ever heard about it in the context of overseas countries. The leprosaurium was closed in the mid-late sixties after the advent of antibiotics that controlled the disease.

Just as well Janette isn't holding her breath - knitting content - SOON.

Time Warp: Wildlife Wednesday - on Thursday

2007-04-19T17:55:00.000+10:00

So - autumn is definitely here when the spider webs become cities suspended in the air - we have lots of golden orb web weavers (Nephila (Tetragnathidae)) here and in autumn they are prolific. In this first photo you can see a small spider above the large female - it's the male, waiting for an opportunity to mate with the much larger female. I had always thought that the male was killed and rolled up in a little cocoon after he had performed his duty, but the Australian Museum site indicates otherwise. Have a look at it if you want more information and better photos!

I love this last photo - I'm sure spiders were the first knitters - how wonderful it would be to knit such a fine, strong shawl.

We arrived home a few days ago from our rushed trip around the world (well, not quite - it just felt like it!). We had one night in Canberra with GrandPa Flea's brother - there are 5 "boys" in the family and brother Noel is what you'd call a dinky di Aussie - his speech is peppered with the metaphors and similes that used to mark the speech of the true blue Aussie. Unfortunately, this mode of specch is becoming less common as we become more educated, more exposed to other influences (especially American TV programs and advertising) and more multicultural (which compensates by bringing other interesting things to our culture). Once I even had to consult The Macquarie Dictionary when Noel said he'd been "flat out like a lizard drinkin' " - extremely busy to you and me! I took particular note, the next time I saw a lizard drinking - and the tongue movements were indeed very, very fast.

The next three nights we spent with my brother, Mr Mooney, at Tumbarumba in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains. Mr Mooney lives in Canberra but has a small hobby farm - off the beaten track, seemingly miles from the nearest neighbour, surrounded by a creek, acres of trees and a national park. Wild brumbies range through the bushland and across the meadows. Those who are fortunate - or unlucky - enough to come across them have to be careful, as I've been told that the herd disperses quickly, while a large black stallion turns to confront the intruders. Call me a wimp, but I didn't go looking for them. Mr Mooney's house was built of mudbricks and found materials by the original owner. It is delightful with white painted walls inside, slow combustion stoves, and a larder which has been built to stay cool in the hottest weather. Little leadlight windows appear in unexpected places, the floor is mud brick and the the house has a wonderful warm, tranquil feel.
There is even a tiny dog - Snooky - to keep watch from his sunlit spot on the day bed.
The only draw back is the "long drop" - a pit toilet across the yard away from the house, to those of you who are city born and bred! Long drops are just not on as far as I'm concerned. I spent far too many of my formative years having nightmares about children who slipped into the pit, redback spiders under the toilet seat and boogey men waiting in the dark as you made the long trek across the yard in the night. So Grandpa Flea and I stayed at the local bed and breakfast "The Lazy Dog" - it has a website "www.thelazydog.com.au" but for some reason my computer tells me it can't find the server. We were very comfortable - warm beds, attentive hosts, Margaret and Peter, and a beautiful, placid dog - a big black labrador called Ebony.

So after three days of sunlight, family, food and wine we headed down to Melbourne for three days with an old neighbour of ours, and three days with our youngest flea - Ms Katie, her partner Ms FeeFee and their two delightful teenage fleas - Mr Lex and Ms Mary, three dogs, three cats, two axelotls and one guinea pig. It was another six days of sun, family, friends, food and wine. We caught up with our friends, The Captain and Tenille, who live near our daughter - it was good to see them again. I don't have enough time to go into details of our Melbourne visit, except to say that we didn't need wheels on the car to come home - we could have rolled on our spare tyres!

Oh, and I visited a wool shop in Melbourne - Wondoflex Yarn Craft Centre - where, surprisingly! I bought some Zhivago and two pattern books. The range of wools was good, but I still prefer my LYS, Cherryhills - it's a smaller shop, but the range of yarns is wonderful - I could be biased of course, but I don't think so.

I had lunch today with my knitting pal, Janette. It was good to catch up and to see the latest photo of her twin grandbabies - they are beautiful. My next post will be devoted to knitting - hold your breath!

Gone Again ... Gone Again ...

2007-04-04T20:20:00.000+10:00

I'll be away for a few days - back on the 15th - safe and happy Easter wishes to everyone.

Wildlife Wednesday .........

2007-04-03T17:24:00.000+10:00

While we were away, we saw this fruit bat colony - there were hundreds of them. Someone else had walked in closer to take some photos and they were screeching and flapping around.

The bats are often called flying foxes, and these cropped photos show why - the males (I think) have beautiful russet brown fur. I love the way they fold themselves up under their wings. This bat was settling itself after flying from another tree. Their wings make me think of leather and it's easy to imagine Batman hanging from a tree too! Though I'm not so sure about Robin!

Last, but not least, is our old friend the pelican - a wonderful bird is the pelican; its beak can hold more than its belly can! Do you remember that rhyme from childhood? If you are able, bring this photo up to full screen - the larger it is, the more unreal the proportions become - I'm absolutely fascinated by the size of this bird's beak - and that beady eye - following me wherever I go!

That's it for today. Carson I'm glad that you enjoy the wildlife photos - I hope you are feeling better - and thank you for your kind words about my knee. Thank you also Roxie - and a big thank you for the wonderful photos you sent me of the juncas - what beautiful little birds.

Home again, home again ....

2007-04-02T23:40:00.000+10:00

We're back home again after a Probus trip - three days on a bus and three days at Ballina - it's a long way. We broke the trip up at Coffs Harbour, but had a ten hour trip on the way home. Not my favourite way to travel, although we did have plenty of stops. I never thought I'd be one of those groups of 'oldies' who get off a bus en masse, all with their little name tags in case they forget who they are (oops! did I say that?) - but here I am and despite myself, I enjoy the trips! We may look like a bunch of old farts, but there are extraordinary lives behind the ordinary faces. We went to the naval Museum at Ballina, and on display was the ship's wheel from a ship sunk in WWII - and in our group was a 90 year old who was on the ship when it went down! He told us the story - absolutely incredible. The women staffing the front desk were overcome with emotion and wanted his phone number so the "boys" could get in touch with him for more details. He is the most delightful person - and amazingly fit - it's a bit humbling to be overtaken on a hill by a 90 year old!!

Saturday Sky - on Tuesday
This photo was taken at the sculpture garden of Thursday Plantation, a tea tree oil company on the north coast of New South Wales (sorry, the link wouldn't work - you can google it). It was a very interesting garden with a tea tree maze, a rainforest walk, and lots of mosquitoes - I think they breed them so you need to buy the tea tree oil to take the itch away!

Saturday Sky in Advance!
We'll be away again next Saturday, so I thought I'd get some credit up! If you look VERY carefully, you can just see a tanker on the horizon on the right of the photo.

Not the best photos, but the best I could do - and here is another not so good photo for Roxie and Carson. I went out on th deck last night for something and saw this little sweetie popping her head out, ready to venture forth for mealtime. She is very shy and I had a great deal of difficulty finding her on the screen as it was so dark - this is the only photo that had her in it - the other ten were of the tree trunk! Enjoy - sorry it's a bit blurry.

I went to the Guild meeting on Monday and was bombarded with baby jumpers for AIDS babies - forty of them! All different colours - and sizes! It's amazing how we can never all knit the same pattern and get the same size! We've given up doing rugs from squares for that reason. We now use strips!

Here's looking at you ....

2007-03-26T22:46:00.000+10:00

I can't believe it's over a week since I last posted. We have listed our house for sale again and life has been very busy. I have also had a bad knee - for months - but why go to the doctor when you're in pain? Eventually the chiropracter referred me back to the GP and after x-rays and an MRI I now know I have a Baker's cyst behind the knee which has ruptured - perhaps if I'd had the sense to go to the GP a year ago it might have resolved by now. Fortunately it is improving but I have to wear an elastic bandage thing that keeps rolling over and cutting off my circulation - what do they say about the cure being worse than the disease? We have also had a couple of days off-line after a blackout the other night.

I missed Saturday sky and am in advance of Wildlife Wednesday as we leave in the morning (Tuesday here) for a trip to Ballina with Grandpa Flea's Probus club. We'll be back Sunday, late, but I'll post a Saturday sky next Monday (I hope).

I will miss the possums when we move - I've been fiddling with GPa Flea's camera and having fun. This possum was awake the other day, just lazily peeping out from his house. I can't get Blogger to put the hand and eye alongside each other - probably because they are different sizes - you'll have to use your imagination.We had a visit from a pair of King Parrots during the week - they are very shy birds and hard to catch on camera - the male is much more brightly coloured than the female - who heard the beep of the camera and declined to be photographed!

I disturbed a baby gecko when I was moving some pots outside. We often used to have these inside our house, but when we painted the dark brick walls a cream colour, they moved outside - easier to blend in with the surroundings. The first time I disturbed one of the bigger geckos, it barked at me! It was happily ensconced under a cane basket full of toys in the children's room (40 years ago) - I'd never seen one in the house before and didn't know that they could bark - what a fright.

When will there be some knitting content on this blog? Your guess is as good as mine! I have finished one legging for my grand-daughter; done half the front of a jumper for another GD; knitted a lot of spare cotton into dusters and wash-cloths - straight knitting is all I'm really capable of, at present.; finished a Noro garter stitch scarf for Sue at Cherryhills; and ignored Eloise for the eldest Flea. I have to pack some knitting to take tomorrow so may give Eloise a whirl. One day I'll post some knitting photos - promise.

Thank you everyone for your comments - I'll respond when we get home on Sunday.

Saturday Sky ...now that it's Sunday (over here, that is)

2007-03-18T18:12:00.000+11:00

WEll, I remembered Saturday Sky early Saturday, but thought I'd go to the top pf the hill to get a photo later - and I forgot!

By the way, Roxie I have left a couple of comments on your posts, , the Yarn Porn and the following one, but I don't think Blogger likes me - it won't accept my password, and when I post as anonymous I don't get the little message. So we still love you in Oz despite the silence.

ECHIDNA!! at last ....

2007-03-16T18:07:00.000+11:00

At last blogger will let me upload. Thank you Kate for your advice - but the problem was a total absence of the "Done" button! I sent an email to Blogger this morning, and either it alerted them to a problem, or it fixed itself. As you said - what a waste of precious time.

So here are the photos of my friend the ECHIDNA! - they look overexposed despite having been fiddled with, but as I said before, ANY photo of an echidna is better than none. Unfortunately he has a twig across his face in all the snaps, but I couldn't move it, lest he took off. I don't know how the photos will look on Blogger - the preview mode is not the same as the real thing, but when I bring the first one up on the screen, you can see particles of dirt around his nose. I love this ECHIDNA! For some reason I know he is a boy and I have named him ERIC. I am so excited - still - to have seen him.

The wildlife around here is the thing I will miss most when we move. The place we are buying will have a coutyard with the usual suspects - camellias etc - all very easycare and ordinary. At least the developer has agreed to plant me a herb garden as part of the landscaping - and before I finish I hope to have a lemon and a lime tree included. He has a design vision for this complex and everything has to conform. Once we've paid for it and moved in, I guess we can do whatever we like - if we can muster the energy!.

In the last photo below, Eric the ECHIDNA! is snuffling around collecting ants from under the rock.

Thank you Janette, Roxie, , Carson and Kate for your comments on the last couple of posts.

Trying to upload photos

2007-03-16T10:00:00.001+11:00

I can't wait for Wildlife Wednesday to show you ....

2007-03-15T22:54:00.000+11:00

.... or at least I couldn't. But Blogger has other ideas - " patience is a virtue" the little man inside the machine is saying (only a man would behave this way!) as he happily agrees to upload my images and then EATS THEM!

The reason for my excitement, I hear you ask with bated breath - it is the ECHIDNA! - the one that all my neighbours have seen but which constantly eludes me.

Today, as I was playing computer potato, lounging around, getting my virtual exercise by surfing the net, I kept hearing something moving in the bush outside. Usually the noises are made by blue-tongued lizards or skinks, but after listening for a while it became clear that this noise belonged to something else. It wasn't a snake (I can recognise that sound at 50 paces); it was too heavy, slow and deliberate for a skink; yet it seemed to be too active for a blue-tongue. It was too early in the day to be a possum. The only thing I could come up with was a goanna - and I haven't seen a goanna around here for at least thirty years. Eventually my curiosity got the better of me - I looked out the window to see the ECHIDNA!, right below me. In the time it took to call Grandpa Flea, grab the camera and get outside, it had snuffled its way up along the side of the house and was searching for ants under a large rock on the edge of the bush. BLOGGER! It was hard to get a good photo there without frightening it off - but any photo of an ECHIDNA! is better than none.

I would say ENJOY! except that the little man is still declining to accept my photos. I'll try again tomorrow.

Wildlife Wednesday .........

2007-03-13T22:02:00.000+11:00

We have had a pretty wild life this week ... lots of visitors of the animal and insect variety (heaven forbid a human should come here...). These rather cocky cockatoos look very pretty and ARE very pretty (striking might be a better word) but when I see them arrive I start running around the deck, waving brooms and encouraging them to GO! NOW! because they are very destructive birds in the human world. They love to sharpen their beaks (?? or at least that's the only reason I can think of) by pecking and pulling at pieces of wood - and our house has a lot of timber in it. In the bush (and garden) they create havoc by breaking twigs and sometimes quite large branches off trees - apparently just for the fun of it - I don't mind that, it's their world too - but I get very anxious when they take a fancy to our house, as we have a lot of timber in it.

By contrast, the crimson rosellas that visit are very timid and shy birds. The cockatoos have a very loud raucous call (shriek!), but the crimson rosellas have a beautiful, musical piping call. They always visit in pairs. Over Christmas and early in the year we had a pair that came every day. They became quite friendly and would land on the railing of the deck and call to get our attention and some seed. But we must have gone away for a few days and we haven't seen them since. The pair that have been coming this week are very timid - hence a single one in the photo.

The rainbow lorikeets often travel in a large flock, but this pair have been going solo - talk about lovebirds! They sound just like budgerigars when they are de-miting each other and having a little love-in as in this photo. They are not timid birds and will take food from your hand once they know you. Some years if we feed them more often, they'll fly down and land on your hand as you take a piece of fruit out to the feeding tray!

The last visitor was a dragonfly - they are the most beautiful insects and this was a very large one - waiting outside the backdoor on a hanging basket. When I saw it, I dumped the washing basket! and raced in to get the camera - however it took exception to having a camera thrust up its nose and flew away.

Fortunately, it didn't go far and I was able to follow it around taking far too many photos, trying to catch the vivid colouring of its eyes and body, and the detail of the lacework and beautiful shine of its transparent wings.

The photos don't do justice to its colouring, but I was very pleased to get them.

So much for a knitting blog. I seem to have lost my knitting mojo (I have no idea what a mojo is, but that seems to be the word to use. I feel like a kid who has just discovered a new word at school and is trying it out at home - please tell me if it's an unsuitable word for a granny - I wouldn't want to embarrass myself more than I usually do!!) Getting broadband wasn't such a good idea - I seem to spend all my time reading knitting blogs and not doing any knitting!

Night & Day ...

2007-03-10T13:22:00.000+11:00

Some people stay up too late at night - which is how they manage to photograph the moon. I'm sure sleep would be much more beneficial. This was taken about 12.05am on Saturday morning in the north-east.
This second Saturday Sky was taken about 10.30am in the south-west. Before someone tells me that these directions are impossible, remember that I am spatially challenged - a label that encompasses map reading, direction finding, reverse parking, knitting graph reading, pattern modification, school uniform sewing ... need I go on. The only thing that I am good at in the spatial department, is estimating the size of jar or tupperware container that I need for any given amount of liquid or leftovers - and even there I have had some spectacular mis-estimates! More later if I have time.

Wildlife Wednesday .......... well, everyone else has a day .......

2007-03-07T22:32:00.000+11:00

More wildlife- this time a largish kookaburra which landed with a thump on our deck rail as soon as we sat down to eat lunch. It had been in the tree, but fancied its chances when it saw food - it's obviously used to being hand fed. Grandpa Flea went to place a piece of meat on the railing and the kookaburra lunged forward to take it from his fingers.

We are a bit wary of birds that get too close when food is involved - once we were quite innocently sitting in a national park eating our lunch, surrounded by birds that were apparently used to being fed scraps by visitors (as they kept invading our space and were not too happy to go away when we "shoo'ed" them). Grandpa Flea was about to put a piece of sandwich in his mouth when a huge crow swept down, snatching the piece of food from his fingers. In the process, it gave him a nasty abrasion on his hand from its sharp beak. We decided to sit in the car to finish our meal and .... shades of Alfred Hitchcock .... dozens of these birds landed on the bonnet pecking at the windscreen, making it quite clear that if they could break in, they would! It was very unsettling - well, let's be honest here - it was downright frightening even though we were inside the car.

It's amazing how some birds within a group, all with the same colouring and all about the same size, can quickly become recognisable as individuals. This is our favourite - "Cranky Pants". We assume he is male, as he is the dominant bird of a pair that visit regularly. He scolds at us if we approach too close, and he gets very annoyed when I take his photo. You can see him giving me some very explicit advice on where to go in this photo! I must do some reading up on lorikeets - I would have thought that it is too late in the season for mating, but Cranky Pants was in fine form today, doing an amazing display for his mate - almost a snake dance with his head, whispering sweet nothings in her ears and making an enormous display of flapping his wings. When he became a bit too amorous, his "meek" little partner gave him a peck and buzzed him off!

And for Carson a visit from a large brushtail possum.

And so to knitting - I bet you'd forgotten that this is a knitting blog .... today was the Knitting group at Cherryhills, my LYS. A whole pile of Debbie Bliss books have come in - but how many knitting books can one person use? I think I'd like to live in that shop - I could have yarnball baths at night - go to bed on a pile of yarn as soft as featherdown, cuddling several balls of soft Annie Blatt angora - tie pieces of ?Annie Blatt "Fleur" around my neck for necklaces - knit myself bedsocks and hot water bottle covers in any combination of yarns I fancied - wear the smell of new books for perfume - aaaaahhhh - the list is endless.
Despite my obvious yarn addiction, I came home with only ONE ball of plain wool to add to a skirt I'm knitting for one of the little fleas,and a pattern book for Freedom wool - I think my daughter-outlaw would look great in one of these vests - let's hope it gets finished instead of FROGGED numerous times before being forever consigned to that great frogged pond in the sky - whoops - I mean the back room.

I'm off to bed.

Sunday here, is Saturday there ...

2007-03-04T12:26:00.000+11:00

...... fortunately, as I forgot to get a "Saturday Sky" photo on Saturday (here). So I'm cheating (since it's Saturday there!). The sky is not anything remarkable today - just dull grey - so this is a photo of the sky earlier this summer when bushfires were creating a smoke haze which made the most remarkable sunset. It's all the more remarkable, because we rarely see much sunset here - we're in a valley surrounded by tall trees (how did you guess?) and this photo is of the southern sky.

Possum Magic

2007-03-03T12:38:00.000+11:00

There is a wonderful Australian children's book called Possum Magic, written by Mem Fox. Possum magic is what I feel whenever I see little possum bits in the holes to the possum boxes. Today is very hot, the sort of day when bits appear - perhaps seeking a cool breeze - and there it is, a tiny possum foot peeping out of the hole. I've blown the photo up as far as seems reasonable - don't you love the cute little toes?

Do you haiku?

2007-02-27T23:14:00.000+11:00

For Christmas, one of my daughters gave me "Knit One Haiku Too" by Maria Fire. I'd seen this book in Borders and been tempted to buy it ... but resisted ... so was really pleased to receive it. Only to be really disappointed when I read it. I don't know what I expected, but it didn't hit the spot. I've done a few searches for reviews, but only came up with a couple of raves on booksellers' sites and a deafening silence elsewhere. Why? After long consideration I came to the conclusion that the book failed to please me on two fronts:

Firstly, the short musings did not grab me at any level - it was a bit like reading a blog in paper form - the main difference being that I expect nothing when I read another person's blog - if it doesn't connect with me at some level I just surf on out and look for something else. When I read a book I have a certain level of expectation - that I'll be amused, engaged, or stimulated or .....the list goes on. And if I'm not, I'm disappointed.

Secondly, I found the haikus to be ?too contrived, and, at times, nothing more than nonsense - I wondered if the Japanese form does not translate well to English - there is so much subtley in Japanese culture and the Japanese language that it seems naive to think that you can just take a 5-7-5 form in Japanese syllables and replace it with English words and bingo! you have haiku!

Then in my search I found this site and aha! my discomfort was explained. Jane Reichold and Keiko Imaokai in "How-to-Haiku" write on both the symbolic and grammatical structure of the haiku form. At one point Reichold says " Suddenly I could figure out by myself what was wrong with a haiku that failed to jell as I thought it should. I could ask myself if there was a comparison, a contrast or an association between the images and if this relationship was clear and understandable for the reader" . Perhaps the comparisons, contrasts and associations were present in this book, but, in general, they were not clear and understandable to me. Imaokai's essay on the grammatical structure of Japanese haiku and the difficulties this presents for the form in English, further explained why this book "failed to jell" with me.

Ahh - it's a hard life being an armchair critic! I'd be interested to know what other people think.

Today was knitting-group-at-Cherryhills day and when I picked up my friend, I couldn't resist taking a photo of her beautiful red flowered eucalypt - the flowers were so new that she wasn't aware they had opened. If you look carefully, you can see a gumnut about to "pop its top" - they are magical. I have always loved our eucalypts- when I was a child we'd collect the empty gumnut ends (I don't know what they are called botanically) and put them on our fingers to look like witches' fingers - those eucalypts aren't native to the area here, but if they had been, I guess my kids would have pretended they were Edward Scissorhands! I used to knit gumblossom hats (a fad - I tend to have them) and everytime I photograph something this beautiful I vow to use the photo as inspiration for colour or form in my knitting - but end up doing nothing about it. One day...

As usual Janette and Roxie have made me smile with their comments. Just as well I was born a pessimist, Roxie! Thank you Willow for your good wishes, and before too long I'll post some more wildlife photos for you Carson - you said you had possums in a built-up area - they're amazing little blighters, aren't they? There was one in my street that had a dray in a deciduous tree branch right above the footpath - almost within reach. I must have walked under it dozens of times without seeing it and only noticed it when I was looking for a bird with an unfamiliar call. It wasn't there last time I looked - I think the electricity commission had lopped the branch too close for comfort. No doubt it's happily scratching away in someone's roof! I don't have fond memories of The Magic Pudding - the banksia men used to give me nightmares when I was little. I should revisit it (do I have the right book?).

Day 57 - I'm not ready for autumn ....

2007-02-26T16:54:00.000+11:00

Autumn used to be my favourite time of year because the weather is usually cooler and we don't get the winds that invade spring. I love the cooler days and crisper nights, getting out my slippers again and reaching for the hot water bottle at bedtime.

The first of March marks the start of autumn in Australia, and a few days ago I had thought that the leaves of the Ginko biloba were starting to change, then convinced myself that I was imagining it. But the first yellow leaf fell from the mulberry tree today - a poor, lonely thing on the ground. And suddenly I realised that I'm not ready for autumn - but is it the season I'm not ready for, or this stage of life? I'll be 63 this year and am very conscious that both my parents died "young" - 69 and 70. If I follow in the family footsteps that gives me just six or seven years to do all the things that I've left undone. Perhaps that explains the obsession I've had with numbering the blog days - mmm - I'll have to give that one some thought.

Oh well, enough! Looking on the bright side - literally - I heard the rainbow lorikeets making a great fuss outside, this morning. Usually they only make that sort of noise when they have found a hapless possum outside in a tree in daylight (possums are nocturnal).

Sure enough, the lorikeets were prowling around one of the possum boxes, scolding, peering inside and generally disturbing the possum's slumber. In this photo you can see the possum having a bit of a scratch while one VERY cranky lorikeet scolds me for taking a photo!

Being laid low with "the cold", I've not had much enthusiasm for anything including knitting, so have limited myself to finishing another African jumper - knitted in plain red as I started it on the trip to Bundeena last week and didn't want to cart two balls of yarn around - and a couple of dishcloths - these latter in a vain attempt to use up some of the mountain of yarn that lives here. By the way, thank you Janette and Roxie for you get well wishes - and permission to whine! That brought a smile to my face! Little did Roxie know I'd get all morbid instead!

Day 55 - I'm just sneezin' along

2007-02-24T16:00:00.000+11:00

Saturday Sky: this photo says it all.

It has been a hot and humid day - and now the thunder has started and it's about to rain - we hope! Grandpa Flea has been off bussing around a local history route and I've been home with a filthy cold. I NEVER get sick, I don't know ANYONE ELSE who has a cold, although everyone tells me "It's going around", so I can't point the finger. I'm aching, have a small jackhammer in my head and a tonne weight on my neck and shoulders, and I'm tetchy - and it's only a cold! Imagine how I'd be if I was really sick! The upside is, that an elderly friend (as opposed to the elderly FleaPas) was very happy to take my place on the bus trip. He is a real sweetie and I'm sure he will have a great day.

Now I'm going to have a cup of tea, two panadol (tylenol) and a good lie down (for those of you who are too young to remember, or live elsewhere, a good old Aussie tradition used to be "a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down" until they discovered that the aspirin, phenacetin and caffeine mix in Bex ate your kidneys up).

Day 52 - I'm just froggin' along ...

2007-02-21T20:42:00.000+11:00

Well, it is with great regret and joy that I announce that Annie Blatt has bitten the dust! The wretched thing has been blocking away for days (I was too busy/lazy to pick it up) - when I went to sew the sleeves in, I discovered that I had done the three needle cast-off shoulders by joining the fronts (knitted on 2.75 needles) to the original back, knitted on 4mm needles. Do not even ask how this could have happened! So, I undid the shoulders and dropped several stitches. I dutifully frogged back and redid the shapings, then immediately rejoined the small needle front to the big needle back ... need I go on? It only gets worse. Eventually I decided that it would be kinder to all concerned to send it to the big frogpond in the sky. I have now bought the (ever so slightlyfrogged) yarn from Cherryhills and intend to use it to make a small pillow for my granddaughter.

The weather has been hot and steamy here. Monday I went on a group excursion with Grandpa Flea - a two hour train journey to Cronulla of the beautiful beach; a twenty minute ferry ride to Bundeena, a small community across the bay;
a walk along the beach;

lunch, a walk around the town and repeat of the travel, in reverse. It was a hot and sunny - the water was a a clear blue - magic. I love the beach - the way the waves roll in and out,

the beautiful shapes, patterns and colours in the rocks, and the amazing little rockpools just waiting to be explored. I lived near the beach for some of my childhood and I guess it brings back memories.

Kate has asked why I'd move from a beautiful, bushy environment to a big, wet hole in the ground! Grandpa Flea asks the same question, but as he currently has a knee like a balloon, has to hop down stairs and can't sleep at night because of the discomfort, I think he has answered his own (and Kate's) question. Sadly, it's age - it happens to us all and I know that if we don't move now, it will all become too hard in a few years time. Happily though, I can report that the big, wet, hole in the ground is now
a big, dry hole in the ground ... quite an improvement!

Well, I'm off - perchance to frog a little!

Day 51 - David Hicks

2007-02-20T20:19:00.000+11:00

How quickly things change - with a federal election coming up later this year, a new opposition leader, and the opinion polls slipping, our PM is getting jittery - suddenly he is concerned about David Hicks - who has endured 5 years in detention with no charges, much of it in solitary confinement; who has been subjected to sleep deprivation and a 24 hour light on in his cell; who is allowed 2 hours in the fresh air daily - the time subject to the whim (or plan) of his gaolers (- 2am, 3am - hey! what's he got to complain about? he's outside isn't he and he won't get sunburnt); who has been denied access to his family and legal team except for a few rare occasions; who has alleged interrogation under torture, allegations which have been poo-hooed by our government; who refused recently to see the Australian embassy representative because he feared repercussions from his gaolers; who, if he does face a military commission, will have evidence used against him which has been gained under coercion.

I fail to believe that this man is a threat to the American people or to the people of Australia. Sure, he may well be a confused young man who was seduced by the rhetoric and adventure offered to him by a deeply committed (even fanatical) group of people, but so have many before him. He may well have converted to Islam. He may well have trained with al-Qaida and he may even have intended to fight with them in Afghanistan, but I still don't believe that he is a threat. Even if he HAD been a threat 5 years ago (and I don't believe that either), he is certainly not now - from the little bit of information that we get, it appears that his mental health is such that he will be doing well to survive himself.

I cannot believe that if he is brought home to Australia and released into his father's care, that he will not be monitored closely by ASIO - and probably the CIA as well. There is no way he would be able to do anything even remotely connected with terrorist activities.

5 years in detention with plenty of allegations against him, but no charge - David Hicks has been a useful pawn in the sycophantic relationship that our PM cultivates with George Bush. A pox on both their heads.

Day 48 - Question 3: Why is it always ME?

2007-02-17T17:02:00.000+11:00

Question 3: Why is it always ME??

Does anyone remember that plaintive cry from the children when asked to do ANYTHING along the lines of taking out the garbage, packing up the table, wiping up etc? Well, today I reached a milestone - I KNEW I must be old and declining into my second childhood when I wanted to shout "WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME????".

And what, I hear you say, could have prompted this usually very calm (well, sometimes) and reasonable person to descend into such childish ways? - the blogging computer of course!! When I turned on today, instead of rebooting, there was some sort of message involving the word "PANIC" and no activity - there continued to be no activity when I rang Apple, as most of the process involved waiting for very long periods while a dinky little circle thing ran around in circles on the screen .......... I should have had my knitting with me. Eventually the problem was solved by reloading all the software - joy of joys.

So, dear friends in cyberspace, I shall reveal to you, the secret of life, just as I imparted this very special knowledge to the Fleas as they were growing up - the answer is this :" LIFE ISN'T FAIR and it's time you accepted this fact and stopped complaining!". Just as well I took my own advice and am now a happy little vegemite once again.

I keep seeing "Saturday skies" on other people's blogs - so thought I'd join in - hope that's okay, or are the sky police going to get me? I'm scared. If I never blog again, you'll know what happened.

The beautiful deep blue Australian summer sky - I love it so much. Whenever I'm overseas I miss that blue, along with the blue-green of the eucalyptus trees. I had often read that Australian painters fell in love with the light in Europe - and wondered how could that be? But the first time I went to the UK I knew at once what they were talking about - the softness of the light, pink skies at midday, misty hills covered in the soft pink heather - it was all so different. And, wonder of wonders, the trees that I disliked so much here, the ones with a very bright, verging on a yellow-limey-green, foliage, looked absolutely beautiful set against the soft colours of the English countryside and sky. I still dislike those trees in Australia.

As I have no new knitting photos to display, I'll amuse you again with another of my "Knitting Around the World" collection:

This photo was taken in a wonderful yarn shop in Ketchikan, Alaska (I can't remember the name). I fell in love with it - didn't buy any yarn - but got to feel Lorna's Lace for the first time, and remembered the Mariposa shawl knitted in a soft green bamboo for the future. I did buy some necklaces though - one was silver with lapis lazuli blueberries and the other had a quaint silver octopus pendant. I'll add photos at another time (code for when I can find them in the mess in my drawer!).

Happy knitting.

Day 42 - Question 2

2007-02-12T11:42:00.000+11:00

This post has been in draft mode for a while, waiting for some photos - which leads me to: QUESTION 2: how do all you bloggers out there get the time to read all the blogs on your "Blogs I read" lists? let alone do your own blogging?

Answer: Beats me! I have had broadband for about two weeks now - I used the entire download allowance in the first week - developed a wonky knee and hip from sitting at the computer all day (and night) - got next-to-no-knitting done, did absolutely no housework (boo hoo!) and read thousands, well, maybe a hundred or so, blogs. Each blog leads to another - it's an infinite regress - I'm trapped in a never-ending cycle and can't get out - HHHHEEEELLLLPPPP!

Speaking of blogs - I stumbled across an amazing blog - Yarnstorm - the photography and use of colour are amazing. Check it out if you get a chance.

It's hard to believe. but it's raining again here. It started two nights ago and after petering out has been honouring us with quite heavy downpours, alternating with drizzle. The best news is, that there have been some falls in the catchment area for our drinking water. I hope it continues. So far we have had no more leeches in the house - and no, Roxie, they don't climb on the furniture like spiders - just across the ceiling and floor. Poor old Grandpa Flea had one drop off the ceiling onto him while he was in bed . He felt an irritation in the corner of his eye - and it was a leech, just about to attach. He was a bit put out about it! As I said before - the joys of wildlife!

Today we went down to see the hole where our new home will be:

Well (no pun intended), it has been raining! The builder assures us that the drainage (yet to be installed) will cope with future rainy days - we hope! It looks like they will pour the slab in the next week, weather allowing. Now all we have to do is sell our house so we can afford to pay for it!

I went to the Craft Show at Rosehill with a friend, Nunel, on Friday. I know Janette was out of there in an hour, but we arrived before the doors opened and left when they closed! Of course, there was some time out for coffee, lunch, gossip and putting our feet up. It was a much smaller show than I'd imagined - Janette gives a good round-up of what was there. Nunel and I are not focussed - we spent hours looking at beads which we rarely use,, vintage buttons which I love, cross-stitch for Nunel, and needle felting, amongst other things. I came home with a needle felting kit (I've already broken the needles), some heavy duty cotton to use for a button necklace if I can work out how to do it, some button backs to turn old buttons into pendants or earrings, and five buttons which I don't need but liked.

At the beginning of the year I intended to knit from the project a day calendar, as lots of the small things looked good for street stalls for The Shack but so far I've only done one thing, an angora scarf that turned out a lot smaller than in the pattern. But then again, I wasn't using the recommended yarn, but a Wendy angora I've had stashed away for years. The scarf is very cute - I think I'll give it to one of the little fleas and knit another larger one out of mohair for The Shack. There is no way I'd buy angora for a street stall - people want bargains and won't pay a realistic price. How inadequate can one person feel - I'd love to have the eye for colour and design that Yarnstorm has - I'll keep trying!

I have started Lucky from Pipsqueaks and have finished the back, two fronts and am on the sleeves. It is a very quick knit, but I think I've knitted it once too often - there's only so much moss stitch a girl can do ..... but it is a great pattern for tiny people - the button does up below the chin, so they don't have wool irritating them, especially when they have a little chuck-up. And the Zara is beautiful to knit with.

Eloise is still on the back-burner and Annie Blatt's ........ blocking.

Well, it is now Day 46 and at this rate the draft will never see the light of day - so, as someone once said (any idea who?): PUBLISH AND BE DAMNED.

Day 37 - It's Raining - Leeches!!

2007-02-07T19:56:00.000+11:00

A couple of hours ago thunder and lightning started and then came the rain! Not a lot, but it wet the ground and rainwater seems to revive plants in a way that chlorinated water doesn't. Along with the rain came the leech - since we have had so many possums around, we have been getting the odd leech in the house when it rains (that's the only reason I can think of to explain 35 years or so without a leech and an influx since we've had possum boxes around). Grandpa Flea has just had a tiny one on his wrist, and is bleeding like the proverbially "stuck pig". Ah, the joys of wild life ...

Knitting group today at Cherryhills - it was good to see the group again and to catch up on what has been knitted over January. I came home with three balls of Zara in a pale blue to knit a baby jacket from Pipsqueaks (a Rowan book) - I was going to post a photo from the book - but can't find it! And I wanted to cast on tonight! My chiropracter is having her first baby and I want to have it finished for her before she goes on leave. Guess I'll have to battle Annie Blatt a bit longer. I love Pipsqueaks - I have knitted so many things from it over the last five or six years.

I was roving around the internet tonight and made a terrible discovery - Grumperina and The Knitting Curmudgeon ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON! My apologies to each of you. I have removed the offending reference. I was sure that I had read in Grumperina's blog somewhere that she had posted previously under the other name - I was devastated when The Knitting Curmudgeon seemed to disappear from the internet and had a bit of trouble reconciling the two writing styles when she "reappeared" under another name - okay, so someone now tell me they are the same person and I can feel doubly foolish!!

My apologies again.

Day 36 - Knitting Groups Start Again - Yay!

2007-02-05T23:48:00.000+11:00

First day back at the Guild and for the first time for months I was looking forward to it. I haven't been for quite a while as I haven't been enjoying it. The group at Cherryhills starts up again this week too and I'm REALLY looking forward to that - there's always something new to see, feel, try on, read - and it's good fun.

Everywhere I go I look for the local knitting shops - sound familiar to you? And whenever they agree, I take photos or get a photo taken in there, so I'm very generously sharing them (?boring you) with you! This is a photo taken in Victoria, Vancouver Island at The Beehive Store. For some reason the link won't work: "FORBIDDEN" was the stern reply - if you don't already know it, I'm sure you can google it. This was a wondrous store, stacked with yarn. I bought a skein of Fiesta in African Violet there. It wasn't available in Australia then, but now my LYS has it - and I keep drooling over it, and one day - soon (after I knit all my stash up - ha! ha!) - I'm going to get some more.

I haven't done much knitting other than wrestle with Annie Blatt.
Janette assures me that the pattern has suffered in translation, but I'm not too sure about that - I've had these problems with English patterns too - but then, we speak Australian here - maybe that's it!

We had a busy weekend and I got lots of kisses and hugs from Ms 4 during her sleepover and Sunday we had some friends over for lunch at 12.00 noon. They left at 8:00pm so that's why nothing got done in the knit department. Last night we put some of the scraps out for the birds and the possums. (We don't do it on a regular basis so they don't become dependent on us.) And just for Roxie we had a visit from a small glider possum. They have a wide fat flat tail and a flap of skin between their front and rear legs which acts as a parasail? when they glide between the trees. This particular glider is quite large - usually two of them are on the tray together and they still have lots of space. They are cute little things, and it's always a relief to find that they are still around, as a lot of the bushland around here is being cleared for housing.

I'm off to bed - this broadband thing just means instead of sitting around for hours getting frustrated, I sit around for hours making typos and looking at blogs - Grandpa Flea is no fool - he told me I'd be going to bed at 1:00 am - again.

Day 34 - It's Raining - Rain & Broadband!

2007-02-03T10:48:00.001+11:00

Can you believe, it rained yesterday! and I got connected to broadband! Of course all good things have a down side - it took me ALL day on the phone with the techs to get my connection working and then it threw me off last night at 1.00am (wh should go to bed earlier) and I've been on the phone all morning - mainly on hold -listening to music designed to drive you to drink - until I got reconnected again. Ahhh - the elctronic age - it saves soooooo much time - not.
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Here is a photo -at last - of the baby jumpers I have been knitting If you look carefully, you can see one of our possum boxes in the tree behind. We love the wildlife around here, but I have the crankies with the possums at the moment - the bigger brushtails have kicked the ringtails out of all the possum boxes, and the ringtails are more vulnerable than the brushtails. To add insult to injury, one of the brushtails has taken up residence under the house in the space between the floor of the study and the ceiling of the bathroom. AND not only that, I got up one morning recently to discover that my beautiful cyclamen pink cyclamen (Ha! work that one out) which lives on the table on the deck, was sitting there with all the flowers intact, but every single leaf eaten off - just bare stems surrounding the flowers! It looked very funny. Back to the baby jumpers - the knitting group I attend at Cherryhills has been producing dozens of these jumpers to go to Africa. Someone's mother's church group asked for help, so superwomen flew into action.

Annie Blatt's pattern is still giving me lots of problems - I admit to being spatially challenged - refer back to the school uniform disasters - I admit to reading a paragraph of a pattern and knitting 10 rows with a line of bobbles on the 6th - then discovering the next row says: AT THE SAME TIME INCREASE blah blah blah. Even acknowledging these deficiencies on my part, THE PATTERN IS BLOGGING CONFUSING!!

So I'm still tetchy.

Just for you, Roxie:

This is a large birdsnest fern that grew (self sown) under the airconditioner outlet at home - it obviously thrives with the constant drip of moisture.

By contrast, here's a photo of a tree fern that has been severely burnt off in the all the hot weather we've been having:

Also a photo of one of my my bromeliads that has survived the hot weather in relatively good condition because it's in a pot out of the sun: .Don't ask me why my photos are all over the place in relation to the text - I"VE ALREADY TOLD YOU THAT I"M SPATIALLY CHALLENGED and TETCHY!

Ms 4 year old Flea is arriving at 2.30pm (it's now 12.10) for a sleepover and we are having people for lunch tomorrow. Not a bed is made, including the little Flea's which is still stripped from the last Flea invasion, not a dish is washed, not a cake is made, not a chicken thigh has been marinated, not a dip has been made,and not a thing has been hung on the line (probably will need rewashing because i t's so steamy and washing smells very quickly if not dried straight away- so much for the water conservation drive) and there's nothing decided for tea tonight. Sounds like someone has tied me to a chair in front of a computer screen and said "FIDDLE YOUR LIFE AWAY, FOOL". On the upside though, Ms 4 loves her mama - and Grandma Flea doesn't score it for a kiss or a cuddle when mama's there. BUT when we have sleepovers, I'm very popular and get lots of juicy little wet kisses on the cheek and heaps of cuddles. I feel better already.

Conscious as I am of throwing many punctuation and grammar stones at those other people who DON'T CARE about our language, I am also conscious that I live in a glass house and do VERY occasionally slip up myself. Of course it's NOT MY FAULT- oh no - (I learnt this one off Grandpa Flea - Mr Infallible!) - any mistake is the result of a typo!! So my apologies to my fellow grammar police out there.

Peace to the world - in my dreams of course.

Day 30 - I Forgot Our Wedding Anniversary!

2007-01-31T00:39:00.000+11:00

I have NEVER forgotten our wedding anniversary - but today I did. As Grandpa Flea rarely remembers it, it was not such a disaster, but I can't believe that I forgot. 42 years married might explain it and I have had a lot of other things on my mind.

Good news - today I signed up for broadband - it will take about two weeks for the modem etc to arrive, and I'm really looking forward to it.

I finished another little jumper for Africa when we were travelling - they look really cute in the bright colours. Annie Blatt is no easier than before - I discovered last night that, despite careful measuringand counting, one front is longer than the other - you know what happens next - creative blocking! I've unpulled it too many times to do it again. I'll start the two sleeves tonight and with a bit of luck will finish the cardi by the end of the week. Then I'll have to go back to Eloise or it will finish up as a permanent UFO. I have just tried to upload some photos but it is taking forever so it will have to wait until our broadband starts.

We have a meeting with the builder later in the week to finalise our contract for the townhouse. The year will go quickly, but I wish it were already built (hope the tense is correct - people in glass houses and all that ...). We have taken our house off the market over the hottest part of summer but the pressure will be on to get it sold before our new place is finished - otherwise I'll be putting out a call for food parcels!

Our garden is looking soooo bad - I think we will lose at least two tree ferns this summer - they are all self sown, and have all prospered until last summer when we lost a couple in the heat. Every time we go away we lose something in the garden - this last four day absence meant we missed the watering day and it coincided with very hot weather. There is not much we can do about it.

I'm glad you didn't mind the rant, Roxie - I'm not as tetchy today, but still not happy about the state of the world.

Day 29 - Question 1

2007-01-29T17:45:00.000+11:00

My last post had been in draft mode for days - how can one person in a 2 person household have so little time? Answer: dial-up internet. When we got a new computer (12 months ago) we were planning to move to a place with cabling in place so persisted with dial-up. Twelve months later we are still planning to move, but I've decided to lash out and get a new modem so I can get broadband - I don't enjoy spending hours in front of the screen waiting for things to download and it leaves so little time for other things I'd rather do. So in a week or two ...

We have just had four days visiting Grandpa Flea's brother and his wife in Temora - a NSW country town. The drought is very bad all over NSW and I was shocked to see how little livestock was around - the few cattle I saw were skin and bone and being hand fed. We did pass a a couple of flocks of sheep that looked to be in good condition. None of the farm dams we passed had any water in them and the crops that did survive gave very low/poor quality yields. The paddocks were eaten down to the bare earth and we saw quite a number of willy-willies taking the red topsoil away. We've had bad droughts before - I can remember them from my childhood - but combined with climate change, this one is very scary, for the cities as well as the country. Australia is one of the driest continents on earth and we are fast running out of water - one of the cousins-in-law was telling us that she took her family to a caravan park in another small country town in the school holidays and they were told to bring their own water with them, as the town is trucking water in.

My question is this (as the politicians are fond of saying): the average person in the street has been concerned about climate change for years -so why have the governments been in denial for all that time? Meanwhile the pollies are all running around telling us we won't have to drink recycled water. I can't believe that they can be so short sighted - ignoring the long term needs of the country for their own short term power trips. Country people have always drunk recycled water - treated sewage goes into the rivers and the towns downstream use those same rivers for their drinking water. Current membrane technology delivers water that is far cleaner than the water we drank when I was a child in a country town.

As you can see, I'm feeling a mite tetchy - don't get me started on the incarceration of David Hicks for five years without charges being laid against him; the use of "extraordinary rendition" by the US government with the full knowledge and complicity of our government; the failure of our Attorney-General to admit that sleep deprivation is a form of torture; or, for that matter, the invasion of Iraq - to mention only a few gripes. It puts my difficulty with Annie Blatt patterns into perspective.

Tomorrow is another day. Perhaps I'll post on knitting.

Day 25 - Where Has January Gone?

2007-01-25T18:23:00.000+11:00

At last I have managed to reset my email address so that Blogger recognises me and lets me in - I'm exhausted - it's been a hard battle! But that's not the reason I haven't posted for days (and days). We've had two grandchildren staying - one for two days and the other for seven. We picked them up the Subday before last but Ms 10 had to go home early to meet her obligations with Nippers (junior surf life saving) so we put her on the bus on Wednesday afternoon. She has been travelling alone for the last year now - it's a two and a half hour journey. It's a local bus company and if no one is there to collect a child travelling alone, they take them on with them while the office tries to contact the family.

Before Ms 10 went home, Grandpa Flea took her and Master 7 to see "Walking with Dinosaurs" - they loved it - Kate from Blue Mountain Knits has given a very good description and photos of it on her blog. Then I took them to see the movie "Arthur and the Invicibles" - they looked pretty bored during it, but came out wanting it on DVD so they must have enjoyed it. I was not that impressed with it, but then who am I to know the workings of little minds? The rest of the week was spent playing "Bub & Bob" with Master 7, taking him to swim at a friend's house, raking huge piles of dry leaves with him - which he really enjoyed - watering the garden with a watering can on the days when we can't use the hose (which he also enjoyed) and taking him to see "Badjelly the Witch" - a Spike Milligan play which he seemed to enjoy. I say "seemed" because anything other than computers is second rate entertainment in his eyes. Master 7 does love to knit - albeit in a rather gung-ho manner, so this holiday I had a French Knitting thingy for him. He spent hours making i-cord on it - 6 and a half metres! which he wanted me to sew into a draw-string bag for him to keep his money in - and, like the good Granny I am, I obliged.

Another major undertaking was a BLITZ on table manners with both, and GRAMMAR with Master 7. Using your knife and fork(!) and PROPERLY, eating with your mouth closed and wiping your fingers on a serviette were the main manners we attacked. With some success.

Grammar was a different story. I only attacked "them" as in: "what are them things?". Not much luck until I introduced an incentive - $1 when he used the right word spontaneously, and 50c when he used the wrong word then self-corrected. You have to be quick though - he started introducing "those" into the conversation at every opportunity! So we had some success, but I'll be interested to see if he maintains the change when he's been home for a while.

During this time the weather was atrocious - 40C degree days - the tree ferns have browned right off, and some of the bird's nest ferns are severely sunburnt, as is the mondo grass. I'ts impossible to give them enough water by hand. Still, if it's a choice between the plants and having water to drink, I'll go for the drinking water, thank you.

Not much knitting has been done - probably an amount equal to the amount of FROGGING. I've been doing an Annie Blatt baby cardi for Sue at Cherryhills, and I've found the pattern very confusing - even more so when I am working from the graph and reversing the shaping for the other side! In the end I had to write it out, and I'm still not sure it's right.

Day 14 - That Janette's not just a pretty face ...

2007-01-14T11:35:00.000+11:00

Thank you Janette for your advice on how to load a photo - it's nothing to do with having a Mac - being dumb is a better explanation!

So here is a photo of shawl I knitted for Flea No. 1 - modelled by her, taken on the deck at our house. It's here to prove to myself that the upload bit works. It was knitted after a Lyn Johnson workshop. As all the interesting photos are in the old computer and I can't copy them to the new computer, I'll just have to start scanning things to post - but that might not be anytime soon!

I still can't get into my blog, nor can I make comments on other blogs, unless I go through the Blogger homepage. Why? I do not know. When I try to log in anywhere it tells me that there is no user account by that name - even when I do the "recover user name" bit. I've emailed Blogger about it so we'll wait and see if they return the favour.

Today we picked up the two little fleas - Ms S. and Mr N. - Ms S. is only staying for a couple of days as she has other pressing commitments back home - ah! the world of 10 year old girls (whoops! I've just been corrected by said 10 year old - nearly 11 YEAR OLD girls). While Mr N. who absolutely adores his Grandpa Flea is staying for the week. They are going to see "Walking with Dinosaurs" with Grandpa Flea.

Just to prove to myself that it DOES work, I've posted a photo of Grandpa Flea in "Sommerfulgen" a great yarn shop in Copenhagen. It is one of many yarn shop photos I have taken all over the world ( I call them 'knitting around').

At first this photo appeared above the first photo and all the text went strange, but I seem to have that one sorted - for the time being. Ms S. is looking over my shoulder giving me the benefit of her vast experience in computing, so I'm off - it's way past her bedtime.

Happy knitting.

Day 12 - Lesson No. 3 - Don't send all you Christmas cards ...

2007-01-12T16:14:00.000+11:00

Small actions have unexpected effects - the butterfly wings flapping here and the tree falling there thingie. This year I didn't finish getting all my Christmas cards done (and still haven't - this bloggy blog takes all my time). It is always the cards that I want to send a letter with, that get left to last - and this year anyone who lives overseas, or at a distance in Australia, missed out. But today I had coffee with a friend Ms S. from Brisbane that I haven't seen for ?eight years - she was in Sydney for a niece's engagement party and rang me. Despite being flat out with family things, she made time to meet - her reasoning being that as she didn't get a card this year, and for various reasons doesn't send them herself, it was about time she made some contact. I should add that it always Ms S. who rings me from time to time, usually as I'm rushing out the door, and despite my intention to ring back later, the evil senior moment bug deletes the intention from my memory bank. So I think she was being a bit hard on herself. We had a great catch-up of family news and probably, for the first time ever, we didn't mention any of the people we knew from when we worked together! That's a hallelujah moment, as we used to reminisce about the mean and evil, nasty ones that made our lives difficult - I guess we've moved on - at last.

It's been a social few days - yesterday I had lunch with Janette, of Knitting-on-the-Avenue, and two other knitting friends. They put me to shame with the knitting that kept emerging from their bags - it was like a magician's black hat x three - how did they do it? the bags weren't that big! - there was great discussion of fibres and patterns, their modifications to patterns and was Debbie Bliss or Kim Hargreaves the better pattern writer amongst many other topics (Janette's patterns got a big thumbs up from Ms P. - I'm ashamed to say that I have had Janette's book for quite some time and still haven't knitted the jumpers on my list). When I go out and meet with friends I realise I should do it more often - it is so stimulating and ..... stimulating! I think I had too much stimulation, as when I stopped on the way home to get some moisturiser, I got carried away and bought a BRIGHT RED lipstick! You see my lips coming about 10 seconds before the rest of me. It wasn't that bright in the shop - I'm sure they swapped the packets around (yeah, right). The woman who served me at the beauty counter was probably not much younger than me - she had the fairest, most flawless, unwrinkled skin I have ever seen on an older woman - I've been thinking/wondering about it, ever since, and today the word BOTOX suddenly jumped into my mind. I think she might have - I'll have to go back and have another look with my, now, cynical eye.

I have started knitting a baby jacket for Sue at Cherryhills - it's an Anny Blatt pattern knitted in Bambini - it's a beautiful yarn to use - soft and elastic - it's making my fingers itch to do a cardigan for the 10 year old little flea - the pattern I have in mind is in "Pipsqueaks" - one of the best knitting books I have - I've knitted so much from it and have wanted to do this cardi for some time, but have felt obliged to keep knitting up the stash and none of the yarns in the stash appeal. Guess I'll just have to let my inner knitter free and pay another visit to Cherryhills!

It has been 40deg Celsius today, and 38 yesterday. We can't water again until Sunday so the poor old tree ferns and bird's nest ferns are looking very dehydrated, but it has suddenly started to thunder and look like rain - so I'm off to get the washing in.

Happy knitting.

Day 9 - Lesson 1: NEVER have liquid near your computer ... Lesson 2: And if you must, only drink wine (or gin)

2007-01-09T18:46:00.000+11:00

How well I remember scolding my grandbaby fleas for wanting to eat over the keyboard of the computer (I'd never do that, of course), and woe betide them if they even THOUGHT about taking a drink near it .... it's a bit like the old "when all else fails read the instructions" ... she who ignores her own advice very clumsily spilt a glass of water (yes, water - I must have had shaky hands from the alcohol withdrawal symptoms) over the keyboard of the computer last night. Surprisingly it didn't explode in a shower of sparks, nor was I electrocuted (oh! you already guessed).

Lesson 1: NEVER have liquid near your computer - self-explanatory.
Lesson 2: And if you must, ONLY drink wine (or gin) - I'd never be that clumsy with alcohol.

So I have spent all day today trying to fix the problem. Fortunately I had a keyboard and mouse from the old computer, but the damage had been done when I tried to use the still slightly wet one this morning. Somehow I managed to delete the password from the email account's memory and for some reason the wretched thing kept wanting it! so I couldn't access my email. From which point I proceeded to undertake a journey that even Tolkien would have admired . I made a call to Brendan at Applecare who, after some time, referred me to Microsoft - where I spoke to Bakvin who referred me to Bigpond - where I spoke to Ari who said he couldn't help with Macs - he only did PCs - and referred me to Krunal in another section, who insisted that the telephone account number I gave him was WRONG (despite our bills reaching us at that account for forty years or so) - and referred me to James in accounts who quickly fixed me up with a new password - which didn't work. So - another call to Bigpond - to Ben, this time, who said I didn't need the Mac Section (duh!) and had that naughty James told me that the new password was in CAPS (NO - or else I was so excited to think that the problem was solved that I didn't take it in ). So many, many hours, phone calls, sittings and listenings to "hold music", dial-ups and downs later, I can access my email.

It's exhausting doing all that sitting and waiting.

I have tried to load photos from the old computer, but it won't work either, so I'm thinking of changing to another blog place, but I'll tell all you assembled thousands - who hang on my every word - where it is, when I do.

I've just been looking at a genealogy DNA analysis site (www.dnatribes.com) - thinking very hard about it - I don't know enough about DNA to make an assessment of whether the claims they make are reasonable, or just a money spinner for the company. When Grandpa Flea did his family history he discovered, much to everyone's surprise, that the ancestor with aboriginal heritage had actually come to Australia from Mauritius, and was listed on the ship's manifest as a "black serving girl". It was before the time of indentured Indian labour, so we assume she came to Mauritius as a slave, or as the child of slaves, from Madagascar or the East coast of Africa (Mauritius had no indigenous population). But Grandpa Flea's father maintained that she was Indian. Would DNA analysis solve the mystery?

On my side of the family, my brother has long held the view that we have some Chinese ancestry - my mother was not impressed when I asked her about it - "it would be on your father's side!" she cried and no further discussion was allowed. Would DNA analysis solve the mystery? I often suspect that Mum knew about the convict ancestry on her side as she was very unwilling to help me when I started to look into our origins - to say that she was angry wouldn't have been too harsh. It turned out that her grandmother was the child of convicts - but by the time I had discovered this, Mum had died . These days we all regard having a convict as a badge of honour, and love to find we have some exotic racial mix in our backgrounds, but in Mum's day a convict ancestor would have been a source of great shame and having a non-white ancestor just wasn't allowed.

So much for knitting - I'm off to search the internet to see if I can hold dual citizenship - my brother is convinced that because we also have German ancestry we can apply for a German passport! Yippee! I wouldn't be an "alien" when I visit old mother England if I had an EU passport!

Happy knitting.

Day 8 - I'm laughing

2007-01-08T12:58:00.000+11:00

Roxie always makes me laugh! - even when I feel blah - less blah than yesterday. We did see kangaroos on a golf course recently (as we were driving by, not chasing a funny little ball with dimples around) but we have none in our neighbouhood; we do have flying foxes in the neighbour's huge mulberry tree when it's fruiting and they crap all over the car and the washing when I leave it on the line overnight; yesterday when I was watering the same neighbour's plants (NOT the said muberry tree) I saw an enormous fat blue tongue lizard - I swear it was 2 feet long - maybe more - maybe as big as that fish that got away - I didn't know they grew that big. We haven't seen them around for years (as the neighbourhood has become more populated and there have been more cats around). We do currently have a possum living between the ceiling of the bathroom and the floor of the bedroom above - although I swear it moves into the wall cavity some days. We hear it scratching itself. I think it has a baby. The other night we had two mothers with babies on their backs prowling around the house (outside, thank you). And yesterday I had a noisy miner (bird) wander into the house off the deck, crap on the dining room chair then proceed to get agitated because it couldn't fly through the glass windows. Eventually I was able to shepherd it out. But the really big wildlife news of the neighbouhood is that two echidnas have been spotted wandering around - once in my yard (while my neighbour was watering MY garden - damn); once at that neighbour's and once by other neighbours - I'm the only person who hasn't seen them. We have lived here for forty years and this is the first time that they have been seen - maybe it suggests that the termites are increasing - most houses have had some problems with them. We also have rainbow lorikeets, sulphur crested cockatoos, eastern rosellas, crimson rosellas, very occasional black cockatoos and today I saw five gang-gangs (another type of cockatoo - very pretty with grey tipped black feathers and some brilliant red markings) do a fly by in formation while I was having my breakfast on the deck. We usually only see gang gangs when there is a drought - which there is at present and has been for a long time.

It's past my lunch time - I shall leave you in suspense about Baby Flea and her Dada.

Day 7 - Little Flea

2007-01-07T11:46:00.000+11:00

Yesterday we babysat the littlest Flea (4) while her Mama and Dadda had a very upmarket lunch to celebrate Dadda's birthday - ?52. I can never remember ages - not even my own children's. (That apostrophe nearly got me). They arrived home with a computer - a PC, so once they have it up and running I might be able to post photos from there. Apparently OSX is a known "issue" to Blogspot. In the meantime I'll try on our old computer which has an earlier operating system but in all respects is a very sick girl.

I have now finished 3 more baby jumpers for Africa and started a fourth, but will have to give some time to Eloise before I can indulge myself with the little projects in the Knitting Calendar.

The weather in Sydney is crazy at present - yesterday it was blistering hot and the forecast was for more of the same today, but it is overcast and very mild. Usually our summers have days of hot weather followed by a cool change for a few days then hot again. This year we have been having very hot and very cold (relatively of course) - we've even had several nights where it was cold enough to put a heater on!

This is a blah entry - I have been feeling very blah with nothing to say for a few days now , so am signing off to do some blah housework - it might perk me up a bit. Or maybe I should indulge myself by starting a new knitting project. Do stop by again - I'm not always like this!.

Happy knitting.
PS - Lucia - I love your blog

Day 4 - Life as I knew it ...

2007-01-04T19:06:00.000+11:00

Well, Janette was not joking when she said that my life would never be the same again - these blog things take up so much time frustration - (1) I can't load photos - a common problem according to the "Help Group". (2) It takes hours to browse around other peoples' blogs (because I don't have broadband yet) and (3) updating each day is time comsuming. Even worse is that I like writing the wretched thing! Perhaps I'll change to an "author only read" blog and just use it as a diary. But that still doesn't solve 1,2 or 3!

Thank you for your postcard Janette - the holiday sounds really good. And thank you Shelley for stopping by - I'd love to visit New Foundland one day - it's on my (long) list of places to go.

My "incentive list" has done nothing to curb my eating - I nearly called it the "humiliation list" as it is meant to go down, not up! I thought that logging my progress publicly might help my motivation, but guess what - it hasn't worked. Still, tomorrow is another day ... so long as it's not like today with a very long lunch with friends who cooked all sorts of yummy things including hand-made chocolates (and we all know it's rude to refuse to try things, don't we?)

Yesterday I managed to buy some more acrylic for the baby jumpers for Africa and finished the one on the needles. I think they'll be a constant companion this year. They are good mindless knitting for in the car etc. I've also done a few more squares for a blanket in Caressa yarn that I started in a vain attempt to make my stash look smaller. It's also mindless. Eloise is still bubbling along - I've nearly finished the second front and still have two sleeves to do. It won't take long. By the time it's finished I might be able to put photos up - blogs without photos are not much fun. I still haven't located the angora for the calendar scarf but might be able to do some of the loop stitch floral pins with the yarn that is findable.

Happy knitting.

Day Two - Local Yarn Store (unabashed plug)

2007-01-02T16:05:00.000+11:00

After an hour at the gym, trying to undo a month's solid eating before I see the dietician again, I called in to see Sue at my LYS. I worked there at one time and still spend a few hours there each week, yarning! and drinking coffee.

I wanted to show her my "2007 Calendar, Knitting -All New Knits by Paulette Lane & Friends". It's really nifty. If you haven't seen it, it's half price at Borders and Myer (Australia) at the moment and it is fun. A small (??) project for each day of the year and the box opens up to a page per day and is supported at an angle by it's lid - in front of me now as I type. (It also has blank calendar pages to record important dates - in my case BIRTHDAYS - I still owe Flea No. 3 (birthday September) and her partner (birthday October) part of their birthday presents.) The smaller projects will be handy as I knit for a fund-raising group which raises money for the local youth outreach centre. It's a thankless task in many ways as often people won't pay a price that even covers the cost of the raw materials. Fortunately we get a lot of yarn donated - quite often in the form of half-knitted jumpers that ?cats have been sleeping on!! -I've given up trying to use those and dip into my stash. Last year Sue of LYS fame gave me two large garbage bags of quality, novelty yarns that one of the reps didn't need anymore - I was tempted to empty them into the bath and roll in them! but discretion prevailed.

I'm already planning to knit the Day 1 project, a ruffled scarf, but need to disgorge the contents of the cupboard under the house where most of my stash is hiding while we're "open for inspection" so I can find the angora that I bought in a moment of madness on a holiday in Tasmania about 5 years ago. With a bit of luck the moths won't have found it.

For those of you who live in Sydney, my LYS is called "Cherryhills". It's at Pennant Hills - located next to Vital Health Gym (not the one I go to) in a little arcade that runs between Pennant Hills Road and the carpark behind. Strangely enough its address is Shop 6, The Arcade, Pennant Hills. Phone & Fax (02) 9484 0212. It is a great shop with heaps of imported yarns as well as the usual suspects. I have to admit to a lot of self-interest here - unless we patronise our local stores, they will close - we've already had one close in my suburb and another close a few suburbs away. And Lyncraft, another chain of craft stores that used to be in the local malls has also turned up its toes. For me, going to a yarn store is like visiting a book store - I love to see the colours, feel the textures (smell the new pages in bookshops) and spend hours browsing even if I don't intend to buy. The internet can never replace that.

We're off to the movies tonight to see "A Prairie Homecoming" or some name like that and because it doesn't start until 9.15 in a suburb quite a distance from here, we are having a rare treat of a meal out. We know that if we eat here we won't feel like going out - I'll have to remember that trick for future use! When Grandpa Flea retired about 5 years ago we intended to go to the movies once a week - but we can count our actual movie experiences on the fingers of one hand! (videos/DVDs don't count - in any case we'd only need half a hand for those).

Happy knitting.

Day One of the New Year

2007-01-01T15:59:00.000+11:00

... and I hope it is a happy one for you. I am not making any New Year's resolutions this year because I ALWAYS break them. We had a quiet New Year's Eve and are following the same pattern for today - other than a potential buyer for our house arriving with ten minutes notice - the very day I hadn't made the beds, done the dishes from the night before etc etc. - you've never seen anyone move so fast!

I have just tried to post a photo, but that seems to be a problem - maybe because I have a Mac. Does anyone out there have an answer? I've looked at the" Help" section but it seems to suggest I need a Google toolbar which is not compatible with a Mac. I'll keep fiddling with it.

I did quite a lot of knitting on Eloise last night, and just a little frogging - mainly because I was watching "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and forgot to stop the ribbing and change to reverse stocking stitch; ditto with the first buttonhole. I still like to watch my knitting and only look at the TV at critical moments. Grandpa Flea is well trained and gives me a running commentary to alert me to things that I need to know eg "he just slipped poison in her drink".

Roxie, your comment made me laugh - what does a 62 year old's blog look like? It reminded me of a Michael Parkinson interview with Sally Field - when he said she didn't look her age - she replied "well, that's what 50 looks like these days"! How true. I guess if you're not an Aussie you're not familiar with the Ginger Meggs comics (rather old fashioned these days). Ginger's mother was a large round woman, rather busty but shapeless with it and always wearing an apron - so like my grandmother that the artist could have used her as a model. But that was how grandmothers looked then (some of us still do!) - largish and shapeless or rather thin and angular. At least that what my memories are. Grannies (who crack the glass ceiling) these days seem to run corporations and wear designer suits. And if we can believe the TV ads (ha ha), after they have moved into a retirement village, they also ride Harley Davidsons and have romantic liaisons on the beach at sunset, champagne flute in hand. Aah - QUICK, I hear you say - book me into the nearest retirement village - NOW!
I can't believe I'm normal - although you did say "might be" - my entire world view will have to be reoriented if I accept that premise. Thank you for your faith in me - but just remember the old one about "all the world is queer 'cept me and thee"...
I'll spend the next few hours pretending that I'm normal and see if it feels comfortable!

Happy New Year.

Every ending is a new beginning ...

2006-12-31T11:54:00.000+11:00

So another year has passed - where did it go? But this year's ending is a first! - I decided some years ago to re-evaluate my many UFOs and WIPs once a year - they had become like monkeys on my back. So I ruthlessly (well, fairly ruthlessly) frogged everything that stood little chance of completion for whatever reason. It felt so good! But this year there is nothing that needs to be frogged! (apart from a few things that I hid earlier in the year so they didn't annoy me). maybe I'm learning some discipline at last - it's only taken 62 years!

Roxie, thanks for your encouragement - but I have to tell you that I'm the only person who could sew a school uniform kit together back to front, in a totally unsuitable smallest tension ever, spend hours unpicking it, in the process cutting the fabric which had to be darned later - and immediately doing the exact same thing! not once, but twice... maybe I'm not going senile after all - I was born that way!

Umma - your holiday sounds very restful - not! But it will settle down - now you've put your bed up - I'm sure! The weather in Sydney has been quite comfortable - overcast for part of the day, some sun and heat, and some RAIN- little children are hiding under their beds in fear and terror - the sky is falling! I'm looking forward to visiting Berry in July for the spinning and weaving day - I'll probably arrange another bus trip down there for the knitting group and the Guild if enough people want to come. The other thing I'd like to do in 2007 is a weekend workshop at the rag rug place down that way somewhere - do you have any interest? Have a great holiday - I'll see you at lunch when you return.

A very peaceful and happy New Year to everyone out there - if only we could wish the same for the world and think it might come true.

Born to knit ..

2006-12-29T20:03:00.000+11:00

... or born to frog ... you guessed it - I'm Queen of the Froggers. The Eloise that I so rashly frogged before all the good advice came pouring in ... when I started to cast on last night to reknit, the penny dropped - I needn't have frogged the whole lot - just down to the top of the very extensive ribbed section - if I had done that, then knitted an extra row - the band would have been on the right side after all ....... spatially challenged is a kind way of putting it. Fortunately the Blossom knits up very quickly. Your comments (Roxie's the most recent) are making me laugh - I can see why blogging is so addictive!

Today I went to see "The Queen" and have lunch with some good friends I used to work with. We had a great day and all agreed that the movie should have been called "The Queen 'n Di" - none of us had realised that it only covered the period immediately following Diana's death. I'd love to know what Lizzie thought about it - and when Helen Mirren goes to Buckingham Palace on Lizzie's invitation, will she be sent to the Tower or "Damed"?

Happy knitting.

Thank you for the warm welcome

2006-12-28T14:36:00.000+11:00

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome to blogland that you've given me. I've posted individual replies in the comments bit. We are currently trying to sell our house to move to a place more suited to our arthritic knees - in the process I've had to store most of my ENORMOUS stash away and hide all the other junk that normally clutters the house. I've quite fallen in love with living in a neat and clean house with the beds made! But (there's always a but ..) I've stashed everything out of sight for the inspections (don't open a cupboard door or it all falls on you) and I've carefully put my camera somewhere which is now quite irretrievable from the creaking memory banks - as soon as I find it I'll post some photos of Eloise. As well as Eloise I'm also knitting funny little baby jumpers for babies born with AIDS in Africa. Someone in one of my knitting groups has a mother who belongs to a church group which is knitting/collecting them for a charity somewhere (note: this level of vague detail is typical of my life these days!) Apparently the poor little newborns go home wrapped in newspaper to keep them warm. The instructions are quite specific - follow the pattern exactly, use only acrylic and no pastels as they may never be washed. We take so much in our own lives for granted.

Frogging away as usual ...

2006-12-27T20:51:00.000+11:00

SO... a second post in my first day - I must be into it! I did mention in passing my frogging addiction ... well, I've done it again - working away on Flea1's Eloise cardigan, making really good progress as the Noro knits up very quickly - get up to the armhole and realise that I've got the button band on the side which should have buttonHOLES. So I'm frogging my little heart out here -

Welcome

2006-12-27T15:59:00.000+11:00

Welcome to my blog! Don't ask me why I have joined the blogging community - I don't really know, but do enjoy reading some of the knitting blogs I visit. Not that there will be much knitting on this one as I am an expert frogger and don't seem to get much done! At the moment I'm knitting a Noro cardigan, Eloise, in Blossom for my eldest - Flea1. I've knitted this pattern for myself already, but found that the garment stretched - every which way - so this time I'm using knitting-in elastic with the yarn. The fabric seems much more rigid as a result - just hope it has enough stretch in it to fit!
I hope you all had a peaceful and happy Christmas Day with lots of woolly knitbits under the tree.
Grandma Flea