Encycopedia of Me Meme: Y - is for YOU

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 . . R is for RIDICULOUS.

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 ....

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!!!

Is that knitting content??!!

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 ....

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!

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

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.

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

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!

Thank You and Questions Answered

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.

Possum Magic ...

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 ...

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 ....

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!

Time Warp: Wildlife Wednesday - on Thursday

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!

Wildlife Wednesday .........

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 ....

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!