Monday, December 25, 2006

merry christmas and assorted unconnected other stuff



the only disappointment this Christmas was that we didn't get to see / hold our little man. Due to jaundice and feeding problems , he and Christina spent a couple of days back at the hospital ... best place for them to be obviously and I'm sure that I'll get an opportunity to drive down again sometime soon. [ amended to add: just spoke to Stephen and he says that the little guy is getting better. Probably not how Stephen expected to spend this Christmas but he assures me he's coping ok. Not that he'd tell me if he wasn't but he DID look a lot better yesterday than he did on thursday. ]
Oh, and in answer to the questions: apparently he stepped off a low ledge at work and didn't see a can of tuna on the floor. His foot rolled over causing the broken bone or bones in the side of his foot slightly in front of the heel.

Christmas dinner was at ma-in-law's last night with only enough food to feed a battalion rather than the whole army. Nadie's sweety [ aka The Boy] passed his first major engagement with the semi-massed ranks with flying colours and hasn't run screaming for the hills ... this alone shows that he is a man possessing nerves of steel and great strength of character and seemingly endless reserves of tact.

The rest of the presents were passed out and opened at Nadie's this morning ... late this morning actually ... and it was MUCH nicer than being up here on our own.


In addition to all the pressies which I'm not going to list here, I got to collect the new camera that The Boy negotiated purchase of.


I now have 6+ megapixels to play with so the quality of the photos should improve comensurately :] ... and it means I won't have to borrow a camera everytime I need a publishing-quality image.

and I can't think up a clever way to segue into the other stuff so here it is:
Just finished reading: Knitting Under the Influence by Claire LaZebnik [ brilliant chic-lit but squirmingly uncomfortable reading for anyone who is the parent or sib of a person with a disability]

About to start: something by Kathy Reichs ... haven't decided which one .

On the needles: nothing really ... just finished a little slubby cotton singlet for Riley that I forgot to photograph before I gave it to Stephen yesterday.

On the hook: a hot pink halter-neck for Nadie. She originally asked for Blissful from The Happy Hooker but it wasn't going to work in the fine cotton yarn she chose [ Lipstick from Bendigo Woollen Mills in 4-ply/ fingering ] so I started with the same basic garment shape but finer yarn and hook and a different stitch pattern. The original is done from the bottom up but I needed to go about it a bit differently given that I could only try it on her about once a fortnight. I started under the bust and worked up and then once the bodice and straps were complete she tried it on and I restarted working down for the body piece. That way it was easier to make changes if I needed to, and I didn't have to guess at the length. The basic shape is pretty much the same as the garment that she liked originally.

I actually feel pretty good about the solution that I came up with.

Anyway that's nearly finished so I'll wait until tomorrow to take a picture.

Quilting wise - haven't touched anything this week ... too busy ... but I'll get back to the one I'm working on soon... really...I have to... because I promised myself I would finish it [ well the top at least ] before I started bubby's jungle quilt.
Garden wise - less said the better. It rained and hailed fairly constantly down in Melbourne last evening and today up until we left. In fact we froze. Nadie had to put the heater on this morning. It rained all the way to Mt Macedon . Up here? Zilch. Zip. Zero. Nada. Niente. Not a bloody drop.
Livestock report - I was greeted at the car by 2 goats who told me in no uncertain terms that they had been very unfairly treated and were starving. I received a similar story from Sophie and Oakley. The only one not complaining was the tortoise found wandering down the middle of the highway by Rob's hubby. He/she/it was covered in baked-on mud so we assume his previous watering hole had dried up forcing him to look for another abode. He is now in possession of what remains of my dam and looks to be an excellent tenant. The frogs approve but I can't speak for all the bugs. What do tortoises eat I wonder? Is he going to spell death to all those wriggling insect lavae?
cat ornament count 6

1 comment:

Sheepish Annie said...

So glad to hear that Riley is coming along well. Shouldn't be too long before he is home and ruling the roost!

Sounds like a happy holiday was had by all. I checked Santa's progress on NORAD and it looks like he spent quite a bit of time down in your neck of the woods appreciating all your decorating! I was afraid he might just stay there, but it looks like he opted to continue the journey. I was really good this year so that was a relief!!!!