a t'riffic Tuesday

Today was a perfect Spring day in the garden:
catmint in bloom
my first ever successful pot of tulips ... really, really small tulips I grant you, but tulips nonetheless ... and for my friends in the Northern Hemisphere who possibly find tulips unremarkable - here in Oz most of us have to put our tulip bulbs in the freezer to have any hope of them blooming. These ones didn't get freezered [because I forgot] so I'm pretty chuffed that they've managed such a lovely display
some interspecies interaction between Sophie and Ms Ethel - neither of whom seemed particularly bothered by the other's presence


Nadie enjoying a break from the onerous task of mother-minding with a Bear, a chai and a spot of Harry Dresden

the only irritants?
those rotten b****y beggars of weeds that are proliferating in my garden as I type. I can HEAR them ... plotting to take over ... taunting me with their newfound sense of invulnerability.
Well I'm serving notice on the nasty prolific little beasts ... I shall not be incapacitated forever. Their time will come!!!
soon!

Okay, yes, you were right !!

You all told me to take it easy ... and ... well... yes. you are all just too smart for my own good :]

Going out to collect the Bear last Monday on a wave of pharmacologically induced wellbeing wasn't a particularly good idea and I paid for it for the rest of the week [ but I'm glad to have my little buddy home nonetheless ]
Now I'm trying to behave
not necessarily succeeding
but trying
I think it's generally acknowledged that I don't do bed rest very well, but I've had to accept the necessity for a couple of days, whilst trying to persuade assorted animals NOT to leap up onto the bed by way of my recumbent and achy self... otherwise most of my time has been spent on the couch, either prone or sitting and engaged in the same largely fruitless battle with the assorted furrbabies that want to comfort me by draping themselves about my person.

Speaking of which, I have discovered that a 6 kilo Sophie presses down harder on the sore bits than a 7 kilo Bear. Possibly because her 6 kilos is in a much more compact body.
She is also far more determined and much harder to shift [ especially since I'm not supposed to lift more than 2kgs at the moment ]
Anyway during the 'sitting upright' periods I've been engaged in an activity that I haven't done a lot of over the recent past - namely hand sewn [ pieced ] patchwork.

Once upon a time I used to piece almost exclusively by hand - back in the days when dinosaurs ruled the earth and rotary cutters didn't exist - but these days I would normally head to one of my machines as a first choice.
If, that is, I could actually sit comfortably at the machine or exert enough pressure to use a rotary cutter. Which I can't. [ and don't ask how I'm managing to sit at the computer because you wouldn't like the answer ]


Anyway, it's been quite restful and also pleasing to discover that those traditional skills haven't atrophied completely, even if my eyesight isn't what it used to be
[ and look, look - with all this resting, I have actual fingernails - woot ]


Of course this all looks a bit rough and untidy at the moment

but that's because it's not joined together... this is just some of the finished units laid out [ un-ironed ] to give you a sense of where I'm headed.
The block is 15" finished and contains 141 pieces, so I'm rather glad that I only have to piece this one which is going to end up as the centre of a medallion quilt

What Caity sent...

Caity obviously realised that keeping me on the couch for any useful healing time would not be an easy undertaking
so she decided to stun/bribe me into acquiescence with these:
thankyouthankyouthankyou

In The Doghouse

You can tell that Bear has been raised by cats!

As you know, he's been having a holiday with his mum and sister out at Pete-and-Brenda's and I wanted my boy home again.
PND and Brenda would've been more than happy to drop him off when they come through town on Wednesday, but as far as Nadie's concerned, there's that whole issue of multiple cute baby goats to be snuzzled, so yesterday, driving very sedately in order to save my fragile innards, we progressed to Emu Creek and the waiting paws of Mr Bear.
I fully expected to have to deal with a semi-hysterical mamas boy overjoyed at being reunited with his human family.
I expected joyous barking and jumping and ... well you get the picture, right ?
yeah!
right!
Can you say "Cold shoulder"?
Like I said, Bear has been raised by cats and I think we all know what happens when one leaves one's moggy.
One gets ignored ... firmly and pointedly
and so I was, until I had learned the error of my ways.
Eventually he deigned to acknowledge my existence - briefly - but it didn't last very long, and then he was off with the family for some last minute doggy bonding and the ritual chasing of the magpies.
In the meantime, the aforementioned goaties were indulging in some major Nadie-snuzzling
They obviously enjoyed the process because there was a mass attempt to follow us back to the house for lunch - neatly foiled by Brenda and Nadie - while I stood by being completely useless in my current post-hospital inability to lift even a couple of kilos of baby goat, and Pete?
Well, he was otherwise occupied, sitting in with Ms India who was in labour.
[and the rotten little bugger waited until we left to produce her two little does and a buck ... so of course, we'll just have to go visit again next week before Nadie goes home ]

Lunch involved the ingestion of soup, biscuits and home made creamy goats cheese ... drool

When it was time to say our goodbyes, and Bear realised that he was going to have to leave his 'pack', the ears and tail went down and he attempted to hide behind 'grampa' Pete ... I'm trying hard not to take it personally. Maybe he just doesn't like the car.

POSTSCRIPT:
the visit may have been just a little premature and I've been paying for it today so the next day or so will involve nothing more strenuous than the ingestion of David's birthday cake [ version two ]

I'm not convinced it's ART but...

Back in May, when I was told that the two surgeries I was expecting would need to be augmented by the big"H", it was something that I wasn't expecting and a whole herd of emotions were unleashed.
There were the ones that any sentient being could have predicted but also some long buried griefs that had more to do with the fact that I was feeling vulnerable and Marc was no longer here. Clearly I should have anticipated that one but, in any case, once I realised what was going on, I accepted it as a perfectly normal, albeit greatly delayed, part of the grieving process and gave myself permission to just be sad for a couple of days.

That was when I decided that perhaps I should make myself a journal of the emotional journey.
Okay
I'll admit to a momentary worry that I was being a trendoid.
Jumping on the bandwagon
Being self indulgent
and then I asked myself what was so wrong with a wee bit of self indulgence anyway?

so

A nice new sketchbook was purchased
and then it sort of sat there
looking at me
all white and blank and full of ... foreboding

Obviously it needed breaking in, so I covered the front with rich red paint and a voluptuous red rose.
My feeling was that this was going to be about my female self as opposed to my feminine self and I am SO not a pink, girlie girl but that lush deep fleshy pink/red was hugely symbolic of whatever was ahead.

I painted up the first dozen or so pages and over several nights, poured out all the angst and fear and frustration and grief. I allowed myself to feel the self-pity that is usually kept tightly under control.
For once I allowed myself the luxury of 'why me?' and you know what? the answer is, as it has always been ... well ... why not me ?
the words poured out much more easily than the images. There were false starts and rippings-out, but eventually I realised that it didn't matter because this was for me so I let the pages just be in whatever state they evolved

The journal was largely laid aside up until the night before I went to hospital.
I sat down after choir with a nice mug of chai and read through all that I had written, looked at the drawings and paintings, really, really looked at them, and then one by one fed them to the fire
and let them go

I can highly recommend it as a therapeutic practice

Hippo Birdies Two Ewes

My special young man is 31 today
We will be celebrating in stages because DS#1 can't make it up until Tuesday
but David's birthday [day 1] starts today:


there will be cake - even if his sister has to go buy one from the supermarket!

NOTE: the lifeforms of genus cakeus subspecies birthdayeii are involved in a symbiotic relationship which humans that require seasonal patterns of ingestion for the realisation of their full cosmic potential ...
Also I'm reliably informed that birthday cake is remarkably efficacious in post-operative blood replacement ...
however
I feel it is my duty to test this one out because I don't think there's enough empirical evidence to form a firm theory as to cause and effect.

she's in da house

So my loves, what do we know now that we didn't know 8 days ago?
...well, for one, we know I have some dear and good friends IRL and on these here innernets
- no, wait
- I knew that!

...that my daughter is a fabulous woman ?
- definitely knew that

... that small country towns are supportive wonderful places to live ?
- no, wait
- knew that too!

... that having three major surgeries in one hit is a wee tad unpleasant?
- think we all called that one, yes?

... oh yes, I know!
- finding out you have an adverse reaction to morphine after you've been on it for 6 days and throwing up your toes the whole time is never going to be a good thing [ the Hospital Pharmacy Director's reaction when she updated my 'adverse reactions' file was ... "you're onto page 2 now!" Probably not how I best want to be known LOL ]

yup that's about the sum of my insights for this week

except for this addendum - if you want a realistic yardstick of how I was doing:
- It took me 6 days to get out my knitting bag. What does THAT tell you ? Even when Ms Tara came for a visit and knitted on her gorgeous lace shrug, even then ... nada... niente .... nuzzink

Another update

Hello again!

I spoke to mum this morning, and she should be out of hospital on Thursday. That's when I'm headed up so it actually works out quite well. She has a bit of a temperature at the moment but is otherwise doing well.

Thanks for all your comments, its good to see so many people care about her :)

- Nadie

Update

Hi all,

Mum is feeling much better now. She was pretty out of it the first day or so, as they didn't give her morphine right away in case she reacted to it, and has had some other hiccups including nausea, but overall assures me that she is doing alright and they are taking good care of her. She has been getting a good amount of visitors - enough to feel loved but not so much as to be overwhelming. Still not sure when she should be home, at least a couple more days.

I have passed on your well wishes

Nadie

Doing fine

Hi all,

I've just spoken to mum, she is out of recovery and morphined up to the eyebrows. All went well.

She'll be back with you in a few days to a week.

Thanks for all your well wishes!

- Nadie

Back at Emu Creek

I have long suspected that Bear has ESP.
Today I'm absolutely positive
In the continuing countdown towards my surgery, today was earmarked for a pre-surgical visit with the hospital physio, and then a trip out to Emu Creek to deliver Bear into the waiting paws of his mother and sister who will be keeping him company while I'm away.
There is no way he could have known what was on the cards and yet ...
- when I tried to get him to go outside for a loo break before his inCARceration, I was met with stubborn refusal instead of the usual mad dash into the great outdoors.
- when he was pushed bodily outside and left to get on with it, he sat on the doorstep and made sad eyes at me through the glass.
- when I was ready to go, he flipping well hid under the bed


of course once we got to Pete-and-Brenda's, he couldn't even wait for the car to come to a full and complete stop. The second he clapped eyes on Misty and Molly, I had to let him out or risk something diabolical happening to my upholstery. Needless to say they spent most of the next four hours chasing, being chased, rolling, jumping, passing judgement on the general lickableness of the baby goats and some secret dog business to which I was not privy.

WARNING FOR APRIL - baby goat cuteness ahead - scroll down at your own risk!
Pete attempting to bottle feedYou leave my brothers alone! [ Ms Evie warns an interloper away from Cameron and Mitchell ]
There is a Catsmum under all those cute kidsBear frantically trying to get close enough to the kids - we eventually took pity on him and let him in with them and he was so gentle, just licking faces - and other less socially acceptable portions of caprine anatomy
and finally as you can see, Mr and Mrs Swan have also had a blessed event in the last week, successfully hatching five eggs.
- the house feels strangely empty without my furry little buddy - although it has to be said that, of course, the cats think it's a vast improvement.

- and for my 'in real life' friends, I'll be in Mt Alexander from 7.30am Thursday.

Counting Down

Five days out from surgery - the removal of all the girlie bits - and I'm starting to get a bit apprehensive.
David's Carers are organised, Nadie will come up for two weeks once I'm out of hospital and Ms Beryl after that, and now after 6 months of waiting for appointments and invasive tests, it's just on the horizon.
... and I don't have an appropriate image to go with the post so here's the orchid I drew on Thursday;

The Kindness of Strangers

A few weeks ago I was bemoaning the fact that we don't seem to have 3.5mm double pointed needles here. Our current metric sizes were derived from the old UK sizes which run old size 11 /3mm, old size 10/3.25mm, old size 9 / 3.75mm and then to a perfectly sensible progression through 4mm, 4.5mm, 5mm, 5.5mm and so on.

We can get 3.5mm in 'imported from the US' straights and circs [ Oh, how I love thee, my KnitPicks Harmony and Options circular sets ] but in double points ? apparently not.
So when I needed 3.5mm dpns I had to improvise.

not any more

the gorgeous Donna Lee has sent me a care package containing
not only the much sought after needles but also these stitch markers made by her daughter
a skein of glorious hand dyed fingering weight wool from Woolbearer Yarns in 'Fog'

and she didn't forget David either.

This little yellow truck contained a packet of PEZ candy
briefly

very briefly

very very briefly

I headed this post 'the kindness of strangers' but really, when I think about it, DonnaLee and I aren't that at all, we're just friends who haven't met yet.

Maybe It's a Boy Thing

If you read the chronicles penned ... err ... typed by my dear friend-that-I've never-met Sheepish Annie, you'll know that she is currently engaged in a monster battle to get out her own door due to certain abandonment issues on the part of Prometheus aka The Absurdly Ginormous Kitty.
I just want to reassure her that she is not alone and that the problem is not confined to males of species felis cattus. That here on the other side of the planet, there is an equally neurotic mum-obsessed male animal.

"You're going to leave me again, aren't you?"
Yes Bear - Mummy has to go out, but I'll feed up the fire first so you're all nice and toasty warm, okay? Oh noes. I can't move. I'm paralysed from the knees down
...okay ... don't panic!
Can I reach the phone and call 000 ? Where's that rescue dog when I need him ?
Ahh! Okay then
I think I may have discovered the explanation for my sudden lack of mobility ...

SOMEONE thinks that he can stop me going out by pinning me to the floor with his full 7 kgs [ about 15 pounds ] of determined manliness
Incidentally the cats could have told him that this particular ploy was doomed to failure. In their considered opinions formed from much greater experience, the old rush-between-her-legs-and-beat-her-to-the-door is much more effective.

Can you say S-H-O-R-T ?

• I think that Not-Necessarily-The-World's-Greatest-Stylist-But-Certainly-One-Of-The-Cheapest has reached an entirely new definition of short [ and before you say anything comforting, I do like it ]

• Yes I am aware that I have a very round head - and when that pic was taken the new 'do' was gelled up straight. It's now laying flat and looks even shorter. The back is as short as the sides ... maybe shorter if that's physically possible.
  

• As a consequence of the above, any lingering concerns about the possibility of bed-hair while I'm in hospital next week have been shown the door... which is why it was cut that short in the first place, and why I've been hanging out with a dodgy grown-out cut for at least the last 3 weeks so that it would be at optimum shortness for hospitalisation.
• Can anyone explain why is it that the week my hair reaches its full feral 'Goddess, I need a cut now' potential, older acquaintances start suddenly complementing me on how nice it looks ?
• and with absolutely no attempt at a segue, I offer for your approval: David's latest ceramic 'creation' made at his day placement with minimal interference from the instructor who knows that I'd rather have genuine 'David' than something that has been tidied up by someone else

• Two-and-a-half-year-old Grandson-y goodness- "Ball, Nanny!"
• More adorableness sandwiched between my DDIL [blonde] and his Auntie Nadie [ brunette]
• His mummy loved her Ice Queen Cowl and also the one made from my handspun sacred alpaca. In case I had any doubts on this score, my #1 son made a very particular point of telling me just how much she loved 'em during our last phone call.
• It's always nice to be told that a present you've slaved over was truly appreciated.
  

Farewell Old Man Winter

Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness! **

Yes, by the way we strange Australians keep track of the seasons, Spring does indeed start tomorrow.

There's been a lot of this strange wet stuff falling from the heavens recently and those whose memories can stretch back far enough that they are able to remember life before the drought [ ie more than a decade and a half ] seem to think that it might be something called 'rain' ... well, whatever the heck it is, the garden likes it.


**~Thomas Blackburn

and no, I didn't forget that I promised a different species of post today but I'm just so happy to be heading into Spring that I thought you might forgive a small detour :]

Figures!

I'm without the 'puter for the better part of two weeks and naturally that whole period is jam packed with stuff that would normally get blogged about and a whole slew of fabulous photo opportunities [ like this one of Bear trying to hide from the Weasleys ***]


and now too much time has passed and there's just too too much of it to chronicle in any great detail, so rather than risk being responsible for mass brain implosions, I've had to make the choice to just hit you with the edited version ... which is plenty big enough even in its pared back state:

Two weekends ago there was a flying trip to Melbourne for Victorian Opera's production of Xerxes [ brilliant], DIL's big berfday and a side order of grandson cuddling [ and I think I might hit you with that set of photos in the next post ] followed by quite possibly the most appalling drive back that I have ever experienced weatherwise.

Then Friday a week ago, Nadie came up from Melbourne to keep David company on Saturday, while I was otherwise engaged teaching a group of lovely ladies how to make fabric-origami happy coats [ like kimono but shorter ] over at their B & B in Daylesford:


Before that happened though, we [ Nadie and I ] indulged ourselves with some baby goat snuzzling when Pete-and-Brenda popped by on their way to have the newest crop of babies de-horned.
This is my gorgeous daughter with Ms Evie, the smallest of the girls

and a box full of bucks -

that's Mitchell on the left and Cameron. These triplets have the same daddy as my Ruby and Rowan. Val and Olivia you've already met, and they looked much the same as here, just a wee bit more robust

ETA: since I wrote this post Pete-and-Brenda have delivered a set of quads - goats not humans - and though they sadly lost the only girl who was incredibly tiny, the three little bucks survived [ James, Lachie and Nathan, named for the grandsons as are Cam and Mitchell ]

On the creative front, Nadie and I both made use of my lino cutting tools ... and proving that my DD is just as tuned into Japanese iconography as her Mama ...


she didn't get to see the results immediately, but on Thursday this week I did a print run using the fabulous orange-and-gold offering paper from Lisette ...
and this was mine:


The only drawback of using this stuff is that the printing ink is so very dense and tacky that it peels the gold leaf surface right of the paper in unpredictable ways. Still there were enough sucessful tries to make it worthwhile.
Thankyou Lisette m'dear - you send the BEST stuff!

There was also a silk paper kimono class at Bendy - this is one of a pair made by Jodi Abel

In addition to all of the above there has been crocheting, the celebration of a friend's 70th berfday at quilting, another flying visit from Nadie, and now Chris-and-Maz are up for 4 days, having been not-up-here since flipping January 2008!!!!!!!

and
of course, we're heading into Spring so there'll be a garden update sometime soon



*** who used to be Fred-and-George but when they went missing for the better part of 8 months, I 'recycled' Fred's name onto Ethel's deceased beloved, the other Fred. So Fred-and-Gearge, so named for Fred and George Weasley in the HP books, will now and henceforth be simply known as The Weasleys

Technical difficulties - please stand by.

Hi all,

Just a quick note to let you know mum is computer-less for the time being. Said computer has, after a 155km drive to visit it's technician (AKA the boy), decided that all it needed was a change of scenery. I'll return the little scamp to mum ASAP, but until then you'll just have to sit tight.

Cheers,

Nadie

Book Club

Over on Ravelry, I've been keeping a list of books read in 2009 ... something that I always have the best of intentions of doing, and something that just never happens.
Until this year
My aim was to read an average of one book per week not counting pattern books, rounded down to 50 for the whole year
I haven't quite reached that target yet, what with it only being August and all, but still have made a sizeable dint in it, so here's the list to date:

Goal - 50 books

January:

Dead Beat: Jim Butcher
White Knight: JB
Proven Guilty JB
Witches Abroad: TP
Lords and Ladies: TP
A Stroke of Midnight: Laurell K Hamilton
Mistral’s Kiss: LKH
A Touch of Frost: LKH
Danse Macabre - LKH
The Harlequin - LKH
Blood Noir - LKH
Micah and Strange Candy - LKH
Interesting Times - TP

February( sorta lost the plot a bit )

The cat Who Moved A Mountain - L.J.Braun
Image to Stitch - Maggie Grey
Rhapsody - Elizabeth Haydon [ disappointing ]

March:
Hogfather -TP
Small Favour - JB
The Decorated Page - Diehl
The Decorated Journal - Diehl

April:

Maskerade - Pratchett
Feet of Clay - Pratchett

Jingo - Pratchett
Last Continent - Pratchett
Fifth Elephant - Pratchett

May:
The Truth - Terry Pratchett
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Thief of Time - TP
Night Watch - TP book #30 for the year
Monstrous Regiment - TP

June:
Going Postal - TP
Thud - TP
Free range Knitter - Yarn Harlot
Making Money - TP
Artemis Fowl
Artemis Fowl and the eternity Code
Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident

July
Prospero’s Children - Jan Siegel
The Colour of Money - TP ( reread) Book #40 for the year
The Light Fantastic - TP ( reread)

August
Reaper Man - TP ( reread )
My Family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell ( reread after a VERY, VERY long time )
Beasts In my Belfry - Gerald Durrell
Earthly Delights - Kerry Greenwood ( rereread )
Heavenly Pleasures - Kerry Greenwood ( reread )
Devil’s Food - Kerry Greenwood ( reread )

so a grand total thus far of 47 books ... and ... okay ... a lot of 'em are hardly great literature but so what?
I've enjoyed them
and as it's still winter - and as I don't like posts without pretty piccies - here's a gratuitous Helleborus

There are no emus at Emu Creek

The weekend was event filled and there's plenty of Blogfodder to be sifted through, but I suppose I really should keep my promises and show you the rest of the animal photos from Friday's visit to Pete and Brenda's new place at Emu Creek.

First up [ and especially for April ] the two new Saanan girls. They're very much shorter in the leg than my elegant Rosie but still very sweet, don't you think?
These girls will be prolific milkers when their turn comes.

Then Brenda holding the newest of the Damara x Dorper lambs. The minute he was put down on terra-firma, his Mum herded him into the corner and sniffed him all over to make sure that we two-leggers hadn't harmed him in any way. If you go back to Friday's post you can actually see him hiding behind mum in the far back left corner.

His brothers and sisters [ and cousins ] were all far more interested in the fresh hay that Brenda had strewn at my feet. I think the general idea was to help me get some good pictures but all I could see was the tops of their heads as they howed in.
Then we went out to see the boys
That's Lucky on the right and new-boy Chester ... He was rescued from Shepparton and was even thinner than this when he arrived. At the moment the poor thing has a coat like straw and almost no hair on the back of his neck from being left on a chain all day long in a too tight collar. You really have to wonder how anyone can abuse an animal like this - and Chester has an impeccable pedigree, so even if they had not a shred of compassion, you'd think simple economics would have persuaded them to look after a big-ticket investment.
Don't fret though. Soon Pete and Brenda will have him looking as shiny and healthy as "little" Lucky before he starts earning his keep with stud duties [ ain't life tough?]

Bear [ long hair, at the front] spent some quality family time with his mum [ the little white one ] and litter sister Molly, while Brenda and I hiked over to check on Mama Black Swan who is egg-sitting in the bullrushes in the middle of the dam. The pic was taken from about 50 feet away so's not to disturb her or to draw the ire of Daddy Swan who was on the same bank as us and quite capable of inflicting injury if we gave him cause.
Mama Swan declined to be interviewed for the blog and attempted to hide behind a screen of vegetation