October - What a Busy Month

This month has really been crazy busy.  It has been one of those times that you wonder how you had time to go to work.

Settle in for quite a read.

Let’s start at the very beginning…..

On the first of the month, Betty let me know that the organist from her church would be playing at our church.  That didn’t make sense to me, as there is an organ recital planned for the first of November and I didn’t know anything about this.  It turns out that there was a bus load of about 50 historic organ enthusiasts travelling around on an organ crawl, playing historic organs in churches.  Of course I popped up to have a listen.  There were only three of us locals there, so quite a treat.  Oh my, it was so nice to hear the Hunter Organ played so well.  I’m used to just hearing a basic organist.  At the end of the performance, they all sang a hymn, and it was a joy to hear so many male voices singing in the space.  Thanks Betty for letting me know this was happening.

One thing about Bathurst, is that we attract lots of car rallies and get together, due to having Mount Panorama.  On the first weekend of the month Bathurst hosted the National Rally of Ford Cortinas.  The Cortina was first released in 1965, so this was a very special rally, being the 60th anniversary. Oh dear!  They are as old as me.

Anyway, there was a display in front of the courthouse, where they closed off the street.  So many cars.  They were parked each side of the street, two rows up the centre and also on the footpath.  

I liked looking at all the different shapes they came in over time.

I think of a Cortina as being a low powered, rather boring car.  Yes, there were a few like that, but there were loads that had been somewhat souped up.  Eight cylinders, turbo chargers, you name it.  They actually won the Bathurst Car Race when they first came out.

The paint jobs were also rather stunning on some, while others were their original weather worn look.

The following week was the lead up to the Bathurst 1000 car race.  There was a parade of the cars and pantecs on the Wednesday, but the weather was rather foul, so for once I didn’t worry about going into town to have a look.

We did sit down and watch a fair bit of the actual race on TV on the Sunday. 

The weather became rather ordinary for the race as well.  Imagine driving around Mount Panorama at race speed in that sort of weather.

This was the view of The Mount from our house.  The top was completely hidden by cloud, so we were glad we were in the warm and dry lounge room.

I didn’t try a new recipe, but did revisit one I haven’t cooked for many years.  Gem Scones.  They are cooked in hot cast iron “Gem Irons”.  One of our neighbours was excited to have bought some, so it inspired me to get mine out and use them. We’ve had them for a very long time.  The batter is more like a cake than a scone mix, but you serve them up the same way.

The other reason to cook them was that we were having Chooky’s Mum, sister and another friend over for afternoon tea.  It was a great excuse to play ladies (and Mick) and get out the good china and table cloth.

We used Mick’s Mum’s cups and saucers and teapot.  There was the embroidered cloth completed by my paternal grandmother.  We used Mum’s silver teaspoons, sugar bowl and creamer and a couple of her plates and a few extra pieces that Mick and I have collected over the years.  It is so nice to get them out and actually use them.  It was also a good excuse to do some baking.

The following weekend was a busy one, as it was time once in for the church fete.  We were busy on the Friday setting up, followed by the big day on the Saturday.  As usual, I was on the White Elephant stall and Mick was on Bargains for Blokes.  It was a very successful event.

Just after we had everything set up on the Friday a storm it.  It was expected, so everything was covered.  At home we stood inside watching the hail come down.  Fortunately, not a huge amount and not large in size.

On the Monday after the fete, we had some friends from Queensland arrive for a few days.  The first couple of days were fairly quiet, but on the Thursday (last week) we went on an adventure.  We caught the train to Sydney for the day.  I will do a separate post on our day out.

They headed off on last Friday and I headed off to Rylstone for an outing with my patchwork group.  It was a beautiful day for a drive.  I may have done a little bit of shopping at Convent and Chapel Wool Shop.  Don’t you love the knitted sheep out the front.

It is such a gorgeous shop.  When we visited last year, Mick was suitable impressed, so much that he now asks if we need to go to Rylstone to the wool shop when we are heading in that general direction.

I loved the look of the Donegal Tweed wool they sell.  It is from the last remaining wool mill in Donegal in Ireland.  Don’t you love the colours.

This is what I bought.  

Yes, two balls of Donegal Tweed, some circular needles and some knit blockers. (The fake fur pom pom was from somewhere else.) I have chosen a beanie pattern that I wish to knit and it is Gansy inspired, so requires a fairly tight tension.

This is the reason I need to knit a new beanie.  Yep, I accidentally put the beanie I knit for Mick in with a normal load of washing.  Oops!  

This is what it used to look like.  Oh well, a good excuse to make a new one.  I want to make me a new beanie as well.  The blue wool is for Mick and the cream for me.

On the following day, the Saturday, my friend Lisa and I did our annual arounds of the open gardens in town. This is always a great catching up day for us both.

The next day, the Sunday, Lisa once again joined Mick and I and we drove to Orange to have a look at their open gardens.  We like to see what other towns have to offer.  The weather was grey and cold (11 degrees C), but we still had a great day out.

Then, on Monday, we packed the caravan and headed off.  Do you now see why I said it has been a busy month?

I think that is more than enough for one post, if you have lasted this long, so I will fill in the rest shortly.

It’s Wisteria Time

I previously shared a photo of our wisteria at the end of last month, festooned with buds.  Our fingers and toes were crossed that there would be no late frost that would kill off the blooms, as happened last year.

To our delight, all went well and we have our best ever showing from this plant.  It is now six years old and is really coming into its own.  Some of those racemes are three foot long.  I find it rather mesmerising to sit at the outdoor table and watch them sway in a breeze. I don’t know what the variety is (I’d have to hunt for the tag), but I haven’t really seen any others liked this.  They are normally darker, with shorter racemes.

When we bought this house there were three wattle trees planted here, at the end of our back verandah.  They were messy and cut so much light.  Mick built this framework and the wisteria lets the sun in during winter, provides gorgeous flowers in spring and summer shade.  You can’t get better than that.

It is such a pity that they will be finished in the next week or so.

Remember the crocheted rug I recently completed for Wrap With Love?  

Well, the yarn I used was called “Wisteria”.  I popped up the road to my neighbour, who is the coordinator, and asked if I could borrow it back.  I wanted to take a photo of it in front of our wisteria.  Silly, I know, but then, that’s how I am.

We planted a wisteria at our first little house and it grew over our pergola.  We loved it.

When we moved out of town and planted a large garden, a feature was a wisteria walk.  Mick and a mate built it using old telegraph poles, so it was really sturdy.  We bought some wisteria plants from a local nursery and they grew well………they just never flowered.  We were really disappointed.  We had been told they often take several years to flower, particularly if propagated from seed, but these were there for over 15 years with no flowers.

Last weekend we had to visit our old home, as some of our mail had been sent there - only 10 years after we moved…..

Well, blow me down, look at that wisteria.  It is now flowering profusely.  Not only that, it is the same as the one we have here with the pale flowers on very long racemes.

We were delighted to see it.

I Made a Bag - Do Da Do Da

Not only did I make a bag, I ticked off the last month of the Chookshed Challenge.

The project this month was to make something with a Sashiko panel.  You can read about it here.  Well, I dithered about the size.  Then, I completely changed my mind and was going to use different fabric and a couple of small Sashiko panels.  Then, I came back to Plan A and told myself not to overthink it.  Just make a simple tote bag using the fabric you had bought for that purpose.

This afternoon, I finally put on my big girl panties and got stuck in and made the tote bag.

It is a fairly simple design, which showcases both the stitchery and the striking fabric well.

The dimensions are similar to another tote bag I made some years ago that is rather practical for taking projects along to my stitching mornings.  Therefore, this should get plenty of use too.

I’m happy to actually have completed a project in the designated month.  I still have several from this year that haven’t been completed, so fingers crossed I may progress something more before the end of the year.

I still have the scallop Sashiko panel as well as smaller ones with flowers and dragonflies.  Hiding in my stash was a small bag of Japanese fabric scraps I bought about 15 years ago at a market and recently I bought some yardage of another Japanese inspired fabric.  The challenge is on to make something using those before too long, but probably not this year.

The Last Days of our Trip Home From Baradine

The posts of our most recent trip, at the beginning of September, have really dragged out. I promise this is the last of them. 

After our visit to the Nundle Woollen Mill we kept on our way.  Our route this time was via Muswellbrook and the Bylong Valley.  We haven’t travelled that way since all the heavy rains in 2022, which caused quite a bit of damage to the road.  Hopefully, it would be much better by now.

Of course there was lots of lovely scenery along the way.

It was a bit nerve wracking crossing this very narrow bridge with the van in tow.

The area around Muswellbrook was all lush horse studs when we travelled this way as kids and in our early years of marriage.  Now it is all huge coal mines.

Once you get past that area there are the stunning rocky hills.

Our destination for the day was the Bylong Sports Ground. We have stayed here once before and it is a lovely quiet and pretty place to stop.  There was only one other van there on that night.

This was the view from the caravan door.  You can’t get much better than that.

There is a pretty stone church just over the fence, so of course we went and had a little explore. Let’s go for a walk.

We were intrigued by the rustic bell tower.  Of course Mick had to try it out.  We didn’t even think to have a look through the windows of the church.

As the afternoon was getting a little chilly we lit a fire and had a relaxing time before tea.

There were so many jet streams criss crossing the sky as the sun set.

In the morning we were visited by a very friendly magpie.  You can just see it at the bottom of the photo. No swooping by this one.  We think it is very used to campers giving it tit bits.

I had another quick wander around the church and it surrounding cemetery in the fresh morning light.

Now, the road condition…….  It wasn’t too bad for the first part……

But once we moved from the Muswellbrook council area to the Midwestern Council area the road deteriorated  significantly.  Patches on patches on patches.  We took it nice and slow.

Then it was the climb up the windy road to leave the beautiful valley.

There were loads of wattles at the top.

There were more jet streams as we drove along.

Our final stop before getting home was the little town of Kandos.  This former cement industry town was looking pretty with the spring blossoms.

It was so nice having the luxury of extending our Baradine trip this time, but it was also nice to get back home.

I wonder where our next caravan trip will be?  Your guess is as good as mine at the moment, but I’m sure we will come up with something.