Back Home Again

Thanks so much for all the well wishes for my Dad.  He is now out of hospital but he and Mum haven’t travelled home as yet.  My aunt and uncle will drive them back later in the week, after Dad has had some more rest.  I drove their car home over the weekend.

Of course I took a few photos while I was away.

The lovely  Bathurst Plains as I headed to Sydney on Tuesday.  They won’t look this green for long.

As we flew over the Blue Mountains there was lots of low cloud.  You could still see the sandstone cliffs.  They look tiny from the air.

My uncle lives in a typical small Queensland town.  Nothing flash, but all the basics are there.  However, for anything else it is an hour’s drive to the nearest regional centre.  That is not too bad for such a large state.

There were some lovely flowering street trees.

The gum blossoms were so fragrant.

As I drove home there was lots of prickly pear in flower.

Typical country letterboxes.

And roads leading off into the scrub.

Once I reached New South Wales, the harvest was in full swing.  Lots of headers and grain trucks on the road.

The silos were all in action.

A bit different to home, where the crops are still green and harvest quite a way off as yet.

I drove as far as Coonabarabran on Saturday and went for a bit of a stroll in the evening.  The clock tower looked lovely in the afternoon light.

Lovely art deco tiles on the old pub.

I just loved this old shop with its original features. Art deco would have to be my favourite style, with the pressed metal ceiling, gorgeous painted lettering and nickel plated window frames.  They were a feature in so many towns across the country.

I took a peek through the window.  What a pity it was closed.

There was another shop from the same era, but the only feature not obliterated was the window frames.  What a pity.  I suppose the architecture doesn’t suit the image the shop owners are looking for. It has been the fate of so many old buildings.

Anyway, on with my walk.  Up a little alley way there was a great feature from the Girl Guides.

Each panel was made up of terracotta tiles.  They looked like little wall quilts from a distance and the colours suit the side of the building so well.

I’ll share Sunday’s drive tomorrow.

By the way, I packed a little bit of SSCS stitching to take away, so fortunately, I will still have it ready to post on time.  Phew!

Unexpected Happenings

When I left work yesterday I assumed that is where I would be today.

However, today I’ve flown on the local commuter plane, another plane to Brisbane, then four and half hours in a hire car and am now in a small Queensland country town.  I’ve seen jacarandas, banana trees, road trains, bottle trees, high set timber houses and experienced 35 degree heat.  No photos, as I was driving.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t for pleasure.  My Mum and Dad drove up to visit family and while here, Dad has had a heart attack.  Fortunately, it is not as bad as first thought.  He is rather a tough old bird.  He is being well looked after in a small country hospital, but we are all a bit up in the air as to how long he will be here, what treatment will be required and when and how we can get him home.

We are very lucky that we have family here who are being wonderfully supportive.

Hopefully we will all be home again very soon and he gets much better. 

A Quick Make

Another of my work mates is headed overseas.  This is her first trip out of the country and she has a brand spanking new passport.  I thought this would be just the ticket for her.

It was a nice and easy pattern I found on A Spoonful of Sugar. I’ve had the fabrics for a while, just waiting for the right project.

I used plastic on a roll bought at Spotlight for the pocket on the inside.  It was a little testing for me, as it tended to stick together.   Therefore, it also stuck to the bed of my machine and the foot, so wouldn’t feed through.

To sew the binding on I had to lay a piece of fabric under the plastic so that it would feed through.  The pattern says to baste the plastic to the lining fabric before sewing, but there was no way I could do that, but then it didn’t want to move, so it wasn’t a problem.  The next challenge was the stitching down the centre of the plastic to make the two pockets.  In the end I used my teflon coated foot from my little Elna Stella machine. Luckily I had one, as I don’t know how I would have proceeded without it.  I was supposed to top stitch around the edges, but that just wasn’t going to work and I think it looks fine without it.

If I made another one of these (and I think I will, as I want one for my passport) I will use a different plastic.  I’m thinking the plastic from a heavier duty sleeve for a 2-ring binder might work well, as it is more slippery.  With the right plastic it would take no time at all to make.

Anyway, it was well received and I hope it gets lots of use over the coming years.

Motorcycling is Magic

Or so the bumper sticker says.

A group of us rode up to Wellington on Sunday for the Annual Motorcycle Awareness Week ride.  There was a good roll up, with the street being lined with  bikes and quite a few stalls in the park.

We had a bit of a wander around checking out the bikes. 

There were big ones and little ones.

Ratty ones. Don’t you just love the graphics.  They are done in texta.

Shiny ones.  This is the same model as Olga, only in pristine original condition.

We were the only sidecar there. Snubby created quite a bit of interest.

After lunch we took the long way home, via Yeoval and Cumnock, checking out all the quirky bicycle sculptures along the way.

We stopped in Cumnock for an ice cream.

It was a lovely day spent with good friends and we also caught up with lots of people we know, from right across the central west of the state, that we have got to know through motorcycling.  You couldn’t get a nicer bunch.

Annual Play Date

One of my friends and I have a very special day out each year that NO ONE and NOTHING gets in the way of.  We visit the local open gardens and catch up on all the gossip.  You can seen previous years here and here.

This year we were joined by her two daughters, which was really nice.  I don’t even think that they were too bored with it all.

Most of the gardens had never been opened before, so it was worth going along.  The Rahamin Centre is a community ecological garden.  They had a great plant stall where I purchased lots of herbs, my tomatoes and some strawberries.

The next garden has been established for only about 5 years.  The couple previously had a beautiful country garden on their property.

There were still lots of rural elements.

They have really made the most of their sloping site, the retaining wall still being a work in progress.

I think this was my favourite garden for the day.

No day out is complete without a visit to Blair Athol. A rather grand garden.  Here we caught up with a friend visiting from Coonamble with their garden club.

There seemed to be more vege gardens than previous years.  I always love seeing them.

One of the new gardens was beautifully manicured and looked so lush with its green and white theme.  No flowers here.

This was the most surprising garden, as it was just on a regular suburban block in one of the newer subdivisions.  Not what you would expect at all.

Next we headed out of town to visit Mary Moody’s garden at Yetholme.  It hasn’t been open before either.  She said it wasn’t a show garden and it isn’t.  However, it is a lovely comfortable country garden around an older home.  We really enjoyed our visit.

I loved the quirky vege patch.

 

We were so lucky with the weather, but finally, during the last garden we visited we were rained on.  We still had a nice wander around.

As you can gather, we had a great day out and can’t wait to see what next year brings.