Zipping Along

Zippy pouches are so handy, so I decided to make a couple more.  I couldn't be bothered go to town, therefore I used what I had.

First, find a zip.  At the blog meet here in Bathurst last year I received 3 lace zips in a little mystery parcel.  Maybe a pretty, lacy pouch would be the go.  Let's look for fabric.....

While rummaging through the stash I came across some other fabric.

Left overs from the cover I made for my travel journal after our trip to Western Australia.

Why not use them up......just a tad different to my original vision.

Now to find some zips.

Fancy that!  Two old recycled zips.  I have a box full of zippers, a few I bought but most have come from who knows where.  Some from Mum, some from boxes of odds and ends I've bought over the years.  Anyway, these two will do the trick.

Ta Da!

Two quick and easy zippy pouches.  They look quite different to each other, with rounded corners on the one with the chunky brown zip, while I added fabric tabs to the ends of the black zip.  

They will be handy for carrying some of those IT bits and bobs we seem to "need" when travelling - chargers, cables, power banks etc. My sew together bag I received in Chooky's Secret Santa Christmas Swap a couple of years ago is the best for this, but seems to be bursting at the seams, so these will help.

Also, they were free, all coming from stash.  Bonus.

Winter Festival - Week Two

After the success of last week's event, we had to rug up and head into town for the second installment of the Winter Festival  - "Brew and Bite".  The two events are quite different to each other.

We had a couple of light showers of rain during the afternoon, but fortunately, the weather cleared to another perfect evening to rug up and go out and party.

First stop was the Mulled Wine stand.  Last week we had mulled cider, this week, mulled wine.  It is rather morish on a cold night, and sells out very quickly.

A local covers band was keeping everyone entertained.  We'd never heard of them, but they were excellent.  They could have played longer and we would all have been quite happy.

We kept on our wanders, through the market stalls, which weren't in attendance last week.

The ice skating was once again very popular.

We were entertained by a group of professional figure skaters.

They make it look so easy.

"Fire and Ice"

The ferris wheel reminded me of a spider's web in the dew.

Machattie Park was once again a major feature of the night.  The local brass band entertained from the rotunda.

The queues for doughnuts were long again, but we had our treat last week, so no queueing for us this time.

Last week's flamingos had moved on and made way for some rather cute frogs.

The illuminated Catholic Cathedral made a nice backdrop to the neon sign.

There were still plenty of Enchanted Forest features dotted throughout the park.

Next on the Agenda was a performance by  Cirkus Surreal.  This troupe is made up of school kids from my old high school.  How things have changed since my day.  

They have an international tour each year.

Their next tour is to Hawaii.

This young fellow was so strong, but still so slim. You would expect him to have huge biceps, but he didn't.

I have to chuckle at the girls doing the airial acts.  These days, OH & S stipulates that tradies need a harness even to go up a ladder.

Next was the strong young man again, this time twirling a cube frame, all lit with LED lights.  It was so pretty as it moved.

More stunning airial acts.

What a finish.  The crowd thoroughly appreciated their professional performances.

By now we were getting peckish, so time to start wandering back to the food stalls.  The things you see!

   

More illuminations.

A fellow (just one of the punters, not an entertainer) was having a great time stacking dominos.  Yes, he did get that one on without them falling over, to much applause.

While we were eating a couple of the Cirkus Surreal girls came past, looking so elegant on their tall stilts.

And then it was time to go home, but not before seeing another new illuminated building, this time the Fossil and Mineral Museum.

And we musn't forget the window decoration competition.  The local businesses have gone to great trouble and they look a treat.

Bathurst should be so proud of this festival.  I think there were many more people out and about this weekend than last week.  Being a tad warmer may have helped, but more likely it was good reports.  Lots of people we chatted to had been on both nights and were loving both events.

Here's hoping that the celebration of all things cold continues to go from strength to strength.  I think it will.

Winter Festival - Week One

This is the third year that Bathurst has celebrated our cold climate with a Winter Festival.

The festival covers the two weeks of school holidays and commenced with "Ignite the Night" last Saturday night.  There was a row of local food and beverage stalls with a great variety to tempt us all.

As with the previous years there is the skating rink, this time bigger and better.

And, of course, some major buildings are illuminated each night.

 

The little ones were entertained by the characters from Alice in Wonderland.

In addition to the ferris wheel, this year there is the double decker carousel, which is rather lovely and popular too, going by the length of the queue to have a ride.

If you wandered down a little lane you entered "The Enchanted Forest" in Machattie Park.  The expansion into the park was also new this year, and a great addition.  Doesn't the fountain look spectacular with its flamingos.

There was a lot of hype about Doughnut Times having the caravan attend and sell some sweet treats.  We queued for ages - quite social actually.

Eventually we received this rather attractive box.

Get a load of that - yummo!

Next on the agenda was a wander through the historic fernery, all beautifully lit up.  I bet many Bathurstians hadn't visited for years, if ever.  It is a hidden treasure.

By now things were starting to wind down, so we listened to a band for a while, had a nice cup of coffee and headed home, all by nine o'clock.  

A truly wonderful night, apparently attended by about 11,000 people, of all ages.  It was a lovely clear night, but freezing cold.  Just about perfect for this sort of event.

Reconnecting in May and June

I just realised that I haven't done a wrap up of Reconnecting in May, so I'll just combine the two months of May and June.  Here goes. No photos, sorry.

READ BOOKS

Um, nope!  Not one!  Zilch!  Do blogs count?  I don't think so.  Let's see if I can get back on track.

EXPLORE

Yes, nailed it.

We travelled out to Trundle for the Abba Festival at the beginning of May and had a lovely look around the town.

We travelled to Coonamble on the June Long Weekend and had a great wander around, then visiting Ponto Falls for the first time.

Locally, we had a good wander around the area on our Winter Solstice Run and then riding on the newly sealed Dog Rocks Road on our test ride with the new side car set up.

CREATE

Not much - like nothing in May.

In June I started to add the binding to my drunkards path quilt and created a tiny pincushion.  I still have to fill the pincushion......but firstly I have to find my walnut shells......I know I have 2 bags....somewhere.  They will turn up.

I then made a quick coaster for the lolly jar and mat for my keyboard.

Not much, but better than nothing.

ORGANISE

Not a lot in this area either.  A few drawers have been sorted, winter and summer clothes changed over in the wardrobe, but no major projects at the moment.

NURTURE

May continued to see work in the garden, with peas and broad beans planted.  I thought I may have been too late, but they have come up and are doing fine.  Hopefully we will have a nice little crop in spring.

We have had some really severe frosts - one getting down to -9.5 degrees C!! The garden suffered.

Some winter cooking has happened.  There is nothing better than comfort food at this time of the year.

NEW EXPERIENCES

Cycling has taken a back seat as it has been cold, the days short and we have been busy with other things.  Poor excuses, but it is what it is.  Once the weather warms up and the days lengthen we will be out and about again.

I have been transitioning to my three days a week at work, starting out with four days.  It seems really weird not going to work for five days a week.  It will take a little while to get used to.  My job share partner has picked up the role well and is a delight to work with, which makes me feel very comfortable with the future.

ENJOY FRIENDS

Yes, we have spent time with good friends - doing fun things with different friends.  We are so lucky to have such a great network, both locally and in other areas.

CARAVANNING

Our trips to Trundle and Coonamble were both thoroughly enjoyable.  We are learning all the time and have enjoyed being able to free camp.  It has certainly reinforced that the decision to join the caravanning brigade was a good one.

TAKING TIME

This is always a rather fluid category.  We took time to go away and join in on fun things.  We took time to have weekends just pottering around at home. The most important thing it to not feel stressed with life, so I think we have had a success here.

So there you have it...... not doing all that well this time, but that's life.  There is still another six months of the year, so we will see how we go.  It has certainly been an interested exercise to reflect on each month.

Winter Solstice Ride

It's been quite a few years since we have been on our traditional Winter Solstice Motorcycle Ride, so it was about time to remedy that. The last one was in 2014.

We had just one other couple travel with us this year.  As always, it was a mystery run.  That is just a fancy way of saying we make it up on the day.

We headed up the Ophir Road and had our first stop at the spectacular lookout among the huge granite boulders.  You can see for miles.

The weather was glorious with pretty wispy clouds.  Fortunately, it wasn't too cold.

We headed nearly to Molong before cutting back towards Borenore and Mount Canobolas.  You can see the mount for miles, being one of the highest peaks before reaching the Indian Ocean nearly 4000kms west of here.

We had selected a cafe to have lunch, but were a little surprised that they didn't start doing lunches until 12.30pm and they weren't going to make anything earlier than that!  Therefore, we had a change of plans and continued on to the little village of Millthorpe and enjoyed a delicious, hot lunch at the Railway Hotel.  

This is a lovely old pub.  I was taken with the floor tiles in the main hall - fancy that.  If you look closely, you can see how worn they are next to the stairs from so many people walking on them over the years.

We had a lovely day out, with good company.  We must make sure we continue this little tradition of ours.