I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud…….

Let me tell you about some daffodils in our garden.

These ones are rather special to us, as they have a story behind them. We have family friends that used to live near Rydal, where the Daffodil Festival is held.  They lived in a historic sandstone cottage, one of several in the area.  When they were first married, in the 1950s, there was another nearby that was in ruins and usually had stock grazing around it.  One year there were no stock and loads of these daffodils came up.  They, and another couple, filled 44 gallon drums with bulbs and then planted large drifts under their old oak trees and along the side of the road.  If Mick and I visited during flowering time we were given big bunches of them.  One year they gave us half a dozen bulbs.  We transplanted those bulbs and took them with us when we moved out of town and also when we moved back into town. 

Our friends were instrumental in establishing the Daffodils at Rydal event, which is a beautiful weekend.  Rydal is the perfect spot for a Daffodil Festival, Rydal being the home of William Wordsworth in the Lakes District of England, the area where my grandmother grew up.  I have her book of his poetry that she was awarded in Sunday School in the early 1900s.  I digress….. This is where I posted about our visit in 2011.   Aren’t the daffodils under the trees lovely.  We have been in subsequent years, but I don’t seem to have any decent photos.  Although our friends are no longer with us, the garden at their old cottage is still open during Daffodils at Rydal in September.  We hope to pop down this year.  

In recent years ours weren’t blooming much and really needed to be divided.  In 2024, once the leaves had died off, Mick lifted them and we replanted some and gave quite a lot away.  There were still lots of little bulbs in a plastic tub, so Mick popped them in all over the place.  Literally, all over the place. Last year, come spring time, there were heaps of plants emerging but no flowers.  Not even one.  The ones we gave away had the same result.  You can imagine how  disappointed we were.

We were so happy this year when we returned from our recent trip away to see some buds forming.

To have a few already flowering in July is very early.  Later in August we are going to have so many of these heritage frilly daffodils flowering and the ones we gave away are doing well too.  We are so happy and relieved to see them bloom again.

Carnarvon Gorge

Back to our travels again.

I left you when we had just arrived at the camp ground at Carnarvon Gorge.  This camp ground is only open during the tourist season.  It is on the rim of the gorge on private property.  The site is surprisingly flat and has wonderful views, as opposed to being down in the gorge caravan park.  Both beautiful, but vastly different.  The facilities consist of an office, a communal fire pit, portaloos dotted around the camp and a dump point.  Other than that, you have to be totally self sufficient.

The sites are humongous.  Most people park their van side on to take advantage of the best of the views.  Each site has a fire pit.  A great idea, as it prevents lots of little ash piles around the place.

When we were there the weather was perfect.  We are so pleased that we delayed our visit until travelling home.  The nights were clear with no moon, so the canopy of stars were spectacular.  You could join a group to view the night sky, but as we had recently done that in the Warrumbungles we didn’t bother.  We just enjoyed the view.

Once we had set up in the early afternoon it was time to go for an explore.  First stop was the information centre to get a map.

Last time we visited we went on a walk with a park ranger to the end of the main walking track.  This time we did things differently.  The main reason was that in recent times I have been having trouble with my feet and have been struggling to walk very far.  Fortunately, just before we left home I was able to see the podiatrist and get some orthotics.  I’m happy to report that they are working a treat.

Our first walk was a short one on the way into the gorge and was one we had not done on our last visit.  Don’t you love the name.  Mick’s very own walk.

It was a lovely walk through diverse vegetation.  Beautiful palm trees.

Huge eucalyptus trees. 

You have to give ones like this a hug.  

I always like finding little ferns.

These cycads are toxic.  However, the aboriginal people developed a way to treat them to be edible.  Sadly, that knowledge has been lost.

Overall, it was a lovely introduction to our visit to the area.

After our walk it was nice to have a sit in the sun and knit and read.

Late in the afternoon we wandered up to the communal fire pit where the hosts told us a bit about the area.  

We enjoyed a gorgeous sunset.

The next morning we packed our lunch and set off for a longer walk.  Although not the full length of the gorge, it was going to be up a side branch path that we had not been on before.  It is called the “Moss Garden”.

A feature of the park is the beautiful stepping stones to cross the creeks.

There are also lovely stone stairs in various places.

More lovely trees.

Cliffs.

Ferns and elk horns.

The end of the path we took was at a beautiful pool with a little waterfall and as the name suggested, lots of moss.  For most of the time we were there we were the only ones present.  A lovely peaceful spot.

Our walk was 7.5km.  Now, I know that isn’t very far, but after the way my feet had been playing up for the last few months, that was monumental, especially as much was on uneven ground.  I was so pleased that I was able to do it.  (By the way, my feet are even much better now.)

We enjoyed our lunch in the picnic area back near the car park.  

We spent the afternoon back at the camp ground.

We saw some of the pretty faced wallabies that inhabit the area.

As well as some of the cattle that tend to wander through the camp ground at times.

Later, Mick lit our little camp fire and we once again enjoyed watching the sun go down.  

What a beautiful place to be.

The next morning, I got up early to catch the sunrise, as you do have the 360 degree views that are advertised.

It was time to get back on the road and continue our explorations.

Our first stop was at a memorial for a plane that crashed during WWII.  It went down during a violent electrical storm while flying from Darwin to Brisbane.  All 19 on board, being both American and Australian, were killed.

Before long we were back out on the highway and heading south.  More soon.

Stitching Wrap Up for July

It’s amazing what you can achieve when you are not travelling all over the countryside, although I did have some fun days out.  Let’s see how I went.

Firstly, my Main Monthly Wish was to complete the Simply Serene Quilt.  I’m pleased that it was done well before the deadline.  

Then it was Rainbow Scrap Challenge time.  That too was achieved easily.

The other main thing was to complete the Corner to Corner Rug for Wrap With Love.  Another one ticked off the list.

Then it was time to play.

I did make some good progress with my knitted alpaca jumper and have exceeded my wish of having it knitted up to the armholes.  I’m well on my way up the back. It is knitting up quicker than I expected.  I just need to get back to it. Yes, it will look wonky until it gets blocked at the end.

At the Wrap With Love Knit In Day I started another C2C Rug, this time making 10 inch squares to sew together at the end.  I’m using lots of variagated yarn.  It works well with the C2C stitch, as there are no lines, just a nice all over mottled effect.  There will be plain blocks in the rug as well.  I have four blocks completed so far.  There is no time frame for this one and it is a nice and easy thing to take along to my stitching days.

Betty sent out her July block details for us to make.  It was a challenge, but the completed block has been posted back to her.

Meanwhile, the rainbow strips needed to be pieced together into a quilt top.  I took the very simple option of just adding black sashing between the strips.  Not terribly creative, but still effective.  It is now in the quilting queue.  I hope to have it completed before our Zoom get together next Saturday.  It should be quite achievable.

Finally, I quilted and bound the quilt for my friend in Queensland.  

Oh, and at the last minute on the 31st I pulled out the batik fish blocks ready to advance that project.  It is about time to get it finished.

15 MINUTES A DAY

I did rather well this month.

July = 28/31

Year to date = 171/212  = 80.66%

Not too bad.

As it turns out, most of my stitching has been donation projects, being the Simply Serene Quilt, both C2C rugs, the rainbow strip quilt, Betty’s block and probably the Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts when they are completed.  That is a good feeling.