ADELAIDE TRIP - Part Two.

 Apologies to all.  I am trying to leave comments on the blogs I follow, but some won't take and then replies to me come back through my email as subsystem errors, so I am completely frustrated & getting somewhat disheartened, but will try and keep up.

Back again after such a long spell away from blogging.  It's been hectic since we got back with all sorts, me not sleeping well, cataracts forming on both eyes, which isn't helping with sewing etc., medical appointments, keeping up to date with little brothers NDIS stuff and another quick trip away.  That little one should also be blogged about too, soon.

Let's see what else we saw on our trip in September.  After a great night at the Quilt Trunk Show, we opted to head out to Victor Harbour on the Saturday and to our surprise...................it was their Rock'n'Roll weekend.  Arriving, and not knowing what was happening to start with, meant finding a parking spot was hard and then, we noticed what was happening.  To cut a long story short, there was also a vintage/veteran car display too.  A few photos follow of this lovely little town and yes we have been there with the kids a long time ago.

All sorts of cars and this was only a small sample of what was there.

A couple from my childhood and teenage years.

OH!!!!!!!  I remember these well as it was my first car when I was about 17 1/2.
Nearly the same colour too. 😂

Some other attractions in Victor Harbour.

The gorgeous horse float that brings a gorgeous horse to town.

The horse drawn tram which travels all the way on the causeway to Granite Island.
We went on the older one many years ago.

There were also camel rides along the beach.

Stumps from the old causeway.

We also spotted a National Trust building and as we are members, explored and I can't remember exactly what it was originally and didn't take any photos telling me, did manage a few snaps.

Trim, Matthew Flinders cat, which I think most of us oldies have heard about. (giggle).

Part of the very pretty walkway.

Ooh.............and a quilt hanging on the wall.

And,  what!  a redback spider on the toilet seat.
Most Aussies will remember the song.

Sunday saw us head over to Lara's for morning tea, up in the beautiful hills of Adelaide.

Lara is one of the co-founders of the on-line digital magazine Make Modern & we have met before, but was great meeting her hubby and children too.

Next day saw us making our way to Mount Gambier for the night and here is what we saw at Kingston South East  on the way,  which will round up today's post.

The Big Lobster.

A carved fur seal.

The most unusual (if not gross) algae floating on the water in a small creek.

Beautiful reflection in the pond.

OK, still having trouble with blogger, not playing like it used to.

I'll leave it at that for today, publish this hoping there are no silly errors and see if anyone is still following me.  

Take care all and hugs from Susan.

JANUARY SCAVENGER PHOTO HUNT 2019.

Thanks to Kate, here we are again for another exciting year of "hunting", for photos & photo opportunities.  Thinking outside the box can be both easy & difficult at times & I'll admit that these really took some brain power, then, the metallic one led me astray!!!  Too many ideas & pics has me seeing triple.  Hope nobody minds.

1.  METALLIC.

Pelican sculpture at San Remo near the bridge to Phillip Island made from metal, old cutlery & various oddments.
Taken Christmas holidays in 2017 when our nephew & partner were visiting from UK.

Rusty Rita.............hee hee!
OK, she is the Angel of the North, taken whilst in the UK in 2016, although not the best photo, she is metallic and very large.

Lovely silvery fish on the gabion wall  beside the Leeds to Liverpool canal  in Todmorden, taken on a trip in 2011.

                                      All three of these photos have come from my archives.

2.  PLATE.

Throat plates.

I so wanted to think outside the box on this one and came up with number plate, name plate, gold/silver plated, china plate, the earth's plates, foot plate on a steam engine, woodcut/printer's plate or even plate glass.  Which one to use?  But no, I couldn't find anything other than a china plate, which of course we all have in our homes.  Aha, whilst sewing yesterday, it struck me!!!!!  I have 'TWO' throat plates for my sewing machine.  The zigzag throat plate, the one on the left, is standard with all sewing machines, but you can also buy the single stitch throat plate to make life easier if you do lots of quilting & don't want a tangle of stitches underneath at the beginning of your stitching.

3.  MADE.

Kilcunda Beach in November 2018.

         A beautifully constructed moated sand castle/fort left by some children after a day at the beach.
                                                        Quite intricate if you look carefully.

4.  AGED.

McCrae,s Homestead, (National Trust) at McCrae on the Mornington Peninsular taken in 2017.

This is what I am using for aged.  An old wall lined with newspapers and the bed sporting a well worn hexagon quilt.  Some of the hexagons are thread bare and others nearly unattached, but still beautiful in its own way.

5.  MODERN.

The glasshouse in the Ballarat Botanic Garden is very modern and angular.  On my last post I showed some of the variety & colour of the plants in there at the moment.  I may have used this photo before & that is my DH strolling down the path, so no need for cropping or otherwise.
Clicking on any of the photos, will bring them up to a better size & you'll see more.

6.  MY OWN CHOICE.

Old wares in Thirsk.

This shop with the intriguing name says it all.  I was looking in the window, then popped inside to ask if I could take a photo and use it on my blog and they said it was fine, but it never made it on till now.  Taken in 2016.  I love browsing through shops like this, which bring a lot of memories to the fore and are great to while away some time.  I very rarely com away with anything these days, but still love doing it.
This lot had me thinking for the last few weeks, so well done to Kate for making me use my grey matter.

My lot done and yes, I am early.  Tomorrow is supposed to again top the 40+ temperature mark and they have said there could be statewide power shortages for both Victoria and South Australia due to the ongoing heatwave conditions.  Many fires are burning across 3 states - Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales, so not very pleasant here.  We desperately need rain and cooler weather.
Take care all & can't wait to see all the other photo hunters posts.
Huggles, Susan.

JULY SCAVENGER PHOTO HUNT. (2018)

Linking this last Friday of July with Kate from I live, I love, I craft, I am me, to show my selection of photos for her word list.  I've had fun with both finding in the archives & more recent ones, including a last minute photo yesterday, which is very fuzzy, but will have to do.  So here we go.

1.  DOOR.

A side door with beautiful ironwork at Bolton Abbey in the Yorkshire Dales.  Somewhere we head to each time, we visit the UK.  So this one is from my archives, probably 2014.

2.  11AM.

This is my fuzzy one, but hopefully you can read the little blackboard heart.  Taken about 2pm yesterday, at the Craft & Quilt Show in Melbourne, where I had a day out savouring many works of art.  If I was just a tad taller, it may have been better, but I did find it and, with a little bit of laughing by the stallholder as to why I needed it.  Luckily she is someone I know as she used to have a quilt shop in the next suburb to where we live, but it closed many years ago and is now an on-line business.  SAD!!.

3.  TEXTURE.

Just look at this old cart made from timber.  It definitely has TEXTURE!!!!!!  I took this photo earlier this year on a day out to Gulf Station, which is a National Trust property in the Yarra Valley region & is only open odd occasions.  I should do a post about it, as I did take many photos.

4.  SHADOW/S.

Another from the archives.  Taken at Temple Newsam in Leeds, this is part of the walled garden & although looking for another photo, I spotted this and realised the shadow line went diagonally from corner to corner.  There were a few other contenders.

5.  VIEW.

I narrowed this one down to a more recent photo, from the quick trip we had to Sydney.  This view is from the lookout area on Cambewarra Mountain, on the south coast of NSW, in the Shoalhaven region.  For many years we lived in Cambewarra Village at the bottom of this mountain, where hubby and I both worked out of Nowra.  Alas, this where I was made redundant from the bank, where I'd worked for many years and we've moved on several times.  It is an area I still dearly love, and yes that is the sea in the distance, and the little lump on the left is Mt. Coolangatta with the Shoalhaven River flowing out to sea in the centre.

6.  My Own Choice.
OH DEAR!!!!  I've two for this one.  Sorry.............................
Both doggy photos, to join with others who do the "dog bit" for their own choice.

Dash, on the left and Patch to the right.

On Sunday, just gone, it was a reasonable day, although, extremely fresh and we made our way to the coast for my monthly sea-air fix.  We walked along Cape Patterson beach, made our way up to the grassy knoll at the top to take in the view before we started along the beach again, back to the car.
As we sat, a motorbike descended the track to the beach & what did I espy in his back pannier, but these two cuties.  I asked politely if I could take photos & told yes I may.  The very nice man gave me an account of how he collects for The Children's Hospital by taking them out on odd occasions to raise this money.  I didn't have any money on me, due to just walking along the beach & he said it was OK, as they'd just needed a "wee" stop. BTW..  Patch licked me death.  They even have their own Facebook page.

Millie.

I'm sure everyone will know the artist who painted this.................
A beautiful portrait of a friend's dog, who sadly passed away suddenly, very recently.  This little lady was our unofficial mascot for the car club we belong to and is missed very much by her owner, as well as many of the members. I commissioned it from Kate.   We should be presenting this to her next Wednesday night at a committee meeting & I'm sure she'll do as I did, and cry as she unwraps it.
OK, that is all from me for now.
It's been a busy year so far and I know I've been slack on the blogging front, but the Scavenger Hunt keeps me on my toes, so as the weather warms and we venture towards Spring, I may keep more up to date.  I'll do the linky thing & keep an eye out for the other Hunter's post.
Take care all.
Susan.

APRIL SCAVENGER PHOTO HUNT (2018)

A set of words to find photos for, hosted by Kate.

1.  SWIRL.

A chance photo I took last Thursday, whilst out at a National Trust property, Gulf Station in the Yarra Valley.  These wee little cyclamen were under a huge tree amongst much leaf litter & once uploaded to my computer I could see the cute swirly stems.  A great find as I didn't have one for this word.  (you may have to click on the photo to enlarge,)

2.  ROCK.

One from the archives, taken many years ago whilst on holiday in New South Wales.  Sawn Rocks in the Warrumbungle Ranges National Park are fascinating as to how and where pieces of rock have fallen from the cliff face of the mountains here.  One lot of these look like steps.

3.  WOOD.

Another from the same trip showing the inside of a gigantic woolshed in Mungo National Park near Broken Hill in the very west of New South Wales.  This is not used anymore, but can you imagine it full of sheep, shearers, wool classers & pressers, plus tarboys with their pots of tar in case a sheep got cut accidently.  It was awesome.

4.  LETTER.

Aha, the letter "S" which makes up my three initials.  We pass this frequently if we shop in a nearby town.  It is located in a laneway between the shops & I've been going to take a photo for years.  Well, I took my camera over the weekend and captured it.

5.  BALANCE.

Koalas do a "LOT" of sleeping.   Amazingly they balance on very slim branches in deep slumber and don't fall from the tree.  Taken on one of our visits to Raymond Island in East Gippsland.

6.  MY OWN CHOICE.

Another photo taken last Thursday of the farm dam at Gulf Station.  Although I could see the reflections, they came out better than I thought in the photo.

That's my lot for this hunt.  I do hope I can get some more blogging done next month, but we've much happening at the moment and I'm just a tad overwhelmed with everything.
I'm looking forward to the other photo hunter's take on the words.
Take care all & lots of huggles from down under.
Susan.

ALL SORTS, but not licorice!!!!

Ah yes, I've been a little absent lately due to ever so busy with life in general.
Weather has been atrocious, with more extreme heat, wind & no rain, but that changed today a little, with cooler temps & some rain.  Our rainfall for this year has been 61mm for January, which was pretty average, only 12mm for February, well below & today our first rain for March ---- 😊, though the wind is absolutely howling outside, so definitely a stay indoors day.    Being so dry, there are also a number of bushfires burning throughout the state.
Now for a few bits'n'bobs that have been happening lately.

A weekend was spent in Geelong where I attended a quilt class in Toquay (no photos, as I forgot to take camera to class), but I do have a few others from the weekend.  A day to Ballarat, where we wandered through the Botanic Gardens, which if you are one of my older followers, will know is a place I love.

Twisting.

Monkey Puzzle tree.

A little relaxing while the wife took too many photos.

I also whiled away an hour or so in my favourite quilt shop & did come away with a few bits.  Eureka Patchwork always has the most wonderful array of floral prints, which I love.

A couple of lonely chimneys from an old homestead, stand beside the road from Ballarat to Geelong.

On the Sunday afternoon, we checked a couple of NT properties The Grange in Newtown, a suburb of Geelong, with a guided tour by a very young volunteer, who made it so interesting.  The next property will have to be visited again as they were just about to close.

Part of the beautiful homestead at above property.

I could just imagine spending hours pottering about in these sheds in the gardens.

March has been quite eventful for us, as we waited the arrival of our granddaughter from the UK at the beginning of this month.  She has come to Oz, on a working holiday & will be staying with us whilst fitting in both work & travel.  One other event has been hubby's big "0" birthday which we celebrated on Thursday.  Just a day out with some sightseeing of the Mornington Peninsular for J, then dinner at a hotel, which we've been to before, with good meals & service.

J picking up seashells on the seashore.
Permission was granted to post this photo.

Merricks Beach, where we had a walk.  If you click on the photo, you will see in centre, a bird wading across the water.

Bush scenery along the back of the sand.

A coastal Banksia, surviving despite the wind & odd angle at which it is growing.

CRAFTING.

In amongst the business, I've tried to relax with my craft.
Night time has seen me challenging my brain with this crochet.  It is coming together allbeit very slowly.  It is keeping the grey matter working, that's for sure.

My Sunshine & Shadows rug.

Bubs has also been up & running in between times & these two are quilted & bound, ready for handsewing.

Not the best photos due to the overcast day, though the sun has shone on & off, as it was coming through the window when I took these.
On the left is a very old quilt & the one on the right made last year.

Close up of quilting on both.

One last photo today from this morning, when it was raining & blowing a hooley.  If you look at our hedge in the photo below, you can see just how far the top is leaning.

Enough from me & if I'm quiet again,  I will be back for the Scavenger Photo Hunt at the end of March.  Take care all.
Huggles, Susan.