AUGUST PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT - 2020

Catching up with Kate and the photo scavenger hunt once again.  Not missing it this time, even though I found these prompts somewhat difficult in "difficult" times.😖

1.  MOVING.

         Fast moving car on the race track on Phillip Island taken from the archives a few years ago.

2.  BOXES.

Taken this afternoon on my well loved blanket box.  To the left is my late Mum's "hankie" box where she always kept her clean handkerchiefs.  Centre and right are two boxes DH has made me over the years.

3.  STARTS WITH......D

The old "DREDGE" at Porcupine Flat near Maldon in Central Victoria where gold was once mined.

4.  BREAKFAST.

Ah......breakfast is finally here.  One taken from the archives of a couple of King Parrots at the feeder one morning.

5.  MAKING.

"Making" pieced backings for some recent quilts that I've quilted over the last few months.  Not having access to any of my favourite quilt shops for widebacks, I've resorted to using leftovers or larger pieces from my stash and sewing them together to be big enough.  

6.  MY OWN CHOICE.

Our magnolia "Susan" just coming into flower, but already being blown to pieces by the extreme winds we are experiencing today.

My lot for this month and although I've found this difficult, I think it is just the fact that we cannot venture anywhere and won't be able to for a long time to come.  Photos 2, 5 & 6 were all taken about 5 minutes before I started doing this.  We'd planned on going for a walk in the rare sunshine, but it is just too windy and I know that I'd have trouble with my mask in the wind and my ears would pain terribly.

Hopefully tomorrow or Saturday, before the next cold front and rain arrive.

Take care all, stay safe and huggles from down under.

Susan.

I will link up this time................

MAY PHOTO SCAVENER HUNT - 2020

Joining in once again with Kate from I live, I love, I craft, I am me, for the scavenger word hunt.
Wow, did I find this one difficult and not because of the words, but more than likely these unreal times we are experiencing.  I had high hopes for the words to start with & it just fizzled, so have had to go to the archives yesterday & scout around.  Hope it doesn't disappoint.
1.  TRIANGLE.

I think I've shown this before, but it looks triangular shaped to me.  We see many of these teepee type structures on the beach at Inverloch, I guess made by visitors, from the flotsam that gets washed down from the river & the scrub that lines the shore.  This beach has been getting badly eroded over many years & the native plants are succumbing to the battering. 

2.  CIRCLE.

Thinking about this one, I'd just heard something about the cancellation of the Olympics, which got me thinking about rings & circles and I remembered this photo I took at Lake Wendourie in Ballarat a few years ago.  My Dad spent a few weeks here in 1956 for the games, relaying messages across the world from the rowing venue on the lake.  He was a telegraphist & I was all of 7 years old & so excited when he came home to hear all about it.
 
3.  SPLAT.

I had to scan this one from an album.  When we belonged to the Morris Minor Touring Club, we had many adventures across much of this wide brown land.  We had been travelling along the Sturt Highway between Mildura & Euston & went into a service station & realised we had a bad case of BUG SPLAT.  So much you could barely read the number plate.  This photo was taken in the late 90s.

4.  SQUARE.

Lovely mosaic squares on the wall in the park at Thornton-le-Dale in North Yorkshire, which I posted about earlier this year from our holiday in 2019.

5.  STAR.

Notice the the star in the background of this bit of paving at York Gate Garden, in Adel, a suburb of Leeds.  I took this photo in 2016 & if you click on it, there is also some writing around the edge as well as the shamrock compass in the centre.  DH did point out that I could have used this for circle too.

6.  MY OWN CHOICE.

Using my older small camera the other day, I found a few odd photos lurking on it & thought I'd use this one for my own choice, as I really could not think.....
This is a beautiful stained glass window on Flinders Street Station in Melbourne with the old clocks denoting times when trains are leaving for the different lines fanning out over the suburban rail network.
Well, that is my lot for this month & although tougher than usual, I'm pleased I've done it.
Maybe things will get easier, though I know life will never be the same as before.  I suppose life is more about what lies ahead of us & the past is a bank of memories & at least I've got photos to go with those memories.
I'll be looking in on the other hunters later.
Have a great weekend, take care, stay safe and huggles from down under.
Susan.

FEBRUARY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT 2019.

Sorry everyone, but I published this last Friday by accident and have had trouble with getting  it to post as I scheduled, so hopefully this will work.  We've been having i'net maintenance "AGAIN" & I've been so, so, so hot today & very lethargic.  It was 40.8deg this arvo & the weekend isn't going to be much better.
Anyway, let's see if this appears.

Here we are again linking up with Kate over at I live, I love, I craft for the monthly hunt.

I have found this one extremely difficult & the words may be limited.  My mood over the last few months hasn't always been up to scratch with little brother's health woes, DH & his cold, missing family so much these days, no close friends near where we live & some who have difficult times ahead.  The weather lately hasn't played ball either, with some weird extremes & not much gardening happening, which I do miss.  The walking has also been on the wayward side.  Must start remedying some of this soon.  I sometimes wonder why I blog, but the friends I've made out there in blogland, are so very supportive, so I thank you all for taking time to read what I ramble on about.
Here goes......................

1.  SOUND/HEARING.

This is the Panopticon known as The Singing Ringing Tree outside Burnley in Lancashire and it certainly sounds amazing on a windy day.  Photo taken in 2016.

2.  SMELL/SCENT.

The jasmine in full flower on our pergola up at No. 4, our old house.  The perfume of this climber is sometime overpowering, but very beautiful.

3.  FEEL/TOUCH.

Now to tell the truth, I don't know what this actually is.  When we go walking along some of the beaches in the South Gippsland area, they are washed up on the sand at low tide.  I very carefully picked one up last time & took this photo.  They basically look & feel like warm, firm jelly.  Not sure whether they are a living creature or whatever?  I didn't hurt it I hope & placed it back again, very carefully.

4.  TASTE.

Home grown TASTES best.  Although my garden has been quite neglected this year, a photo from 2 years ago, will fit the brief.

5.  SEE/SIGHT.

To me, this is a wonderful "SIGHT".  Ribblehead Viaduct, which is just so Yorkshire, a place I dearly miss, although I'm a born & bred Aussie.

6.  MY OWN CHOICE.

A bowl of colourful hellebore flowers, taken a few years ago at Post Office Farm Nursery, where they specialise in these plants.  There has been a lot of "Hellebore" talk amongst my UK blogpals lately & I just couldn't help myself.
OK.  That's my lot for this month.  Do hope you enjoy & thanks Kate for making me really think this month & hope I've come up trumps.
Take care all & huggles,
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.

ADVENTURES -- PART ONE.

On Tuesday morning (26th Sept), we headed from home towards Canberra, to help with child minding during the school holidays.  As we were not taking the caravan, we decided to take some back roads as a change to travelling up the Hume Freeway.
Off through the Yarra Ranges and Valley & into Albury on the Murray River, which is the state border between Victoria and New South Wales.  Here we stayed the night & headed off next morning, hubby having made a plan to turn off the freeway & up the Snowy Mountains Highway over the Alps to Canberra.  We'd not travelled this road for many years.  First we made for Adelong, then onto Tumut, an area we knew well having lived in Batlow for about 6 1/2 years back in the early eighties.

The freeway heading out of Albury.

Fields of Canola dotted the countryside. (rapeseed in UK).

The "new" to us bridge over Adelong Creek with the pub in the background.

Hills in the distance between Adelong & Tumut.

Once we arrived in Tumut, we stopped for a cup of tea & amenities at the old railway station.  The trains no longer run in this area, but they have preserved some of the interesting pieces from days of steam travel.

    The station buildings and platform, now form part of an information centre, which wasn't open on this day.

If you click on this you can read some of the info, which is part of the interesting snippets about the days of steam.

Part of where those foot warmers were placed to be heated.

From Tumut we travelled up into the mountains, where we passed Blowering Dam, somewhere we picnicked when the children were young, though over the other side to where I took these photos.

Blowering Dam with forested hills in the background.

As we climbed higher, we stopped at Perry's Lookout, where I snapped a couple of photos.

Mountains as far as the eye can see.

Leaving the lookout, we passed through this type of scenery till we were even higher still and above the tree line.

Not many trees up here, but we do have a sign for brumbies, which we never see, but.................

today we were in luck.  Not the best photo due to roadworks we were passing through at the time & couldn't stop,.
There were actually 3 of them & beautiful they were too.

An old deserted hut in the distance.

Still a little snow laying around.  It was on the side of the road too, but our windscreen was so bug splatted, those photos aren't fit to post.

Finally we came to Adaminaby where we had the most amazing salad sandwiches, loaded with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, beetroot, cheese & sprouts & for K, ham too.  This small town in the mountains is the stopping off point for cross country skiers & trout fishing on Lake Eucumbene, which was formed as part of the Snowy Mountains scheme to generate hydro-electricity & irragation.

The Big Trout.
We do have many "BIG" things here in Oz.
I've seen quite a few in times past & should find some old photos & do a post of them.

A snow plough on the right, to clear roads in winter & the sign for the Snowy Mountains Scheme Museum, somewhere we should think about visiting some day.

I didn't take anymore photos till after we reached Canberra, so that post will come during the week & one to follow later about our trip home, which was even more adventurous than this. 
Hope you have enjoyed coming along & although this is supposed to be a -quilting- blog, it is a diary of our life too, which has changed substantially since hubby gave up work & we are now officially retirees.
Enjoy the week all and take care.
Susan.