A QUICK CATCHUP!

I'm behind on everything due to an unbelievably busy few months, with more to come until the New Year. It's just been silly sort of stuff......car club bits (outings, a meal, tidy clubrooms ready for Xmas), gardening (weeding, watering due to severe heat, building structures, pruning, hedge cutting), mending cars (both), medical (due to ageing😖), but we are both OK & reasonably fit for our age.
Over the next few weeks we have child minding to do, carpet to be laid in lounge room..ugh, along with more car club things, Xmas card writing, and making ready the house for visitors from the UK.
Think I'll need a holiday come New Year.
Just a few odd photos from the last month, though I'll not say too much.  Extremely warm today & just at the moment it is 36.8° & the study hasn't an outlet from the cooler, so I'm quite hot & sticky.

The veg garden looking a bit droopy at about 2pm this afternoon and we had 3mm of rain last night.
Top pic has 3 tomatoes, a zucchini and 2 rows of bush beans.  The lower pic has a self-seeded wayward pumpkin, a row of carrots sown from seed and some silver beet, which we've already started harvesting.

I've done very little sewing recently, but have tried to grab a half hour now & then to work on a mystery quilt I decided to do.  I've caught up to the last installment & played with the 32 blocks on my design wall.  Poor Bubs hasn't been started since before we went to Canberra.  Oh dear!

 One day whilst out, we noticed the sign to Narracan Falls & decided to "finally" take a look.  We found these beautiful falls, that then went into another smaller lot.  We intend going again with a picnic, as it was lovely.

 A little walk the other side of the road, led to this, which we are sure was an old railway line, with the remains of a bridge in the foreground & a cutting in the distance.  It is on private property, so couldn't explore.

A lovely colourful sight on our travels one day, were these stacked silage bales.  Pretty!

A couple of odd photos to follow.

 Hawthorn blossom during Spring.

A cloud formation I just had to capture, so poor hubby pulled over when he could, and I snapped away.  It sort of reminded me of one those soft serve ice creams.
I'm not going to bore you much more, but we did go to 2 Motor Vehicle Shows over the last couple of weekends.  A quick peek at some of the Moggies on display at the Morris Minor Nationals held here in Melbourne, though I didn't get ours into any of my photos.  Silly me!!

This one is amazing and has featured in several magazines over the years.

Some of the sedans on display.  I found it very hard to take photos because of the positioning of the parking.  Ours was in the commercial section.  Anyway, it was a good day & being able to catch up with people from our past, especially friends we knew from our very first Morris Minor Club in Tasmania, which we joined in 1987.  Yes, we realised we've known them for 30 years.  Wow!
That's about all folks and I'll join in the Photo Scavenger Hunt next Friday after another hectic week.
Take care and hope everyone has a good weekend.
Susan.

LAGGING BEHIND.

Oh dear, I'm really needing to catch up on some posts, with days out, crafting & gardening.
Also, a big thank you for the last few comments on my Scavenger Hunt post.  So sorry not to have replied, but been both busy &  a few computer problems, which seem to be sorted now.
We'll start with a few days out and then some crafting & garden.

ORGAN PIPES NATIONAL PARK.
I was a little disappointed with this, though we did enjoy.  There was an information centre, but it was unmanned & the signage in places was very vague.  Anyway, it is situated the western side of Melbourne on highway to Bendigo, so made a nice day out.  Packed the all important picnic lunch & thermos and off we went.

    The tessellated pavement.  Not nearly as extensive as Malham Cove, but interesting all the same.

     Jackson's Creek which runs through the park & in which we could here both frogs & a platypus                                                                             splashing about.

                                  The "organ pipes" formation on the far side of above creek.

                 Two information boards telling of the flora and fauna to be found in the park.

LANG LANG BEACH.
We've visited this beach now twice in the last few weeks, as I need a dose of sea air every now & then.  I found this by accident one day as we looked at our local area map.  I'd never heard of it, although we drive through the small town of Lang Lang quite often when out.  The beach is actually the other side of the main highway running to both Phillip Island and the area of South Gippsland.
It is a small narrow stretch of sand along the eastern shore of Western Port Bay, & down a side road leading to farms & a holiday park.  It is so lovely and quiet, well, at the moment.  High summer may see it busier.

Looking to the right from the car park.  We then proceeded to walk in the other direction, up through the caravan park & onto the track at the top of the cliffs to Jam Jerrup Point.  On the way back, I took some photos. (actually lots!!).

                                            Looking out over the bay towards French Island.

                                                                   Interesting sign.

You can now see why the sign is there, as that is the cliff face that is exposed to the weather &                                                                                 crumbling away.

                                                   Farmland on the other side of the track.
Now we travel back along the beach to the carpark.

                           The narrow strip of sand, as we approached the beach once again.

Walking along the beach you can see some of the holiday shacks, above the sand, stones & retaining walls.

              This was like a still life, with its rusty ephemera sitting outside in the weather.
                                                                           Loved it!!

                                                           Nearly back at the car park.

 I spotted these along the topside of the beach and do you see the gathering of seagulls in the photo                                                                                    below.

                                                  Click on this and all will be revealed.

CRAFTING.
Although this has been a bit on the quiet side, I've done a few finishes in between all that is happening in our lives at the moment. 

                                                                    Dotty Custard.
                              This is now bound & photographed hanging on the shed door.

                                                                    Dilly Dally Deco.
Named because I dilly-dallied over finding more grey fabric, having run out of the second one part the way through.  It was supposed to resemble something art deco, as well as using more of the above jelly roll.

                                                                        Dripsicle.
And what the heck is that word, I hear you say.  Just me feeling drippy, as that is what the grey fabric reminds me of.  The above two aren't quilted yet.

                                                                  Tipsy Bon Bons.
This is me trying to be arty with photos at the moment.  Above is one of my so-called "book" quilts, which may happen some day.  I do intend to have a page on this blog for them one day.

I must have shown a photo of these crochet squares at the beginning  of last year.  Finally sewn together and bordered.  It does happen eventually.

GARDEN.
Just a very quick roundup of some happenings in the garden.  I'll do a better post later this month.

                                                          My beautiful Ixia viridiflora.

 Port Wine Magnolia (Michelia), which fills the whole garden with its heady perfume on a warm day.

 My first open flower on the climbing rose Pierre de Ronsard.  It now has masses of them.  A photo                                                       of it later, as it is now dark as I type this.

The two raised veg beds, hubby has built for me.   Again another photo will come as the silver beet has grown quite a bit, a pumpkin self seeded from goodness knows where, carrot seeds up, 3 tomatoes planted, along with some butter beans & zucchini.  All doing well so far.

Now this is one for my UK friends, who I know have "BIG" slugs.  How do I know?  I've seen them & also squished them under my feet in the dark, when in my nephews garden.  Oh, so yuck & gooey!!!!!  This is an Ozzie slug and that bit of wood is about 2" long & 1/2" thick, so you can get a feel for the size of my little beastie.
OK, all for now and I'll bet your glad, but I do have another few posts up my sleeve before the end of the month.  We've two car shows on the calendar, a coffee & cake run and just maybe for me, AQM, which is a quilting trade show here in Melbourne. 
Good night my blogpals, take care and huggles.
Susan.

OCTOBER SCAVENGER PHOTO HUNT.

Linking up once again with I live, I love, I craft for our wonderful photo hunt.  When I first saw our list of words, it was an, "oh my gosh" moment, but once you settle in, it is not as hard as you first think.

1.    MAKING.

The first thing I thought of for this one, was 'making' with a photo from a current craft project, then I remembered thinking when I took this photo, of the quote, "Make do and mend".  Well, it's definitely making do and mending.  Taken on our recent trip to Canberra.
2.    EMPTY.

No roof, crumbling walls & weeds growing inside, tells me this was empty and forlorn.  Taken in the Flinders Rangs in South Australia some years ago.
3.    STARTS WITH F................

I came up with so many for the letter F, and chose this rather large fungi beside Lake Learmonth, near Ballarat.
4.    PAPER.

I really struggled with this, trying to think outside the box.  Looking for a "paper" clip one afternoon, a thought popped into my head and I snapped these on the coffee table.  The cute animals & flowers were ones I purchased on a trip to UK.  Duh!
5.    NEAT.

These waist high veg beds are really such a "neat" idea, espcially for someone with back issues, (like me).  Photographed in the walled vegetable garden at Nunnington Hall in Yorkshire.
6.    STREET.

                               Leaning on the lamp post at the corner of the STREET.
Does anyone remember this song, sung by Herman's Hermits or am I showing my age?  This was again taken at Learmonth when we lived in Ballarat. 
7.    KETTLE.

A lovely old kettle sitting on the range at National Trust property, Como House here in Melbourne, which we visited a few months ago. 
8.    UNEXPECTED.

Last post, I talked about our "What If" afternoon driving through the forests south of town, but I didn't show this most 'unexpected' moment.  We suddenly came upon a helicopter being filled by one of the trucks in the distance, then taking off and spraying either pesticide, fertilizer or seed.  We sat in awe, thinking how amazing to see something like this.
9.    VASE.

I think I've shown this "vase" before, but I love it for arranging a few simple flowers.  Shown here are kangaroo paws from this garden.  I'd seen a similar vase & thought how lovely, but it was pricey.  We stumbled upon this one & it was so much less expensive & it gets used a lot.
10.   MY OWN CHOICE.

I took this photo whilst at Floriade in Canberra last month & guess what?  No people around.  I expect they are supposed to be a couple of emus & I thought they were so cute.  So did Little E & we both stood snapping away with our cameras.

Well, that's my lot for this month and look forward to seeing what everyone else has come up with.
I'm a bit later than usual, due to dealing with conference calls for little brother & needing a good walk.
Have a great weekend all and I'll be back Tuesday joining in Finishing Stitches, which I've been a bit wayward with lately.
Susan.

WHAT IF?

WHAT IF?
One Saturday, just gone by, we needed milk and to post two birthday cards, so chortled off down town.  After said chores, I decided with camera in car, to get some photos of cute alpacas in a paddock, just out of town.

Very cute aren't they & inquisitive.

Needing to then turn around, we carried on & noticed a road on our right, which we'd never explored & carried on down to a T-intersection where this view greeted us straight ahead.

Gorgeous.

Then we had the "WHAT IF" moment.
Would we turn left or right.  Well, we decided left & went on one of our adventures, going through the Strzelecki Ranges to Mirboo North where we had coffee & went to an over-stuffed plant nursery.
I bought a pretty coral coloured daisy & a mauve scabiosa, which have now been planted.  I'll show some of our garden on another post next month.  Very behind on my blogging.
Through the ranges, there are both pine & native tree species plantations.  Just a quick look at what we saw.

Plantations, old, new & logged.

The steepness of this area.  How they manage to plant & the log it, is beyond me.

Stringy bark gums.

A patch of blue nearer farming country.  What is it you say?

Forget-me-nots gone wild.

On the way home, I quickly snapped this farm dam, sitting high on a flat area of hillside with views beyond.

Dam with views.

OK, I was going to do another one of our days out, but have just run out of time, with lots to do this afternoon.  The next one was "a spur of the moment" or " we keep saying we'll do this", so off we went & did it. 
As it is hump-day, I suppose I'll wish all a good end to the week & see you Friday with the Photo Scavenger Hunt.
That's all folks, take care,
Susan.