PLODDING ALONG!

 A quick post of what is happening here at home.  Although things have eased here at the moment with restrictions, the uneasiness I've been feeling is still with me.  It's as though we are living in a world of trepidation & walking on egg shells all the time.  We have been keeping ourselves busy.

MAKING.

                                                             HIS.........

Both bowls - the experimental & second one plus the trivet made from the leftovers.

My little greenhouse frame on it's new cement slab, again from leftover cement from the new extension.

Work in progress on the new extension of the shed.  Now waiting for a delivery of timber & iron today.

                                            ME...........

Finally painting the potting bench with just the slats to finish today.  It is supposed to look rustic.

The baby quilt for my Doctor who is due early December.

Up Hill & Down Dale now quilted and bound.

A shocking photo, but I've now hemmed the one curtain & placed it on the rod.  I bought this ready made curtain fabric years ago & had so much trouble sewing that I put it aside after hemming the sides.

My old curtains were just not opening & closing easily anymore so I made the effort to get a rod & brackets for these, measured them for the length & got one done yesterday.  I'll try & get the other done today along with my bench painting, working on the instructions for a quilt, grocery shopping & other sundry housework & meals too.  One last little bit from yesterday which was a scorching 35°.

GARDEN.

The poor old veg beds will have to suffice for the time being.  I've few tomatoes in, along with 2 pattypan squash, some rather forlorn looking peas & a row of carrots just peeking through the soil.

Looking across the backyard just because..........................

OK, off now for morning tea and the rest of today.  Have a nice weekend all, take care, stay safe & huggles.

Susan.

PART 2 OF WAFFLING.

 Another 2 days from October with my camera in tow.

1.  A Side Trip to Phillip Island.

Setting out one Tuesday to pick up some timber from Grantville on the  western side of Westernport Bay, somewhere we were allowed to go, we took our picnic stuff along and then made for San Remo for lunch.  Had a short walk down along the jetties looking for rays, but saw none that day.  Watching the cars heading over the bridge to Phillip Island, a decision was made to pop over and do some walking along one of it's many tracks.  What the heck if we were late home for tea.

                                          We chose this walk to Conservation Hill & Rhyll Inlet.

                                              Part of the walk took us along the boardwalk.

                                                  Aha,  we spy the inlet in the distance.

A fork in the path could take us further towards one of the towns on the island or a circular route back to the car in a the car park.  We chose to go back to the car and as we wandered along, I spotted a wallaby, but all I snapped was an empty clearing.  He was just too quick.

Nearer the car park I spotted these two Cape Barren geese & as we got closer, what did we see..........

A tiny gosling as well.  I didn't get too close & have cropped the photo so you can see it.

                                                     Right click to see it better.

A grouping of  trees with die-back, but after I took the photo I also noticed I'd captured some lovely wispy clouds behind them.  I do like getting a little surprise when you download photos.

As we drove back towards the bridge I noticed this tree carving sailing captain.  I should have got out to look at the plaque.  Very remiss of me..

The 2 boats were covered in birds which I thought amusing.

2.  Another drive just to get some photos I couldn't take when we had our little break in the caravan.

On the way  to Yarram we'd seen a couple things and nowhere to pull over with the van in tow, we knew it could be a drive sometime later.

Heading east on the Princes' Freeway you enter the LaTrobe Valley which is an area of coal mines and power stations.

A mining dredge & it's information board.  There is also a Power Museum, but closed at the moment due to Covid.  Although we've lived here in Victoria for 16 years now & pass this monstrosity on our travels, it's somewhere we've not been.

There was also this information board below & one day we may take one of these drives too.

                         We've explored a few of these areas at different times in the past, I think.

Off we went once again to find our next photo shoot, which I've been looking forward to putting on the blog.

An old timber shed painted with bookcases and their contents which I loved.  Sorry about the bins, as it must have been garbage day.😊

Across the road we have a set of manequins which I was surprised and bewildered to see out in farming country.  Evidently there are more than this, but they change them on a regular basis I've been told.  It certainly puts a smile on your face.

Heading back towards the highway, we took an alternative route and ended up trying to find Toms Cap Lookout & although we didn't quite get there, we ate lunch in the middle of nowhere.

WE pulled in here, looked at the road to the site and decided not to take the car up due to the condition of it.  We started to walk up instead but our feet were nearly vertical on the hill & it was killing our legs, so turned around, ate our lunch & took some happy snaps instead.

The hill, which I haven't done justice, as it was way steeper than it looks in the photo.

Our native Banksias in all their different stages of flowering on one tree.

                     Looking through the trees with bracken fern in abundance on the forest floor.

                                                              The ti-tree flower in closeup.

What an amazing sight..............I've know idea why this tree has grown like this & wasn't even sure what it was, though maybe one of our gums by the look of the leaves.

One last photo & it is one of my silly ideas.  I quite often throw a few quilts in the car to get "hero shots in the wild".  Most of the time I forget to take photos or it is too windy, wet or just nowhere to place them.  That day I took at least one..............

Jacob's Medallion over a Banksia branch.

Well, just for once I've kept my word by posting when I said and being able to catch up on our day trips in the middle of all this mayhem.

My camera has certainly been a constant companion through this and hopefully we are coming out the other side now, with certain restrictions lifted here in Victoria and being able to travel freely now throughout the state including Melbourne as they have lifted the "ring of steel", as they called it.

I'm so hoping that we can all keep doing the right thing & be able to live a somewhat normal life in the future.  At least we'll be able to see DD and family soon & hopefully our boys & families next year.

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

Susan.

  

WAFFLING ON WEDNESDAY.

 Oh dear, I do have an apology to all those who commented on the Photo Hunt, as I didn't manage any replies, but a huge thanks to all. I've been a bit melancholy & muddle-headed, due to my ongoing back pain & bunged up ears.  I've had the ears seen to & although ears have been done, it's left one irritated & inflamed.  Next appointment is Monday for my back. 

Today I'm going to post about a couple of our local drives we've taken and a walk, with a few more posts to come over the next week, as I'm way behind & I do take my camera most places & find some great pics and some really wacky things too.

A WALK.

A short drive from home takes us to a reserve with walking track called Picnic Point.  The walk isn't anything spectacular, but just an enjoyable ramble & can be done safely with masks down as we generally don't see anybody.

Nasturtiums seem to have taken over just here, but do make a nice splash of colour.

A goat we see quite often on a long tether keeping some of the verge neat & tidy near a small row of                                                                                  properties.

More of the West Gippsland Burrowing Crayfish chimneys.  This year seems to have been a bumper year as they are popping up all over the place.

The first bit of the walk sort of took us via the road, but now we need to head further into the reserve and the turning point is near this lovely house which has a large dam. So much wind in October brought down many trees throughout Victoria and this one landed in their dam.

As we turned on the track, oh dear, another down & with no way round it we had to climb over.  We noticed as we drove past yesterday that it has been cleared.

                                                              An old car rusting in peace.

Arum lilies colonising at the base of an old gum which has been lopped of it's top, probably due to the dangerous habit they have of dropping branches.

                                                        Another very large gum along the track.

              Back to near where we'd parked the car with a sward of green near a small farm.

A DRIVE INTO THE FOREST SOURCING FIREWOOD.

Another day we took a drive out into a new to us area of forest where we can source firewood collection, but alas no luck on that front, though we did see plenty for me and my camera.

Along the road we noticed this wallaby, slowed down, I took this through the windscreen, then he hopped over the road in front of us and up the embankment.  You must be careful as they can be unpredictable as to when they'll make their move.

Spotted these 2 lovely kookaburras carved into the top of a felled tree in someone's front yard.

And these two shaggy highland cattle were watching us, as we watched them.  I do love these shaggy                                                                                  beasts.

                                          Another of our magnificent gums.  Look at it's girth.

AND...............this was the most amazing sight!!!

A bluebell wood in the middle of farming country, just out of the forest on a narrow gravel road.  I was completely gob-smacked.  Must admit that they aren't the pretty darker English bluebell, but the lighter Spanish variety.  Just the same, it was absolutely gorgeous.

                              Another view and yes I did take more snaps than these two.

                    The distant ranges make for stunning views up through here on a sunny day.

Although I was going to do another of our drives, I'll leave it till Friday as I'm both tired and needing to finish handsewing the binding on the other baby quilt whilst watching an episode the The Great British Sewing Bee.  After a very hot & muggy day of 30+ degrees, we've had a shower of rain and are expecting storms overnight & tomorrow.

Have a lovely Wednesday in the northern hemisphere, take care, stay safe & huggles from down under.

Susan.

TWO LINK UP PARTIES in one post.

Today, this is a quick post for 2 link-ups, being.........

Linking with Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs.

Linking with Sandra from MMM Quilts.

I'll start with Dreami!

I'd designed this quilt a little while back and after I finished in the quiltalong on my Panademia quilt, I decided to use some more scraps I'd found while foraging to do the QAL.  The big problem was that I was supposed to be working on a baby quilt for a friend in UK.  Ah, what a dilemma, so I worked on both during October.

Up Hill and Down Dale once done sat on the design board for a few days whilst I quilted & bound the baby quilt.  Now although not finished, the photo below shows I am still working on it now, so it was sort of a drop everything & make a start.

2.  Favourite finish for October.

The baby quilt is for this one and it is now on it's way to UK & will hopefully arrive shortly.

I wasn't sure what to do, then happened on some panels I'd seen, so ordered them from a shop I know well, by phone & actually received them the next day.  Poor hubby had been waiting for a parcel too & it took 5 weeks & was actually closer to home than the quilt shop, but as we've not been able to go into Melbourne because of restrictions, post has been the only way if you need something.

                                                        This one is called "Luv from Oz."

                                            The back is a lovely soft flannel with teddy bears.

Hubby has had a bit of a Dreami moment too.

A patchwork trivet made from the leftovers of my bowl I showed on a previous post.  Isn't he clever.

                                                                            I love it.

Off now to do my linkups before they close.

Take care all, stay safe & huggles.

Susan.