Much activity but not getting anywhere

Life with one car is wearing us down! Especially this time of year where there seems to be constant activities. For starters, we had the year 10 formal. Number one son in a suit from the op shop and his dad's bow tie. And dad's shoes. We bought him a new shirt ... thank heavens for boys. It was all very low fuss, but didn't he turn out handsome! Ignore the pained smile.



 

Arriving at the formal is a big thing, they try and think up the fanciest ways of getting themselves to the "red carpet". Apparently some kids arrived in a helicopter last year! We were never going to top that one. The formal was held at the Arboretum, and my son and his friend decided to get their old scooters and scoot down from the hill behind the function centre. It was very well received apparently.

In the end our car was written off by the insurance company, so we've picked out another one with minimum research and maximum laziness ... the same but bigger, because it's amazing what a seven year old will fit into that a fifteen year old won't! But even with minimum research there's a heap of fiddling around with paperwork and decisions and phone calls. On top of the usual end of year stuff of concerts and school assemblies and actually having to work for a living! I will be glad for January.

The non-binding postal survey

Here at last is the finished rainbow scrap quilt - to celebrate all things marriage equality and the fact that Australians also agree it is a good idea. You would think it would go without saying, but we had to have a non-binding postal survey, and I had to make a rainbow scrap quilt to go with it.

It's got straight-line quilting and a grey binding. I trialled scrappy binding but it just didn't work so went with the grey chevrons. I had to take a photo inside because we have been having buckets of rain and storms for the last few days. Wonderful for the garden - I spent an hour Sunday morning pulling out weeds and the ground was actually damp - but not so good for the washing.

But it wasn't raining on Thursday evening when I crashed my car ... perfectly good light at a perfectly normal intersection where I failed to see an oncoming car as I was turning and they crashed right into me. Nobody was hurt thank heavens, but such a noise, and my airbags went off, and people everywhere! I was on my way to a show at the school that my husband was already at, so he walked up and met me and called the insurance company. The other car was crumpled but driveable, but we had to get a tow truck for ours. All very avoidable and I was quite shaken up. We're waiting to see what the insurance company is going to do with the car - fix it or write it off - either way it's a lot of unnecessary hassle! At least no-one was injured. I was glad to have a very quiet weekend.

 

 

Home again

I made it back home on the weekend - lovely to be back. It was a great couple of weeks but quite a bit of work and hotel living gets wearying after a while. Especially this hotel, which was filled with people having a lovely holiday, and doing it at hours that aren't always conducive to holding down an office job. I moved rooms after a few days to one further away from the pool and bar, which was good, except it was closer to the church, which started singing at 5 am, but that was better than the alternative ... except on the last night where my roof gave up the ghost and started leaking! So they moved me again. It was very nice to be home.

Not that I stayed there for long because on Tuesday I flew down to Melbourne for the day for work. Six am flight down and eight pm flight back which makes for a long day, but Melbourne is always lovely! Except for the traffic, which was appalling. Lots of roadworks.

The work was good, and we had the chance to take a walk around the CBD, although it was a hot sunny day. I was tired by the end. The woman who sat next to me on the flight back wanted to know if I was a Platinum frequent flyer (no) because Row 4 is normally reserved for Platinum (it's not) and the computer makes sure no-one sits next to her (it clearly didn't) .... in the end I faked sleep because good lord I don't need to know some old lady's frequent flyer status at the end of a long day. Although she knocked back two mini-bottles of sparkling wine in a 43 minute flight so had to respect her for that.

Now I just have to turn my mind to my much-neglected research paper which is due worryingly soon. I would of course rather be sewing. I did take the time to make a few more of Bonnie's chunky churn dash blocks which is the latest scrappy project. They are very easy and very cute.

 

Nothing much to report

I feel like I should be full of exotic tales given I'm here in the South Pacific ... but there's not much to say. We work during the day, then think about work in the evening, then go back to work again!

The Parliament is in temporary premises at a sports complex while the permanent Parliament building is getting refurbished. It's taking years and they've set the sports complex up very nicely. I didn't realise the committee rooms used to be squash courts until someone pointed it out to me! And the grounds are beautiful, everything just grows and is wonderfully green. It's rained every day, which is like heaven to me.

Samoa

Well, after whinging that I never get to go anywhere for work, I find myself in Apia, the capital of the Independent State of Samoa, for two weeks. I am - in theory at least - assisting their parliamentary staff as part of our program with them, although whether anyone is really learning anything from my random pearls of wisdom I do not know. They are very kind and I am having a lovely time, which must count for something!



I feel very lucky to have something so exciting to do so soon after the European adventure - and it is so nice to be back in the Pacific again after nearly three years! It is really familiar, although I've only been to Samoa once before, when we went on holiday to American Samoa in 2010, but I know about some of the challenges of a small country in a big sea. Not that I have any answers to any of it ...



Everything is closed in Samoa on a Sunday so I went for a long walk this morning and visited with some fishies in the afternoon at the Palolo Marine Reserve. Walking distance from the hotel, and just magical at high tide. Floating around looking at pretty little fish in water as warm as a bathtub! I have missed it. A lot.

Free man on Sunday

Here is me going back to scrap and solids for a bit. Very simple, just scrap blocks outside large purple squares. It is OK, but I had another idea half way through, and I think I like that one better, so I will try it and see what turns up. 

I  did different quilting in all the plain squares just for fun, and a straight line down the middle of the scraps. I called it "Free Man on Sunday" from the Manchester Rambler song - I may be a wage slave on Monday / But I am a free man on Sunday. And there is my life :)

The back is more random yardage as I diminish the stash! Going great guns.The quilting looks a bit prettier from this side...

Flora and fauna

I went for another run Tuesday lunchtime - Parliament is on a break so I get the chance for some fresh air during the day. Aren't these ducklings gorgeous! I couldn't get any closer though, that duck is giving me the evils. I had to keep moving or it would have come after me.



The birds at home are much friendlier. We feed the magpies so they don't swoop us, and one of the babies this year only has one leg. It hops around nicely though, and my husband now hand-feeds it. With grated mozzarella.



The parents will come down and peck it out of the way absolutely ruthlessly - despite being smaller than their adolescent offspring they have kicked it out of the house already. A lesson there for all of us. This is me being smaller than my adolescent offspring while trying to take a stylish photo of  the checked coat that I bought on sale. Not quite pecking it out of the nest yet but can't be far off.

When I walked the dog on Saturday I stopped at the end of the ninth fairway to take this shot. It is one of my favourite views on my various walks - I like the gum trees and the hills in the distance. I can't usually stop here for a photograph because someone is hitting a golf ball right up the middle, and I try and stay out of their way. There is also a house behind me with a kelpie that barks like a crazy dog when she sees Mishka, which sets off the two fox terriers in the house next door. They are all behind good strong fences but it freaks our dog out a bit.