Gentrification

We've seen our little beach town slowly getting a bit fancier over the twenty years we've been holidaying down there - although I think a large part of it is the older buildings are simply falling apart. There wasn't a bridge across the river at Bateman's Bay until 1956 - just a ferry - so the south coast was pretty remote. I think some of the original buildings were made of driftwood and washed up fibro sheeting (although perhaps I am projecting my husband's family beach house in Queensland). Anyway, the inevitable knocking down and building back up is happening. And sometimes vacant blocks I always thought were part of the roadside, or a park, are clearfelled and fenced and built on. 

This is on the main(ish) street over the road from the little shop and I have been watching it slowly sink into the ground for a couple of decades. There were occasional signs of habitation, especially in summer, but it was sold a few weeks ago and is now clearly destined for the chop! A classic beach house that I can feel nostalgic for  (but much prefer my dishwasher and insulated roof and building code compliant fusebox). 

I went for a SWIM

It snowed in Canberra on the weekend - the usual last extinction burst of winter - but I didn't care because I was down the coast, it was sunny, and I went for a SWIM in the OCEAN. The water was absolutely freezing but I wanted to try out my new wetsuit, which is long sleeved and long legged. It's not a particularly warm one in terms of thickness, but that makes it a lot easier to get into (and even then I struggled, it is not a pretty sight to watch me put it on, and it's quite hideous once I'm in it, think a duvet cover stuffed full of cushions). But it worked like a rocket and it was very very wonderful to be in the water.

I only stayed in about twenty minutes but that wasn't the temperature so much as the lack of waves. The ocean was dead flat - so unusual for our beach. Normally there are surfers here on most tides but look at this, a two-inch swell. At the most. 

I also went for walks, did some sewing, read a book, watched some TV, chatted to the neighbours and picked two bags of lemons. One of the chats was with a neighbour over the road I hadn't met before, but he asked whether we'd mind if he took a ladder over and picked the lemons before they fell and rotted ... help yourself I said! There's no way I can get to the top of the tree. We're going to get it properly pruned after the fruit have finished because it's a lovely tree and should be better cared for.

Scarves

I'm having a lot of fun weaving up a storm at the moment - scarves of course, nothing but scarves. I'm just using the yarn that's in the cupboard, and putting it together in simple ways without overthinking it, and enjoying whatever comes off the loom at the end. I haven't taken photos because scarves are not photogenic or interesting.

This is the scarf I'm wearing to work today - not one of mine as you can see, but the Hufflepuff one that number two son bought me at Universal Studios in January. Which seems like a lifetime ago! What a good decision he made to bring his sixteenth birthday trip forward (his birthday will be in October) and do a school trip instead of a family trip. He would be one sad little bunny now if he hadn't. 

The Hufflepuff emblem is a badger apparently. I love the scarf because it's yellow and very warm. 

Historical

 We went to Orange for the weekend, which is about three and a half hour's drive away, up in the NSW central tablelands. It's not the most exciting town in the world, but you take what you can get at the moment in terms of tourist destinations ... it's in a wine district, so there was tasting, and it's quite historic (19th century, which is ancient for European history around here) and the countryside is very pretty. It is also very cold, being twice as high above sea level as Canberra, which was good for long self-guided historical walks around town and to offset the wine/food.

On the way back we stopped in Carcoa, which was built in a gold rush then bypassed when they put the railway in ten years later - so now has 200 people and a very cool main street. It was apparently the site of the first bank robbery in Australia. 

It rained a lot. Carcoa was also the first point at which I remembered to take photos, so here are a couple more of the bridge and the church. 

Rainy rain rain

We've had a heap of rain over the last week, way more than usual for this time of year. There is a bit of flooding down the south coast, but not near our house, and the ground is good and soggy. Last weekend it poured down both days and I escaped to the National Gallery to see the Xu Zhen exhibition.

This was very cool and very creepy. Although it looks like concrete, the neck of the column moved - slowly - to follow people as they walked past it. It is about gazing into the abyss or something, the dark hole at the face of the column was completely black but deep. It made for a very freaky gaze that fixed on you as you walked past and went with you for a bit. There were a number of disturbed small children that refused to go anywhere near it.

The NGA is doing pre-booked timed tickets to limit the number of people who can visit at any one time and it is AWESOME. I had the indigenous galleries entirely to myself and I was just in the mood to take long close looks at how the colours and patterns went together. Perfect for a rainy Sunday morning!

Quickly, slam the door

 Here is what those peculiar circus circles with ric-rac turned into - not as bad as I thought it was going to be but definitely not one of my favourites. It is called "Quickly, slam the door" because I feel like those circles are trying to roll right into my house.

The blue is good, and I like the border, but that's about it. I left the circles unquilted so they'd poof out a bit, which they do, but I'm not sure it helps. It was reasonably fun to make - and I like ric-rac - and it used up quite a few solid scraps, so there's that. It is a good size for a sofa quilt or a car quilt so it will no doubt have a useful life ahead of it (in case we ever run out of quilts HAHAHAHAHA)

I didn't take a photo of the backing but it's the same vague cream abstract pattern as all the other quilts because IKEA was selling queen size duvet covers for $10. Pure cotton, but quite loosely woven (definitely not 400 thread count!), which is actually perfect for quilt backings, when you don't want anything that is too dense and unyielding. I bought six of them, and I can get two backings of out each, so that is super frugal and they look just fine. I don't particularly like taking it out of the packet, ripping off the snaps and seams and throwing them away ... terribly wasteful. But my hobby is inherently wasteful, like most useless things ... I'm still going to keep doing it. Here is a shot with laundry!

Very quiet weekend

I left the house twice on the weekend to go on two walks; one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Saturday my husband and I did the east basin (about 10km, which took us an hour forty minutes) and Sunday I did a proper walk which took about two and a half hours - I'm not sure exactly where I went other than down, up, around and over. Both days had thick fog until about lunchtime, then a few hours of cold sunshine before the fog came down again as it got dark. Perfect weather for not doing much at home except a bit of weaving, sitting by the fire and watching crap on television.

This was when I was just about home on Sunday - you can kind of see the fog starting in the valleys. I should have pruned the roses but couldn't be bothered ... but I must do it soon or they'll be starting to sprout little sprouts again. 

I did preserve some of the lemons I brought back from the beach. We like preserved lemons in salads, but you don't need much, so I thought two jars would be heaps. I was very careful about the sterilisation this time - scrubbed the lemons, sterilised the lids and the jars and the various tongs and spoons and was properly cautious about it all. So it took a couple of hours by the time I'd rubbed the salt into the lemon wedges and sterilised everything and carefully poked it in to the jars, but worth it to have such pretty preserves. 

You have to leave it at room temperature for a day or two, then in the fridge for a month before it's ready to eat. And all was going swimmingly until number two said "I had a taste of those new preserved lemons" and it turns out he UNSCREWED THE LID, FISHED AROUND WITH HIS GRUBBY FINGERS, CUT OFF A PIECE WITH GOD KNOWS WHAT AND PUT THE LID BACK ON. And couldn't remember which jar he'd done it to, so there goes both of them! For a smart kid, he does some mighty dumb things sometimes. And yes, I yelled at him, perhaps more than  he deserved.