Another busy week

 Still nothing much exciting going on here! It's been cold and rainy this week - finishing the summer in the same way as the rest of it - not that I'm complaining, it's so much nicer than hot and dry. It's only just light when I get up now, and still another few weeks of daylight savings to go. The evenings are still light until late but I left work late enough this week to see the testing for lighting up Parliament House for the enlighten festival.

Doesn't it look cool? I'm assuming it's Australian politicians, perhaps the first parliament, certainly looks like a lot of dead white guys. I'll have to make sure I visit and see it properly. Number two has gone in with some buddies this evening to check it out, although I think they missed the number-restricted events (food, mostly). Number one has finished o-week (which is orientation week at university, I didn't realise that was a geographically specific term! it's the week of enrolments and get-to-know-yous and social events) and has now started uni proper, except not the labs yet, just the lectures, so perhaps this week will be a proper timetable. It is still partially on-line which isn't great but has its advantages. And I am just enjoying the weekend.

Busy week at work

Nothing much got done this week other than working ... I have a couple of later shifts where I don't finish until 8 so by the time I get home it's time to go to bed, go to sleep, wake up and do it all again!  I took a photo of the peppers my husband bought at the markets, because they were so pretty. He chargrilled them and made a delicious pasta sauce with prosciutto and roasted eggplant. 

And I made muesli - took a photo before I stirred it all together because I thought it also looked pretty. It had to sit on the bench for a while because we didn't have enough rolled oats so the next person out stopped at the shop and bought some. 

There is a lot of to-ing and fro-ing at the moment between school and o-week and rehearsals and singing lessons and work. My choir has started back up but it's just not feasible at the moment - I am so tired by Thursday night and some child generally needs to go somewhere. Perhaps in the middle of the year we will be into a rhythm and I will have a bit more time.

On we go

I didn't mean to go a week without posting but everything seemed to be busy all of a sudden ... I found a little bit of time to do some quilting but mostly work. And, when I want to craft but have to work then I tend to do a little bit of online shopping during my lunch break to make me feel better.

Quilting fabric from East Coast fabrics. I haven't bought any quilting fabric for AGES and this was all on sale and very pretty. I like the top one - kind of Japanese waves.

Boring work clothes fabric from Pitt Trading. These are all half price remnants so a fairly eclectic (and completely unphotographable) selection of black ponte, black bengaline, black crepe and one piece of light grey scuba! No, I have no idea what I'm going to make with these but my lovely black pants that I made for work are just about worn to death so time to fill some gaps. Black is quite forgiving to sew and most of these have some stretch so should be pleasant to wear. And they were super cheap.

Other than shopping it has been quiet - it is university orientation week this week so number one has gone along to see what can be seen. Number two spent most of the weekend doing an audition tape for something that required two friends over for the day and pizza. I met up with a friend at a bar on Friday after work and had a good catch up, and then went for a two-hour walk Sunday morning which was HOT AND SWEATY. So on we go....

Even more beach

It is still summer despite back to work and back to school so this weekend was another beach weekend - just lovely and back to uncrowded. Saturday I woke up to heavy rain - and it rained for most of the morning - so I went into Bateman's Bay and pottered about the shops. I haven't done this for ages and it was fun, although I think there are more small businesses closed than there were last time I did this (about three years ago). The double hit of bushfires and corona virus would have really hurt a lot of businesses down there, although I don't think BB is very big on the international tourist circuit.

In the afternoon the rain lifted but I wasn't tempted into the water. It was a big swell and the sea was quite angry-looking so I just had a nap and read a book instead. Luckily Sunday was WONDERFUL - clear skies, hot and still a big swell but an interesting rather than threatening one! Caught some great waves and still had time for a nap before heading back up the hill and taking the poor neglected children out for dinner. Such a good weekend.

And today's photo from the vault is from 1997 - three of my (older) sister's children including the twins who were about 18 months old then - and my grandma (my mother's mother) who would have been 93 at the time, and by the looks of it enjoying having great-grandchildren ... although I think I am restraining the twinnies from also climbing up for a cuddle. They were energetic little critters.

The year has started when the protestors are out

You know that everything is back to normal when the walk up from the carpark involves negotiating several activist groups in front of Parliament. We have a nice large open space especially designated for groups to gather and say their piece. On the far left in the white t-shirts we have a group supporting a guy who walked from Melbourne to Canberra (about 600 km) to raise awareness of veterans I believe. On the right we have a climate action protest of largely elderly folk (very well organised and covid-safe). 

And on the path directly ahead we have four people dressed entirely in red robes, headpieces and gloves, with geisha-white faces and surgical masks, walking at a slow half pace in carefully-spaced single file, holding out their arms and not saying a word. I have tried to find out what that was about but I can't ... and I must admit it's bugging me. Why? WHY???? The police do slow cruises of this area when there are people gathering and the looks on their faces as they drove past was priceless.  

The other thing I did on the weekend was finally clean up one of the bookshelves where we had dumped everything during the kitchen renovations (yes, a year ago, I know, it's disgraceful) and I put back the photo albums where they belong. As I went I took a random photo of one photo from each album to delight you with. First up we have me (rocking a tan and a Lady Di fringe) and my sisters (one older, one younger) in about 1985 when we went to an extended family reunion on my father's mother's side. Pastels rule!

Weekend at home

 I'd rather be at the beach, but if I have to spend a weekend at home it's not the end of the world. On Friday a friend had spare tickets to a baroque music concert so I went along - husband NOT interested - and it was amazing. Average age of audience 150 of course but I can see how you would totally get into that sort of thing as you got older. I no longer require a mosh pit at my concerts. The musicians were very talented, the pieces were incredible, we went out for pizza beforehand (husband and number one did come along for that) and a few drinks and a catch up afterwards. Lovely.

I spent most of the weekend wearing my new very comfortable trousers that I made (round the house only, I changed them when I went out). It's rayon from East Coast Fabrics which is an online shop I've recently discovered. I love wearing rayon because it's cool and comfortable and light but it is a CURSE to sew. Slippery. Luckily loose elastic-waisted trousers  are very forgiving.

That tshirt is disgracefully dirty, I had just made banana bread, so the white bits are flour and occasional smears of chocolate icing. Other than cooking I did a bit of patchwork sewing, number one spent the day at friends playing Doom (I do not know what that is), number two went to rehearsals and to buy school supplies, we did a run to the recycling/tip ... fun times. Back to parliament and school this week!