Nothing to say, but when have I ever?

The boringness of lockdown meanders on. We have a pathway forward now (NOT a roadmap, other states have roadmaps, we have a PATHWAY) which sets out when we can do useless activities like gyms and hairdressers and mentions NOTHING about important things like when Lynley can get to the beach! Bastards.

We picnicked on Saturday afternoon (wine and cheese to watch the sun go down) which was lovely to see friends but freezing when the cold front came through. But we had jumpers and we sat there huddled eating snacks and genuinely having a very good time because we were OUT OF THE HOUSE and talking to non-relatives. Delightful.

I have been for walks of course and happy Canberrans are enjoying more sensible lunchtime picnics with actual sunshine. This is crowded, for a Canberra park. 

My work is having a morale-boosting weekly photo competition. This week was a springtime theme so I entered this photo of the daisies out the front. They are very beautiful (and very tough).

I didn't enter this photo of leaves shooting in front of the lake fountain but I still quite like it. Because of the wind the fountain spray is travelling several hundred metres, which always says spring to me.

When I went to work the other day I curled my hair, put lipstick on and took a selfie (wrinkles, grey hair and all). The excitement!

More watercolours

I think you all will get sick of watercolours long before I do - I have finished Level 1 Absolute Beginners and moved onto Level 2 Beginners via a short Beginners Workshop. Yes, I am forking over lots of cash in lessons and even more in paint, but too bad don't care. I am saving on many other things at the moment, from petrol to restaurants. Not food though, we are buying a LOT of food.

Here is the exercise where we learned dry brushing, which leaves white bits when you put the colour on. It makes good waves.

This is about softening edges to give a rounded effect. You put the colour round the edges then soften it towards the light. My softening is reasonable but the teacher suggested some improvement might be needed in my brush control. Raggedy edges. It seems my lack of precision follows me from craft to craft.

And this one is aerial perspective. Distant things are paler and cooler in tone, warming up as you come forward. And also linear perspective and vanishing points, and how to make a decent grey.

I am doing every exercise at least twice, doing all the homework and trying not to race through it ... but honestly there's not much else to do at the moment! It meant I ran out of the first lot of paint I bought, which has been a saga of delivery. I ordered from Jacksons in the UK which is literally a third of the price for Winsor & Newton than the shop down the road (even including postage) but then had a panic that it wouldn't arrive in time, so I ordered some tubes of an Australian brand from an art shop in Sydney, but they then advised that shipping was taking ages at the moment, so I had another panic and did a click and collect from Officeworks which (weirdly) had that brand too because I thought I could pick it up the same day.... 

Of course the inevitable happened. My package arrived from Jacksons the next day - literally a week after I ordered it (!!!!!), the Sydney parcel arrived two days later despite their fussing, and Officeworks down the road couldn't organise for me to pick it up until yesterday... I could have saved myself the second two orders. But now I have a TRUCKLOAD of paint.

Even more scenery

We are now allowed to picnic with others, so it rained on the weekend and blew up a gale. I went for a very long walk, and saw many intrepid picnickers. 

And even more exercisers. Vaccination rates in Canberra are now at nearly 60% fully vaccinated and over 80% first dose, and there are only a dozen new cases each day, mostly household transmission. So my tolerance of this ongoing lockdown is wearing a bit thin. It is starting to look unnecessary. 

The trees have gone from blossoms to leaves since I last took this walk.

This stand of eucalypts is probably going to be bulldozed for a retirement village. I am quite happy with this development but many of the neighbours are not. To me it seems like an excellent spot for a retirement village, and having so much vacant space in the middle of town is not defensible when old people can't find accommodation. On the other hand, if I had a house backing on to this lovely open space I would be furious, so no judgement. I am a silent observer in our suburb's residents facebook group, and it is both delightful and horrifying. 

And lastly a mummy kangaroo with a joey. How they cram those long legs and all that tail into a pouch I do not know. 

Bird poop on the windowsills

The Bird Man of Canberra is spending lockdown feeding his little friends. The one on his hand is a gang gang, and there is a family that will sit on his hand and make happy rusty-gate noises while they eat. The one on the windowsill is a king parrot (called "Mayo" by my family, I don't know why). King parrots are slightly lower in the literal pecking order and have to wait until the gang gangs are finished. All of them have beaks that will slice through a finger.

In the morning the gang gangs bring their babies down to see the Bird Man. There is one girl baby and one boy baby (they have different coloured crests). The parents are still tolerating their presence but not for much longer. 

The babies have a slightly higher pitched rusty gate sound. It is nice to know that something will be happy we are now having another four weeks of lockdown. I myself am not so chipper. 

I've been out walking

Hopefully you all sang that like Nico - not a cheerful song but a very good walking song! I don't do too much talking, these days.... I'm going alphabetically through my Liked playlist which has 1,222 songs on it. Surprising how many songs start with "never" and "oh". 

On Saturday I took advantage of the new exercise-with-a-friend rules and went for a different walk up round her house, which was just lovely. Beautiful views back to the city and delightful to catch up with someone for a change!

On Sunday number two son took me on his favourite walk when he roams the hills behind our house - I hadn't been on this particular hill before and also hadn't realised that he ignores the paths and goes cross country! What could possibly go wrong. We had to jump a few streams because of all the rain, and scramble up a few rocky slopes, but he said it was worth it to get to the quarry ... and then we reach the gap in the fence where he goes through and they had repaired it! How rude, stopping us illegally going into the quarry. But below is the stormwater management system, which I hadn't seen before. Lots of frogs.

So on some levels not a successful walk, but on others highly successful - I got puffed, saw something different and had a good chat with number two son when breathing permitted. He is applying for universities at the moment, and student accommodation, and it is all very exciting.

And this is just the fire trail on my stroll yesterday. A few people out and about but not many. Today we hear if lockdown will be extended (nobody seriously thinks it won't be) and so on we go.

On with the watercolours

I'm happily going through the Level 1 Absolute Beginners course and still enjoying it - I might move onto Level 2 Beginners! I did a landscape yesterday that looked like a four year old had done it, but that's OK. Other students put their pictures in the comments of the tutorials for teacher feedback and some of them are amazing! It's a bit dispiriting. But some of them are also doing mutant toddler scapes, which is reassuring.

I did a levitating pear to learn about tones. Apparently you are meant to bring the shadow all the way around so it looks like it's on the table, not hovering above it.

Here is a sheet of roses not found in nature. They are pretty but absolutely not at all like the ones we were supposed to do, which I could not master for the life of me. 

And a luridly pink coffee mug. Working With Monochrome says the teacher, it's about tones, don't fixate on the quality of the drawing ... just as well. 

Finished a shirt

Over a year ago I made this shirt when I was at the beach, but didn't have time to do the buttons and buttonholes, so brought it back home. Where it sat, on a hanger, behind the door, untouched and vaguely reproachful. This is why I don't bring stuff back home! Hobbies belong in their proper postcode. 

So when I had my machine out to do the masks, I behaved like a grown up and finished the buttons and buttonholes of this spotty shirt. I even had to read the sewing machine manual, but it was very easy and makes a lovely buttonhole. And the whole thing took about ten minutes, I don't know why I didn't do it months ago.

I am trying to find the perfect plain shirt pattern and this is one of the contenders. It has bust darts, but no back yoke pleat which I like. I didn't do a collar for this version but it has quite a nice collar in the pattern so I'll give it another go. This fabric is a very strange microfibre - I like the 80s animal print vibe but it is very synthetic. God knows why I bought it (or even if I did, it was in the drawer, could be from anywhere).

As ever, terrible photos of myself in the mirror. Other than that life goes on .... lockdown continues ... the rain has stopped .... both Pam and Dad are now making bad jokes in my comments ....

It rained and it rained

On Friday the lockdown rules were relaxed so that you could meet up outside with up to 5 people from another household for exercise - both of the kiddies arranged walks with friends and then on Saturday and Sunday it rained and rained and rained. The kind of all-day set in rain that you never see in Canberra. Good for the garden, good for the frogs, bad for outdoor recreation.

On Sunday morning it cleared for half an hour so I took a punt and went for a walk, knowing it would rain a bit but thinking that would be fine ... it started pouring and it was wet and miserable so I called my husband to come and pick me up. Which he did, because he is a good person. I would have laughed and told him to suck it up. This is the ditch on the other side of the hill - it is usually completely dry and empty. You can't see frogs but you could hear them.

The birds struggled a bit. These are two very bedraggled lorikeets on the windowsill. My husband is working from home and hand feeding the birds so we have absolute FLOCKS coming down every morning and squawking for food. The lorikeets are the bottom of the pecking order.

The sulphur-cresteds are the top. Loud and bossy and not worried by the rain. You might notice that half the garden is neatly trimmed, and half is not. That marks the point where my husband trimmed through the cord of the hedge-trimmer. Not electrocuted, but the hedge-trimmer is definitely not working any more.  

I got out my second best sewing machine (which is actually a nice little machine, I should use it more) and made another dozen face masks. I think we will be wearing them for a while longer. This is the front door. Not a sight I would have understood a couple of years ago. 

More working, more walking

 Life meanders along in lockdown land. As expected, the lockdown has been extended for another two weeks, and school won't go back at all until next term in October. Vaccinations are finally speeding up,  they've opened them up to the under 30s and the kids are now booked in for next month. Nobody is about, and the kangaroos have taken over the practice driving range. They do not usually look so relaxed on those slopes!

I'm spending as little time as possible at home because I dislike being in my house. This isn't a new thing, I've never really liked my house, but managed to cover it up by working, shopping, exercising and going to the beach. Sadly only two of those are currently available! I do like my family, and I do like spending time by myself, it's the actual bricks and mortar of my house that I don't like. All the houses I've lived in in Canberra have been demolished after we left, so hopefully this one will be too. Unlikely though, solid bricks and asbestos sheeting, it will outlive the apocalypse. 

Spring blossoms are out and yesterday was definitely the first really warm day. This dark sky was on the weekend - over the Saudi embassy at the end of the street. It is looking very derelict, I don't think anyone has been there for ages... but there is too much pointy fencing and security cameras for me to get too close, just in case.

I am still enjoying the watercolours, thank you for the nice comments! Dad, I am also concerned about the point at which I have to go from clear instructions to self-driven painting ... but I have decided that I don't ever need to reach that point! I can spend the next forty years doing classes, or paint-alongs, or tiktok five minute crafts, or paint-a-orchid challenges: without ever having to develop a 'painters eye' or be stricken by a landscape or whatever it is real painters do. I can literally doodle for the rest of my life; it is very liberating.