What a Difference A Day ( or two) Can Make

In my previous post I was whinging about the temps... I am here to tell you- that they are now going to be much higher than previously predicted! Tomorrow is 30 ° C (high 80's F)- and then an overnight LOW of 22°C is predicted ( that's about 74°F!) with the following day to be 35°C!!!!
(That is way into the 90's F !!! ) OMG! Now this wouldn't be so bad if we had been having consistently warmer days all along- but it has been in the low 20's daytime and in the low teens for the nights... ( so that is around mid 70's and around high 40's for the translation...).
I am not sure what next week will bring- but this weekend was meant to be full of activities for us out and about- outside activities. Well- ffffffffft on that! :(

On to happier things- zucchini have popped up- the strawberries were eaten with delight by RJB, and there are more tomatoes on their way! I have managed to so far keep the snails from eating my two remaining cucumber plants...and the watermelon seeds are popping up thick as thieves. The pumpkin out front is growing madly and has had male blossoms for several days now! The carrots and all the teeny tiny portulaca seedlings are all ok.....they are just sooo tiny you can't imagine how they ever grow to be something of any size- let alone a full sized carrot !
(Portulacas dont' get THAT big of course! lol! )

I think the corn may be a loss- it's been well over 14 days- and nothing....I raked the mulch back today- hoping the sun might get to them and help them to grow- but i might be too late- fingers crossed I was on time! At $1 an ear in the shops and only to get more expensive in the near future- having some of our own to eat and preserve would be very very nice!

On the ISP front- we have gone with AAPT- are awaiting the final switchover- but so far they have been OK . A bit vague-ish with helping- but at least we don't have a 4 hour cut off every time we are connected. I mean- really- how many of us are still on dial-up that the other company really needed to disconnect us on the dot of 4 hours??!?

Not much spinning got done on Wed. I am sad to say - but every little bit helps! I didn't get ANY done today nor yesterday......let's hope the heat isn't too much to spin.

Also- we did our 100th geocache find today! Woo hoo! AND it was a FTF! Down south of us near the Myponga reservoir- always a nice drive.

OK- off to do dinner/tea dishes- whee.

Hope you are well.

******************************************************
Yesterday our little girl Skylar would've turned 5.
I can only imagine what life would be like with a little girl to dress up and with who I could play girly games. I am thankful for my precious son and all the joy he brings me ( and all the bugs and dirt too! :) ) . But I couldn't let the chance pass to say how much I long for her to be with us and how much I miss her. So much- so, so much. 0 :]
******************************************************

Train ahoy! ?

RJB's fascination with trains continues on- so much so that the cubby house climbing thing that he rarely ever had anything to do with- is now his favourite place to play because we improvised and made it into a 'train'. Mind you, it takes alot of imagination, and this isn't the best photo as he doesn't cotton on to having his photo taken too often. He prefers to 'mug it up' if he is going to have to have it taken,too.

Here is one that I took through the house window so he wasn't suspecting me until I went out and then if he said no to a photo- I still have one for memory's sake. ;)

Sneaky mom.

I've rigged up a bell on a pull cord and have put the bucket on a bat a ball post for the 'smokestack' part of the train... and he has an engineer's cap he wears that he got from the "Thomas" expo thing we went to earlier in the year. Have a photo of him in that:

And another one- in motion!

Typical mom- I could just fill up my blog with my child's photos. However I will refrain. For now.

No, wait- I have to add this one..

taken while wering my sunglasses while we were out looking for the "Star of Greece #1" geocache down at Port Willunga.... they have a boardwalk nearby- that leads to the ocean and also has a bench on a side shoot from the walk...we sat there for awhile and enjoyed the surf and all the sounds.
The ocean was very rough but the crashing sounds of that are far more relaxing than most sounds we have at our house outside! It is so nourishing to the soul.

He is napping now- so will take the chance to write a few emails I owe. It's about time- I know.

Hope you are well.

Sunday at 1:30 pm

Trying to get RJB down for a nap- don't think it is going to work- but we are trying.
He wants to go geocaching- and it is nice day for it- slightly overcast with a breeze.
I finally finished plying my Forever Young 2 singles. I chose a blue mohair type commercial yarn. New way for me. Then I tried a new method of plying- which was to hold the single/yarn together and then spin... I would say it was a WHOLE lot easier and result wasn't too bad!
I got the whole thing onto my Turkish spindle- but let me tell you- JUST!
I will put a photo up asap of it. It's a bit gloomy for photos-but will try it soon anyway- then add it in here:

Let's see- what else to tell you?
Oh- still not email for isurf.
Did I mention we at least have heard from the new company that has taken them over?
They have an automated email that sends out every time we try email to see if it is finally fixed...
it is as big a load of crap as anything isurf ever wrote - so I am not thrilled- PLUS they took out the $25. for service with them! How can that be legal!?
But hopefully this first week of the month will see us with our email back. (Fingers crossed.)
I need to tell you about my trip to Bella Head's Walking Wheel Studio a few weekends ago. What a wonderful lady! We spent a goodly amount of time there but it flew by in minutes! We came away with a bunch of wool rovings in plain colours- a bag of some suri alpaca that is like BUTTAH!, and a whole new respect for the art of weaving. She is so talented and so nice. Am so-o-o looking forward to a trip back. It's only about 20 mins or so up the road.
I have already used some of the tops from Bella and some from Mandie to make a Bird of Paradise yarn. :)
I need to ply it, then will take pics.

We also got a big bag of rovings from Mandie over the last few weeks- will post pics. as they are spun.

We are really getting into the spring fever- we have planted and harvested radishes already. Then planted cucumber seeds in the front garden- and in the back - sunflowers! Yesterday the soil got turned for the corn- and today we planted corn seeds! :)
Pics to come of that too....my boys working hard outside in the dirt! ( I was inside- as usual- making dinner. I like to cook- but sometimes....)

OK- well- he didn't settle and the time to cache is at hand- so must go for now. Will edit the pic in later and write again when possible.

Hope you are well!

A Lunar Eclipse Tonight

How cool- just found out this morning that there will be a total Lunar Eclipse this evening-starting at 6:51 pm Sydney time- (6:21 pm SA)....... I sure hope the sky remains clear for us to see things.

Have some yarn and a scarf drying - will photo them and post them here later- probably tomorrow now.

Busy weekend- Sat. saw us go for groceries and then once home again rearranged the front room to make things more accessible- what a nightmare! Mom always loved rearranging furniture- boy- not me. It is nice to have the space. But I am not sure the stress was worth it.
Yes- I do know it was.....room for Riley to have his train set out ( a figure 8 thing) and we can still walk passed him. That's a good thing. ;)

Sunday we spent most of it away geocaching down south- Normanville area. Saw some nice views- found 2 out of 4 caches we looked for...... 1 was at a skateboard/play park area that has pretty recently been bulldozed above the play areas- to make what looks like might be a level field for cricket games or the like- not sure the cache is still there! RPB and RJB did a thorough search and still came up empty handed........but it was a really nice park- so I think we will go back again to have another look. ;)

Then Sunday night found me sitting , once again, anxiously awaiting the new update at Ewe Give Me The Knits!- where, by the time it was all done, over 140 people had visited the store and out of 12 new offerings only 2 remain and I have no idea why- they are both so pretty...
I went silly and got two- well- 1 for me and one we'll fight over...... mine is a wool/silk mix-- and it is TUSSAH silk -also known as peace silk- which is harvested from the silkworm's cocoon AFTER it has hatched out. MUCH nicer than boiling the worms alive just so one is able to 'reel' the silk in one long piece. I was/am so grateful Mandie put that in the description so I knew it was veg. friendly. Then later an Optim on Acid choice came up and both DH and i wanted it- Optim is 14 micron wool!!! I simply cannot wait to try spinning some. :)

Will post photos once they are paid for and arrive. If you would like to see them now- at this moment they are available for viewing ( but will likely be removed by next Sunday's update)-
go here for the Optim on Acid and here for the Solaris Merino/silk top . What can I say? I like LOUD colours, not meant for the faint hearted! woohoo! :)

Yesterday ( Monday) found me up to my ears in household chores that were neglected over the weekend- so I didn't get much of anything done fun-wise. A bit of crocheting to finish the aforementioned scarf- and I got some wool plied from the two batts from Kathy B. that we got the first time we met her in Littlehampton,SA. :) I made the yarn for DH to use- am hoping he will like knitting with it......only 50g approx. - but it might make 'something'.......it seems to be about a worsted weight. (U.S. terms- I need to start doing the W.P.I. [wraps per inch] as I think that is a superior way to identify a yarn thickness/weight . )

A bit of frustrating news- a few months ago I splurged on a subscription to the USA magazine "Spin Off" - put out by Interweave Press......they said they sent the first issue and it should've been here by Aug.24th- no later.... but alas it has not arrived. The new issue will come out Sept. 12 I think it is- so have written to them to let them know I didn't get it...... does anyone else in Oz ( that reads this) get the magazine (or any others from the USA ) sent to them? If so- do you have any problems with issues missing? Would it be a customs thing? I sure hope not! I do not have the best of luck with them. ( Like them keeping my can of Old Bay Seasoning my brother Randy sent me- because it had cloves in it. Ground cloves!? What on earth could they have to cause concern or threat?
Mind you- if I got a special permit I could have it sent in then....
money sure talks- loudly. I feel worse for Randy- having spent all that money on the spice/seasoning and sending it- only to have it get taken away. Me thinks the quarantine folks are having nice boiled shrimp with all the right seasonings somewhere.........)
Anyway- I digress. As I often do. ;)

There is a new thing where we can put a video on our blog now...... somehow- so now i can share my RJP with you! Won't that be so cool? I shudder to think how long it will take to DL- but it will be worth it to be able to show him to my family in the USA.

Will try to write more later- but not sure.
Tacos for tea- whoopee! I am hoping RJB will like those better than burritos... the crunchy shell should do it. :)

Hope you are well.

Scenes Over the Weekend

I'd like to share some photos taken over the weekend- this first one is of the flower head from a plant commonly called "Black Rose". It's actually a member of the cactus family, I believe. Will have to look it up and edit later.

This is a very close up view of the top of the flower head. This is the first one ours has had.
Below is some of our lavender that is growing in the front garden- with a honey bee on it- which is the whole reason we have the lavender...... the garden centre next door closed down and all the trees and plants are gone and cramped housing with NO trees has replaced it. :( Not only not so great for us, but really bad for the bees- so thankfully these have flowers prfusely all winter long for the bees to enjoy- and we enjoy them! :)

On Sunday we went Geocaching down Willunga way- so thought I would include a few photos that I got taken while out and about. Below are some wild cockatiels, cows and there were even a few ducks in the picture- all sharing some lovely green land. There was a house nearby as well. It was nice to see them all getting along peacefully. This is one of those places where you just can't get a photo to do justice- these cactus ( Century Plants I believe) and red crocosmia combined so well with some purple vinca vine at the base and the large trees and dazzling sky in the background. There was also remainder of an old sandstone house there- but didn't show up in this picture.

This is RJB enjoying his friend the wooly bear caterpillar. There haven't been many this year- so he enjoyed befriending this one for a long while. Thankfully he didn't want to keep him! lol

Thanks for looking and hope you are well.

Sunny Mundy

Well! Monday night arrives again~ not alot happened on the weekend as DH worked OT on Friday night and on Saturday ( what a blessing in disguise- I feel a bit more at ease now).
Saturday saw us head out for some groceries and Sunday we went in the mid afternoon to do 3 caches down Willunga way- about 25 mins. drive south of us. We managed to find all three too! The first one was quite a challenge- as it is located along a walking track- one that is paved and on what they call the "Sea and Vines" walk...and let me tell you- there were ALOT of people out for that time of day on a Sunday that was threatening with rain between bright bursts of sunshine. We managed to get the cache and while logging it- DH noticed others walking along and they had a GPS unit in their hands- sure enough they went right to where the cache would've been if we didn't have it! They finally noticed that I was wearing a GPS'r around my neck ( darn! I won't do that again however I *did* have the dog on the leash and was trying to write in the log book to log our find, in a hurry!) but they were good natured about it- and turned their backs while DH hid the cache. Then while we were logging the second find - didn't they drive passed us again! LOL But they drove on and came back after we left. RJB got himself a new little car ( fancy- convertable with flames along the front of the hood/bonnet-wooohoo!) and DH got himself a new little flashlight/torch keychain.... first and third caches respectively. I had chosen a purple one just like this one from the last time we'd gone. :D
Took several photos I'd like to share......
Well! I was *going* to post some photos- but can't get anything to cooperate so will try again tomorrow.
Was a beautiful day today- got lots done - including my clown face all skeined and washed- and is now drying. I think this came out pretty darn nice. Much more even and smaller/thinner than the first plied yarn I did! lol This is probably somewhere around sport weight or reg. worsted weight yarn.... using USA terminology as I can't quite 'get' the Australian way yet.
This is another beautiful yarn that I am just dying to make something from - but have no idea where to start- maybe a pair of mittens? Seems like there was something else I wanted to share- but can't think of it- will write it down if I ever think of it! Let me tell you something- if you like /love yarn and have never tried making your own- DO IT! It is more costly perhaps than buying your favourite Red Heart or even Lion Brand (depending on what you are getting I reckon! )- but the satisfaction of making a yarn NO ONE else will ever create the same as you is really awesome. :)
Am giving up for tonight- will write again A.S.A.P. .
Hope you are well. :)

Trains & the Beach

Naw, no trains *on* the beach- that is just what we have done in the last two days. :)

Just realised I have not resized any of the train pics from when the boys went on their own- and we didn't take the camera on Friday when we all 3 went, so will have to post about the train experience next time...
so this time you get treated to some photos of Sellick's Beach- which is about 20 mins south of us- went there because 1) it was a really nice day yesterday (about 17° C) and 2) there is a geocache in that area which we have wanted to go find for months now.
We have recently had a pretty severe storm come through and there was a King tide with it- which brought ALOT of high waves with lots of energy in them to move things. We have not been here before so couldn't know for sure what the tide did- but there were lots of small rocks close to the cliffs and these beauties were sitting there. Likely they were not overly affected by the storm-the tide happened to be out at this time. Or so I thought. Actually it was just starting to come in, as by the time we left-the part of the beach where they are allowed to drive on the beach was getting covered in water! Now that *was* about 2 hours' time lapse- but still- once it started to come in, it came IN!

Here is RJB on one of the large sandstone formations. Would be a nice place to bring a towel, climb up, and just relax in the sun. The dark spots are small 'caves' in the rock. Not sure if they aren't more made by humans than nature- but are interesting parts of the landscape.

He brought his front loader toy- we thought there would be more sand than there was! lol He did use it in a rock pool area while dad went off into the 'canyon' to find the cache. ( success was not easily found I am told- but he was successful!)

This is another long shot of Sellick's Beach- if you notice the white 'spots' in the background on the green part- those are water pipes. Carrying *lovely* city water to those in need! Not too far from the cache here really.

This is an amazing naturally occurring sandstone 'bridge'.

It is so hard to show depth in photos- isnt' it? Next time we go back- we will have someone stand under it to give you a better idea of how large it is- we didn't anticipate so many rocks so Riley and I just had our plastic clogs on- *not* good for rock walking. lol!

Was a really nice day for being on the beach- LOTS of families with several children in them out and about as we were leaving. End of school holidays and nice weather combination make for good outings with the family. :)

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

I also have some pics to share of the finished "Drought Busta" roving- still on the the spindle- which is now emptied of that and has some "Moroccan Nights" roving started on it. This is slippery stuff compared to what I just spun and am finding I am spinning it very, very thinly. Was tired when I started- so maybe I will do better today. I don't mind thin- but don't want thread! lol

You can see some of the purple hints in it here. Very subtle- I can hardly wait to find a project for this one to see it crocheted/knitted up... very nice. :)

Here's what it looks like from the bottom. :)

This is doing the "under one, over two" wrap method on the spindle. Easier to see all the neat colours this way.

Here it is right side up! ;)

I had another one to post- but figure you are probably bored with looking at the same one.

I am not sure this cone shape is the way it is meant to be wrapped- but it works for me! It allows me to fit the whole 100g on- although at about 3/4 it does start to get heavy and breaks more readily if I am not careful.

Better get going-the rest are awake and are having a cranky time. Am hoping to post train pics later today or tomorrow.

Hope you are well.

Sunday June 24 2007

What can I say? Not a very exciting day over all-we got out and did some geocaching - both of which were killers and I did not attempt to do what a majorly overweight middle aged sedentary woman should not do- which was do a level 2 difficulty terrain rating which should have been a 3.5- 4 *'s out of 5 ! RPB (Hubby) and RJB went on without me- I meditated in the sun awhile (after searching for 5 mins or more for a spot that didn't have Roo Doo that I would either sit on or put my hand into when attempting to stand up again!) which was really REALLY nice- I needed that. With RJB not taking naps like he 'should' and me not getting enough sleep during the week and even less on the weekends- I was very tired of being around someone virtually 24/7 and was glad to have that time to just listen to the leaves in the wind, a stray Baaa and mooo from the distance, and a few galahs,lorikeets, and kookaburra adding in occasionally as well. It was a very chilly windy day- I was even in my winter coat with my hood up over a crocheted cap/hat and was wishing when the sun went under the clouds that I had my mittens on too! But since everything was either up or down hill to walk very far- I just got up and walked around while waiting for my men to return from their expedition.
Eventually they did- I only did about 10-15 mins of worrying - wondering how I would know they were stuck in a ravine after slipping on the trail................- and then after a few good "Koo-ee"s and trying to hear over the wind - which happened to be blowing my voice the exact opposite direction than it should've been going- I finally thought I heard a little voice..."My son!" my mind cried out...... or was it? Wait? Maybe that was just a bird........darn! I am not an Australian bird expert - having only been here for 5 years and most of those years I didn't see more than some pigeons, sparrows, magpies, spotted doves, and New Holland Honeyeaters. None of which I could think would sound like my 3 YO yelling for help!.........oh DRAT! I remember all those countless times out searching in the woods in PA for my missing cat- in the snow-thinking I could hear a pitiful meow in the sound deadening white insulation Mother Nature had heaped upon us. I was sure I heard him......no- it wasn't. Maybe....... FINALLY as i was walking toward where we had parked the car ( no- I didn't have the car keys either! DUH!) - one last koo-ee and I was sure I heard it- this time a lower pitched man's voice- coming from the opposite direction than where I thought I should be hearing it.....sure enough- 5 mins. or so later- they emerged from the bush- happy and unhurt and glad to be back to where they knew for sure! GPS is really great for bush walking- *IF* you remember to plug in your car coordinates before you leave the area! It was constant up and down I was told. Ended up that it took about 1.5 hours to walk 500 meters! Another note to GPS users- the distance given is "AS THE CROW FLIES". We have done this enough- we knew that it would mean more than 500 m- but yeesh! This was a bit much. They make those trails and bush walks on snake trails for sure! Even the kangaroos hop in straighter paths than what they have marked out as walking trails for people in these parts! :)
What matters most is that RJB had a good time and he did - but his legs were tired and before we got back to the car he was cold too- ( it was an easier walk than what he walked in the bush!)
We drove to another cache that was less than 5 k away- but RJB was asleep for that one- so I stayed in the car while RPB retrieved that one. We got some neat glow in the dark goopy stuff in a pen shaped tube as a swap from the cache... will make more stars & stuff on RJB's walls. He already has lots of paper ones- but this way we can do something original. :)
I got a little bit of spinning done tonight- quite alot done last night. Now I will have to pull the ball off my spindle and do some more and try my hand at plying the singles. Yikes! (wish me luck! )
Must go- DH wants to log the find for the up and down the Heysen Trail geocache- I can't cos i was SMART and stayed where sane people would walk! lol
Will post some pics soon- poncho- singles ball of yarn- and maybe even one or two of the walk I just spoke about- DH took some photos. :)

Hope you are well.