Summertime Delights!

Well! Over the holidays we certainly did have some fun going around to some different places on a PYO fruit/fresh from the farmgate sales search!

Our first venture out we found some peaches and tomatoes. And some sundried bananas.
Also got some cherries from Beerenberg Farm in Hahndorf and some from a place called Adelaide Cherries just outside Echunga...wouldn't recommend the latter of the two.
Wasn't too impressed with the fruit or the waitstaff sorry to say.

But our next adventure out was FABULOUSNESS!!
We headed out for PYO strawberries in the fields of Beerenberg Farm instead of just buying from the shop like last time. After paying $3 each for the two adults to get into the fields, we picked nearly 3kilos ( 6.5 lbs) of strawberries. Paid for them and then decided since we were that close to Melba's Chocolate Factory and DS LOVES the place we'd go there... after that I drove and we were going to go through Lobethal to get to Lenswood to have a lovely drive and if we happened upon some cherry orchard/s- all the better...
well! What an adventure!- on the way we saw signs for cherries- so we followed it to Charleston and voila! We arrived at Balhannah Nursery where they had their orchard open for PYO! I think we just happened to luck out- but let me tell you- I wanted some sour cherries- well! -they didn't have 'real' sour cherries- but "sour-ish" ones- the man rode his motorbike out to the orchard and showed us where we could taste a few to see if that was what we wanted and then directed us to the Vans ( a variety of cherry here) if we decided we wanted some sweet cherries instead/also.
What a wonderful time we had= nearly the only people there and the sour cherry trees were just loaded with BEAUTIFUL fruit. Riley was nibbling as he picked and kept saying "Mmmmm~" every so often! I think he likes sour ones more than sweet ones! We only picked just over a kilo as we had no idea how much we had or if we had enough money with us to pay for what we picked! lol ( Thankfully we did!)
We picked a kilo of sweet ones as well and made our way back. Drove through Lenswood on the way home and we saw a few cherry places, but were too chuffed with what we had to worry about stopping for more! There only 3 of us and not alot of freezer space- and we were pleased with what we had! Oh- yeah- somewhere in there we fitted in a stop at The Wooden Toy Factory with the Big Rocking Horse. :) Riley had wanted to stop there too. It was SOOOOOOOO crazybusy! We couldn't believe our eyes!
We didn't stay too long. Were going to get some hot chips as we'd not eaten all day- but the wait was at least 40 minutes! No way were we waiting that long for hot chips!
( we stopped at a Foodland grocery store that was open instead and got potato chips and a 1.25 litre of soda instead! lol)

Anyway- below are some photos of our spoils from a very productive Adventure Day! :D

This is the cherry pie we made today. OMG- I havent' made a pie in YEARS! It's cooling now- hope it is nice. Sour cherry pie is about the only pie I actually miss from the USA, not being a crust person too much. Love the fruit- prefer it fresh over any other way. But sour cherry pie is one that I really do love.

So here it is before being baked:

And here it is after. My oven is much too hot and always burns things- esp. in the back right corner- so I try to move things around. Didn't remember to with this .....*sigh* but It wasn't too bad in the end. Next pie I will try the 'cover it with foil' trick.


The last two pictures are of wee little Sugar Pies made like my mom used to do with her pie scraps. Riley and I filled 3 wee little pie tins with dough and then put in brown sugar, butter, and milk- i popped them in the oven and a few minutes later out came these 3 adorable and YUMMY sugar pies that tasted as good as mom's did! I was / am very happy about that. :)



I will try to add on a photo of the cherry pie once it's been cut a bit later. Will probably do a separate post though- to save on confusion. :)

Oh and that night Riley lost his 3rd tooth,too! He was so excited about the day and how special it was and then to lose his tooth too- that topped it off! :D

Hope you are well!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

Some Lantana flowers old and new- to celebrate New Year's Eve and Day. :)

Well- today's date has got to be mentioned!

1/1/11

I am the nerdy sort who thinks that is brilliant!;)

How was your Christmas? Ours was nice and peaceful over all! The weather even stayed cool enough that I could cook a 'traditional' roast meal! ( Sanitarium brought back their veg-friendly roast so we could have that plus potatoes, stuffing, and brussel sprouts! :D)

Here's what Riley left out for Santa (and the reindeer!)He even made him a small card. It was brilliant!


Being early in the whole Christmas eve parcel delivering- Santa was hungry! He ate nearly ALL gone!

I hope your holidays of 2010 were wonderful and my the year of 2011 find you enjoying life even more than you did in 2010.

:)

Summer has hit us here in SA- temps have been pretty darn hot!
Thankfully no long spells of it. And with all the winter rains in 2010- I've seen some amazing flowers and such growth on things that haven't grown this well in all the years ( 9 ) I've been here!

This is a short post this time. Just wanted to be sure to wish you all the best 2011 you can have! And then some!!

I hope you are well.

Some Photos To Share

Hi! I have some pictures I'd like to share- many more to come but for now- here is DS in a hooded vest I made for him. The pattern is from Spotlight- www.spotlight.com.au- and can be more readily accessed via Ravelry if you are a member there. :)

These were taken several months ago- still in 2010- but think it might've been just before the cool weather was going to set in. He does wear it occasionally still! :)
The next photos are of the Bottlebrush plant ( bush) ( Callistemon is the 'proper' name, though I'm not sure I have spelled it correctly....)
It's still quite small but has grown ALOT this last year- it's 3 years old now.


ANd here are our Halloween pumpkins... You cant' tell it but the one on the left is an actual "Jack-o-Lantern" type pumpkin! It was originally $22 for ONE pumpkin from the local Woolworth's..... we got it reduced at $8 and I have saved virtually every seed from it in hopes of raising more from this one outlay! lol
More photos in future posts... for now ~
Hope you are well.

Happy New Year!

I guess even being 15 days late it is still ok to wish everyone a happy new year- heck - I figure we have 'til April 1st! ( I'd read somewhere that the reason it is called April Fool's Day was because by then if you are still writing the wrong year on your paperwork then you are a 'fool'. I have since read other explanations for the day, but none stuck like this story....)

Seems there is not much to write about and yet alot.
Summer has been pretty kind to us so far this year- we have only had about 3 hot days with one stupidly hot day earlier this week.
I am loving a cooler summer- and am on Ravelry trying to figure a way to get my arse to New Zealand to live!

Great news from Christmas - my sister (waves to Donna, "HI Donna!" :) )got a new computer for Christmas so she can see pictures of RJB and lots of others and can finally see my blog!

I also have to squee a bit about 'one' of my gifts- lots of spinning fibre from DH from Jane's Moseley Park Home online store! I haven't taken photos of what I got yet- and have actually spun or am in the process of spinning some already that I won't be able to photograph it all together. ( Plus Jane was an absolute doll and threw in some extras for us - what fun! And THANKS JANE!;)

I will try to be better at posting things here- I tend to write and show more on the Ravelry boards lately.

Would like to get photos of my scarf and amulet bag from the Scarf exchange 2008 put on here- have them taken- just didn't get them on here yet.
No photos today.

On a 'sad' note- I didn't get any Christmas cards sent like I intended this year. It's just my northern hemisphere brain I guess.....hard to get in the holiday spirit when it is 90°F outside! But I want you all to know I thought of you all and gave thanks for all the friends and family I have. I am truly thankful.

Hope all is well.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Hi!
Just quick- here's RJ in his 'costume' (It's not the important part for him at this stage- it is only a means to an end [candy] for him) for Halloween- he wanted to be a Pirate cat- incorporating last year's costume- but it didn't work out- no tail could be found- I know I have seen it not that long ago- but it was hiding from us when it was needed, silly thing!

And then below is a closer picture- what a happy boy! ( just a few minutes before this he was hiding in the doorway from the neighbours who had come up to see our house decorations.) He did well for his takings considering we only visited 5 houses total. One neighbour even came up and gave him two mini Crunchy bars because we didnt' stop in and she was expecting us! (We didn't think they were home.)

Can anyone say "Sporticus"? That who he looks like to me in this close photo.

And last but not least- here are the carved pumpkins from this year. The littles one- the size of a large grapefruit- is from our garden- the only one that survived. The large one we bought a few months ago in a fruit and veg shop when pumpkin was at an ok price. Thankfully it stored well in the garage. :)

How was YOUR Halloween??

Hope you are well!

Happy Leap Year Day!

Is that right- is that what we 'd call this day?? Anyway- happy 29th of Feb- which only happens once every 4 years so I couldn't let the day go by without saying something!

Currently we all 3 have a cold- I say "a cold" because it is the SAME cold all shared among us.
I was the last to get it..... RJ has fared the best- the young whippersnapper! ;)

Not alot getting done craft -wise- no spinning even though we have been having cooler weather-
working on another shawl on a pattern I just LOVE....will share that when it is all done. I did a pair of mitts in some leftover acrylic yarn and they turned out cute and very VERY EASY. Now to find some proper colour wool - spin it and make a pair of mitts for my friend Crystal. I told her I would make a pair- from a different pattern than the one I tried- I think this is a better one- but haven't gotten myself together. And now that the first day of Australian Autumn is about to hit us ( tomorrow)- the temps are set to go up into the low - mid 30's- which is in the high 80's low 90's for the Fahrenheit crowd. I am so ready for summer to be gone, thank you.

OK better go,
thanks for reading.

Hope you are well!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wishing you the happiest, sweetest day ever!
(ok- I'm 2 days late....sorry! I really do/did mean it! :) )




Hope you are well!

A lovely shawl for COOLER weather!

I finished my shawl several days ago- but am just getting around to posting pics.......ah well.....it's been tooooo darn hot to even think about wearing something this fluffy and warm around one's shoulders anyway!

The pattern is from Yarn Magazine issue 8- right smack dab in the center of the magazine. This is the real colour of the yarn- forgive the messiness we live in...... we are creative people you know ......LOL.... this photo shows the pattern pretty well too.


Sarah Golder is the pattern creator with whom I had the priviledge of being able to email to help me with my confusion on the pattern. ( It was self-inflicted confusion- honestly- "I Just Needed to Know WHY....."- I wonder if other crocheters/fibre people are like that- needing to understand a pattern and not just accept it 'as is' and go with it ....once I understood the "WHY" the shawl was finished in no time- I am so weird! lol)
The yarn used was a commercially made MOHAIR yarn called Sentiments........I think it is Moda Dea. Because it was a bit thicker than the handspun originally called for I needed more yarn but that didnt' surprise me and thankfully it was rather affordably priced! :) (Special thanks to hubby who stopped in the shop to get me two more balls of it- don't throw him in that briar patch you know? ;) )

I can't tell you how awesome this feels- it is SO soft.
There is a sparkle thread in it that I have tried to capture...

and the purples are a challenge as always in photography. They kept wanting to come out shades of blue more than purple. I love working with variegated yarns- it's so fun to see how the shading and patterning develops. :)

I also have been very fortunate to have my alpaca fluff arrive yesterday- no pics yet- but VERY soon! I am soooooooo happy with it - I could just squeal. :)
The website for TizTeazles isn't up yet( but click on the link anyway just to see,please?) - Dawnii and family got affected by the flooding they had nearer Christmas time and she is working to recover from that. She currently has some yummy fluff like I got ( alpaca) on eBay.au...... at only $5 /100g - it is a pure delight to know you are helping them to take care of their animals and doubly so since they were hit with the flood.
Please pop on over and see if there is anything on eBay.au or if the website is up - buy buy buy from this lovely lady and family- you will be happy you did!


I am so behind in posting it is just silly- so won't bore anyone with much detail of the holidays.
We had nice ones- they went much too quickly and were much TOO HOT- we didn't get out and about too much. We*did* get to Victor Harbor and had a nice time there as always.
There was a 'carnival' type event going on when we arrived- figured it was for the school holidays. RJB thoroughly enjoyed the whole atmosphere and loved going on the car ride-

but was too short for the merry mixer/scrambler ride and wasn't interested in going on the Ferris Wheel for some reason! Ah well- with tickets costing $5 and $6 per adult for rides and $4 for the children's rides- it was for the best.
He did a 'pick a fish' game- for $4 he got to net out 3 plastic fish ( like we used to do ducks minus the net and it was only one duck) and their combined numbers on the bottom added up to a prize number- and his was ........... a brightly coloured 12" velour snake! woo hoo! He talked about it all for weeks- and every weekend wants to go back. He took his new digital camera and got some pics taken. :) Will show you some of those too.

The carnival from a distance- by RJB ( age 3)
The horse drawn trolley that goes across to Granite Island- photo by RJB.

Since it has been so hot lately- spinning has taken the back seat- and crocheting has taken over- when I have the time! I finished the project that I made with my handspun pink and blue yarn- waiting for photos of that too..........

and have started a CAL ( crochetalong) that is for a Valentine's Day themed mystery item- but with the quantity and how far we are- it is obvious it will be a afghan/throw...not sure of the dimensions- so not sure what to call it. It's time consuming so I am not far along and am two weeks behind the CAL- but I will get it done eventually.

Am doing some spinning on the cooler days- a grey wool that I have a gift project in mind for..

send me good vibes for getting it done before the USA winter is over-please?? lol

Enough for now- hope to get back in the swing of things and get more regular postings done.

Hope you are well.

Happy New Year! ! !

Wishing everyone a HEALTHY HAPPY PROSPEROUS New Year!

Hope you are well.

Merry Christmas!

Hope you are well.

Happy Thanksgiving 2007!

Wishing all my friends and family a very Happy Thanksgiving. ( OK- so it's Friday here- but technically it is still T-Day in the USA as of my writing this....)
Wishing we could be together at this special time of year.
And for those of you going shopping on Black Friday......I love you, but I think you are CRAZY! @@
LOL!

I am thankful for~ my family, friends, fur bearing animals (giggle), spindles and spindlemakers, and to not work retail ANYMORE!

Now- to start getting Christmas things out and start decorating before the 90°f weather starts moving back in on us. 'Tis the season........

Falalalalalalala
and all that stuff.....
:)

Hope you are well and well - fed! ;)

Strike A Pose- There's Nothing To It....

I just had to share this with you-
there was a crested pigeon in the back yard sunning herself two or so days ago.
She's surrounded by bits of bread- but not interested in eating- just the sun. ;) ( If you click on the photo to make it bigger you can see what fluffy underfeathers (down?) she has. Just guessing on the 'she'-by the way- as there is not alot of colouration difference btwn. males and females that I can see. )

It's always startling to walk passed the window and see this. The first time I saw this I was sure something horrible had happened......they don't call our one magpie variety "Butcher Birds" for nothing...

but even with knowing this is what they are doing- there is still always a moment where my heart skips a beat then the brain remembers.

I'll search through pics to see if I can find one of one upright so you can see. I know I took some the other day in the rain... what hoot - these birds are not particularly waterproof!LOL! *** Didn't find a dry bird photo- but here s/he is soggy ( and caught in mid blink- don't you just hate that when it happens?? ):

Garden update:

The zucchini plants are just growing like weeds this week- glad for the rain and now sunshine I guess! :) We have several tomato plants with small fruit and lots of blossoms.

The strawberries are coming along fine- still haven't figured a way to keep them off the ground from the bugs though. The dog managed to get into the bed of carrot seedlings so there is nothing really left there and the corn just didn't' grow where we planted it... maybe one seed. :(

The lettuce, pictured here, is going great.

As for spinning, I have some yarn to share- but don't have the photos of the finished skein yet- so will post ASAP for that. Made from wool batts hand dyed and created by Kathy Baschiera from Lobethal, SA......we discovered her at the first wool event we attended and two weekends ago went to the scarf exchange just to get some wool from her. I fully intend to take pics of what I got from her that day.....slow but sure. ;)

Today is Rememberance Day in Australia- at 11 am on the 11 of Nov. each year everyone is to stop for one minute and observe silence for the fallen of Australian Wars. ( If I didn't get that right- someone feel free to correct me- I am pretty new to this. )

Well- the guys are getting ready for the beach so better go for now - but perhaps I can get photos taken of the yarn and put online sooner rather than later! :)

Hope you are well.

Happy November! ( a day late...)

As promised- here are a few photos of my "boys"
ready for a local trick or treating...
we only ever go to just a few of the houses here on our street- only to folks we know and many weren't even home this time! Ah well. RJB still did really well and for two days now has begged me to "pwease wet me go twick or tweating?"?? It is SO hard to say no to that, but thankfully I can back up my lack of wanting to go begging on a daily basis by trying to explain (once again) that it is a 'once a year' thing. Not easy to explain to a three year old!
Without further ado- here you go!:



yes- the headband ( and matching tail that we didn't get a photo of....*sigh* )
were crocheted by me and then added some white wool for fur. I was rather proud of myself - it turned out really well over all. :D

This is a short post as it is raining and RJB wants to go for a walk before it gets dark- he just loves the rain. :) We have been having sprinkles and drizzles for two days now...... makes for a bit of a dreary day- but thank Heavens for the RAIN!

Hope you are well!

PS) Fibre event tomorrow- woo hoo! Will write more asap. :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEEN!!!!!!

OK- so it is still day time and I have no costume pics to share yet- but wanted to get my wish in on the day. Photos tomorrow or ASAP though. :)


Thought I would share pics of the "softly spoken" roving that I showed earlier in the month... the is the the yarn all washed and twisted. I have yet to measure it.
Good amount I'd say.
I plied it with itself ( 2 ply) so there isn't as much yardage as there 'could' be if I'd plied it with something else... but I'd wanted to try self-plying and this roving was the one. Soft muted colours so the 'candy cane' effect isn't so obvious. :)

Also-here is the last little bit of my bird of paradise yarn- this time plied with some plain white optim I had spun to try out a new spindle. Very small amount but I have plans for it. It's in the new bowl I got 2 weekends ago for 20c! :) :)

Thanks for looking - hope you have a hauntingly boo-tiful day! ;)

Hope you are well.

Nearly Halloween!

( This is RJB's way of saying "Happy Halloween"! Little foamie letters I cut out years ago that we found and we laid them out properly last night- this morning I found them like this in the front room with a patiently waiting RJB nearby waiting for my delight at how smart he is!! )

It's nearly haunting time again!

Here is a neat link you should try for some jack-o-lantern fun!

A real pumpkin ( the only one that survived last year despite the drought-it's small but it's ours! LOL! ) was carved last night- fun was had - here are a few pics to prove it: :)

Here is the finished item- the next day ( today) - after being lit and enjoyed for an hour or so last night before retiring for bed.

It's a bummer that daylight savings doesn't hold out for one more week here- so that it gets darker that little bit earlier for Halloween. Ah well.......

On the fibre front-I *did* get some spinning done over the weekend- and have "softly spoken" all spun and washed and ready to be photographed.....just haven't had the time to get to it. Will aim for later today.

Hope you are well!