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This was the sunrise a few days ago coming home from the gym. And below was the opposite direction. Lovely morning!

It was a busy week. The vet came to the house to check on Sadie’s foot and found a bleeding tumor. He will remove it here in his traveling clinic next week. I am so happy to be on his limited list of mobile animal care clinic customers. It is near impossible shoving the poor girls in crates and then hearing them cry all the way to the vet. And he is such a kind man.

And on Monday my wrench sign appeared on the dash board. I looked it up and it was a throttle problem…not getting gas. The manual said to take it to dealer quickly. So I did with one of the men coming to pick me up at the dealership to go back and have coffee. When I left it, I was told it might take a couple of days, but as soon as I got my coffee, they called to say they pushed it in early and I could pick it up after lunch because they had the part in stock. And my builder gave me a lift back to the dealership. I do live in a very considerate town. Such kindness.

I went to the poetry meeting here at the library and read another of my short but frank pieces that brought some laughter and very few, if any, suggestions on how to better write those thoughts down in poetry form. I did finally understand what a prose poem is and think that form will be good for a piece I am working on, titled, The Woods – a love story.

A children’s poet, Diana, from the poetry group followed me home to look at the finished story of Burke and Wills along with the placement of illustrations. We made very few adjustments to get the necessary “bounce” needed for children’s poetry and I consider the hard part finished! I also wanted Diana to read The Stoat Story to see if I should publish it. She found it a compelling page turner and loved the magic of it. She likened it to folktales. So next I pulled out The Fairy Book and the one with all the animals, bugs, and birds done in watercolor among the leaves in a book I bought from a contact printer in Australia. She thinks all of them should be published to reach a larger audience.

So went on Amazon and the KDP Publishing I used before. There is no way I can use the concertina form with them or other publishers. So that leaves turning separate pages. Plus KDP will only hardcover 75 pages or more. That forces me into soft cover children’s book formats that have to be 8″ square at the smallest since all the above mentioned books are much less than 75 pages. So now I know why so many children’s books look the same and are hard to distinguish from each other. I had wanted Burke and Wills in a 5 x 7 or 8 inch hardcover like the early children’s books from England…like Peter Rabbit.

I may have to resort to a Blurb print on demand that will be more expensive to buy but at least come close to what I have in my head. More eye numbing research is necessary.

All I need for Burke and Wills is a cover illustration…and that is the very best part of the project. They are so fun to draw!

And to finish off the week, I met a friend down in Georgia to look at an art exhibit and have lunch. The work was all collage work and I was pleasantly surprised how well thought out the images were. Of course my favorites had some actual drawing among the bits and pieces. So much “artwork” today has the appearance of an online course that results in such similar techniques and materials that it is hard to tell whose work is whose. But this was very diverse in the approach to collage imagery.

And then lunch. Right off the bat we were “carded” for requesting a chardonnay…seriously! Even my companion could not pass for 18 at just one glance. But asking me was a shock. I look every bit of my 79 years and should have been offered a free drink for just showing up at their restaurant. And I am facing this as I ask for that chardonnay!

Nice bar there. “You must be kidding!” was my response but soon found out that if I wanted that drink I needed to show my driver’s license. I asked the waitress to give an old lady time to find her wallet, locate the pocket that held the drivers license, and then fumble it out for her approval. She was not amused. The food seemed over-priced for what it was, but I was in a bit of different country down there, so maybe taxes are higher and staff is getting a decent wage for putting up with old ladies. To finish it off we had coffee with cream, no sugar. And here is how that arrived at the table.

Two tiny bowls with crossed large tablespoons. God only knows how the sugar would have shown up if we requested that. But I liked the atmosphere and especially the company. Brought leftovers home and didn’t have to fix dinner.

I think today is a good day for writing since now all washing and ironing is done. Now I will unload the dishwasher and fix something for lunch.

Til later…

 

Today I decided to unwrap the shirts and scraps of fabric. The previously Eucalyptus-dyed shirt that was too creamy beige liked going back in with tight wraps and iron. now has nice string wrap lines to give it more interest.

But the all white but a bit too creamy linen shirt did not cooperate. Came out looking more like cooked shrimp.

My old leaves are probably exhausted and did not make the marks I wanted. So tossed them out. It hurt a bit to do that but the California lady can always send me more.

So next I tied off sections so as not to get too much salmon color and wrapped one larger grey scrap. The small bluish ones were simply tossed in.

It looked like an octopus cooking in the pot. And because I wasn’t trusting the old iron piece to do its job, I threw in a couple tea bags and what might have been tea or coffee I found in a small tin from Christmas. Simmered this for quite some time…maybe an hour. Did not see a big difference so pulled out the final remedy, a couple teaspoons of ferrous sulphate. Walked away. Which was not the best idea. Came back in time to lift the lid and rescue the shirt and scraps.

Now I had grey! And leaf patterns showed up better. A detail.

And the scraps.

What was bluish/lavender is now a dusty orchid and the grey scrap is perfect for adding pockets to the newest grey shirt. All of it went into the machine for a good rinse and spin before ironing. Quite the mess to clean up but worth it.

And I wouldn’t have got stuck into doing this if two ladies (who might not be seeing too well) complimented me on the older grey shirt that was too pale so I tied leaves into it and find that none of the salad dressing spills show now.

And finally, in the mood to get some sewing done this next week, I went to a couple of op shops and bought extra large men’s shirts to harvest cloth from to add some interest to some boring clothes. Thank you, Kate Fletcher for soldiering on in this type of recycling. You, Aujke and Suzi BJ are such an inspiration. I don’t think most people in my new area would ever wear these overdyed, reused bits in clothing which are so comfortable!

Nothing else new…except one thing…just when I decided not to return to the restaurant Lee had such good times with good company over the years, one of the fellows from the corner came in the following morning and asked if we could go together to that restaurant because he’d not been there. How nice is that? Company in the restaurant where I get a hug when I show up and get the best food around.  My dinner that I thought was my farewell one on Thursday night was sea scallops and the best pumpkin soup! He and I are waiting until the weather gets a bit cooler. A thoughtful fellow who I share favorite children’s stories with.

That reminds me that Burke and Wills is now all written and ready for the poetry lady to look over. this is such a nice area of thoughtful people.

My stitches are out and the face is looking more normal. The doctor told me to go have a scotch…so I think it is close to time for that.

Til later…

The other day I opened the sewing trunk that serves as a bench in the front hall area.

And removed anything that might be usable for clothing that was among all the linen pieces. Those and the tattered shawl to press and take another look at. I even found a small stack of purely Australian printed swatches

It felt good to put the iron to everything I pulled out….especially the shawl of pigments with holes and stitches.

One stack of pressed linen went in with new two metre lengths of linen bought in the last two months for pants or tops. Small scraps went into a bag for patchwork. And some of those were rolled up with the leftover Eucalyptus leaves that I ordered from California several months ago.

That bundle and two shirts from my closet that I filled with more leaves and wrapped tight, were put in a pot with iron and simmered for three hours yesterday. The iron scrap is from a leg of an old wood stove that I bought in 1997 on my first trip to Australia. I was in a recycle shop and the man who took my money was incredulous, “Don’t you Americans have rusty things at home?!” I tried to tell him that it was not the same thing but to no avail. He thought I was nuts.

I love that smell of cooking cloth with leaves and seed pods from Eucalyptus. Now the three bundles are sitting in a bucket on the porch for a week or so before I unwrap them. A good day it was…the smell in the house with fond memories.

I folded up the shawl and then went through my threads to do more stitching into the loosely patched areas. It is like holding a cloud when I work on it.

And I get to use Marla’s gift of an old book turned into a sewing kit. Lovely.

When I finish this over the winter, it should be completely held together with stitching.

My soup from the other day turned into what Adele Outteridge calls, “spoon standing soup”. Two meals a day of this is not getting too boring but I did like having lunch out today.

I get my ugly stitches removed tomorrow morning after I go to the gym. Tuesday morning it was a lovely sunrise when I was leaving there.

By the time I went around two curves to get back home, it looked like this. A beautiful morning.

The dogwood tree out back is turning and showing it’s berries. And the red fountain grass loves being near the pond.

I am still writing and looking over the Burke and Wills story. It will need total concentration to make it all sound right. And in the meantime I thought it would be fun to also publish the Stoat Story. I spent most of yesterday afternoon trying to find the original word document on my computer. No luck! Where did it go? I tried all the searches but only the illustrations show up…none of the text. So I will have to take my own copy of the book and write it all down from there to get it into a word document that can be arranged with the illustration that part of the story goes with. In my limited edition of the story all the pictures were connected end to end in a concertina form with the text below. I won’t be able to do that if I self publish through Amazon under Sandy Webster. But it is just another challenge to figure out.

There was such a collection of pictures I had to get a blog written to get them used. So this one might seem a bit scattered. Next week I will be able to show the leaf contact printed cloth and shirts. No more soup making for at least a month. I am taking myself out to dinner tomorrow night to celebrate something…maybe getting stitches out…maybe finding lost documents…maybe just having good food and wine. Or maybe writing a good poem for the poetry meeting next week.

Speaking of writing, my first royalty checks have been deposited. Thank you to those here in this country and those very good people down in Australia.

Better go…could use a walk and another search through the computer.

Til later….

 

One day for out patient surgery on my face. All is fine but it took a couple of days to get the anesthetic to wear off. No gym, no tai chi, no walking, and no wine!

I will see the doctor Monday for a follow up

Before my surgery I had time to sample the wares of the baker who moved into the kitchen where we all have coffee in the morning. She is superb. And on the first day she made the longed-for cinnamon rolls. Delicious! from there she went to an apple cider French toast made with brioche, pecans and  fresh apples from an orchard about an hour away. There are so many things coming out of the oven when I get there a bit before 8 in the morning, Monday through Friday.

Then another cinnamon roll to welcome me back from my day away is pictured with a couple of butternut squashes decorated with a smile. The men are gathering in the background pondering what to order for breakfast.

I did manage to put some of my own banana bread in the freezer and had some this morning with my latte. Dorinda the baker does not bake on weekends and as soon as she leaves at one each day she heads off to her “real” job as a paralegal. Amazing woman. My banana bread looks nothing like hers.

And while we are on food, I have the last of every vegetable, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, red pepper, celery, carrots, garlic, onion, spinach, tomatoes, all in a pot with ditali pasta. It will last me for several meals.

I worked on Burke and Wills and now have them well situated in the nursing home.

Now it is just constant reading aloud and changing words. My children’s poetry friend from the poetry group told me I tended to have eight syllables on most lines and that was a good number to stay with. It never occurred to me to count them! No wonder I seek her advice. I think the hard part of telling this story is over, but there will be plenty of edits before I want to put it all together. The final decision on where the nineteen illustrations go has been made

I need another project to get started on. Watching the end of the film based on Margaret Atwood’s novel, Alias Grace, today made me want to thread a needle and just stitch on something big. The quilts in the movie and her hands threading needles and holding layers of cloth were mesmerizing. I am going to open the large sewing trunk this week and seriously get out some cloth. I am thinking about the large linen shawl that had earth pigments and then hand stitching to get through the difficult news of Lee’s dementia. It was such a soothing and worn cloth. There were holes from the green earth full of an acids that needed sewn over. And rows and rows of kantha stitches in colors.

I wonder about cutting it up to piece back together with another cloth that has been waiting in the trunk. Something big that will take all winter and stay on my lap by a cozy fire.

I am also going to do a bit of sewing on clothes. I bought the most amazing linen in a grey with a hint of green this week. Washed and dried, it is begging to be made into pants. Today I have on the ones I covered with patches because a hole wore through the seat. And you can’t just have a patch on the rear end. They needed patches in different places as well to look right. They are so soft!

So after I see the surgeon on Monday and get to the hairdresser the same day, I am going to open that trunk, pull out my favorite patterns and the new linens that are waiting, and SEW!

Til later….