Talk about...

Working my fingers to the bone.  Well, kind of.  My very rude friend Ms Creek had the nerve to suggest I was a lazy cow now that I wasn't working, and perhaps my last post about the joys of lunching whilst somebody else (and a man, to boot) cleaned my house, might have led you to believe (especially some of my newer readers, welcome, welcome, sit down, no, here, sit here, have a drink, ice?  Biscuit?  No, I didn't make them, sorry about that.  No, really.) that I was a lazy cow, but you, Gentle Readers, know better.  You know that under this slightly tubby, slightly slovenly** exterior, is a workaholic.  Well, a sew-a-holic.  Well, more of a "I've got to be doing something with my hands-aholic".  


Just as an aside, Gentle Readers, don't you think that there should be a better term than '...aholic' to denote somebody who needs to be doing stuff, all the time?  I don't like that it is derived from 'alcoholic', knowing a few of those, unhappy souls that they are, I don't like it at all, and I want a better term.  I know that the Oxford English Dictionary is looking for people to adopt words that are in danger of dying out through lack of use, and I personally have adopted 'Traboccant', which means 'super-abundant'.  It's kind of appropriate for me, in that I have super-abundant amounts of fabric, ribbon, books, CD's, DVD's, buttons, dust... you get the picture.


Anyway, I'm thinking of digging out the Thesaurus to find a better word than xxx-aholic, and when I do, rest assured I'll let you know.  I know that you'll be worrying until then, but don't fret.  I'll sort it out.


Right, where was I?  Oh yes.  We went to the beautiful Hunter Valley and I made a panoply of presents... (see, big word slipped in there, but more about big words later, perhaps next post?)

And the weather was exceeding kind:

and we had visits from all different kinds of birds, some successful, and some, not so much:

Poor little fire-tailed finch crashed into a bedroom window - how beautiful his plumage is...

And these blurry specks are the local eagles, we saw two breeding pairs yesterday, floating round on the thermals about the house:

And finally, the Jacarandas are magnificently in flower, all over the district:

And now, Gentle Readers, lunch is calling me, and I must then away, away to the sewing machine, for some traboccant Christmas gift-making.


Ciao!


**Slovenly - defined in my book as somebody who buys her clothes from catalogues, and only goes into shops when she has to go to a wedding, funeral or formal function.  Yours?

Scotland Island

Today, Remaining Gentle Readers, my friend Deb and I, her mother and the kidlets, are venturing out to Scotland Island for the Bi-Centennial Celebration of Existence (or something) - the official blurb says "Enjoy Scotland Island and offshore Pittwater's bicentenary celebration with a traditional fair day; displays, stalls, re-enactments, wandering minstrels and dusk lantern parade, and an exhibition "Postcards from Pittwater" of images than explore our history and sense of place and community."


Should be a blast - I'm taking the camera, of course, so there should be an abundance of photos of people eating, drinking, minstrelling, parading, stalling, re-enacting and whatever else they get up to over there - which includes an oft-repeated rumour of wife-swapping and general licentious living, but as we'll have the kidlets with us, there won't be any of that being done by us, unless a glass of wine qualifies.  



I won't be partaking of that because things are still not quite normal on the TMI front, but I made a flying visit to the Doc yesterday and she sacrificed a chicken, shook the rattle and beat the drums, then gave me more antibiotics.  Can't beat modern medicine.  




I also bought some lovely fabrics yesterday, to fill the small (non-existent) hole made by the creation of the nine birdies from last week, and now I'm looking for a home for quite a lot of dress-making fabric, and a box of yarn... oddments... is probably the best way to describe them.  Ah!  I have a friend who crochets!  Yvette #1, would you be interested?  Let me know, the usual way.  You might be lucky and get them at the same time as I finally hand over the lavender bags for your winning comment on the Sydney Pies.  





Progress on the Pies is... slow.  I was going to Pie today, but the lure of Sun, Minstrels and Good Company proved too strong - it's going to be too hot to venture out soon enough, so while it's just warm & sunny, I'm going to get some Vitamin D.  





Mr Golightly has made fantastic progress on the new shoe cupboard/bench/storage unit in the bedroom, but I'm not posting pictures until it's painted, which will be real soon now, I promise.




And that, Remaining Gentle Readers, is it for me, for now.  Provided I'm not off roistering with a minstrel, I will try & post some pictures from today's adventure, tonight.




Have a wonderful Sunday!