Shells

I finished my green blanket, I had bought a tube of five different shades of green, actually I bought two tubes and I just crochet from dark to light with white in the middle.

The plan was to do a border in white to pull it all together. 

I knew how I wanted it to look except I had not done it before. 

I practised on slippers last night then this afternoon, I decided to bite the bullet and just do it. 

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Japanese knot bags

The charity that I make things for also need bags to hold toiletries. Today I used the last of the inserts for the quilts so not making any more of those for awhile. I had some cord so I made four drawstring bags to use that up.

Now I am making knot bags, they have one longer handle that the other so it can be looped over. When we were first in China it wasn't unusual to see women walking on the streets and knitting. The wool was contained a bag over their arm, it was probably something like these. 

Woodford

We went for a drive today, a very small windy road and ended up at a great look out. It wasn't the greatest day, cold and windy but we could just make out the sea.

Needed coffee and something to go with it to warm up so down the mountain we went and into one of our fav bakeries for a steak and kidney pie.

Took a short walk so Warren could scale a tree.

We passed this huge tree. Would not have liked being around when it came down.

Linville

We didnt know that Linville's pub had/has not one one but three resident ghosts. Part of the pub used to be as a mortuary. There were a few deaths connected to the building and running of the railway track.

An interesting house alongside the pub.

 The railway station was across the road.

We walked out on the railway track which the rails have been pulled up and it is now a bike and walking track.

Lunch!

Our new oven and stovetop was scheduled to be installed on a Wednesday afternoon about 3pm.

It was a cold day and I decided to make soup for lunch. Warren came home from tennis and told me that there had been a change of plan and the electrician would arrive about 12.30 just when lunch was going to be ready.

We decided to turn off the soup so the stove top could cool down, but the problem was lunch. An easy solve, hamburgers from the local shop. They are good and filling and we don't have them very often.

This is a works burger, complete with salad, cheese, beetroot, pineapple and onion, need a knife and fork to deal with it. I could only manage to eat half of it but it was good!

Last week it was the swap of ovens.

I was thinking of a counter top small oven probably something like an air fryer. We were heading out as it was house cleaner day but it was raining so I suggested we go and look at one.

Only a couple in the stores and they were more like a toaster oven, not what I wanted at all. Warren said that we really needed to upgrade the oven and stove top.

Two hours later, we had bought both, got given a discount of both which was a surprise but who am I to knock back a $150 discount? The stove top was floor stock as it was the only one left. Also arranged the installation.

Old one.

New one. There is a drawback that we have discovered. The knobs are black which I like but at night, they are hard to see. Warren says he will paint the ridge white or silver so I can see what temp to dial up.

An Early Delivery

We (Warren) had to be up early this morning as during last week, he got a text to say that our new sofa will be arriving between 7.15 and 9am today.

We had seen and ordered it in the first days of the easing of lockdown restrictions. One place that we looked at, had theirs in stock but we preferred the one we bought although we had a four or five week wait. Well, that turned into longer as we think ours went into Morton Bay when container fell off a ship back in June as just after that we got a call to say that it wouldn't be available until August. I figured that the rest of the money could stay in our bank account until then.

We were going to get two single chairs but when we saw this and sat in it, we were sold on it. It is electric so there are buttons for everything and usb ports.

The backs came separate and we had to put it together, after we opened one of the armrests and discovered the instructions! Thankfully we didnt need them. 

You know it's school holidays when.......

There are strange animals in the mall. Although I am not sure why as the movies were still closed when these appeared.

I guess it keeps the though alive of what may be coming in the near future.

They are animated so they make sounds as well as turn their heads etc. We didn't spent very long in the mall, I had to go to the PO and Warren needed something plus we were out of milk. That doesn't happen often but had a 2lt fresh milk that was off.

We went in different directions, got what was needed and back again in about fifteen minutes. Interesting to see that the eatery was closed but cafes and takeaways around were operating.

Bunya park zoo

That was what I knew it as forty years ago. That is terrible that I can say things like that, where did that time go.
Anyway we went a few days ago and it is now called Bunya park nursery. Not sure why although there were a few workers around, maybe they grow plants to sell at retail outlets.

It was a small zoo with animals set over a few acres, dirt paths set out and a couple of suspension bridges to walk over. I remember a bird enclosure that was about four metres high with the double gates, that is still there but now houses frigs in bathtubs and called Frog hollow.

It was nice to walk along the paths and it had a nice earthy smell. One area was a fairy garden, lots of kids in there and we saw small fairy doors on trees. We headed in the other direction but I was taken by a tree.

And then there was the bubbling brook, I was standing on the suspension bridge to take it.

Fish and chips at the beach

I met my small group of friends at the park earlier this week. It was really nice sitting in the sun and chatting. It was lunchtime when I got home and I suggested to Warren that we should do F&C at the beach.

He was agreeable so off we went minus Lucy. We have often taken her but when seats need cordoned off and separated it can be difficult with her.

I parked at the small takeaway and once we had our white paper package we headed to the small park overlooking the beach. To our surprise, there were kids mucking in the water. They were having a whale of a time, in the water and throwing wet sand at each other.

I was surprised at the cost of the fish and chips, $34. We didn't like we had ordered very much but it was too much to eat and heated up became our dinner as well with a salad.

 Blue skies and sun plus I didn't have to cook.

This guy was just asking for his photo to be taken.

Generations gap

Today watching Ellen, there was a competition. Apparently in a previous show, they had a Baby boomer on and suggested that she take a photo with a digital camera and she had it back to front. I would have thought that someone from that era would have been okay but no. I checked the ages for BBs and they were born between 1947 and 196, put me slap bang in the middle.

Today they chose a millenium which I thought should have been born since 2000 but Mr Google tells me that the ages are between 26 and 40 years of age. The girl who they pulled out of the audience had graduated from uni and she looked about 20.

Anyway, they showed her three items from Baby boomer times. One was a boom box, a manual typewriter and lastly a 35mm camera.  She had a couple of guesses before she got to a boombox, the other two she did know. Then the test. She had to find a certain radio station, Ellen had to help with the aerial. With the typewriter, she had to load the paper and type a sentence putting the paper in was a challenge an trying to load the camera with film was a nightmare for her. She ended up closing the back with half the film hanging out. She did receive a 65cm tv for her five minutes of fame.

Good to know that we do have skills that not everyone has. 

Pocket scarves

I took a week off creating thing for K4BN, a charity that I knit, crochet and sew for, to make something for me.

I had read and seen these pocket scarves   and bought wool to make one, actually I bought two different lots of wool because I was undecided which one I liked better.

Just shy of the week and I had it finished, it was my own pattern and it ended up bigger than I imagined.

It is quite heavy.

The colour is more true in this pic.

As I had the other wool, I made that up as well but did make it smaller

The green one took three days and has longer tassels.

Now back to crocheting some beanies and now a squarish blanket in red grey and black.

A visit with Duncan.

Who the heck is Duncan?  Well, I discovered that Duncan or Lieutenant Duncan to give him him full title was the first guy to alight at Anzac Cove.

He seemed to be a small man and reminded me of three of my uncles who were a similar size and height. The fourth brother, who was the second born was over six foot and quite broad, the other three were around five foot four or five.

Back to Duncan, there are replicas of boats in the background posing as flower beds. At the base of them up to his statue are footsteps. Closest to the boat, they are quite deep showing that he jumped into the sand. I guess, reasonably simple to do but I was amazed at the detail. Around the area were stones with amplifier telling the stories of the landing etc. On one path, there was gun fire and sounds of marching which made Lucy move as far away as she could get from the noise.

Coolum Beach

We drove up the coast last week and walked along the boardwalk before sharing a banana split at an outdoor cafe.

This was the board walk, nice and wide. It's was a beautiful winter's day.

Fig trees

Saw this massive tree and it's roots or vines.
I thought it may have been possible to walk through it but the vines were too thick. It did throw a lot of shade though.

From a fair distance away.

The kid about to walk through was about ten.

A great mural

Wow, this mural certainly catches people's eye.

It is entitled "On top of the world".

The gardens around it were pretty impressive as well.