Another quilt finish

I recently finished this quilt as a special gift incorporating some of Surrey's shirts and some Star Wars and Batman fabrics.

I hope the recipient likes it.

Royal Botanic Gardens 200th Birthday Picnic

Those who were watching the ABC News on Monday night might have caught a glimpse of Ma and Ivy. We were photographed at the Royal Botanic Gardens 200th Birthday Picnic. It was a great morning and we found John P so were able to have a long chat and walk together, catching up on old times and new ventures. Lea from St Stephens Choir also met up with us.

Of course we took our picnic rug made from Surrey's shirts to include him in the picnic too.

Retirement is very very hectic

It has been ages since I updated my blog and I feel it is about time.

Since my return from Tassie I have been occupied with

• Grandkids - I really enjoy any moments I have with my two boys and Ivy. Ivy and I spend Thursdays together each week and every second Tuesday. She just loves being outside so I am able to do small jobs in the garden whilst playing with her.

"Where is it?

"stars"

• House repair - I've had various jobs done that I could not do myself. The window washing man (fabulous) cleaned windows inside and out, upstairs and down, took down all my curtains so I could wash them, replaced all my fire alarm batteries and a light globe, adjusted the night light sensor at the front and refitted one of the curtain rod brackets! He then said if there were any other bits and pieces I needed done to just ring him. Then there was gutter cleaning man. I had a plumber come to fix taps that had started to disintegrate. And Geoff spent most of a day with me doing odd bits of heavy work mostly outside. My dishwasher broke down and had to be replaced. Then I was offered 3 new single beds to replace some broken ones I had.

• Visiting doctors for the usual body maintenance - I've been trying to have this back-hip-leg-knee thing investigated with an xray and ultrasound used to find issues. I had had to curtail activities because I was in such pain. Last Monday I had a steroid injection in my hip bursa and that has made some difference in the amount of pain I have. I do hope it works for a long time. Maybe I won't need that wheelie walker too soon now. While all this has been going on I have stopped pilates but hope to start up again soon. My monthly massages are an absolute must though and keep me moving.

• Gardening - In the last few weeks I have had the paving under the back windows and down the drive redone. Now there are no steps and rough areas for when I need to exit the property with my wheelie walker (not necessary yet though). In this process all sorts of other bits of the garden have needed sorting. The paver man used all the good bricks I had used as garden edges and retaining walls so all these had to be replaced by me. Not quite finished that yet. Then I used some of the concrete blocks from the driveway to extend the concrete path to the chook shed so I can go up and collect eggs in soft shoes. The paver man also moved all the rose pots so I am having to put them somewhere for the long term. That will be a slower job. As Surrey always said if you finished everything then you would have nothing left to do and that would be sad. 

Before

After

• Singing - lots and lots of practice. This weekend I have two major functions, a choral matins at church on Sunday morning in which most of the service will be sung (except the sermon and readings), followed by the Sutherland Choral Society concert - Durufle's Requium and Schubert's Mass in G. On the June long weekend I'll be taking part in Chorus Oz with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs performing Handel's Israel in Egypt (I've been doing my own practise with that one as it is completely new to me). Just because we all felt like something to fill our time I had a choir lunch at my place today.

• Quilting  - Unfortunately I am not getting much of my own patchwork done but I still attend the group at Kogarah Library every second week and also have the Rainbow Connection Quilters here every two months. As well as that I am making new curtains to replace the ones that fell apart in the wash.

• Projects - Just occasionally I am asked to help with projects like the plant cheat sheets for the Tassie Devils trip and I love the challenge of doing that sort of educational/botanical work. However, the other day I was asked if I could volunteer on a lizard behaviour project which I declined - they wanted me full time for a month!! I don't think so! When would I get time to do that?

• Travelling - since Tassie my travels have only taken me to the city, to Ulladulla and to Berry but I do have a long trip lined up for later in the year which will be exciting. Then there are visits to Underhill when I can. Surrey's birthday picnic was a small affair with Geoff and family. The tree is progressing well.

Surrey's tree is the one directly behind Geoff.

• Friends -  of course most of these activities are peppered with socialising with friends in various ways. Keeping up with friends (online, by phone or in person) is probably one of the most important parts of retirement as friends keep your mind and body active as well as giving joy and laughter in many small ways. Thank you to all my friends.

So if you are wondering why I don't update my blog as often as you look at it, or you can't actually get me on the phone, perhaps this explains a little. I will return emails and return messages left on my phone as soon as I can. 

Vale Surrey Jacobs

Today it is 5 years since Surrey died leaving behind a host of bereft family and friends.

John Williamson's song "Flower on the water" was played at his funeral and could have been written for him. Surrey loved frangipanis and I had them in my bouquet when we were married. Listen to it again at http://youtu.be/itjYcO9Jsx0

We will not be visiting his tree as a family today but must find time to seek it out again soon. It is still doing well. And so are we... there are many things I need to talk to Surrey about and I just have to make up the answers. Maybe my answer is wrong but I do my best and hope he accepts it. However, I'm sure he'd love the new roof down at Underhill and all the consequences of that. I'm also sure he'd love to see how wonderfully Ellen and Geoff's families are progressing. I'm not so sure he'd love all the tidying I've done at home though.

The thing I miss most is just him, being there to have a hug, getting that all-knowing smile at something I've done (like tidying up or moving the furniture) and always a word or two of sense. I think, between us all we are still doing OK.

Rod said it all on facebook today...
"Today marks 5 years of the passing of my father in law and Mate Surrey.
He left a big mark on a lot of people's lives and I'm proud to say I was one of them. Today my thoughts go out with extra meaning to his immediate family today as I'm sure we/they will all shed a tear.
There is so much more I could say but I believe the song below says a lot it."
 http://youtu.be/itjYcO9Jsx0  

Underhill Demolition Begins

Geoff and I have now cleared the covered areas at Underhill ready for the rooves to be removed.

We have now exposed lots more termites and are extremely glad that this job is starting at last. It would not be too long before the rooves collapsed on us. Surrey was watching them rot away over the last few years of his life and knew he would not be able to build any replacements. Geoff and I (and Ponyo) spent some time reflecting on good times as well as reasons for choices that have been made over the years.

We now have empty spaces where walls and furniture has 'always' been.

 We also have a rather large blue "Noah's Ark" of furniture covered in a few huge tarps that are tied down. I do hope they are protected enough until the new roof is ready.

The new roof is to have METAL uprights which we hope will thwart the termites a bit.

Surrey's gift

Over the years Surrey gave me rose plants that had sometimes flowered but languished until he planted some in pots in full sun. Seeing how well these few did I then transplanted all the old ones into large pots in full sun. With this recent rain they are now doing famously and I could not resist a photo of my latest bunch which includes Firefighter, Papa Meilland, Peace, Brandy, Mother's Love and Avon. The perfume in the dining room is wonderful.

What a lovely way to remember my generous, loving man.

My new coat

When I was sorting Surrey's clothes out to send to charity I kept his many cotton shirts for patchwork fabric. However, I also kept his polar fleece coats and vests as I had seen some lovely patchwork results with those as well. On the weekend before last I made a coat for me with lots of significant fabrics from my stash. I cut the side seams, underarm seams and sleeve seams to leave me with a flat surface but kept the collar and zip intact. I then sewed on strips of fabric to cover the surface and resewed the seams, resetting the sleeves.

I am really pleased with the result and hope to get a lot of use from it in cold weather. At the moment it is too hot to even model it.

Surrey's Birthday Picnic

A few of us gathered at Surrey's tree in the Botanic Gardens today to celebrate his birthday just a few days late.

Thanks to all who came to join with me. It was certainly a beautiful day for a picnic.

Surrey's Grass Quilt

Can you imagine how I felt some months ago when I opened a parcel from my friends Suzy and Valerie in the UK to find Surrey's writing embroidered on a quilt full of grasses!

I forgot to put the image up here for everyone because it came not long before I left for my travels and I needed to take a photo of it.

Suzy had emailed Surrey to ask for drawings of some grasses that were meaningful to him, ones he'd worked on or collected especially. He sent her photocopies of quite a few and also hand written names and places where they occur. Suzy then proceeded to create this beautiful quilt top with quilted paths leading from the grass to the place name around the edge of the quilt.

Her friend Valerie then quilted the whole thing and finished it ready to be exhibited in the Malvern Quilt Show in the UK this year.

What an amazing memory. Surrey would have been flabbergasted! He knew it was coming and lots of emails and letters went back and forth with various clarifications of names etc (Surrey's handwriting was not easy to decipher as most of you know).

A big formal thank you to Suzy and Valerie for this amazing work. I had it hanging for a while before I left but then folded it away. I will be hanging it again soon.

Back to Adams

Monday 17 October

Well this is my last few days in Adams so I need to spend time checking flights and baggage allowances and posting things.

Overnight the temperature was down to about 1 C so an extra blanket was needed, especially as I do like my window open just a little.

I went online to check flights and hit my first two issues. Firstly, the flight out of Salt Lake City has been moved later by half an hour so I might have to change that one. I'll either check it when I get there or by phone from here. Secondly, the Air Canada flights to get home do not show up online. I rang to check those to find that unless you book them online they don't show online – seems strange!

Marion and I drove down to the PO and I asked the lady there to calculate all sorts of options. Once we had done banking and grocery shopping I returned home to pack and weigh my postal box. Am now posting things through to Mary as the cheapest option for getting them home.

After we'd finished with the packing and postal activities Marion and I did some more sewing. She has now finished her block for our next group quilt. I have almost finished another 'twister' table mat with 2 matching coasters. I'll try to finish those tomorrow as I'd like to give them to Marion and Barre before I go. We had a bit of an issue when the sewing machine jammed but Marion was able to fix it.

The day finished with dinner and TV and a bit of botany for Barre and I trying to identify on of the waterplants Surrey had planted in our back yard.

Tuesday 18 October

This morning I was able to finish the little gift for Barre and Marion after a bit of unpicking. I am quite pleased with the result.

I then spent the day reading, typing up various bits and pieces and catching up on all the other blogs and websites I like to follow. I even spent time cleaning up my computer.

I needed to get a bit closer to Surrey today feeling quite lonely so I spent a bit of time browsing our old blog and reading all the lovely comments again that others have added.

After dinner Harold (who had driven Surrey and I to the airport last time) came to visit and brought me some maple sugar sweets.

Wednesday 19 October

My first task today, even before breakfast was to change my Delta flight from Salt Lake City to Seattle. The lady on the phone wanted to charge me $800 so I yelled and ranted that as they had changed the flight time so I missed my connecting flights to Australia I did not feel that expense was appropriate. Hopefully I am now booked on an earlier flight at no extra charge except bags. I'll even try to pay my bags with my accumulated frequent flyer miles.

Next there was washing to be done. I have decorated the lounge room with that because that is the warmest room.

The rest of the day was spent with Barre writing a plant identification key and Marion and I finishing two more of her charity quilts. I was great to sew watching the fall happen right outside the window with leaves blowing down and scattering across the lawn (much to Barre's annoyance).

We went out for Chinese for dinner and it was delicious.

Thursday 20 October – Adams to Albany

I was well awake by 6:30 this morning and went downstairs to finalise folding washing and packing. Once everything was downstairs and in suitcases (I hope I am not overweight) Marion got out her civil war quilt blocks that she had left unfinished because she was having problems with what to do next. By lunch time we had worked it all out and the blocks all now have sashing and are ready to be joined together to form the quilt top. It is a beautiful quilt and will look fantastic when finished.

As we left the house and Adams it was obvious that the fall colours were at an end. Many of the trees had lost their leaves while others were just dull yellow-browns. Fall does not last very long.

At about 2 pm we left for Albany where Barre had booked me into the Best Western Airport Hotel. We dumped my bags then enjoyed dinner together (albeit only 4:30 pm) at the Olive Garden. Surrey and I had stayed and eaten at the same places last visit.

After dinner I bid farewell to Barre and Marion hoping to see them back in Australia some time soon. I then walked back to the motel and settled in for the evening. It is very lonely in a motel room all on my own but I'll update the blog and get some reading done.

Botanising in New England

Last week I spent a magic time with botanists from around the world in the New England area. We travelled in a mini bus (13 in all) and saw a variety of habitats and some very rare plants.

This photo by Jeremy (our leader)

We experienced dense rainforests

 breathtaking waterfalls

huge trees

tiny mosses and lichens

elusive birds

one koala

beautiful patterns in nature

windswept heathlands

beaches and rivers

We also saw whales spouting and some dolphins frolicking in the distance.

 

And of course there was lots of fun socialising around food.

Many of the travellers knew Surrey and I was pleased to hear all sorts of reminiscences about him during the trip. I also met Fran and Margaret who were interested in patchwork and education. Chatting about these was a dimension to the trip that I had not expected and was delighted to have had.

I have lots of other photos and a journal of the trip if anyone is interested in more.