spinning and rain

With so much rain there does not seem to be much else to do than spin, spin, spin. I have just finished these two. I decided to branch out into greens and this is what I came up with. I really like the colour combination and how it turned out.

Then on the weekend I went to a spinning workshop and ended up with this purple and tencle. I really like the tencle but it was not so soft on the hands to spin. This is a lot more purple, the photo does not seem to show that up.

Atleast with all this rain there are some blooms of colour out in the garden to cheer us all up. The rain does not seem to have upset these lovelies. And I even have a red rhododendron out at the moment. I think this is totally the wrong time for this one but who cares, it makes me happy evcery time I see it. I hope everyone else has equally as nice things in their gardens to make them happy as it still continues to rain.

a little trip

I have just had a litlle trip away. And I do mean a "little" trip. I went away up to the north of the state for a few days. Left the kids behind and had the tables turned as I was the child travelling with my parents. We headed off for the north to celebrate a relatives 100th birthday.
I could not think of a better reason to celebrate. This is the only person I know who has reached such a great age. I even got to see the letter from the Queen, the Govenor General and the prime minister.

During the trip I got to meet 2paw and had a great chat with her. She had so kindly copied a missed episode of grand designs for me. And I must say I did love the house design. She also was so kind as to have made me a fab bag, and inside Truffles. YUMMMMMM. I am so in admiration of people that can sew, and 2paws bag was so cool. Thankyou.
I had a really nice stay away and on the way home we stopped off for a relaxing walk in the Tamar Valley wetlands. It is all board walked and is edged by reeds.

This wetland has a huge array of bird life, not that I was quick enough to photo many of the birds but here I have taken a photo of their footprints in the mud flats. There were black swans, geese, red hooded plovers(tiny birds that race around), hawks etc. It was such a beautiful walk with so much to look at. There was also loud frog croaks and bird calls to accompany me on my walk.

This is the final destination, a little island in the middle of the river. I didn't have enough time to stop for a picnic on this trip, but have done so in the past. Ahhh a really relaxing way to finish off a good little trip.

New arrivals

It has taken me a week to post this as I will explain as I go . BUT last thursday morning I woke to two new and absolutely adorable lambs. At first I only saw one but both ewes had a little white lamb at foot. We had all waited expectantly to see if our brown sheep would give us a brown lamb. I dont think you could get much whiter.

This is the first lamb for milo, she was a little skinny but ever so cute. She has the genes to be a really good wool sheep.

Here is our other lamb. A little boy I think we will name blackie as he has a black dot on his nose.

After watching these cuties for a while and feeding the mums I thought it was time to head off for my spinning day. I was so excited I told everyone the great news. When I left spinning, heading to parent help at school I decided to quickly dash home and drop my wheel off. As I drove down the drive I slowed down to catch a sight of the lambs. To my complete horror I saw two large brown hawks or eagles attacking a lamb. So I jumped out of the car and raced over to the paddock saying not very nice things about the birds. The poor lambs eye had been pecked and it was still alive and thrashing about. I went into rescue mode and bundled it up, raced it into the house and wrapped it up, tried to warm it up and started looking for the lamb formula and lamb jumper.
I decided it needed more help than I could give it and raced it off to the vet. They were not too optomistic about survival, but gosh you have to try. I refused putting it down and the vet gave it oxygen, antibiotics, fluid etc. And an hour later I took it home.
I penned up the mum and expressed milk, which the lamb drank. Yaaaaah I though it seems to be doing really well. But alas It died at 7pm.
As much as I know it is only nature for birds to do this I was still devistated to actually see them attack such a vunerable little animal. Ireally did not know if I wanted to go through this ever again. It all just seemed so unfair. And this was my good wool sheep.
Maybe when I grow up I will be better able to cope with this. Death itself is not the issue with me, It is the pain and suffering inflicted that I find so hard to deal with.

Handspun for sale

Multi blue merino mix
skein 11om approx $15
skein 80m approx $12
skein 106m approx $15
skein 116m approx $15(Pending) plus postage

Aqua merino mix
skein110m approx $15
skein 210m approx $30 plus postage

Red merino mix
skein 46m approx
skein 46m approx
$30 plus postage

Rainbow Border Lester and cotton thread.
skein 144m approx.
skein 82m approx. $30 plus postage

winter rest

This pretty well much describes us all at the moment. Tired, tired, tired. Number 1 child and dog were happily asleep on the couch last night. Little pepper started sleeping on top of number 1 then decided he was not close enough so he then snuggled in between the couch and number 1's back.
There has been so much rain over the last weeks that it is hard to get outside and play without getting covered in sloppy mud. So we are all just waiting for some sunshine to dry up the ground so we can all enjoy going outside again. And I cant wait until the dogs can play outside without getting totally wet and muddy. Lets hope it dries up before any lambs decide to arrive.

Signal Station

This lovely house is now the signal station cafe and it was the perfect place for a morning tea break after an early morning soccer game for boys.

There used to be a number of signal stations along the river. Each signalling to the next to tell of the arrival of ships, and of course the occasional convict escape. FRom this one you can see all the way down the river to the mouth of the river and then back up into town. Luckily the rain had stopped on Saturday so we were able to sit in the glassed in verander and enjoy the view. So very nice after standing on the frosted grass for an hour.

A wonderful day

This day has started in such a good way that it is surely telling me something. After a weekend of rain, rain and rain( you would think there was not anything left in those clouds anymore) I was really pleased to see the sun shine through the clouds today.
After encouraging myself to get to the pool this morning, Monday always seems hard work in the water, I was really glad I talked myself into it. I always find the water leaves me relaxed and slightly happier. I must be a true water child.
So what a great surprise I got as I arrived home to find sunshine, blue sky and as I walked to the house I looked up to the sky to see one of our local Wedge tailed eagles gliding right over my head. He was very low and glided right over my head. What a sight.
I just stood and watched him until he disapeared behind the trees. Oh to be a bird.

Atleast with all this rain some of the plants in my garden are happy.I just could not resist the following photo.

Lets hope my friend here brings you a smile or two, it can be found smiling at all those who drive behind me.

And I thought I would share this with you. This lovely house is one that an ancestor of mine once lived in in a small town called Pontville. I went there with my parents to celebrate my dads birthday. We had a really yummy meal at the local pub. The scallops were just lovely, and then we went for a little stroll to the small cemetery where we discovered that the family grave stone had been restored by the historical society. So good to see.