too blessed to be stressed

 Pearly Girl will be flying in soon and I haven't even blogged about our Canberra trip yet!

So

fond farewell from Jilly who assumed aunty  duties in Triabunna for a week

Pearl and I rendezvoused in Canberra Airport and were lucky enough to get a lift to  our hotel.  The reason for our visit was Lady Jayne's Birthday.

beautiful flowers from a long-time friend

Lady Jayne gets down to birthday business

now where's the Big Bad Wolf?

Lady Jayne and a scrubber from Tasmania

LJ and Pearl

Listening to The Floosie's Fleurieu FM radio show while checking out the bus system

most impressed with the buses - though the dogs found balancing a bit tricky...

a most unusual part of Canberra - a place with soul

and the restaurant where the three of us had a delicious banh mi a few years ago

Then it was time to return to our respective home states

where Jill PD and I were delighted to find a market in full swing on Bellerive Boardwalk.

Home Sweet Home and a most welcome visit from Jean Green Bean who was bearing the most delicious home made slices.  She is a great fan of Mary Berry.

Got this very special book from the library.

Sue, Eileen and I taught at Elizabeth Matric College in the 1970s.

And got these at the same time too.  I hadn't seen this Arthur Upfield before.  I know Fleurieu Floosie will approve of this reading.  I returned my first foray into Dorothy Sayers and was lucky enough to find her second novel on the shelves.  I had struggled a bit in the first - Whose Body? - with Lord Whimsy's manner of speaking.  He'd either turned it down in the second book or I'd got used to it.  Thoroughly enjoyed it though the plot is pretty dense.  And I realised that I lead a life of leisure not  unlike the Lord's.

'Too blessed to be stressed' was a rejoinder put to us by some very happy blokes we encountered in Tuggeranong.

the beat goes on

 It is St David's Day, 

a photo of the man himself in 2024, and Herself carrying the leek

the first day of Autumn, dogs allowed back on the beach anytime and USA bombing Iran.

Friday before last, Georgia and I went to see a dramatisation of Under Milk Wood.

There was a huge cast and it was a noble and enjoyable event, but hard to hear and understand, so now I'll have to read the poem.  Or get Richard Burton to read it as Cousin David did when we visited Laugharne in 2013  

2013

Frances, David and Mum, Dylan Thomas' place, 2010

St David's Day at Oriel y Parc, St Davids, Pembs., 2026

(Thank you Cousin David for the tip off re Dragon Festival)

George and I encountered a party atmosphere when we alighted from the bus at Franklin Square en route to the theatre.

note red for Lunar New Year and seagull on statue's head

This is https://www.streeteatsfranko.com.au/ .  Great fun and lots of food choices.  We circled, of course, to checkout everything on offer.  I had a delicious Tasmanian dish of pork and scallops, Georgia had an Indonesian martabak.  Very happy we were.

Jill PD has demonstrated some of the artistic flair of the Mars family, creating this statement in pink.

Not to be outdone, I have crafted a piece that speaks to Jill's love of the beach - a thwacker and a floaty kong.

And now a bandicoot has joined the ranks of plovers and butcherbirds who come to drink from the well.

return of the rainbow fairies

The light is dancing off the crystal in the lounge room again.  This delights me but also makes me realise that the sun is getting lower in the morning and summer is coming to an end.  I also realise how much I'm looking forward to the changing seasons.  Already the leaves on the poplars are starting to turn yellow.  I remember watching the golden poplars becoming bare branches as I moved in last year.  This blog is very useful to me as I attempt to understand the blur that was 2025.

Life has settled into a most pleasant routine.  It feels like being rich and pampered.  The solarium has been a great discovery - the sun beams into my bedroom in the afternoon.  I make myself comfortable and read.  Jill makes herself comfortable and sleeps.  It stays this way until the sun sets behind kunanyi / Mt Wellington.  Of course all of these natural cycles must have happened when I've lived previously in the unit but then I was working and didn't notice.

I have read heaps of books - though often the sunshine lures me into sleep too.  Here are 3 significants:

I'm always interested in developments in neuroscience so thought I'd give this one a go.  I've always had an aversion to Steve Biddulph.  We're about the same age and live in Tasmania.  Perhaps I'm jealous of his success in the mental health field.  Anyway, this book is well worth reading.  It's advocating trusting our more primitive brain.

I love this one.  Short stories written from so many different Tasmanian Aboriginal / palawa perspectives.  Some are very amusing.  Another book all teachers should read and share.

This one I finished today.  Published last year when the author was 84, it is very reassuring!  Although I have to say that having a groovy 83 year old friend in Mildura and a new sprightly 92 year old friend in Bellerive, I haven't been that worried.  What I found comforting is that I am doing the things Sophy Burnham suggests.  Which could be worrying given I am so much younger... 

Oscar and I went to a pop-up dinner at The Barracks on Valentine's Day.  The food was exceptional.  Of course, as usual when I'm enjoying myself, I didn't take any photos but here's the menu:

It was all magnificent and may be done again with a Winter Menu.

Not much more to report.

proof that we've had some warm weather

I've still had no sign of a blackbird in the garden but the baby butcher bird seems at home.

HAPPY 🐎 YEAR 🐎 OF 🐎THE 🐎HORSE

a Fire Horse no less!

🎂Birthday Week🎂

 January is for public holidays.  February is for birthdays.  🎂First, Georgia's birthday:

birthday flowers in a Georgia-made vase

a melange of birthday cakes

However, in Spain 🎂

Rosa Norte drives from Spain to France for her birthday picnic

🎂Sarah was still in Korea for her birthday so no report as yet.

Jilly and I were in Tribes for Georgia's birthday but also to mind the store on the day after.  George and other local creatives have opened a gallery as part of the Spring Bay Maritime Museum.  It's in its infancy and sometimes there aren't volunteers available.  So in I went.

The building used to be an abalone canning factory, so a bit of industrial art.

in close-up

I am most taken with this museum item.  I have deduced it is one piece of rope and I'd kinda like to replicate it.  My grandfather was a rope-splicer in the Rhondda mines.  Perhaps it's in the blood.  There are of course lots of beautiful creations from the local artists but I couldn't really capture them.  You'll have to come and look yourself.  I sold some works which makes everyone happy.  And talking of happy,

Jill PD got her fix of nieces and nephews in her sister's paddock,

also putting her sleuthing skills to work.

Not being one to miss bubbly and good food, I returned to Tribes last Saturday for more art.

Well, actually I'll have to return to view the artworks because the food was soooooo good, including the biggest crayfish I've ever seen, I got distracted.  But, as you can see from the poster cum bookmark (for the eagle eyed), the artworks are stunning.

Here are the artists and MC Tom

John sits with Georgia's Totem behind him

I was witness to the epic creation of Totem and was very pleased that Georgia explained to the audience some of the pitfalls of ceramic firing.  It is too easy, and common, for us to look at a piece of work and baulk at the price, forgetting the years of learning, expense and disaster that have preceded it.

Today is Monday - 🎂birthday of the Hobart Regatta started in 1838 and also a Public Holiday.

down to the beach before 10am

all is calm, all  is bright

 and then

the shattering fly past

and tricks

then back to normal

🎂   🎂   🎂

I took this photo a couple of months ago but forgot to post it.  It shows some of the boat traffic on the Derwent these days.

My Australia Day

 I woke up  late, missing my 5 minutes of news at 8am, and decided I would have a news-free day.  I'm not particularly interested in knowing the Australians of the Year.  Then off to Howrah Beach we went to partake in a perfect summer's day.

Aussie beach girl

We were not alone.  Definitely 'a one and free' atmosphere of doggy rejoicing.

woman and dog swim together

man and dog rest together

So getting home and thinking how to continue this beautiful day

I thought giving one of my wedding dresses an airing could be fun.  I'd just had a week of unacknowledged wedding anniversaries.  I always get married in January.  Admittedly I look like a plump Miss Havisham.  This was only the third time I'd put this dress on.  I consider purple and blue to be the colours of Australia - sea and distance.

Some of you will remember the dress's debut on that very hot day at the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers.

Apparently the current weather's a repeat performance

and Mildura Babes are melting.

I can never wear my first wedding dress again because I cut it up one year for Christmas aerobics.  I went as an angel.  I wanted to show you that dress because I made it myself and I've been doing a bit of sewing again recently.  And in my archives I found this:

My gorgeous Corinne is looking like that because her boyfriend is taking the photo.  I miss her.

note bolero made and embroidered by the bride

I didn't embroider this one, and I didn't do any of the planned sewing.  Just lounged in my 'bijou residence' and read a Miss Fisher mystery cover to cover.  A perfect day was made even more perfect when a bandicoot came wandering in in the evening.  Jill observed with interest.

Sort of a propos nothing, though unsurprisingly, I've been thinking a lot recently that 'fings ain't wot they used t'be'.  I would now be that grandma trying to shock them all / doing the knees up rocknroll.

Last Tuesday lunch at the Village, Dave and Kerry arrived in their treasured Morris.  I remember my Dad telling me as a child that we were getting one of these and I thought it was so stylish with its wood trim. (We got an old Bedford van instead - but Dad decked it  out for camping).  Somehow, while doing the dishes, some of us recalled Knees Up Mother Brown and the Hokey Cokey.  These are my memories from the adults' parties and the wedding receptions we were allowed to attend until bed-time.  What a rollicking good time we had.