PCOC Tennis Team

 For quite a few years now there have been a group of old girls trying to play tennis each week - for some, twice a week. We are loud, we swear and we laugh. In other words we have lots of fun.

Annie

 Jo

 Julie

 The showoff

 And Mit Mit

Every now and again we have others join in but here are the mainstays.

Ballet

Elise already has a number of tutus but when I saw this Collette Dinnigan one in Target I couldn't resist. Other than it being beautiful it is very well made with high quality fabric for a very reasonable price.

Elise loves to dance to The Wiggles 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' in her ballerina dress and shoes. This time she was lucky enough to have her big sister Inés to dance with her.

A Few Things.

PORT CAMPBELL'S FIRST FOOD SWAP

What a great idea. Only four turned up but it was still a frenzy. I came home with a variety of stuff which I was very pleased with. Hopefully the idea will catch on and more people will turn up next Sunday for the second swap.

THE HOUSE IS GETTING PAINTED

This is soooo exciting. We have been living in our house for 18 years and it has never been painted until now! This is only the undercoat which is a vast improvement already. Even my half done garden looks better with it's new backdrop.

Finally my house is going to look like what I had always imagined it should look like, instead of like a dairy shed.

NEW ACQUISITION

And even more excitement. After pondering for a couple of years I have purchased a new spinning wheel - a Majacraft Susie Pro - from Wendy at Tarnwarncoort. I love it and I love spinning. I suppose I can't call myself a beginner anymore but I am still climbing the learning curve. So right now spinning has become what I want to do most.

 

With my new spinning wheel came a complimentary Polwarth fleece from Tarnwarncoort which I am experimenting with. I have started to attend a spinner's group that meets once a month at Tarnwarncoort - a grand old blue stone mansion.

I washed a small amount of the fleece as part of the experiment. Next I will spin some 'in the grease' and some of the washed fleece and then compare. The photo shows the washed next to the unwashed. It is so white and fluffy and feels gorgeous.

Summer Time

Just love gerberas so experimented with some more photos.

Port Campbell bay with storm out at sea and that is where it stayed. No rain was had.

Time to return to the BLOG...

I have an urge to return to blog writing. I so enjoyed it in the past and it is a great way of recording the doing part of my life...Slight interruption...granddaughter has awoken....

In the last few days there has been an abundance of apricots from the tree so we now have apricot jam and apricot chutney.

Went to Warrnambool yesterday and as I do sometimes, I popped into a florist shop to see if there were any single flowers that would be good to draw. I came out with pink and orange gerberas. I fell in love with the colour combination of pink and orange.

Self portrait

We decided to do self portraits for a challenge.

Another painting…

POMEGRANATES by Lesley

POMEGRANATES by Kaye

I go to Kaye’s house and we set up easels in the dining room. We set a task – try and be loose with our painting. We did a “Masterchef’. After two hours – brushes down and step back from the bench, but we kept fiddling.

A momentous day

Today I turned 55 and had my last dose of chemotherapy. Yeehaa!

I can paint…

I may sound like a tosser but I have discovered that I can paint. I have dabbled in watercolours before without a huge amount of success. I always thought I may be able to paint but haven’t really had the time or opportunity to have a go.

Here is my first attempt at using acrylics on a canvas.

GARLIC

Basket making

How lucky am I? Kaye made two baskets and gave them to me. The one above is from our local cushion bush picked when they were out in bud and the one below had kangaroo grass added for a sculptural effect. I love them

And this one below I made myself at our basket making day at Rocky and Margy’s. I know there is jasmine and honey suckle vine as the main components. I was very impressed with myself but I had a lot of help.

Big tides and big waves

Generally around Easter time we can expect the sea to put on a show for us. During the Easter break I spent time sitting on the foreshore watching the action.

You may notice at the bottom of the crane a surfer is hooking his surf ski up to get it onto the pier. Big surf this day at Two Mile Bay reef but if any local surfers happen to read this I could get my tyres slashed. They are very touchy about keeping this a secret. On this day Kelly Slater, ten times world champion, was surfing the secret spot. We have been graced with his presence before.

This was the same day. The local people generally like to get out in the midst of the bay and get tossed around. It is quite safe within the bay and great fun.

Here is my niece, Madey, pushing through a wave.

A couple of days later and a different scene. Beautiful autumn sunshine and calmer seas.

Early evening and the tourists are making the most of the beautiful environment.

Basket Making

There were a few of us. More than in the pictures. We gathered at Rocky’s and Margy’s place. A great shared lunch to get the creative juices flowing and then outside to make baskets from various vegetation found there on the farm. And we didn’t let the drizzle hinder our progress. We were lucky to have four very experienced basket makers – Margy, Kaye, Rocky and Jill.

Jill, Georgie, Kaye, Annie and sorry but I forget her name.

And here is Kaye amongst it all – her favourite place.

I was feeling fairly crap by the end of the day because of chemo side effects so didn’t get the images I would normally get – like the finished products!

But I have ended up with a basket that I will treasure. I can still take a photo of that and post it in the future.

New year new course

I have undertaken to do a Creative Machine Embroidery course for 2011. Once again this course is through SWTAFE Warrnambool with Karen Richards being our teacher. The course is available on campus and off campus and I have the opportunity to do a bit of both, so I don’t have to freak out if I don’t get to classes. Just hope the self discipline part of off campus studies doesn’t do me in. The above image is a sampler that was required – FILLING IN WITH STRAIGHT STITCH.

Our weaving group was hoping to continue this year but due to TAFE restructuring their fee schedules, this became way too expensive for some. I am still hoping to weave in some way or other this year.

Life’s little surprises.

I was all over the place for most of January. Discovering something lumpy in my breast and then getting the diagnosis of cancer.

February was the month of tests, scans and surgery.

March has been quiet, getting ready for April and chemotherapy. I have no idea what that will entail.

However, I do want to get back into blogging so we will see how that goes…

SUMMER ICONS

 

 

Hay bales at Annie and Fuzz’s farm.

BASKETS FROM CUSHION BUSH

 

Before Christmas got in the way of life, I was making baskets from cushion bush, a plant which is prolific in this area of Victoria. I had never seen baskets made of cushion bush and even when googled nothing appeared. And of course it wasn’t my invention…it was Kaye’s.

 

They were intended for Christmas presents but of course that never happened.

In Search of Wildflowers

 

Plenty of this. Plus a beautiful copper bellied snake slithering across our path.

 

Will never tire of the native grass trees.

 

The prize of the day – a blotched sun orchid T. benthamiana – the first time I have seen one in this area. Thanks to Kaye’s diligence.

 

And an excellent bunch of flowers from Mitty’s garden.

Tiny Teddies

A gift from Jill. A tiny teddy each in the colour we use the least of. I received the blue one.

Introducing ‘Flaps’ the mountain duck

Found wandering in the local caravan park, following anyone who happened to pass by.

Flaps was handed into the Parks office and from there found his way here. Flaps would have been a lot better of with his mother but that wasn’t to be.

We have had him for almost two weeks now and he has grown A LOT!

He requires quite a bit of attention but he has been worth it.

 

For more information on Australia’s largest duck go to here

Just a few more.

A magic mushie nestled in pine needles.

Windfall under the sheoaks.

A coastal garden landscaped perfectly by the weather.

So many earthy colours in the one place.

Shipwrecked, and this is relatively mild sea conditions. The ‘Marie Gabrielle’ was wrecked here in 1869 while carrying tea from China to Melbourne. The three-masted French barque was driven ashore at 1am on November 24.

Plenty of green stuff for the animals to eat this year.