SUNSET - is it really winter?

  

DAY THREE

LITTLE ETTA and sunny are still in hospital, i've had a facetime chat - how great that i can see my granddaughter live when i'm so far away - technology sure has its uses.


here she is - a tiny little human
who has just emerged from
a dark place - it must be a
shock.

i'm amazed
that sunny
looks so
wonderful
after a tough
time.
She's done
a great job

a brand new family

etta

my new granddaughter is here :0)     sunny and luke welcomed her into the world today around 2.30.  i'm thrilled and completely worn out after a tense day and a half waiting for news.  she's 5lb and will stay in hospital a few days until her wait increases. I'm relieved that sunny will have some rest before going home

A WEEK AWAY

I REALLY NEEDED TO SEE SUNNY  before she has the baby.  So i headed off a week ago, via the grampians where i stayed with don and visited jenny and art next morning.  it was a cold frosty night and very nippy foggy morning so coffee by the fire was a perfect start to my drive to melbourne.

beautiful skies as i left

I drove down to look at Lake Lonsdale before arriving at don's, there were lambs everywhere, gambolling as the sun set over
Briggs Bluff,  little sweeties :0)

young rosellas at don's

Jenny and Art have a fire pit made of a circle of bricks stacked
three high.  I'm thinking i could easily do that myself at home

I had a beautiful dinner with sunny and luke and saw
all the baby things they've collected,
the apartment is
all organised and looking just great.

I'm so glad i went, as i write i'm awaiting news from the hospital and it's a very tense time.
so i'll spend the time posting pics of the trip.   sunny and i had a walk next morning before i headed down to geelong to take susan and jenny to lunch by the bay for their birthdays, our annual sisters' get-together. 

It was a perfect sunny day, the bay was sparkling and the wharf shed upstairs has been renovated into a light spacious restaurant with bay views on three sides and a large outdoor dining area.   Covid meant spaced seating, and staff run off their feet with all the extra cleaning duties required.  but nothing could be faulted, we had a lovely time.
I stayed at Gail's and we had thursday night drinks in person instead of on Zoom.   it was great to talk to everyone face to face, Zoom has it limitations, conversations are stilted and vision is lacking animation although it serves its purpose, we're all glad to see each other each week.

Friday gail and i drove to barwon heads and had lunch with janet at Orange, i had a superb seafood linguini.   we all had great food and strolled into a couple of shops before driving back to gails for a quiet night of scrabble and a movie.
saturday i headed off intending to drive straight home but i realised there was no pressing reason to hurry, so i dawdled my way thru wool shops and op shops as far as St Arnaud and stayed the night at La Cochon Rose where i've stayed before.   that town is so lovely, all the shopfronts in the main street are original and a local artist has been painting murals on some of the long blank side walls of buildings in laneways and back streets.  Unlike the silos, they add to the town - the artist has used monochromatic tones and the images blend in with the streetscapes.

next day i travelled along my beloved silo train, the sunraysia highway has a lot of unsullied silos, only one has been painted and it's in very muted colours.  I hope they leave them alone.

Home again and it's hard to believe its almost the winter solstice.  days are balmy and sunny, sunrises and sunsets have been gorgeous because there's been some cloud. 

I have two resident black ducks at the moment, they spend time strolling about the grounds and yesterday were high up in a redgum. they seem to do this at a certain time each year.   It's always a surprise to see a duck up high in a tree

I have two resident wood ducks at the moment, they spend time strolling about the grounds and yesterday were high up in a redgum. they seem to do this at a certain time each year.   It's always a surprise to see a duck up high in a tree 

i've been home now for a couple of days, lowkey days knitting and watching rake as i wait for news of sunny.

KNITTING

I'VE REALLY GOT THE BUG - after knitting a pile of baby things, a boys jumper and three cowls i'm trying out my new little bamboo double pointed needles on an interesting fingerless glove pattern

A SPECIAL 24 HOURS

LAST NIGHT AND THIS MORNING i saw the full moon rise over the lock and set over the river in the west, i haven't seen it before.  naturally the sun moves backwards and forwards across the horizon during the year and often the moon will rise really late or set when it's still night so to see the moon rise over the water on a superb, still clear evening and set the next morning over the water in the same conditions was really special.  it's going to be a wrench to leave here.

last night

this morning

right now as i write at almost 5pm the sun is low, there's a little fishing boat with three men in it at the lock, they're all looking in the same direction, two standing.  i'm wondering what they're looking at, it's quite distant, they're really focussed, has someone caught something??   it'd be a first, mostly they seem to just sit and chat  :0)



i just grabbed the camera to capture them, but they'd settled back down.  i think they're having a nice afternoon

FIRST WEEK OF WINTER

 IT'S STILL GORGEOUS - icy mornings, yes - but still softly lit sunny days that are a joy to be out in.  hmm, don't know about that sentence :-o

SUNNY'S LOOKING AMAZING

- i can't wait till weebub arrives, lockdown is being lessened so i'm going down to see her next week. a quick round trip  to see don, sunny, the torquay/geelong gang, a drive around st leonards and indented head to look at houses, then home. i'm really looking forward to it

I've been doing more
work on self portraits but
i'm getting further and
further away from
success.  i just can't
seem to see myself, i think
i've got it then i take a few
pics and don't look
anything like them

                      this one is just all wrong.   i'll tackle it
                      again tomorrow.

SUNNY as
madonna on
the 2006
christmas
stamp, soon
it'll be real
life :0)

beautiful rising

moon over the

lock tonight, 

i'm really going

to miss the sunrises

and sunsets here

STUDIO

I THINK I'VE PERFECTED THE HARD STARE - paddington would be proud of me.   the two self portraits i'm reworking are getting grimmer in expression each day.  i wonder why, i'll try to get a more
natural expression today.   i wonder how i'll go . . .

DINNER OUT!!

FIRST DAY OF WINTER - and it looks cooler and greyer out there.  the end of autumn has been magnificent however, the colours on the drive into mildura are just gorgeous

FRIDAY NIGHT - exciting to have an evening with friends, first real outing since mid march.   dinner at sue and derek's,  plus their friend bob.  socially distanced around the table :0)    lots of great food and not one but TWO chocolate desserts.   i made mum's chocolate fudge cake recipe which i'd just discovered was still in existence at jenny's in mum's handwritten recipe book.  jenny very efficiently has produced a pdf, so now i have all those recipes to hand :0)  very happy to have them again.