Monday, December 3, 2007

Yesterday.

How lovely to wake up to the sound of rain. It's pouring down now, though I can barely hear it over the slurping sound of my parched front garden gulping it down. If I was living in an animation, my garden would turn itself into one big straw or cup, just to make sure it gets every drop it can. I heard on the news a couple of days ago that this is the eleventh straight year of less than average rain fall. Isn't that incredible? And here was silly me, thinking that it was only seven.



Yesterday was a postless day here, which is unlike me, but I was so busy. Not with anything major, but it was my last day before work, and I was uncluttered by all of those oafish kids with their big feet and irrational demands for food at regular intervals. It's annoying. Anyone would think they were growing or something.


So on my own for the last day in a fortnight, I went out and watered the veggie garden, and picked my first zucchini for the year. Still no pumpkin flowers. (Apparently I've got to help the pumpkins have sex by fooling around with their flowers. It's a little intimidating. It's been so long since anyone in this house (namely me) did that activity that I'm worried I'll muck it up for the pumpkins. It'll be their first time. I want to make it special. Maybe I could download Rod Stewart's 'Tonight's the Night' and play it to them. Then at least they'll know my intentions were good.) Then I tied up the tomato plants (sounds a little kinky after all of that pumpkin flower talk, doesn't it?), and picked about 15 leeks to make room for some new tomato plants. It's going to be frozen bolognaise sauce city here in a few months when the tomatoes get into gear! It's the only way to survive a full time job. I need lots of precooked meals in the freezer. After yesterday there's now 3 more leek and potato soups in there. I also pulled out two silver beet plants, and made an impossible pie full of silverbeet for my lunches this week. The dog food also has heaps of it this time.



The rest of the day was filled with pottering. I did heaps of little jobs. I went to Spotlight to get some rudimentary sewing things. I have an old lady's sewing basket that came with the house, so I delved into the depths and came up with some wins. Cabling knitting needles for one. I was going to Spotlight to buy some, so that saved me some money. A stitch ripper. Heaps of old buttons... the list goes on. I went to Spotlight, and I was wandering around with my list of things to buy. That place is so big, and I didn't know where to go. I had a few things, but others were hiding. I paused by the counter, gazing aimlessly about.


"That's a big sigh," said a lady behind the counter. "Is anything wrong?"


How embarrassing. "I'm a bit out of my depth," I said.
I explained why and what I was there for, and she took me under her wing and showed me where everything was. She laughed when I said just how ignorant I was, and how I'll be turning up to the quilting class on Thursday (all different levels of experience) with my bits of material (oops. fabric) held out to them with no real idea of what to do next. I'm worried about cutting into my nice new fabrics. What if I get it wrong?

"They'll be lovely to you," she said. "Those sort of people are so into their quilting that they'll do anything to get you into it too."

It sounds like a cult. A quilting cult. I bought a couple of nice bits of fabric for my 'stash'. I assume I'll be expected to have one of those. All of the crafty bloggers rave on about their stash and what they've added to it. To curb any more cultishness I also bought a pair of rosewood knitting needles for my jumpers I 'll be knitting. The afghan is going to be put away till next year, and I'll make a start of something smaller.

Brennan starts his braces odyssey today. He gets the separaters in today. and after Year 7 Orientation Day tomorrow he'll go back and get the whole kit and caboodle in his face. Poor kid. Both glasses and braces. Hardly seems fair. I haven't heard anything from the orthodontist's office about any lack of payment, so I'm assuming Tony has finally come to the party and paid up. Otherwise I'll have to, so that dream of installing a roller skating rink in the back yard will have to go.....

9 comments:

widget said...

Stash away honey! You'll know when the cult has overtaken your life and you need an intervention - the fabric will leap out of the cupboard at you even when you are in another room. Nice array of clours though. The masculine group look fabulous.

maybaby said...

re: pumpkins

Not Rod Stewart. Barry White, honey. Play them some Barry White and I promise you a bumper pumpkin crop. (Ooooo. That's fun to say...bumper pumpkin crop bumper pumpkin crop...try it!)

I have a lot of quilty friends. It is sort of a cult, but a very benign one. Go for it!

Frogdancer said...

Maybaby, I'm in my office at work. I Laughed Out Loud when I read about Barry White. (Yes, I actually LOLled.)

Kim said...

I do believe there is a city ordinance against backyard pumpkin sex...seriously, I do believe the bees were supposed to take care of that for you, ROFLOL!

I think you are already under the quilting cult spell. There is no saving you now, girl! Heehehee, gotcha! How about blogging a photo of this tough boy quilt you plan to make?

You may want to hold off on stash building until you see how you like this quilting business...you build a scrap stash from each project and there are a lot of fun scrap projects to do with those, too. Check out my blog header, scrappiest quilt I've ever made!

Ouch! My girls did the braces thing. We all suffered in one way or another with that process, LOL. Writing the checks was painful. Their teeth are gorgeous!

River said...

The pumpkin flowers with a little bulge at the base looking like a baby pumpkin are the female flowers, those without are the males. You have to wait until you have both types open together, then just touch a soft small paintbrush to the male flowers and transfer the pollen to the female flowers. Often male and female flowers don't open at the same time, this is why it's tricky for the bees.
I was lucky that my four kids didn't need braces, with child #3 having such perfectly aligned teeth dentists would often ask her if she'd had braces. Never a single filling either. The others totalled a maximum of 7 fillings between them, mostly in baby teeth.

River said...

Left out a whole sentence there. If you have only male flowers open, do the paintbrush thingand tap off the pollen into a clean jar and seal it until you have female flowers, then transfer it.

Frogdancer said...

River,
this whole pumpkin thing is getting more IVF by the minute!!

Kim: I've got a picture of the quilt, but it's very wishy-washy colours. I think I'll wait until the finished product. Though I've been trying to thread the bleeping machine and sew, and I hate it. It won't work. Sandy said she's coming over before my class to show me. I think I learn better from real people rather than diagrams.

Kim said...

If Sandy hasn't had problems with her machine, then sadly, it must be you! LOL, improper threading and tension can cause you TENSION! It'll be fine. My niece tells me that my SIL sews the same as you, especially the profanity part.

Darn about the photo of your quilt pattern...oh come on now. Live on the edge a tad. :)

Those pumpkins again! If I understand correctly, you said you have no flowers at this time. Right? Could be a need for water, fertilizer or sunlight that is the cause of no flowers. Truly, we have never had to go out and do the brush thing with the pollen thing. Ever. But who knows, you are unique after-all! I swear zucchini could grow in rocks without water or sun!

Your poor son...oh how I remember those days. :( Glad former hubby paid up without conflict.

You know, you can still stand out in your garden and play Rod Stewart's 'Tonight's the Night'...have you read 'Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn' by Kris Radish?

lazy cow said...

Sorry I was so late with a reply to your question (re: sewing machines) on my blog. I see you've got yours now.
Good luck with it. I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun. Quilting is great - hand or machine. I need to redeem my free lesson that was offered when I bought mine, but I'm still scared of it too (HATE the bobbin inserting, it never works properly).