The beginning of Autumn

The long days are gradually shortening. The nights are cooler. The weather is a little nutso.

I quite like the first month of Autumn. We still have sunny days. Although La Nina is making the weather a little batty. Just a few minutes ago we had a sudden burst of rain which wasn't predicted for today. I feel bad as I had put the piggies out in their newly painted (on the outside only) and extended grass run.

I keep calling it the Beach Hut in my mind, but alas... no beach!

I had an old A frame hutch given to me by a friend a couple of months ago, and then recently found another slightly smaller one put out on someone's hard rubbish. I brought it home, gave both of them a mighty blast with the pressure washer and then a lick of paint with some cheap sample pots making sure not to paint any surfaces they might chew on.

The girls absolutely love it. I put them out in it on nice days and they help with the lawn mowing.

Now that I have finished the Persian Tiles blanket I can revisit something I started while holidaying at Mollymook.

The night before we left I packed a selection of cottons. I tend to underpack clothes, and overpack yarn when going on holidays.

I started making these little squares on the back deck while listening to kookaburras in the trees.

A week after returning from Mollymook I had a little trip up to Gosford for a friends wedding. It was hot.

I took a battery operated fan. I felt like I was winning at not being hot. A lovely lady said I was the most prepared and the most smug person there. I was trying not to be but I was feeling super smug.

Does my bum look big with this fan?

The wedding was grand and it was a lovely occasion.

And equally as lovely (but not quite) was my journey up and back. I first flew to Sydney and then enjoyed a glorious train trip that passed through the Hawkesbury River region.

It was all the more glorious because there was hardly anyone else on the train so I could stretch out and have a little crochet zone.

I crocheted more of these cute grannies while watching the view slip past.

I have started sewing them together with the thought they might look quite funky attached to a hoop and made into a sort of hanging lantern. Sewing them together with gold yarn give a sort of gypsy caravan type effect.

I still have a few more squares to go until I can see the lantern effect. Could be nice, could be crap!

Sadly the area above which I had my lovely train journey through which I think is in the Brooklyn/ Dangar Island area just north of Sydney has now had a lot of flooding from the massive amount of rain in eastern NSW. The damage from flooding in Northern NSW and parts of Queensland has been absolutely horrific. Like rain upon floods upon rain and so much devastation that I can't even comprehend it. Ignore my little whinge above about a bit of rain. Like it's really nothing compared to what everyone up north is going through.

Under the supervision of 8Track I have also persevered with trying to make better Jam Drops and finally found a recipe which helped me produce a rather nice looking batch. Not at all like the weeping sores of my previous efforts.

I used this recipe from Bake Play Smile. It says that after shaping your biscuit drops and adding the jam, to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. I have done this with my previous visual disasters, but this time I kind of forgot about them, sat down and watched an episodes or 2 of Vikings and then baked them so they were in the fridge for probs an hour and a half. Very solid! But look how they turned out?!

Louise

Red Haired Amazona