A girls night out

Last week I took Jacinta and her daughter Isabella into the city to see Nutcracker On Ice. It was a treat for Isabella's birthday.

Jacinta decided that we would cut to the chase and have dinner at the Lindt Cafe in Collins Street. Waffles with vanilla bean ice cream and chocolate sauce. Yum!

Walking across the river and passing the recently renovated and reopened Hamer Hall, we found this tribute to Dame Edna Everage in the small garden next to the State theatre. Anyone who know the alter ego of Barry Humphrey's will understand the significance of the 8 metre high bunch of ceramic flowers!

Isabella pronounced the night a huge success, especially as we were in the front row and she caught a piece of ice from a flying skate! Jacinta was very impressed with some of the John Olsen art work that graces the State Theatre.

And who could forget the display of Dame Edna's outfits in the foyer either.

Birds of a Fether

It is quite cold and damp in Melbourne at  this time of year so birds often come down to feed on or near the ground. We often see Crimson Rosella in winter when they come closer to the house to eat the seeds on the Melaluca Armilaris near the house.

And just on the grass ear the birdbath were three Red Browed Firetails hopping through the grass. I have seen these flitting around the trees before but they have been too quick for me to be able to identify them. Nice to finally be able to put a name to them.

Home Sweet Home

Arrived home last night after ten hours on the road. Orange was soooo cold. The didn't change the whole time I was there. It was three degrees when I arrived and still three degrees when I left. At least it was consistent, consistently cold that is!I found time for a couple of quick stops on the way home, one at the Junee licorice factory which is in a restored flour mill.

There are a number af little towns along the Olympic Highway with rather strange names. There is Uranquinty, which has a fabulous bakery, a mandatory lunch stop. Then there is The Rock and I assume that this is the rock in question.

But now I am home at last and our new heater has been installed, yeah! Our old one of 34 years old, gave up while we were in Spain. So glad to have heat again especially as it is expected to be minus 1 overnight Friday and Saturday. Now I am getting stuck into orders that have piled up while I was away. So check back in a couple of days for some photos.

What a difference a day makes

I left Narrabri in beuatiful sunshine, after using a couple of jugs of water to get the ice of my windows. This is a photo taken of the Piliga State Forest which starts just to the south of Narrabri.

The further south I drove the more cloudy it became. I think the temperature just crept into double figures some time around midday.

The temperature in Orange when I arrived was three degrees celcius but with the wind chill it felt like minus two! I had a lovely time visiting the wonderful op shops in town and the craft cottage in Cook Park. Now it will be an early night for me as tomorrow will be the final 733 kilometres to home.

Another day, another dawn

When I am travelling, I like to make an early start. So I left Theodore at 6.45 am this morning just as the sun was coming up. Just out of town I crossed the Dawson River for the first time today. But this was the view behind me so I just had to stop for  photo.

And I had some feathered friends join me for lunch at Miles.

Now I am in Narrabri for the night, 676 kilometres later. Back in big sky country. But with only 422 kilometres to travel tomorrow and a cafe in town that has great coffee and does not open till 7am, I might not be able to see sunrise tomorrow morning.

Homeward bound

Well I was going to take a photo today of some of the work done at "Wrapt In Rocky" during the week. But I was so busy with customers that I couldn't get away from my stand. But I am now on the way home. This is typical of the country just inland from Rockhampton climbing up over the Great Dividing Range.

And this is the view looking back towards Rockhampton from near the top. The ocean is behind the far range of hills.

Just before I reached Theodore, my stop for the night, the sun set reflecting off some clouds low on the horizon.

Working in Rockhampton

Finally arrived late Monday morning. This is what the car looks like before I start to unpack

 And this is what it looks like when everything is unpacked

.And here it is  all set up and waiting for customers.

There is a felting class here so I hung the tissue silk on the outside of the door where it could float in the breeze.

And Jacinta's hand dyed petticoats hanging up to tempt the passer by.

And  her plant dyed salvage.

And yes it really does all fin in the car.

Big Sky Country

Narrabri was extremely cold last night with a heavy frost on the car at 7am this morning. However this means that it has been a beautiful day. This photo was taken early this morning  as the sun had just come up looking towards Mount Kaputar National Park.

I call this "big sky country" because it is flat agricultural land growing grain and a little further north cotton. You can see so much sky! I think its correct name is central west New South Wales but I think my name is a better description.

 And every now and then there will appear on the horizon a line of trees marking a river. When you cross the border into Queensland the country changes again, a little undulating and a mix of cropping and pasture. I stopped beside this little creek to have my lunch. It was full of water lilies and bird life. The reflections were perfect right up until the ducks took fright and flew away.

I do love water lilies, so pretty with their little heads poking above the water.

I am staying in a tiny place called Taroom. I nearly cancelled my accommodation here and pushed on to Rockhamptonm but having driven 580 kms already I thought that the extra 314 kms was pushing my luck a bit. Despite arriving here before three, I think I had had enough of sitting in the car for one day.

On the road again.

I can't believe it is so long since my last post. The month since we came home from our trip has simply flown by. Time has been filled with catching up with family (well some it them!), getting my ETSY shop back up and running, dying custom orders and most importantly, sending off stock to Dale at The Thread Studio.
I have been dyeing up some more rayon cord in Peacock,

 And Indian Splendour,

And Poppy.

But now I am on the way to Rockhampton to trade at "Wrapt in Rocky". It will be nice to have some warm weather in winter for a change, if only for a week. Tonight I am in Narrabri, having driven  up from Wagga Wagga, 681 km to the south. So being on the road for eight and a half hours today, this is what I was looking at for most of the day.

From the dyepot

Here are the silk  fabrics and threads I dyed up a coupe of days ago in Persian Carpet. Fabric all ironed, threads all twisted into their skeins and ready for labeling. I always get a great sense of satisfaction seeing a tatty hank of threads all twisted up smoothly waiting for their labels and the only ironing I ever do is my fabrics before they are packaged!

 On Sunday I dyed up some silk/viscose velvet in my Rust colourway to fill an order. So while I had the dye made up I also did some cotton gauze and some cotton and rayon threads as well. They just need their labels now.

I also over dyed some Sari Ribbon in Tarragon and Ice Green.

Home at last and back to work

This is the sight that greeted us at Tullamarine Airport last Monday night.

One of my older sons Tarin and his girlfriend Katrina had come to pick us up. One of the advantages of having grown up children! I haven't caught up with my other son yet,(yes I have three of them!) as he has been working in country Victoria this week.
I am back in my laundry dyeing, trying to clear the back orders. Yesterday it was Summer Pudding silk string. Silk string is fantastic for hand made glass beads as it has more body than silk ribbon. This will be in my ETSY shop shortly.

Today it is Persian carpet in silk string, sari ribbon,stranded silk thread. tissue silk, crinkle silk chiffon and silk scrim.

All waiting to be spun in the washing machine so I can get them dry. The washing machine has been on high rotation lately due to two suitcases of dirty clothes in addition to what was waiting at home already!

Nearly home

Our hotel in Istanbull was in the old quarter, we had a room on the third floor and access was via a steep, marble spiral staircase.

It was a beautiful sunny morning and so we were able to have breakfast in the garden which borders an ancient Turkish Bath House built in 1483 .

 

Before our evening flight to Dubai, we spent time at the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art. Well we did have a sleep in as well! We passed these tiles embedded in the pavement on our way there.

The Museum had a fantastic collection of 13th and 14th century turkish carpets which lined the walls in this display.

A set of beautiful doors made of copper panels.

 An old brass oil lamp.

Of coursewe  found time on the way back to collect our suitcasesd, to taste some Turkish pastries for the last time.

And at last we are back in Australia at Perry's apartment in Fremantle. It  felt so good to be horizontal last night after a day in Istanbul and two flights which meant being vertical for 31 hours! He seemed pleased to see us as well, maybe becuase we were paying for dinner!!!

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At last the Grand Bazaar

Last night we had dinner and a show at the little eatery across the street. First the clay pot was brought out on a pan full of burning charcoal.

Then a hole was pierced through the dough top and the foil underneath and the juice was poured into a bowl.

Then the top was rewrapped in foil and a cloth wound tightly around it.

It was then upended and tapped sharply with a large knife just above the line you see near the bottom. The the top (which is actually the bottom) is broken off with the knife in one swift movement.

And this is the deliciousness inside.

Chicken, lamb, tomatos, onion, eggplant, banana chillies and red pepper, yum. It was way more than we could eat and for the princely sum of AUD$15 each. Worth it for the entertainment alone. Of course there was the usual complimentary turkish bread and dip to start and apple tea to finish. But there was definately no room for baklava that night.
Today we went to the Grand Bazaar. It has 21 gates, 17 inns, 66 streets, 4,000 shops with 30,000 staff and is visited by 1.8 million people every day. It is huge with alley ways and streets going off in all directions, very easy to get lost in, but an absolute must see for anyone travelling to Istanbul.

This afternoon we went for a trip up the Bosphorus which is the waterway that seperates European from Asian Turkey and ends up in the Black Sea. This guy obviousy was not a mechanic as when the boat would not start they got a spare battery and he connected the wrong lead to the terminal resulting in a shower of sparks in the hold with the not too clean deisel engine.

Then we had to make a stop on the way for fuel, again access to the tank was in the passenger cabin!

But we saw a different side of Istanbul from the water and we were dry despite rain for about an hour. What is more we made it back to shore without getting our feet wet. Turkish people are extreamly friendly. Several times we have been standing on a corner consulting our map (street signs are frequently missing), and someone will ask us if they can help. I also was offered a seat on a tram today when we decided our feet needed a break, It is a long time since this has happened in Melbourne. Tourism here is traeted very seriously, they even have special tourism police in addition to the regular police force and while waiting to cross the tram track this morning a policeman gave way to us!