Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Orange in Autumn

Fantastic weather, people and programmes at Forum this week. I will have images next week from the photography class I am doing.
Just wanted to let you know that all is well and I am actually still in existence

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

On and off the air

Sorry about the intermittent blogs this week: I have been having more medical treatment for my shoulder and I am sure you all understand just how time wasting some of that process can be. I am more functional after massage, ultrasound and continuing pain relief. And of couse, I have been told not to use my right arm...HAHAHA...as I am right handed, that is truly impossible.
My F.I.L. has been in the medical wars this week with more radiotherapy and we have been a bit busy there too.
I am off to Orange for Textile Fibre Forum this week where I am doing a camera course. I changed from the original stitching class I was going to do as I hurt too much doing even simple things for too long and thought I could cope with the photo class. Time will tell.
Where I am staying, on a friend's property, is not always DSL friendly:for those of you not from Australia, telephone (Mobile phone) and computer coverage can be less than satisfying once you are away from a large city with little or no reception at times.
I will blog if and when I can, but will be back fully on the 26th.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

I did it again

Missing in action again after an overactive morning walk. I have been trying to ramp up some kilometres and walk a number of times a week, sometimes with my husband, often on my own as his 25 cm height difference translates to longer legs and bigger steps than I can keep up with.
It had rained overnight, but was clear and beautiful when I walked the other morning when I once again inelegantly (??) went head over turkey on some slippery ground and braced my fall with my right hand, hurting my right shoulder once again. Heavy duty painkillers and rest once more.
I have always had a tendency to clumsiness, seems it is manifesting itself more often than I care for.
I have to keep the walking up: our son is going to complete his academic (Arts degree, already has finished his Science degree) studies in China (he speaks, reads and writes Mandarin fluently) and we promised to walk the Great Wall with him. It is apparently 10km of undulating walk with 2 flights of steps in the section he is taking us to. The 'surprise' bit is at the end...keep walking up hill and down dale or get on a flying fox across a river. I don't like heights at all, but have promised that I will do it with him as a tandem 'fly'. Keep your fingers crossed for my shoulder! Will let you know when that is happening, much later in the year I think.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Surprised

Our anniversary yesterday (27 years): I had instructions to be ready to go out at 5pm, dress good casual.
My hubby had researched and found an Indian/Sri Lankan restaurant for us in Homebush (Sydney). We ate well, went down both marriage memory lane as well as travel memory lane with the food. Ate till our stomachs touched the table (well, it seemed like that anyway!) for the princely sum of...wait for it...$22.00. We checked, but that was the right price. Called Janani, on the southern side of Homebush station.
Also found a store selling saris (on sale) from Chennai, in the street parallel to the railway line, also on the southern side. I think I might start doing railway line eating from now on!!! This was in the dark, so I am sure there are bargains galore to be discovered in the daylight too

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Why did I start?

You know how it is...the more you do, the more you need to do! Why did I ever start to clean up? I think I am now further behind than when I started and having decided that I was going like a bull at a gate, I thought I should focus on one room at a time.
I have. Our bedroom is now the tidiest it has been in years.
There is still stuff all over the dining table, and I am becoming an even better procrastinator than usual with regard to cleaning and tidying up the stash. And I haven't forgotten photos and newsletters, it is just that I am sorting them out (emails) so that it does not register as spam, and the images so that they are not too big. I am trying to work it out myself so that I can problem solve if needs be when I am travelling.
I have also been organizing my goodies for Forum in Orange. This is fantastic for those who can get to it, am adding the link so you can check it out yourselves
http://www.ggcreations.com.au/tafta/forums.html
This was the place that really converted my brain from formal to feral.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Cleanup

I scribbled down a few (well, lots really) ideas last night and was going to go hammer and tongs today and then thought I should tidy up a bit. What a disaster!
The more I started to do, the more I realized I had to get orgamanized (as Ruth Barnhill, a Babylock dealer in Florida says)...and you know what that means. I reckon it could take me a week to get back to the surface of my kitchen table where I put everything when I started.
I don't know whether I am disgusted or disappointed that I have so much accumulated orgamization to undertake!
Ah, another day in the life of the creative stitcher (don't think my hubby is too impressed at the moment though). I might just go and have a glass of wine...if I can find the glasses.

Working again

Had the day off but have renewed the creative cells a little too much already!
For those of you in Australia and NSW particularly, I live at the foothills of the Blue Mountains: I went up to Katoomba today and just became a tourist again, enjoying the sheer beauty of the place once again.
On the way home we stopped in Hazelbrook at Selwood Science and Puzzles: WHAT a place to be inspired by.
Amazing old garden as you go in, but each room of the old house is dedicated to different items: games/puzzles/jigsaws (such as Escher, holograms, 3D puzzles)for adults (OK, some kids too). There is a kids room, a science room, a book room and a fun science 'try me' room with interactive playstuff.
My inspiration came in the book room with some of the 3D and optical illusions...all of a sudden I was thinking just how I could achieve some of the effects in my own style.
As I am going to be the inaugaral Artist in Residence at the Newcastle Creative Embroiders and Textile Artist weekend in May (Kurri Kurri TAFE McLeod Road, Kurri Kurri) I thought that would be the place I started developing this theme.
I will let you know if it is open for the public, but I am planning my work already. And another visit to Hazelbrook!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Gremlins in the Works

I am having a time of it at the moment!
Don't know what I did to make the pain in my shoulder so acute it has almost rendered me useless for 2 days (perhaps skiting about finishing my art to wear and finally finishing my magazine article under painful duress) but today, all of a sudden, it was OK once again. Who knows what gremlins are in my works at the moment? And to top it all off, I couldn't blog even if I had wanted to yesterday as I kept getting a message about my cookies not being enabled...go figure! Back live today, with a day of freedom from any deadlines.
I have just been invited to be Artist in Residence in May: will tell all once it has been confirmed, but this is a really nice accolade and delightfully unexpected.
Please bear with me regarding images...I am feeling a bit like I am wading in a pond of glue at the moment, but I am more than half way through the pond and can see the other side, it's just taking me a little longer to get there than I planned. I think my life is just like that at the moment.