Blue wren

Beak a bit long, but quickly done.
Very hot here today, worse tomorrow. Out to lunch, a lovely meal at the
Green Man at Ashbourne, catching up with old friends, one of whom is not well, J hadnt seen them for 4 years and we are old skiing mates so lots to catch up on.
I dont think my waist line will ever recover!
Off to find a cool spot by the fan, this is not a cool spot and I am dripping.

Finally

For almost all of the time we have been on the Island we havent had much of a view of the mainland but finally today everything cleared.
Where we are the bay turns and the mainland looks as if it is joined but it isnt and huge ships sail, well motor up the gulf to Adelaide. This afternoon a lovely catermeran sailed in and is achored in the bay.
Much cooler today until the sun came out.
We managed to walk on three beaches today and now most of the packing up is done for an early start on the ferry in the morning.
I have a sneaking suspicion that there is more to take home than we brought with us!
Sad to go again, but lots to do when we get home.
May not post for a day or two, depending on what time I have.

Xmas morning

A walk on a lonely beach, a visit to a lonely lighthouse, no one around.
Overcast but not too cold.
Home for a light lunch. (with wine!!)
Roast duck tonight.
Carols on the cd and the absolutely lovely Jackie Lawson Advent calendar, sent by a dear friend to watch and listen to all through.
What a perfect start to a day.
A good friend to enjoy it all with us.
We are so lucky.
I hope you are too.

Seasons greetings

Have a lovely, joyous day with all your loved ones.

Lunch today

We had a long walk along Antechamber Bay this morning and called in to a newly opened cellar door outlet for the Dudley wines, and stayed to have a bottle of rose and a cheese platter looking at this incredible view.
Must be one of the best in the world.
A sketch and the photo, the mainland very vaguely in the distance.
A lovely day.

Sketches

The top one was while we were at lunch yesterday at Rustic blue, looking across at a lovely old farm gate with a dam in the distance.
The second one was in Kingscote on monday, having lunch at rogers deli is a tradition when we are on the Island, on the footpath, almost on the street you meet all sorts of people.
I have so far had a slow day, J and J played 9 holes of golf and after a wine at lunch,( here, we need to eat some food!) proceeded to nap for about 2 hours.
Friends in for dinner tonight, I cook, J cleans up after me, a good arrangement. I have sorted what we will have, roast pork and veg and red cabbage, we will all probably get indigestion but who cares.

Agapanthus

Summer and Kangaroo Island to me mean sun, sea and agapanthus.
There are white and blue ones in the garden framing the view of the sea and this year they are magnificent. So a painting had to be done, there is also a lovely little blue and white chinese vase which sets them off well.
Lots of photos have been taken and the odd scrappy sketch but we have been pretty busy, wandering the Island, friends in for drinks ( which went on for hours!).
Today we went to the raptor display, getting up close and personal to kestrels and falcons and a wedge tail eagle as well as some beautiful owls (who are not raptors).
Lunch in a pleasant spot and a walk along a pristine beach, a few shells collected and home to recover!
It is Johns birthday so we are out to the pub tonight. We rang Sarah in New Zealand to wish her a happy Birthday, sounds as if they have been having a lovely time and I facebooked Fenella, the three generations of birthdays on the same day can sometimes be interesting.
Well off to lead a bit more of this hard life!

Cave art

I have been re reading Jean Auell's books and felt the need to make some cave art, but on paper.
Fun but not terribly good.

What you do while waiting for the duty doctor to see you.

I was in there for well over an hour today and so I sat and sketched, anything to keep me amused.
They think the toe looks better!! I hope so this silver stuff does seem to work.
We went out to dinner last night, a dairy thing but held at the Mt Compass Golf Club I had never been there before, quite interesting and I certainly didnt know there were so many houses there, or that they all went mad with Christmas lights! No photos unfortunately. Built on swamp and sandhills it must be interesting to garden as all the houses are on the hill.
Another cake under way so another tick on the list but a few more days of baking.
We are supposed to get some rain tonight, I hope so, we are very dry.

A selection of birds

The bottom one is not taking my pen from the paper so is a 'silly bird'.
I am feeling a bit off today so after a busy morning, including dropping and breaking a jar of chocolate thousands on the floor (great fun to clean up!) I sat and finally did a bit of sketching. I havent sketched for days and need to.
I have been wrapping Christmas presents and trying to make sense of what I have, the fact that there are several family members with birthdays just before Christmas doesnt help either.
With almost no money to spare this year it has been a struggle to find things for all but the smallest members of the family. They are the fun ones I gather stuff for through the year.
With so many of my grandchildren either teens or in their twenties it is hard to know what to get.
We are supposed to go out to dinner tonight, I was supposed to go with John to a volunteers thing as well but have decided not to go to that dinner will be as much as I can do, standing is a problem.
Hope you like the sketches, I had fun doing them.