Quiet Christmas

A calm sea and a pinkish sky.
We have done very little.
A day for reflection and regeneration.
May all our friends be well and enjoying life.

The edge of the dunes

We went over to Antechamber bay this morning and while John fished, (not much luck again but one unlucky sandcrab came home for lunch!) I walked the wide sandy beach, not a lot to find but enough bits and pieces to keep me happy and this to paint.
There is thick scrub and a National Park at the back of this so the sand dunes rise to the scrub and all along the lower dunes this wonderful grass grows, usually blowing with the wind.
We havent done a lot,we are due out to drinks shortly, the cool weather today has made us slow and sleepy.
I picked some samphire to put into tonights salad, yummy stuff if you know where to find it.
I havebeen watching the little blue wrens out the front, they have longer tails than the ones at home, I suppose they are an Island sub species. One day I may try to paint one but they are so quick I would have to refer to some one else's photo which I am reluctant to do.
My thanks to all who read my blog, it means a lot to know someone is interested.
A Happy Christmas to you all.

Rocks at the end of Penneshaw (Hog Bay)

This was still a bit damp when I took its photo so there are some shadows on the sky that are not there.
A very hot and muggy day here but no where near as bad as I had expected, the high winds that were experienced in other places didnt seem to happen.
We went into Kingscote this morning and had coffee with a friend who makes hats and lives in a lovely cottage at Shoal Bay overlooking the sea. She had a gorgeous hand reared and very tame zebra finch zooming around and sitting on our shoulders, making his lovely zit zit noise.
Her partner who makes wonderful things out of found wood and metal wasnt home but we saw some of his stuff.
Some shopping and lunch a look in all the galleries and home.
More friends for dinner tonight, I have walked the beach and am about to make salads and crumb the fish, this is the life!

KI landscape

I am using picasa to put this up as I cant do it the way I normally do so I hope this works.
We have just poured our glass making friend out of the door, having fed him more than adequately I think, a fun evening full of deep and meaningful chat and moments of hilarity as well,
I hope I can see the key board as I may have had a little more to drink than normal.
This flat topped mallee is very typical down this end of the Island, most of the crops have been rept and things are drying out.
A hot day in the 40's is again forecast for tomorrow but I dont think it will be as bad as that here as the north wind tends to blow over the water and cools us down.
Still relaxing, visiting friends, bought some interesting books at the book exchange, always worth a look as so many overseas visitors come.
I am having a go at knitting some mitred squares while I can sit and concentrate, I have to say my first attempts were pulled apart! I dont think I am very good at working out new patterns, it looked deceptively simple!
I hope you who read this have a bit of time to relax and enjoy as well as prepare for family and friends.

Flowers from the KI garden

With no scanner I am having to take photos so only the larger stuff comes out. I am managing a few sketches and if you go to my other blog here you will see some of where we went today.
It is John's 72nd Birthday and we had a lazy morning until after lunch he decided to go to my most favorite bay on KI where I could walk and he could fish.
I did the painting this morning, agapanthus, fuchsia and a white buddlia.
As we didnt catch any fish he has gone to another spot but as that means more walking through sandhills and my knee says it has done enough I am home resting it.
We will go out to dinner tonight to celebrate.
We must be getting old, we are taking things very slowly, not running around like mad things but I am relaxed and enjoying it.
I am loving some of the photos of all the snow, but realise it probably isnt much fun for those of you who are on the count down to Christmas.
Keep well I am enjoying hearing about what you are doing.

Cape Jervis

I did this quick sketch while on the ferry to Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island. All rocky headlands and rocks running out to sea.
We had been up very early this morning packing the red ute for our week in the nicest little house overlooking the sea on my favorite Island.
The crossing takes just under an hour over some of the roughest bits of water around our coast, but this morning although windy it was relatively calm, but cold.
As we were on the first ferry the friend who owns this little house was still cleaningso she sent us off, we went to the farmers market and I hope the lamb chops I got are as good as last years.
Went to visit a friend who does the most amazing things with glass to invite him for drinks later this week and then back to unpack.
I have had an afternoon nap, John is playing pool with himself and I am listening to Katherine Jenkins, she has such a beautiful voice, before that Bryn Terfel who we saw collecting his mail while we were in North Wales. (He was a neighbour of the friends we stayed with, what a voice he has!)
We are about to walk on the beach and then I will think about dinner.
Finally I can relax.
No Haiku while I am away unless I can talk John into writing some.

Playing with shapes

I have had this vague outline in my head for a while and finally today I found a few minutes to get her more or less on paper. I think this may be the first of several versions, I wanted flowing draperies and a feeling of style. I dont think I have quite done yet what I want but it is a start.
So nice to get back to doing a bit with paint.
Yesterday was stinking hot and we were in Adelaide, my lunch was canceled as two couldnt make it so we decided as it was such a hot day we would try again for the new year.
The days have been quite comfortable with lovely weather and then we get an over 40c day and then last night we had rain and a thunderstorm and today it is really cold and all you want to do is sleep!
Any way some presents have been delivered, I saw both my sisters and my mother who was quite bright while I was there, although she complains I am the only one of the three of us who talks to her and tells her how the family is.
I have made the biscotti so I think that is the last of the baking I have to do before we leave.
This evening we are delivering more presents and having a drink with friends, we only catch up about once a year, terrible when we dont live very far away.
John has had continuous meetings, final once for the year etc and half my children seem to be down with a terrible cold so I hope I dont get it.
None of us seem to have much money so it will be interesting to see what we do for Christmas presents. I think almost all of mine have been made, at least they seem to like the jewellery I make and at least I can still make it. So far the ageing joints havent fallen into a complete heap, at least if I keep them moving my hands seem to be ok but there have been mornings when I have woken and wondered if they will ever work again.
I am not sure this 70 bit is a good thing I have just had a card from an old school
friend who fell over a garden stake and broke bones in her foot and is still in trouble with it, she is bemoaning the fate of her garden but does say she has read a lot of good books and has been doing jigsaw puzzles which she felt terribly guilty about until she read that Margaret Drabble has written a book on jigsaws and always has one or two on the go, I love them but always feel guilty too about spending time on a jigsaw when there is so much more I can do.
I have been having a lovely time visiting blogs and seeing how the northern hemisphere bloggers are getting ready for Christmas with snow and cold and thinking how different it is here, possibly beach and seafood for us although many still have turkey and hot lunches I am afraid that if we have hot we have an evening meal and usually if it is not stinking hot we have roast duck, when we had geese it was always a goose, but you need more than 2 for a goose and home grown ones were always better than bought.
I may have used this Haiku by Basho before but it is so beautifully evocative
Over the ruins
of a shrine,
a chestnut tree
still lifts its candles.