A little of this and that.

One of the joys of being at home is seeing all the birds and other creatures that visit our place during the day. I have seen several beautiful birds recently but they are way to fast for me to take a photo and I am still trying to identify them. Its really difficult when you only see them for a minute if you are lucky.

'Our' peahen is still visiting regularly and has been found sitting down relaxing on the back porch or out in the driveway. She likes to be up high too so can be found perching on a rock just outside the back door.

She likes to look in through the windows at the back too. Here she is watching our grandson watching TV! I think she has adopted us as her home away from home.

Another visitor was a very large snake who was just outside the front of the house near the fish pond. He casually slithered along past the pond and up the metal fence then over into next door. He was quite beautiful and not bothered by our presence, allbeit not too close!

We have also recently spotted a green tree snake and a red belly black snake who was actually in the pond. He vanished very quickly and we never quite knew where he went.

A few weeks ago we had a very large tree cut down in the front yard. It had died from a borer infestation and was quite dangerous as some of its branches were overhanging the driveway.

As a result we had a huge pile of large blocks of wood that needed splitting. We hired a block splitter for the day and Mike did a great job of splitting these huge segments into fire sized pieces. It was much more effective than an axe. He did try to chop it but the axe just bounced off!

We now have three large wood heaps up at Mt Victoria and still some more left at home for our fire in the lounge room. It seems funny taking wood to Mt Vic as there is an abundance of timber on the ground up there too. Anyway there was no room for it all at home.

I recently had a personal tour of the Opera House which was great. Mike has worked there for nearly 12 years so it was high time for me to see what goes on behind the scenes. It really is a fascinating building. He took me all over including into the ceiling of the Concert Hall. The serenenity of the public areas belies the maze of cables, lighting, air conditioning, pipes etc etc etc that weave their way into all sorts of spaces out of the public gaze.

The concrete structures of the sails make the most beautiful curves and patterns on the inside.

Circular Quay is always interesting. There was a large cruise liner in at the Overseas Passenger Terminal. Apparently its not one of the biggest ones but you can see in the photo below how much bigger it is than a large Manly ferry. There's always something going on.

Pansy Patch

Finally, the day I have dreamed of for so long came last Friday when I went to work for the last time. It was a good day, a bit sad, but mostly fun. Everyone came out for lunch which was lovely. It was also a special day because it was also my boss' last day with RMS.

Some time ago I started making large hexagon flowers for a quilt I found in the Quilters Companion magazine called 'Old Quilts Made New'. Its called 'Pansy Patch'. The rich bright colours were what attracted me to it.

I English paper pieced the hexi flowers on the train on the way to work which attracted many inquiries as to what I was making! When they were all complete I laid them out on the bed to try to arrange them in a pleasing manner.

It was a bit fiddly working out all the odd pieces that are required to make the whole thing fit together. Anyway I had become a bit phobic about starting the process of sewing them all together. Sometimes when I think about things too much it all gets too hard in my head and nothing happens. Anyway, without much thought I retrieved my photos, walked into my sewing room and picked up the pieces I needed and started sewing. And surprise surpise it wasn't as complicated as I thought. I have made a good start and its going together quite well.

Our friendly peahen has continued to visit and comes around most days. It turns out she belonged to a neighbour along with another peahen and a peacock. The other two birds have apparently debunked to Sun Valley and this one just roams around the neighbourhood.

My sewing room has been a hive of activity. Its a mess as you can see but things are getting done. Another UFO of the dressmaking kind has come to the fore and I have also been working on that.

Its so much fun having time to spend in my favourite room in the house!!!