Long time...
Been a while. Thought I'd do a brief update to catch up on the last few posts as people have occasionally pinged me to find out what happened to the sick puppy and the quails.
The puppy got better and now has a new friend called Ruby whom we rescued from the pound at the eleventh hour. One more day and it was ze needle for 'er. They love each other and are terribly sweet to watch as they rumble around the place.
The quails. Well I never did find names for them so we eventually ate them at Laj and Paul's. Neil did the deed and also cooked them. Bit tough as they were getting on in months but beautifully huge for what are normally one mouthful. The meat was still easily pulled apart and quite tasty. However, we will never have quails again. Too bloody noisy. They would call all through the night and it's not a peaceful noise they make. No sirree. So we got chickens instead. I'm selling the eggs at work and they're paying for their upkeep now :)
The garden has been amazing to watch as the waves of colour and various old world plants bloom and fade. Jonquils, bluebells, snowball trees, roses, carnations, deciduous hibiscus tree as tall as the house. The vegie patch went off like a frog inna sock and we've been nibbling on raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, cossack pineapples, strawberry spinach and all and sundry. The greenhouse is a very effective tool in an area sporting a short growing season.
There are a number of fruit trees and the English Walnut trees spread their wide leaves. Neil harvested the green fruit prior to shell forming and has made nocino (walnut/vodka/herbal liquor), pickled walnuts and sweet preserved walnuts. We found a swathe of fruit trees lining the fairways on the golfcourse across the road and he's now made a variety of plum/apricot stuffs. All terribly yummy and I refuse to stand in his way. Despite the mess :-)
My job continues. Had 2 weeks off for Christmas and had a luverly time lazing around the garden, shopping in Canberra with a gift voucher pressie for use at DJ's. Espresso machine, icecream maker and a poffertje pan later, we had put on a few kg's and started bouncing off the walls high on frothy caffeine. 'Twas fun!
Other stuff has been going on but been too long. Have forgotten much as it's been a busy few months. Easier just to pick up from this point onwards unless something startling pokes the inside of my cranium.
This past weekend a large medieval event was run on Aspel Island where the Carillon soars skyward. Memories - amusingly the bells would ring whenever someone had something important to say in court. Lots of peers cooled off whilst lounging in the stocks and having giant wet sponges thrown at them. It was a very hot day, they were the smart ones. A very very funny puppet show was played. Cornelius headbutted the cat whacker and broke it. Got to catch up with folk I've not seen for awhile and faces to match the names I talk to online. A little heat exhaustion on my part and at least one case of heatstroke were had.
Emotional memories from a long weekend. A direct apology offered to me, helped rebuild a bridge I'd thought burned and tears were shed. Sadly, it was an indictment of how a 'pretend' peerage can go to a person's head and ruin their partner's friendships in the real world. Happily, a friendship has been rekindled. Strangely, I can thank facebook for helping break the ice through little comments here and there on common ground.
The opposite was also true. Respect was lost for someone who didn't care enough to think about the consequences of changing their mind and discarding a friend when something else looked shinier. These things always come around. Juuuust occasionally, karma cranks out a short timeline. Usually right when the self-involved prima donnas of this world need help. It's always amusing and yes, I'm a wee bit cranky. 'nuff said.
Over the weekend I wore my new outfit most recently delivered by the nimble fingered Contarina. Take a look at the pic below. She made the droopy sleeved white chemise and yellow dress. The loba (show in a burnt orange here) was completed in a beautiful burgundy silk with black edging. She also made a silk belt with gold tassles and a spanish lappet (hat). I'd not realised she was doing the headgear as well so I found a black straw hat and started on a tranzada (hair binding for the fashionable Spanish of the day). It's a good start on trying to reproduce a painting of the Duchess Mencia de Mendoza completed around 1500.
I need to work on the bling, the cuff attachments, possibly shorted the loba as it's meant to be calf length not full length and find some gossamer sheer stuff for the transparent cofia. The front edges of the armscyes on the bodice were too tight and Nina offered to either show me how to make them more comfortable or take it with her but this didn't eventuate. I'll have a go with assistance from on of the local seamstresses. I wasn't able to wear the loba until sunset as it was just tooooo hot and walked around looking a little like a giant egg yolk x big bird, but it was an interesting experience seeing people take awhile to realise who it was in the late period garb, inna hat and everything!
