Its August, its raining, in Iso and alls well!

Hello!

Great to be back, and I do look forward to working my way around and catching up on everyone's news while I've been away from Blogger.

Life here in our little spot in the world hasn't changed much.  We've been keeping busy with home-type activities.  
Have been getting used to the Click n Collect method of grocery shopping... hmmm, that can be fun... yesterday I clicked on 4 different kinds of items under the "desserts" category, lol, today I feel not quite so tempted so shall un-click on a couple... oh that Custard Danish is definitely staying though 😉

We've been having some very welcome rain of late and the garden is lapping it up.  One of my favourite things to do is to look down at the fishpond through our loungeroom window... seeing the raindrops on the water and the fish happily poking around the pond is lovely.  Here's what I mean:

While I'm on the subject of the pond.  Here's a few more I've taken over the years:

A cute little Skink, likes to visit the pond occasionally.

Skinks nest in the tops of pot plants where there's leaf litter etc.  We have lots of them around our garden.  I purposely leave old saucers overturned as shelters for them too... they use them, a lot!

Here's a pretty Poppy (cutting from our Son) and Waterlily (cutting from our Daughter) that have grown in the pond, in the warmer weather:

I'd been getting myself in a bit of a "tizz" over the fact that the wearing of masks hadn't been encouraged in our State (Victoria), and yet the infection rates and deaths were rising daily... so I've been that annoying old lady who writes emails and does rants on FB lol! 

Finally, the powers-that-be were suddenly embracing the wearing of masks, in fact they made them mandatory (so many experts had produced solid evidence of their efficacy, side by side social distancing etc, at last our government acknowledged them). 

For those odd occasions we do venture out into the world, we wear our handmade masks. My sewing is a bit crooked, but it does the job... I made them the evenings while watching tv.  Here's some of my efforts:

Can't work out how to add a caption to above image, no matter... Hubby likes the top style and I prefer the two lower styles.

Well, now, I hope everyone's doing ok as we work our way through this wonky year.  We all have family we miss dearly don't we ... just got to take each day as it comes, worrying is time wasted ❤

Bye for now and I'll see you over at yours, Sue xx

Paint Party Friday and Bits of This n That ~

Hello!

Lots of painting going on here and I remembered it was Friday so its certainly time to post one in readiness to join in with Paint Party Friday today:

"Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"
Acrylic on Masonite (fibreboard)
(not an original title, but it just seems so apt!)

I made some progress shots of this one, so here we go....

In a way, I kind of liked the blurry, abstracty-feel to this stage when looking back on the photos now that its completed. 
Just shows that its sometimes nice to take things slow, however I carried on with adding more details

So intent on adding those small details 😍

This was to be it... completed, however I really felt it needed something more ......

Yes, a little bit of silver bling seemed to do the trick!

so, that was my little bit of arty fun... much more to see over at this week's Paint Party gathering.  You'll always be made so welcome.  Just click on the icon below:

Some this 's and that 's over the past week or so ....

We were pretty impressed by this young pumpkin's self-support system
(I promise that we didn't manipulate that tendril on the hose)
This photo was taken a week or so ago and, with the larger growth, the pumpkin has dropped a little but is still hanging on for dear life! 

Phew! Our last day of January was a doozie ... hot, hot, hot! :

... but we were fortunate enough to have air conditioning, so the inside temp was very welcome.
(for Northern Hemisphere blog-friends, that 45degC = 113F)

Again, we were visited by birds to our verandah.  I made sure the water in their bowl was replaced every hour with cold from the fridge.
Here's a Wattlebird who'd just about had enough of the heat:

Heard me against the window as I took the photo but didn't move...

Now we're enjoying much better temperatures and had even had some rain which was widespread too - bonus!

Our native Correas were flourishing... laughing off the heat and lapping up the rain...

I'd taken a photo of these two Nectarines just prior to Hubby bringing them in for us to eat - oh...so...delicious

The bees went berserk in the Lilly Pilly again this year...

Finally, a batch of currant scones for us - not quite as yummy as the dates ones I usually make, but welcome with some lashings of butter and  a cuppa none the less.

Thanks for getting down this far!
Have a great weekend and I'll see you over at yours soon, Sue xx

some This n Thats and mixed feelings but mostly good!

Hello!

Well in our little part of the world, we woke to a frosty morning... here's a shot I rugged up and walked down to take from the back of our yard a few days ago.

I don't usually do this on my blog but I'm getting a bit deep in my thoughts following this photo...

It's always a tranquil view - no matter what the weather.  A nice spot to look out and contemplate things, important things, things like how darn lucky we are to be enjoying such peace.
I feel for those people who are battling far too early bushfires in two of our States - lots of them lit by vandals would you believe! Our dedicated firefighters and their supporters are brave beyond words.
The recent hurricane victims overseas - so much devastation - so much to do to rebuild. The trauma.
The uncaring and meanness of some of our politicians (small 'p') appals me.
I shall stop now and get back on to the brighter side of life but just had to let that out.

~ Thanks for listening Dear Blogfriends ~

Earlier in the week ... spotted in the supermarket... cold tootsies!:

but then I saw some pretties:

I remembered a lovely blogfriend,   Denise  of  'An English Girl Rambles' blog, did a recipe for strawberry bread (I've taken the liberty of including the link to that Denise ... thanks in advance). Well, strawberries are plentiful and cheap here atm so Hubby popped a few extra into the trolley this week.
Last night I felt we needed cake in our lives again - Hubby agreed - so I made one inspired by Denise:

We both loved seeing that ooze of strawberry peeking though

... and it was yum, nice and moist and hit the spot.
A bit crusty but that was because I was on the computer and forgot it until I smelt something cooking in the oven - oh the joys of this certain age lol ;D)

Now, I'm feeling really chipper, got to say.
Some may recall a recent post I did on my felting.

Well, after meeting with Joy from the local Art & Information Centre they initially took  4 of my felted pots (on commission).  One has sold already and I was asked to bring in another two  - woo hoo - as I said to one of our granddaughters... I'm doing a (grandma-version of a happy dance)!

there they are... sitting next to other local artists' work and I'm thrilled!

They also bought a selection of my cards and will be putting them out soon.  It's a bit quiet at the moment but once the tourist season starts it gets more active.

There they are, there's my babies - each one painted with happiness!

just one more look:

Thanks for popping in and, as always, its lovely to catch up with everyone. 

Cheers now, and extra special good thoughts to my blogfriends in Queensland and New South Wales, Sue xx
oh yes, nearly forgot... I'm on Instagram now (thanks to our other granddaughter who taught me about hashtags etc xx).  Have already met up with blogfriends on it and would love to see you there too if we haven't already connected!

Instagram@fancifuls.bysue

fairly random things

Hello and Happy Sunday!

I wanted to put a post together but I must warn you I'm in a strange mood and who knows what I'll put in it. No editing, no second-guessing ... just pics (old and new), a bit of art, and a few words:

a pic I took quite a few years ago of this Emu... I like that stare, it speaks volumes!

It was a quick coffee on the verandah for us
today....

... as soon as the sun came out - we went inside.
Another hot day, but cooler ones ahead thankfully

I love this wallpaper from our phone

Yesterday we went to the fish and chippy shop

we pretended we were on holiday
because when you're on holidays you can break
'the rules'  

... then for a walk

Oh, you people at the Internet Office:
  "Hmm... actually, I was connected to the Internet! "

loved this door in a hallway at Mum's care home

oh how I hate taking up hems... just saying

Ice Cream!!!!   Yum
[mentally jumping up and down with joy]

Coffee Fudge with Rum and Raisins on top
 (Hubby has the best ideas)

???? - stuck on what to do with this lol

heh heh, when we were first married, I had no
idea of what to cook - we took a liking to these!

these are bricks created by school children ... a couple of old pics, thought I'd share today

I was lucky enough to have grown some Ixias a few years back

 Pamela
inkpen and acrylic on paper

I do love terracotta

Well, that's it for this post.  Thank you kindly for visiting.

I hope you have a really nice week ahead... here's a lovely thought: 

... found on Pinterest