What's Been Happening?

I know some of you have been wondering why I haven't posted in just over a month .. a whole

month with the garden showing some lovely flowers....
well to begin I had to get straight into the next crochet blanket for our other grandson - with 215 stitches per row and needing to be a double bed size, pretty much all spare time when not at work or cleaning house for possible inspections was spent ensuring I got this finished in time to post out at the beginning of November for his birthday on 9th  November.  Good news, it got completed and he's really happy with it!  Pretty good for a 13 yr old boy.  Once again made with Bendigo Cotton 8ply.  Black, Navy Blue and Sambucca - I think it came out well, but took a bit of planning with only the 1 ball of sambucca available!

After finishing 4 crochet blankets this year along with other items, I'm feeling rather crocheted out

you might say, and my arm certainly needed a break. I had a Ravelry Catch up in Chiltern with the North East group and got another spinning lesson, finally managing to get my own wheel up and running and able to actually do some spinning of my own!
Still, I  found I needed a break from all things yarn .... and then even the applique as well! It was time for a total handiwork break, and with the weather finally turning to something more like Summer weather I 've been keen to be back outside!  . 



Paddle Steamer on the Ovens where it meets the Murray River.

So with doing so very much sitting over the last many months of this year, my fitness felt at an all time low and I've gained a couple of kilos which now means I really need to loose 6kgs to hit goal weight!  It was my mood (what can I say after a year of having the house on the market and living in limbo ), my low feelings of fitness, and my clothes all getting tight that made me decide I needed to get moving ........ I started some walking

River Walking Track

again at a faster pace than I had been and gradually increased the distance .....See the photo to see me time and distance with majority walking!... I've added in a bit of running ....... currently I can only manage a short 300mtrs before I have to break back into a walk.  I'm certainly feeling better for it, and I know my fitness levels are improving .  

It's actually been quite refreshing having a break from handiwork for the past month - I've been able to get back to my book I started at the beginning of the year ......."Drums of Autumn" one of the books by Diana Gabldon - I'm just managing to stay in front of the TV series "Outlander" and enjoying both the series of books and the show!  Once again we have left off planting any vegies in the hope that perhaps this Summer season the house

will finally sell!  It's making planning somewhat problematic, but it is what it is ........ so for now the walking/running is proving helpful in managing that for me!
Before anyone asks - the house has not yet sold and our plan to have Christmas in Maryborough has fallen through.  Sadly Jaron and Renee had major car trouble which meant using all their savings, so they could no longer drive down from Townsville with the grandies ... and our other friends had their plans change so that they were no longer able to come for Christmas Lunch.  Since the whole idea of going up was based around Christmas, there didn't really seem much point in just doing it for ourselves - We've instead decided to stay here and keep the gardens watered etc etc
Meantime Pete has been doing a bit of extra painting around the house to have it looking just that bit better.  He's also managed to get away for a couple of fishing trips with some of the guys in the Bundalong Fishing Club which has been a change from the past few years.  He has also been busy doing a bit of cutting of logs and burls doing bits and pieces with a few ideas for down the track.........

Would you believe that the Irisis we bought about 5 yrs ago finally flowered this year??  We had pretty much given up on them, so it's been nice to see the lovely colours on them - particularly the deep purple which is pretty much black in parts!

 

So now that we have pretty much caught up the past 5 weeks, I'd best get to the Sunday evening roast lol ........ I'll leave you to enjoy a cuppa like I was the other day while sitting out checking out the some of the pots I have ready for that move .........