We Now Return You To Your Regularly Scheduled Program

The last week [ well, week-and-a-half] has been bookended by two very different trips down to Melbourne, and, if nothing else, has illustrated that I am finally on the mend.

First there was the day trip down and back for Nadie & Chris’  baby shower. This not only involved 2 hours plus in the car each way, but also the organisation and running of the obligatory games and the sourcing and/or production of party favours, table centrepiece and an orange/almond cake.

My darling daughter, who had seen me at my weakest a couple of weeks previous, was quite prepared for me to fall in a heap. To be honest, so was I, but it’s amazing what you can do on adrenaline sometimes. Daggy party games were played, prizes awarded, cute baby things ooohed and aaaahed over. and old friends caught up with. Oh, and food consumed.

I will admit that most of the following two days was spent nose first on the couch, but nontheless, a good time was had.

I managed a trip out to Emu Creek mid week, and introduced Pete-and-Brenda to the delights of yet another orange/almond cake. Baby goats were fed, admired, cuddled and photographed, but that may be a tale for another day.

On Friday, Nadie drove up to Castlemaine to stay with her brother,so that I could teach a class at the Australian Quilters Association Symposium on Saturday [ thankyou again sweetie ]

Car all packed the night before, 5am saw me up and creeping around in semi dark, in order to get myself breakfasted, showered and out the door at 6am without waking anyone. The forecast for Melbourne was a warmish 20C but when I left home it was about 4 degrees, so layers were the order of the day. T-shirt, trousers, long sleeved dress, tights, socks and and The Cursed TDF Cardigan, so I was well rugged up.

By the time I arrived to pick up my friend Corrie, and we then made our way to the venue at beautiful Sienna College in Camberwell, it was 8.30am and the first of the layers came off, an action that was repeated at regular intervals during the day.

I was teaching a class based on a small wallhanging that incorporates Anjii’s Angles, sashiko stitching, and a very cursory fly through at colourwash.

A lot to get through in one day, but my ‘girls’ were a delight. I will admit that having booked this class in well before the surgery [ and subsequent unlooked for consequences ], I was a bit apprehensive about my ability to not just survive a long day but to do the class justice. Perhaps I was lucky. No one in the class was a demanding diva. Everyone, regardless of experience, coped really well and I think you can tell from this next pic what sort of a day they had.

After the ‘Show & Tell’ [ Chantelle ] at the end, we had an hour to kill before dinner,  not time enough to pop back to Corrie’s place so we got the car loaded up, photographed some of the beautiful  convent buildings at Sienna College, and then sat down for a chat in the balmy late afternoon Spring sunshine.

Which just left us with the Dinner[ definitely with a capital D ], a couple of quick games and a short talk by each of the tutors.

My appetite which had been MIA for 5 weeks suddenly decided to put in a guest appearance … yet another confirmation that things are on the mend … and it is entirely possible that I may have had two desserts.

So anyway, a pretty long day, and this time I opted to stay at my friend’s apartment for the night, with the drive home on Sunday morning.

I had scheduled a falling-in-a-heap for Sunday afternoon but actually pulled up rather well. Enough so that I can tell there’s been definite improvement in the last week.

I will admit to having a quiet day yesterday, but still:

I am now off the revoltingly foul antibiotics.

The twice and thrice weekly visits to the medico have ceased.

I have picked up my knitting for the first time in weeks.

Onward and upward, eh ?