Finally got to see some of the spectacular views of the Blue Mountains. No fog today and the sun actually stayed out for quite awhile.
Expertly guided by Jude S, we drove to a couple overlooks, got to see a bit of a lyre bird courting his honey, checked out my housing for during the upcoming conference and had lunch on the top of the mountain ridge.
Back at Kath’s we played with some mushrooms she found in the yard – really cool looking ones that we hope will give up some cool colors. That is in process – stay tuned for results!
I beat out the snow showers yesterday by cooking up some contact dyed clothing on Monday. Unbundled them yesterday and am loving the results! Still need to be rinsed/washed.
The real surprise came from the avocado skins and seeds. Normally I get a nice green from the skins and a salmon color from the cut seeds. This time – blue with just a hint of salmon! Thinking it might have something to do with the egg whites I dipped everything in, but that is not clear just yet.
I so love the magic and surprise in the dye pot!
… of the lovely day of weather that we had last week and pulped my banana chunks. They were finally thawed out and wonderfully retted. Probably against all advice, if I had gotten any, I skipped the cooking stage and went directly to beating.
Banana pieces, being so nicely ‘plumped up’ and curved, don’t like to go through flat and close beaters. So I persuaded them a bit by tearing them into smaller chunks. That helped a bit. A very little bit. More persuasion was needed.
Out came the bats! No, not the kind we found on the basement step, but the hard round kind in the form of thick dowels. After some serious pounding, during which those juicy banana pieces squirted all over the garage floor, the flattened banana fibers slipped right into the beater between the ‘teeth’ and in no time I had pulp.
The pulp still needs some beating time to finish it properly before pulling any sheets, but it is now in a manageable size freezing again (this time in the basement chest freezer) until I have time to work with it. And it has been saved from being dumped in the woods by my love had it remained in the kiddie pool when I head off to Australia.
All is good. Especially since I know he won’t be inclined to pull things out of the chest freezer for dinner.
A busy time right now…. Come to think of it, most times are busy!
Anyway, getting ready for my first appearance at the 10th Annual Fashion Show and Boutique of the Textile At Alliance (TAA – associated with the Cleveland Art Museum). I will have work in the fashion show as well as a booth in the boutique. The hardest part right now is sewing tags on all the silk scarves I’ve dyed this past year!
Here are some glimpses of some of the garments (repurposed and some rearranged) that will be available for new owners:
Well, this definitely must be the year of the critter.
There have been multitudinous amounts of mozzies (Australian slang for mosquitoes – more on that in a later post!), a forlorn baby dear that sounded just like a human baby crying, the previously blogged about spa mice and now….
Notice the strange ‘stick’ in the window???Look closer at the bottom of the open window and/or the top – anything not a window frame???
… a rat snake pressed up against the screen in the kitchen window above the sink! Had my back to the window for about 30 minutes while I ate lunch and checked email yesterday. When I put my dish in the sink I noticed that thick thing sort of falling out of the frame and thought how odd that the weather stripping was so thick… and then I realized what it was! (Sorry the pictures are not so clear, but trust me, the snake was there!)
Our ever-so-helpful neighbor came over to inspect this newest ‘pet’ and was able to prod it out of its comfort zone and down off the deck. Have to admit, I kept scanning all surfaces for snake signs the rest of the day!
Really, I’m glad to know there is a snake around to hopefully take care of the mice, but I’ve never seen a mouse anywhere near the window frame and definitely not near the kitchen sink so I have no idea what smell brought it to that spot.
Sure hope that is the last of our critter escapades this summer! Love living in the country, but sometimes it gets a bit more intimate than I appreciate.
