Floods receding.

This morning there is blue sky and lovely sun with a gentle breeze blowing. The river is dropping and slowly the water is receding from homes and businesses but it will be days before anyone will be able to clean up.
I had a phone call from my eldest granddaughter to say she had made it home. It had taken 7 hours to drive back. She had gone with her partner to Ipswich, west of our state capital Brisbane, and had become stuck there as all the roads closed. She was worried about her own home here in Bundy and I couldn't tell her anything but I thought it might be OK. But she is home now. She says that there had been no water in the house but because it was all closed up, everything was mouldy and smelly so the windows are all opened and the breeze blowing and she has gone to the laundromate to do some washing.
My friend came around this morning to get some of her food out of my freezer. She told me that when a neighbor across the road found out that she and her husband had no power, he brought over his portable generator and fixed up for them and also a small gas camping stove so at least she can make her own coffee and cook a meal. The water has left their back yard now so she is hoping that the power will be switched back on soon.
I have been able to vaccum my floors today. Before, because the air was so wet, the floors were 'tacky' and I couldn't do anything, the dust etc just spread around so I had to wait until everything dried off a bit but I am a little cleaner now.

And the floods continue.

Well, Bundaberg is well and truely under water. All the bridges are under and many houses as well. It is a mess.
I am dry and safe but there was a time when I thought I might have to move.

This water was just 7 houses from where I live and it did get a little higher then stopped. It is now very slowly receding but we have been told it will probably take days to go completely. Then there will be one big mess to clean up.I still had power but my friend in the street behind lost hers yesterday so she came around and filled her flasks up so she could make coffee. She had a lot of cold meat and stuff still from christmas so they didn't have to cook. The power won't come back on for her until the water has left her back yard.

The funny thing was to watch Mullet jumping around in back yards, they had come up from the river.

I did manage to go shopping today with my youngest daughter Elle. She knew how to get around to the one part of town where there was a clear way to one of our shopping centres. I got a few groceries in and then I found a lovely dress in a sale so I treated myself to a birthday present. I hope I can wear it on Saturday.

I have managed to get a fair bit of knitting done and a bit of reading so I off to do some more.

Rain, rain and even more rain.

It has been a very wet Christmas for us in all of Queensland. It started with a lot of rain before Christmas and then on Christmas morn a small cyclone crossed the coast just south of Cairns and then became a monsoon low and it has not stopped since.
Yesterday we had three thunderstorms, one after the other and the rain came down so hard tat I turned my TV up to the highest but still couldn't hear it.
The whole town of Theodore, west of Bundaberg, has been evacuated and there is the possibility that others will be taken out as well. By tomorrow, most of Queensland will be under floods and it is creeping into NSW.
Bundaberg is well under although I am safe at the moment but our Burnett river has not peaked yet. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

This is usually just a narrow flood channel

In the last 24 hours alone we have had over 200mm fall and it is still raining. The weatherman says that the rain is not expected to stop before the New Year.

Ah well, I shall just have to stay here and knit., I can't go anywhere, the roads are cut.

Exhausted!!!!

I am exhausted. I got up at 5.30am this morning in the hopes of getting my backing done early. It was already hot but fine with clouds and the humidity was high.
At 7am I started t get ready to bake but my next door neighbor called in and wanted a little chat then my good friend called by to see if I needed anything at the shops. By the time I started it was 9am and getting hotter. My friend called back on her way home from the shops so it was another little chat.
When she left I got on with my baking. First the welsh cakes, they take the longest and it was lunch time before I could start on the bread pudding. I had just put it in the oven when my daughter Elle called in with her children and I gave them their presents, I won't get to see them tomorrow. The bread pudding finished it's time in the oven and I was getting ready to start on the chicken strips when my eldest granddaughter called in. I had to stop and give her a cuddle, she miscarried last night and she was still upset by it so we had a good talk, woman to woman. She left at 5.30pm just as it started to rain hard.
Now I had to cook the chicken. I finished at 7.30 pm and my feet are aching so is my back and all I want to do is go to bed but I have to wait because I think my brother will phone tonight from London.

I told you about the stupidity of people going through the flood waters. Well the water is rising well here in Bundy and as she drove over, the council man was putting up 'road closed' signs across a flooded road but the motorists still drove through the water. My daughter turned around and took another way to get to my place but watched as more drivers went straight through the flood. It is people like that who will need rescuing in a couple of hours.

The flood waters are creeping into Bundaberg, about three roads are cut at the moment but with the rain falling hard, it will soon be more. tomorrow is supposed to be bad. There is a monsoon low just of the coast of Cairns and is expected to cross the coast tomorrow and will cause heavy rain in all of Queensland and there is a second low in the gulf which if it crosses also then we are in for masses of rain. All our rivers are already flooded and the dams are overflowing and it is king tide time being helped by a huge whirlpool just of the coast of Queensland which is pushing more water onto the coast. We don't need any more sky juice.
I haven't done any knitting today nor writing and I don't feel like doing any now.
I shall be glad to get back in my bed.

Diamond Eyes.

I have finished reading Anita's book. I know. I said I was going to take it slowly but last night I made a stupid mistake in my knitting and it means unpicking so I picked up the book and started to continue reading it, then found I couldn't put it down. It is a brilliant book and I look forward to reading the next volume, Anita has told me that that one will be released in June 2011 so I shall be putting my order in.

The flooding of Queensland continues. Many towns north are already cut off and if we get more rain tonight then all the roads into Bundaberg will be cut.
I went shopping today (absolute bedlam) I stocked up on non-perishables just in case I can't get out or supplies can't get in so I won't go hungry or thirsty.

Now I must go and up-pick my shawl and find out where I made the mistake.

Never ending.

Rain again today, heavy too. It has been raining now for 12 days out of 13 and the weather man says to expect another 300-500mm between now and Christmas day. I think we can expect the floods to get worse, our river is already over its banks.

I was able to buy Anita's book yesterday, the last one in Bundaberg and none due in until Feb.I had an email from her the other day. She is thrilled that it is doing so well and she has been nominated for a writing award. She deserves it, she has worked so hard for several years to get this book together. If you want a good read over Christmas the try 'Diamond Eyes' by AA Bell. I am enjoying it but I have to go slowly as I have important knitting to do as well so I knit for an hour then read a chapter. Normally I will read a new book and stay with it to the end but I have to be disciplined here, my knitting is very important and I have to get it done by a certain time.

Only a couple of days till Christmas and I have all my presents wrapped and I have started my baking, not much of that to do really. I don't think we will have a pool party though, not unless the weather man is wrong. I guess one could wish.
Back to my knitting now.

Crazy, crazy, crazy.

It is as if the world has gone mad. Europe and USA smothered under snow with nothing able to move.
Australia is under floods and nothing able to move. Except parts of Victoria and N. NWS and a little part of ATC. They are under snow!!!!!
We have been have just been told what sort of weather to expect for christmas. Wet and then wet some more. There is even a tropical low forming which means there could be a cyclone to hit us on christmas day.
I am going to my eldest daughter for christmas day, a pool party. I think she will have to change it to inside party.
I have got all my presents ready and have planned what I am taking to add to the feast. Gwyneth, my daughter, has asked me to bake a bread pudding and make some welsh cakes. That will be easy and not too much hot work. Must bake some extra bread to use.
I am still picking a couple of tomatoes every couple of days and they are so sweet. My cucumber is going well but I think the heat is getting to it, plenty of flowers no sight of fruit yet. I can wait.
Back to my knitting.

Noisy night.

Had a bad night. It was stormy and the noise of the thunder, I think would have kept the whole neighborhood awake. There was very little rain but the lightening was brilliant and the thunder shook the windows.
It all started early yesterday morning when storm cells started in the west and south of the state and moved slowly to the east and north. There were six cells at first and caused damage as they passed along. Then the cells melded into one and hit our state capital, Brisbane. By then the whole sate was under a severe storm warning. Bit by bit, it slowly moved towards our part of the state and at first it seemed as if it would move out to sea and miss us but it started lightening, we could see the sheet and fork lightening and hear the occasional rumble. We were all ready in case of winds but it didn't seem to get any closer.
I went to bed. My little dog, Cariad, stated to bark and carry on. I had left the blinds drawn back to allow the breeze to came in and she didn't like the flashes so I got up and closed them. My other dog, Trixie, just hid her head under the quilt.
At first the flashes lit up the sky brilliantly, even with eyes closed it shone through. Then the thunder crept closer. It shook the windows. It was so noisy it was like being in a bowling alley with evey lane in use. The banging and then the rumbling just went on all night.
It is now 7AM in the morning and the thunder is still rumbling, in the distance now, but still there.
We are promised more storms again today.

Sunshine...for now.

Today was sunny and hot with high humidity but at least it didn't rain.
The flood waters in our area are going down fast and the local council workers were able to get out and check the damage.A couple of roads are badly damaged and will take weeks for them to be mended. A lot of  farmers have lost their crops and the ground is too waterlogged for replanting yet. But there is more rain to come, in fact, were are under a storm warning for tonight and in the north, it would seem that they are in for an early wet season, the monsoon trough has developed already.

I had a treat yesterday. I picked my first tomatoes. anbd they were lovely. With cheese and some basil leaves, my sandwich went down very well.

I only have pots growing in my carport but it is enough for me. There is nothing better tan eating what you have grown yourself.
Now I must go back to my knitting.

Utter stupidity.

There have been several people drowned during the floods in Australia and most have been caused by utter stupidity. Cars have been washed off flooded causeways when for years people have been warned not to drive through flooded roads.
Others have been teenagers and young people, swimming in flooded rivers and creeks. Apparently, they will not listen to the fact that flood waters are fast running and is dangerous to try and swim, no matter how good one is at swimming. Even here in Bundaberg, three teenagers had to be rescued from our local Burrnet River yesterday. Not only was it still pouring with rain, the river was running extremely fast and in danger of breaking over the banks. Other people had to risk their own lives to go in and rescue those stupid kids. This action has been repeated right around Australia and it would seem that some people think they know better or are capable of being better than others. Utter stupidity.

Guess what?

The sun is shining! Which means it is not raining!
If the rain keeps away for today it will mean the floods will ease. Bundaberg is not flooded but all the roads leading in and out are and a lot of the small townships in the area are cut off.
But the sun is shining! Yea!

Wash out.

Well, todays market was a wash out. It started to rain just before Linda and I left . For once we were able to pull up almost to the door to unload so we didn't get too wet. The humidity was high (94%). We all looked as if we had just stepped out of the shower by the time we were set up. I noticed a lot of stall holders were missing, probably cut off because of flooded roads. Unfortunately, the rain kept the customers away so none of us did much selling which was a shame, I was hoping to earn a little money for christmas. Never mind, next year might be better.
One thing though, I did manage to get a fair bit of knitting done and talk to other stall holders there.
It is still raining. Reports are coming through about local flooding and more rain is forcasted for tomorrow. I am safe from flooding but it will be too wet to do any thing except to sit back with my feet up. I won't have to water my plants. LOL.

Floods.

There are so far, 48 centres in Australia under flood with more expected by tomorrow. It is a mess everywhere.
http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/warnings/index.shtml
These are the floodings so far.
To  make matters worse, the forcasters say that the monsoon season is starting early this year and is expected by next week. That will then bring northern parts of Australia into the flood danger.

I worked hard yesterday. With the threat of bad weather for this weekend I completely cleaned my carport and it looks nice now for christmas. Moved the plants around, my tomatoes especially needed more sun to ripen. The cucumber is flowering well but I don't see any fruit forming yet but then, they would be so small it would be hard to see in the beginning. The few flowers are in good bloom. Very pretty.

I also worked on the edit of my novel, the last one I hope. My woodsmith did a good job of picking up small mistakes I had made with grammar, mostly forgetting full stops and commas.

I put another pattern together. I told you I had been busy. It is for my market ladies and I needed for Sunday's market. Hopefully, it will sell well.

Now I have a month to think of another pattern but I must finish the graph for my Royal shawl and get that knitted.

Today I hope to take things easy. It is already quite hot and humid so I shall get the fan going and sit under it, trying to keep cool.
I shall knit for a while and then, may be, take a kindy nap and then when the sun goes down a bit, water my plants.
That would be a good day for me. LOL.

Storms.

After ten years of drought it would seem as if mother nature is giving us back all the rain we missed out on. Many parts of Queensland are flooded and there is more rain on its way.
Parts of NSW and Victoria are badly flooded as well with many communities evacuated to higher ground as rivers burst their banks.
It is a continuing disaster for farmers. This year many were able to plant crops for the first time in a decade only to see it ruined by the floods and in a couple of areas of NSW those that weren't flooded got hit by locust. One farmer watched as his fields of wheat were eaten in 24 hours, all that is left is stubble.
We had a storm yesterday afternoon. I saw it coming. the sky was ink black and the thunder could be heard long before the storm reached us.  It was a short storm but violent. we didn't have very much rain in my part of town but the wind was rough and it blew over my big plant stand that has small hanging plants on it. It has never blown over before.
The trouble with all this stormy weather is going to be the shortage of fresh vegetable and fruit. What is left on the trees and in the ground can't be taken to the markets because the roads are flooded, at least I have some tomatoes growing and they will be ready for christmas.

I went to a christmas dinner today. It was with my old ten pin bowling group. I can no longer bowl but I still go to the special days and meet up with old friends. It was very enjoyable and of course I ate too much. I find meals that you don't cook yourself can taste so much nicer.
I forgot to take my camera so there are no photos. Sorry.

I heard from my friend Anita Bell, her new novel 'Diamond Eyes'  is selling well. I am so pleased for her, I know how long and hard she has worked on it, I hope to buy a copy for my self sometime this week. It will be my chritmas present to me.

I must get back to my knitting now. I have craft market on Sunday and it is the last one for the year and I am trying to finish a couple of things I would like to sell. At least I have a new pattern for them, a few ladies are waiting for it so I hope they turn up.
Bye for now.

Busy day.

I have had a busy day. It was raining hard so no work could be done outside so it was indoor stuff only.
I finally wrote up a pattern of some shawl I had knitted and passed it over to me web master to place in my web page.
The shawl is a simple one to knit. When I came home from England in August I was so jet lagged for nearly two weeks. I couldn't concentrate on anything and kept falling asleep so I decided to knit myself a shawl, an easy one so if I fell asleep while knitting it didn't matter. I loved what I ended up with so knitted another one in different yarn and then another. So far I have knitted it six times each one in a different type of yarn. I wore my favourite one several times and people started asking me for the pattern so at last I gave in. The pattern I have produced is the same pattern in three different yarns, 8 ply, 5 ply and cobweb all knitted the same way but they change size from body wrap to neck wrap. I feel pleased with them all and now they are there for every one.
http://www.knittedlacedesigns.net/
I call it Simply Elegant Shawl and I have put it up as a PDF.

So now I am in the mood I shall have to write up the patterns of some scarves I knitted while in London, my market ladies keep asking me for more. Eventually I might put them opn my web page as well, who knows.

Now back to knitting my Royal Shawl.

November cont;

Well I have fed the dogs and they are settled down, now I might be able to finish for November.
This is a photo of myself and Mrs Santa

We had a lot of fun. I hope She/He comes back again next year.LOL.

I had some good news from a friend. Her new book has just been published  by Harper Colins and released world wide to catch the christmas market. She is thrilled to bits and it has been well recieved in America. Just in case any one is interested it is called 'Diamond Eyes' I hope she does well with it.

Tomorrow is the first day of summer for us here. It has been a much cooler and wet spring and it predicted that it will be a wet summer with a few cyclones around, in fact the expert says that we will have at least one before the end of the year. We shall see.

I must tell you about the new dress I bought myself.
I was shopping with my youngest daughter when we found a couple of dresses. One was black and long and in my size. Very simple and I fell in love with it. It was marked at $39.00. I stood and thought about it, I really didn't need a new dress but it was lovely. In the end I gave into the temptation and took it to the cash out. Imagine my surprise when it scanned up as $10. The check out man was the owner. He said it was discounted but he hadn't had time to put the new price up. I was well pleased. I call it my christmas present to myself.

I have started a garden for myself. As I live in a unit we are not allowed to dig up the garden but I have a car prot and don't own a car so I am growing everything in pots and placeing them in the car port. Everything is growung well. I have Roma tomatoes, capisicums and crystal cucumbers with lots of herbs all coming up well and a few flowers as well, just for colour. So soon I will have a lovely salad to pick. Next week I hope to plant a few peas in a container. My friends husban has made me a sturdy stand with a cross bar top so I can hang a few flower baskets up. He really made it well and even though we had massive winds the other night and it stood up to it.
Well, I am going now, it is getting late and I need an early night.

November is over.

The National Novel Writing Month is over so I can get back to normal now and I got my 50,000 words done. The story is not finished but it could become a good one....later.

I have a month of news to write up about.
I went to a Melbourn Cup breakfast and the theme was funky shoes so I scubbed up my garden crocs and decorated them with christmas tincel and would you belive I won a prize for them. They were really crazy looking shoes.

Later I went to the bowling alley for a cent sale to help raise money for the juniors travel expenses to Townsvill next year. Of cours I was still wearing my shoes so there was much laughter again but I had fun.

The next thing was a christmas party last week with the Bundaberg Business Womens Network. Their theme was red and green.

Well I din't have a green dress and I never wear green so I bought a red and green tinsel holly wreath and wore it on my head. It looked quite good, I called it my 'crown'.

Mrs Santa arrived to hand out our christmas presents and did a little dance for uu. There was a lot of laughter when it was discovered that Mrs Santa was really a Mr. He sat and had a drink with us until his lift arrived to take him home. My friend took some photos and sent them to me by email, I will find out how to put them in my online photo album and then I can post them to you all.

I still have presents to buy but I have decided that the grandchildren will get a book. I like to encourage reading amonst children and every year I try and find out what their reading likes are now as they grow up.

I have decide to make a Royal Shawl and send to Prince William and his bride. It will be based on the old shetland stitches and I am using Australian Pure Merino Wool, in cobweb weight.

I spent today drafting up the graph of patterns that will be in the borders. I have drafted about half of it so far and will continue knitting it later, I have already knitted the centre.

He might like the idea because Queen Victoria was prented one over a hundred years ago and it now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. I have only seen photos of it, if I ever go to England again I shall make a trip to the museum and see if I can see it.

I had better go now. My dogs say it is feed time and their throats are cut.LOL

Disaster!!!!

My computer blew up!! Well the power pack did. Went with a loud bang and frightened the you know what out of me.
My friend Linda took me to the repair shop where a lovely lady tested it out and then told me how much it would cost to fix but that given the age of the PC said it wasn't really worth it and directed me to a ruputible computer shop.
I was advised to but other tower, a reconditioned one, and I was quoted a good price and I agreed.
I had to go back the next day and pick it up. The sevice man had put my old hard drive in and the extra Ram drive as they were still good and I took it home.
Linda helped to set it back up and we switched on but it didn't seem to work properly. We switched it off and then it wouldn't switch back on again. We fiddled around with it but it was still a problem so we took it back. Apparently the wire wasn't conected properly so that was fixed and then he set up my e-mail page for me. He was very nice.
So now I am already to go.

Also, I nearly forgot, I was interviewed by our local news paper about writing in NaNo and it was published the next day. Very exciteing.

http://www.news-mail.com.au/story/2010/10/27/dont-bother-inviting-valerie-lewis-out-for-coffee/

It is hoped that more local writers will be encouraged to take part.
I hope so.

Interview.

Yesterday I was asked for an interview about NaNo writing and I said yes, I was thrilled and a little nervious. The article appeared in todays paper.
http://www.news-mail.com.au/story/2010/10/27/dont-bother-inviting-valerie-lewis-out-for-coffee/

Naughty dog!!

On Fridays I have a mobile veggie man call. He is good because his fruit and veggies are fresh and cheaper than the supermarkets and as a bonus, he carries the best fresh cold pressed honey which I love.
While I was outside buying my produce my little chihauhau was into mischief. When I came back indoors she was on my computer desk sniffing around. My printer was switched on ready for me to do some work and of course, she stepped on the go switch and it started printing. Fourtunately, my program wasn't up and all that spewed up was blank pages. But the cheeky thing just stood there, looking at me.


Yesterday was my youngest grandsons' birthday. We all gathered at my youngest daughters house and we shared in his birthday cake and watched him open his birthday presents. I can't believe he is already seven years old. Where has the time gone?

I have tried to put a photo in but it didn't work. I guess I have some more learning to do yet.

Garage sale.

Well it is over. My garage sale that is.It was cold first thing in the morning but no wind. Linda and I placed our things back on the tables and was set for anyone that came along and then the wind started again and I was slowly freezing and I was beginning to think I was crazy to do this, I could have been tucked up indoors with my knitting and watching TV with my two little dogs curled up on my lap. But here I was, sat out in the carport waiting for people to arrive and buy my goods that I no longer needed.
Being Sunday it was quiet but bit by bit a few people stopped. Some just kooked and a couple bought a couple bought some yarn or a bit of lace then at lunch time we decided it was enough and started to put what was left away. Some of the stuff left will go to a charity shop, a few things I shall hold onto and see if I can use some of the yarns to kinit up and sell at the craft market.
Now I have to get my unit sorted and cleaned and then the next job I plan is to turn my living room around. Now that is going to take a while, I can only work for a little while before my back gives out and moving furniture is no easy thing for me so no visitors for a couple of weeks please, you may not be able to get in through the door and of course you might be asked to help move a bookcase or such like.
I also have to find time to write up some patterns for my market ladies. I have three scarf patterns and a shawl pattern that I have designed for them and the patterns won't take very long really but it is getting started.
It is also only two weeks to NaNoWriMo to start. I am still tossing around a couple of ideas for a story. The one that seems to come out on top is completly out of my normal genre and would be quite a challenge to write but that is the good thing about NaNo, it is where you can challenge yourself. This will be my sixth year of competing and every year I get more confidence in my writing. You never know, one day I may get a book published one day.LOL. If I do you will hear the cheer all around the world.
Now I am going to have my second cup of coffee and start on a little work.

Games are finished.

Well the Commonwealth Games are finished. We did very well in the medal count coming out on top.
It was good to watch all the different sports and cheering on your own team, although I can cheat a little, if Australia hasn't a member playing then I can cheer for England or Wales, even clappd for Scotland once.
The only disapointment was that some of the Indian officials didn't seem to know all the rules for the game or sport they were handling, even umpires and refferees had troubles and it wasn't only the language problem. But all went well, there were no terri\orist attacks but there were quite few athletes went down with *Dehli Bellie*, one or two had to withdraw because they were too sick.

Today was the first day of my garage sale. I am very tired but it went well and had a lot of sales. Now I only have to get through tomorrow and it will be all finished. If there is anything left I shall propbably donate to one of our local charity shops.
I was worried through the nigh though. it rain like mad and the wind was so strong that me windows rattled so much I thought they would smash under the pressure but by the time I was ready to put the things outside the rain had stopped but the wind still blew like mad and was freezing cold. Tomorrow is suposed to be fine with less wind. I shall keep my fingers crossed.

Taking a break.

I need a rest from sorting out things for my garage sale. At the moment I think I have enough to fill a supermarket, well almost.
I am a bit worried about the weather, we have been promised heavy rain for the day. There has been a lot of rain this week and many places were flooded and although it has been fine that last couple of days the ground is very saturated and the creeks and rivers are running high. To make matters worst there are high spring tides this weekend so I am keeping my fingers ctrossed.

I have been watching the rescue at the Chilean mine, isn't it wonderful they got all the men out without injury. My heart went out to all the people who worked so hard without rest and the patience of the relatives who never gave up hope.

I had a good morning. It was shopping day. My youngest daughter drops her children off at school and then picks me up and we have a shopping day. Today she was in a hurry. "I have to be somewhere at 9AM and we have 3 minutes to go"
I though she had a doctors app or somrthing. We drove into town and she parked up and started to walk towards Mc Cafe.
"Are we going to Maccas'? I asked. She just nodded. Inside she told me to find a seat while she ordered coffee. She kept looking around even going outside for a quick look. When she brought the coffees over I asked who was coming. "You will see" is all she would say.
A couple of minutes later my eldest daughter walked in the another lady. It was my old friends' daughter whom I hadn't seen for about 9 years so there was hugs and kisses all round and then lots of talk as we caught up with family news. I found out that I had a greatgranddaughter, my granddaughter we have not been allowed to have anything to do with but Kerry knows her and told me all news.
All too soon we had to part, Kerry had to drive back to Gympie but she has promised to be back soon. It was a lovely surprise.

Ah well, I have had my break, I must go back to sorting cupboards out and see what else need to go.

Busy, busy, busy.

To tell the truth I haven't been that busy but it sounds good.
Most of my time I have been watching the Commonwealth Games on TV. For the ones that don't know what the games are about here is a link to find out
http://www.commonwealthgames.org.au/
Australia is doing well, I hope in forgoes well for the Olympic games in 2012.

I am also getting ready for the craft market on Sunday and then for my garage sale next week. I am selling all my craft gear that isn't conected to knitting and spinning, I will never have time for all I would like to do and what I have equipment for so it might as well go and give me a little more space.

I was watching an AD on TV and realised I am too old by 10 years to take out life insurance, where have all the years gone????
Of course I could take out funeral insurance but I am not ready to die yet and it could be as bad as the time when my daughter gave us a present of a breakdown insurance, our car broke down for the first time!!!!
No, I think I will leave the funeral insurance for a while, no good in tempting provedence.

I have been spending too much time on the NaNoWriMo forums as well but it is good to know that everybody is looking forward to the November month of madness.
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node
I have planed out a story but not sure if I can make 50,000 words out of it. Time will tell.

I am going back to my TV now, the games have started again and I want to watch us win some more medals.
Will talk again later.

Almost NaNoWriMo time.

The NaNoWriMo forums have cleaned out last years threads and is now clean ready for this years month of madness.
To me, it is like returning from the long holidays and catching up with old friends and finding out how the year has been with them. It was good to see so many of my old writing friends and knowing that they intend to write a month of madness again. Good luck to them all.
I am not sure what I am going to write this year I have many tales running through my head. I shall decide at midnight on the 31st October. I will sit at the computer and let my fingers decide. I like to start at midnight and write at least one paragraph before I go off to bed.

I am so tired today. I stayed up and watched the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games last night. I didn't watch to the end, gave up at 2AM and flopped into bed but it was a wonderful mix of colour and sound. I loved the Sari costumes that the ladies wore, all different colours and styles and of course, all the jewelery.
But I was awake again at 5AM, my dogs needed to got outside, their body clocks don't change. LOL.

I potted around with my pot garden. I bought a beautiful Fushia and I wanted to plant it as soon as possible. I also bought some Capsicum plants, I uses a lot of them in a stirfry and the are getting expensive to buy so I shall grow my own. The carport is looking good now, I just have to remember to water them.

I have finished knitting another shawl and started another one, they make good presents and are mindless to knit while watching TV but I must get back to designing.
I have a design in mind but my StitchMaker don't have a suitable symbol for a stitch I wish to do and I am still wondering how to make one. It will come I am sure.

It was my sons' birthday on 1st October and I gave him a phone call, the only trouble was I phoned him on Sunday instead of Saturday. I must try and get my days in order. He forgave me though and we had a good chat.

I have been to bed but I can't sleep. I have been remembering days gone by. Remebering when Sandy was young. Most of my memories are of her when she was young.
She had a thick mop of blond curly hair and she always skipped, I never remember her just walking. Her curls would bounce up and down but what amazed me, her hair never became untidy. Mine always looked a mess. I would brush it, pin it in place but as I turned my head the hair would go it's own way.
A few years ago, Sandy and I were talking about beliefs and we were way apart in our ways but I sent her a poem I had written and she loved it and told me that although we didn't believe in the same things the poem said what she had always felt. I will copy it here for anyone that would like to read it.

Celtic Belief.

I closed my eyes as I am bathed in warm glowing light

And my spirit soars as if I am carried on a soft gentle breeze.

I am at peace with my self and my world.

Warmth surrounds and I feel love pulling me,

Forward and backward but it is time for me to take a rest

Within the Halls of Waiting.

Calls of greetings reach out to me, friends and kin are waiting,

Arms stretch out to hold me, an air of happiness at my restoration,

Great feasting planned for my return.

Time to rest, heal body and soul, rejuvenate from the cares and pain of life,

Sadness at those left behind, maybe one day to re-meet

To drink from the Well of forgetfulness.

All to soon I feel the pull and darkness slowly closes in,

Spinning, spinning downwards, firm bands wrap around me

And darkness is complete.

It is quiet but there is a soft stirring and a new love begins.

With a rush, I emerge, a new place, a new time, new life.

So the cycle begins and continues.

I shall try to sleep now. It is 1AM and I have to get up early in the morning,

I have just had some sad news from England. My cousin Sandra died in the early hours of today. Sandy had been fighting cancer for many years starting with breast cancer about 10 years ago. Once cleared of that she seemed to be fine then a secondary cancer appeared 5 years later and so it went on. Four times she beat the terrible decease until  recently when it appeared in her back.
I visited her when I was in England recently and she was like a little shadow but was defiant that she would get better but we all knew that she wouldn't be with us for much longer and now she is at peace,
She was my youngest bridesmaid when I married in 1960. She was so happy and no one could wipe the smile off her face. She was always a happy person. I shall miss her.

Would like to start by saying thank you to the comments I have recieved about my blog, it was good that so many are willing to read what I have to say.

Today was knitting day. I have a couple of friends over and we sit and knit and chatter, some times about knitting and sometimes about our lives. We all have private troubles and it can help to talk to someone and know we will not be judged. We also encourage each other.
Some times it is hilarious like a couple of weeks ago I decided the my friends should have a go at spinning with a spindle. We laughed so much that I was exhausted. I am sure that when they get the hang of it they will have some good yarn to knit with but I am not holding my breathe yet.
Today we just knitted, well aleast a few stitches were made.  Linda is a new knitter but is determined to get there and is eager to try a new pattern every time. Marion is a nervous knitter in that she knows how to knit but is never sure what the pattern means and is so grateful when she is shown.
They think I am helping them but in reality they are helping me brcause it reminds me of what it is like when first starting out.

It is spring here and the Bottle Brush trees are coming into flower. The air is noisy with the lorikeets squabbling over the flowers. This morning I stood at my back door and 6AM watching them as the scrambled amonst the flowers and fought to get the best nectar. I laughed as I watched them, just like children fighting over a sweet or favourite toy. I decided a long time ago that wildlife is not much different to us humans. May they live for ever.

I have started a garden. Not a proper garden because I rent this unit and it only has a very small garden and landlords don't like it dug up but I have a large carport and no car so I am going to fill it with pots of flowers and vegies. It is already starting to look good with potted Azaleas, pansies, geraniums and I bought a Cynbidium orchid at market last week, it is huge so I need to learn now how to look after it and maybe get another one. I have also planted a Roma tomato, they are very low in acid so I can eat them and not get so much pain in my joints.I just work out there for a little time each day and when my back starts to ache I sit on my walker and push myself along. I manage. Then I sit back and look at everything and pat myself on the back. I hope we don't gewt any cyclones this year or everything will have to be dragged in for safety. I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

I had better close down now, the is a thunderstorm on it's way.

Valerie Lewis creates

You will soon find out that I am not very technically knowledgeable and I get lost occasionally so I hope you who will be reading this will have patience with me.

I am older than I would like to be but feel young inside. For this reason I keep away from mirrors, the person looking back is not me, I am sure of it.

My passion is knitting lace and creating designs, mostly baby dresses which can be viewed on my web page http://www.knittedlacedesigns.net/
 and I design small patterns which I sell at the local craft market.

I have three children, ten grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren all of whom are beautiful and I love them dearly.
I ran away from home 8 years ago and my husband of 42 years divorced me because I refused to return. His loss.

I love to write stories which started when my children were young and it has continued along with some poetry. Every year I take part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) when with thousands of other writers I pledge to write 50,000 words in 30 days. It is hard going and often leads to many late nights to reach a target amount of words created in a day. It becomes harder if a day or two is lost for some reason or other. Last year my computer broken down and it was two days before it could be fixed but I made up for it and completed the alloted words. I won't say the novel was very good but I am sure that when it goes through editing and probably some re-write it will be better. It starts on Novermber 1st and all participants are waiting eagerly to start. I have an idea of a story running through my head but time will tell if it will go down on paper.