oh, I think that was another week

There was no Bugatti, so I thought I’d share this one, an exhibit at the Aalholm Automobile Museum in Denmark. Photo with my Dad in 1986. There’s a better photo at the link, which discusses the sale of the museum’s collection.

My work has been mind-numbingly busy, in a mind-numbing way. Allergies are still wreaking havoc all round. Whatever last week was about, I played bocce at lunchtime on Friday and made it to Saturday. Today we attended an Italian motor show. Dr B showed off his motorbike, and YoungB showed off his car. Both were much admired by fellow aficionados.

As well as lots of Alfas, Abarths and Fiats, of varying ages, shapes and sizes, there were low-slung Lamborghinis (although I’m not sure they actually come in anything but low slung, to be fair), muscular Maseratis and an astonishing number of fabulous Ferraris, including this one, which was truly amazing. My other favourite was what the organisers described as a Fiat 500 on steroids! It was gorgeous and I would certainly like one of those under the Christmas tree this year, thank you, Santa. Surprisingly, there was only one other motorbike, and one all-but obligatory scooter.

There was excellent pizza, there were cakes and gelati, and a raffle. YoungB won a prize! I think the bucket of cleaning gear will provide much long-term usefulness although it’s certainly less exciting than the prize he missed out on by one ticket, namely being able to drive one of the exhibited new Alfas for a weekend, courtesy one of the main sponsors 🙂

All up, it was a lovely day. We’re all exhausted and a bit sunburnt, but will undoubtedly be back at the grindstone again tomorrow.

May your Sunday have been as enjoyable as ours, whether or not it involved a car show of any sort 🙂

 

enabling or providential

Sing me a rainbow! I hope you can read the colours, in case you want to order some, too 🙂

My mother was a great enabler. I well recall the day she came to me and mentioned, oh so casually, something along the lines of, “I’ve just been to the local second-hand shop and there’s a set of hardback Dickens novels there for $10.” She didn’t suggest I should buy them. But, as a uni literature student, it was pretty much a given that I would do so. And I did! I have them still, and they don’t look at all out of place with the variety of other books in my library shelves including a good selection of other Dickens titles.

How could I forget the time she encouraged me to buy a piano, accompanying duet stool and assorted sheet music, at auction? We had a piano at home, but I was about to head out into the world on a permanent basis and would need my own so, you know, it was not a silly suggestion and the instrument was in fair condition. We decided on my upper bidding limit, which was obviously dictated by my then financial resources. My limit turned out to be higher than that of my chief rival bidder, because the piano came home with me. Once tuned, it moved with me to various suburban locales and enabled me to put in a lot of hard work over many years before I sold it to a fellow student and bought a more serious instrument. Every now and then, I dust off some of the sheet music that formed part of that original auction item.

When it comes to yarn, however, I must say that Bendigo Woollen Mills (BWM) do it every time! I receive one of their new shade cards and oh, the colours! Or, oh, the softness. Often, it’s oh, the colour and the softness. I’ve been looking around for cotton to crochet little blankets for a couple of new cousins. I generally trawl my LYS in the hope of finding something appropriate because I like to shop locally. The dilemma then is that, if I do find anything, although I’m keeping my spending local and can start straightaway, I’m generally buying overseas product. BWM takes a little more time, but it’s local enough to be a better environmental option at least with regard to its travel-related carbon footprint.

Luckily, time is on my side for these blankets, as they’re not required until next year. I will use up some stash yarn, but wanted a splash of brightness and my stash is largely on the sombre side. I haven’t seen anything in the LYS that could hope to rival the colours in the latest shade card from BWM. The two new colours are particularly appealing. So, you know, I might have to bend the plastic and crochet a few extra blankets while I’m at it, just in case there are to be any other new cousins.

May all your enablers have such providentially helpful timing 😀

 

 

 

 

question answered

It turns out that the geranium bears a small, variegated blossom. Is it pinkish purple, or purplish pink?!

 

 

back in business

Nothing to do with specs or books, but look at this beautiful iris, which somehow escaped transplanting 🙂

Mending the existing specs frame proved impossible. However, by great good fortune, there was a frame in stock that was the right design and size, and whatever colour it is (slightly different from the original, I think, but I don’t much care because once the specs are my face I don’t see them). I was delighted to find such a low-cost solution and am once again restored to reasonable vision after what were a fairly rough couple of days.

To wind up the week in pleasant style, last night Youngest Aunt and Uncle, Friend E, and Dr B and I attended a “meet the author” talk by Aussie crime writer Chris Hammer whose new title Silver was released earlier this year. The talk took place at a library that’s probably halfway between the others’ southern-suburban residences and our northern-suburban one, and a lovely walk out from the City for me after work, so it was a winner all round in that respect.

We have all been readers of pretty much anything from an early age, and Youngest Aunt and I freely admit to being lifelong whodunnit aficionados, so we didn’t need the added incentive of wine and sandwiches that were included in the ticket price… but they were very nice, and it’s always good to support local wines and wineries. And, you know, thanks to my new specs, I could see everything that was going on and what was in the sandwiches!

May all your literary events be equally as clear and delightful 🙂

 

 

I broke my glasses!

They’re not much good to me like that 😀

Yesterday morning, as we were sitting at the breakfast table, I took off my glasses for some reason that now doesn’t matter. And, bing, off fell one of the arms. No, it wasn’t a screw loose (either me or the specs), but an actual break in the thin metal. You what?!

Luckily, I always keep an old pair for precisely such scenarios (generally expecting it to be a broken lens), so I’m not blind. Things are certainly a little fuzzier, however, and I definitely couldn’t drive. But they’ll get me out of a jam while I take the broken pair to the optician to assess likelihood of repair. In the past, I’ve had different coloured arms because of similar breaks, so I anticipate that’s what will happen with these.

May all your arms remain unbroken, no matter the provocation 🙂

 

now we wait for the flower

You can see that there’s a bud, but it’s still too early to hazard a guess at the flower colour.

Dr B mowed the lawn and weeded the flower beds the other day, and was looking for a bit of praise. I pointed out that, actually, I’d already weeded the geranium that he included in the general “aren’t I wonderful?” photoshoot! He agreed, and repeated his frequent query as to whether that really is a geranium? Well, yes, it is; although it’s not a variety that Nonna ever grew. I was inspecting the garden this morning and noticed that there’s a bud on said plant. Why don’t we wait for that to bloom fully and then discuss whether it’s a geranium?

I acknowledge, BTW, that there’s some confusion around whether any given plant is a geranium or a pelargonium. Even the experts agree that the plants are members of the same family, so I don’t want to muddy the waters. Either way, there are many varieties and this is certainly unlike those that Dr B’s Mum grew so well. This particular cutting came from Middle Aunt and I can’t remember what colour the blooms will be… but we may not have very long to wait before that is revealed.

This plant is potted, so I’m hoping that it will fare better than the climbing geranium I transplanted from the front garden to the back, relocating it to a spot recommended by Dr B… who, rather than relocate it again, proceeded to trample all over it during building. Yeah, right. Of course it died.

It was doing quite well for a while, even had a few flowers

 

everything is just rolling along

The irises are blooming again

Somehow we reached Hump Day and then I had compulsory training that occupied most of the next two days. Now it’s the weekend again and it’s a long one. We have a holiday on Monday, celebrating what my Dad always referred to as Eight Hours Day. We seem to have forgotten that and its importance, but there wouldn’t be many people who won’t appreciate the extra day of leisure. I’ll certainly be relishing the opportunity to rest.

YoungB is still suffering mightily from hay fever and Dr B is just about coping. Fnigres corsesd, I’m presently OK because I follow sterling advice from an old friend: keep taking the tablets!

In other news, our clocks go forward tonight, always a slightly jarring time of year.

May your clocks always be precisely where you want them 🙂