Friday 25 October 2013

Help Needed to Overcome Too Polite Gene

 Walking out of the shops into the car park today and pushing my trolley loaded with cat food I was accosted by tall, polite, handsome young man with good teeth. He said he would walk me to my car. I thought he was a security guard as he had a yellow safety jacket and badge and perhaps an arrest was being made in the car park as has happened before. We arrived at my car and he proceeded to clean half of my back window- yes, only half. He was a salesman selling cleaning products at an exorbitant rate and I fell for it, mainly because he said it would clean my shower like magic. It doesn't. I meekly handed over lots of $$$$$$$ arrived home and realised once again I have been too polite.
 Story #2 I was sitting in the train in a near empty carriage when polite young man walks up and asks for 50 cents to ring his Gran. I obliged and thought what a sweet young man.....Then I heard him talking to a mate on his mobile phone. But I did laugh at my self for falling for that one.

Story #3 I was accosted by this man - or it might have been his not so handsome brother- in a shopping centre car park and he asked for $20 for petrol as he needed it to get home. I looked stunned so he added that he had his wife, baby and dog in the car. I did manage to turn down this request then I felt guilty later in case he did have a dog in the car.
 Story #4 I fell for this salesman's patter at the markets. He said you only use one part to 20 parts water and it will clean everything. I haven't used it yet, I shared some with a friend, that's why the bottle looks half empty.
I told Charlotte all my sad stories and as I am too gullible to go out alone could she come shopping with me in future. Of course she needs a sleep while she thinks about it. I have sworn her to silence about the amount of $$$$ I spent on todays  too politeness.

Saturday 19 October 2013

Bushfire Update

 This morning I woke to smoke haze and the awful smell of burning. I should be able to see the mountains opposite but all I can see is thick bushfire smoke. The birds you can see in front and in the distance are all black swans
 I now have the smoke that covered Sydney yesterday. You can see by the woman's hair how windy it was.
 Aren't people wonderful, this is at Lake Macquarie yesterday (not my lake) north of Sydney and people were out in small boats rescuing wildlife that tried to swim away from the fires. This is a wallaby being rescued.
 Yesterday's headline, now over 300 homes have been lost, mostly in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.
 Today's headline.
 Some local pics from the Illawarra Mercury. The top pic shows a fire plane at Coomaditchie Lagoon near my house and smoke over Lake Illawarra. Bottom pic. is a slightly singed but safe cockatoo.
A pet dog safe and sound. I worry about all the wildlife and pets that couldn't be rescued.                      With the exception of the top photo which I took this morning from my verandah all the photos are from the Telegraph or the Illawarra Mercury.

Thursday 17 October 2013

Catching Up

 A while since my last post but I have not been idle since then.
I looked up from my stitching this afternoon and wondered why the lake was such a strange colour. The day has been very hot and windy and this is only the smoke from one of many bushfires to the north, west and south of Sydney. The photo was taken from my sunroom at 2pm on 17th October. We are in for a bad summer.
 Charlotte was a bit unsettled by the smoke and strange light and abandoned her usual bed in the sunroom. I wish you'd told me you were going to sleep on my sewing table Charlotte, I would have checked that basket for pins.
I have set myself 'The Great Tea Cosy Challenge'. I have had lots of compliments about my first tea cosy (right) so thought I must do more. The one on the Left is a Debi Birkin design and easier to knit than it looks.

 Now I have started the one on the left here. I sent to the UK for the right wool. Then there will be another one waiting to be knitted with fluffy wool.
 I am multi-tasking and cross stitching this sampler for Prince George's birth. Another sampler to be stitched is on the way from ebay.
 I hate to see good work neglected so I bought the boy doll at the markets. His expertly knitted outfit was grubby and stained. Thought I might put his clothes on my old doll or turn him into Prince George.
But look at him now. His clothes are clean and stain free, new ribbon has been threaded through his clothes and he is such a smart boy now. I took him to the op shop and hope he has found a loving new home.