The wait is over!!

What a long day it has been. Miss Maggie had surgery today - if you are not too fainthearted she is flashing her chest for you.

I woke early and gave my Girl her pre-meds, here at home, and I resisted her longing looks at the food bowl.

Two hours later, my Mum and I got the news that the lump in her chest was just fatty tissue, can you hear my heart sing? It is. I was so afraid of the big 'C'.

X-rays show that her heart is not quite in the right spot, her airways in her lungs are thickening, and she may have some free fluid. She also seems to have some nerve damage in her chest area - which may have been the cause of the pain - not the fatty mass. I have a long list of things to look out for, but it is possible that her pain and chest problems are all due to old age (Humpfff we say - we are not ready to be old) - even the increase in allergies. So Maggie is ending the day as she began it ...

Wishing for food.

I didn't realise until I got home (and read the post-operative care plan) that they were going to suggest broiled white meat as a meal - so I am preparing the vego option - an egg white omelette. I hope that is OK, I seem to recall that's what I did when the boys were sterilised.

Jean Lussier

I have googled away the mystery of my Niagara Falls "hero".

Jean LussierJuly 4th, 1928
Jean Lussier, a native of Quebec, designed a six foot rubber ball composed of 32 inner tubes and a double-wall steel frame. One of the biggest crowds on record saw the stunt on July 4th, 1928. The ball took some hard knocks in the rapids but the skip over the Falls was perfect. About one hour after entering his ball, Lussier stepped ashore none the worse for wear. For many years he displayed his ball at Niagara Falls and sold small pieces of the inner tubes for souvenirs at 50 cents a piece.
http://www.niagaraparks.com/nfgg/trivia.php

Apparently Jean invested his life savings of $1500 (a lot of money in 1928) in the construction of the ball. By 1928 attempts at crossing the falls were illegal. He sounds like a real character.
My 3 signed photos are fantastic memento’s of this event, and his later life

Challenge and History

I signed up for an ATC swap on one of my groups, the challenge to produce 4 different ATC's using a technique from Somerset Studio. These are the results from "Pencil and Stencil", as taught by Jeannine Peregrine in the May/June 2006 issue.

The technique was not quite as simple as it appeared, but once I got into the flow a lot of fun - and one I may try again.

As to the history, the athlete featured here is Jean Luc__, he went across Niagara Falls in a large rubber ball. I know this because there were three photo's of him at different ages in a set of canbinet cards, I bought a little while ago. There were only a few words and he had signed all the cards. Gifts for a fan? A lover? A friend... How I would love to know more.

Sleepy Crafts

I have slept more this weekend than in the entire previous seven days, and it is only 2.00pm Sunday. It feels fantastic!

Last year I made extra Christmas cards to have ready to send to my overseas family - there they are above, and yes they are now written in, and ready to post. So next week when I am making the Australian cards I think I will do the same again, extras I mean.

By the way, if you are worried about the flies on the top left card - don't be - no flies were injured in the production of this card. Last summer my English cousin and her boyfriend were with us for Christmas. I have never met anyone as bothered by Aussie flies as this boy - so I could not resist adding a few plastic ones to their card.
These are the very simple cards I have made for my classes at school - if any of my arty kiddo's are reading, this is why I wanted the old music, as you cleaned the music room. I think there are 60, and I am embarrassed to admit I did not have to buy a thing. I have only bought about 50 sheets of paper/card in the last two years and still I could open a store. I must confess that while I am resisting paper my will power when it comes to rubber, beads, paint, wire, etc in non- existent.
And finally, I had a 'TA DA' moment on Friday. For years I have struggled to find nice collars for Maggie. She is quite large and not particularly feminine looking - we get offended regularly as fellow walkers refer to my baby as "HE". Large collars seem to be black, blue (both too masculine), red (imagine the clash) and hot pink (ditto the clash). My poor bubby has been wearing her purple collar with silver flowers for about 4 or five years now, it really had seen better days. Then I clicked - eyelets! This is version 1.0 as I experimented. Make a hole, use a match to seal the fibers, set eyelet with washer. Easy. I sense a new wardrobe coming up!.

Just Looking

is the title of this ATC destined for my friend France, as I begin to peek out of the chaos of past weeks.

It has been a glorious sun-shine filled day, here in my part of Australia, I have had a 'nana nap' and have plans to spend time with good friends. What more could any girl want?

An hour in my gym ...#2

I have not had time for art this week as it is "the" week for writing school reports and marking year 11 exams. These photos are from the walk on the weekend, however, Maggie and I have had time to fit a few more walks in. Thank you to everyone who has checked in to see I am ok; I am getting better every day.

An hour in my gym ...

... with my favourite exercise equipment. I live on a hill, almost in town, and yet a hop, step and a jump - more specifically less than a hundred meters- away is paradise. Maggie and I have been walking here her whole life; one of the reasons I chose to buy in the same area I rented. Today we thought you might like to join us...

I actually snapped the photo above quite spontaneously, as Maggie turned back to see what I was doing. Photographing a flower for you actually. I rarely take a camera with us and she wondered if her Mum was ok.
The lovely thing about out paradise is that it is full of interminable contrasts, tiny native flowers no bigger than your little finger nail, and towering trees; wide paths where we can meet walking friends and animal tracks we have tramped for years without meeting anyone. The old granite quarry is a favourite spot and the first glimpse of it always lights up my soul. There are parts of the quarry which take me to my beloved Kimberly (the region in the far north of Western Australia). Can you see the bitumen road? We walk through my cul-de-sac, across this road and into wonderland. We also exit this way.

Many evenings all three cats greet us at the top of the street ( I am the second house down) and walk home with us. How funny it must look, as if I have taken all four of them walking. Charles, the scallywag, will wind his way through my feet and then Maggies', tempting us to tumble down the hill. Then begins the rolling, he wriggles cross-ways, on his back, down the road in front of us!! Tonight he hit the side.
I took more pictures, this is the maximum blogger will let me load so I will save the rest for another post, perhaps tomorrow. I have a little old Kodak 2.1 megapix' camera, my trusty friend, has been dropped so many times that all photos have to be framed with the assumption that anything in the top left hand corner 'should' end up in the middle. Tonight it has once again served us well.