X marks the spot ...

... Not that there is any real reason to mark this spot, except that it is the first time in ages that I have actually posted anything to my blog (hopefully, iPad blogger app willing - which it wasn't last time I tried) oh ... That, and ABC Wednesday ( http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com.au/ ) is up to the letter X this week, and it also just happens to be Xmas Day ;-)

I will try and drag myself away from Twitter for long enough to post stuff here a bit more often again, if this works (or even if it doesn't ... But if it doesn't you won't even see this to know that I said it ;-)

Edit: (using Safari instead of blogger app ;-) ... How hard would it be for google/blogger to write an app that works like the wysiwyg editor on the blogger website, and actually let's you DO stuff like turn bits of the text into links and have the photos fit the width of the post? (Too hard I guess) ... So hopefully I have, at least sort of, fixed that now ... 

Perhaps I Should Post Something Interesting?

Actuallly I can Possibly think of a whole Pile of P things to Post (and ended up finding a Pile of Photos)  for a letter P Post for ABC Wednesday ... some of them are Probably not Particularly interesting to most, and a few could be downright Peculiar, but Perhaps most People will find at least some of them may, Perchance, Pique their interest ...

One thing I Particularly want to Put in here is this:
 I have a friend who has, over the last few years, Published some Particularly good/interesting blog Posts - about the People and Places she has been ... after enough people said to her "you should write a book" - she has done so! It is called "Pack and Follow" and she has Published it with one of those Print on demand type websites ... it can be found here - http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2578726
(perhaps I should Produce a book and Publish it? ... not sure anyone would want to read it though - lol)

I Put a (small) pile of ideas in here before I went and did other things, then came back a few days later ... so I will leave them in whatever colour the text defaults to, and add the rest in this Peculiar Pink ...

Peas +/or Pies  er ... yes - I like Peas and/or Pies ... and yes the "and/or" does mean I like either one, or both together ... I could go a Pie floater about now ;-)

Puppy
Pussycat
I have lots of photos and stuff about those in this blog ... Probably have enough other Photos to add to this Post that I don't need any more ...

have a Party and invite my Pants down ... the pants I was wearing at the time were a bit short ... they were second hand, and had shrunk a bit more too ... original Plan was to add some Patchwork or something to the bottoms, but I never got there ...

Pumpkin beetles - Piles of the things!
Actually they were/are not Pumpkin beetles (that was what one person I knew called them once, but after some quick research on the www I noticed that is not what they are ... they are soldier beetles ... in fact if they are the Particular species I think they are - they are known as "Plague soldier beetles" ... which kind of does describe them:


bazillions of beetles flying in from who knows where ...

beetles being beetles? ... with a blurry Patch (Possibly a finger Print) on the lens ... oops ... I wiped it off after that Photo, but this one was still better than the others to show close up detail of what the beetles look like.

not so close up of the beetles in the tree - this is our "street tree" - they are planted in front of most of the houses in our street ... I am not sure what they are, but later in the year they grow big brown seed Pods ...

beetles in the tree in the dark - when I got back from walking the dog ;-)


While walking the dog I also found a few more of what I thought were the same beetles flying around ... caught one to get another photo - and noticed they are not the same at all ... these are Lycid beetles:


Lycid beetle on some grass



Lycid beetle on my hand

 

oops ... I was trying to take a photo just before/as it flew off ... but ended up with what I often get instead - an empty hand/finger where the beetle/other flying insect WAS ... lol
(btw - the blue thing is the dog's lead ... dog is a blurry blob in this photo - just above my "pinky" finger)

 .. another day, another Pretty (or is this one also Peculiar?) colour ... (half those beetle photos uploaded then stopped, by which time I was off doing other things, so now it is the next day)
For those who want more information on those beetles/want to know what website I used to work out what they Probably are - I went to this Page - http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_beetles/index.html - the Lycid beetles and soldier beetles are about half way down the page.
btw ... what have beetles got to do with the letter P? ... nothing really, except I had heard someone call one that looked a bit like these 2 (but may have been another species of orange and/or green/black beetle ;-) a Pumpkin beetle ... but those are something else, and there are lots of web Pages about them because they are a garden Pest. That, and the fact that most black and yellow/organge insects are either Poisonous to eat, have a Poison sting, or are Pretending to be one of those that are ...

now for the other P Pictures I was Planning to Post:
(and some that I wasn't, but found while digging around in my Photos ;-)

purple sky ... I took the photo because it really did look that colour ... but it wasn't until I had Put it here that I noticed it is almost a Pefect match for the Purple text!



Pink bits on the trunk of a gum tree (Eucalyptus sp.)

 

Pink bottle bush and Purple .. er .. hardenbergia I think.

 

Pink Person ... I made 2 of these - one to keep, and one for a swap ... the @ was because I spend a lot of time online, and is even more apt now that i am on Twitter ( @UTLAU if you want to find/follow me there ;-)  but I made this before Twitter was even invented ... lol

Pincushions ... made at the quilt retreat I went on recently ... I wasn't going to make the hat one, but I just happened to have a circular bit of green fabric that was exactly the right size we needed (had to fit over an old CD) the other one at the top was meant to be a cupcake, but I had brown and yellow fabric and decided to make mine a Christmas themed chocolate cupcake with custard icing (hmmm I must try baking something like that one day - it could taste good ... or not ... lol) the other one was meant to be made with a lot bigger hexagons ... but me being me - I used really small ones, because I did not want a huge pincushion!

 

Pink (and black) gloves ... garden gloves I got from Aldi ... but bought because I think they will be quite good to use when doing machine quilting (they actually sell "quilting gloves" similar to this, but those cost a lot more money)



I took this Photo at work ... they often use Plasticiene in high school science classes, and sometimes I find Peculiar things when (if) it comes back ... (this lot has a blue Pony and a Pink snail shape and a Person ... lol)


Of course, Procrastinating about Posting this meant I had more days to Photograph a few more P things:

Pink flowers, Photographed while walking the dog ...

bright Pink bottlebrush flowers.

Pink and white and green leaves ... quite Pretty ;-)

the dog looking Pretty in the late afternoon sunlight
(instead of clouds with siver linings - a Golden Retriever with a golden lining? lol)

pink grevillias

Pink flowers ... quite Pretty, but some of these look a bit Peculiar

Purple daisys

bright Pink roses

red hot Pokers

a wattle tree with a Profusion of Pinkish looking Pods (and Pinkish looking leaves)

more Pink/Purple daisys

Peculiar Pinkish clouds

a Plot ... Part of a study of grass species or something ... in the nature Park I went on a walk in yesterday.
(I was Probably too busy taking Photos to Pay Proper attention to what the Person leading the walk was saying about these Plots ... ooops?)

Poo ... on a rock
(I am not sure why, but if I go somewhere that I end up taking more than just a few photos - I always seem to end up with at least one Poo Photo!)

a cow Pat - yes - another Poo!
(with a couple of tiny Pink flowers)

Pretty Purple flowers ... not sure what ... and no I did not Pick them - I had to Put my hand around them to stop them blowing around in the wind, so they were still enough to take the Photo

Pretty Prickles! (a scotch thistle)

Pink flowers, and pretty grass.

Peculiar flowers ...

more Prickles - this time on the Echidna that someone spotted over on the wall of the dam.

the Echidna near the Pond - after a few of us took photos it walked over to the grass and hid ... "I can't see you so you can't see me"? LOL

a Praying mantis on a Plantago Plant

Pink flowers on the edge of the driveway when I got home and Parked the car



and another photo of the soldier beetles ... not really a P photo - except they do look Pretty ;-)

I am sure I had a whole Pile of other P things I was going to Post about ... but after that Profusion of Photos ... maybe enough is enough?

I Pondered upon the idea of Posting a Picture of DD's Pigtails - she just got home, and was telling me all about how she got Pulled over by the Police (who were driving around doing random breath tests/etc) ... and how the Police officer gave her some Peculiar looks and they ended up having a Particularly long conversation about why she had Pigtails and how good they looked (and no - she did not get "Pinged" ... she tends to obey the speed limits and road rules, and doesn't drink and drive). I decided not to Put a Photo here though - it looked a bit Peculiar, and I can't be bothered Putting it onto the computer anyway ... not at "stupid o'clock" at night when I should have gone to bed 2 or 3 hours ago, because I have to go to work in the morning!

btw - as Per usual - clicking on a photo should take you to the lightbox thingy where you can look at all the photos, or a right click and choosing "open in new tab" (or new window) should take you to the original size version of that photo, if you want to see it bigger (yes - they are quite a bit bigger than they show up in here).

Crochet stuff and a few other things that start with C

I have been meaning to post some photos of some stuff I have Crocheted for ages ... so ... needing something for a C post for ABC Wednesday seems like a good excuse to actually to do it ;-)

... now I just have to find the photos I have taken ... and see what I don't have photos of, and actually FIND the items I don't yet have photos of so I can take some ... no wonder I drive myself Crazy!

ok ... I found some crochet photos, and some other C stuff ... now I just have to put them in here ... hopefully it won't take long - I spent too long finding and editing photos (some needed cropping and stuff) ... and I WAS going to be in bed by this time of night ...er ... morning ... because I have to get up for work in a few hours ...

I will start with the crochet ones ...
... and first - some shawls I actually made a couple of years ago, but didn't take photos of until late last year:

A green (wool) and black (who knows what sort of yarn it was) one:



with a rather cluttered background ... must take a better photo sometime ... or (even better but harder to organise) get someone to take a photo of me wearing the thing ...

A pinky purple/black/silver one:


done in a couple different fancy yarns.
And another one I actually made even earlier ... this thing is HUGE:



That is the top edge of the shawl stretched out down the passage - the but under the cat's tummy is the bit that goes on the back of my neck ... the bit that hangs down the back is actually draped over the dog's paws and he has his head on it - LOL
btw - the last few rows on this ended up so long that not only did it drive me mad, but each row took TWO balls of yarn!
(and it still drags on the ground after I wrap it around myself ... but it is nice and warm so I could probably use it as a snuggle rug or something ... or as my costume next time I am invited to a fancy dress party and want to go as a wookie ;-)

This is my "rainbow shawl" that I finised a year or 2 ago:


It is made from some fine wool I was given, and when I finished crocheting it this is what it looked like:


and yes that is asphalt under it - I spread it out beside my car, in the mostly empty car park at wiork, to take the photo.
This is what it looked like after I soaked it in some vinegar for a few minutes and then arranged it in the bottom of a large ice cream tub, attacked it with various colours of food dye, and zapped it in the microwave for a few minutes (until it was hot, so the dye would set):


hmmm - if you click on this to see it bigger you might see how clean the kitchen floor probably isn't - lol

This is something weird I crocheted last year:


it was for the Summer challenge for the textile art group I am in - we had to do a hand of some sort, on a stick - they were then displayed at the exhibition later last year. I crocheted a hand with long pointy fingers ... then I was mucking around and tied knots in the fingers ... and decided I liked it that way.

Some crochet vines I made for the textile art exhibition last year:


The light green one is some weird green wool I had in my yarn stash, and could be worn as a scarf if I want to. The darker one is some even stranger fuzzy yarn I got from the op shop, with flowers made from some fuzzy yarn (same sort as in that huge shawl) and the pods are made from felted dog hair - so maybe it is a dogwood vine? (hmmm I wonder what dogwood actually IS ... something I have seen mentioned in books I have read, but it isn't native to Australia ... I might have to "google" it sometime ;-)

This is a green cotton shawl I made last year ... in September/October - mostly in the car on the way to/from Queensland (and some of it in front of the tv/etc at Mum and Dad's place, and the last bit at a friend's place here in Canberra just after the trip to Qld.) ... so I call it my "travel shawl"



the danby bits were fun to make ;-)
this is the back of the same shawl:



I also made another (smaller) one in cream coloured cotton, but I have not taken a photo of it yet (I think i took these photos while I was still crocheting that one) I started the second one while i was part way through the green one, because I wanted something smaller (without such long rows as I was up to with the green one) to test out if the pattern I had in mind for the last few rows would work ok, and to work out how many stitches I needed to have in the row when I started the pattern bit ... so once I worked out the pattern and how many stitches in each repeat/etc - I had a miniature shawl - so I kept adding to it until I ran out of that particular yarn (in fact I did run out of yarn part of the way around the edging but I had something else that was similar enough to use for the last bit of the edging and not show up as different ;-)

These are some quilted fabric Coffee Cup Coasters I made in December:


I used 6 of them as part of the Christmas gifts I gave to the science teachers I work with (we seem to have a tradition where everyone puts a little something on each other's desks at the end of the school year ;-)
The other 3 are on our coffee table, but I am not sure they get used ... or even noticed ... lol
This is a beetle ... it wasn't in the B post, and it IS in this C post, because I took the photo during the Canberra Quilters meeting last week - I found it on the floor near my feet during the raffle draw (after which everyone gets up and stomps around packing the Chairs up) so I picked it up to save it from getting Crushed underfoot - and it Crawled around on my fingers and on my lap, making Chirping noises!


...  much to the amusement of the few people sitting Closest to me ...
(not a very Clear photo - it wouldn't stay still! ... so I Clicked about 8 photos then Chucked it out the door)

I found some Cloud photos too:


I often take photos of Clouds .. I think these are Cumulus, probably in the process of becoming Cumulo nimbus (those big tall thunderstorm clouds) Because we had a Crashing big thunderstorm not long after I took this photo last week.
This one was taken from very Close to the same place as the other one (a Couple of metres away probably)
but it was a Couple of days later ... and there was an even bigger storm even sooner afterwards ... with Crazy purple streaks of lightning and rain so heavy it was hard to see where I was driving ...



During the storm I just happened to be picking a friend up from work and driving us both to her place ... I live thunderstorms and she ... doesn't  ... so every big flash of purple lighting I would say "wow" and she would say "s..t" (or worse ;-)
And last (beCause I have well and truly enough photos in here already) 3 videos of a spider - Argiope sp. (not sure which one - but this is the genus the Saint Andrew's Cross spider is in) ... although it could be a Nephila sp. (which is another genus in the same family - the Golden Orb Weaver is in this genus) .
btw - yes I guess it is a long stretch for a C thing - but it was Creeping and Crawling around it's web, next to my Compost heap:











I know - too Creepy? lol

... and too late ... to make the Cut off for adding to the linky thingy, for the letter C posts, before it Closed ... oh well - I will just have to put the link in a Comment ...

hmmm - a C post and only one photo with the Cat in it (and she had to share that one with the dog!) but I am sure she will Cope ok with that.