Still Cool

These gazanias were looking very cheerful in my garden today:

They look a lot more summery than the weather has been!

Meanwhile I was amused by this item on the website of The Age today:

Not sure I need financial advice from someone who can't count the number of digits in 1,000,000.

Ric-Rac and Yo-Yos

It is nearly a month since I made these purple yo-yos, but I'm finally using them:

Progress shot: stitching them to a purchased item. It's for a gift so I won't go into too much detail!

Scatterday - K

What a pretty K! Our categories today are:
in your neighbourhood, edible, container, and something king size from the sewing room.

In My Neighbourhood:

Someone's idea of a koala. There are three of these perched in trees in this mall in my suburb. I don't know who is responsible for them, and I'm not sure what they are made of, as they are up quite high.
Added later: Thanks to Dee in the comments, I now know that the koalas are part of the same MoreArt festival as the giant worms. I should have realised! The artist is Aaron James McGarry, and he made the koalas of plastic shopping bags. Details in the link Dee posted: How much plastic can a koala bear?

Edible:

Also in my neighbourhood - quite a few kebab shops. The crowds at Melbourne Kebab Station lead me to believe it must be the best. It has been there for years, but others open up and close down regularly. It is not uncommon to see no-one buying the rival kebabs while at the same time the queues spill out onto the footpath at MKS.

Container:

This one was tricky. So many containers, so few starting with K! This is an Ikea storage box called "Kassett". I have a few of them on the shelves in my loungeroom holding bits and pieces. But their main purpose is to allow double-height CD storage. i.e. I have one row of CDs in front of the boxes, and another row on top, allowing twice as many CDs on each shelf.

King Size:

Giant bulldog clips used when basting quilts (tape measure for scale). Last seen in action here. They would have been quite expensive, but I got them very cheap when this colour was discontinued.

Well that's it for my Ks. You can find links to other people's Scatterday posts on Cinzia's blog.

Market Stall

An attractive stall at Vic Market. Someone with an eye for design has used an umbrella, some galvanised vessels, and blackboards for prices to create a unique look.

It's a Photo Finish!

No, not the Melbourne Cup. That's still an hour or so away. The glasses race!

Yesterday my local glasses arrived. Last night at about 11:30, I thought I would check the tracking on my internet ones and see if there was any update (there hadn't been since they left the US). This is what I saw:

Delivered! What? Where was I at 1:58?
I know exactly where I was - walking down to the optometrist to collect my glasses, having given up on the postie for the day. He normally arrives before 1:00pm on Mondays, so I assumed he had already been and had nothing for me.

After my trip to the optometrist I went to the cinema, and never checked the letterbox again for the day. But I should have, because that's where my glasses were all along!

So, compare and contrast:

There are some differences. My local glasses, which are on the left, are "enhanced readers" which are supposed to be correct for using the sewing machine or computer, but with a close-up section at the bottom for threading needles, etc.  Here you see everything that came with them (a cleaning cloth). On the left, the single-vision internet version, and everything that came with them (a case, a larger and prettier cleaning cloth, a bag of extra nose pads and screws etc for repairs, a tiny 3-part screwdriver tool for making repairs, and a plastic measuring device for working out your pupil distance for future orders).

Local glasses pros:

• could use my own frames, which I've had for years and really like.
• can try on other frames.
• when the prescription was incorrect, they were returned and replaced at no cost to me.
• are guaranteed, so if I decide I would rather have only single vision, I can send them back to be changed at no cost.

Local glasses cons:

• was charged an installation fee of $30 to have the lenses put in my own frames. This strikes me as unfair, as they have to be put in some frames.
• very limited range of frames available if I had wanted to buy new ones. They had 3 frames, all in the men's section, which were large enough for my face. 
• anti-reflective coating was going to cost about $50, so I didn't get it (notice reflections in photo).
• lenses cost $190 for these multi-focus ones, or $120 for single-vision.

Total cost: $220.00

Internet glasses pros:

• far more frames to choose from in large sizes, even in "women's" designs.
• frame and single-vision lenses cost only $19.00 (US)
• anti-reflective coating cost only $4.95 (US)
• I had actually put my distance prescription on my order, but they contacted me to check it, because it didn't match what I said I wanted the glasses for.
• more goodies included!

Internet glasses cons:

• if they hadn't been correct, sending them back would not have been practical
• have to pay postage (even though it was only $9.95 US)
• had to wait for the postie
• frames are quite light-weight, so I don't know how durable they will be
• frames probably aren't re-usable, either, so contribute to the "throw-away" culture I hate.
• could be trickier to get multi-focal glasses correct, as there can't be any tweaking like the local ones have needed.

Total cost in Australian dollars: $36.24

So, the race was close enough to a dead heat. As to which pair will be my favourite - what do you think? Let's just say that so far, I'd be happy to order on-line again.

The Race is Over

No, not the horse race. That's tomorrow. This is the glasses race that began nearly three weeks ago.

Today I picked up the local set. Of course, if they had been right the first time the race would have finished a week ago.

However I'm finding the focus on them a little strange, and it may take me a while to get used to them. And if I can't they will be going back again, so perhaps the race isn't really over yet!

Should I have to turn my head to read a full line across the computer screen? Keeping my head still only about the middle half of the screen is in focus, with the left and right sides blurry.

Ballaarat Quilters Show

A day out in the country, firstly to take my mother to the Ballaarat Quilters Exhibition. It's the third time we've been there since I started blogging. Here's 2009 and 2011. I'm obviously repeating myself.

Mum recently turned 85. She is becoming much less mobile, but she still hasn't gone grey except for a touch at the temple. I don't take after her in that respect, having started to go grey in my twenties.

After taking her back home, there was time to visit a few other attractions in the area. Who could resist this:

A combination nursery and antique shop! Behind the buildings, trees and shrubs for sale are arranged like a garden you can stroll through. It was a very pleasant break from the drive.