Classic Wildlife

Captured on the wildlife camera:

Not terribly clear, but it is a koala.

Spotted while out walking:

A mob of kangaroos that are quite a long way away.

Bonus kookaburras in an old gum tree:

Groceries

Since the virus struck we have been keeping away from shops as much as possible.  The major supermarkets said they would be doing deliveries for elderly and vulnerable people, so I tried to get it set up for my father. I don't think someone in their 90s should be going anywhere near shops at the moment.

However, every time I checked the Coles website it said the priority service would be starting "soon". Fortunately Woolworths were more efficient at getting their system going, and we were able to sign up there. Deliveries are still difficult, as orders have to be done a week in advance, but the pick-up service is much more flexible.

Today we did the first pick-up order:

It worked really well. We placed the order, specified a pick-up time, and paid online. When the order is ready they send a text message. You let them know you have arrived via the app, and they bring the groceries out to you, all bagged up. It worked brilliantly!

However if Dad didn't have someone to do all this for him, the service wouldn't be of benefit to him. He doesn't have a credit card to pay for things online. He doesn't have a mobile phone to get texts or to use an app. Of course he doesn't have a car, so he can't use the pick-up service anyway. And he doesn't seem able to think of what he might need a week from now, so the delivery system just won't work for him.  I wonder how other elderly people who don't have family nearby are managing to get their groceries?

Lapdog

Dot and I in the morning:

Residential Care

Today my mother moved into residential care. We were fortunate to find a room available in a place that is still allowing some visits, as most nursing homes are not allowing any visits at all at the moment. My father and I went to have a look at it earlier this week. We couldn't have a full tour, of course, but we could get a bit of an idea of how it works. Even that was a bonus as most homes aren't even allowing family of prospective residents inside.

The facility is divided into separate sections with a homey atmosphere. The kitchen,

 dining

 and lounge areas

look and feel more like a family home than an institution. There are 7 or 8 bedrooms in each "home" section. Mum's room looks out on a bit of garden and the street, so she can watch the world go by.

Mum has always insisted she did not want to go into a nursing home, but really there is no alternative for her now. It is a traumatic time for us all, but I sincerely hope that Mum will be happy here.

Walk at the Falls

I don't know if it is quite within the rules, but today we took the dogs to Lal Lal Falls for their walk. I thought after all the rain we have had lately that the falls would be falling, but I was wrong:

No flow at the moment.

It was nice to go somewhere a bit different, rather than just walking up and down our bit of road. There were no other people at the Falls. In fact the only living creatures we saw were a flock of cockatoos enjoying acorns.

The birds were taking bites out of the acorns, but I don't know if they were eating them or just having fun stripping them off the trees. A lot of acorns seemed to be falling to the ground, anyway.

The birds were having fun, and we enjoyed the fresh air, but no-one is allowed to have fun here at the moment:

It is hard to "close" a playground with no fence around it.

You probably can't read the sign clearly, but I think the top line could do with a bit of physical distancing itself. It reads:

LET'SALLWORKTOGETHERTOSTOPTHESPREAD

How about some distance between those words?

Sixteen

There are now 16 X-Plus blocks pinned up in my sewing room:

I think that will be enough, perhaps with a border around them, for a donation quilt. This is not necessarily the final layout; I will leave them up for a while before I decide. It has been good having the daily task of making one block. I will have to choose something else as a regular task to keep me going.

Joining Strips

Yesterday I got to the end of the pile of scrap rectangles I had cut for the broken herringbone quilt. I ended up with six arrow strips, each of 38 rectangles. Here are two of the strips, ready for sewing together:

Here are the same two strips, sewn together down to the orange and yellow tiger stripe:

The arrow strips were created using partial seams, so joining them involves lots of short seams completing those partial seams. If you are interested there is a video tutorial here: Sew Broken Herringbone Patchwork. I haven't found any written instructions, so I had to re-watch parts of that video as I got to each step.

The previous photo is where I got up to yesterday. Today I finished joining these two:

Hooray! Four more of those to get the whole thing joined together. It is not quick, but once you get the hang of it it isn't difficult either.

Meanwhile I am still making an x-plus block a day, and now there are twelve: