Puzzling

I'd forgotten how much I loved puzzles until I went to visit my mum for her birthday and discovered a 2000 piece puzzle spread out and beckoning to be tinkered with. It's funny how people can't walk past a puzzle without at least attempting to fit one piece. Apparantly it's a puzzling tradition to pass on a puzzle once you're finished with it. I imagine this has stemmed from people having little desire to repeat the puzzle themselves. So my mum's house guests gave me a puzzle they had completed earlier. Once I finish it, it will be my responsibility to pass it on to another puzzle-lover. I really like this kind of thing. Sharing the joy and saving on the expense, and you get to do so many more of them. So if you're a puzzler, let me know, because I'd love to start up a puzzling exchange! Oh yeh, I'm a wild one...

Pleated necklace

When I first bought these beads I wasn't inspired to make anything. I tried them out with all sorts of other beads, but they worked best on their own. I'd only bought 20 at first, ten of the glossy black, and ten of the silver-plated, which wasn't enough for a necklace. I was messing around with some petersham ribbon I'd bought to line headbands with, and suddenly hit on a new idea. But I needed more beads. It wasn't convenient to go back to the original store, and wouldn't you know it - the store I went to had all sorts of beads in 15mm and 12mm but barely a thing in 14mm. I finally chanced on some matte black beads after half an hour of searching through bottles of beads of all shapes and colours. Lucky! After that it was a simple matter of sewing it all together. The only thing I'm disatisfied with is that the necklace doesn't sit flat around your neck all day. It tends to roll up at the nape of your neck, showing the ribbon backing. I'm not quite sure how to fix this, but as it isn't a significant problem (the whole necklace doesn't twist around), I'm not going to spend too much time worrying about it.

Stand-up paddle boarding

If you're looking for a sport that will give you an all-over body workout, stand-up paddle boarding is it. On Sunday Northbridge Kayaks took my group out on the shallow backwater behind Northbridge Baths, where the only danger on falling off is the oyster shells cutting your feet. Kneeling on the board gave us time to get the feel for it and helped us pass safely through the marina. Once we stood up it didn't feel like my body was having to do much, but after half an hour my legs started shaking. There is a big cumulative impact from the tiny adjustments required to maintain your balance on the board. On top of that, we had to use a long paddle to propel us through the water, which exercised our shoulders, triceps, back muscles and core. We had a one-hour lesson, with reasonably windy conditions. Considering I have pretty bad balance, I was very proud that I managed to finish the hour without falling off my board. Of the ten of us from my outdoors club SPAN, one person fell off constantly and only three of us stayed dry. They led us through some stretches when we finished, but that didn't save me from sore legs for the next two days. This is definitely a workout I'm going to do again. Who knows, one day I may even conquer waves! Check out this great video of a guy paddle-surfing with his dog.
 

Worms



Photo taken from http://bartholomeuszkirwan.sobox.com.au/
2010/09/22/compost-and-worm-farm-workshops-come-to-brisbane/

 No, this isn't going to be an entry about how I've got worms, or what it was like when my dog had worms. I don't have them and my dog hasn't had them for ages and the time he did was embarrassing and I'd rather not discuss it.

Every now and then the little greeny inside me sneaks out, clobbers me over the head and drags me off to learn how to do my bit for the environment. Some time ago when walking through Newtown, I stopped in at The Watershed. This shopfront is an initiative of the City of Sydney, and educates people how to use less energy and water and create less waste. I'm already a pretty conservative user of water and energy. I grew up in an underground house that had solar-heated water, with gravity fed water from a tank up the hill. This meant lukewarm (or cold) showers with no pressure. I could compensate for my childhood by having long hot showers, but the little greeny inside says no. I've also got more interesting things to do than stand around in a shower. I had Energy Australia install a new meter for my flat, which means energy prices vary according to the time of day. I now run my washing machine and dishwasher (when I use it) after 10pm, and I try not to spend too much time at home between 2pm and 8pm (peak period). It's much harder to make significant inroads into the amount of waste I create. I use non-woven fabric bags for my shopping to reduce the amount of plastic I use, but reducing green waste is hard when I live in an apartment.

So I jumped at the Watershed course. We spent an hour talking about how to maintain a compost bin, how to use the final product, and how it benefits the soil. We spent another hour talking about worm farms, how to feed the worms, what you can and can't put in a worm farm, and how to use the worm castings and worm juice produced. The course was interesting and as it was held in a community garden, it was hands on. Residents in the City of Sydney get to take home a free compost bin or worm farm. It's perfect for an apartment because I can keep it on my balcony and I don't need dry material like mulch or grass clippings to mix with the food scraps. Worms happily live on food scraps alone. Reducing green waste is something I can now achieve and I had a lovely time learning how to do it :)

Cycle Wisemans Ferry

It's not often you can ride for a weekend near Sydney and manage to avoid riding on a major road. A week ago, I spent the weekend riding from Narara near Gosford, to Windsor via Wiseman's Ferry. The ride is convenient because you start and finish at a train station, and there's also little baggage required if you stay at accommodation in Wiseman's Ferry.

The first day was 73km. One kilometre into the ride from Narara, we came to the bottom of a hill with a steeper gradient than those in the Tour de France. Rather than gain 100m over one kilometre on our bikes, we walked - a rather inglorious start to the 'ride'. After this hill the going was far more pleasant. We steadily gained height over undulating ground to be rewarded with a break at the top of Mangrove Mountain, where there is a store and outdoor seating. The best thing about this rest point is the following 6km of freewheeling down to Mangrove Creek. The rest of the day was an enjoyable trip following the creek and then the Hawkesbury River. Spencer provided a scenic lunch stop, with a well stocked shop/cafe to provide supplies. All day we just missed the rain, often riding on wet roads, but never getting wet. With only seven kilometres to go, the rain caught us. It was a wet trip to the ferry, then a quick dash from the ferry to the pub for a shower, nap, a few drinks and a good feed.

The second day was 57km and started with a lovely dawdle along the Hawkesbury River. There is a short hill before the Sackville ferry that was manageable and made lunch at the Tizzana Winery all the more satisfying. We had lunch shaded from the sunshine by a trellis covered in grape vines, with an excellent Aleatico Rose to complement the antipasto and cheese platter. Despite the temptation to stay longer, we got back on our bikes and rode through Wilberforce on what became a very hot and humid afternoon, to arrive at the pub in Windsor with a well-deserved thirst. From there it was only a short cut across town to Windsor Station. This is definitely the best weekend cycle tour I've done so far around Sydney!

Burns

Okay, so this is something I coulda, shouldn’t, but did anyway. I have the kind of skin that doesn’t repair well. It only takes a scratch from a thorn to end up with a faint white line that becomes a lingering memory of the past. I don’t help the situation much. I’m often found bashing through the scrub, surviving incidents with horses and bicycles, and cooking with stoves, ovens, camping gas stoves, and open fires. I also seem to be curiously attractive to mosquitoes, resulting in irritating lumps that I couldn't resist scratching as a child. The worst offender would have to be burns. I added to my collection last night by burning my arm on an oven tray. It possibly wasn’t the best idea to use the oven while drinking champagne with friends... Some of my most significant scars are from burns. There’s one on my arm about 3cm long and 5mm wide from cooking a cake; a scar the size of a 50cent piece (about 3cm diameter) between my thumb and index finger (also from cooking); and then there’s the scar on my calf muscle that’s about 5cm diameter, stupidly obtained from my motorbike exhaust and completely avoidable if I hadn’t been wearing shorts. I was a student at the time, and now in my conservative old age wouldn’t even contemplate wearing shorts on a motorbike – especially with a scar to remind me of the consequences. So after all this I’m sensing I need to prepare a safe work method statement around preventing burns to my person. First step, don’t drink and use the oven at the same time. That’s what take-out is for!

Manta Rays

When does a fin not belong to a shark? When it's a Manta Ray. But check anyway, especially when you're a long way from the shore!

At the end of September I was lucky enough to spend a week on Lady Elliot Island snorkelling and diving. The highlight of the week was seeing Manta Rays for the first time. And I got to see them twice. I nearly missed them the first time. While snorkelling, I swam through water full of red floating particles and invisible biting things. This was all forgotten when during a short break at the surface, I saw a fin pass by. I freaked out and looked below the surface to see what was there.That didn't help much because I was faced with a sea creature I hadn’t seen before. Manta Rays are enormous. The one in front of me had a wing-span of about three metres and a stinger about 1.5 metres long. This is small on the scale for Mantas - they have been spotted to over 7m wide. The dirty water I was swimming in was actually a cloud of plankton that had attracted the filter-feeding Manta. I was a little nervous when the Manta swam straight for me with its mouth open. We swam with them for about 15 minutes, but with a sudden thrust of their wings, they were away and soon lost in the gloom.

The second time I got to see Manta Rays was on a dive. We saw three at once, and as you can see from the photo, one was the typical colouring of black on top and white underneath (far right side). The other two were mostly black, which is rare on this island. They were all swimming around a cleaning station manned by Wrasse, where the dive leaders said they were regular visitors. It was unbelievable swimming with these giants, and I can't wait to go back to Lady Elliot to see them again.

Resin jewellery

I seem to be running with an adornment theme at the moment. Last weekend I did a resin jewellery workshop with BQueen, held at the Barnes store on King St, Newtown. The main surprise was how easy it was. I thought that working with resin involved noxious fumes, the need to work outside and a fair amount of mess. It's none of those. You can make resin jewellery at your kitchen table with a couple of plastic cups and a mould. We used a special type of resin that can only be used for jewellery. It sets in 15-20 minutes and dries to a champagne colour, however it's easy enough to add pigments. A different and more difficult to use resin is required for bowls and when you want a clear product. The course was three hours long, and gave us enough time to make two bracelets and two rings (or more if you had spare resin). We worked with two batches, so had two opportunities to try out different effects. We then had time to sand back one bracelet before finishing. The sanding isn't much fun, but doesn't take too long. I'm looking forward to trying it at home and being a bit more adventurous with the dyes. We were also shown how to make our own moulds, which was fortunate as most of the standard moulds didn't fit my 'man-hands' (at least not without rearranging my bones). The main thing I didn't like, which I hope I can improve on, was the tiny bubbles in the resin, especially where you pour, and the slightly dull finish. Apparently the clear resin gives you a much better finish, but it also takes several hours to set. Overall pretty happy and I'll definitely try it at again at home.

Fascinating headband

As a nod to the Melbourne Cup, I decided to wear a headpiece to work for the Melbourne Cup today. Not that I'll get to see it. I have a meeting that goes straight across the race, organised by someone who clearly doesn't know what a horse is. I may have to step out to go to the bathroom for 15 minutes! Fortunately I'm not a lead person at the meeting :) My choice for the headband had to be conservative, so I chose muted colours. I found a supplier of plastic headbands (Wholesale Hair Clips) and ordered a supply. I created a sleeve for the headband out of some spare black material. This was probably the hardest step! Getting it the correct size, turning it inside out (always my least favourite task when making spaghetti straps for dresses), then closing off the ends, all took about three times as long as decorating it. I then sewed the two bunches of feathers (guinea fowl and ostrich) to the band. Finally I sewed some sequins and beads onto a small piece of felt. I glued the felt piece to the front of the feathers and the headband, used an extra piece of felt across the back (secured with glue), and then sewed a few stitches for extra hold. Just wish I could be at the race: I rock a pair of gumboots!