Smelling the roses

Our week has been busy and very full but I still managed to find time to smell the roses! After I did my last post about the Gumtree Quilters I found Jude had done a much more comprehensive one which you can view here. Her photos are wonderful and it was nice to have a record of these in front of my quilts (thanks Jude x)…….

Tuesday was check measure day for our annual Festival of Quilts which is now less than 2 weeks away. This year we measured every quilt in the one day and then re-bagged them carefully ready for judging day in just over a week. So much work goes on behind the scenes with thousands of volunteer hours making it a success……..

 Anne Marie has lots of new ideas as the new Exhibition Convenor and Jan on her right has the daunting task of doing the floor plan with the help of her mathematical husband Kevin. Each quilt is allocated a space with the rough layout viewed below on the right……...

 And these are the quilt owners bags tagged and ready for the end of the show!

Wednesday we had the little ones for a few hours and decided to head down south to Victor Harbor for a train ride. But having just had hot days we were disappointed to be back to a cold and wet one………

 No steam train this day but none the less it was a great ride……..

 Then a walk to check out the paddle steamers and the pelicans……...

 Chocolate train…..yum……..

 The journey takes about an hour each way so in the car we were entertained by some Beatrix Potter stories. I purchased this set about 7 years ago little knowing I would one day be writing a book about her!……..

 Thursday was another quick catch up where Beau enjoyed some sticky Halloween sweetness…….

 Friday I took the train to the city on my own for a day catching up with our special friend Kay. The plan was to see the wisteria in the Botanic Gardens but sadly we were a little late for that. Walking down North Terrace I am reminded of our William Morris collection because of these two special men who made it possible - Robert Barr Smith and Sir George Brookman (and I note that Robert turned down a knighthood)……..

I had no idea that our Parliament House has a piece of Westminster stonework on the facade…….. 

 Government house can just be seen over this wall……….

 On the way I passed the old School of Nursing at the Royal Adelaide Hospital where I did my training 41 years ago…….

 And then the gates of the Botanic Gardens……….

 From the gardens you can see the back of the hospital….the tall building is the old live in nurses home where I had three very fun years living away from home for the first time……...

 The water lily pavilion is new since I've visited…….

 These spectacular plants are quite thin from the side aspect…….

 Beautiful lily door knobs to the pavilion

 Finally the wisteria we had come to see in all its glory … .well it was just a mass of green….so maybe next year!…..

 The Moreton Bay Avenue creates an amazing canopy and to think they were planted in 1866…….

 We had lunch by the lake but this cheeky water fowl had not read the sign about not feeding the birds…instead he helped himself to an empty table where 'mum' was waiting in the reeds to take the scraps elsewhere……….

 He even decided to tip over a jug to drink some milk……….

 A few tortoises came to visit……...

 And then it was time to "smell the roses"…..and my what roses they were…..thousands of them and all labelled for reference……..

 I did not realise that we are the centre in Australia for trialing new breeds……...

 Then we ambled back to the entrance again admiring some spectacular trees along the way……..

 A freak of nature on this trunk……...

 A splendid day indeed where we could solve daily problems over coffee and cake………….

I hope your days are splendid too x