One of those less than impressive days when the temperature wanders from Minus 2 to eight degrees and the fog stays all day. Distinct nip in the air all day. I was glad to see that the fire, while out, was at least still hot, when I got home from quilting and so restarting it was a fairly straight forward exercise.

At quilting i managed to unpick the two mistaken seams and reverse them, with good effect, then piece the last bit of the quilt together. Two of the border strips are also in place and I expect to have it finished by tomorrow afternoon (so much so I have also packed some hand sewing to get on with if I finish early). So if you are really lucky, you will get to see the finished product tomorrow (or perhaps I should stop saying that since it seems to Jonah me ...). Anyway, Caroline has a hanging board at her place so I was able to see it from a distance today and I am well pleased with the overall look. Not so pleased with some of the piecing, but it will only be obvious to the picky observer and it is not like i plan to sell it. It will be a lovely addition to my bedroom and that is all I really want it for. The cotton wadding we, as a group, have in stock is thinner than that which I used on the flannel lap quilt, so this will be a fairly light-weight quilt. But that is well and good as the quilts go over the goosedown doona and a heavy one, such as I am using at present, spends a fair bit of time folded off to one side as it is too warm at night, even with the minus degrees of late. It will, of course, come into its own when the gales return and the weather gets really chilly!

Yesterday evening turned into Pitt Street in the rush hour as Caroline called in for a visit and a chat and to drop of a huge bag of bread for the geese (the chooks will eat it instead), then just got her out of the house when Val called in trying to sell me some Avon. Instead we had a cuppa, and a chat and she admired progress since last she was here. I did leaf through the catalogue and was surprised to see Avon has branched out a bit, and would probably have bought something if I was living in the suburbs still, but since i am not, I don't really have much call for anything on offer there.

I was off up to Launceston today, for that site meeting at the silos. Lovely day once I got there, but I am glad I allocated two hours for the drive as it was very foggy all the way up (I am constantly astonished at how fast people drive in those conditions!!). So the meeting went well and i have come home laden with more reading material (some of which will hopefully have some useful citations for me to follow up on) and will have to get round to looking at it all before Thursday when I go up to Campbell Town to meet with my colleague and to compare notes on any gaps in our information that need to be filled before I can write a 'history' of the site.

On my way home i called into the Campbell Town butcher to place an order for Thursday, but it turned out he already had everything that I wanted (oxtails and gravey beef) so I had them cut to my preferred dimensions and brought them home to go into the freezer for future stews/pies/casseroles etc.

Then Tracey, who had given up on the catalogue thing called by and seems to be back on the catalogue thing, so I spent a happy half hour browsing in one of those catalogues that is stuffed full of things that amaze you someone even bothered to invent, and makes you even more amazed people buy them, but which invariably have one thing you can not live without. Though, since the thing I can not live without is $20.00 I will just have to wait for it, lol.

Then a brief stop at our library for a couple of books to keep me going till Wednesday since i had forgotten to bring the remaining books to return, and home to a dog who was very happy to see me indeed, and two cats who were already indoors as the chill had started to settle. Fire on. Dinner warming on the woodheater, and ready to read a good book.

So, apart from cutting up loads of firewood and taking a run to the tip, I did very little today. I have been finishing a book entitled 'The Last Ride' by Thomas Eidson which proved a rather moving experience. Well worth the read if you find it in your local library.

Tonight's dinner, once the bits have defrosted, will be chicken done in a greek style. Basically brown the chicken bits, then cook with potatoes, onions and capsicum in seasoned and herbed tomato puree and chicken stock till the spuds are done. I will put it into the lidded baking dish I found at the local op shop for the first part of the cooking, and then finish it off with the lid off so the potatoes and chicken that emerge above the base juices will brown a little.

The geese learned the hard way that flying is not permitted. They are both now residing in the deep freeze. I kept the frames for making stock and the breasts have been frozen separately from the legs, so I have a selection of options for future use. I did find a recipe for goose sausage which looked interesting and recommended using older goose, so may yet give it a try if I find a source of sausage skins that does not want me to buy a bucket full.

I had another go at plucking the breasts at least and have managed to extract half a pillow-slip of feathers and down suitable for stuffing something. I will tied it off securely and wash them, and then store them for future use when I get that Doona re-covered. It would be good to bulk it up a bit and using my own feathers seems more sensible than buying some.

Glorious weather I have to say, though I have not managed to get further on cleaning the car out, After the geese my clothes were a bit mucky so they went into the machine and I decided to call it a day.

Well Brrrr, and yawn. It is cold and I am tired as you can tell. Today started with rather more excitement than I had planned, having scheduled a trip to Hobart. I was all tarted up in my 'city' clothes when I wandered down the back yard to feed the chooks and geese. One of the geese got so excited at the thought of food that she took off into the air at head level and flew straight over the fence toward me. Not sure who was more surprised as i had no idea they could fly that well when properly fledged. Needless to say this was alarming for a number of reasons, but she refused to let me herd her back into her yard and ended up cornering herself so I could catch her. Now, catching the geese has been on the list of things to do for some time, but today was really not good timing. So I carried her around for a while as i debated dispatching her, and leaving her to 'hang' in a cool shady spot till I got home or clipping her wing. I ended up clipping her wing as I concluded that dispatching her would upset the other goose so much I would have no idea what to expect by the time I got home. So she is back in the run with a thoroughly clipped wing and if the weather remains fine I will try catching them both in the shed tomorrow and stop procrastinating about dispatching them.

Fortunately, all that goose carrying did not have the effect on my clothing that I had expected, so I was able to set off to Hobart in still clean clothes. Got to the Andover turnoff and realised that in the excitement I had forgotten the property descriptions I was planning to search, went back, got the dog all excited at the prospect of getting off the chain, disappointed the dog and headed down to Hobart.

Luckily, by the time i got there I had the munchies. So I headed into Dome for coffee and a muffin before entering the basement of the Lands and Titles office. In Queensland, when you do an historic title search, you part with your money and they give you a printout from a microfiche and away you go. In Tasmania, they let you loose unsupervised in the basement storage area and you find it yourself. So I have spent a happy day surrounded by hundreds, thousands, of original title deeds, deeds in grant and mortgage records, wills and goodness knows whatall. All terribly exciting, but incredibly frustrating as well.

I found one of the two Launceston properties i was looking for, and another that I thought was the second, but which turned out to be something else, and which was a land grant from the Crown in 1993!! Who knew they were still doing that sort of thing that recently. I thought, while I was there and had paid my entrance fee, that I would also do the historic title search for my place. Bad Idea!! I found records back to 1909 when it was sold by a bank which had presumably taken possession from an earlier owner, but there was no record of earlier documents. The records of the bank did not show mortgages over any property in Parattah prior to 1909, so that was a dead end. So I had a look for the original grant, in the hope it would reveal something, but no luck there either (well, I found the grant, but it did not give forward references. So I found the town plan (or rather, one of the staff did) and that made reference to a title document which, on closer examination turned out to the original subdivision of my part of the town. Great stuff!! Sadly, when the land was sold off, the records on this document rarely actually described the bit of land bought by each person. This was further compounded by the subdivision being in four parts (parts A-D) each of which had lots counted from number 1 ... And then there is the little complexity that two of the lots in Part D (of which my place is one) are now part of Kip's place and so it all became a little confusing.

Suffice to say, that now I know when the subdivision occurred, I can confidently state which Feng Shui reading applies as the subdivision was later than the cut-opp point.

I have lit the fire, and am wondering if last night's leftovers will suffice as I really can not imagine starting to cook right now....

I slept in this morning!! must have needed it is all I can say in excuse. Anyway, I was prompted by the sunshine to get out and cut more wood and to wash the car. Yes, the ute has had its first bath!! Fortunately nothing fell off it as a consequence, and Saturday I will tackle the inside. I have to leave it a chance to dry out a bit as washing the insides of the windows and around the doors has resulted in the odd puddle inside. I do love a vehicle with vinyl seats and linings! All this has been prompted by the threat of having to pile several important people into the ute on Monday when we go to Launceston once more. Can't have them getting dog hairs and spider webs all over their clothes. And some of those spiders look quite nasty close up, though they have done a marvellous job of keeping down the insect population indoors.

Otherwise I have been chasing information to enhance tomorrow's trip to Hobart. All to no avail as it turns out It seems that Roberts's only had a short association with the site and it is actually a government property. At least Tony's contact has saved us a lot of work in that direction. Maybe it is part of the post-war economic incentive type stuff. Otherwise, I am blowed if I can work out any particular importance for it. Found some aerial shots of the woolstores in Moonah so will see if they are still extant, and if so, whether I can get some photos, as technological significance is about all I can think of at this point unless, as I suggested, it is part of some goverment economic initiative. All the work to date is not, however, pointless as the business is one of the premier businesses in the State so more than likely to turn up in some future project.

Have also been burrowing around in the computer trying to work it out. But despite finding one driver that was 'switched off' and which is now updated and activated, there has been little progress. At least I have realised that scheduling the defrag for one in the morning is pointless as the computer is not on at that time, so that has been rescheduled for a more likely timeslot and made daily so if I miss on day, then it will be done the next. Will take the laptop to town tomorrow to see if the nice boys at the computer shop can be conned into prioritising it.

Despite the sunshine it has been pretty cool today, so I am pondering options for dinner. All of which will involve slow-cooking apart from the curried cauliflower, so I guess that answers the question.

Today was positively balmy by comparison with yesterday, rocketting up to 10 degrees. Such was the beauty of the day that the quilting ladies insisted we all go to lunch at a local pub with the result that not much sewing got done. And what did get done was subject to the incessant drone of our lovable member who could continue to deafen while under six feet of wet concrete. She has been away a fair bit of late, so had a lot to catch up on...

So the top strip of five blocks has been pieced together, and the sashing attached and sewn to the main body of the quilt. But since the sashing is in two parts, one of which is calico, and that part had to be against the body of the quilt, but ended up against the upper panel (I blame having my brain bludgeoned into submission by incessant talking that required occasional polite responses). As a consequence I have some reverse sewing to do some time during the week if at all possible so that I am ready to start again next week. The two new Ohio Stars look good and will finish off the bottom row nicely. Of course once all that is sewn together, I will need to do the two border panels as well, so that will keep my brain focussed for a few more days I suspect. So no photos for your delectation I am sorry to say. Maybe next week.

In the mean time I will be busy pursuing documents and seeing if I can work out why the computer screen has decided everything needs to be 50% larger than usual.

Something weird is happening with the link to this page, so I have had to go around to the back door to get in tonight (hence the delays). Other than this minor irritation, today has been rather rewarding all round. It seems I have been selected from the 11 applicants and will be knocking on doors in the district come census time. That will be a great way to explore the neighbourhood and get paid for the pleasure.

We also received confirmation that our proposal has been accepted by LCC so we will be launching ourselves into research as of tomorrow (well, Sal will be, I will be at quilting). I will, however be trawling the online booking space for the library and go down to Hobart on Friday to see what they have found for me as well as to request an historic title search for the subject site. Sal, in the meantime will be trawling the on-line newspaper archives and checking out what is held in the local historical societies up north. If they both have good stuff, then I will head up there and share the research with her.

We have also requested a visit on site with the City architect to discuss their goals for the site so that we can get a bit of a flavour of what they are looking to get out of the study.

Meanwhile, at quilting today I had a bit of a breakthrough and the quilt top is fairly close to completion. It may, in fact, be finished by tomorrow evening, so I could hope to post a photo of it for your delectation. I washed out the strip of calico this morning and it is now looking somewhat less blobby, and cut into the narrow strips, seems fairly acceptable (even if it does look a little as if I have been eating greasy food in bed and wiping my fingers on the quilt). Have to say I am rather happy with the way it is coming together and I think it was a good idea to revisit the Ohio stars and make them up in more strong colourways than I had previously. I have one pair completed and the other pair should be done tomorrow to allow me to finish off. Who knows, if we actually get paid for the work, I may even be able to afford the wadding for the middle!

Bitterly cold today, and if it 'rains' tonight, I suspect it will fall as snow. But since it is unlikely it would settle, I doubt I will have any proof of that in the morning unless we also get a freeze (which is on the cards).

I have been dying all day, so far without success. The tea dye did not really do it for me on the calico, in this context, so I tried some raspberry leaves. Apparently oxalic acid is a useful mordant with raspberry leaves, but since I have to assume our forebears, like me, did not have a handy hardware down the road I tried some rhubarb leaves instead. Not terribly successful, though the fumes were reminiscent of my attempts to clean floor boards with oxalic acid, so I presumably did something right.

That lot was tipped somewhere I was hoping some weeds would die, and I dug out the saffron-dyed calico, and bunged it, together with today's victim, into the washing machine on a hot wash (time the machine had a hot wash through it anyway) and all I achieved was the saffron calico going more pumpkin yellow, and the intended calico becoming a vaguely greenish yellow that really did nothing positive. So while it was damp I splashed on some blobs of parisienne essence, which I am hoping is colourfast (they seem to use it a lot in quilting projects, so I assume it is OK) of varying degrees of intensity. Now it just looks blobby. Still, since it will be cut into narrowish strips, the blobs will be reduced in overall horribleness and provide some texture to the long strips of otherwise unprint-embellished calico.

We had a lovely lot of weather atmospherics today, so I also played with the camera a bit. The little lake in the left of this photo disappears completely in certain lights, and at other times glows like mercury. Unfortunately the pastel stripes of tree shades do not show up in the photo as well as they did in real life, so I will just have to remind myself they were there. The other cloud shot is on the road home from the library and shows a tiny bit of the amazing cloud display. Unfortunately all I had with me was the phone, hence, not really a quality shot ...

The weather has been doing its best to look wild and woolley and rainy, but seems to be failing in that respect. Dark clouds, gusts of wild wind, but only minor speckles of rain to be seen so far.

I unloaded the Hebel blocks i found at the tip yesterday. They are quite enormous and look ridiculously heavy so it is fun to hoist them around one-handed. Not sure what i can use them for, but they seemed to be too good to leave there (am thinking of lining a root cellar with a liftup lid or something similar. If it is up near the house the bottom can be bedrock and the blocks to line the sides. Their permeability could be beneficial in that use since it will enhance evaporation and cooling (I hope - will check before i act).

Apart from that I have been cooking up soups and casseroles, stewing the last of the tomatoes that finally ripened and the long, oval ones have been semidried and packed i olive oil for salad use. The cooked ones I am still thinking about - do I make a soup or do I freeze them as passata for future casserole applications?

Dinner is slow-cooking at present, and lunch was some of the scotch broth. Glad i tasted it before freezing as the lack of salt was painfully evident and so I bunged some in and threw in some worcestershire sauce for good luck. And it now tastes a lot nicer.

Also tea-dyed some calico to make up the sashing for the quilt. I am thinking an inch and half of that, plus a strip from the jellyroll for around the centre which will add some dimension to it. Then another strip of the calico inside the border which is in a nice rose colour. The binding i bought is thin red diagonal stripes on a pale brown background so that should tie it all together fairly well.

Here it is four thirty and i am famished, so I suspect dinner will be early today ...

Got all celtic today. Scotch broth and Irish stew all bubbling away in various states of preparedness. And more cleaning and the washing done and I am sure I have done other things, but have no recollection of what they were. Defrosting the fridge led to a minor flood (apparently there is a mysterious, inacessible reservoir in the fridge somewhere that i have yet to find) and since i failed to wipe out the drips from the freezer terribly effectively, the drawers are frozen in place. Oh well, I will sort that out this evening when I go to freeze the leftovers. In the mean time I will be eating that macaroni bake i made last night.

Tonight's dinner is a vegetable pasta bake, with loads of cheesy white sauce to keep it all moist. It was too big for the casserole dish, so I made a smaller one as well, which has just disappeared. And very tasty it was too.

This was inspired by a cauliflower head delivered to my door by Jean who was on her way back from Hobart. So I added some thinly sliced potato and carrots and a head of broccoli from my own garden and away it went. Since the smaller one was a bit too al dente (despite pre-steaming some of the veg before adding to the heap) the larger one is still sitting in the oven taking advantage of the residual heat from the cooking process.

The house was purged today (well the back half anyway) and the fridge defrosted (I could no longer get the freezer drawers to go in far enough, lol). So I was all ready when the nice girl called around for interviews regarding the census. She will be in touch. There are 11 applicants for six positions, so it is not all done and dusted yet. But it pays fairly well - $1200 for the period, paid in fortnightly amounts. Plus vehicle expenses for rural areas. And no, I won't get lumbered with Parattah if I am chosen. They make sure neighbours do not check into each other.

So, apart from emailing off proposals to Launceston, and CVs off to Hobart CC and the Launceston NT, I am having a fairly quiet day I think. Tomorrow I will attack the front half of the house with the vacuum cleaner and that should see it all done until I get sick of the sight of it once more.

Another busy day of business today. Was down in Hobart to meet with Pete Smith who is the Director of Heritage Tasmania. He, poor man, had Parliament in session so we had to speak around the regular phone calls but we had a good chat and he is keeping me in mind. I am making myself useful by sending him some 'words' to address the Mercury's kerfuffle about red blinds and windowboxes. The bad news is that with the budget constraints and the recruiting constraints, the government has also closed the back door and cut consultancy budgets as well, so it back to the drawing board there.

I also called into Hobart City Council to renew my acquaintance with their Heritage Officer who is a contemporary who was part of my old social group at school. all very useful. So I am emailing my cv to him tonight once i am done here. And took a photo of the Silos apartments (which I have to say are quite horrible)

From there I went to the Library to have a look at the documents I had ordered on-line from the archives and duly photocopied a few of relevance, and poked through the rest. The nice lad at the counter did a search of their records for me also and found a few more I can have a look at if we get the job.

A quick trip to Spiceworld to stock up on dried pulses, and I was off home, barely making it before dark ... the dog was less than impressed.

Another day of quilting today and the blocks are all finished and the first three sets of three are sewn together. One of our less frequent members called in with some fabric to give away and one was a blue print that will be ideal for the inner border of the quilt (the quilt is 7 inches smaller all round than I want it to be, so am inserting the odd border as I go to make up the difference in size). It turns out that the pattern does actually have a two inch inner border, so I am just making this three inches, and then will make a 2.5 inch border in addition to the one already part of the pattern. Hopefully this will result in a quilt that is about the right size (though the finished measurements seem to be pre-quilting, which does reduce the size further).

It will be a stitch in the ditch approach for the blocks, and will have to work out a repeating pattern for the borders that will be easy to sew (key pattern for the narrow one and maybe feathers for the outer one???).

The weather seems set fairly fair for the rest of the week ,but goes to custard once again on Monday, so will try to get the outdoor activities done while the going is good. But tomorrow i am off to Hobart to deal with Directors of Heritage offices so will need to be up bright and early and putting on the war-paint. I have been aided in this by the local pharmacy which had a basket of 'chuckouts' which included a lippy in just my colour. For free. Now that's what I call a bargain!

My partner in crime has approved my preliminary draft for our fee proposal and added her bit of bio. So I will now give that a read and see what we can do to finalise it. We hope to have it submitted by Friday.

Definitely quilting weather today despite the sunshine, so it was with a clear conscience I set off up the hill. Jenny brought the quilt her group had entered into the competition at the quilting fair. No idea why it did not win as it is innovative and non-traditional, and 'describes' the group she leads at her home in Bagdad. They are called tangled web quilters, so the web format is their name. Then each section of the web shows their activities, and the key features of her place (the airedale dog, the rooster, the quilts and dolls they make etc. So here for your delectation since it won't be going on tour is the quilt in question.

My own quilt also made considerable progress today, so tomorrow should see all the blocks complete. Then all I have to do is the maths required to increase it in size to the actual size I want it to be, rather than the size the pattern creates. Whether I achieve this by sashing or by adding another border remains to be seen. Rather depends on how much bigger it has to become.

A day of business today. Not quite according to plan, but fairly productive. First problem was the local service station had its eftpos down due to a hamfisted break-in attempt. So I promised to call in and pay on my way home, and headed north to Launceston. The sky was particularly lovely with low-lying misty clouds, and a fine display of lenticular cloudes - sort of grey in the middle with bright yellow around the edges. Couldn't find a spot where the sun or the power lines were not in the way, so gave up on getting a photo, but they were truly spectacular.

The meeting with Ian was fairly brief (we having had lunch just last week) but I met his other staff and Sal and I arranged to go out to the site where the work is proposed. Then I headed into town to see if I could track down a diary insert (financial year) that would fit my folder. Inevitably there is no such thing, so I bought a proper diary (one that is undated so I can use it for the rest of the year, and then get a real one for next year), and a set of print-your-own business cards which I feel are pretty essential if I am to look as if I know what I am doing. Then grabbed some lunch and headed back to the office to pick up Sal for the site visit.

I have to confess to spotting a new quilting shop, and fortunately I had my notes with me for the yardage I require for the quilt and so was able to buy that while I was there.

I can understand why LCC has reservations about this site. At first look it is less than promising and might fall into Amenity value rather than heritage value, but i guess this will become clearer once we have done the study.

Sal and I will be splitting the work and the proceeds on this one, so it will not be all that remunerative, especially when I have used some of the money to buy a binder machine and presentation covers for the report. But I guess that will have future usefulness so is an acceptable cost (and tax deductible). I also phoned the Launceston National Trust guy to make contact and hopefully he will be sending me an email so I can forward my CV to him. Have not heard back from the architect, but I guess his priorities are different to mine. Ian tells me he lost of key member of staff who would travel to Tassie to do work for him at the drop of a hat, and so this could be a useful contact.

Anyway, time to put my feet up and eat more baked beans I think. I am hungry and quite tired. But i will put in some time trawling the State Library website to see what their holdings are that may be of interest, and also working out how to break down the costs for research, report writing and site inspections so that we come up with an acceptable figure.

Mmmmmmmmm the Boston Baked Beans smell scrumptious. If anyone wants to make their own baked beans this is a dead easy recipe. Though I find the cooking time is somewhat less than the recipe asks for (unless you are particularly fond of congealed sauces baking onto your casserole dishes). It comes from a little book called 50 Ways with vegetables and is really very scrummy.

So Here's the recipe:

350g haricot beans (dry)
2tbsp treacle or molasses
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 level tbsp dry mustard
2 level tsp of salt (I left this out as my belly pork was already salted)
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 level tbsp demerara sugar (I just use brown sugar as I have no idea where you might find demerara)
2 onions, peeled and chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
6-8 whole cloves
8-12 oz belly pork skinned and diced (alternately, you veges can add 250g button mushrooms)

Soak beans overnight, then drain and return to pot with sufficient water to cover. Bring to boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain and reserve the liquid.

Place the beans in a heavy casserole (I used the slow-cooker this time, but the le creuset works well too) with all the ingredients (but not the mushrooms if you are using these). Mix well, cover tightly and cook slowly (150C, Gas Mark 2) for 7-8 hours (I actually find it is wise to check at the five hour mark or things could get nasty). Add mushrooms (if you are using them) about an hour before it is done.

Discard the cloves, give it a good stir and serve with crusty bread (if you have it to hand).

Messing around with the chainsaw while that was cooking and getting a couple of loads of washing done since i will be out and about for the next four days and it was a good chance to get the work pants clean.

Now to eat the results of all that seething, though probably not a good choice given I have meetings tomorrow, lol.

That time of the day already! I have just set some haricot beans to soak so that tomorrow I can make some Boston Baked Beans, which sound like just the thing for snowy weather. Tonight it is a frozen TV dinner - chicken parmigiana - just for a change of diet. Too much healthy eating is bad for you!

I have replaced the paper in the bee hive with some carpet underlay, also with holes cut into it. The feeder is almost empty, though whether this is because the bees ate it all, or the liquid has spilled out and leaked all over the place is anyone's guess. There is a suspicious trail of liquid near the hive, which may suggest the latter. Anyway, since i did not have my kit on and the bees were busily stuffing their faces on the syrup while I was tucking the underlay into the hive and around the bottle, I did not stick around to investigate too thoroughly.

Went into the newsagency to see if they had some sort of useful accounting books that i could use. But I was utterly confused by the choices. There are income and outgoing books that are large, have lots of columns with headings, none of which make any sense. There are other books with lots of columns without headings that give me nasty flashbacks to Agricultural College and failed book-keeping course and there are other books that have lots of lines, but no columns. Not terribly helpful. Fortunately wayne has come good with an excel table he uses, which I will be able to adapt, if necessary to my own needs. Yay Wayne!! Now all I have to do is work out how to keep the income/outgoings of the work separate from the income (what income???) outgoings of survival. So that may require some fancy footwork, and maybe a fortnightly withdrawal of cash for personal use. Anyway, something to think about, since I don't actually want to be a 'business' per se, but simply someone who does a bit of work here and there.

Still pretty chilly around these parts, and more to come apparently ...

well, Friday the thirteenth went well, didn't it. The Blogspot had a glitch and was off air.

In the mood for the day I was rather alarmed when I went to look at the bees to discover that, not only were there piles of bodies outside (normal at this time of year, the bees decide they can't be bothered feeding the drones through the winter and get rid of them and any other passengers, to permit the survival of the swarm) but there was a dead body in the entrance to the hive. Major panic as any self-respecting hive gets rid of bodies and puts them outside. So I called Graham who duly came over (I still don't have a smoker but he keeps telling me it is on the way) and we investigated. No point getting veils and smokers as it turned out as the bees had gone into their winter huddle in the bottom of the hive and were nowhere in sight. They were there, however, which was good news. Graham had thought perhaps they had run out of food (with the erratic weather, on sunny days the bees go out wasting energy looking for blossoms, and so consume more of the winter reserves). So while i was waiting for his arrival I was making up a heavy sugar syrup to feed them with (recipe courtesy of that book I bought) and trying to find something suitable for a feeder. We decided old vegemite jars would do the trick, so drilled lots of tiny holes in the lid (the smallest drill bit i had) and filled one with syrup. Then we had to find a mat of some sort - no luck. So we ad-libbed with several layers of packing paper, with discs partly cut out, leaving a flap. All of this, of course, was way too big to fit under the lid, so an empty box was applied with the 'mat' in the bottom, and the jar upside down through one of the disc-holes. I will head down and check the out later in the day to see if they are feeding. I have opened up the container to cut a section of carpet underlay to replace the 'mat' of paper, and to put in the two boxes worth of frames we removed from the hive (these were the stickies left for the bees to clean up and to fill if they felt so inclined after i robbed them, and which they have failed to use). So I am ready and raring to go when the time is right to go down there. I will also chuck in two frames of drawn comb in case they decide they want to convert the syrup to honey.

As it turned out, all this panic was unnecessary as they still have ample supplies of honey on tap, but it is a useful lesson learned, and I will need to keep monitoring them fairly closely if this winter continues in its present form.

Speaking of winter, we had vast gusts of wind and rain, accompanied by some pretty substantial snow flurries as well yesterday, and today it is still only four degrees, despite the recently emerged sunshine.

So much of yesterday was spent in a bit of a huddle after I lit the fire with the newly cut wood. But i also exchanged a few communications - the sewing machine man is delivering it back next week, to carolines. There is yet another person in touch about me doing some work for them (preliminary historical research type stuff) and a third was in touch about interviewing me for the Census work, which, given the type of work I will now be doing, will fit in nicely. So she is arriving next Friday to chat to me. In view of all this, I have also acquired a vehicle log book and am planning to start recording as soon as I go anywhere. Also, to start thinking about how i am to keep records of expenditure and income. If anyone out there works as a consultant, it would be helpful if you have any excel tables or similar (just the headings would be useful) so I can figure out how to do this ...

And, start a 'routine' for housework and paperwork so I don't leave everything to the last minute as is my wont if I become engrossed in something ...

well, it's still all a bit grim and icy with snow forecast down to 500metres (and me at 450), so it will be a chilly one tonight as well apparently. It rained for much of the day and so I kept well under cover and warm and achieved very little apart from finishing off the book I need to return to the library, responding to the invitation for a proposal, and generally getting a bit of housework sorted. More housework (both domestic and business) to be done tomorrow so its a good thing it will be no nicer than it was today (and probably nastier due to galeforce winds forecast).

Snow weather!! If it had been raining today it would have come down as snow. Talk about chilly! Good thing we had quilting and had a nice cosy school house to snuggle into. Still, all is well as the house is warm and the wood supply is holding firm and I have soup in the freezer for dinner.

Received an invitation to submit a proposal for a conservation plan for Launceston City Council today. I have stalled until I find out how much I should be charging and suggested a site visit with a colleague for next Monday. Meanwhile will contact our local heritage adviser and sound him out about fee ranges here in Tassie (which I imagine are somewhat lower than in mainland states). Luckily the site is associated with a family I know from my school days so will have a bit of an inside running on obtaining records of their activities there and reasons for leaving ...

So it seems things are moving in the right direction. All I have to do now is work out an equitable split with the partner in crime I will be working with.

So I had to be in Bridgewater at nine this morning. That meant setting off at eight, but since it was foggy and bleary I decided to start off a little earlier and a good thing i did. The car was frozen and it took some time to clear the windows sufficiently to see out to drive. And the drive down was a wee bit slower due to fog as well, so I got there at five to nine!!

After that I had to meet a colleague for lunch at 12:15 so had time to kill which is always dangerous where there are shops available. Fortunately I did have chook and cat food to collect so that took up some of the time, and then, by a huge exercise of will, I forced myself to go to the state library. After collecting another half dozen books, I popped them and my bag into the loccker so I could go up to level 2 which is the research floor. I have many hours of happy reading to get through that lot - they have an amazing selection of items either in their catalogues or on-line so a wonderful resource once i start doing work once more.

From there I strayed off the narrow path of righteousness and entered Spotlight, but it was OK as they had nothing remotely interesting apart from a spool of narrow black satin ribbon that I thought would be useful for tying up the end of my french braid. At seventy cents it was a snip. But then I saw the size of the queue which is notoriously slow in the Hobart shop. So I took it to soft-furnishings to pay and was at the patisserie by noon. Lovely food, and it is run by a chap who was at school at the same time as me, though I didn't spot him there (unless he has gone all wrinkledy and bald ..). Sat and chatted for an hour then headed home via quilting to give the girls a bit of a surprise with the full-monty work gear. Full lenght black felted wool coat, black beret, tartan kilt with dirk, high boots and so forth. They were duly impressed. Then home for dog games and firelighting and reading my way through two more books so I can take them back tomorrow when I am in town for quilting once more.

Thought it was a bit chilly and it seems the maximum today was six degrees, so that is hardly surprising. A bit roller bale arrived this morning and is now waiting to be unwrapped so I can continue mulching the hedge.

I decided to try to get creative so found an online watercolour course (have been reading a book based around a watercolour class and they mentioned some steps that my last art class never took me through, so thought I would give them a try). So have been doing washes and graduated washes for much of the day. I seem to have them fairly well under control so moved onto 'glazing' washes which are transparent washes of one colour over another. Sadly, the instructions failed to mention the critical stage of letting the first wash dry before you apply the second wash. So the results were not quite what i expected, but seem to have resulted in a seascape sort of effect. What do you think? I am seeing a wave-washed sand spit in the foreground, the ocean heading off to the horizon and a sunset sky over all ... But then I am probably just being optimistic.

I think we can agree i need a bit more work on the glazing method before I move onto the wet-on-wet method (wet paper with colour applied with a view to it soaking out into the fibres).

Rocketed up to 7.8 today. several times. But did not stagger any higher. Bright sunshine alternating with hail all day. Nice and snug indoors though, so after attending to the chores I spent the day with a good book. I did manage to get the bacon processed, so that is in the fridge waiting to be cut up and frozen for future use.

what a pleasant change today was - lovely sunny day and, while cool, it was warm enough to wander around with just the flanny on (instead of a jumper and jacket in addition to the flanny) At one stage I was even down to the long-sleeved teeshirt under the flanny!

surprisingly it was not actually that much warmer (temperature-wise) but still, it made all the difference in the world. I was out cutting wood (we have some more cold weather on the way) when gordon from next door started wandering up the lane with his dog on a leash. Stopped to chat and he mentioned that the microchipping day also included vaccinations. I had been watching all the dogs being microchipped and feeling smug as Shadow has had his in since puppyhood, but was glad to hear about the vaccination opportunity as with our vet having left us at Christmas I was wondering how to get that sorted. So we headed down and he meekly took his shots and was rewarded with a liver treat delivered by the vet's little girl.

Once that was sorted, and the wood stowed indoors and the chainsaw put away, I got the mower out and gave the yard a once-over as, with the damp weather, it had grown away once more. That under control I weeded the veges, spotted a nice head of broccoli (now dinner and being eaten as I type) then retreated indoors to prepare tonight's osso bucco. But i am hungry so the broccoli and riced potato is being eaten now and I will eat the rest once it is cooked.

so now to work out how to cope with a night of four degrees when the bed is set up for temperatures somewhat lower ... I think I will fold up the quilt and set it on the other side of the bed and see how I go from there.

Inertia seems to have set in with the colder weather. Not a skerrick of work done today - just read two books instead. Now I have to start a third one to get me through the evening ...

Not quite into two figures today, but close at 9.8. Despite the sunshine it was darn chilly so once again huddled indoors. Given the overnight chill it was quite hard to get out of bed this morning and had the animals not urged me into action I would probably still be there.

I was astonished to discover that it actually cracked two figures today, but then I read the effect of the chill factor and that explains why we were all huddled over our heaters at quilting today. The cats left a wee present at the back door to greet me on my return (a dead mouse) and the dog has been playing frisbee with the new footscraper door mat. Will have to move it slightly further away I think.

Tonight it is freshly picked broccoli layered with par-cooked potatoes, drenched in a cheese sauce and topped with grated cheese - all baked in the oven till brown on top.

It wasn't terribly much warmer today, but at least the sun was out. Oddly, the nights are still relatively warmish, though this is possibly also the positive benefits arising from the additional insulation. The house is still quite cosy in the mornings even if the fire has burned down to a few remnant sparks.

I managed to complete six of the nine-patch groups today, only two more to go and they will be done by the end of tomorrow's session. I may even manage to cut out some strips for the stripey patches. I will need to look out some larger bits of fabric though, so that I can make the wide bands of fabric that finish off these blocks into the completed block size and that does not appear to be possible from the existing collection. Will rummage in the boxes and see what I come up with.

Our new member joined us today. She moved into Parattah some time ago - they built a house the other side of the railway line but have not had much to do with her. She was befriended by her next door so conversation was somewhat constrained today in that regard, as I had already warned folk of the association.

I am quite looking forward to finishing this quilt as it will be the first full-size top I have finished (two others are stalled due to hiccups in the making) and I am particularly enamoured of the colour range. It is Moda Autumn Fair if anyone out there knows what that is. It is a sort of red, white and blue combination but the colours are sort of faded like old cloth and the 'white' is more of a teastain colour. Will look like a good oldfashioned quilt methinks.

Another cold one today, and worse to come apparently. So I cut up a bit more wood to keep me going through till the next patch of sunshine is due, and settled into some serious cooking. Chicken stock, semi-dried tomatoes, pasta sauce, you name it, it was all cooked today. My only letdown was in the sweets department as I had run out of milk and the 3 litre container in the freezer has yet to thaw. So cakes may need to wait for another day.

More washing done, ironing finished (for now) and put away, and the kitchen fairly cleared for action when the next inspiration strikes. So tonight I will just settled back with Due North (Jill Ker Conway) and see where it takes me.

Eleven degrees today, and a steady rain, so it was indoor activities all round. The perfect excuse to sit and read, though I did also manage to whip up some chicken stock, do a couple of loads of washing and find my other ugg boot (finally). Not even the cats were keen on going out today and the dog positively begged to stay indoors. More to come this coming week by the looks of it, so will have to find myself some indoor chores to keep me occupied.