Popped into Oatlands this morning to get some groceries and ran into someone from up the road who, I had noticed the other day, has been building sheds with iron for cladding. Since i have a huge stack of the stuff, I offered it to him and he came to collect it this afternoon. Quite unexpectedly, he offered to pay for it!! So I now have $50 tucked into my piggy bank that was not there before!! Life's little pleasures. I had expected to end up taking the whole lot to the tip due to my failed efforts to get rid of it on Freecycle. He is coming back for more of the various materials that i have lying around the place and will also pay for them. The price, by the way, was a result of me saying, 'no idea what to ask' and him offering the money. So I am very happy indeed. Last night's mughlai lamb was luscious - definitely worth the mucking around to make the curry poultice the lamb is baked in, and the wait for it to be 'done' which made it a late dinner last night. Same again tonight, but I will cook some rice to go with it I think. The deep white frost this morning was a rather clear harbinger of winter. I am glad I was indoors. The dog and the cats were also glad they were indoors. Luckily for the dog, the cats have not yet worked out he has a nice warm and cosy bed these days. when they do he will be on bare floorboards. As it is he spend the evenings in the hall, as the cats have commandeered all bedding in the loungeroom. And Smidgen had turned my electric blanket on too, the little rotter!

I think it can be safely said that I hate, loathe, despise and detest having to address selection criteria. They are always framed so as to combine the least intuitively connected elements, and to therefore challenge even the most competent linguist in their capacity to provide a logical coherent and succinct response. Take this for an example: An in-depth knowledge and experience of current heritage practice, including a creative, community-based approach to local heritage management... Well, actually I do have that latter experience, but it was so long ago that it is fairly irrelevant the present statutory framework, or indeed the context of the position for which I am applying. Sigh. So how to massage this into something resembling a confident presentation of my current competencies remains to be done. All blooming day!! Staring at it, writing something, discarding the writing as incoherent, off the point or otherwise useless... I may get this application done some time this side of Christmas, but I doubt it. As for their software selection - well, lets say that I have never heard of three of the four items, so will have to bluff my way on that one. The good news is that two people have agreed to be referees - one being the current incumbent of the position with whom I worked with while at HT. So at least that hurdle has been surmounted. I also, as a result of our conversation, got a clearer picture of the position, the responsibilities, the mess that has arisen as a result of their recent public consultations and the sheer volume of work that will be necessary to get the place into a reasonably sound position to deal with challenges in the Tribunal (while simultaneously chatting to the public about what they can and can not do with their places, preparing reports for Council meetings and budget bids and so forth). So that's good. Not too sure how they plan to get this all done with a part-time position, but the previous incumbent always seemed fairly relaxed, so I guess it can be done. gaaargh! Bring on the lotto win I say, so I don't have to bother with this nonsense again!! Meanwhile I discovered that the cat had turned on the electric blanket for himself. Going to have to unplug it in future methinks. I wondered why the sheets were not chilly when I went to bed last night.

Yesterday, it seems, was a bit of a flash in the pan. Oh well. At least, when, at four this morning, the roofing iron went for more flying lessons, there was sufficient moonlight for me to see to put it back without drawing attention to myself. Still there this morning, thank heaven. Odd that after a good two years of meekly sitting there against all the odds, it decided to make a break for it yesterday. Must have been the angle of the wind. Had an email today alerting me to a well-paid part-time job so spent a good amount of time drafting a covering letter, refreshing my CV and considering how to respond to the selection criteria. Finding referees may also be a challenge as the person who tipped me off is on the panel, so not able to do so. Pity. I will phone around tomorrow and find out who might be willing to stand up for me. I checked out the properties in the area but sadly can not do what I was contemplating (buying to rent and then selling up here once I was retired and had a supplemented income from the Herbalife). Pity. Still, it does at least provide me with an income while i build up the business which I have discovered, would be a blessing. The Mughlai lamb is on hold as I could not find it in the freezer yesterday and only unearthed it today. Instead it is hedgehog tatties accompanied by two lamb chops which I found during my rummaging. Fortunately the leg of lamb reported for duty this morning and so is on the list for tomorrow night. A still chilly evening tonight, thank the lord, and the fire chugging nicely away in the loungeroom (to where I am about to retire).

Well gooolllleee! The temperature exceeded even the weather bureau's most optimistic expectations and climbed to 21.5 today. The wind (severe weather warning time folks) has been gusting up to a fair rate of knots and actually dislodged one of the sheets of iron I have stacked by the house in the fond belief I will one day be able to afford someone to attach them to the roof. So a few more large rocks have been relocated and are now hopefully holding it secure. I had planned to get some wood cut today but apparently the chainsaw had other ideas, so I spent a wee bit of time sorting through the wood heap to find some larger chunks that will burn well and fit into the firebox. There has also been a new stock of branch-wood turned up as a consequence and that will be cut up tomorrow with the drop saw. Last night's pad Thai was quite tasty, but could have done with a bit more garlic I think. Same again tonight, then the Mughlai lamb (curried leg of lamb) will be appropriate for the return to winter conditions we expect for tomorrow (and subsequent days). Meanwhile i am happily reading volume three of the Anthony Eaton trilogy and getting some washing done.

Quite warm today, though hardly surprising since it barely cracked single figures overnight. So confusing. Took a turn into town to deliver library books collect more library books, drop off some clothes that were the victim of yesterday's wardrobe changeover, and get some groceries. All I needed was two chillies and some green ginger. The only chillies on offer were decaying at one end, and the ginger was so soft it was more a case of twisting off what I needed than snapping it off. Still, a small price to pay for rural living. Tonight is prawn pad thai, and i just got the noodles out of the cupboard and discovered they must be the right ones since they have pad thai written on the packet!! I have laid the fire, and may just light it soon, though more as insurance than necessity.

Was sitting in the kitchen this morning when I became aware that there was an odd light permeating the atmosphere. Well they do say 'Red sky at dawning...' but the shepherds would have been unnecessarily nervous as the day finally actually achieved the temperatures forecast for the day. To give you an appreciation of the wildly fluctuating temperatures around here, I thought I would try pasting in a copy of the temperature graph for this morning. That rapid spike to the right of the blue upright bar is around 1:30 this morning. Still, fortunately its effects did nothing to rouse the soundly slumbering denizens of the house. I had overlooked the fact it is Anzac Day today, but fortunately realised this before driving into town to make calls and get some additions for the pantry. So instead I cut some wood (the thinner bits that really only need the drop saw and which make useful fire-starting (after kindling) wood. And did a load of washing, and sorted through drawers to put away summer flimsies and replace them with winter warmers. And admiring the RB Sellars catalogue (a must see for all you people who like to look smart, but country at the same time. They have a website, but no facebook presence just yet. Last night's potato salad was very tasty and very large, so it will be a re-run tonight once i have managed to warm it up. Then tomorrow I will be embarking on the prawn pad thai, which requires me to partially defrost a chicken breast so that i can slice it into julienne strips!! It may end up being a little more chunky than that I suspect.

I realise that 'felt' temperature is a subjective thing, but of late it seems to be getting out of control. Last night, for example, it was 4 degrees. Substantially warmer than the previous few nights when I was throwing off the doona and getting up to sit for a bit to cool down. Last night, I got up to find another blanket, and rugged up while I was doing it.... all very odd. Anyway, having made myself and the dog so wonderfully warm and comfy (his electric blanket was turned on at the same time), we both slept till 8:30 this morning, to wake to a lovely sunny day and gentle breezes. A mad scramble ensued to get me dressed and ready for quilting at 10:00, as well as organised to make various work-related calls, but I got there in the end. The Bargain Centre had a nice moleskin trouser suit for me today, and a MIcrosoft Office for Dummies book so I can hopefully work out how to design an excel spreadsheet without paying out vast sums for training. In anticipation of it not quite making the grade I called into Workskills to see if they would pay for me to do a course. But apparently i have to find the course first as they do not have a list of suppliers... - interesting. The couscous salad with salmon has been deferred to tomorrow as it is a bit cool for a cold meal tonight and i think I will stick with the warm potato salad instead. After this morning's visit to the scales (fully dressed) I am feeling a little cheating is not necessarily a bad thing. Tonight will be zero degrees after a day of my absence and hence no fire in the grate. So it will be interesting to see how many layers are necessary tonight.

Some weeks ago I took a fancy to a rather silly offer on Loveitup which is a website that offers various rather random items for sale at heavily discounted prices. Anything from nappies to international cruises. This one was for a stick on black board which struck me as something fairly useful given my talent for losing the notes I write to myself. Anyway it was due to arrive several weeks ago, but failed to do so. Just as I was becoming mildly concerned, I received an email from a nice man called Eric who was somewhere in China explaining that things had come unstuck but i could expect to receive the item eventually if I could only be patient. We commenced correspondence for a while then all was quiet on the home front for some time. It eventually arrived about four days ago and i have been plucking up the courage to cut it up and apply it on some plane surface so I can use it. There are a couple of meters of the stuff, so there was room for error, but i was a bit concerned that once stuck down it might prove immovable. Well. No need to panic folks. It is sort of like fablon only has a low-tack fixative on the back so that when you apply it unevenly with lots of air bubbles (as I did the first time) you can ease it back off readily and lay it back down so it is level and smooth. So the top door of the fridge is now a useful location for logging my intended meals for which I have ingredients (one of the failings in my menu planning is that I plan, I buy, but then forget what I had in mind ...). There are, however, a couple more metres of the stuff and I was originally planning to apply them to the doors of the jam cupboard so I can see them at a glance from where i sit at the kitchen table working on the computer. This would make them useful spots to remind myself about phone calls, orders, whatever else tends to fall between the increasingly large gaps in my mind. Of course the down side of this location is that it is too far off the ground even for me to be able to take full advantage of the height. Another possible location is the front panels of the doors of the dresser that resides in a semi-restored state by the back door in the kitchen. These three panels are almost custom-made for the purpose as they provide opportunities for shopping lists, seed lists, garden chores and all manner of exciting stuff. They do, however require considerable preparation. so I remain undecided at present. Another option is the full length of the pantry door (which presents difficulties in terms of rubbing against the writing as I gain access to the other door), or the door into the laundry (which then would require some sort of 'framing' so as to define the space it occupied. So I remain undecided. You will have noticed I lack paragraphs and have done so for some time. This seems to be a result of the various rejiggings they have done to Blogspot. It begins to annoy so I will provide them with feedback methinks. One of my scores in the food bonanza from Freecycle was a small jar of mixed dried beans including lentils and what appear to be mustard seeds or some such thing. I have no idea of the purpose for this, so have set some to soak overnight with a view to seeing if they turn out to be potential beansprout sources. Failing success on that arena I will bung them into a soup for a bit of extra body. Despite the luscious menu on the fridge, tonight will be reheated chicken and leek from a container in the freezer as I cooked far too much rice last night which I must use up promptly!!

The fog this morning lingered until lunch time following which it was nice and sunny. But not sunny enough to boost the hot water past 35 degrees, so I gave in and hit the switch on the booster power. Lord knows what this will do to my power bill (which remains smugly below well below that of the average single person household) but it would be nice to be clean and cosy in the mornings. The bed was stripped and sheets replaced - still on cotton sheets at this point, though i have graduated to my autumn PJs and this wash have removed the light weight blanket so it is the doona and quilt providing the heat. A morning of unproductive phone calls and home to cut more wood, in time for the lovely sunshine to go away and be replaced by grey overcast once more. At least the sun and breeze dried off the wood so that i have a goodly stash of dry stuff to see me through the next couple of days. I note that next monday will apparently be 19 degrees, so a bit early to be fretting about winter just yet. I may push my luck and sow some parsnip and carrot seeds to see what happens. Maybe some beetroot as well. Tonight's dinner will be rice with a chicken and leek casserole i cooked ages ago and froze. I was unable to find some mango chutney in town today - will have another look tomorrow, in case i missed it. But i doubt it. Pity - was looking forward to the potato salad with curry and mango chutney dressing. Will have to settle for the couscous and tuna salad for dinner tomorrow night I guess. Just finally found out what couscous is made from - sago flour! Who knew?! not me, that's for sure.

Another crispy crunchy morning and with only limited firewood left cut to length, a cold night ahead and a day out planned, I decided to grit my teeth and wait till this evening to light the fire. This, together with my decision (way back when summer was happening and the sun was up long before me) to turn off the electrical booster on the hot water, made for a tepid start to the day. Still, by 8"15 I was up and dressed and dripping wet hair over my own shoulders as i headed out the door for a mad dash to Bridgewater for some fruit and veg to stock the stall with (silly, yes, but there you go). Fortunately there were some convincing looking local apples and pears as well as some nice dutch creams and small whole pumpkins, so I was able to set up a relatively convincing looking stall with hessian sacks to stow the produce into for decoration. Pricing things was interesting as i worked out the per-unit cost of the fruit and vege and realised that the potatoes were 20c each!! Which sounded fairly outrageuos to me. the other stalls were largely run by three women who seemed to basically run the market for themselves as far as I can see. They were lovely women, however, and so it was a pleasant day. I sold all the fruit and veg (disappointingly as I rather fancied taking a pumpkin home with me) and also bought two recipe books for total of $4.00, a pizza cutter (something I have always scorned, but also yearned for when cutting pizzas), and a tray of mini-quiches which made a nice mid-afternoon snack since i forgot to take anything with me to eat. Then home to light the fire, contemplate the recipes, choose the ones I will be making for the next two days and trying to remember to add them to the grocery list for when I go into town tomorrow (I should have a parcel to collect tomorrow). So and interesting journey into marketting, but probably not one to repeat in the near future methinks.

At least last night's temperature stayed the right side of zero which was nice - though tonight I think we may once again plunge into the icy regions. It was, however, quite cold enough to make the prospect of lean meat, served with salad a less appealing option for dinner, so I took to a big bowl of pea and ham instead. And to make matters worse, it was accompanied by a small loaf of soda bread since i was unable to find any bread in the fridge or the freezer. At least the use of the oven warmed up the kitchen so the whole house was pleasantly warm. Today was once again a mix of lowering grey skies and bright sparkling sunshine With some fog and misty rain thrown in for variety. Needless to say this was the day I had volunteered to do some drystone walling. Fortunately the heroic crowds that usually turn up for this sort of thing were limited to two others, so once we had the broken section of the fence in order, we called it a day. Here is today's effort (embarrassingly short section really) That enormously long stone that Eleanor is leaning on is a through-stone, necessary to tie both faces of the wall together. Ideally it would have been one course further down into the wall, but the base stone on this section (which is over a metre long, so we were not going to argue with it) was positioned so that it sloped outward (not a good thing, as you want your stones to fall back into the wall, not out of it), and it took a couple of courses for us to correct that flaw. Still, with a final course (the capstones are temporary we just ran out of worthwhile rocks) on top it should work just fine.

Turns out the forecast of 12 degrees was a bit optimistic. Eight point one was the top temp very briefly this afternoon. Heading down in a zigzaggy sort of way at present. Brrrr. The animals seem to feel that this is all in their favour and have lapped up the chance to lounge in front of the fire all day. Not much excitement around here today, but there was next door! Miss Congeniality was last seen being driven off in the back of an ambulance!! No idea why. Not terribly serious by the looks of things (she did after all manage to walk unaided from her front door to the ambulance out on the street), but curiousity invoking nevertheless. Will have to find out what the rumour machine makes of it all. A load of washing through the machine (taking advantage of that 12 mm of rain that has fallen so far), and early tuck in to bed and more wood on the fire seems in order. Tomorrow, for my sins, I will be out in the weather building a drystone wall (which I suspect will be the only dry thing around) for someone up the road a ways ..

Well the only thing they got wrong about the forecast was the galeforce winds, which remain in abeyance at present. Otherwise ... well it is about 3 degrees out there at present. Our maximum of 8 was about 9 this morning and downhill from there. So the fire is a welcome addition to the household. Also welcome is a collection of several dozen (possibly a hundred?) e-books from a friend. Now all I have to do is work out how to get Kindle to open them. They appear to be in the correct format so I expect it is simply a matter of logicking my way through some new technology. Or not, as the case may be. All livestock remained indoors today, and happily so too! Though the cats were drenched before they returned from this morning's run. Silly blighters, and me with the fire not yet lit at the time ... Dinner was supposed to be prawn pho bao, but I seem to have mislaid the recipe, so will be pea and ham soup instead methinks - possibly more appropriate to the weather at present.

Fortunately I am not the only person having middleaged moments - my coach (who has a good ten years to catch up with me, slept through her alarm and forgot to call in the hurly burly of her morning. Such a relief! Anyway, so I was in town early for quilting, but ran late while waiting for the call which never happened. I spent a large part of the morning in the Bargain Centre, but surprisingly, did not buy anything. The only thing of interest turned out to be synthetic in a nasty sort of way, so it stayed where i found it. More hexagons were cut and sewn, but not as many as last time (or perhaps it only seemed that way as I was working out from the edges of what had already been done ...). A member of the Hall Committee happened by and I mentioned the progress on the fence in a congratulatory manner. He was bemused as they had not yet reached agreement with Miss Congeniality. This at least explains why she was in such a pleasant mood the other day - she was under the impression she had whacked one over them... She is to be disabused of this assumption fairly soon I gather. The dog seems to appreciate his snug new bedding. It will save him having to spring up onto the bed in really cold weather, and will also mean I don;t have to share the bed with more than two other bodies (and those much smaller) on chilly nights. Of course, right now he is choosing to sprawl over the concrete slab that is the kitchen floor, so perhaps it is not as important to him as it is to me. Anyway the next two days are forecast as being 11 degrees so I have put in a bit more time with the chainsaw and am now the proud owner of about three days supply of wood indoors which should seem me through the worst of it. Today was fairly mild, so the fire has yet to be lit (though I had it on this morning with minus 0.6 on the other side of the kitchen window. Not quite as chilly as the day before (minus 1.6) but quite cool enough for this time of year. I was reminded this morning also that I have drystone walling to do this Saturday so that will be some worthwhile exercise for me!!

I felt terribly organised this morning when I rang the vet to ensure the cat's prescription food would be there and available, and made a list of other things to do while in Hobart and set off promptly at 8:40 in the morning to get things sorted. Sadly I forgot I had a training call at 9. This would not have been so bad except that, having forgotten to charge the phone overnight, I had decided it could come with me, turned off to conserve the battery and I would check it once I was in town. So I missed the training call, oops. I seem to have regular mental lacunae which happen at intervals and always when I am confident I have things sewn up and organised ... bother. Never mind. Worse things happen at sea I guess... I have apologised profusely and will speak to my coach tomorrow instead. One of the things on the list was to check a lotto ticket I have been carting around for some months now. It won a whole $29.95 which was probably the high spot of the day. So the dog now owns a heated bed which they had at the Reject Shop for $30.00. Since the rest of the trip was cat-oriented, he deserved a wee treat, lol. Apart from groceries and other mundane stuff, nothing of interest was acquired apart from that, so I headed home and got out the drop saw and ran through several of the thinner bits of wood that were cluttering up the top row of the woodheap and which were hardly worth getting the chainsaw out for. So the indoor heap should see me through to the weekend, despite the cooler forecasts. It's nice to have a good supply of wood indoors as it keeps it dry and ready to burn.

I learned a new skill today. My client sent her photograph to me over the phone, embedded in a text message. I pushed all manner of buttons but could not get it to download for me, but then discovered another button (rarely used) which allowed me to not only download the image but also to forward it to another number - amazing stuff this technology!! She has finally provided the figures I needed as well as her 'before' image, and is now enrolled in a competition which will provide prizes to the winners (those who lose the most weight over the next 12 weeks). And no i am not enrolled as I am happy losing half a kilo a week and being allowed some cheat foods. I forgot to mention yesterday that Miss Congeniality came to the fence in a friendly manner as if the last three years of harassment and bad behaviour have never happened, and told me she was planning to use some leftover wire from the Hall fence to insert a middle row of wire down my boundary. Caught off guard I was possibly not as grateful as she expected me to be, but said I would be very happy to have anything done to the fence that would make it a little sturdier than it is at present. That work was done today - I have yet to check it out - will wait for her to go out tomorrow, lol. So I now have a fully enrolled client and she is in a competition. I have also received an invitation to an event on the Gold Coast. While it is ridiculously cheap at $150, I think that together with air fares and accommodation it might be a bit ambitious to book myself into it this time - might wait till the cash flow is heading in the right direction, lol. Chilly night last night and a chilly day today. Some more wood brought in and I expect I will need to whip out the chainsaw tomorrow as it seems likely it will be downhill from here on in...

Today was my first proper farmers market which proved interesting to say the least. The organisers had been told quite clearly what i was selling but on the day were somewhat less approving of the whole business. All very odd. Anyway, we sold several protein bars, networked with someone whose former husband used to sell the product and caught up on the gossip in the neighbourhood which is all worth doing. The stall looked respectable, but not exactly a local produce outlet (which was the objection though why this could not be raised when we first discussed things I do not know) and I learned several tips from this other distributor which were more relevant to the Tassie rural scene than most of the tips from my Perth-based sponsor who lives in a block of 100 residential units. So we will see. The dog has survived his day indoors and the cats are also feeling fit and fine. I have a lot of stuff to unpack and wash and clear up generally (not all of which is dish-washer friendly) so that's your blooming lot for tonight!

Dinner is served so I shan't be long - a windy, overcast day with some rain which evaporated before it landed as far as I can tell, and mild temperatures. Spent a fair bit of time working out what to take to the Market tomorrow and then finding it and packing it into two boxes (while regretting the boxes I threw out last weekend) and liaising with my colleague who is sharing the stall with me. I have also done very little else ... finished a good book though.

First crunchy frost this morning and the back of the ute covered in pretty crystalline forms: Despite this I gritted my teeth and avoided lighting the fire, and so entered the day a little tense with chilled muscles. The cats were undeterred and set off into the mist to do some hunting - returning shortly thereafter with a mouthful of mouse each. Esther lost hers under the kitchen cabinets ... I would have sworn I vacuumed under there only the other day but apparently not. The men's shed was open today and I have finally found the bits of wood I wanted to modify. Sadly, the instructor was not there, and I have no idea how to adjust their spindle moulder, so decided discretion was the better part of valour and left while i still had all my fingers. Then later today I had an appointment for a bone density test - something I only booked as an elderly friend nagged me into it. It's a good thing she did as it turns out I am at the 'good' end of the moderately eroded density scale. So extra calcium and vitamin D is required. Then I came home and discovered that the diet food I am using (along with the multivitamins, the milk I mix it with and the almonds I consume as snack food) provide about three times my daily requirement for calcium. Apparently though, it takes a few months before the effects of this are evident in the bone itself. So I expect great things in the not too distant future. I will have the test again next time they are passing through. Of course, the literature they provide tells me that the test they used (ultrasound of the heel bones) is the least reliable, so I am now left wondering if it was worth the effort. The vitamin D intake is a mystery though as they provide recommended intake in International Units, and the multivitamins show it in Mcg, whatever they are. So I will have to find a converter and sort out how much more i need to take (given Tassie is a bit of a worry in the vitamin D stakes). I also found the diary I was given while working in the UK This is the only diary I have ever had that was exactly the right size in every way. Unfortunately I have been unable to find refills for it. Today I pulled the insert out of the jacket and discovered that the publishers website was listed on the back. So I have shot an email off to them to see if I can get a replacement one - the zip-up organiser I have is rather too bulky and heavy for daily use. And finally, the chainsaw was whipped out for a bit of a workout today, so I had supplies in for the cooler weather in the forecast. It turned out today was not as cosy as they promised either (minus 1 at 3 this morning and still quite cool), so it has been given a chance to prove itself tonight and the animals are deeply content as a consequence. Chicken with olives and artichokes on a bed of rice tonight.

I promised you a photo of the hexagons I did yesterday and here they are (I knew I had put the camera in a safe place, but did not discover it until bedtime last night when I found it on the bedside table). They will eventually be sufficient to cover a cushion (both sides) for the cane chair in the loungeroom that I used when writing correspondence at the bureau. I am thinking of continuing the hexagon to the last two rows then adding a more burgundy toned brown for the two outer rings/hexagons. The other side will be much the same fabrics I think, though I may yet decide to change that approach into more burgundies and very dark charcoals and blacks - time will tell (and the contents of the stash). One of the first emails to pop up on my computer this morning was a notification that my ebay purchase had arrived. I ask you, if you could pay in the vicinity of $20 - which would you choose - the single cartridge on the left, or the 10 cartridges on the right? Even more pleasingly, they work - the first of the cyan cartridges went into the printer this morning. So very happy indeed with that little triumph. Still and sunny today so the roundup was wielded to some effect (one hopes) around the edges of things. I flirted with the idea of mowing but concluded I had done enough for the day - though this was later usurped by the decision to take advantage of all that lovely ink and print off all my scripts, price lists and other such things and organise them into folders for ease of access. Now all I have to do is find my hole-punch - I know I have one somewhere ...

Today was quilting and blessedly free of the blight of my neighbours loud and unpleasant friend (as she had a meeting elsewhere). Made large amounts of progress on the hexagons I cut out last week and some several are sewn together already. If I could find the camera I would show you, but since I can't you will need to use your imaginations. Not sure where the 20 degrees disappeared to today, but it was downright chilly most of the day and down to five tonight, so the fire is alight right now (just). Due to the dishwasher taking too long to finish the dishes this morning the diet went out the door today (just for the day) and tonight it will probably just be a cupasoup with some protein powder to fill me up. But a large platter of lovely fresh corned beef and salad sandwiches for lunch and some egg and lettuce ones too. One of our group is very fond of making quantities of sandwiches, so instead of buying lunch we all pitch in two dollars and she feeds us with copious amounts. mmmmmmmm

Today was more phone calls and my first serious sale. The poor girl has 40++kg to lose, but is enamoured of the product so I have suggested she become a wholesale customer to save her some money. That means she gets a 24% discount on her purchases (and can sell to friends) with the result i only get 10% of the sale. But since this provides her with access to the website and various other temptations the theory goes that she will actually buy more. Certainly it means that the constant opportunities for calling it quits associated with regular credit card transactions will be reduced. The theory also goes that since she will be buying more I will get more volume points (the unit of measure that is used in all 80+ countries they operate in to avoid the aggravation of exchange rate fluctuations)and thus will make my way more rapidly toward a higher proportion of the profit (up to 50% in total). And here is me me who failed maths trying to make sense of this. Anyway, once i had her credit card transaction approved I suddenly realised that I would be unable to pay for it (since her money will not be in the account till tomorrow). Fortunately this was not the case as DHS has given all us dole bludgers (sorry, benefits recipients) a small one-off payment to help us cope with the cost of firewood and electricity. This was just sufficient to pay for the order when added to the amount already in the account - nice huh?! Now if only I could make a profit I would be less reliant on that sort of thing. So apart from running from one end of town to the other with cash clutched in my sweaty hand, it was all resolved with minimal fuss. Mind you I will be in strife if tonight's phone call wants to place an order... Will have to bluff my way through that I suspect. Fortunately my price list is not up to date so will probably have to email her a quote before we go any further ... How does all this work I hear you ask - well - did you know when you undertake a credit card transaction of this nature, the information goes onto the vendor's website. They then carry out a credit card transaction using your details and their merchant account, then they pay from their own business account to ensure speedy delivery of the product!! Great if you have an income, but a bit tricky for me at present, still so far so good. Tonight's phone call may result in me starting the process all over again. Another potential client in Queensland remains interested so I have sent her a sweetener of some energy supplements as she is presently moving house, and so it goes. It was a nice still day to day so it would have been good to get some spraying done - but was too busy running in and out of town to get it done. Will have to start logging these phone call related kilometers as at present they seem to be exceeding my recreational kilometres and every little bit helps. My 16 year old has asked (well, her dad has asked) for additional information which I have shipped to her by email - I will call her back on Thursday to see how she went with it all. She is basically just looking for pocket money rather than a real work-from-home scenario, so I will be surprised if she proceeds.

A more confusing aspect of the end of DS is that the night is suddenly upon one, triggering feelings of sleepiness that are disproportionate to the time of day. Still, I had a plate full of szechuan prawns to keep me awake last night and the same again tonight, so that should be OK. Disappointingly the mornings are not much brighter, partly due to the overcast, partly due to waking at five when the sun is still snoring over the horizon. I cut a head of cabbage today and it is sliced and diced waiting for an ox cheek to simmer down to jelly to make the base of the russian cabbage soup that is the destination of this lovely wee thing. A friend dropped off a pumpkin, onions, sweet potato and other such lovelies which will combine nicely into another soup option so it will be a while before I starve. And I have been eyeing off the few cider apples and some pears and other such pomes lying around and decided to make a small batch of cider using a recipe that does not require me to own a cider press. Another recruiting call came through today - only 16yoa which strikes me as a bit young to get a merchant account - but otherwise she sounds very poised and mature. Awaiting my coach's verdict on her and will call her in the morning.

A foggy start to the day was a useful adjunct to the end of DS as the animals did not realise how late it was!! And a nice sleep-in was had by all - up at five by the clock, but six by the body clock, so very relaxing. Did I mention I finally managed to book a stall for Campania?! Amazing huh! It turns out the name and phone number provided in the Southern Midlands news is no longer current (which will explain the failure to respond) and so I have now managed to reach the right person and book a place! So see you at the Campania Market next Sunday between 9 and 2 - I will be the one surrounded by lime green with a few hexagon patchworks being worked if it is as slow a day as today. I was taking some chives into the market today for a friend's stall so packed up the ute and decided to throw some of my stuff into the ute as well and as it turned out, they did not have all the stallholders present and correct, so I nabbed a table and put up a bit of a display. Not the full shebang as I am still busy printing out testimonials with a view to binding them into a browsing booklet for the stall. But I had a couple shoved into plastic sleeves for starters. To my great amazement, three people expressed an interest, including one old farmer who I would not have thought would part with a penny without inspecting it five times. for his wife, apparently. So I will sit back and see if anything comes of that. When I got home the dog and the cats were all so fast asleep that I had unloaded the car and started calling anxiously before they emerged sheepishly from the bedroom. They must be getting old. sunny and pleasantly warm today - currently around 20+ish. All very nice. Pity it will be going to custard tomorrow with rain and wind and 15... Still, you can't have everything.

More phone calls, market preparation and chainsawing activity today - I have sufficient fire wood to see me through Monday, though the Weather Bureau seems to have changed its mind about how cold it will get then, and are heading back up to the mid teens once more. I think I will need to have a pre-market checklist so I don't forget stuff. But tomorrow the primary focus will be selling the chives plants I pulled off the main plant while thinning it some weeks ago. They are all now happily established in their individual pots so should sell fairly easily. So apart from having some flyers, wearing a badge and having my business cards on stand by (and samples of some of the products in a box under the table) I won't be doing much in the way of advertising tomorrow. The midnight temperature fluctuations are active once more - not me, the actual temperature!! It is rather annoying to sleep well till 3 and then wake up far too hot, simply because the temperature has been inconsiderate enough to spike. And then it plummets once more before sunrise - very annoying!!

Apparently the chainsaw felt I needed the exercise yesterday since it started quite happily this morning and carved its way through sufficient wood to keep the chill at bay for a couple of days. Since it will be 13 on Monday, this is not an idle exercise, but rather one that will be needful. Tomorrow morning is once again scheduled for lots of calls to various people. I did follow up on yesterday's enquiry and she seems very keen - albeit may not be able to work due to her residency status (sigh), but she is checking that out and we will call her back not Tomorrow, but the following Saturday. So that is quite exciting. I also received my stuff back from my failed previous customer attempt, with a lovely note from the son. A gorgeous autumn day so I spent it visiting friends and catching up on all the gossip that can no longer be shared at quilting now my charming neighbour's charming friend has joined the Wednesday group as well as that on Tuesday. I am possibly being paranoid, but really - would you join a group that involved someone you hated as much as her behaviour suggests she hates me? Of course not - unless you hoped to drive your target away from her favourite haunts as part of the neighbour's campaign to displace me from my home. Not quite what one might expect from someone so loudly self avowed as a Christian ... The hexagons are going slowly - all the paper ones are cut out, the fabric ones are largely cut out, some are even tacked onto the papers, though I begin to wonder if I actually left sufficient seam allowance for the type of tacking I am doing ... Very mild hint of a frost this morning before a lovely sunny day.

Well the Lord giveth and he taketh away - I had a call today from someone in Melbourne following up on my ad so perhaps i have a new prospective client - who knows. I have sent her an email and will await results. It was a nice still sunny day today so I decided I would take the time to cut some firewood. Well that idea lasted long enough for me to realise the chainsaw was not going to start, so I gave up and went to visit Jean (tomorrow I will visit Caroline and get her husband to start it for me - it is just being lazy after 18 months of inaction one assumes. new fuel and new bar lube does not appear to have been sufficient incentive. Then, having retrieved my hexagon templates from Jean I cut quantities of papers, and some fabric hexagons and am now plodding my way through tacking them down, so I can sew them together. I am making a cushion cover. The various partial unpackings I have indulged in have included a cane chair. This has been around for as long as I can remember though, until I visited my aunt in 2009, no-one thought to let me know that it was part of a dining suite brought out from Germany by one of my forebears. My sister has one of the carvers, and the other carver and several chairs are distributed around some of the more remote reaches of the family. The reason it needs a cushion is because the cats, given half a chance, will destroy the caning on the seat. At present there is a rather random cushion sitting on it which Esther rather likes to lie upon, but it needs its own cushion that suits the chair. I have some down-filled cushion inserts, so once I have made a hexagon cover for it, it will use one of them to plump it up for appearances sake. The colour range is autumn greens, reds and oranges which should tie back to the various other colours in the room reasonably well. Fiddly stuff these hexagons... So I have no wood cut for tonight which, given the frost we had this morning is disappointing, but there is enough to keep the place warm till bed time.

Well my concerns about my prospective client have proven valid and so I have cancelled the sale and the costs against her card. Her son has agreed to return the material that was sent, and we parted as friends. The package had been redirected so I contacted Australia Post to see what was happening, then rang the client and managed to extract her son's name and place of work from her, so we soon sorted things out once we were all on the same page. Pity, but I had my doubts from the outset so not too disappointed. My other customer has finally received her things and is rapt and already talking about ordering more stuff. Arranged to call her Saturday morning so that we can talk and take her measurements. And another more elusive person has finally been reached and has ordered a trial run, so that is another one that will hopefully work for me. Of todays two leads, one had already changed her mind, and the other shares her name with an actress - the phone diverts to another phone and the message is for someone other than the name given ... ho hum. Will try that number again tomorrow, but for tonight I am heading for bed early due to a 3 am wakeup call courtesy of Tas Rail. Quilting was, of necessity cut short due to phone call requirements, but I guess this is what it takes to build a business. Sigh.

My day of visitors went well with a large roast chicken to add to the salad, chocolates and hot cross buns they brought with them. This of course was disaster to all diet aspirations, but I ate all the chocolate at once on the principle if it was not there to tempt me I could limit my sinning to one day ... an interesting theory, I hear you say. Telstra, in their wisdom, decided rural Australians did not need an internet signal yesterday (or a phone signal, not to be accused of discrimination) and so communication with the outside world was limited, at best. The more so as the ute was out of petrol and I didn't have money until today. Still, all sorted now. Yesterday's overcast but balmy weather has been replaced today with a morning of bright, crisp sunshine (with low temps) and an afternoon of rain and clouds. The perfect excuse to stay indoors and light the fire (not that i need an excuse). So that is what i did. My visitors brought the second volume in the trilogy that commenced with the volume i borrowed at Christmas - excellent reading for those into fantasy. The author is a newcomer called Patrick Rothfuss if you are interested. The third volume has not yet been published (it is on my Amazon alerts list). It can be bought for i-phone at around $5.00 if you are too cheap to buy the real book. Personally I prefer my books to be paper.