Oh when will spring come?

August has been an interesting month with lots of little projects completed and some started, a relaxing break up at Mangawhai  but with more rain, thunderstorms and interspersed even with hail. My back lawn has moss growing on it. I am sure it wasnt this wet last year.

If I try to go in chronological order
I enjoyed the movie "Maiden" - a film Festival movie of the first all female crew to take part in the Whitbread - incredible photography and incredible courage and skills developed by the crew - I remember they won the sailing leg into Auckland harbour in 1990. Huge crowds turned out to cheer them in - and it was about midnight!

Peter jnr arrived back from his fishing trip to Finland and Russia with some really intersting stories and photos.
I got asked to review a research paper for a European Journal of Engineering Education - quite tickled as I have been out of it for a while - but it was on the topic of disciplinary cultures and right in line with my work. I had to go to a bit of trouble however to get access to some of the information I needed - I no longer have the automatic access to many of the websites that I had as a Uni staff member. That took quite a bit of work althoughIi enjoyed the catchup. Reminded me my brain hasnt lost it!

This was the block of the month for the Guild last month -

I have done quite a bit of sewing this month - the continuing saga of trying to finish things
I did a demo of  a Lone Star quilt technique at our local Quilting Guild and after finishing my sample I have turned it into a bright cushion.

My Lone Star Cushion 

Finally admitted defeat - I couldnt get Tui's teeth properly clean and one was clearly a bit rotten - so we had another expensive trip to the vet - but she is much happier now and apparently some of the little dogs have "overcrowded" mouths and the teeth taken out were just a few of the little ones - hasnt ruined her ability to devour dog biscuits and chewy bars.

I went to the Counties Country Quilters Show which had some gorgeous quilts - hope they can offer them for our exhibition...  these are not mine!

A collage quilt - each flower on the giraffe is individually cut and placed!

A beautiful example of a bargello quilt

This really tricks the eye - it really is only 2D despite looking 3D

Then I went in to the Kate Edger Education trust Awards Ceremony - one of the awards is named after me which is a bit special - so I presented some of the Awards to women studying at tertiary / university level.  Many are given to women needing to retrain so as to be able to enter the workforce.re A really diverse and interesting group of awardees.

Then the toothache hit me hard again -  and finally got to the dentist two weeks ago and she decided I needed root canal fillings in the sore tooth - NOT FUN - my extremely competent dentist found teh first root canal without too much trouble and we got through that OK but she couldnt find the second one, so we called it quits for the day, sent me home with heaps of anti biotics and the upshot of it is that I am going to an endodentist on Thursday - hopefully for some resolution.

Then to cheer me up I had a local house painter add some colour to the front of the house - the photo doesnt do it justice - and we are going to lighten up the garage door - it does look brighter and with more contrast than it did before. I will do more later when I see ifIi have any money left after the tooth is fixed!

Despite predictions of more foul weather I decided to run away up to Mangawhai and was delighted that Gilbert and Dorothy were there having a quiet weekend - the first morning was lovely. Dorothy and I visited the local markets and the birds on the banksia trees were in full song - check out the video! but then the weather packed up and Sunday was very windy and lots of rain albeit intermittently so i did fit in two walks each day (wearing my best raincoat and tramping boots). Dorothy and I each got some work done on our computers and Gilbert read books and took a few energetic walks... Great getaway and great company.

Alfie loves his Dad

The first morning was so still and quiet - wintertime Mangawhai

Listen to those birds sing!

And to top it off this weekend I have been to a friends 50th birthday, a vintage textile fair and the movie Camino Skies about the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage walk - 800km  ( loved it! - wish my legs were 20 years younger... not sure I could do the walk now).

The winter really hit us this week.

Idont have pictures of snow or hail but the cold wind and rain that hit us over the last week was our first real blast of winter - and those in the South Island and in the high country of the North Island did get snow and closed roads.

It has been a couple of weeks focussed on several of my quilting projects - eg I spent one whole day preparing the sample for the Lone Star block demonstration I am going to do at our Guild meeting this weekend. I went out and visited the Guild Quilting retreat weekend

 although it was only a flying visit. I made the Auckland Guild Block of the month, a rather nice wonky star on a blue background, and I have been putting together the yellow and blue floral scrap quilt - lots of pieces - but the effect is quite good.

I made a batch of Lemon Honey and Apricot and Lemon Jam... - they use a lot of sugar and eggs but dont make an appreciable dent in the lemon supply!

Folloiwng up on one of my resolutions I visited a couple of friends at their homes, good idea to get out and have some good company when the weather is awful. 

Went to the movie Maiden - this was the name of the yacht entered in the Whitbread round the world race in 1989 with the first ever all women crew - despite all the forebodings and predictions they did extremely well, winning two of the legs and had no major disasters - was a really good movie. 

The Auckland quilting Guild day had another good speaker this month - she was a quilter of long standing and great creativity who had done a lot of judging in her time and her hints were really good - and her two example quilts were fabulous.

The Silk Road to Golden Samarkand - the detail is really interesting

Detail - can you see Chairman Mao?

Paris City of Light - gorgeous.

One was called "The Silk Road to Golden Samarkand" and the other was Paris - City of light" .

I have a tendency to cook, bake and try to do some practical stuff in this awful weather but I confess I have found a few good programs on Netflix and also read quite a few books - the e books from the library and the free audio books from the library are getting a thrashing!

I have been asked to review a research paper that has been submitted to one of the Engineering Education Journals and as it is right on the topic I wrote my book chapter on i said i would do it but I am needing to do quite a bit of background reading to be sure I am up to date with current research - not much of it on this topic of Disciplinary cultures, but I spent an afternoon at the University getting access to the research literature. I am quite enjoying getting back into it!  It may not be earthshattering or groundbreaking but apparently 76 people have cited my Journal of engineering Education paper so that is a bit of a feather in my cap.

My little Tui has had a problem with her teeth - apparently despite my best efforts a couple of the little teeth int he side of her mouth have gone rotten and when they went to take them out they discovered she had major infection of her tonsils!! never dreamed dogs could get tonsilitis! So she is resting today with lots of loving cuddles after her surgery to take out four teeth yesterday. Soft food it is! for a few days.

I better get back to my Sanskrit homework - it requires very concentrated attention!