Spring is definitely here – the sunshine is warm, the wildlife and landscapes are throwing off winter chill and revitalising, and it’s been a good week. Here’s a brief recap:
Sunday a week ago – a long drive with G: up to Guyra, across on back roads through to Bundarra (where the two places which might have had food for lunch don’t on a Sunday), up to Inverell (late lunch at McCafe, ‘cos there’s not much opened there on Sunday, either), then to Tingha (where a football final had attracted a crowd from around the district, including hundreds of vehicles), and then back roads to Armidale, then home.
Tuesday: G surprised me with a present – a new iPod nano. I’m amazed all over again at how much functionality can be packed into such a tiny gadget. This even has a video camera, and takes remarkably good images for its size. It’s also got many extras, such as an alarm, an FM radio, a voice memo function, games, pedometer – oh, and it plays music, too 🙂
During the week: gorgeous spring weather; a couple of trips into town; some beautiful knitting books I’d ordered arrived; good writing progress on Book 3; and afternoon walks with the dogs.
Wednesday/Thursday – arranged a trip to Sydney for this coming week, complete with a library appearance (more info shortly!), a romance readers lunch, and lunch with my publisher.
Friday: I accepted an offer from my publisher for a new two-book contract 🙂 The paperwork still has to be finalised, but barring major natural disasters or global financial meltdowns occurring in the meantime and wiping out businesses, everything should be signed soon. So, I’ll be focused on writing for the next 18 months!
Saturday: I did a heap of clearing out in the yarn/fibre cupboard. The stash has, in recent years, overflowed beyond the cupboard door, so I got ruthless and tossed a heap of old fleeces that I will never spin – some to become mulch/compost, others to give away. I’m sorting the knitting and weaving yarns into boxes, which isn’t all done yet, but is well underway – hence, I have a sense of achievement, and may soon be able to actually sit at my looms again and weave some of the stash 🙂 (The rhythmic motions of weaving are good thinking time for writing…)
Yesterday (Sunday): A great day out with our friends, Bob & Kerry, and Don, a National Park Ranger, to an area of Oxley Wild Rivers National Park accessible only on a management track (or on foot, but you’d have to be both mad and fit!). Bob’s writing a history of land use in the area, and so we were looking for the location of old stock yards and a hut shown on an 1890’s map. I’ll do a separate post with pictures and videos of the trip.
In the meantime, here’s a few photos from the past week or so:
Hardenbergia flowering on the fence of the dog run
Afternoon light on neighbour's paddock
And a gratuitous cute dog photo:
Tansy and Ted
(Ted recently had a thorough wash – but probably won’t stay white for long!)
