Wilted flower

So much happened in a short time.  With us intending to sell the house, we had to make a choice regarding our birds living indoors (a room of their own) with the freedom to fly out into a secured area.  We had 13 cockatiels, some were breeding pairs, although we did not encourage this, we were never sure which of them were partners.  They weren’t totally wild but neither tame and could not be touched.  I did not want to sell them off to people with the intention to keep them separate in small cages and were somewhat at my wit's end.  Then I contacted a breeder who decided to take them over as a group and not separate them.  They will still be kept in a large cage (however, no indoor space) and he will later introduce mates for those who have not partnered up yet.  My heart was still sore but we would most probably never find another house, especially with the intention of going smaller with a room fit for plenty of birds.

Then we only had the hand-reared pigeon which was gifted to me in 2013.

Now a big bird, we gradually had to introduce him to the open air.  At first, hubby removed the shade netting on top of the outside cage to allow him to see the wide-open sky.  Then the corrugated roof which covered half the outside cage was taken off to make him get used to natural weather and rain. With every change, he got somewhat spooked and would fly indoors and sit on the ceiling fan (almost totally destroyed by the cockatiels).

Finally, the day came to take off the fence on the top to allow him to fly free.  He had a girlfriend on the outside for a couple of years and somehow, I prayed that they’d find each other and fly away together but when he disappeared, I wasn’t too sure he wasn’t spooked by the other wild birds, who by then could also easily fly into his cage.

So now we have to turn the once bird room back to a study.

Sitting outside one afternoon I heard someone in his car blowing his horn profusely and the next moment a bang and one person shouting something.  This was just too strange not to be inquisitive so I went looking.  Cars need to turn right by our gate into our street and then catch a steep uphill to the next stop sign.  Apparently, a massive truck went first with a smaller sports model car following and then the trucks’ breaks failed and ran backwards.  The guy in the small car tried to reverse but also had to keep in mind there may be cars behind him and he needed to go around a bend again.  The truck was too fast and hit the little car.  Luckily the truck driver too swerved otherwise he would have gone right over that little car.

On Friday my only male customer brought me a quilt to do but before he got here hubby called me outside to see the one-day flower on a cactus.  This flower only appears one day a year and to test the knowledge of botanists, I took a photo to see if they are right.

When the quilter had to decide on a motif, he selected one of the motifs I was taught in Adria Goods’ second online course called ‘wilted flower’.  Saturday morning, I went out to check on the flower and what would I find…… a wilted flower. 

I could not start with the quilt right away as we had the older grandkids over for the evening. 

Then on Friday, there was renewed interest in the house by two potential buyers and we had another appointment on Saturday morning from people all the way from Upington.

My only male customer quilter and his wife however gifted me with these most welcome presents.  They do pay for all their quilts, more than enough times brings me wine when they fetch their quilts, so it was not expected to receive another gift but I felt rather special.

When the house hunters left on Saturday, I had to phone son-in-law as he wanted to bring the youngest grandbaby over and while waiting for them, I quickly ironed the laundry and stitched my zipper leaders onto the quilt backing, loaded the quilt and know it is safe from little hands and off the floor.  The little one is getting cuter by the day and we had to play hide and seek while she perfectly counted to 10 and then “ready or not here I come” followed.

With hubby off to play golf on Sunday at 6 am, I decided to change the bedding in all the rooms as well as wash the quilt on the dog bed outside.  Having done the laundry and towels yesterday, I now know everything fabric in this house is clean.  Then I quickly roasted us some peanuts, re-watched the video on wilted flowers from my course before hitting the shower.

My Daughter-in-law invited us for lunch but I still had time to get going on the quilt, which I did. As usual, ate way too much at lunch with that ‘I’m not capable of anything else feeling’ afterwards and then the baby grandchild decided she had enough of her dad who took care of her the whole weekend while mom worked 7 to 7 shifts and came home with us.  Mom only fetched her after work yesterday evening.

After cleaning house this morning I got going with the last bit of this quilt and now I have a couple of hours to start preparations for our Christmas meal and have my nails done before the next quilt arrives late afternoon.