back in the saddle

This week I braved the scooter once again. I even braved the 'round-a-bout of doom' yesterday. It's going pretty well and it's nice to be independent again. It's something I really missed, being able to get where I wanted without the bus or asking for a lift somewhere. But no worries now, I'm mobile and enjoying it.
So, what else is new you ask? I'm rapidly approaching my 26th birthday and my mid-term review. I spent a good chunk of this morning writing my mid term out. It's been scary and informative. I actually realised that I've done a fair bit of work since I last spoke to the committee and I'm actually getting somewhere. Albeit slowly at times, but I'm getting there.
Let's see, last weekend was spent in Melbourne with the family and the boy. I'm waiting on Mum to send me photos of the inagural keilor harvest festival. On Sunday we all got together out the back of my grandparents block (5 acres) to celebrate the harvest. The harvest was of grapes mostly. My Dad and my uncle G have been making their own wine for the last couple of years and this year I think they've actually done quite well. They turned the old stable out the back into their winery and they have two enormous food-grade stainless steel milk vats to ferment the wine in. This year they are making (I'm pretty sure anyway) cabernet, merlot, shiraz, chardonnay and maybe reisling again. Last years reisling was awful and is now being made into grappa. So yeah, we were celebrating the harvest. My brothers band the black swan of trespass played for us all. All the family was invited and also friends of the family were invited. It was a big afternoon. My Dad went out early to get the spit organised and to set up all the tables and chairs and wine tasting area. We had so much food, there was a whole lamb on the spit and there was some pork and I think there must have been about 100+ potatoes that were cooked in the spit as well. Mary, the next door neighbour, an elderly Italian woman made the best vegetable burger thingies I think I've tasted in a long time as well as homemade bread. Dad and G had also made up labels for their wine. It's going to be called Ganga's Garage, after my grandfather who passed away in 2003. He was called Ganga by all of his many grandkids and also used to make his own wine (but perhaps without the strictest sterility) from grapes and plums. The garage I believe is because Grange might get a bit upset at the use of their name, should the wine ever go into commercial production.
Anyway, the day was fun but sad too. I really didn't want to fly back to Canberra and the cloudy, grey, rainy weather was making me homesick and I hadn't even left yet. Fortunately for me the flight home was amusing enough to make me temporarily forget my woes and giggle like a mad thing. Our cabin crew were hilarious, or more correctly the guy on the microphone was hilarious. John has a serious career with virgin blue I'm sure. I was seated in 1A and had a full view of his antics. They began with him welcoming us on board and telling us that they were here to make our flight to Christchurch as memorable as possible. When questioned about Christchurch he told us we could vote. All in favour of Canberra? (no-one as far as I could tell) All in favour of Christchurch? (everyone raises their hands) Christchurch it is, however the next option was going to be Tahiti. Every announcement from then on contained a little gem. He told us all about meeting his childhood crush that day on a flight (Sigrid Thornton) and how he got to hold her hand and then continued to tell us that no other airline would hire him but thank goodness virgin did. Most amusing.
So, since being back, I've been at work, the physio and at home catching up on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'm currently up to series 3. Having only ever seen from series 5 onwards, it's nice to be catching up on the back story. Fabulous to be living with a sci-fi nerd, fabulous. Oooh I've also taught some more dancing and found that sexual innuendo works well with first year university students. Who would have thunk it? Not me, that's for sure. ;-)
Tonight, if I get a chance, I'll get back into knitting myself some socks with the famous german sockenwolle and maybe also the socks I promised to JJF a million years ago. Then comes the weekend when I will endeavour to finish the bag for my housemate LJS, from Xmas when I got all excited about making a bag, with a printed silk pattern on the front with a peacock theme. It only halted because I was unsure of how to attach the very thin silk to the denim of the bag. It took my Mum to mention quilting it on to get me enthused enough to even attempt it again. I am determined to have it done by the end of the month.
Really, I will.
Other crafting news, I've finished my stitch n' bitch hoodie that I started sometime in November (the sewing up took a while) and am now faced with my first ever attempt at blocking. I tried once and failed but hope that this time I'll get it right. The hem tends to roll up and the edges of the hood also roll up. But otherwise I'm very impressed with it. I made it from some Jo Sharp silk road aran and it's delightfully soft. 85% wool, 10% silk and 5% cashmere. Man I love cashmere as JJF (the sock man) will attest. He's in big trouble when wearing either one of his two cashmere jumpers, so soft, so nice. I may have to steal them.