antipodean return

The travellers return. We left Heathrow 2 hours late - all set to go, captain chatty, doors closed and then somehow our luggage had not been loaded..... machine broke down, containers on, containers off, rejoin the queue. Bored clients. Off into the afternoon sun...... Arrive at Singapore nearly 2 hours late long past our connection to Perth but luckily there were lots of us and so another plane of disgruntled clients had to wait for us to rush on board with baggage l hour later. Sadly plane full to capacity so no chance of using points upgrade. Now have all these points and nowhere to go right now. I notice this morning that I can go business class to and from Bejing with my points - Ian can go but not come back.... Home safe and sound to rain and hail - lovely really. Happy grape vines but unhappy hydrangeas - they had been moved under shelter and missed all the excitement of rain. Being nurtured and spoken kindly to today. Washing done and suitcases all unpacked. Now starting on orders. Inbox is down to 15 but Ian still has all the answer phone messages to do and people seem to have discovered we are back and have been phoning orders all morning.



When we left we locked our new gate so no-one could get in but of course the workmen next door let a couple of delivery guys in through their gate and over our wall where they haven't quite finished. You just can't win. So a box of books was waiting for us - including this one - Contemporary Knitting. I had a lovely chat to Ruth's partner at Ally Pally and emailed the Aust suppliers to see if it was in Aust yet and it had just arrived. How is that for efficiency? It's a lovely book and I shouldn't really be reading it yet. Heaps of ideas for we who like to explore and experiment.


We also brought back lots of this one - The Lustr'ed Cloth which Emily asked about. Very pleased to see this one in print. Alysn has produced some wonderful work using metals and stuff.



Plus the 2 new Double Trouble books which some of you seem to already know about as you have already emailed with your orders. Now that Ian has a working watch (another new Swatch) I shall get him to work while he is wearing it. Watch the website for new books first! Cloth Paper Scissors should be here early next week too. Have to say I got a lovely bracelet in York so it was okay for Ian to have a second Swatch.

We had a glorious time and loved Marrakech and I shall pop up some of my pics in the next few days. BUT - my best find was at at the Jardin Marjorelle which we both loved - walked into the bookshop and there was a book of the Delacroix Voyage au Maroc - in English. I have always loved his journals so that was special even if very heavy. To keep our suitcase weight down to approx 60kilos I had my usual very heavy backpack weighted down with precious books. I will share a few of his journal pages before too long too.

Now off to work and back to checking on the hydrangeas. When we got home last night we went to GoGos for a super curry and stuff - was thinking about it on the plane whilst picking through my Qantas platter....... And then I will have to get to creating my pink distressed wall. Lots of good pics to get me started.