Bewitched in the bleak midwinter at the winter solstice

Yesterday, was a trip ten minutes up the wind-y windy road to Sassafras and the beautiful blue Dandenongs to some lovely jollities. Well, the beautiful blue Dandenongs were not blue. It was the bleak midwinter Dandenongs, the coldest place in Melbourne, at the time of the winter solstice. At the bottom of the hill, Upper Gully was overcast and cloudy but clear. Sassafras was in a shroud of thick pea soup fog. With village shops and Miss Marple's presence in the main street, it could have provided the atmosphere for an Agatha Christie novel.

However, back to the jollities. Miss Eagle was there to meet Brownie of Bwca Dysthymia - who has been sojourning for a few weeks at Kalorama - and that well known amateur thinker, JahTeh of CopperWitch at The House of Coffee who had visited from the Inner East to survey the mountain tops. The conversation was wide ranging, the laughs were plentiful and the getting to know two fellow bloggers a warm and joyful experience. Luvved ya, gals!

And the clever CopperWitch had brought a gift of her own making. This delightful work of art, embroidered in the teeniest, tinyiest stitches mounted on velvet. Note the mounted deep blue gemstones on either side. And all mounted on a beautiful, beribboned cushion.

What a delight!

And, next door to the House of Coffee, at Antiques at Sassafras, Miss Eagle made a purchase. You will recall, dear Reader, Miss E's recent visit to Sassafras. She remarked - and photographed - at the time on the Paris rubber stamps. She resolved on this visit to bring them home with her if they were still available. They were there. Now they are here at the Trad Pad. Herself thinks they are wonderful. Gift wrapping and carding will have a Parisian flavour for quite a while, methinks.

Life in my hands : Rings around my heart

PhotoFriday: Self-Portrait 2007

This is one of a pair of hands of a 62 year old woman. Miss Eagle is no glamour puss. The atavar on the sidebar is a wish - somewhere between Suzy Parker and Mame.

Over the years, the hands have been busy. See the profile. These hands have changed the nappies of three children, stamped thousands of library books, handed out thousands of leaflets and how-to-vote cards. They have helped to keep food and fluids up to a dying husband and they held the sobs when he left to continue his journey seventeen years ago.


But it is not the hands that Miss Eagle wishes to talk about: it is the rings. The ring on the ring finger is a sapphire and diamond cluster. This ring is a combination of Miss E's engagement and wedding rings. While her husband was dying, the engagement ring band wore through from years of rubbing up against the wedding ring. They were not a matched pair and the engagement ring was always a little larger. A long time passed before Miss E did anything about the worn through ring. Then she decided. As a symbol of life to that point, Miss Eagle would combine the two rings and mounted the setting on the wedding ring. So there is now a unified ring.

The ring on the middle finger is of great sentimental value. A large part of Miss Eagle's life has been lived on the Barkly Tableland - Queensland side and Northern Territory side. Miss Eagle purchased this at a Tennant Creek Show. It is of plaited silver strands and is the work of Carmel Wagstaff. Carmel and her husband used to manage the legendary Brunette Downs Station in the Northern Territory. So it is with great fondness that Miss Eagle thinks of the creative talent of Carmel and the wonderful people and places of The Barkly.

So - the hands hold experience; the rings carry emotion.