The photos above were taken at 6 am on Wednesday morning as Sydneysiders woke up to the worst duststorm in 70 years with the highest recording of pollution ever. The sky was a horrible orangy-red colour with fine grit getting into everything, stinging eyes and causing everyone to choke and splutter. The air has now cleared but everything is coated in red grit.

I have taken the last week off work and had just the best weather and time and I still have 1 more day to go before returning on Tuesday. We are planning a day at Manly tomorrow then followed by a trip to "Spotty" - DS and DIL gave me a gift voucher for my birthday and with the $10 voucher I received from Spotty last week I will have a spend up.

Talking of Spotty brings me to thinking about sewing which in turn reminds me of flying geese. I just had to take this photo the other day when we were at Bobbin Head. Isn't this the best flying geese you have ever seen!!! I know - a toilet but this must be the best one around.



Once we had attended to the coffee and call of nature DH and I set off on a boardwalk along the waters edge which would have ended up at Wahroongah 2 hours later. Not feeling that energetic we enjoyed the sights on offer and managed to see some of the wildlife as we took our time and "drank" in the peace and quiet.





This cute rock wallaby allowed me to get quite close to him whilst he was having his lunch.

On our way home we turned into McCarrs Creek Road and ended up at West Head. After driving through what seemed endless scrub the view is something else. If you look closely you can see a rather large "lizard" sunning himself on a rock. What a view he has every morning.



Well the champagne cork popped the other night as I finished my oriental quilt. I had given myself a challenge to finish it sometime in September and I did. It is very hard to photograph on the bed so I borrowed 2 tall people today and had them hold it up. The photo does not do justice to the colours but you can at least see the pattern and effect in the photo below.



The next photo is on the bed and the one underneath is of the backing fabric which I feels goes in well with the oriental theme.





Today was the first morning DH and I started back our morning regime at the beach. Now that the mornings are getting brighter and warmer it is not too difficult to get out of bed at 5.30am. It is the best time of the day for the beach before the seabreeze gets up and too many people around. It is a lovely way to start the day. I was very brave and put my toe in and DH was completely mad and took the plunge! It needs to warm up a whole lot more before I venture in.

My next quilt is well underway with another one on the drawing board. More on those later.