Sometimes yarn shopping can be a hazardous sport, especially if you have certain physical weaknesses. C told me the LYS was having a sale, so of course I had to go check things out to see if I could score a bargain. Their sale bins have been the source of many goodies. So I went and pawed through piles of bags of yarn trying to find something the I liked, that there was enough of to knit a jumper, and that I could afford. Unfortunately, the only stuff I really liked was some Zara but at $10 a ball even at 20% off that was too steep for me when there is plenty in the stash. I saw lots of other, cheaper yarns I liked but there were 7 balls of that and 6 of this. So an hour of standing yielded nothing but 3 balls of sock yarn. The grey is for the Bear and surprisingly he says he wouldn't mind the black/blue/green stripe. This from a man who demands the plainest jumpers I can bring myself to knit. Socks apparently can be any colour. No doubt because he wears elastic sided boots most of the time and they don't show. At any rate I then had to go to the chemist (drugstore) and by the time I got home my legs were screaming. That was Monday. Tues I worked and slogged trolleys of books around despite my legs screaming, and then went out to lunch with J. We had a good long chat and since we were at Canberra's cheese cafe, Silo, I had a goat & ewe cheese plate for lunch and 2 of the 3 cheeses were blue. Served with Silo's delightful bread this was a gourmet lunch. I had watched a couple of episodes of "Cheese slices" on cable and my mouth was waiting for some really nice cheese, a sad weakness when you are trying to watch your weight. Silo's slices are very thin and the blue cheese fills the mouth so you don't mind. By the time I got home my legs were so sore I crawled into bed and stayed there until 8PM and skipped dinner.

I got the newsletter from the Australian Bush Heritage people (see link to right) and their latest acquisition is not all that far from Bendigo. Since we are contemplating retiring to the area, I read it carefully and then though that I should consult them when we are going to look at land. They know how to assess land for things like weed infestations, damage from grazing, what vegetation is native and what not. This is all new to me and I know very little about Victorian native ecosystems so I had better get advice. I am so looking forward to our trip in July, not just for the wool show, but we have a meeting set up with a real estate agent to start the process of looking for land, and we have lots more exploring in the neighbourhood to do. I found an orchard that grows 10 varieties of apples and a winery that also makes fruit liqueurs so there is lots to find out if this will be our new stomping ground.