Not for the squeamish...

so, on sunday we went to Canberra, it was a rush job, basically to use mileage to avoid tax ( weird I know)
all children refused to join us...their loss.
On the way to Canberra ( approx 300km from home...give or take) we saw;
2 dead foxes, one pristine, one not
13 assorted wallabies and kangaroos in various states of ...carnage
approx 2 dozen squashed small mammals
1 dead snake...with guts
I did not see a single live wild mammal...I was becoming despondent...here I am in an ecosystem teeming with fascinating creatures...and all I see are the deceased ones...I feel like a morgue attendant on night shift.

Coming home ( did you notice how I conveniently skipped the "in Canberra" part...lets not go there) I saw plenty of live wildlife...obviously the road is very attractive to them...they needed to be near it, on it, on and off it at random, I felt like God was flinging wallabies at me ( there Jus, you asked for it!) "no, no I don't want them" they were bouncing out of the bushes, I was terrified that I was going to hit one, Flash was making the most of his birthday weekend, and was once again being chauffered...and was in no condition to drive ( although this time he had the consideration to keep the alcohol in a can!) I was in a state of near hysteria ( in a calm way of course) until that inevitable moment arrived...it was dead, but it was in my lane, a car was just overtaking me on my right, so I couldn't swerve, a ute was on my tail, so I couldn't brake...in the words of the children's book...we couldn't go under it, couldn't go around it...so we had to go through it..I tell you, I have never been so grateful to see the lights of the big city, and leave the country behind...we drove straight to the carwash.

Luckily...I did not see something that I have seen too many times to count, in my weekend trips to the country house...that is...humans in varied states of death and disarray due to the sorry state of the roads in the mid-north island...Maungatawhiri and Maramarua are notorious...why oh why don't the authorities take a leaf out of the Aussie book ( go on they can do SOME things right!) and build freeways in black spots, the joy of driving when you are not living in fear that around the next bend there is a logging truck coming at you on the wrong side of the road. Driving out of Sydney is an absolute pleasure, and as I said...if we had freeways in NZ I could commute from Waihi, to Auckland and enjoy an idyllic lifestyle...and no-ones flinging any wallabies at me in NZ.

Link to a gratuitous article on NZ ( and the odd squashed possum)

The manly vest suffered a mishap...I was;
place all sts to left of centre in holding position
make armhole as for back ( I read"cast of 14 sts beg next 2 rows" guess what happens next*)
dec. 1 st every 4th row 17 x at neck edge
dec. 1 st every alt row 18 x at the armhole
work 20 rows mc, 2 rows alt c, alternating
and my brain exploded.



(*yeah I cast off 14 sts twice for the armhole)

that is the problem with knitting machines, they make everything so fast that you lose the plot very quickly, and then things go very very wrong.

Clapotis is still on the needles, she is my solace.