Slowing down to a quieter and gentler life

Today is a new beginning for me because yesterday I did the last of my public appearances. I made a committment to myself to promote the book for six month and to stop in September. So I had two wonderful days at the Real Food Festival in Maleny, met many people who came along to listen to me talk about simple life and bread-making and now it's over. I have to tell you that although I enjoyed it and felt privileged and honoured to travel around meeting so many interesting people, it is not in my nature to seek the spotlight and I'm pleased to get back to being my anonymous self. I'd make a terrible celebrity.

This is the pop-up Rosetta's book shop at the festival. I know this area well, it's the shed they judge the poultry in at the Maleny Show.

Maleny Co-op had a great stall showcasing all their organic produce.

And, close to my heart, the Maleny Neighbourhood Centre fundraising stall, selling gourmet sausages on local bread, with homemade lemon cordial and Anzacs. We got this stall as my payment for speaking at the festival. Our sewing circle convenor, Pam, made the bunting.

On a sadder note, these two last days were the only days Hanno has not been at my side when I've travelled out. He felt too sick on the weekend to go anywhere, so it all ended quietly with me telling myself as I drove down the mountain that tomorrow would be a new start with my focus firmly on the domestic, with the gate closed, here at home. Yay!

But I have to thank everyone I've met on my travels, particularly those I met on the weekend, for your kindness and generosity. As usual, I came home with homemade bits and pieces that people have made for us and it was good to see Hanno smile when I walked in with a 30 inch long pink, knitted, sausage dog - a draft stopper for the front door.

One of the ladies I met on Saturday was Diana, who picked me out of the crowd and we started talking. As many knitters know, the conversation slowly edged its way around to knitting and Diana asked me about my dish cloths. She's just started making them. I told her that I'm currently making a few looser knit cloths because they dry much quicker and I prefer them now to the tighter knits. I have made a smaller tight knit as a face cloth for a baby (above), but the loose knit larger cloth is for my cleaning and dishes. It's not as pretty as the smaller one, but it's very effective as a cleaner.

The cloth in the photo above is larger than normal and all in plain knit - I think they're really good for dusting and wiping down walls and benchtops. Usually I'd make up a loose weave cloth using about 30 stitches and knit about 30 - 35 rows. The larger one above is about 40 - 45 stitches, on size 9 needles using 8 ply pure cotton.

Today I'm taking Hanno back to see the surgeon. I hope he can stop taking the antibiotics because they're making him sick. Tomorrow we'll go back to the OT to have the splint refitted, then we'll settle back in here at home again. I've already started thinking about getting back into a routine and working on a few new projects. No doubt we'll have weekly OT visits and doctors visits for a while but I'm not committed to any writing work, no public engagements and apart from a few days to fill in at the neighbourhood centre in the coming month, I'll be a homebody. I've missed being in my home. I'm pleased to have that busy stage behind me now and that I can start living a quieter and gentler life again. I hope you'll come along for the ride. Who knows what we'll discover right here in our own homes.