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Coffee and cake

I am joining in with Meeks, inviting you for coffee and cake, cos we can’t meet up at the coffee shop.

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The cup is a very pretty one from my Mum, and the biscuit is quite delicious. It comes from Celia, her quarantine cookie recipe. It uses dried fruits and oats. Celia puts in chocolate chips, but I didn’t have any. Just as well, as these are quite dense, so don’t count the calories!

So what would I tell you while we ate biscuits and drank tea?

Firstly I would tell you way more than you want to know about the gelli printing and collage work I am doing. I am loving printing, making backgrounds and textures, chopping them up and pasting them on paper again. I actually wake up thinking about what I am going to work on!

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I might mention too that when footballers were asked what they are looking forward to doing again, many answered meeting friends in coffee shops and having brunch!

I am sure our conversation would have Covid news, because all conversations for the last six weeks have. A big part of today’s natter might be about whether to down load the Australian Government’s app to locate and trace people who have been exposed to the virus. After thinking hard about it I downloaded it, believing that helping to protect people is what all of this is about. I wonder whether you would have it on your phone?

Of course we would catch up with all the news from family and friends. That would probably lead on to a chat about how successful, or not, we have been with chatting on Zoom!

And before you go, I would tell you one of my pet peeves about washing my hands. Like everyone I happily wash them quite a few times a day. My peeve is that the sound of the water as I wash makes me want to go to the toilet….and then I need to wash them all over again!

Stay connected my friends. One day you will meet friends for coffee and cake.

By anne54

Botanic artist

25 replies on “Coffee and cake”

LMAO! Oh Anne, you really made me laugh with your comment about the loo. I have that problem too! In fact, I seem to spend much of my time figuring out ways to do messy things [like feeding the animals and putting out the rubbish and compost] in sequence so I don’t have to wash my hands as often.

I’m not a civil liberties kind of person but…I won’t be installing the app. Right or wrong, I simply don’t trust any institution with that kind of surveillance capability. If we were like New York, I might re-consider, but for now, paranoia rules. I even have geo location turned off on my phone.

Are you sure those footballers said coffee not…beer? lol

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I wish I planned my hand washing as well as you do Meeks. I usually end up grumbling because I have just washed my hands and then done something that needs washing again!
Your concerns about the app are understandable, and I did think hard about it. I hope that the reassurances we have received ~ its use of Bluetooth, that only health officials will be able to access it and that the data is removed after 21 days ~ are accurate.

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Hah! Believe me, I still mess up too. It’s not until something like this happens that you become aware of your own, unconscious mannerisms.
There are a lot of different apps attempting to do the same job. Hopefully they’ll all be used properly. I actually hold out more hope for Daniel Andrews’ extended testing. The test won’t catch the asymptomatic spreaders but it will give Victoria a much more accurate picture of where the virus actually /is/. I really like our Premier’s caution.

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What a lovely chat over gorgeous tea and biscuits. I really enjoyed it. I’m not sure whether to download the Covid app… I don’t go anywhere… I’m busy studying and am not planning any trips. Things will not change much for me even if restrictions are lifted. We’ll see. I’d tell you I love seeing your Melbourne neighbourhood wetlands, collage and art pics on Insta. Also that we managed to get 4 new chickens, and that I’ve written a blog post about them.

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It was lovely to catch up with you too Dale!
The app has been on my phone for 2 days, and I doubt that I have been next to anyone long enough for it to connect to anyone else’s phone. I am not sure how useful my data will be either.
4 new chickens is exciting. I will have to check out the post.

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Hi, Anne, sorry about the previous comment, but I just wrote out a few lines, pressed ‘post’ and the whole thing vanished, so I was experimenting! Anyway, thanks for the lovely coffee morning, best thing to wake up to today, before I tackle the depressing/horrendous news. I’ve been doing some gelli printing too, using mostly rice paper, so I was wondering what paper you use? I like the idea of doing collage with it. Also I have som speedball inks I don’t like, so I’ve been using watercolor, with mixed results. Perhaps I should order som Akua inks? 🌹

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So good to chat to a fellow gelli printer. I am finding it very addictive. I am using plain photocopy paper, although rice paper would give interesting results. The good thing about the cheap paper is that I don’t worry about mucking it up. I would be more tentative if I was using more expensive papers. Are you finding that the best results come from the ‘What the Hell…let’s try this” moments? The other advantage of photocopy paper is that I feel free to chop it up to make the collages, saving all the off-cuts of course.
I use acrylic paints, which is what Tara suggested. What was the problem with the inks? Do you put the watercolour paint straight on the plate (that must be expensive!) or already watered?

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I’ve been putting it straight on, rolling it and then subtracting color with a cloth, q-tip or credit card. I tried painting a scene on as i read in a book, but the result was blotchy and too pale. I use cheap reeves tubes that I bought for the kids in a sale (but of course they insist on using my palettes…) The rice paper is from a lot I bought on sale some time ago. Sometimes I’ve been drawing on top with pencils or ecoline ink. So fun – but I would like to improve more.

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Our government has decided to leave the app for now, as it is still experimental and anyway we don’t have enough cases to need it currently. Though we have so many numpties it might be a good idea to keep track of them! I’m planning on hauling out the gelli plate again soon – but many of my plans get waylaid by other plans so who know ….. Indecisive? Me? I’m not sure…..

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New Zealand has done a fantastic job of stopping the virus. I watched a video about using public transport. I was impressed at how clearly it explained the changes and what was expected of people using the buses.
I guess the advantage of the app is to pick up any clusters and then enables the contact tracing to happen.
Oh, pull out the gelli plate!

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I think it’s always a good sign when you wake up thinking about your creative work! We are still considering whether to download the app. Like Dale, my life won’t change much and I don’t go anywhere at the moment, am even having groceries delivered, though I suppose eventually I will stop that. We will probably end up doing it, though, just in case it helps. Thanks for the chat!

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Thanks for dropping by! If you were here I would ask you lots of questions and listen to your stories about your trip to the Antarctic. It sounded fantastic from your blog, somewhere I have always wanted to go. How fortunate you were to get back to Australia just in time!

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I’d tell you about how lovely my morning walks are with Mouse now that the weather is a little cooler, about my plan to tile the kitchen splashback this week, about how much my back is hurting just now, which is holding me back from trimming out the back of the Anemone quilt, about how we’ve finally hung the second curtain rail and curtain in our bedroom and how I’m going to have a big pruning session in the front yard (back permitting). And if we have our chat at the right time, I’ll give you a great big slice of the lime cheesecake I’m planning to make in the next day or so!

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Lime cheese cake! Yum! I will certainly be there to share it with you. And warmth sounds good ~ we are expecting temps in the low teens this week. We can chat about how awful your back must feel, especially if it is stopping you from doing things that you love to do. I would ask you about your splash back, because I thought you had your kitchen all sorted before you moved in. it sounds like we need to have a catch up in real….up for a phone call sometime in the next day or so?

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I wish we could meet in person! There is so much I would like to ask you to show me about your art! What would I tell you? I probably on’t download a tracing app. I have doubts about the whole idea of surveillance but actually as I don’t get a signal here and there are lots of similar places locally plus I often forget to take my phone when I am out and about it really wouldn’t help anyone. I would tell you how much I am learning about colours from redecorating my home. I don’t use zoom – the slight lag on my satellite internet is havoc for my poor hearing – but my kids and I are messaging on Whatsapp every day – much more than before all this began – and that is lovely. I would tell you about the neighbours I meet and chat to as I walk the dogs and my hopes for what the new ‘normal’ might look like. How many cups and how many biscuits do you think we might need?

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A real meet up would be delightful. I think we would finish a few pots of tea, and then open up a bottle of wine! I would happily chat to you about my art, and show you what I have been up to. What are your hopes for our new normal?
I understand about not wanting to download the app, and I smiled at how little data you would be able to provide.
Enjoy your walks with the dogs, and chat to your neighbours.

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I think my hopes for the new normal will be a blog post so I shall leave those for now if you don’t mind – they would be a long reply! I listened to a very interesting discussion about the proposed app yesterday evening on a BBC podcast from a week or so ago. It made the issues much clearer and was quite reassuring with at least one version storing the data in the phone not on a server. I quite like being ‘under the radar’ – until I want to get a signal when out!

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as “contentedcrafter” has said – NZ, isn’t truly sure the app will work. That although it helps, it doesn’t mean that everyone will have it etc. And I believe cellular networks can track one as well, without even the app. And we’ve been very lucky on what has occurred here in NZ.

They have instead instigated a different approach that when you visit a business premise – which you actually enter, not served at the door/window – they write you name and phone number (no other other details). This happened when I went to chemist yesterday to get a specialised plaster for my forearm, that had collided with a hot oven rack.

But also yesterday was a day of “semi freedom” for some, particularly those who apparently could return to work. In Auckland, a total of 400,000 people. When I went walked down the chemist, the traffic looks about normal!!! (you know when “normal service” is back in place); with carloads of people…AND not many were queuing for the supermarket (went in that entrance to chemist)

My attempts in the kitchen last night even resulted in a kind of veggie bread slice instead of a veggie pie…that wasn’t what supposed to happen-but. So now for brekky this prime food with some avocado on top…AND I successfully made a banana cake for elevenses; put half in the freezer…

today I’m going to try out an art process to see if I can make it do something a tad different to what I usually do with it…(more laters) Have a great day wherever you roam….

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Thank you for inviting me in to join your little group. I’m usually engaged in conversation, meeting new people and enjoying interactions thereof…however, this time, I’m soaking in the vibes of being surrounded by so many women (sorry if I overlooked a man or two?) happy to be together…
That said, I’m leaning back and sipping my dark roast coffee, nibbling on some of your yummy cake and observing/listening to this group’s fascinating discourse!!!
🙂

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Nothing like a good natter, so let's have a chat!

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