Wheels, water and a little lace

First of all, we went back to Sheffield in North West Tasmania last weekend, and I promised some Gumnuts the pics of FIL's current fleet of T-Models. This first one said goodbye today - it is moving to a new home at Westbury, there was no challenge in restoring it from this condition!It is a 1926 sedan.

Here is the fleet that went to Sheffield...a 1948 converted to 1950 5 tonne Ford, 1913 T-Model 1 tonne truck (sedan converted with Smith Chain Drive) and a 1923 T-Model 1 tonne truck.

There is a pic of the 1913 T here

The 1923 T-Model truck.

The 1950 Ford.

The blue coupe is Everyone's favorite T-Model in Pop's shed. I have posted about it before here.

This A-Model arrived as a left hand drive vehicle as you can see here. In Australia, normal is right hand, so Pop has been busy converting it. It is nearly ready for it's debut, with everything spruced up while the reconstruction was under way.

The news of our local flood waters has got out. Colin went and took some pics of the Gorge today. The swingset on the bottom right of this pic is usually well away from any water and a safe place for the children to play. And the water level has receeded considerably since Friday evening! We are all safe - several businesses and community associations like the Scouts and Naval Cadets have had some mild flood damage but the coastal areas have had more to be concerned about - for the second time in 2011!

Not easy to see, but my Bedfordshire mat is under way again - for a little while at least! The center section is just over half way and growing quickly!! You can see the completed outside edge on the side - although I still need to sew in the ends.

Finally, I made this wire lace horseshoe this week. A work friend is getting married next weekend so I hope she likes it :) The pattern is from Christine Springett's Lace for Children of All Ages.

I have a tatted motif to share, but may make it some friends this week and I have not scanned it as yet.

Enough for now, thanks for reading this far. Drop me a line in the comments, have fun and take care. Happy lace making :)

Welcome to my back door

Please allow me to show you a little of my place. Launceston is situated on the Tamar River basin in Northern Tasmania. The South Esk, North Esk and Tamar Rivers all converge in the basin, before going out to sea through the Tamar River valley. Last weekend we experienced the worst floods in over 30 years. I managed to visit "the Gorge" yesterday (Wednesday)afternoon, and whilst it is not as wild as it was on Sunday, the volume of water is still spectacular! This is the scene from Kings Bridge, 5 minutes walk from the CBD.

90% of the time, this area is a gently rambling brooke!

The Alexandra Suspension bridge and the cable chair lift - was the longest span in the Southern Hemisphere (not sure if that is still the case) - are features of our Gorge. On Sunday the water level was above the cement base you can see on the left here! Teenagers often swim in this area in the summertime, despite the constant warnings of flood waters being released from Trevallyn Dam, further up the river.

For those of us too chicken to swim in the river, there are 2 swimming pools in the foreground - the one you can see is a wading pool for toodlers, and the deeper pool is still obscured by the floodwater. To give you an idea of the magnatude of Sunday, the swingset behind the orange barrier on the left only had 4 inches of poles showing in the weekend newspaper!

On the way out, I stopped and took 2 photos about 400 meters from Kings Bridge. This one is facing East back into the reserve.

And to the west, you can see the CBD. The Myer building is the 'high-rise' just to the left of the tree, and the old Post Office Clock tower can be seen to the right. This is the middle of town and less than 10 minutes walk away!

From the base of the new bridge - built to handle the increased volumes of traffic in the area in the late 60s I think - this pic shows just how close suburbia is to the Gorge! These homes have fabulous views of the Tamar Valley to the north, the industrial area on the eastern bank and the city. Most of these homes are colonial, but behind them are some rather beautiful modern houses too.

Hope you enjoyed my tour :) Please come again, and hopfully I will have some lace to show you! Don't forget to let me know what you think in the comments ... I love letters from friends :)

Happy days