Friday 21 September 2012

end of the first week



thursday sept 13, moving day’s finally here  – removalists shawn, mal and paul had the truck loaded and gone by 11, so sunny and i hit the road.

 The drive to Mildura was fine, time for one op shop stop on the way.  Blossoms, wattle and magnolias are amazing this year.  And the canola fields  . . .
We stayed the night in Mildura with Julie and Kevin from the art vault – they’re so kind,  we had a huge barbecue dinner with visiting artists, then fell into bed early.

my last reflection pic of the brighton baths,
now my water photos will be the river through the seasons


friday sept 14

 Up and out to wentworth to get the keys from wendy, the previous owner – the place is heaven  -   wisteria is out, roses, freesias and the river,  it’s so beautiful and really high at the moment.  Lots of work ahead as the guys arrive and unload at least eighty cartons and all the furniture.



Well it’s Saturday morning,  the sun’s just come up so it’s shining on the river outside my bedroom window. There are cormorants down on the logs at the bottom of the garden – out in the water at the river bank there are exposed trees that have fallen.  Every day there are egrets, herons, darters and cormorants there and wendy  tells me that kingfishers will arrive in october.  Can’t wait – I’ve never seen one in the wild.

this beautiful arch of wisteria and roses is outside my bedroom window, river behind it.

Sadly there are some feral cats around and loads of rabbits, but there’s a good fenced area where I can have a vegie garden.

Yesterday sunny and I decided we need a decent sized ladder so it was off to bunnings in Mildura.  We drove past  Aroundagain (the huge charity shop at the tip) and before we knew it the back of the car was full – four outdoor chairs, a banana lounge and a groovy tweed buttoned swivel chair,  $20 the lot!   No room for a ladder, but we’ve found one so it’ll be a return trip to bunnings tomorrow, perhaps another sausage in bread :0)       who can walk past those guys out the front?

stacks more to unpack today -  but it all feels so right, this place is so serene and beautiful, I can’t believe I’m living here.
Okay so this is my third day on the river. I feel as though I’ve been here forever -  it’s definitely home. Sunny and I have ripped down the vertical blinds, the dark dirty awning that blocked views of the treetops, pulled up the old grey vinyl in the back room to reveal dark terracotta coloured lino in good nick.
I had my first visitors – Julie arrived with the artists in residence at the art vault – tony amineiro and susan barron. 
Had my first mini tragedy – a tiny dead bird, to be identified when I find my bird book (there are about 15 boxes of books to be unpacked). It was quite young and still warm, I think it had been attacked by the myna that was fluttering around it.  So now it’s wrapped in the freezer for martin king – maybe it will be immortalised in one of his haunting images of found birds .














sunny cooked dinner,  huge yabbies with two dipping sauces, local wines and magnums for dessert, how debauched.  
left - the hostess wearing one of my collection of 50's aprons - they'll have to become etchings one day



























Jen and rob have arrived  for a few days, they’ll be a huge help and it’ll be great to have them here.
We’ve had the paddle steamers from the 100 years of steam  celebration in wentworth going through the loch and past the house – that wonderful sound of the old horns echoing up the river.


Sunny’s flown home after four days of working on the house, unpacking, pulling down awnings, we’ve pulled out the old air conditioner– the house is opening up and looking great;  still full of boxes but we’re ploughing through them.


























Monday 10 September 2012

BACK FROM BOOK WEEK


Sept 10 - trying again, this is a brief record of my book time away, hectic but some nice times with the kids. first gladstone for five days, then home, time to fit in a farewell melbourne party on aug 17, then drove to wagga next day, visited schools all week, home for a day then flew to brisbane for a week at belmont state school. home again for three days then drove to albury to a couple days for the 'write around the murray' festival. pretty glad to be home now -  packing time, i leave for wentworth and my new life on thursday-  three days to go!

an advance copy of my new book arrived in time for gladstone



gladstone library put up a show of work from books and unpublished roughs by me and david legge. it was beautifully hung and good to see work on the walls that's been living under the bed for years



 above  - fantastic pumpkin soup served at the gladstone gallery opening.   gladstone by night, even those chimneys can be beautiful.   the chook is from tannum sands primary school, the kids are so proud of their flock.  








details of images by cheryl ketchen (left) and rosalie waller. i'm doing the invitation design for our group show at tussock upstairs gallery, pt. lonsdale - opening nov.

 

AUGUST 17 -   managed to fit in a 'goodbye melbourne' party -  a great night of seeing all my melbourne, geelong and torquay buddies before i head off.




jude rossell's amazing olive 
penguins - inspired!




great drawings of 'the peasant prince' done by students in wagga











beautful scenery on the way home from wagga, everything's bursting with life

more great drawings, this time a workshop working with 'woolvs in the sitee



book week at belmont state school literary carnivale -  teachers dressed as the sheep from
judy horacek's great 'green sheep' illustrations,
my impromptu effort - the dormouse from alice
in wonderland

flew home on the 31st august for a few days
breather

SPRING! 

daffodils, blossoms and magnolias are amazing in albury,
i've never seen magnolias so laden with huge beautiful
blossom

two days at the literature festival here and now i'm home
- and very happy to be.


above - magnolia in albury, below -  this char grilled capsicum is an indicator of my state by the time i finally arrived home after all that time away - completely cactus!



just one more cat before i go - i need to spend some time figuring out the layout of this blog, i've gotta
be able to do it better than this.

Saturday 8 September 2012

BACK FROM BOOK WEEK

I just spent an hour and a half putting together a photo essay of my time away and it's just disappeared into the ether so here's a river image to fill a space while i regain my composure and have another go.

Taken at sunrise, waking up on the houseboat when sunny and i went up to wentworth  to measure up the house.   there were pelicans all over the river, gliding in and taking off for about two hours, wonderful