SPRING IS COMING

THE WEATHER'S WARMING UP and it feels like spring is just around the corner, well tomorrow in fact!   the first budburst is appearing on my vines and i'm waiting with bated breath to see if my virginia creeper is still alive. no sign of life yet so fingers crossed.

A COUPLE OF EVENTS at swimming - Paula's 500th swim, an exciting morning, lots of fun  and a big attendance of both people and pooches.

                                   a beautiful full moon

the eastern rosellas have shown some intermittent interest in the birdboxes, but no sign of any commitment or activity aside from the occasional poke around.  i'd be so excited if they decided to next in one of them, specially the one on the front porch that they inhabited last year, sadly with no eggs hatching.  when i poked my phone over the top to photograph inside the base had just a hard wooden floor and the eggs had rolled to the edge making them impossible to sit on.  now i've put some dry plant matter on the floor, so hopefully that'll make a difference

     DAFFODIL DAY DIP - for the Cancer Council - a fun morning

 

A WEEK OF SWIMS AND A SCHOOL GIG

We had a visitor last week - Annie and her brother Steve came 

down two mornings in a row for photoshoots.

I put this innocuous photo of my swimbooted feet on sand on Facebook and it was for some reason considered possibly offensive and violent so they blocked it with a warning to FB friends about opening it with caution!!

these great swimcoats have sold like hot cakes down at the yacht club, they're so vibrant and warm, everyone loves them, i just can't afford one :0(

AUGUST IS ALWAYS BOOK WEEK - grovedale p.s. invited me to do gigs out there and i haven't done any since covid except for once last year.  It was nice to be back in the classroom with lots of great kids

      

I'VE MARKED OUT THE FRONTYARD with fluoro spray so that Mario can dig around the pathways and garden beds with his digger.  he came today so there's a frontyard of work for me over the next weeks.    then the back yard, i might wait a little while for that.

     A CHARISMATIC VISITOR

INTO AUGUST ALREADY

IT'S BEEN AN ARTY KIND OF WEEK with an exhibition opening, a visit to Hatrock gallery to look at the space with sunny, and a lovely opportunity to show my wedding dress drawings and some 50's dress etchings in Bendigo

Right: this is the show i went to see with a bunch of Salties. Karenne Ann, one of our swimmers has converted her garage into Shed 31, an intimate little gallery space in St Leonards

HATROCK GALLERY in Portarlington where i have a show booked in - with my photos of this bayside area and swimmers. Just waiting to pick up two A1 sized enlargements to see if they're OK

Ann Haddon and Dugal James in the Beehive building - three levels of beautifully restored rooms.  

On the day after the launch of the restoration at a long long dinner, we were invited to look around the building.  Anne and Den, Gail, Sunny Luke and Etta and I got the grand tour.  I was thrilled to see the way my work was hung, in  a beautiful large white room right at the top of the building.  Such lovely light with windows looking across to the park

this lovely pic of Etta taken by Lisa James

pics by Sunny

 

After looking around the building Dugal took us down to see his pub, The Black Swan.  He's converting what was the coolroom into a cavern style whisky bar with entertainment.  It has an amazing look and feel, not really captured here.  lots of brick arches and warmth

we had lunch at the Dispensary,  good food but a change of feel.

 i won't be going there again

I stayed at Gail's and drove home past beautiful waves at 13th beach

At Gail's I heard cracking noises as i loaded up the car.  These gorgeous gang gang cockatoos were munching on this shrub in the driveway completely unfazed 

by me walking past

     Swimming in the mornings is bloody cold but always invigorating.

         watching the sun come up every day is good for the soul