FERAL CATS

I must remember to write the good AND bad things that are part of life here -  this record of my first year on the river will be valuable to look back on during the years to come. 

this last week three more feral cats have been despatched, two caught in the cage and put down by friend peter and one which was mysteriously just lying dead in the open space beside the drive. no sign

of injury or pain, just freshly dead.   i think maybe it had been just caught by a car and died in the cold of the night.  it's all pretty unpleasant and i know there are at least two more living in the rubbish pile next door. one stripey and a big ginger tom.   trouble is, because 90% of them are stripey, i could be seeing a whole heap of different cats and not know it,  the 'gone-to-god' mogs are testimony to that.     

Still, i only have to see the little piles of feathers around the lawn and garden to know it needs to be done - not only birds but little marsupials and reptiles will be being caught and eaten.

REMISS

I HAVEN'T WRITTEN  anything since thursday i see.   well this morning i got up to make a coffee and as i do, i looked up to the front of the property where the sun comes up.   i could hear a dog barking and there he was, happily wagging his tail and standing proud on the back of the ubiquitous white ute as it flew by.  it's one of those iconic images - the
bluey or kelpie on the ute, always happy, always barking. 

nothing much happening here, i'm busy getting work done on my book and photos from my new fuji camera are on the other computer so nothing to put on the blog right now.  

a few pics from the net, nothing that captures that happy dog i see every day on a dozen utes around town,  must get some pics of my own.

ONE MORE THING

LAST WORD  about esther  -  girls, if you want to see a great range of swimwear there's a retro Esther Williams range,  50's style in modern stretch fabrics,  check out this site - i've bought clothes from them.

http://www.modcloth.com/shop/ourdesigners/esther-williams

a night at the art vault

 

DAMON &  KYOKO hit town - here for a residency and already printing like crazy - great prints and plenty of them.   we all attended an art vault opening then headed off down the lane to stefano's pizza cafe for dinner. lots of great graffiti in the lane - here are damon and kyoko on their way to dins.

this graffiti on the
art vault wall is 
particularly creepy
at night

LOOK AT THE LIGHT ON THE TREES  above and below - colours??  red and blue  -   yes, the colours of flashing police car lights.   i got pinged on the buronga bridge coming home - breathalised (all good) but i had beenspeeding as i came onto the bridge, and although i was doing 60 by the time i passed the cop car he still booked me.  i took these photos while i waited for him to do his policeman thing.   i still haven't looked at the ticket so don't know how much it is.   sigh  

the sky was
amazing on 
the way home.

look at that
weird vertical
swirl of
cloud.

MEMORIES OF ESTHER

THE WONDERFUL 
MISS WILLIAMS
for anyone who missed the lovely
esther williams when she was
starring in aquatic adventures on
the silvery screen of the 50's,
here she is in all her glory.
I remember her on saturday
afternoon TV,  always perfectly
quaffed as she emerged sparkling
from the water, often surrounded
by a busby berkeley kaleidoscope
of similarly glam waterbabies.

this swimsuit (left) is spookily like
my print 'pattie's two piece' worn
by janet goldman's mum in the 40's.
could esther have been a copycat
from ballarat?

HER CO-STARS were many and varied

lo resolution but look at those buffed waterboys

equally at home on water,
skin, or snow, 

and with just a touch
of the 
marvellous 
mazza monroe

born in the same year as my own mum, 1921, esther was still
looking good in later years, just look at that hairline :o)

MONDAY PICS

A DAY OF PRINTING  on my way in i saw a field just covered in galahs, there must've been 100.   and this group of glossy ravens

8.30a.m.

i had actually stopped to photograph this sign -  i have to order a pile of redgum for my wood heater, i think that's my best option for economical heating.  it's  getting pretty crisp here in the mornings, but days are clear and sunny.

As i crossed the bridge at buronga i looked down to see hundreds of pelicans and seagulls all over the river,  as far as the eye could see.  they looked amazing in the morning sun

 It was a good day in at the art vault - a new exhibition being hung so lots of activity and people coming and going all day.



andrew and david hang work by jenny manning

below- ceramic sculpture by maxine
price

that fabulous full moon again.     it's rising over the river now again as i write, but i can't get a clear shot of it through the trees       it's beautiful

 speaking of beautiful . . .

SUPER MOON

what could be better than the moon?   the full moon?   a blue moon?

no - a  SUPER MOON  here it comes

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/06/19/russell-brand-mocks-msnbc-anchors/2437389/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADJhErmJuoQ&feature=player_embedded

try both these   i tried putting the youtube thing straight on here but couldn't figure out how  :0\


CHECK OUT this funny clip of russell brand on USA tv,  the uptight anchor woman (who virtually admits she doesn't know who he is right at the start)  really cops the full russell onslaught, pretty funny.  

3.45 A.M.

Couldn't sleep at all*. the upside is that i got up at 2 and caught a wonderful classic film noir on ABC1 with the not-alive-long-enough john garfield, god he was good.   the photography in this film was terrific so i sat there photographing it to share with you. look at that lighting.  *actually wrote this five days ago but realised it was only a draft, when i published it, it came up as today's date. 

A WENTY KINDA MORNING . . .

MY CAR had been diagnosed with a back end (?) needing to  be replaced at a cost of over $700.  i needed a second opinion so took the car to my regular service centre. it would be over an hour so i went on a wenty walk . . .   a tourist in my own town, and something i don't do often enough.

the wall at the

end of the IGA 

supermarket - 

no idea what this 

sign means.   

april 1 2011 till

march 31 2014

what happens

after that?

the bus stop sign just appealed because it's so hand made

no drinking in the bus stop - makes it hard
to read to the timetable

then i wandered down to the wharf, wentworth was once the busiest inland port in australia, and the town was considered in the final selection of a site for the capital city of australia.

this is john egge - i've seen the name around the town, a lane name for instance.

obviously of chinese extraction, he was a major trader on the river.  i love this sculpture, it has a wonderful feel of stillness, just looking . . . down the darling towards the meeting of the rivers, the murray/darling

junction.

as i'm writing, the wonderfully named steele scaddings is zooming around on his ride-on mower.   i was sitting here with the laptop on my knee when suddenly there was a loud scattering of raindrops on the roof and just as i wondered if the lawn-mowing would be a non-event, steele arrived.  the rain stopped and now i'm sitting here listening to stones hitting the windows and wondering how long it will take for one of them to crack :0\

This  is a little museum of the history of paddlesteamers on the murray/darling.  it's in  the main street and today was  the first day i've  been inside.  

the outside doesn't really indicate what's within so for a while i didn't realise what it was. lovely models of paddle steamers all made by Rodney Hobbs;  i particularly  like the tiny details, wool bales and logs of wood on the decks.

Here's Rodney outside his premises - Riverboat Rod's Model Riverboat Display, Darling Street, Wentworth
if you're passing through wentworth he's just a couple of doors from the Royal Hotel.

next on my walk -  a sign 

'lemons $1 bag, pumpkins $1 kg, how could i walk past?   this little beauty is going to be served tomorrow with lamb shanks, i'm having friends around for dinner.

its so pretty i had to

photograph it both sides :0)

After a coffee and raisin toast at Artback cafe  www.artbackaustralia.com.au  - and the age crossword - i went back to pick up the car.  the bad news?   an out of whack exhaust which was causing the grating noise, not a tyre rubbing on a crook back end.
and the cost?    $40 for half an hour's work  :0)     i guess that rubs out the angst of my parking fine yesterday.

and here he is  -  steele,  zooming around the front of the house in sunglasses and earphones,  it's all lookin good. :0)