AUSTRALIA DAY WEEKEND

IT'S MONDAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY and my airbnbers leave today.  it's been a horribly hot week, up to 47 on friday after a week in the 40s. i've been feeling stir crazy with blinds drawn and cooler humming away day and night. too hot to use the studio or even do anything outside after about 9am.   It was 30 deg when i got up early on saturday.   so no news this week but photos of the beautiful full moon and birds making full use of the bird baths.  the blue wrens have come right up around the house lately, some of the bigger more predatory birds seem to have gone so they're feeling safer.  nice to see

finally, i've taken down the christmas decorations -
i always find
it a hard thing to do :0)

 it's lovely having

this bird bath

right outside the

kitchen window,

i spend a lot of

time watching all

kinds of birds 

bathing and sitting

under the vine 

where the cooler

drips off the roof

I hand-coloured this monoprint and presented it as the artwork Bendigo bank has commissioned to celebrate 20 years of service

here in Wentworth.  very happy for it to be used in their promotional material and for the original to hang on their wall.

another gorgeous full moon

an unexpected find - mildura buy, swap and sell facebook page popped up and as i looked for a bar fridge these chairs appeared,  $60 the lot! and they're so comfortable

around the birdbath

a very hot
little wren,
panting in
the heat

 this poor kangaroo was out in the front yard. when i zoomed in i could see it was also panting with the heat.  47 degrees is ridiculous, thank god yesterday was a beautiful overcast day in the 20's, heating up again this week though.  roll on autumn

SATURDAY - Australia Day free brekky at the Willow Bend Caravan Park, the new owners are doing wonderful things down there, they have the twilight river cruises going again and have opened a cafe on board three mornings a week down at the Wentworth Wharf

 the rainbow

bee eaters

have returned

heard a rumbling motor and looked out to see mark grist rolling up the drive.  rob biggs and friend jenny bowler arrived too and we had a catch up down on the riverbank

beautiful sky last night

HOME AGAIN AFTER MELBOURNE

THE WORKSHOP went well despite stinking hot weather - 43 on sunday and the power cut out. maybe three hot water things and two fans and a portable evap cooler was just too much but it was spread around 3 powerpoints  :0\     tomm the electrician's coming tomorrow so i'll find out.
still - lots of good results and nina, who came from melbourne and stayed three nights, and sue who came from portland got a pretty good output for a mere $20 charge thanks to the grant from ArtsNSW.

                 nina and local artist clair bates

you can see how hot it was by my wet hair - how come everyone else looks
so neat and beautifully coiffed?  photo: sunraysia daily

 nina at the perfect spot to end the day

I put nina on the plane monday and then madly got the airbnb ready for people coming while i was away, watered everything thoroughly because there were four 40+ days and more hot ones in between through the week.  it's the hottest it's been since i moved here

DROVE TO THE GRAMPIANS on tuesday and had a lovely dinner and fun scrabble game with the leach/kongsais.   i walked to the lake early wednesday morning and hit the road for melbourne.

 don's birdbath working overtime

HIT THE ROAD to melbourne and visited my cousins margaret, robin and jan.  we don't see each other often so it was good to see them all together and to look at and record some old family photos of my father and family.

 above my great grandmother anne
and left, her husband jack, my
father's father, handsome devil.
below is my father on the
right with his sisters myra
and edna

dad - don searle  (i hope he's been playing cricket)

enjoyed a quiet night by myself  thursday night at vicki's and headed over to northcote to stay with sandra and patrick that night.   great to spend good time with them in their lovely home.

on a morning walk with sandra along the merri creek

sandra outside their home, a hidden treasure inside this old 'sulky expert' workshop

friday i was a tourist in melbourne, tramming and walking to op shops and the movies with sandra.  saw 'the favourite' about queen anne, and 'mary queen of scots'  so it was a bustle and bodice fest!  both good with great female performances  (and some good men :0)

i stayed with my first ever publisher helen chamberlin on friday after a beautiful dinner of slow cooked lamb and chocolate mousse with sunny and luke, all my favorites superbly done. scrabble too  :0)
it was good to spend a morning with helen, haven't seen her for ages, i had a swim in her apartment block pool and we did all the quizzes and crosswords in the age

DOWN TO TORQUAY for a great lunch with sisters and buddies on the beachfront in perfect 22deg weather and a night with gail, what a nice few days. in between was a doctor visit about rotten old lady problems of bone density and dicky hip.   as bette davis says 'old age ain't for sissies!'

SOME PICS of the trip home and last night's moon, full moon tonight

BUSY BUSY

IT'S EARLY SATURDAY, 5.45 and already warm. i've got a weekend workshop on here this weekend, eco dyeing and it's going to be 43deg.   i have one of the participants in the airbnb for three nights, drop her at the airport monday, come back and fix the room up again for the next people, then head down to melbourne on tuesday for the rest of the week.   the airbnb people will arrive while i'm away - i only realised that yesterday so yes, i'm busy busy.
meanwhile the river rolls by and the birds continue about their business :0)

morning walk towards the lock

last night on the riverbank with nina, my guest after a hot hot day