LOCKDOWN CONTINUES

A LARGE AREA AROUND NORTH EAST MELBOURNE is in full lockdown and the NSW/Victoria border is closed but now we find that border communities can apply online for a permit to cross over and it's easy - i went online and printed out a permit in about 5 minutes.  it lasts two weeks before i need reapply.  that's fine with me.
weather is sunny and mild, i met di for a coffee at the pub this morning.  talked to sunny, rene and friends in the last few days. all seems fine.   i hope they get on top of the virus this time, it feels a bit  shaky but the vic government is working hard.  i don't know how poor old premier dan andrews keeps on going, he's worked so hard.

here on the confluence, the birds are unperturbed.

  i left the hoses on too long yesterday and the variegated wrens appeared, i rarely see them so it was a treat to sit on the verandah and watch them darting in and out of the puddles

LOCKDOWN ON THE BORDER

VICTORIA / NEW SOUTH WALES border is closed - it was the topic de jour at the pub last night,  friend helen says she thinks they'll create bubbles  e.g. albury/wodonga   mildura/wentworth, for towns that are close and interdependent.  i hope so.  i only got to go to the cinema for the first time since early march.  David Copperfield - i liked it and loved being back in a theatre - sunday morning, only three people there :0)  just the way i like it.

so i won't be seeing little etta in 3D again for at least 6 weeks, maybe more.   sunny's just sent some pics though, i'll have to make do.

sunny's looking pretty damn good for
3 o'clock in the morning!

HOME AGAIN

I HAD A GOOD FEW DAYS away, an afternoon and a morning walk with sunny, luke and etta, then down to torquay to stay with gail and catch up with friends.  just a quick visit, Melbourne suburbs close to sunny's are in lockdown again as a response to a new outbreak of covid cases so i feel i should lay low again for a while.  great to see everyone and i had a good trip home broken by an overnight stay in st arnaud again.   i like La Cochon Rose,  just a plain old motel room with 70's tiles in the bathroom, but the town is lovely and the old pub at the front where the owners live is a beautiful building.

now i'm staying warm, knitting, bingeing on god knows what and looking out at the garden thinking ' maybe i should . . . '

i bought a bootful of art supplies in geelong on june 29, i need some deductions!   lots of new oil paints, some stretched linen canvases and a roll of primed cotton duck.   i'll start with a little oil of etta :0)

nice to be home - the wood duck is chattering away down on the fallen trees, i think they're searching for a nesting hollow

Yesterday was a low key opening of HOME2020,  local artists were invited to submit 20 photos accompanied by 20 words, taken in May during lockdown.

FULL MOON last night

I'VE MET ETTA!!

DID A QUICK TRIP down to Melbourne to see sunny, etta and luke. broke my trip each way with a overnighter in a motel, a good one in bendigo opposite the lake, i'll stay there again.  the Happy Wanderer :0)   visited the gallery to see edna robertson's beautiful paintings from her time in paris early last century.

the vines were in full late season splendour as i left

 a foggy morning in bendigo, i had a walk around the lake

 the bendigo gallery - during lockdown a maximum of twenty people in each 2 hour time slot

i took this photo

to keep as 

inspiration, 

i must have

another go at

still life.

  

a lovely surprise, as i sat in the sun at the gallery anna and craig appeared at my table, still on their drive around victoria


YAY  i finally meet etta, tiny treasure

WORK

I'M GETTING BACK INTO WORK  -  still finishing the storyboard to romeo and juliet.  all the most difficult pages are still to do, pages of people dying - groan.   

LATEST PIC

The Spudvilas McIvor family takes to the streets :0)   
Etta is wearing a hat i knitted, i thought it was tiny
but she's yet to grow into it.

A LOVELY SURPRISE

EARLY YESTERDAY i got an email from cousin Anna who i haven't seen for years.  Anna and Craig were in mildura for a few days on a mini tour of regional victoria while their floors were being re-surfaced.  so they came across for afternoon tea on a beautiful clear sunny day.   we sat out on the verandah and caught up on family news.   and maintained social distancing as evidenced by our elbow bump :0)   a sign of the times

ETTA'S FIRST WEEK

ONE TINY HUMAN'S first seven days on the planet -

day one


day two




day three


day four







day five  -  home


day six


day seven

LAST WEEK

HARD TO BELIEVE this was only last week, i'm so glad i got to see sunny before she gave birth.  If i'd only hung around for four more days . . .