Art Trail

Hello Dear Readers,

Bundeena backyard view.

I know I said last time that next time I write will probably be from overseas, but hey, what do you know, here I am again and we are still in Australia. We are leaving on Friday and I don't look forward to the trip because yet again we are not having a stop-over on the way.

It is getting very chilly here now. One morning I think it was only 12° C in the kitchen when we came down. It warms up nicely in the day though, and you just have to be outside to warm up.

Yesterday we went to Bundeena to see the Art Trail. Bundeena is a lovely small place where a lot of artists have settled and the first Sunday of the month you can visit their studios and talk to them. So this time we took our friends S and A there because they had never been. Sydney is so big and since they don't live in this area they had never heard of it. A is herself an artist of Chinese origin so she was particularly interested to speak to Jiawe Shen, a former farmer and soldier from Manchuria who came to Sydney after what happened in Tiananmen Square. I had seen him paint a couple of weeks before in the art society to which I belong. After only a few minutes you could detect the likeness of the person he was painting and after less than an hour we saw a finished portrait; he truly has a gift.

But the most interesting thing is that he loves to read, especially history and some of his wall panels depict whole moments in history, like, for instance, the Russian revolution.

We visited a few other artists and then had lunch in Bundeena too. They have opened a new place called Driftwood and it was very good, and very much needed. Last time we were in Bundeena for lunch we went to another place and every single thing we ordered, they were out of. In the end we just had to ask them "So what do you have then?" I think it turned out to be a sandwich or something. There is also a market in the park near the beach on the Sunday of the Art Trail but sadly the stall holders were packing up when we finished lunch so we missed that little pleasure.

Tonight we are going into Sydney to see Vivid Sydney. I have not been for a few years but it is always very impressive. If all goes well with my photographic skills I will put some photos on here before I post it.
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Until next tim

Cat sitting ... but no cat!

Greetings from my little speck of dust in the universe! If you want to understand what the title refers to you must read on!

It's Monday morning again and hubby came back on Friday after what seemed like a fun and very hot time in Wagga. I mean hot in the meteorological sense of the word. So hot that hubby got a slight heatstroke and had to leave a golf game that he had looked forward to very much and go and have a rest and a few glasses of water (oh, and a beer,  of course). This golf game was supposed to take place for those who wanted to participate after the conference was over and before everybody left. It was a nice course apparently but it was 40+ °C and anybody would have had the sense to stay out of the sun except the proverbial "mad dogs and Englishmen". Sometimes they are also fanatical golfers.

Saturday we went house hunting. It is such a stressful thing to look for rental properties here. Most of the time it is on Saturday and the time given is, e.g. 9.30-9.45, for one property, and then you have to rush over to the next, which might be from 10.00-10.15 etc, etc, and you can maybe get in three visits in the morning if you are quick and two in the afternoon if they are not too far apart. This time we concentrated on a place called Bundeena. We both like it and have friends who live there. But...and there is a big but...

It is very far or it seems very far and when there is a lot of rain you have to take an even longer route. So it is a bit isolated even though once you are there it seems lively and fun. The only rental places were unfortunately not near the beach but rather high up close to the National park and we both feared that it would feel a bit isolated. So back to more house hunting soon but not next week end because we are going to Melbourne for a niece's wedding!!

Sunday our son came to leave us his cat to look after since he has a lot of travel for work to do.....but he didn't bring the cat?!  To his defence I have to say that he hadn't forgotten it but it didn't come home the night before and after being up "since sparrow's" looking for it, he finally had to leave without it. Now we are going in to get it tonight or whenever it feels like coming back. I hope we are not in for something complicated, like having to drive an hour every night to try to "catch" it and an hour home.

Just had a call from our UK friends who are traveling around Australia. They are coming back here tomorrow, a few days earlier than expected, before they go on to New Caledonia where they are going to meet up with friends. They sounded overwhelmed with the driving distances here in Australia. I often feel the same way. You drive all day and look at the map and though you might have driven 800 or 900 km it is really nothing. It is such a BIG country.

Two weeks ago I went to two exhibitions with my friend from Melbourne who tries to come up to Sydney every time her husband has to work here.

One was at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Both M and myself enjoyed this show immensely, I mean who wouldn't when you can look that skinny.

The other was an exhibition with Francis Bacon at the Art Gallery of NSW. I must say that although I am glad I went I found his paintings a little disturbing and I felt quite sad for him as a person.

A week-end on my own

After having taken hubby to the airport veeerryy early yesterday morning I went home and straight to bed again. He was going down to Melbourne yet again for more things connected with his father's passing away.

This has been a sad week. When we got back from Melbourne and the funeral of my father-in-law we learnt that our dear friend in Sweden had passed away as well. He was only a year or two older than me. His wife died last summer when I was in Sweden from the big C and now so did he, not even a year later. I guess the lesson in all this is, while there is time, do good to others, and don't rush through life, but stop and look around and enjoy family, nature, art, whatever makes you happy.

In the afternoon I did some errands and when I got back a lady was standing in our front yard letting her dog do his business on our lawn, and a big truck was parked in my drive way. I hopped out of the car and pointedly looked at her and the dog and tried a bit of sarcasm "If you need to go too you can use our toilet inside if you like".  It didn't work.  She just looked at me and shook her head as if it was me who was in the wrong. The truck was from next door where a house is being built and they came out immediately and moved it when they heard I was back.

Now I am just back from Bundeena where they have an Art Trail every first Sunday of the month. It was  fun and interesting to see all the different styles. In such a small place as Bundeena is, there were 23 artist studios to visit so I guess it is an inspiring place for artists. One of my absolute favorites was Peter Mulden, I really loved his vibrant style and colors.

I drove down through the Royal National Park but you can also go by ferry from Cronulla.  On the way back I stopped at  Weir Cafe and picnic ground, a place that we had never been to before. It was a bit too late to have lunch but it looked like it was definitely a place to go back to.

Last piece of bad news. My camera doesn't work so all I have to show for today is a photo of my foot that accidentally was taken when I fiddled with the camera to take a photo of the river. So sorry, folks just my ramblings today, no photo.