night life in Brisbane

Last night we had dinner with Ian Mclean who is over from Perth to give some lectures in Brisbane. It was so lovely catching up with him, and his life in W.A. Ian & I went to Monash together and it was through him that we met Shaun.
Tonight I had a very little stall at a monthly market that is held out the back of the local wonderful book shop. As you can see, the table size is small, but I manage to do well. This is the third or fourth market I've been to and I'm making some new items, such as fabric brooches. It's great fun. We each take a plate of food and our fee ($10) goes in part towards a few bottles of wine. It's a venue for local craftspeople to get together and sell their wares. Lovely idea.
And tonight, whilst I was out, Charles was baking for a fundraiser for Green Left Weekly (paper) where there will be Iranian, Turkish and Guatemalan music. Here are his caramelised onion tarts. Look good don't they! The other pastry cases are for apple tarts.

the smell, taste and crunch of dust

As you will have seen on the news, today we experienced nothing less than an apocalyptic vision, as the sky, our house, our eyes, nose and throat filled with dust. I can still smell it tho it is now evening and the sky is starting to clear. Two of these are 2 pics I took from the front door during the storm, and the third I took the next day. No need to tell which is which. Normally you can see buildings of the city very clearly, but today nothing but dust, then nothing. Everything inside is covered with a film of dirt.

in the swim

Today it was 31 degrees and by 2 o'clock I could hear the pool calling me, so I bravely donned my rapidly deteriorating togs and had my first swim post winter. It was beautiful. I was joined by Garry who spent last night here on his way to Fraser Island, and who has since left to pick up Annette, Phoebe and Charlotte at the airport. It was great catching up with him. We went to the organic market this morning and met Helen and Remi there for breakfast. Bec was theoretically having a sleep in, but the plants she bought last week awaited her and she could not resist. The garden is slowly emerging out of the rubble and they are doing a wonderful job in their busy lives.
Here are a few pics from last weekend, Mat, Jeff and Remi.

my blogs have disappeared

Not sure what went wrong, but my last 2 blogs are not here. So here's a third try. These show the deck at Bec & Helen's, almost complete and being put to good use. Matt & Jeff were here last weekend so will put a few pics on when I download them. Only a few weeks to go in this place ... then to Claudia's for the last few weeks before heading south again. Mum is back here in less than 2 weeks so will be good to see her again, tho it seems no time since she was here.

some new pics

I have been busy making more dressups for Remi, the latest a horse, at his request, which, lika all his toy horse, is called Ben.






These next three were taken at the celebratory dinner after the opening of Sam's latest show...he has sold 7 paintings so far. If you want to see them, they are currently on the website of Andrew Baker Gallery. Claudia, Simon and Lisa, and Charles and Zoe, along with a whole lot of us, had a great feed at the local Indonesian - our favourite eating place.

bet you love to hear about the weather

As you may have noticed on the weather reports lately, there is some confusion up here over what season it is. We reached a high of 35.3 one day, and this is winter...Queenslanders were complaining about how hot it was! I even dipped my toe in the pool one day to test the water, but only managed a short immersion of the legs. Some of the kids went in, but then, they will swim anywhere, any time. We even got down to one only sheet at night, and if you know how Charles feels the cold, you'll know how hot it was.
Bec and Remi have been battling a nasty virus - yes, another one - through the hot. Not at all pleasant, especially when you have a temperature. Fortunately they are on the mend now.
Mat and Jeff have bought a terrace house in Sydney - Surry Hills. It's on the end of the row, so only neighbours on one side. They are very thrilled as they have been looking for a while a just missed out on one in the same street a while ago.
Bec & I have been busy learning pattern making and are learning a great deal. I am about to put my lessons to practice and make my first garmet from my pattern, having learned how to move darts, change shapes...anyway, it's exciting. I have also made a couple of skirts for Nuiska and am about to start some chair and couch covers for her and Rudi, so I am keeping busy. I am also doing a small market in West End at the back of the wonderful book shop, that is held once a month. Very social - we take along a plate and contribute to wine. It's held on a Friday evening from 5 - 8pm. Tomorrow night there is an opening of Sam's latest exhibition. He also has one travelling Europe, which is now in St Petersburg.
Charles is busy doing a building project for the landlord and enjoying it. I't good for him to have something to get his teeth into.
Cheers for now fron the sunny north.

photos from my camera

Here are a few pics of many I have taken in our time up here.