woke up early on Xmas day

Happy day everyone.

went to the Asia-Pacific Triennial No 7

Paul and I have enjoyed all of the APT exhibitions held at GOMA and QAG over the years.

The latest has just opened. What do you think of this?

It's on until April. Try it, you might like it.

am loving a serendipitous outcome

In our last skype with Nick and Mey we discussed the possible dispersement of his Oz stored belongings. (Uganda transfer and all of that.)
Among these was his black leather couch which has spent good times with all the family.

In universe directed synchronicity, Rowan's house needed a new couch.
So Nick; Rowan, Dan and housemate Nick thank you very much for your Christmas donation.

Here it is loaded on Reg (as Myles lovingly calls his Ute) in our driveway just prior to delivery.

.... and here's Rowan taking ownership.

"I love it when a plan comes together!"

am finding my xmas spirit

I love door wreaths. In the US, they're used to signify holidays and the changing of the seasons.
Here's our christmassy door.

I was a bit upset at being outdone by this wreath at the Tommy Bahamas store in Noosa.

These mobile decorations also took my fancy.

go from the ridiculous to the sublime

 

Paul did some photographic studies when we were away last weekend.

 

 

 

All taken in the Noosa area. Sigh!

will send your Xmas card if .....

you can tell me where this is?

am having a day at home

Apparently we're in for a heat wave today. 39 degrees are forecast.

This will work in well for me as I'm having a catch up day.
Emails, Xmas prep, finishing a special present.... not housework or cooking!

Last week was a bit tumultuous at work, so Paul and I headed for Noosa for a couple of days. My little piece of heaven and one of my top ten places to be in the world.

See why!



Noosa River

Noosa Heads beach

have some more creative treasures to share

After going to a curator's talk at the Qld Museum, I crossed the bridge to look at an exhibition by papermakers in the Brisbane Central library.

These pieces particularly took my fancy.

I'm proud to say that this last piece was made by Tricia Smout, one of my talented creative friends.

am keeping my promise

My friend Mark and I spent Sunday at the Harmony Day Retreat Centre at Bunya Downs. (North West of Brisbane suburbia)

We started the day with a vigorous yoga session.

Various vendors were available for massage,
Reflexology etc.

A real treat was finding the kookaburra's nest in my previous post that accidentally went through. The kookaburra takes over some of the white ants nest. Apparently it's uncommon to find their nests.
Did you find its beak?
......and there were flowers.

 

 

Testing an alternate blog universe

Hello
Lets practise and play.

am not running late

More technical issues everyone.
I know you're dreadfully disappointed that my post hasn't appeared yet.
I am too.
Tonight I'll redo it on a grown up computer and then we'll all be happy.

Until then have a lovely lovely day.

got interventioned.

I really wanted to be a joiner, but my conservative nature intervened.

We had a hearty western style lunch of pulled pork and taco salad and re-entered the 21st century.

.... good old Oz and its wonders.

got steampunked

Paul and I took a walk into the Valley and entered an alternate labyrinth of wonder.

I'm thinking of joining this subculture.
This is what we'll be wearing.

Here's how we'll communicate; on our pianophone.

If only I'd had this fascinator for the Melbourne Cup festivities 2 weeks ago.

When we have a cup of tea, we use our jiggler.

Maybe we'll close the door and turn out the light on that idea.

have my fingers crossed again

Here's a photo I love, taken at retreat at Cunningham's Gap.
Paul thinks it's a foxglove. Is anyone able to confirm his hunch?

have tasted success

Yay! Some words got through. Let's try a photo

These loungers are available at Southbank.

am arguing with blogspot.

I've been trying and trying to share with you the best blog I've ever written, but am increasingly frustrated with the challenges this morning.

I'm going to try again with fewer photos and less eloquent text.

have more to show you.

I went to the most wonderful exhibition this afternoon.
Tricia Smout has been Artist in residence at Mt Coot tha Botanic Gardens. She's had hundreds of people participate in workshops and her creative projects.

Her exhibition is entitled 'the language of nature'.

This was the one I was involved with.

Another project

and another

Here's some weird language going on in our garden!

Guess which one is real?

had a picnic on the Gold Coast

At the risk of being repetitive, I present to you this weekend's food, drink and social events.

Firstly an event with my Broadstrokes friends. The name is such because we're 6 broads who indulge in creative endeavours. The word strokes refers to the possible painting brush strokes or the positive strokes we afford ourselves in encouragement as we indulge in arty challenges.

We also believe in good food and drink while we're reviewing and critiquing.

On Sunday Paul, Myles and I headed south to the Gold Coast where Dave, Jen, Colton and Jen's parents were holidaying.

We picniced. It's been some time since we've done this so we were a bit rusty.

The first challenge was to convince the dog lover (pictured here)..... no not Paul;

that we really didn't want his dog to invade our picnic space.

Fortunately that turned out ok and we enjoyed a lovely social time. Mental note to pack our picnic chairs next time.

It's really important that we get used to dining in the open spaces as we've learned this week that Nick and Mey are moving to Uganda, so Mey can fulfil a 2 year Fellowship she's been awarded.
We've been invited to visit of course. I think we'll have more than wild dogs to worry about there.

I wonder if the service we received from the bar staff here can be replicated.

After the picnic, we moved to the Sheraton Mirage hotel where Colton held court

and we had a civilised cup of tea.

Just another weekend with the Marshall Coopers.

.....but before I leave you, la fleur du jour.

Fraser Island creeper (Tecomanthe hillii) currently flowering in our garden.

I'm playing catch up from a weekend away.

Everyone laughed when I told them I was going to Boonah for the weekend. Another quilting retreat to progress an important sewing project. I'll tell you more about that after xmas.

The other 12 ladies and I dined exquisitely on Saturday night. Here's the type of cuisine they're now serving in the Scenic Rim.

Some of the ladies did visit markets and splurged on some plants.

Back at home, Paul's orchid display is outstanding.

Over in Boston, Nick and Mey will be needing their Dri as a Bones as Hurricane Sandy heads for the east coast.

Mother nature is a force to be reckoned with no matter which way you look at it.