My Life as the Artist's Model

Well, of course there's the Mona Lisa but I have been more enchanted with the notion of being immortalised like Wendy Whitley or Lizzie Siddons (thank you Desperate Romantics).  This painting by the artist known as Georgia Mars is much treasured.  And then there is this more recent offering by Steve Mars

hmmmmmmm.  What does Wendy have that I haven't got???  Bet no-one has a cane chair to compare with this.

Perfect end to a perfect day...

I love dusk.  Went out to put the washing on the line (bear in mind that it seldom rains here and was 30C today in Autumn) and saw this.

I had meant to blog earlier in the month when it was quite cool that I had smelled the first woodsmoke for the season and, at the weekend, I saw the first trailer-load of wood for the season.  These, of course, are plane trails but I love their proximity to our chimney.  And yet another reminder of travel to come.
But.  I am being facetious.  This was not the end to the day.  Steve took the dogs out for a midnight ramble and Siss has rolled in duck poo.  So she's just had a bath and all I can smell is duck poo.

Yippeeeee! Monday Yippeeeee! Wentworth

I've written before about how I love Mondays because I have the day off, and I have to tell you that I'm really enjoying today.  Done a cuppla little things that have been on my conscience and now I'm just enjoying myself.  I think it's still Sunday in blogland so I'll post these pictures.  This is where I went yesterday.  It's events like this that make me love Wentworth so.

And, of course, the afternoon tea had to be seen to be believed...  So I had to go to the gym today.  Amazing news - there is a Curves in Haverfordwest - a bus ride from St David's.  On the way into Mildura I stopped at the stall where I buy the perfect stone fruit and tomatoes in season.  Joseph and Anna closed the stall before Easter but I made a point today of stopping to photograph it because I think it is so classic.

Next season I'll photograph it when its laden with peaches, plums, grapes, nectarines, Harvest Festival style.

Up to date

I know its Saturday 17 April in blogland but here it is Sunday 18th and great excitement.  While bucketing the laundry water on to the garden I saw the most beautiful flower on one of my ugliest cacti / succulents.  The plant looks like crabs' claws.  The flower reminds me of a passionfruit flower.  That was why I couldn't believe my eyes - my plan is to plant a passionfruit vine in this spot next Spring.

To my great joy, Steve was as excited as me, and wants to paint it.

And, going into Edna Walling mode again, this is why you should always handwater your garden.  So many treasures to discover.

But then there is the soul...

Daylight saving finished over Easter, so now it's getting dark while I drive home from the gym after work.  And much as I'm looking forward to Wales and all I anticipate there, I will miss these sunsets.  I hadn't realised this country has seeped into my soul too.

work goes on

Last Thursday I went to Balranald for work and took a cuppla photos of Lake Benanee - a bit more water than last time.  I tried to take them from the same spot as last time...

Trains and boat and planes...

Ok.  So now it's the Tuesday after Easter and I have to go to work.  But the goddess sends me a reminder that my next holiday is not far away...

Let's pretend it's 1st April...

OK so it's April and I can say 'Mum and I are going to St David's next month!!!!!'  Doesn't time fly.  In fact, being April 1st I am driving to Adelaide to catch up with the Gang of Four - though, as they remind me when I say I'm spending Easter with 4 friends from school days,  I am in fact catching up with 3 great mates and I am the fourth.  That's the brutal honesty of friends.  We are spending Easter on Kangaroo Island.  I have never been there before.  They have.  I am soooooo looking forward to catching up with them.  And I'm thinking KI is a sort of warm up (or cool down) for St David's.
Needless to say, in the company of these three everything goes perfectly.  Here's a few photos:

Here they are about to be devoured by some prehistoric creature.  But the goddess is looking after us

Our rescuing mermaid returns to the sea

while Easter Island gods snigger and contemplate snacking on a few other tourists...

And this is the stage where the drama took place - Remarkable Rocks.

How lucky can one woman be!!!!  And, because I like to write little haiku-style poems as mementoes, and our walk to the cannery and its beach was my absolute favourite time of the holiday...

The Cannery, American River, Kangaroo Island 2010

Four figures on a calm beach,

fossicking, photographing, dreaming, gazing.

A story of 200 years.

GPHS

(Globally Positioned Happiness Seekers)

Four survivors on a calm beach,

buffeted and bleached by the land,

regrouping beside the sea.