Sunday drive plus mental health week sundries

 Being a Van Diemen's Band groupie, I couldn't resist the chance of a recital at Richmond.

We all politely queued up outside the doors of St Luke's Church and were most impressed when they opened sharp at 10.30am, just as the promo said they would.

There are many things I like about attending events on my own.

No compromises!  I worked out where I wanted to sit, ie first row behind the reserved pews.

Harpsichord, violin and organ - 2/3 my not favourite instruments but these are all Baroque originals and sounded All Right!   It also wasn't my favourite VDB concert.  A bit long.  Even the organist stood up and bowed 2 segments before the end of a Papa Bach piece.  The harpsichord player soon put him right.  However it is always a delight to hear Julia Fredersdorff, VDB Artistic Director.  She is a virtuosic player and really good fun.

Parking around the church was at a premium.  These clever people avoided the teeming Richmond streets and parked downhill of the church - a good trick to remember if you don't mind dirt roads.  I had parked some distance away, on the residential side of the famous Richmond Bridge.

Strolling back to my car, I enjoyed the ye olde worlde ambience and had the opportunity to visit the Peppercorn Gallery which is currently holding some of Georgia's work.

looking over The Bridge towards where I'd parked

I also had the opportunity to drop into the Brinktop Winery which opens only at the weekend.  It was absolutely jumping and warrants further investigation.

Briefly returning to wrap up Mental Health Week:

the Weily Fox was nearly as useless as me gunwise

not that we're laughing at her

This was actually taken by The Fox as we packed up after the event.  Cheryl, our mayor and former Australian representative in Olympic Shooting events, sports her Dangerous Woman carry-all.

We were all given an orange clay target as a keepsake.  I carelessly put mine above the wood heater,

discovering it blown to pieces in the morning - something I'd failed to achieve while shooting.

happy memory of Maria Voices belting out sea shanties during the intermission of Fisherman's Friend movie

I was sent to report on the Sleep Workshop - even The Weily Fox can't be everywhere.  Tash, the presenter, was very good as was the PowerPoint Presentation(!).

And we all got a Trauma Teddy to take home with us.  There are good people in the world.