a bairnsdale saturday

(tt)   Here is the lady the world should blame for me.

Pat Taylor is 84. She has just moved into a smaller home in her retirement village. She does Tai Chi and is the director of the annual shows that Clifton Waters Variety Group presents. This year they are giving a little piece which looks back to the first Australian Womens Weekly World Discovery Tour. It was written by a blithering idiot. Most of its members are over 75 and Dorothy, the magnificent, though severely arthritic, accompanist is well into her eighties. She plays like an orchestra!
Last year my mum had a fall. When I rang her hospital bed her frail voice convinced me  that she was on the way out.  As she was lying there, over the next weeks a steady stream of members from the concert party came in to see her and they all asked, "When do we start rehearsals?"  They must have hit a nerve ( apart from the ones in her back) because she suddenly thought, "I can't go yet. We have a show to do!" She got better from then on. They open on Oct 21st  and close the next day.

Bairnsdale was once a very beautiful country town with very fine architecture. Most has been replaced by horrible prefab rubbish. The Court House is one of the few great edifices left

Saturday rush hour is well and truly  over

A great old pub is now the headquarters of my bank

Look out!  You may be trampled

When I need a summer frock I always pop into Aileen's. Her polys are great for my excema.

This afternoon we were invited to have lunch at the home of Kay and Keith Singleton.

Kay's sister, Helen, is in red. Her brother- in- law, Bruce is in tan. Her other sister,Cheryl, is in grey. My brother- in- law, David, is in stripes. Kay is in black and Keith is in the apron.  My sister, Susie, is in white at the front and for some reason has been possessed by a geisha.

The back yard is a triumph with a vege patch and obligatory lemon tree

Closer to the house is a fernery with magnificent orchids and ferns, many of which self seed in profusion.

Erstrylyun stikes 'n' snairgs

Keith is a model maker of extraordinary skill and patience. This is one of  his working train scenes set around the imagined English village of Shaftesbury.

 The detail is phenomenal and is created from the widest range of material.....coffee grounds for  gravel and sea sponge for trees!  Oh, and the best..brown corduroy for ploughed fields!!!!

(dear teech ...I forgot to bring the spare battery so all these shots were taken on my sister's camera and I couldn't work out macro)

Keith's current project is a scale model of the Scottish harbour town, Mallaig, whose ferry links the Isle of Skye and he has had people from the town measuring station platforms and buildings to ensure total accuracy.

My sister spent half the afternoon drawing on Kay's priceless French linen tablecloth.

The food (especially the egg custards with rhubarb and cream) and the company were fantastic.
And sprigs of grevillea  from Kay's garden were the beautiful table garnish

Burp