And so another year begins.......

and it was hot, hot,hot!  Yes, it's been a while since my last post but I think i've covered our last few months here.  Our first week was spent quietly at home.  No galleries, markets or printing for a few days made a nice change from our hectic pre Christmas weeks.

Our first adventure for the year was to visit Astrid, Hans, Travis and Alida at their camp site at Eildon.  Like last year we only did a day trip but thoroughly enjoyed our time with them all.

The following week we had a very early start as we set off to visit their place in Chum Creek.  Bill was going to spend the day in photography mode capturing the many beautiful birds we had seen while there on Boxing Day.  The Bower Bird and the lovely little Eastern Spinebill were very accomodating and will feature on cards very soon.

While Bill and Hans spent most of the day in the garden I enjoyed a day of four year old fun with Astrid and her grand daughter Alida.  We had a lovely day.

The next week it was time for another road trip to check out the shops and galleries.  Over a few days we visited Yackandandah, Beechworth, Glenrowan, Shepparton, Benalla and restocked.  Just loved the rustic sculpture at Yack.

It was about now that our heat wave began in earnest and from early January until mid March the temperature has been in the high 30's to mid 40's.  It just didn't seem to ever want to stop.   And of course along with the heat we have had no rain so as I write this our beautiful Sevens Creek is almost dry and we have just gone onto level two water restrictions.  We really hope it rains here soon.

We had wondered about continuing on with the markets after Christmas but decided we would just do Violet Town and our own Euroa Market.  Both are much quieter than before Christmas but are fun to do and it's lovely to catch up with people and of course meet some new folk all of who seem to enjoy Bills work.

During February our usual activities began again and between those and catching up with friends for coffee we seem to be out more than we are home.  Bill has also been kept busy as he has been working on the calenders for 2020.   Both ours and the Historical Society one are ready to be printed. Help from Peter has been greatly appreciated.

One evening in February we attended the official opening of a new historical museum in Violet Town.  This was a good night and a great effort by a small number of volunteers to make this dream a reality.  It also coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Southern Auroa train crash in 1969 so a lot of photos were included in the opening.  I love the wall art depicting the original shop counter.

A few weeks later we drove up to Wangaratta to have a look at a photographic exhibition by Dan.  The old Presbyterian Church is now part of a lovely gallery and we enjoyed seeing it inside and out.

While it seems like it has been all work and no play we have had time to see family and friends.  Joy and David visited for a couple of days from Blackburn and while here we drove up to Benalla where we enjoyed seeing the very quirky 'All that remains' installation at Benalla Art Galley.  Old items of furniture are rescued off the street or dumps and have messages stencilled on them.  An interesting way to fill your days I suppose but I did quite like this old armchair.

The next weekend we drove south to Foster where we spent the night with Alan.  It has been over a year since we saw him and it was good to catch up again.   Dinner at the Golf Club was delicious and the next couple of hours over a bottle of red was fun.  Thanks for having us again.

We returned to the city the next day stopping overnight in Bonbeach with Maree.  The next morning we met Mum and had brunch to celebrate her birthday.  Maree and Jarrod joined us and we all enjoyed a delicious feed and a good catch up.  On the way home we called into see Astrid and Hans for a lovely afternoon of coffee and more chat before heading off over the range for a quite night in.

The next day we drove to Benalla to have a look at the Wall to Wall Festival.  This event has been running now for the past four years and has put Benalla on the map for its wonderful art work on many walls around the town.  During the weekend you can watch many of the artists as they create some wonderful works on walls big and small.

Not far out of town are three small communities all of which have silos.   Some of these have been painted and as part of the festival others were being done over the weekend.  Goorambat silos are  home to 'Millibai' a beautiful Powerful Owl and a scene depicting the Grey Box forest of the surrounding areas.  Artist Dvate was putting the finishing touches on his third silo painting of three stunning draught horses.

Goorambat is also home to the wonderful mural of Sophia by Adnate which is located inside the little Uniting Church.  This painting is said to depict the female aspect of the Holy Spirit.  'Sophia' by nature is wise, nurturing, comforting, inspirational and ever present.

The next stop was Devenish where we found a visual tribute to the men and women of the local community who have enlisted in military service.   Artist Cam Scale has done a wonderful job with her painting of a First World War nurse and a modern day combat medic.  While there we watched a third silo being painted.   This work is to recognise The Lighthorse Men and has since been finished. We will have to revisit to see it completed.

Our last stop for the day was at St James to see the newest silos to be painted.   Local artist Tim Bowtell has been chosen to paint the four silos here.  The first is a mural of G J Coles, the founder of Coles supermarkets.  He was a local lad and with his father started his first shop, North Eastern Store, here in 1882.

Another depicts a horse and cart carrying bushels of wheat and the third is a little later in time with the bags of wheat being delivered by a Morris truck. The third and fourth silos have since been finished so this is another place we must revisit to see the completed work.

We had a busy Easter with a market on both the Saturday and Sunday. We thoroughly enjoyed doing nothing on Easter Monday.   Later that week we joined many others at the Anzac Day ceremony held at the local RSL.

Last week I left Bill at home for the day when some of the line dancers and friends had a day out to William Ricketts Sanctuary in Olinda.

 Situated in a Ferny glade in the Dandenongs the sanctuary is a place of beauty and tranquility, due to both the natural setting and the mystical sculptures hidden among the ferns.  We enjoyed seeing this lovely place and lunch at the local hotel was delicious.

Lunch with Shelley, Darren and Kyan last Friday was good fun and this Friday we caught up with Astrid and Hans.  Lunch at Alberts was delicious as always and it was great to see you all again.

Another visit to Benalla to collect our new glasses gave us the opportunity to see another of the murals completed.  This one on the walls of NEA and was all blue last time I saw it.  It was quite a surprise to see the finished picture.

To finish I must make one more mention of the weather.   The rain has finally fallen two nights ago and already our creek has water flowing again.  Hopefully the rain is filling dams as well on all the nearby properties.

Winter is almost here and the temperature is dropping steadily.  The heater is on most nights now and so this is our cue to pack the van and make our way north to somewhere much warmer.  We'll keep you up to date when we hit the road in a couple of weeks time but for now I'll just say

until next time.........