Annie's Market Wentworth

Awesome Autumn weather for Annie's market in Wentworth yesterday.

Wentworth is a small town in New South Wales,

built near the junction of the Murray and the Darling rivers.

About a 30 minute drive from Mildura.

The market was held at Artback Gallery/Cafe.

A beautiful place filled with amazing art.

Market day sees the verandas filled with tables of produce,

hand made clothes jewellery, chocolate.

Michael's favourite "Wool shed pantry" preserves and sauces

We bring our plants and olive oil,

and unscented olive oil soap.

Perfect for those who suffer with sensitive skin

I took the opportunity to show my pottery.

I sold some hand made buttons to a crafty woman for a project.

And a plate for a small eater.

Perfect brunch plates really.

These large red gum balls are on the front lawn

They are huge, interesting.



Evacuation

Class was interrupted yesterday.

The person walking through the department was saying "This is not a drill"

"Turn every thing off and evacuate the building"

We were busy carving our wax positives for  pewter casting.

I took the things I was working on and went outside.

Autumn is definately here and the breeze was fresh, from the south.

There were police, ambulance, and fire brigade.

Even the local TV news man.

Turns out it was a chemical spill in the print workshop.

It might have been a bit of an over reaction however,

Better to be safe than sorry.

Spring bulbs

I have been spending so much time at the dentist

and at work, and there have been so many extra markets on the weekends

that

The weeds have taken over.

I have been feeling really jealous of those northern hemisphere

gardeners that have 6 months off every year.

I like the sound of that, but the fact that it comes with huge drifts of snow

puts me off when I really think about it.

Our fabulous climate has weeds growing 24/7 all year.

I have been making a concerted effort to get the spring bulbs in the ground.

I saved last years corms, labeled and sorted.

All I need is a empty garden bed.

At long last...this actually took a full day to clear, about 4 wheel barrows full.

It is easier to put the chooks over it but there were still Zinnias flowering in there.

So by hand it had to be.

These dahlias are stunning and the rabbits didn't find them so I have been cutting

lots of long stemmed blooms.

Despite there being no pottery in this post I will include it in the

                                          http://mudcolony.blogspot.com.au/

as this is what I do when I am not throwing pots or making camel lamps.

I have to organise a quote for mugs for a Rotary club and as soon as the weeds are

under control I will get to it.

 

Mildura Pottery Club

It's at least a year since this photo was taken

We were hoping to demonstrate to our benevolent landlord MADEC

that our club would be a useful addition to their newly acquired

Old Mildura Homestead, which is a tourist park

with an old shearing shed and a few other old buildings.

We have been an active club for many years and MADEC has been the keeper

of the pottery studio for approximately 30 years but,

despite this ongoing popularity MADEC cannot find a suitable space for us and has run out

of funds and desire to maintain its focus

 on providing creative opportunities for the community.

Especially grubby ones like pottery, a space which cannot be shared with other crafts.

The desire to pursue pottery as hobby is still strong and thanks to my Mum and her garage

Note the mosquito net skirt at the top of the door.

We have a large net that we cover the entire opening with.

It comes off after class and would be rolled up on one of those chairs.

We have continued to create things with clay,

conduct children's classes and support adult potters
with the space and equipment to pursue their ideas in clay.
Like these cute animals that Caroline made this week.

A new space might be on the horizon...fingers crossed.

We will keep you all informed through the potters online collective

http://mudcolony.blogspot.com.au/
Click on this link to see what some other potters have been up to this week.

New life

I had a chook that just insisted staying clucky

I got tired of fighting with her every day for the eggs so I left her for a week

then moved her entire nesting box in the night to a third chicken house.

On Monday the first chicken hatched, it is dark coloured.

Tuesday another one, it is yellow and

today there was a poor soul being eaten alive by meat ants.

I pulled off the ants and the chicken blincked at me

so I brought it inside and set up the light for warmth.

It looks comfortable and is breathing.

I don't really know what to do with it, but if it gains some strength

I will put it back with it's mother and cross my fingers.

There were 6 eggs yesterday and just 3 today so

I should count the chickens.

Very good friends

The two labradors are very good friends.

They often sleep together.

Skittles is the brown one and she always puts her arms around Stella.

I was surprised to see Digga the yellow toy dog joining in on the action,

giving the thumbs up!

They do make a picture of comfort and love.

Real sweet when they are asleep!

Peace has returned

Peace and quiet has returned to the farm.

The car park has morphed back into a paddock.

We don't mind sharing our paddock with the Mildura Ski Club

to help them with their big race.

It's just once a year.

It's fun to have a paddock called "The Hellipad"

The pilots had little understanding of electric fences though and had tied their bunting

 all over the fence and then wondered why people were getting a tingle.

Requesting the electricity be turned off.

The camels can tell when the fence is not alive and begin to put pressure on it in other places.

This time they did not break it.

That was good luck not good management!

The ski race is 50 km's up river and 50 km's back. All at the fastest rate they can manage.

I think the skiers are a bit mad to hang on at that speed

This is the start and finish line and plenty of people turned out to watch the action.

There were groups of people all along the river enjoying the action.

Michaal captured some good photos from her vantage point and

became the impromtu photographer for one of the lead boats.

She has posted them at Michaal Fletcher on facebook.

The bees were not happy with the high octane activities...or

they did not like me pinching the flowers to sell.

I copped a sting to the face and have been quite swollen all week.

Its not a good look.

I had to cancel the latest dentist appointment,

I was worried my how the dentist's drugs would interact with the bee's sting.

This is the new look Egyptian paste bracelet.

No need to take on and off, just tie it on!

 

A double sided adjustable knot.

It can be tightened but this leather is a bit thick, so I can feel

a bit of a change coming on.