Wonderful Reception!

Some of my blogger mates have come back in and commented after 3 years! Wow! Thank you so much for wandering by occasionally.

Since my last vaguely meaningful post, I have had a knee replacement (motorcycle accident in '07), and settled my claim with TAC, who treated me very respectfully and didn't drag me into court. But I felt a bit lost for a while after it was all done.

I have only painted here and there since, but had a collection of 6 paintings that really hadn't been anywhere much, and I liked a lot. I decided to snap myself out of my comfort zone and plan another solo. The last one was in '07. So, I got back into the zone and have completed the series with another 5 largish oils and a few watercolours and my show is on Feb 5th (see invite below). 'Archies on the Creek' is a very posh Restaurant/Gallery at Archies Creek, near Kilcunda. They have quite an impressive group of bars, cafes and a top notch restaurant, and the gallery is tagged on as well.

I wondered whether I could pull together my followers after such a long time, but friends have really rallied and are bringing extras, so we should have a nice couple of hours.

I am looking forward to getting up and running again.

I have heaps more to tell. This year is going to be a wonderful one, but I'm not going to spill the beans on it all at once!

Solo Exhibition

Fresh Blogging on the way .... truly!

I have really given myself a good talking to (finally) about letting a perfectly good blog stagnate for such a long time., so I have gone in and freshened the look of it up and reacquainted myself with the possible pleasures of having a functioning Blog and regular visitors who comment on your thoughts and images.

Blogging can be very time consuming, but rewarding in many ways, if only going in and following your history and thoughts over the preceding years.

I do have a stat counter on the bottom and was amazed this morning to check visitors and found there are still people coming in for a look.

So there! I am exhausted by all this adjusting templates and colours and fonts, so will go and have some lunch and a ponder on other things and be back as soon as my inspiration rekindles!

Back Again

Well here I am after such a long time. It's funny how you get out of the habit, and time just flies by. I am going to try and get back into Blogger, because I've missed it and I do now have a litter of Standard Poodle pups as we speak. Lots of work and quite a few laughs at their antics. I don't have time now, but will attack the subject tomorrow when all is more peaceful.

Spammers

I am feeling a little hot under the collar this morning. Chinese spammers have been stomping all over my nice blog, posting comment adverts, I assume. There was a list of notices in my email inbox 0f 40 plus this morning.

Although I haven't been posting for a while, I am still attached to what I have there, and feel really affronted by this pollution. Sadly, comments will now have to be moderated with word verification just to keep these pests out.

Portrait

One of a series of poodle portrait commissions just completed.

Pastel on Board

Hard To Believe

My floor sander did a terrific job, ripping off all the old paint and exposing clean sheets of chipboard underneath.

He was such a nice man and quoted me $600 for the entire job. I paid that 8 years ago, so although I felt it greatly overpriced then, today it semed pretty fair.

It was done by lunchtime, and I was very pleased. He had talked about charging me less, and did, knocking $200 off his quote, leaving me amazed at his kindness. He had brought up some clear acrylic finish and was going to sell it @ 5 litres for $30. He gave it to me!

Utterly amazing to find a tradesman who would do that. I would have paid the $630 without question. Makes your little heart sing..................

I have put a coat of undercoat/ sealer, two coats of deep plum/ burgundy and most of the second topcoat, moving my furniture back and forwards. Yesterday Mr Bliss put down some cement sheets and timber edging on the east door where the rain comes in sometimes, so I am doing the same there. My acrylic topcoat didn't last the whole distance so I rang my lovely man up and he said, "I'm going to be down at Knoxfield today and the suppliers are nearby, so I'll get you another 5 litres. Still the lovely man................

Nevertheless I will be pleased when it's all done and I can have my studio back.

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We needed a ram to service our 5 girs for this season and was offered an aging gentleman from my man's workmate.

We were a bit horrified when we went to pick him up, as he was an emaciated old fellow, but his owner swore he would be OK for a few girls, and would probably come back home to be ready for a bullet.

We called him Heffner after dear silly old Hugh, the playboy, and we did see him chatting up the gals after a couple of days, but we were not able to see him 'do the business'.

All he seemed to do was eat, so we hoped to see him put some weight on, but after a couple of weeks he still hadn't gained anything, and seemed to be even more bony.

On Saturday I heard Mr Bliss mumbling loudly to himself down in the paddock, and went down to see him trying to get old Heff to stand up. Poor old man did, but only just and was unable to walk. My man went into a spin and we tried to ring the owner, but no answer for that day or the next.

When things don't go the way they should, my man gets very unsettled, so I took the initiative and made the difficult decision to put him down. A couple of shots later, poor Hughey went to God, and was unceremoniously put into the ute to go to the burial place the family farm uses.

I think he just starved to death, with his teeth so worn he couldn't get at the grass, which would probably explain his constant eating. A couple of freezing frosty nights where he couldn't get warm just pushed him over the edge. Maybe having so many nubile women on call put too much pressure on his old body.

We don't know whether our gals still need the attentions of a younger boy, but they probably do. I'm a bit worn out on the subject. We don't have the room to buy a ram and keep him separate, so will rent one next season.

Hugh's previous owner seemed unfazed by his sudden demise............