Bountiful Birrarung Dinner

Now I’m in love with the Eltham Library. I sit in the section that stores house and cooking magazines in glass cabinets…reminding me of how clever we humans are at enhancing our environment. The chairs are comfy and the tables well and truly big enough to spread all of my Isiiad paraphernalia in easy reach…… That dongle has great coverage here and there is no yawning delay in downloads and switching from one www to another. It’s the day before I leave Birrarung. I’ll hurry straight back as soon as I ‘ve done this…there’s so much still to do…

Last night my big temporary living area hosted a little dinner party. One of my long work tables from the studio was covered with a hessian cloth so doubled as a dining table for the night. Dry firewood arrived from home with my adult offspring. My son had a big roasty toasty fire happening within minutes.

Friends and family all contributed to an abundant feast. Gourmet Pizzas arrived along with the makings for champagne cocktails with a secret ingredient. A whole side of salmon was covered with coriander and sesame oil and popped into the oven for main. A very fine warmed apple pie left us all happily satisfied. We talked till late in front of the fire. I didn’t think it possible but our collective chatter and good cheer drowned out the sounds of the bush. All the while I was saying thank you to whatever being or power or universal colliding of stars had made this possible.

I’m a bit conflicted today. How to jam every little thing into the remaining hours... work on the self portrait… the addictive pull of writing and writing and writing a bit more... and listening… always listening.

I thought I would be taking photos endlessly, but I haven’t been too much distracted by gluing my Canon to my face. That surprises me a bit since I take such pleasure in that as a general rule. I will crank the camera up later today however. Gwen Ford, wife of the late Gordon Ford, has invited me to her legendary garden Fulling. It’s easy enough to meet people in these parts. Everyone knows everyone and is so so generous with making introductions possible. So on a grey wet Saturday I’ll head off into Eltham with my Canon battery freshly charged… more photos on their way.