It can never be said that there are dull moments around here. Lots of visitors this week, with Mary and Marg dropping by yesterday for a quick update on a ring Dee is making for Mary. While they were here, Mary decided to have a go at silver smithing too and by the time I got there had happily resized her ring - or is that 'beaten it into submission' :-) John dropped by too, with an offer to put some new spark plugs in our tinny. We all decided the can of 'Start Ya Bastard' (yes! that is its real name!) was good, but there must be a reason it is needed and judging by the look of the plugs, it is time for new ones.

Our lovely German Shorthaired Pointers will be delighted when they can get out on the river again - Fern often stands in the dry docked tinny gazing hopefully toward the river. She has settled in completely and with her father, has taken possession of the couch on the balcony.

​Dee hasn't been out of her workshop since she got her you beaut workbench, and very nice it is!
Speaking of Dee's work, she has been happily carving golf balls in between completing jewellery commissions and planting some Buddha Belly. Is there no end to the talent of this woman???

Imagine my fascination watching Dee try her hand at painting on a very unusual medium - gourds! We imported some special gourd inks from the USA last month. Dee has used pyrography to burn images of local bird life, on to the gourd, and she is now painting them. Amongst the colour palette we received is a powder that when applied, makes the colour underneath look metallic. This looks incredible on the Rainbow Bee Eater panel - she has captured the brilliant luminescence of their feathers exactly. There are four panels in total: Blue-faced Honey Eater, Rainbow Bee Eater, Blue-winged Kookaburra and Yellow Rosella. We grow the gourds on the levee bank and these are the birds that visit us there regularly. Dee still has quite a way to go - this is very much a work in progress, but it is shaping up to be a very special work indeed.