Dowd adventures in Bologna: ottobre 2013

sabato 19 ottobre 2013

Australia

Back again, it was last September we went back for 3-4 weeks. This time Jayne and the boys came back with me for a week, a surprise party for mums 75th, and it was a surprise. But they only stayed a week, as they had just started middle school, and we did not want them to miss school. But it was enough time to get to Teneriffe, which we drove to from the airport straight away, arriving at 8am, and seeing the sun rise, it was most wonderful. The house was cold, and it took awhile to get it warm, but that kept us busy and out of jet-lag for awhile. The boys later went for a hike through the bush with their new school packs, water bottles, knife, torch etc and Gus, they really miss that part of Australia. Jayne spent a day or too in the garden cleaning up the place, though it was not in too bad condition. Jason Amos has been staying there still and has been quite good on the lawns and basic maintenance. But it is the garden and plants that needed some attention. We finally all collapsed in the early afternoon, waking up at 7 p.m., just in time to go into Avenel to the new pizza place, and have pizza, which ain't Italian, but not bad, though a bit pricy to what we are used too.
That first week, was rather busy of course, driving back and forth from Teneriffe, visiting the doctor, dentist for our yearly check ups. Mums party which dad organized was perfect, and had Roland's catering, and all the family were there, so it again was good for the boys to catch up with their cousins.
They left a week later, and l went to Sydney for the night to go to the art fair, which Rex Irwin kindly gave me a pass too, it was a good opportunity to see what the art world was like in Australia, and l got to catch up with a few people.
The next 2-3 weeks l spent busily preparing for an exhibition l had at the Wangaratta gallery. Mostly woodcut prints which l had printed in Venice a couple of months earlier, but also wooden sculptures which l had made in Bologna, but had to remake back in Australia. This time though l sent plans and specs to Jon Day, and Clive Bullen who are friends, one a guitar maker , the other a furniture maker. And they made a few pieces each of my sculptures in their own manner. I also made a few, and so in the show there was about 12 sculptures ( 3 versions of 4 works), l think it worked very well.
Wangaratta gallery was a delight to work with , Di Managan the director stayed with us last year for a few days , and that gave us a chance to decide on the works for the show. Her staff were brilliant in helping hang and display the works, it was heaven working with them, they made you feel important.
The opening went well, with Sheridan Palmer opening the show, and Sheridan was with us also for a few days only weeks earlier, she also wrote the essay in the catalogue, had maybe 50 people on the opening day which was good, and a chance to see Watto and Stocky who made the big drive up, along with the Edwards family ( perfect family). Stocky stayed the night at Teneriffe, and it was a great chance to sit down and have a good chat, l miss those guys.
Also had Nedra and Tony come up from Nagambie, luckily l had been able to see them a couple of times, along with Kym and Simon.
One of the highlights was the grand final, which l fortunately was able to go and see, though having a international membership to the MCC did cost me another $180 to get a ticket, and West Coast was not even playing. But l lined up at 6am with Tim Edwards and his brother in law, and got in just after 8, got some good seats, and was able to sneak back around and got another seat for Mike Frayne who was arriving in at 7.30 that morning from Singapore, so we all ended up at the Hilton hotel for a hugh breakfast, and caught up later at 1pm for a pre match beer in the bull ring, before unfortunately seeing the Dockers get beaten by Hawthorn. After the match l stuck with Mike and ended up having Japanese for dinner, and then a bar with some friends of his from Freo, then l snuck off as it was rather a long day for me.
So the show opened on a Saturday, and l flew out on the Monday afternoon, so it was a small rush to clean and lock the house up, and get back to Melbourne say good bye and get back on the plane.
I arrived back after getting 4 seats to myself to Dubai, and 2 from there to Milan, so had some sleep, and the usual shower at the Emirates lounge. Arriving back at lunchtime in Bologna just in time to go to my favorite restaurant Merlot for a tagliatelle ragu, Sangiovese wine and a caffe, ahh to be back home amongst such fine food and wine that you can afford!!!

The artist

Ravenna, Parma etc

Just a quick note, that we travelled again to Ravenna when Sheridan was staying with us, and it is truly a incredible town, with such history, and should never be missed on a travel. Sadly when we went l was rather unwell, as l had been to emergency the evening before with severe gastro, pleading with them to give me a drip. They concluded on an early examination that l was code green, which is low risk, l was without doubt the sickest in the room, but somehow they did not think so. Finally after 2 hours on drips and rest, they let me go with instructions to eat banana, rice, carrot and parmesan cheese, only in Italy, no drugs, maybe some potassium and magnesium in a few days. I had got to know the male nurse there, and when leaving, he asked me to come to another room with a computer, which he then busily typed on, then took my bill from me and ripped it up, and said it has been taken care of, got to love a health system like that, of course, thats why l was code green in a waiting room for 2 hours.
We also last weekend went to Parma about 2 hours away, lovely town, also a university town, and were Verdi was born, or near by anyway, it was his 200th birthday that weekend. What we found out was how many castles and villas etc are in the area, and you can visit or stay at, so Jayne and l will come back here soon, as l think the boys are just a bit tired of museums and castles.
At the moment l have a terrible head cold, and only a few days ago had a shocking chest infection, but like my visit to the emergency room, they don't treat you much with drugs here, we have a machine we bought a year or so ago, that pus out a vapour and you add a solution that you breath in and out of from a face piece and it helps clear the chest, everyone uses them !!!
Anyway it works, though you do look odd sitting down with it on your face, it reminds me of addicted gamblers at Vegas with their oxygen bottles.
The boys today are visiting a sort of lost dogs home to do community work, as part of the school program. Some kids are working as alter boys, which l find hard to see the community benefit, only benefit may be to the priest! Another child is offering to help other kids with their homework, which is weirder. Anyway hopefully the boys will enjoy it, and it might help them with Gus our dog not being here, as well as their Italian, not that l expect the animals to speak in Italian, especially the German shepherd!

Alicante

Well it is now well into October and much has happened in the last 2 months. Since returning from Copenhagen, we left a few days later with Jayne, who had just returned from a three week trip to Australia to see her family, to go to Alicante, Spain.
The reason for this place was mainly because my old and dear friend Stephane, who lived in Australia for 17 years, and now lives back in Paris, but recently bought a great holiday place in Alicante. The other reason we have heard about it from our Spanish friends Begonia and Angel, who also have a place there.
The great thing about Alicante is it is a direct flight from Bologna, about 2 hours with Ryan air, and as usual we got on the plane last and were seated in rows 1/2. Alicante is a seaside city, the center is quite pretty and old, but unfortunately since Franco the Spanish build hideous apartment buildings everywhere without any council control it appears. It is also a favorite destination to many europeans, and so is very crowded. Luckily Stephane bought a house in a housing development that collapsed about 30 years ago, and so it is very quite and it situated not far from the airport, but the planes dont fly near by, so it is quite. The beach is about 15, 20 minutes away, and is a surf beach which was great fun after the Adriatic beaches.
So we stayed there with Stephane, his girlfriend Melanie, and her kids Zeli and Nina for 8 days, doing trips to the beach(s) and local towns and markets, visiting all the local people and stores, it was very much like being in a small town. One day we had lunch with Begona at their place which is wonderfully set on the beach, with a superb view, but is on the other-side of Alicante center. We also had a terrific meal at a very good restaurant which served sushi, the kids ate between the four of them over 50 pieces!!
Staying at Stephane's house was very relaxing, the day starting with a french style breakfast outside on the porch, then the kids would either get into his pool, or we would go to the beach. His place has a huge garden and so occasionally we found ourselves weeding, digging trenches, mowing lawns, planting plants, it was like being back at Teneriffe.
The two girls are most beautiful, just like you would imagine French girls to be, and they adored the boys, often following and hanging onto them. They are gifted artists, always drawing, which was great as the boys got back into that as well, having no TV helped of course!
I cant express how much fun we had, it was a simple place, with a lovely simple way of living, we met some lovely and strange people, and look forward to returning soon.