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

Boys with their cousins

Boys at Teneriffe

Jayne with her father