Nice to see you!

Three major events occurred for me last year (2010), all in the space of about 2 weeks. I turned 50. The following day I got married. Two weeks later, my oldest daughter became pregnant with her first child and my first grandchild.

Most middle-aged people will tell you that in their minds, they still feel 20 something. It's the same for me.

Wasn't it only yesterday that I was planning a night out with guys from the surf club? That gorgeous new perm. Flaired, cuffed denims and the red t-shirt with the off-the-shoulder frill. Corked platform wedgies. **sigh**

Suddenly I'm looking in the mirror and wondering how 30 years can flash by so damned quickly!

So here I am in cyberspace, sharing my genuine shock and horror with anyone who'll listen and maybe I'll even meet some other over 50s who find themselves in the same predicament!

Welcome to my dilemna!!

Saturday, April 15, 2017

Bloody Tourists

It's Easter weekend.

Over Easter, our town holds it's annual Easter Fishing Classic, which is a weekend long fishing competition.

The population more than doubles over the Easter weekend. Good Friday is the sign up day and then each day after that has live weigh-ins and dead weigh-ins, and there are prizes for all children's age groups and also for adults. The prizes cover different breeds of fish and crab.

Each day from noon, there are rolling raffles and prizes include assorted fishing gear including rods and reels and eskies. The big prize for the weekend is a boat, but you have to be in attendance to win it.

This fishing competition has been running for over 25 years and brings a lot of money to the town and our local charities.

It is always a very successful weekend and I can't even tell you how much I dislike it!

My town fills with loud, disrespectful, inconsiderate, arrogant out-of-towners. They litter our streets, riverbanks and waterways. They take over our club and pub. They fill the seating at our local coffee shops. They create massive queues in our supermarket and shops. Their cars fill every car space in town. They provoke ramp rage at the boat ramps. They break the rules on the water. They don't monitor their kids who commit crimes late at night. They speed through our streets.

Unfortunately, they also provide enough income for our local businesses to help them stay afloat for the rest of the year, so it doesn't matter how much I bitch about them, I am constantly reminded that the town needs these tourists.

Ugh!

I do my utmost to remain indoors over Easter and avoid the ugly crowds.

I was asked to do the photography for the weekend, but respectfully declined. It's a 'love' job and takes many many hours of precious time. It's also a thankless job. I did it for the first two years that we were in town, so I know what I'm missing and am grateful for the opportunity to say 'NO'.

Anyway ... today was ART day!!

I stained my clay bust ...




... and our work will be fired in a kiln in The Bay some time over the next couple of weeks.

Our next project is a clay tile.

I selected this photo ...

I had to draw it onto a leather tile and then use a leather cutter to slice pieces out of the picture. This is the first stage.


Later, we will cover the tile with soft clay so that the clay fills the holes that we've cut out (like a mould), then we wait for the clay to dry, paint it and then fire it in the kiln. Interesting concept hey?

I just love my art class. The other girls are great value. It's very informal and relaxed and we have some good laughs at each other's expense. All very different personalities when it comes to creativity, and we each take turns to bring lunch every Saturday which is usually sandwiches with GF bread. I love that they take me into consideration and always provide something that I can eat.

After I returned home, I spent 90 minutes taking photos of my jewellery. I did it outside where the light was good, but my silver jewellery seems to have photographed more gold than silver! This is bloody annoying and means that I have to start all over again. They are also not very sharp.

Adoring Husband is going to set up my Lightbox for me tomorrow and we'll see if that makes a difference to the colour. I'm not a fan of the Lightbox, but it might be my only option. I did attempt to set it up myself a couple of months ago, but it just didn't seem right. Let's see if AH is cleverer than me ... there's a challenge for him!!

Here are some of the jewellery pics. A few of these pieces are quite large and the chains aren't included.









So many more to photograph yet! That's my priority tomorrow. Two full days to power through some work!! Wahoo!!

Enough for now. Time for bed.

Nite all.

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