Early one morning...

It's not a bad city - early in the morning. Quite pretty in fact.

She did it

And now my baby is a fully qualified physiotherapist. Years of hard work - well done and well done to all the supporters - friends and family.

At Last!

Well the work has started to build the studio - after all that time sorting out what we would do - getting the permits - twice - and an affordable price - well almost - but you get what you pay for in this world. After storing my things under tarpaulins for over a year it's not surprising there was a bit of damage - heartbreaking but so it goes. Moving the goods was the first step - and thank you Ben for the loan of the garage and under the house and yes kindness is helping me store stuff.



Then the demolition could start......
and they chose our first 39 degree day of the summer to work in.


Current building practice is impressive - hardly anything goes to landfill - recycle reuse... the bricks will be built into the new walls, the old doors will grace the new studio, the concrete broken up and recycled, timber reclaimed where possible - wow different to the days when it all went to the tip - out of sight and out of mind.



Then the phoenix can rise from the rubble and my kiln can come home and start work again. A work place of my own again. Joy!

UN climate Trackers

Visit A Climate For Change

Annual Exhibition

Now it's uploaded to youtube it should save some space and be shareable. :-)

Merimbula in May

It's nearly winter and everything is lit in silver. Merimbula is still warmer than Melbourne - milder than most places in Australia it seems. It was good having a few days there and unwinding after the stressful business of still not having the studio built.

And Merimbula held many treasures - the Lake board walk with pelicans and other fisher folk enjoying the evening; the mangroves dancing lightly over the mud; the kayak on Wallagoot Lake where the sheltered side of the lake lured us out into the chop on the other side to battle it back against a bit of a wind.

A great break - thank you Shirley - now back to work!

Shirley's Exhibition

The exhibition is at Bulleen Art and Garden. It's a great place for the ceramics with the garden just outside.



Lots of friends and family turned up for the opening and deservedly - the bowls are beautiful - and there may not be too many more in the future - they are getting harder to make, even though the forms keep getting better.


And it's great to share the joy of making things.

Easter Holidays 2009

Easter was good - I went with friends to Balranald - on Saturday we visited Lake Mungo National Park and on Sunday we kayaked on the Murrumbidgee River.

I can't find a better one....

I was looking for a clip of waster moulding in plaster - I found this... but is there something better?

The bottom fell out?

So we live in a contracting economy? Not the first bubble to burst but this could be one of those crashes that they warn us about in the Limits to Growth... followed by oscillations until we reach some sort of stability. If it were not so obvious that humans only respond to crises then we could plan for an orderly contraction to a reasonable level of consumption and production so that we had a pleasant life without over stretching the environment.

You could start by saying that for mortgages the ratio of equity to the total price will remain fixed - except for repayments - so that as the value of the house drops the size of the mortgage drops - the bank absorbing the pain just as the home owner does.... not so silly really - just a spreading of the risk and it would mean that people on a mortgage won't be so pressed to use their stimulus package money for debt reduction. They'll know that their house will always be worth more than they owe on it.

And of course when (if) the economy picks up again the ratio will be preserved up to the point it was at in 2007. So for someone who just sits tight and spends their money they will be in the same position (and so will the bank) at the end as at the start. So you can spend the stimulus package money on a solar hot water service, or buying green power, or a bike....

If you know that things are going to contract why not do it sensibly and work out what we want to achieve - it is like moving to a smaller house - it is a blessed relief to throw out/sell/recycle/give away all those things that you don't really want and that are not contributing to your happiness. Much of our wealth is a burden - why are we so obliged to run the rat race? There has to be a better way.