Mud day

A lovely warm and sunny day here in Connelys Marsh. I know, I told you it was Dunalley where I’m staying. That is the postal address and closest town of any sort. Connelys Marsh is the actual place where Crhis and Di have their home. Not sure I’ve seen a marsh, yet.

Di and I dove into mud work right after breakfast. We had prepped some cloth last night and pulled out the muds that she had on hand. Two different reds, a yellow ochre, a grey and a rich black. Worked up until lunch on sample pieces including one that Di had dyed with eucalypt leaves previously – we’ll see how that tannin works in keeping the mud colors. We even had Chris add a bit of color to one of the pieces.

I thought I was going to do a drive around by myself, but….. turns out I must’ve put the lights on by accident, so we wound up charging the battery instead of driving. Oh, well.  Got some bilum work done instead.

We did have a bit of excitement when Chris opened the boot (trunk) of the car and this big brown Huntsman spider (non-poisonous) sat there in the lock well staring at us. I think we must’ve injured it when Chris slammed the lid shut, but it did scurry off into the depths of the car’s body once we opened back up to have a peek. There was  another large one on the covering to the veranda couch as I covered the couch back up. The size really gets to me.  But I hear it is the little black ones I have to be careful with.

Earlier in the week I tore a hole in the sleeve of one of my shirts. An op shop shirt, it was made in Australia with all sorts of stitched circles and squares. I mudded some of the shapes during my Grampians Texture workshop to give it some color – worked well.  Not having an iron-n patch, I opened the hole a bit bigger and button-hole stitched around the edge. Now I have a real hole that mimics the design on the cloth.

One of the neighbors, Steve, had come over early in the day for a bit of a photo shoot – he is planning on entering some photo categories in the local fair coming up and needed a portrait subject. A quick pose or two and he was off, leaving behind an invitation to dinner at his place tonight.

Drinks and cheeses/crackers/olives at 7ish, a gormand chicken dish with broccoli and roasted potatoes, yams and that white carroty thing (lost the word!). His chicken was smothered with two of his chutneys – pear and peach. Almost like eating dessert for dinner!  And then we finished with a dessert of a very good vanilla and macadamia nut ice cream with fruit cocktail. YUM for all of it!

Steve is an interesting fellow and very friendly – he is sort of the neighborhood watch guy. He is recovering from an accident which damaged his neck so has lots of time on his hands. To keep from being bored, he is making all sorts of homemade jams, jellies and chutneys to enter into the fair – he has 30 of them ready to go. Zelda his dog only barks at possums and chooks (chickens). His goal is to rival the regular ladies who always take the ribbons.

We all will be hitting the road early tomorrow to see a bit of the eastern coastal area. Better get some sleep.

6 Replies to “Mud day”

  1. Wow, looked up a photo of that spider on the web and that’s one nasty looking specimen! Glad to hear it wasn’t dangerous…

  2. Count on you to make an unfortunate tear in your shirt into an opportunity for creativity! What a wonderful attitude you have. I’m so glad you’re keeping this blog — both because I get to share it and because it will be great keepsake for you.

  3. Hi Judy!

    Enjoying your stories of mud cloth creativity. Mud Mud Mud … I am always amazed at the beauty of the Earth in general and learning from you how lovely actual earth can make simple cloth is always enjoyable.

    I have been watching Australian media online. SkyNet and http://www.news.com.au/world and other AU news sources are excellent in covering the Japan catastrophe. Kevin Rudd reported Department of Foreign Affairs concerns about a large population of language teachers from Australia and other registered Australian citizens were in Sendai during the tsunami.

    Here back home, waking this morning to the news of the nuclear power plant explosion in Japan and the subsequent news that there may be a meltdown in progress – is another heartbreaking development to the tragedy.

    There is even news from USGS scientists that our little planet Earth has shifted on her axis:
    “It was a massive earthquake with some suggesting that they might have to revise the power of the quake upward from8.9 to 9.1.

    In fact the earthquake was so powerful that it caused some pretty major geological changes. Scientists from the United States Geological Service (USGS) shared some startling information while answering questions from the public today.

    Earth’s axis has reportedly shifted 10 inches as a result of the quake
    Japan’s coast is said to have permanently shifted 2.4 meters
    100+ aftershocks measuring 5.0 magnitude or more have hit Japan following the initial quake
    The quake was 900 times stronger than the one that hit San Francisco in 1989
    Shaking was felt as far away as China
    St. Louis, Missouri media outlets are reporting the city has moved an inch as a result of the quake
    Waves from the tsunami caused by the quake reached 32 feet
    via The Vancouver Sun”

    Though I do not wish to do so, it is difficult to escape the ongoing news of the world – not to mention it all on the heels of the more relatively personal NPR events (did you hear?) All the more beneficial therefore is reading your cheery and light-hearted blog.

    Hence, it is admittedly fun for me to turn to thoughts of YOUR location. So since you swapped places with the Prime Minister of Australia ( Boy I am impressed!) I thought you would enjoy knowing that while you were creatively mixing about in mud, Prime Minister Gillard was helping Michelle Obama promote “Our Day” this past week in Washington, D.C.
    http://www.pm.gov.au/blog/women-courage

    Personally, I am inspired by one particular “Woman of Courage” who is now sharing her creativity in Australia! Your wonderful blog is a pleasant diversion to other world news Judy. Can’t wait for the next exciting episode!

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