Hanging around

Having arrived home at around midnight from the Lower Manhattan Crop I was keen to get my pages up on the Get it Scrapped website. I was really pleased that I got this page done. It wasn't as easy as I thought. The class was "Hold the Schmaltz" and I figured this approach would help me put on paper what I thought and felt about these photos. So there I am sitting at the table in the middle of the Friday Night crop and I start getting teary! I thought I'd be able to manage it all and no-one would notice but one woman commented on the photo of the eucalypt and asked where it was from I kinda hastily said Australia and she said you sound like you miss it. I replied that I did and continued on but then others around me asked a couple more questions and I just started near sobbing- immediately tissues are flung from just about every corner of the room (slight exaggeration here) . Janice who was next to me asked if it was my mum and I said that it was she said put it aside for a while it is still too raw try a more fun page. So much for me being able to hold the schmaltz! Once I'd pulled myself together I did complete what I set out to do and pleased with the result.
Here is the journaling We drove the long way to Castlemaine admiring the giant tors and the wattle in bloom. We meandered through the winter countryside, getting lost and then finding our way to Jan's bush property. We roamed through the eucalypts and she said her farewells to the bush.
All very cathartic for me although when I tried to read it to Michele when we were talking on Skype I told her I need to post it here cos I still couldn't read it without crying!
When I was talking to Michele I glanced out the window and the light as the sun was setting was reflected beautifully on the buildings around me. The advantage of using skype- you can get up and take a photo and use both hands while still maintaining conversations with people in Australia.

Having spoken with Michele and done nothing much else all day it was time to head to Catherine and Maria's Australia Day party. Given that Australia Day in on Monday it didn't lend itself to a party on the night hence the Saturday celebration. The people there were pretty much all consultants and people I knew. A small apartment which felt pleasantly crowded but not unbearably so. Catherine and Maria do a grand job of celebrations. Last year for Australia Day they were dressed in shorts and t-shirts and thongs (flips flops for you Americans- I'm not refering to their underwear)- well at least Catherine dressed that way last year given that it is summer in Australia. This year we arrived all quite casually and Maria and Catherine were dressed up to the nines. Australian flags everywhere. Catherine has some lovely Aboriginal art Emily Kngwarreye style (you can check out Emily's work here). Both Catherine and Maria had gone to a great deal of trouble planning and organizing.The wine and beer could be placed in an esky in the bathroom as all good Australian parties do- if it had been here we would have simply used the New York refrigerator- the blacony!
They had great Australian party fare including sausage rolls, party pies and tomato sauce as well as other finger food.
Maria had put together a number of games including \ a game of people bingo based on Australian icons and history, a game of housie(bingo) based on pictures of Australian icons, Rob gave us a fun quiz about Australian facts and we all participated in a game of two-up gambling using plastic money, after all Maria and Catherine are math consultants. It was a variation and an interpretation of the game and very funny.
Quite a few people brought out their Australian clobber hats and t-shirts- poor Marg decided to wear her driazabone which had seemed like a good idea at the start of the eveing but she was melting by the end of the night. I didn't manage to get a photo of her hence the link to the website.
It was another relatively late night (midnight) but a good night had by all I'd say.