Happy to be back

The last few months have been very difficult and I have tried very hard to get back into the swing of writing but the words never came. My dad passed away in March after a month in hospital. Watching him fade and waiting for the day he would no longer be with us was all consuming for our family. Mum has made us proud by the way she has handled it all and by her strength. This Anzac Day we scattered his ashes in a spot he loved and where we spend time as a family. It was a special day and the fly over by the Hornet jet in honour of the Anzacs was a tribute we took as a special little moment for dad as well.

In the midst of this life must go on and my job was to plan a school Home Economics trip to Melbourne again this April. The excitement seemed incidental and I didn't really want to go...but I'm glad now that I did. So many lovely other things to think about and keep me busy. Melbourne is such an exciting and inspiring place to visit. The weather for the trip was pleasant, cool enough to allow some winter dressing and keep comfortable while running from here to there. One of the first visits I had arranged was to RMIT. The Brunswick campus is home to the school of fashion and textiles. WOW!! I wished I was 30 years younger so I could sign up. I loved the screen printing area. So much room to play around in and so many gorgeous pieces of equipment. There is something about screen printing that is so addictive.
Below are some images I took on the tour -



A group of final year students working on fashion garments. The room had beautiful big windows and the light was streaming in. What a studio.

This was a weaving studio. I loved the way the large spools of colour were arranged on the shelves.
Well used screens stacked up.

Holly and I at St. Kilda. Had to walk off the yummy cakes we were instructed to buy from the delectable Acland St cake shops.. Mandatory I was told by Head of Dept.

Me again with some interesting grafitti behind. We had a very pleasant and informative foodies walking tour of Melbourne with Alan Campion. He is a well respected food author and critic and we really enjoyed learning more about the history of the Melbourne food scene as well as picking up some insight on out of the way places to enjoy next time.

I love this...think it was at the top of Rose St. Collaged image of a young girl with cards...they have fallen and are pooling on the pavement.

Have to talk about the food...we did a lot of eating! This is chicken with beetroot and yoghurt a main course -sharing plate at The Press Club ( George Calombaris's restaurant). Absolutely delicious, would go there again in a heartbeat.

This was the other main - wild Barramundi on spinach. Notice the black cypriot salt. This fish was also delicious.

For something a little fancy we finished the trip with a meal at The Flower Drum. You don't go there if your hungry you go for the experience. And it certainly was that. This entree was amazing...barra noodles, shitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots. I wanted MORE!!

Lastly a few of the pastries bought at St. Kilda to share. This one was apparently advertised as the best vanilla slice in the state. I think they were right without tasting the rest.

This one looked so pretty...tasted good too.

And lastly, our cup cake aficionado was quite pleased with taste, texture and aesthetics of this one, I think that's what she said...hard to enunciate with a mouthful of cake.

Talk soon, lots of inspiration for us crafters in Melbourne.

Deb