I guess I should fill my extensive audience in on the status of the garden. After all, much of this blog began around that subject, as it provided many of the images I laboriously adapted, modified, varied, amended, changed and created, and sweated (is that a word?), agonised, worried and fretted about.

The neighbours' decision to remove one of the tallest and most obstructive trees from their backyard provided the necessary impetus to, firstly, toast the great George Harrison with a rousing rendition: Here Comes the Sun! - and then plan the overhaul of the previously less serviceable garden beds. The joy! du dn du du.......and ah said, its alright. The anticipation! Oh my god, the work(!) involved in pulling out existing shrubbery junk and replacing with deep, sleeper-walled, composted, delicious earthy, mulchy stepped gardens, just waiting for as many seedlings as I can afford.

So, the good news is its now full up (no wonder I haven't had time to blog!). Zucchini, cucumber, beans, snow peas, eggplant, strawberries, pumpkin, mandarin, curry plant and the mighty tomatoes. I'm hoping, come fruition, my shopping days are over for the summer (excepting clothes - don't have the room for a cotton crop - and shoes).

OK - last time it had been forever - now its even longer. Only a week or two to go until the final class and the semester is finito. The web pages are up and done - and I almost feel like I know Dreamweaver now (I've been telling any IT dudes that I'm writing code and they roll their eyes & go "Yeah, course you are").

So, I'm going to add in some pics that I didn't end up using in the book. Below is THE watermelon I grew last Spring. Actually, I can't find the photo of the watermelon - I have just tried to log on remotely to work network where the photo truly exists, but I accessing the email archive is proving impossible. So, instead here is a picture of my niece, Isabella, who took the photo of the watermelon I grew!

Goodness - its been forever. Not that I haven't been doing some "stuff" - stuff-a-plenty happening - just haven't had the time/equipment required to blog. Second semester is all about designing a web page and that's been the focus. I've sketched the basic layout and shall attempt the hatching of during this evening's class.

Success this evening - have now printed out four pages for the book. Two from last week & I don't mind them, but I much prefer the two from tonight. I think cause I managed to photoshop an image delightfully (at least delightfully to me!) and if there was more time (or I was doing this at home) I'd like to work much more on the first two. The lemon I like anyway, not cause I worked a lot on it: I just love the colours.

Tonight is printing prac. At least first attempt. Shall see how things go before the arrangement and layout.

I've put this stuff in cause it has been some "stuff I do". I happened to see one of the Star Portraits episodes this week with Rolf. (Link: http://www.starportraits.co.uk/; not that the webpage is interesting - its not - its just indicative if you are unaware of that which I write). It was one I hadn't seen the first time round (Bill Oddie). Its not the famous people factor that interests me in this televisual feast; it is firstly that you get to watch Rolf, and secondly you get to watch HOW different people work with paint. Or pencil. Or charcoal, or paper, or computer or whatever it is they work with. And HOW painting the very same thing can be depicted in ways entirely differently, yet be completely recognisable.

I've just read probably the most exacting phrase I've ever heard in relation to Rolf - "he does not carry the cultural cachet of other Australian exports"(Farah Farouque, The Age), which probably accounts for the look of fright and the cautious backing away of people whenever I pontificate on the man's genius. Most people grow out of their childhood idol, and I did too, as a childrens' entertainer, but while doing that, Rolf went and surprised me by existing very successfully as something else as well - an impressive artist. And all the while he was simply being like my dad - a man who wanted to entertain and didn't care what adults thought of his garrulousness; he knew kids loved it.

This week in class I need to get to the images. I've got some saved on the stick, which have been through myriad filters and actions and distortions in the "shop", only to have mistakenly flown off the Mac, or trashed themselves in front of my widening, frightened eyes as I watched hours of adjustments progress back to the beginning image. Hard to explain the sweat, learning and creativity expended in an image that remains the same.