It's been a while...

Yes, I have been slack, and yes, it is getting harder to get enthusiastic about filling in this blog, but here goes...

I'm not bored! No way, in fact life is so full and interesting at present that I'm prepared to say I wouldn't be dead for quids. Presently I'm on the first week of a fortnight's spring vacation, and it has just flown by. Rene and I visited Canberra last weekend flying down Friday afternoon and returning Sunday evening. We caught up with Graeme, Neil and Gavin as well as visiting the 21st annual Floriade along the shoreline of Lake Burley Griffin in the centre of Canberra and also caught the Emily Kame Kngwarreye exhibition at the National Museum of Australia.

What a brilliant artist this lady was, having only painted from the age of 80 for a few short years. To produce such works without ever seeing a gallery or had lessons was brilliant to behold in person. It's on until October 12 if you have the opportunity to see it in Canberra. The collection was assembled for Osaka and Tokyo exhibitions and its Canberra outing is the only one in Australia.
Enjoy some of the exhibition at this site - the colours are very special indeed. http://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/utopia_the_genius_of_emily_kame_kngwarreye/the_exhibition/

Canberra's weather was warmer than I had expected, therefore I had to buy, firstly, two short sleeved shirts and later another three (there was a sale on). I really like Canberra, and the future plans for this 'bush' capital are truly exciting. I'd still rather call Brisbane home.
We're just days off Rene's sister Claartje and her partner Jan arriving in Brisbane. They're coming on Monday morning after a stop over in Hong Kong. We're off to Straddie (North Stradbroke Island) on Wednesday for their beach wedding on Thursday with a lovely dinner at Amis restaurant high above the water. They're opening the bar early for us to allow us to sit and watch the sunset whilst sipping our champagne. We have a lovely apartment over there high above the ocean which will be cosy and suggest they are anywhere else but Holland.


Our Dutch friend Janine had a wedding in the south of Holland earlier this month with a reception in a castle. She and her beau looked very happy indeed.

I attended my niece's wedding at the Gold Coast a couple of weeks ago and they had a delightful (if windy) ceremony beside the water and a terrific reception with loads of lovely food - plus my nephew drove me so I could drink freely and have an even better time. The warped photo is from my niece Katelyn's camera. My pictures of Michelle and her husband David suggest lots of wind. It was the first time in years that all the Langdales were in the same spot. Terrific day. No, I didn't have all that much to drink :)

Nephew David had an exam this week so his mum and dad replaced him at our table. Now the trivia night is at a local gay pub here in Brisbane, and when Adele told her children that they were going to the pub to replace their son (at my request) the kids were horrified that they would set foot in such a place. Well, we all had a nice dinner, several drinks and many laughs, and sadly we still only came fourth, but a good night was had by all.


We now have our new BBQ working up on the front deck. Assembly of the thing was not an issue, the sourcing of the correct connection hose from a bayonet fitting on the wall of the deck to the BBQ was something else - four efforts to locate the correct pipe resulted in dinner from said BBQ on the plates last night for the first time. I tell you what though, the types of folk working at these plumbing supplies places leaves a lot to be desired. The second last time I drove from home to South Brisbane with the specifications and came back with a tube with one wrong thread so I had to go back again. AARRGGGHHHHH!!!!! They even had the damn bottle gas connection pipe there (I took it with me) but they STILL stuffed up. Anyway, I'm over it now, but if we ran our schools like some of these businesses run theirs we'd produce even more morons than we presently do - mind you, there's a career in plumbing ahead of them for sure (ouch!).


The air conditioning folk from two companies returned yet again this morning to fix the noise/vibration issues when it is on the heating stage of operation. Rene is severely pi#*ed off with them all after four previous efforts to solve the problem (he stayed in bed refusing to deal with them again), but hooray, today we had a breakthrough. Apparently there is a pipe that was in contact with something important that created a resonance, so a clip fixed that, plus they're returning with some sound deadening material for around the condenser outside. Maybe they'll get their final 10% payment after all. It has only taken 8 weeks. Telstra still has to fix the shoddy line installation done 9 weeks ago. It ought to happen tomorrow, but I'll believe it when it happens. Oh, the joys of building. (edit: a Telstra guy came, saw how it was left, was amazed at how a colleague could do such a thing, rectified it, we are now happy customers).


The Qantas A380 landed in Brisbane today on a technical flight to check facilities here and do some publicity. Brisbane is one of 60 airports worldwide capable of handling this 450 seat aircraft. Our services don't begin until next year but the first commercial flight for the A380 to LAX happens on October 20 leaving from Sydney.

On the subject of planes, we flew in a brand new Virgin Embraer 190 to Canberra and back at the weekend. What a delightful Brazilian aircraft this is. Very comfortable, and it flies at 38 000' too. Ideal for the smaller capacity routes - it has 104 seats.


Went this evening with our friend Kay to see 'In Bruges'. Kay had seen it twice before and still wanted to see it with us again. What a fine film, very black, funny in parts, an incredible amount of swearing that surprisingly didn't irritate me, fine acting from a terrific cast, and of course the beautiful city of Bruges. Kay had been with me to Bruges in 2004, and Rene and I had been there a few months earlier, so we had a lot to watch as well as listen to. Lamenting as to why they (the hit men) had to hide out and get lost in Bruges, one guy says they could have done it in Croydon, then adds, "or Coventry". I laughed out loud, seriously loud. Rene and I hadn't been to the movies since the coast, so it was a good one to see. I've missed 'Mamma Mia', I'll try to catch a rerun before it hits the video stores.

(The statue they're sitting in front of is of Jan Van Eyke, the inventor of oil painting. His first oil painting is in the cathedral in neighbouring Ghent.)

Rene has just turned on the security, it's after midnight, I'd better toddle off to bed. Tomorrow we have five guests for dinner - Rene's doing Indonesian rice table, I'm doing a blueberry and passion fruit cheesecake. Saturday sees us off again to the coast for the monthly cards night, and we'll stay over at the farm and take our cossies along for a swim too (the weather is very warm right now).

Until next time - oh, I'll mention the kookaburras, water dragons and carpet snake next update.

New Photos from the Opening

Rene looks very happy with what's happening around him. It was a little scary for us both since we are novices in this area of opening a gallery, organising an auctions, catering for a large group. But as I said last time, our friends rallied round and made the day a huge success.

Some additional photos came in yesterday from the opening. I was going to edit last weekend's post, but lack of time means you get them added, not edited. I like most of them...
Intensely studying the various paintings on show.
One of our new neighbours, Claire, and Amy, my god daughter (bless her) discussing the art. Claire left the next day for Ireland - I'm pretty sure it wasn't because we're terrible neighbours.
The sign has been unveiled.
The Dutch Consul gave a fine, often humorous, speech.
Eddie did the 'Welcome to Country' and was a huge hit with the audience.

Karen's Crab Dip

I think this is a first on this blog - a recipe. It comes from Karen and it was such a hit last Saturday at the opening. It has been requested by several people; therefore I’m sending it out to all via the blog. It was quickly handwritten on a sheet of paper and left there on the bench in the kitchen. Neither Rene nor I remember it being discussed or written out, so nothing has been done with it for a week until now. I do remember people having seconds even before the plate had moved on (it was THAT good).

250g Philly cheese, softened, chopped roughly
Drain 250g tin crab meat
Dash soy
2 shallots
Dollop milk (mix not too smooth)
When well mixed roll into ball. Chill.
Flaked almonds toasted in oven 20 mins - remove when brown
Coat chilled crab ball
Serve with crackers

You don’t have to bother with refrigerating left overs, there won’t be any.

Successful launch

The launch last Saturday of Rene's new gallery Centred Art was an even greater success than he could have wished. Friends came and helped with making canapes, served drinks, created flower arrangements and generally supported the day's proceedings.

A local Aboriginal speaker, Eddie, did the 'Welcome to Country' and spoke very eloquently of the feelings emoted by the art, plus he commented on the respectful way they were displayed. The Dutch Consul, performing the opening ceremony, read a prepared speech plus joked with various persons assembled in the space. Our local state member of parliament and the chairman of the Brisbane Airport Corporation (a Schipol company) were part of an estimated 75 people who filled the gallery with excited chatter and colour. The throng viewed the exhibition, and later bid on three donated paintings from art centres in Central Australia. The auction raised $3000 for the local group helping indigenous youth find their cultural heritage in urban Brisbane.

At the close of the day many paintings in the exhibition had also been bought, and along with this the gallery's reputation for being an ethical attempt to market indigenous art to the metropolitan market was launched.

A lot of friends stayed over for dinner and drinks on the deck upstairs. Our last guests left just before 2am, and this writer plus his wonderful but tired partner headed for bed, happy and content with what was the culmination of eighteen months work.

Upon rising the clean up was done quickly and we managed lunch at The Full Moon Hotel at Sandgate, this week voted the best hotel (pub) in the whole country. Three friends staying over was reduced to just one, and the evening was spent just chilling out.

In life one has to work hard to make friends and above all to keep them. We are truly blessed with friends who are not only lots of fun and totally fascinating to be around but also dependable. Yes, I'd like to gush more, but they know how much we love them all, and they'll all be reading this so, "thanks folks, thanks!"

Three friends got to the opening the day after arriving back from four months in Europe. It was so lovely to see them. Another got back from Central Australia to his home in Sydney and then turned around at 4am next day and drove 13 hours to Brisbane to be with us (and his lovely lady Gina). What an honour! Rene was truly taken aback by the success of the whole day, and I have to admit I was a little too. He's worked so very hard for weeks and weeks to get this business off the ground, plus we had to have the house finished in time too.

Our builder attended the opening along with his lovely partner. He received many compliments on the build of the house, and we received many positives about the design and decorating. It still has a little way to go, and the grounds have a LONG way to go, but I have to admit the house has a very comfortable feel about it. It is gallery below and home above and we are both very proud of it.

In a fortnight Rene and I head off to Canberra for a weekend of arts, flowers and friends. I'll also be on vacation for a fortnight during which time Rene's sister and her partner arrive from The Netherlands. After their beach wedding on North Stradbroke Island (Straddie) they are heading off with Rene to Central Australia where Rene will take them around for a week, then they'll head off to Sydney and Melbourne, dropping back in Brisbane a fortnight later. Rene will stay on a few days in Alice Springs and I'll stay here, work, manage the gallery and generally have 10 days to myself.

My friend Kit has got tickets for the Australia-Qatar football match on October 15 here in Brisbane. I haven't been to a football match since the three we went to during the 2000 Olympics. This is part of the qualifying round for the Asia Pacific section of the World Cup. Thanks Kit for going to all this trouble. It'll be lovely to attend this sporting event.

This weekend we're off to the monthly Sunshine Boys card night, this month at Coolum Beach. We're staying over at a friend's apartment at Maroochydore so it should be lots of enjoyment. The following weekend I'm off to my niece's wedding on the beach at the Gold Coast. Rene is staying home for the gallery and then he's going to an art show opening here in Nundah. The next day there's the Nundah Festival, our annual suburban local fair, with a need to network and meet more locals. Incidentally, today there came out the first edition of 'Nundah Life', a glossy local magazine with two mentions of Centred Art in the first issue.

I haven't even mentioned my work....that must be a good thing. I'm finding five days a week seems to fly, I enjoy it, that has to be a good thing. Hope you are enjoying whatever you are doing. Until next time......