Today brought my first 3 hr painting lesson, and it was most interesting. We didn’t actually paint anything but we did fool around sketching landscapes to get the idea of composition. I’m thinking about taking a trip out to the bush tomorrow and photographing the bushfire’s devastation, with the idea that it might make for an interesting landscape painting – which is our first assignment.
Following the class, I recommenced cleaning my friend’s house (I’ve had a lovely 5 week break) and it was hard work trying to get it back to my original standard. I think it might take me a couple of weeks to reach easy street.
And after that I went for a swim. In the local pool. Yes, stop the presses, I actually got in the non-heated pool, for the first time in 3 years. This is why: it is finally heated! It is an outdoor pool in a pretty cold town, and it’s only open in summer, but even then it’s still chilly in the water. Which is ok if you don’t suffer from cold induced urticaria. But if you do, then breaking out in huge welt-like itchy hives rather takes the shine off the idea of a nice dip. Anyway, they got a solar heating system going a few months ago and today was the first time I’d been able to go. Bliss.
Of course, I have lost all my swimming fitness and was only able to do 12 laps in 20 minutes, which was rather abysmal. But great to be out there. I used to swim a km (or a mile, depending on which country I lived in) a day, but I haven’t had the option to do that since we left Derby in June 2003. Over five years ago! My, how time flies. So I will be making the most of the pool until it closes at Easter. Not long, but better than nothing.
Then I came home and promptly got on with making mulberry ice cream. One of my friends has a huge tree laden with them each January and she’d picked me some on the weekend. I’ll be making a batch a day till they’re used up – it should make about 6L I reckon. Something will have to go from the freezer in order to make room. Oh these hard decisions…
And there has been a bad smell in the fridge for a few days now, so while I was doing the ice cream I decided I may as well give the fridge a thorough going over, with the vanilla essence and all that jazz. The job was originally planned for Monday but I talked myself out of it. I do hope the problem is fixed. I suspect something dripped onto the plastic ledge above the crisper and I am not sure if the smell can be totally removed. I had to take to it with spearmint essential oil in the end, but it is a cover-up at best.
Now it is time to prepare the evening meal and I’m tackling a warm scallop salad. Frankly, I’ve been on the go for the last 12 hrs and I’d rather be lying on the sofa with my feet up sipping a G&T, but the scallops were in the freezer, and I’m under pressure to offload from that area, so….
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