Some restoration work

Ten years ago I painted a trompe l'oeil, or 'trick of the eye' on the wall beside our pool. It was beginning to fade and paint was flaking away so it has had some restoration work done on it.

Trevi was fading off its hilltop!

It is not as easy to restore as it is to do the original but hopefully the end result will last another ten years.

A final protective coat and the wall is ready for the summer heat and and our enjoyment as we laze by and in the pool.

Our shrine has also had some restorative treatment.

Cherries

When a bird gets inside your netting cover it is time to pick your cherries.

Our cherry tree was planted as a 'buon ricordo' of a wonderful couple of weeks we spent in Petrignano di Lago on the Tuscan Umbrian border in 1998.

Busy, busy Benalla Festival

The busy-ness started yesterday with preparations and basic work on the Rotary Club of Benalla float to go in the parade. This morning we started at 9 am to put on the finishing touches. The wind was an unwelcome participant in the parade and we were not able to achieve our plans for the helium balloons. However the 75th Birthday Cake was well received, especially by the children, and Benalla Rotary continued to celebrate with the community.

I rode in the car that pulled the float so I wasn't able to get many photos of the other participants but there were 44 entries so it was a successful parade. This year's theme was 'Regional Harvest - celebrating our local producers'

Hay bale art?

This evening we went to the Book Launch Dinner for Peter Fitzsimons new book ' Gallipoli'. He is a fine story teller and kept the crowd enthralled until the fireworks began. We all went outside to watch the fireworks then returned for question time.

The Indigenous Garden, Benalla

The Benalla Festival continues and today we did a tour of the Indigenous Garden with local indigenous artist and Aboriginal community development worker Chris Thorne.
We have watched the garden develop over the eleven years we have lived in Benalla, and we have heard Chris speak on his life and his culture, but today was the first time we had seen the two together.
Chris is an amazing man with an amazing life story, and his passion for this garden is evident as he wanders through it explaining its significance to his people.

Zucchini pizza or zucchini focaccia - depending where you live

It takes hours to make and minutes to eat, but it is worth it. Very yummy!

Benalla Festival Hay Bale Art

Having been enthusiastic followers of the festivals in Umbria these past months, we decided we should be more active during the Benalla Festival which is running now.

On Sunday we did the Hay Bale Art Touring Trail which involved following a map to visit the entrants in this competition. Some were in town and others were in the rural districts around town, there was an open section and one for the schools. There were 32 entrants and they were all clever. Below are just a few of my favourites.

Benalla Rural City Infrastructure Department - Grader Hay

Comfort Inn - TooMOOla

Broken Creek Primary School - Sheep

Goorambat Football Netball Club - 1

Goorambat Football Netball Club - 2

W. J. Davies, Devenish - Miss Piggy

Anna Little, Devenish - Wise Old Owl

C & O. Hooper, Devenish - Ipsy, Wipsy Spider

Thoona Primary School - Little Red Riding Hood

Moorngag Hall - Celebrating the Community Harvest

Swanpool Store - Hamburger

Swanpool Cinema - Projector

What a fun day we had driving around the beautiful country-side photographing the works of art.

Sunsets

I have been working on creating a Photo Book on our five weeks in Panicale. I just have to post these early sunset photos of this incredibly picturesque hilltop village.

and what about these amazing sunsets?

I'm sure sunrises are beautiful too, but one thing I can't cope with is sunrise so we will never know!