Dice living today.  First roll said water the fernery which I have done, the next said write here.  The other choices were write my Aunt, wash the car (ick!), do yoga, plant the leek seeds in a seedling box,  draw (which I'll do after lunch anyway).  As I do one activity, I cross it out and add another.  I can add something fun or something I procrastinate doing.  Dice-ing works on those days when I am not terribly focussed or motivated to do any one thing but have a lot to do.  It's also fun and engenders a small thrill of excitement.  I suspect that small thrill is because I am aligning myself in a small way with the hidden vibrations of the universe.  Too lofty a claim for such a small thing?  Perhaps but why does the Tarot so often prove correct or apt for the questioner?  Ditto the I Ching?  Jung didn't scoff at it and neither do I.  There are more things in the Universe Horatio, etc.

We seem to have a permanent population of whistling ducks in the peach paddock.  About twenty of them plucking the grass like little web footed lawnmowers.   We also have a young scrub turkey who shows up nearly every afternoon to scratch around the gardens.  He's very bold and doesn't seem frightened of us or the dogs.  If we get too close he scuttles into the long grass but we have to be pretty close before he takes off.

Yesterday, R went with our neighbour to his cousin's house.  Her husband died a month or so ago.  He was a hoarder of sorts and as alot of his stuff is large and unwieldy R wants to give her a hand.  The husband collected Buddhas.  R asked if I was interested in having one.  Sure I said so he brought home about twenty of them.  Most of them are resin or plaster, very ornate and not very appealing but he did bring have a few wooden ones that are delightful.  Especially this large (3/4 computer CPU size) wood fellow with a cheery grin and an ample, very ample belly.  Loved him on sight.  But I have taken a few others.  One very large red resin fellow, very complicated with wicker hat, chinese characters (ideograms?), bags and a string of coins I have put in the fernery.  He is too fussy to be in the house (too fussy to clean properly either) but his deep red looks great in the green of the fernery.  I'm quite chuffed.  Also in the collection were 3 soapstone figurines; one of Kwan Yin another of Ganesh but I don't know who the third guy is.  I think he's a Buddha but he's different in form, more like an Indian god than Chinese.  I've always liked soapstone. 

I have had a small wood Buddha here in the office for a few years now.  I bought him somewhere in the States at a second hand shop or a garage sale or something.  He's a laughing Buddha.  He finds life not only amusing but a downright hoot.  I couldn't resist him then and I still love him now.

The convex mirror drawing is going well.  I am working on the area surrounding the mirror.  Decided against trying to copy the actual frame that the mirror is in.  Just wouldn't have worked.  It has been a very fiddly piece but I have enjoyed it.  It isn't as well done as I'd like.  I'm really trying to slow down and take the time it takes but even though I'm not rushing through I just don't have the skill to make it as good as what is in my head.  

I see the Archibald is on again.  One day I'd like to get down to see it.  800 entries of which only 40 or 50 will be hung.   There are some talented people out there.  Saw some of the works in the packing room on TV.  I love it that people still love to draw and paint.    I guess I'm just too old and set in my opinions to be agog about some of the stuff which is considered art today.  (Still suspect a good few of them are having a wank).

Watched a piece on ABCs Art Nation about the new gallery MONA (Museum of Old and Modern Art).  It features the collection of David Walsh.  No doubt there are many beautiful pieces in it but what grabs the news and therefore what we see are the more dubious 'works of art'.  One is a machine which makes faeces.  Put the food in one end and through a series of tubes and beakers the end result are blobs of poo.  What an inspiring work!  Another was a painting, perhaps a photograph, of people spreading their cheeks so their anus was on view.  Inspiring!  Another was of beef carcasses hung on a wall.  I'm faint with awe!    What a load of codswallop!  It's privately funded and it does reflect the taste of the collector so if that's what blows his hair back, good for him.   But I can't help but think some 'artists' are laughing all the way to the bank. 

Dreamed a cockatoo dream. It was dark or near dark. I was reclining on something when a bird landed on my chest. It was big. It was a cockatoo. Because I have a healthy fear of their beaks I quickly wrapped my hands around its body and placed it on the floor. It climbed back. Then the lights came on and I saw it was a one-eyed cockatoo that Karen had worked on. It was a nice, non-biting bird. That's all I remember. In real life Karen has not removed the eye of a cockatoo to my knowledge. It would be nice to know the meaning of this dream. I assume it's related to Jack somehow.
Jack is progressing. He's fascinated with R and is less aggressive with me even allowing me to pet him a little. He wants to come in the house, making his way to the deck at any opportunity. Yesterday I thought I'd bring him inside but he saw Natalia waiting just inside the door and started to panic so I didn't pursue it. Makes me think he was a house bird. Would love to know what his early life was like. He laughs, says hello, hello cocky and scratch. The other day he said 'what are you doing?' but hasn't said it since. Why did a talking bird that doesn't know he can fly end up walking beside the road on the Sunshine Coast?
This morning Jack hesitated as usual when I first went in with the target stick and sunflower seeds. I cut the time I waited to less than five seconds. Fed the greenies (Suki is still doing well as a free bird but until he leaves he is getting supplement food) then tried him again. As usual, he attacked the stick the first time. The other three times he just mouthed it. It helps that I ignore the savageness of that first bite. I want him to bite it, it doesn't matter whether he attacks or mouths it. Put his seed in afterwards - all the normal routine except he didn't go and eat breakfast. Instead he came to the front of the aviary. Let him out and he made his way to the deck. We still have the t-stand so we put him on that while we had our coffee. He seemed content. He showed off a little with his little wave and his wing and head flipping. Afterwards he was returned to the aviary and he went and ate. Noticed his poo was a little sloppy, a little mixed so have put coccivet in the water.
Working on another convex mirror image drawing. Liked my first one, liked the concept and the look. Love Escher's work. One problem I'm having, besides the usual lack of technical expertise, is that I can't SEE. Am working on my reflection and I can't see the details well enough to get a good likeness. Ditto details in the background where the mirror picks up objects in the distance. Have to use artistic license in cutting out and rearranging things a bit of course but I am forced to cut a little more than I'd like because I can't see it well enough to sketch it.
I do love seeing a drawing emerge. It's a long way from being finished. Getting the perspective right was very hard - it's still not quite correct but close enough to live with. Practice will improve my technique but it is frustrating to see something right there and not be able to duplicate it. My hand doesn't shake. For most of the drawing I can see details, yet the ability to get those details down eludes me.
Yesterday P was supposed to visit for a coffee. The flood destroyed fence was being repaired by his employee and a guest and P thought he'd drop in while they were there. I chickened out. At 55 one would think I'd be easier with company but company still makes me nervous so I wrote him and said R would be away until early afternoon, assuming, correctly as it turned out, that he would defer a visit until R was home. It's not that I am worried about being alone with him or what the neighbours would think - I just am a better hostess with the buffer of R to help. Not with N when she was visiting. Seeing her was easy. It was as though she'd never left. We kind of picked up where we left off. She hasn't changed and neither, I guess, have I.