Not Italy?

You look at the fresco on the ceiling; and the statues in the courtyard;  you look at the architecture of this two storey building complex and you pinch yourself and ask 'is this Monday and am I in Italy?'

But no, you are not in Italy but in a little bit of Italy on exactly the other side of the world.

Across the road from this ornate Italian edifice which houses a cinema as well as several restaurants and a weekend market, are small fibro and wooden dwellings, the type of dwellings that characterise Ettalong on the NSW Central Coast. Yes, you are in Ettalong, not in Italy. 

This is the most extraordinary building in the most extraordinary place; in a town full of seaside cottages, fifty meters from a lovely swimming beach and quite off the beaten track. How did this building land here?

'Italianate' architecture

Blue Waters

Brisbane Waters is nowhere near Brisbane but at my back door, on the Central Coast just north of Sydney in New South Wales.

Brisbane Waters near Woy Woy

We have a new local council and one of their ideas is to re-name Brisbane Waters to something less confusing. Big Blue Puddle perhaps, or the Aboriginal equivalent?

Brisbane Waters

I made a card from a recent painting of the Brisbane Waters. Not that anyone buys cards any more because postage has become so exorbitant it makes you think twice about sending cards. Perhaps I should figure out how to make my own e-cards. Now there's an idea.

NSW Central Coast Greeting Card

Yachts on Brisbane Waters

Tuesday's Central Coast Art Group 'paint out' was at Empire Bay where the only shade was at the table fishers use to gut their catch. Even that shade was disappearing fast, so rather than start a new painting I decided to add some yachts to a painting I'd started around the bay at Wagstaff several months ago. The result is an amalgam of both places but very typical of all the bays on Brisbane Waters.

There were two fishers sharing the shade and they discovered a large turtle camouflaged among the water weeds near the shore.
I heard one of them say to the other, "Good bit of bush tucker eh?"

Music among the cabbages

Yesterday afternoon students of the Central Coast Conservatorium of Music played at Kariong Eco Garden. They played Vivaldi's Spring among other pieces, standing amongst beds of cabbages and fruiting strawberries. Very appropriate.

Central Coast Conservatorium musicians at Kariong