Its
pouring rain as Moose drops me off on the wrong side of the bridge to the Art
Gallery. So I head down to the local café and take cover until the rain stops,
writing my journal and sipping a hot caramel Latte. Moose has headed off with
Bonnie to find somewhere to park with the van and possibly take Bon for a walk
as I have told him I could be awhile.
Once
the rain stops I have a wander through a couple of shops then head out across
the bridge and into the dry warm interior of the Benalla Art gallery.
The
touring embroidery exhibit “SlipStitch” is free to visit. I take my time
wandering around this small but interesting contemporary exhibit. The word Slip
Stitch is used to indicate work loosely stitched together, not for purely
decorative or functional purposes. My
heart skipped a beat as I identified with artists who see the possibilities of
using thread and fibre to tell a story, to draw and to bring embroidery from
the olden days to now!
There
were pieces where the artist used her machine as if it were a pencil to sketch
on her fabric. Others were photos, given more depth with the use of applique
and embroidery and using one detail like an eye or a telling expression to
bring the piece to life. 
A couple of pieces were purely drawn with thread which were amazing in themselves but then the artist placed lighting to show a solid shadow of the thread drawing. Some pieces were completed by hand using a basic running stitch on original and fun designs. All too soon I had looked at every piece, half a dozen times and purchased the catalogue.
It’s
time to confess that sometimes it’s not all giggles and hugs in the touring
Cabbage Ban. I am a little bit upset with Moose at the moment and he is a
little upset with me so I’m not quite ready to return to the cabbage ban so I
wander around a bit more and find myself in a room with about 30 tv screens on
one wall.
Each screen has a person saying “I forgive you”. I have to admit my first reaction was “You have got to be bloody kidding me!” In fact that was probably my continuing thought. I sat on a bench in the room waiting to see what else they had to say and can now report that was it, the mantra “I Forgive you”.
The next wall was covered with little cloud post it notes which previous audience members had filled in; with people they wanted to Forgive and the reason why.
A pile of blank cloud ‘post it’ notes are available for anyone else who wanted to join in. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry so I texted Jessie who I knew would see the funny side which she did and we spent a good three quarters of an hour flicking texts of the sorts of notes we would like to add to the wall. As Jess pointed out forget the ‘post it’ notes, we needed A3 sheets of paper! I’m pretty sure the artist did not mean for us to react the way we did but in a strange way it was the best therapy ever and I left the art gallery with a smile back on my face.
I rang Moose to see if he was finished, walking, napping or whatever he was doing in my absence. He replied he was and he’d meet me where he dropped me off so I buttoned up my coat and headed back over the bridge.
 |
| Five minute loop "I Forgive You" |
Each screen has a person saying “I forgive you”. I have to admit my first reaction was “You have got to be bloody kidding me!” In fact that was probably my continuing thought. I sat on a bench in the room waiting to see what else they had to say and can now report that was it, the mantra “I Forgive you”.
 |
| Wall of "post it" notes of forgiveness |
The next wall was covered with little cloud post it notes which previous audience members had filled in; with people they wanted to Forgive and the reason why.
 |
| Close up of one of the funnier notes |
A pile of blank cloud ‘post it’ notes are available for anyone else who wanted to join in. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry so I texted Jessie who I knew would see the funny side which she did and we spent a good three quarters of an hour flicking texts of the sorts of notes we would like to add to the wall. As Jess pointed out forget the ‘post it’ notes, we needed A3 sheets of paper! I’m pretty sure the artist did not mean for us to react the way we did but in a strange way it was the best therapy ever and I left the art gallery with a smile back on my face.
I rang Moose to see if he was finished, walking, napping or whatever he was doing in my absence. He replied he was and he’d meet me where he dropped me off so I buttoned up my coat and headed back over the bridge.
I
found the Moose as the Ute tends to stand out with a surf ski in bright yellow
cover on the roof and a rather large van attached to it. We hit the road. Signs
told us that Koalas were in the area so I travelled with my eyes pointed
towards the higher branches of trees but as usual not a Koala in sight.
There’s
no doubt that it is winter. The clouds are getting bigger and greyer. When we
stop at Mansfield it is icy cold. The shopping centre is busy. We find the
supermarket for some supplies and a great little bookshop. While Moose takes
the shopping back to the car, I head to the bakery for fresh bread, while
waiting to be served I realized I hadn't eaten lunch. It was 3.30 pm and I was
starving. This is my excuse for vacuuming up a sausage roll while I waited for a
coffee being made.
There are beautiful old buildings blending with new ones. I make it back to the
car without getting too wet and with a peace offering of a custard tart.
A
little further down the road we come to Gough Bay. The caravan park is near a
large lake but to paddle it moose will have to put ski on car. However there is
a cafe onsite.
There were two sites available, one between a couple of chalets and one out on an oval. We chose the latter. Owner tells us it's fine to let Bonnie run free. Bonnie took that has a signal that when no one is looking she can "take off". She disappeared up the back of the caravan park but did have the sense to return to the 20th whistle before we went hunting for her.
Doing the evening Bonnie loo run - on leash so she doesn't run off. We (Bon & I) both got the fright of our lives as through the pitch dark several sets of glowing eyes could be seen. I took a breath figuring it was kangaroos. Bonnie stared them down which scared 5 or six little ones and they bounced off, but it had the opposite effect on a large one, with a couple of long smooth jumps he started towards us. Thankfully by pulling Bonnie after me he decided we were not a threat and we finished our walk very quickly.
There were two sites available, one between a couple of chalets and one out on an oval. We chose the latter. Owner tells us it's fine to let Bonnie run free. Bonnie took that has a signal that when no one is looking she can "take off". She disappeared up the back of the caravan park but did have the sense to return to the 20th whistle before we went hunting for her.
Doing the evening Bonnie loo run - on leash so she doesn't run off. We (Bon & I) both got the fright of our lives as through the pitch dark several sets of glowing eyes could be seen. I took a breath figuring it was kangaroos. Bonnie stared them down which scared 5 or six little ones and they bounced off, but it had the opposite effect on a large one, with a couple of long smooth jumps he started towards us. Thankfully by pulling Bonnie after me he decided we were not a threat and we finished our walk very quickly.
Napping Moose & Slip Stitching Moz signing off x
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