Planet Ruby Starrs

I'm soooo desperate for an extended adventure - some sunshine - a different landscape and the sea.... so 4 more sleeps and we head off into the yonder blue heading for Perth Western Australia. Of course there is an Eclipse involved - the basic premise for us planning such a big trip - the irony is that the build up, the expense, the 24 hour flight plan, living in a campervan for months (which tbh is no hardship) could technically be blamed on a one minute natural phenomena! A stunningly beautiful one but this time very short and hopefully sweet - and of course its very weather dependant!! If its cloudy - unlikely where we are going but I wouldn't care to be complacent - there is limited viewing!  hence making a holiday out of the occasion - lots of other exciting things to do and see around the coastal areas of WA. This will be my fifth eclipse - I have been very lucky and the weather has always been kind allowing me some beautiful experiences - the finest nature can offer - It...

Its 5 years this January since I started writing this blog and this is the 500th post... it started as a college assignment - something we had to do to showcase our work in progress, our inspiration and our creative journey.  For many that's where it stopped but as a compulsive diary/notes/list keeper I have kept it up - admittedly its a lot more sporadic now - partly because my degree journey ended and also due to a lethargy brought on by lack of adventures as life is a little bit on hold while Covid sweeps the world.  For the most part this blog has been about my creative experiences but all of those are in turn influenced by my general life and being so there a lot of me in these posts as well.   Five years is a long time to reflect back over and just whizzing through the post heading shows a multitude of experiences - creative and otherwise - slowly documenting some of my life and that of my friends and family - it has slipped by quite fast in places.. ...

We are on the camping and its slowly filling up.  All the locals are taking this once in a life time opportunity to make some dosh... water for sale ..food..soda... pork borritos..rides on tractors all can be had for a dollar up.  Also there's loads of religious stuff going on tons of preachy types coming round offering lifts to church, handing out leaflets and that's how we got to meet Pastor Les and his wife Denise.  A very pleasant couple, they joined us at our heavily guarded picnic table (its mine and not left empty at any moment or someone will have it... they are practically currency here) giving us a leaflet about the eclipse.. at first glance it looked innocuous, just another publication with a nice shiny eclipse picture on and then I spotted the cross symbol on the back. By this time we were well into conversation - yes all the way from England via Vancouver road trip... love USA.. oh an eclipse!  Blah blah... they were a nice couple we decided to sit ...

Onwards through wet wales - very lovely rolling hills and green lush valleys.  We visited a couple of eclipse chums and received wonderful hospitality, good food, comfy bed and good conversation... we hatched some vague plans for eclipse chasing in the States next year.. I realise we need to do some serious thinking about this as it looms as potentially our next adventure.. I haven't had much time to draw the last couple of days.. I did a little bit of weaving inspired by some baskets I saw in a museum in Aberystwyth. We came across the museum by chance.. the less then sunny weather left us wandering (meandering even) around town considering options for the day.  Some of the architecture in Aberystwyth is very beautiful and one building in particular caught my eye - the ground floor was Boots but upstairs advertised itself as local museum.  It was a very grand ornate ediface so we went to have a look.  We were delighted to discover it was an old victoria...