Report on my recent trip to Canberra

Thanks to my online friend Doreen I DID manage that trip to Canberra to see the Exhibition of the Ballets Russes costumes at the National Gallery. I caught the 6.10 am train from my home to meet the CountryLink train at Strathfield station for the 4 hour 15 minute trip, arriving just after 11 am on the Thursday. My little portable DVD player with earphones came in very handy for a movie or 2 during the trip up and back.

Doreen met me at the station and we drove to the National Botanical Gardens to see an exhibition of large scale lace that had been recommended to me, called "Rhythm Interrupted - Life Redirected" by Jenny Rees and Vicki Taylor. 15 large panels 1.22 metre x 80 cm were worked in linen and raffia thread in bobbin lace with non-traditional plastics and chunky materials as embellishments to depict the progression of life before, during and after a bushfire. The girls used Jenny's experience of losing her home in the January 2003 Canberra bushfires and the more recent Victorian bushfires as their inspiration for the works.

Doreen and her lovely husband Stephen fed and watered me and gave me a much appreciated comfortable room for the night. That night after dinner Doreen showed me all her wonderful textile work and we talked and talked like we'd known each other for years. We even chose a similar friendship gift for each other, crazy quilted 3D hearts. On Sunday afternoon after a leisurely lunch we visited the Ballets Russes exhibition, and I ran into 2 fellow Embroiderers' Guild members also visiting the Gallery, what a small world! Fabulous exhibition, can't believe the costumes were largely trompe l'oeil effect with paint and cheap fabric. Finally Doreen delivered me to the return train in ample time for a fellow traveller to take a photo of us on the station seat. What a great trip, thanks Doreen and Stephen for your hospitality and friendship, must do it again some time.