may

The last little party I went to in Argentina was at the home of some excellent friends, Coyote and Lula live in La Consulta and are always great to catch up with. It was a classic Argentine evening. Surrounded by vineyards we sat under the Andes mountains drinking red malbec wine, feasting on an Asado (meat bbq), the guests played guitars and sang in that sad but strong tango style. It was a special night of laughs and fun in many ways but also it was a farewell as I have no idea when I shall return there.

Suddenly I found myself looking at maps like this on the back of economy seats and out of small windows I saw the tops of clouds obscuring the large complicated world below me.

Once over the pacific I spent some days running about Melbourne and I believe I saw people and did stuff there but I am really not that certain. Currently I am in Perth Western Australia. A very pretty and neat city with ample going on, as it now has 2.2 million inhabitants. There seems to be a lot of building going on and I wonder who shall pay for all that but it also has a fantastic climate and much more going for it. The native vegetation I love and the birdlife is wonderful, charming gardens, a strong art world, sporting activity galore as this is the religion of many Australians and at each dusk and dawn I watch smoke from controlled bushfires colour the sky over the Swan river where people catch prawns and crabs and zip about in all types of sea-craft.
In Perth, I managed to do a small artist talk at the Edith Cowan University for a group of art students and visit some galleries but I will not see much more this time as I must put on my maritime attire and consider the Indian Ocean for a bit. “Ship Ahoy” as they say.