The main event of the past couple of weeks has been Katie's "press up" party to mark the completion of her studio.
Katie's presses had arrived disassembled and in four crates - one Albion and one Columbian, both very large and weighing almost four tonnes in total. We had had the garage converted into a studio - the roof raised and lighting etc installed. When that was done, Chris Holliday came over from the UK with Sarah James to put the presses together again - this is the fourth time he has moved them: Katie wouldn't trust anyone else.
He did an amazing job. We had assumed we'd need to hire lifting gear, but he built incredible structures from the packing cases and raised the presses using those. Then he put everything together meticulously - the presses have never looked better. When he had finished, Katie invited all our neighbours and a lot of other friends to see the finished studio - another successful party to chalk up to our list. Chris spent lots of the evening explaining to people how the presses worked - they are marvels of Victorian engineering.
Not long afterwards, he and Sarah headed back to the UK. But they did thankfully find some time to enjoy themselves in and around Freo and with trips to Rottnest etc. Katie has now started cutting lino again, getting ready for the show she is having in London in September with Sarah and the other artists who came on her trip to the Simpson Desert and Cooper's Creek last year.
My shoulder is healing - I'm still in a sling most of the time but having the screw taken out next week. We had the AGM of the RSBCA, the group I cycle with, last week and I got awarded the "Autumn Leaves" award for crashing. Luckily I avoided the "Michelin Man" award for being too fat - I've been doing some pedaling on the trainer in the back yard but it's incredibly boring. Otherwise, work on PhD and other odds and ends is progressing.
Continuing to add to the portfolio of things I'd never done before - such as grape picking, when we helped John Sharp and Pip Sawyer at their vineyard in Margaret River one weekend. Still very pleasant autumn weather, which makes it rather frustrating not to be able to do more sailing - Katie has been crewing on Steve Ward's boat and they won the offshore regatta recently. She's now planning to enter some long-distance rowing events!