Good bread, excellent tarts

Advised by Spike's friend Alecks, we headed south-west along the Olympic Highway out of Wagga Wagga, making another long short cut on our journey ... this time heading home. We found, as instructed the Quinty Cake & Bakehouse. The breakfast was wholly ordinary ... even I could have poached eggs that would have been, how can one say it ... less solid. But that's not why people pull over or go twenty-five kilometres out of their way when driving to Sydney. The bread is very good. The tarts are excellent. We left, adequately fed but well-provisioned to drive north. Stop there if you're passing. I recommend the lemon tart, and the quince & almond. Yummmeee!

The play's the thing, said Hamlet

Not always.

We went to the theatre tonight in a cold and quiet Wagga Wagga. Us and eleven other audience members ... and one of them was the lead male's girlfriend! But it was fun. We chatted with the woman who is caretaker / bar tender / usher of the Riverina Theatre. Her enthusiasm was irresistible. Hers is, by the way, the only bar I know of where you can buy a mug of tea and a flute of decent-enough fizzy wine for five bucks. After the show we spoke briefly with the two cast members who seemed as happy that we were there as we were pleased to have made the effort. Wagga Wagga is clearly not a town that rolls up in huge numbers for contemporary work.

The play was staged by Gearstick Theatre Company, which is associated with the local university. They're committed to new writing, which is commendable. The play we saw, Ruby Moon written by Matt Cameron, is on this year's HSC list so that ought to ensure larger audiences when schools go back next week. Although I enjoyed the experience I can't say the text really grabbed me. I can see why you would get school students to study it... all those contemporary social issues: child abduction, mental ill-health, the alienating life of suburbia, male / female relationships, etc. And I can see why actors might like it ... two performers are allowed to present maybe ten characters so that would be enjoyable. The text itself, however, felt a bit clunky. One could see the joins so to speak.

But I'm nit-picking. We had an enjoyable evening.
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National glass collection

After a late start we ended our less than entirely successful search for a breakfast with lunch in the Wagga Wagga art gallery (pumpkin soup, which I found pleasant, surprisingly for me because I really don't like pumpkin, and ... would you believe after yesterday ... a melted cheese open sandwich!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). We then spent a couple of enjoyable hours in the gallery's studio art glass collection, which has been designated the nation's collection.

It was an interesting visit. The works were more modest than I had anticipated; smallish, careful pieces that may say more about the curator than the state of studio art glass in contemporary Australia.

There was a blown-glass work of three pieces (not unlike the blue piece here but in red) by one of Spike's tutors (Andrew Lavery) in the permanent collection. Given what Spike has told me about his deconstructionist tendencies, the work was rather more Modernist than I would have expected. I quite liked it.

There was a gorgeous cast-glass work, an expressionist head, by George Aslanis (not unlike the face shown here) with whom Spike (and her mum!) have just completed a two-week intensive course in glass-casting. The head was part of a temporary exhibition of work collected over the last thirty years by an enthusiast, Joyce Kerfoot. The collection may now or soon belong to the nation.

There were some likeable pieces in the collection: George's head, a monolith coloured like a Miro print, a very lovely vase by Ben Eddols and Kathy Eliot, an even lovelier cast form by her alone.

Racelette in Galong

Much to my surprise I was introduced today to the Racelette, 8-person party grill. I never knew such a device existed; never knew about Racelette, which is, apparently, a Swiss cheese.

Anyway, we drove to Wagga Wagga today via Penrith (to sign legal documents) and Galong, a tiny settlement of about 150 people, an unsellable pub that's been closed for four years and a school that closed down last year because it lost its final pupil. The village may not have a long-term future. (You can buy a three-bedroom home plus shop in Galong for $130,000, so what might that tell us?)

It is, however, where Lori Grovenor and her husband have lived together for 40 years; he for all his life since the age of one. We arrived later than I'd planned because it truly was a long way for a short cut. Lori greeted us warmly, enthusiastically (it's been five months at least because of my ridiculous exile to the Department's head office). Lori had prepared lunch that required the use of her Racelette grill. There were cheeses, cold meat, pickles, raw vegetables, anchovies and prawns all waiting to be grilled. It was quite an experience but, to be honest, there is a limit to the amount of melted cheese even I can consume.

Whatever: it was a pleasure to see Lori, her overt-affectionate and insistent former guide dog Crosby and to meet her husband. They are good people.
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