Seven cats, two rabbits, a dog, two fish, and a confused leopard

I'll post more pics once I get used to using Blogger, but for now, here are some recent journal pages from the last few days. I don't usually average this many pages over a weekend, but since I joined the Yahoo gluebooks group at the start of October, I've been doing a bit more in my art journal.

Some friends of mine were away for the weekend on a church camp so I fed their animals while they were away, as well as feeding our own cats and rabbits. The total came to: 7 cats, 2 rabbits, a dog and 2 fish!

I recently finished Robert Dessaix's beautiful novel Corfu, set on the wonderful Greek island. It's all about a young gay Australian actor who goes to spend a couple of months there on a whim, responding to an ad for a place for rent while the occupant is travelling. The character (whose name we are never told) gradually discovers more about the person whose house he is living in, through meeting his friends and neighbours. I know that doesn't make the plot sound very interesting, but there are big themes in the book - travel, the idea of coming 'home', making an extraordinary life out of ordinary circumstances, and the timeless search for love and relationships. Plus Dessaix writes beautifully, so I was inspired to create a journal page about the book. I find that I remember books so much more clearly, and lodge them deeper in my subconscious, when I create something to respond to how I felt when reading it. (Oh, by the way, I cheated a little with the picture on the spread - it's not actually Corfu because I couldn't find a nice one the right size, so actually it's Santorini! Which is not really very similar to Corfu, but the photo is prettier... but like anyone's gonna know, right?)

I finally did my tax last Friday! In Australia the end of the financial year is 30 June, with tax returns due by the end of October, and even though I always say I'm not going to leave it till the last minute, I always do. But then I am the Queen of Last Minute Things, so it's hardly surprising really. I love the glazed expression on the leopard, and it fit so beautifully with how I felt after wading through the forms. I had a minor heart attack when I thought I was going to be slapped with a bill for $200 instead of getting money back, but fortunately my dad calculated it wrongly - the ATO website estimates that I should get some back. Not heaps, but enough. Panic over, crisis averted...