Bookarama

After waiting for a year the first day of the Pakareki Lions' Bookarama finally arrived (16th April). Rose and I left here at 8am in the chill and arrived at Waipukurau by 8.25am. There were already a few people there including the ubiquitous dealers sitting along the front doors so that no one else could get near. They had large fadge sized bags into which they would later sweep books off the tables without even looking at the titles. Fortunately only a few people had arrived at that point and I was next to someone I knew from art who was waiting patiently with her three daughters. As the sky began to cloud up and darken more people began to arrive. The polite ones lined up behind us but the cheekier individuals went an alternative route and pushed in front of the line. Eventually there were several well dressed people crowding by the dealers.

At 8.45am it began to rain yet the dealers and other rude buggers wouldn't let us under the overhang of the building. Some of the organisers must have seen our predicament and opened the door to let us shelter in the lobby which is when the nastiness began. Pushing, shoving to get in front, not only was I knocked about but an old lady on a walker was nearly pushed over. We huddled in the lobby until the crush began to get unbearable when the main doors were opened and everyone tried to squeeze through at once. I get claustrophobic at the best of times but this was really frightening although Rose and I got into the hall without being punched. There were tables and tables of books (over 18,000) that had been donated. I couldn't see the art section but someone pointed it out and I rushed over in time to meet a friend (also called Rose) from portraiture who was also keen to get some books. She and I worked together, swapping books and finding titles for each other. I was thrilled to find a copy of Susan Harrison Tustain's "Glorious Flowers In Watercolour" which usually retails at $70 for just $2. Also three large folders of watercolour magazines for just $1 each.

I only rifled through a few sections before my two bags were so full I couldn't lift them at all. A friend's eldest daughter stood guard over them for me (if you left your books unattended someone would go through them) before I ran out of energy and money> I sat there exhausted, shocked that only half an hour had passed. By the time we left the building it was pouring with rain so there was a mad dash to the car with the stash of goodies. Oh how I wish I'd had more bags and money as I would have come out with double- as it was I bought 33 books (mainly reference- art, history, crafts). But as Rose reminds me there's always next year.

I have begun the Design In Sculpture section of my Learning Connexion course which meant playing with clay. My first exercise was a fantasy creature which I called "Washed Up Mermaid". Rose pointed out that her breasts were too upright considering she's lying down but as I told her she'd just had silicon implants put in by a shady squid doctor which is why she was washed up deceased on the beach. Then made a small rabbit sculpture which was meant to represent a French Angora rabbit although it seemed to be suffering a severe case of gastroenteritis as it was a bit on the skinny side. One exercise consisted of making an abstract sculpture representing an emotion. I chose grief but the resulting piece resembled a urinal with a giant brown jaffa sitting at the bottom...