We are taking Monday and Tuesday off, but are looking forward to getting some more programming up and running in the next few weeks. Here’s what’s on the cards from our discussions this week:

• Japanese playgroup is returning onsite … it will be lovely to see Maimi and the families and especially to see how much the children have grown!

• Matthew is resuming guitar lessons onsite on Monday and Wednesday evenings.

• We are welcoming a new counsellor to ACC. Martina who has recently moved to the neighbourhood will be here one afternoon/evening a week.

• Our Wednesday daytime book club is going to meet in person in November.

• And finally we are looking to resume our Women in the Shed program in a couple of weeks - hooray! Maylei will be taking both classes and Kalimna has been in contact with everyone that was booked in in Term 4 (and 3 I think) to see who would like to get cracking before the end of the year.

It is pretty nice to start doing things in person again, and we are looking forward to a slow and steady resumption of activity.

If you are part of a group that has a plan and haven’t chatted to us yet just give us a call or send an email …

Some of the great kids who come along weekly to Japanese playgroups …

I’m looking forward to:

• More sunshine ☀️ - the weekend was pretty great!

• Our short courses starting (Women in the Shed with Maylei, Woodworking Projects with Dave and Drawing with Louisa are all kicking off this week).

• Arty Gardening on Friday … parents and kids, oldies and youngies … and anyone in between who enjoys creative outdoorsy activities is welcome to join Katrina in the garden and/or shed from 10.30am. This week we’ll be decorating and filling seed packets. Then why not stay for morning tea (at 11.30am with Kalimna).

• Our new play equipment arriving - finally. Lockdown delayed things a little, but we have a new cubby and sandpit now arriving (fingers crossed) on Wednesday. They’re going to be pretty gorgeous we think! Pop past later in the week for a play.

• Catching up with more of you! I did see lots of people last week and catch up on their news, but I was sick on Friday and missed seeing all our regular Friday friends. Hopefully this week!

Pods collected for nature play - in the garden on Wednesday (Playtime in the Garden) and Friday (Arty Gardening) mornings. There are activities on every weekday morning at ACC for young families.

We’re back on Monday 12 July raring to go for Term 3 after 2 weeks of school holidays.

And we’re looking forward to rolling out some new programs including:

• Arty Gardening - Friday mornings $5 for crafty fun in the garden and shed. Katrina will be here to set up a series of weekly activities. suitable for young families and people of all ages and abilities.

• CLAG (collage) - Join Kristian for a 6 week collage workshop in the evenings. Cut, paste and create. Work on individual or shared projects. Explore collage artists and all the possibilities. Suitable for beginners to more experienced artists.

• Woodworking Projects - Dave’s back in the shed. Join him for a 4 week workshop where you’ll have the chance to get his help and advice as you work on a project of your choice.

Interested? You can check out our full program here. And book in here.

Collage is such a wonderfully meditative and accessible art form … it can be beautiful, or clever, or funny! or complex, or simple,or edgy, or a mixture of all of the above.

And it all starts with cutting and pasting and combining images.

Kristian Glynn who is running our new collage group which we are calling CLAG (because it made us laugh) is a fabulous creative artist.

He often works with collage and mixed media and was telling me that he is part of a long term collaboration with an artist friend in Queensland - they send and resend collaged postcards, building the images up over time. That sounds pretty great hey?

He’s lovely and is sure to inspire you if collage is something you are interested in finding out more about, or something you are already into.

To join CLAG, running on Tuesday nights in the shed from 7-8.30pm just click here. We’re offering it at a great community price - only $100 for 6 weeks.

Garbage Bouquet - Kristian Glynn

Five Moons Of Our Sun - Kristian Glynn

And here are some of my efforts … including ‘Reef and Beef(cake) Sandwich’. Collage is fun for everyone!

We’re delighted to welcome Katrina Forstner to the team to help us make the most of our outdoor spaces in terms 3 and 4.

She’ll be with us on Friday mornings assisting the community gardeners to develop a forward plan for our gardens and 🌱 explore propagating, planting and composting etc. in more detail.

And at 10.30am each week she’ll have arty gardening activities available in the community shed and/or garden suitable for young families and people of all ages and abilities to join in. Just $5 for some arty crafty fun … and then stay on for morning tea at 11.30am.

Interested? Here’s what’s coming up:

• 16 July - Collect/sort seeds and make and decorate seed packets to take home as a gift or for community distribution via our Seed Library

• 23 July - Smudge sticks with herbs and flowers from the garden

• 30 July - Chase the rainbows away and make a cute cloud wall hanging

• 6 August - Indoor plant propagation and upcycle a can with colour.

It should be a great morning of low key creative fun for grandparents and grandchildren, parents and kinder kids, creative adults and anyone who enjoys spending time doing creative garden based (slightly messy sometimes) activities (with the reward of morning tea afterwards).

Just pop past any Friday morning during school term to check it out and join in. We’ll look forward to seeing you soon.