Very special guests

I'm working backwards here. Some of these photos were taken before the ones in the previous post. Two of our special guests arrived early for the Artistic journey retreat. I was going to pick Misty up from the airport on Tuesday morning, but she called me Monday night to say she'd missed her connecting flight to Oz, so she would have to stay the night in LA. In the afternoon I met Nina at the airport after her weeks teaching in WA. I took her back to my house, what a nightmare of a trip on the free way, it should have been free that day, it took three hours. My husband and I took her to one of our local restaurants in the hills for dinner. Nina seems to meet up with fellow Americans wherever she goes, one of the young waiters was from the US and had recently visited Nina's neck of the woods.



Bright and early, 6.00am to be precise Nina and I left to pick Misty up from the airport, she made it this time, early in fact.



We came back to my place then off to meet with two very special people, Samm and Mandy, they were so excited, they'd been communicating via email with Misty for some time so were very keen to actually meet her. We had a great lunch at one of the galleries on the Peninsula then went to the beach to hunt for sea glass.



Two very excited ladies.



Treasure hunting.



Misty the photographer.



Nina the beachcomber.



Back at the apartments. The three musketeers.

This was the last day. Traci was off to Sydney so she couldn't go with Nina, Misty and me to explore down town Melbourne. We walked our feet off, stopping at one of the many cafes in the little lane ways and arcades Melbourne is famous for. Again Nina met up with a fellow American who was a waiter at the cafe where we had lunch. I think they must love working in our cafes. We only managed to see about a third of the city before the light and our stamina faded. The city turned on it's magical night lights, where Southgate on the Yarra comes alive. People hustling and bustling to get home. Black suits everywhere. It was the end of a wonderful day and a wonderful week of excitement and creativity. I made some very special friends and I'll miss them all very much and can't wait until the next event.