I'm outta here

Off for a few days to Ballarat, a town about 1.5 hours west of Melbourne to sing Haydn and Mozart in a festival there. Singing at Baroque pitch (i.e. everything a semitone down from what is notated in the music) is always fun, as is working with early music instrumentalists. A. is the bass soloist, we know we're being reviewed in the Melbourne newspapers, and this particular festival is always enjoyable, so I'm looking forward to it
We're combining it with a friend's birthday, so about 11 of us singers are going up early to have a big party, with many litres of red wine and many games of drunken charades. The picture above is of the gorgeous house we've rented for the weekend. Most of us are taking Monday off and turning it into a long weekend; so there will be much eating, drinking, walking, chatting and reading going on (hmmm, and that pretty big concert too...) I've cooked a collection of things to take up (posts to follow). It's a pity that, in keeping with the freezing cold weather Ballarat always enjoys, this weekend is forecast to be grey and cold. Ah well. Such is summer in this part of Australia.