Return to OZ - 2004

We were blessed - Doris Messick and I were invited back to OZ! Doris as a tutor at the Geelong Forum. I was to be The Virgin Mother.

Our first stop was Melbourne, staying with Wendy and Peter Golden - wonderful hosts and tour guides. We enjoyed a few days of food, laughter, and the sights and sounds of the city. Then on to Geelong.

The Geelong Forum is a large and exciting textile conference. Each year there are new people, VIrgins, who have never attended a TAFTA

conference before. It can certainly be bewildering. My job, as The Virgin Mother, was to take care of all these Virgins, to make them feel welcome and special. It was just plain fun. Each

Virgin received a set of Mardi Gras beads on the first day at registration, and then a charm every day thereafter. My gift from them, at the end, was a stunning necklace, with a small gift from each of them.

Costumes at Geelong, as always, play a major role, no matter what your job. This is a costume befitting the Virgin Mother working as a bartender, with a scarf crocheted of old audio tapes.

Doris' wish was to see Tasmania, and so off we went. What a welcome - we were feted everywhere we went. Both Anna Lizotte and Beth Verschoyle created wonderful gatherings for us as we traveled around Tasmania with mates Di and Liz.

For American travelers, feeding a wallaby with her joey looking on was pretty exciting!!!