Art class back. Topic 1. Memory.

Art Class is back. I love it, but I wish people would leave Trouble alone about her job.

They won't of course, as it's only natural to ask and wonder and ask overly personal questions. I still never really know what the boundaries are - what IS an overly personal question? I used to think ALL my family are Just So Rude, now I think it might be a habit of West Australians - to ask too much, too assume we're all the same, to assume too much, to be too familiar. I don't know. I don't feel West Australian. I'm a Queenslander. I'm from a rainy summer. Maybe it was too loud, the rain on the roof, the summer I was born, maybe nobody could be bothered making small talk, the summer I was born, in that monsoon. Maybe there were too many frogs and everyone was silent. Too tired to compete. I heard them through the phone line - my mum sounded tired, there have been more floods - but the frogs were singing their jubilent songs sung from the drains.

All those years and years (a lifetime) of taking my cues from others as to what is and isn't okay for people to ask me have not taught me anything useful about what is and isn't okay for people to ask me. People give themselves away if they think they're transgressing! If they think they're being fair and reasonable I have tended to assume they are. Then, in reaction to this pattern we've developed another - to be too defensive. I wasn't sure at Art Class whether it was a transgression for someone to ask "So, why did you resign?" but I didn't want to answer so I said "I'd rather not talk about it now." I hope that was okay.

Art class was about memory. We were shown photographs and then had to make a drawing. I was given a meadow full of flowers. Red dahlias, a lime tree, a copse of young karri, a paddock and a forest far away. I liked the buds atop gangling stems. I drew far too many of them and forgot most details of the blooms. I failed to convey the way the afternoon light lay heavy over the petals and leaves. I was distracted by the work talk and also by the possibility of work talk. By the resentment! I felt knowing I had to keep Trouble or Just Jo around in case questions came our way. They make unhelpful remarks. They don't mean to. I work best alone.

And soon, I hope, our situation will be less interesting to others.