[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] H [/dropcap]elping animals in distress is one of the noblest things us flawed humans can do.

While most of us are familiar with the good work of the RSPCA, Animals Australia and Wildlife Victoria, there is also a large number of individuals doing their bit by rescuing injured or neglected animals, saving broken birds, fighting to protect native habitat, or rehoming a former family pet.

Bluestone Magazine has found two such people in Emma McLean and Matt Hee, both of Allansford, who save unwanted or neglected horses.

Emma, followed more recently by Matt, is the south-west Victorian representative for Second Venture Horse Rescue, a new and still relatively unknown not-for-profit group that covers most of Victoria and into NSW.

Second Venture, as it sounds, aims to give old, injured, neglected or surrendered horses a second chance at life.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] A [/dropcap]s Emma explains, the horses are usually surrendered by owners who are no longer willing or able to care for them, although others are referred to Second Venture because of concerns about neglect.

The rescued horses are picked up by the Second Venture rep, vet checked and, if required, have a visit by the dentist and farrier, all at the rep’s expense. The rep also covers the floating costs to collect the horses and provides feed, blankets and all the other necessities, including retraining and resocialisation.

When they are happy and healthy again, each horse is rehomed with a new owner who doesn’t pay for the horse, other than a $35 a year “leasing” fee. Second Venture then checks on the horse after a month, six months and a year to see that it is in good hands.

“The only horses we don’t rehouse are stallions, for obvious reasons, and we won’t let a horse go until it is safe to be around,” Emma says.

Emma has been the south-west Victorian rep for about a month and had her first surrender last week, Floss, an 18-year-old thoroughbred chestnut that she intends to keep as one of five horses she cares for.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] S [/dropcap]econd Venture relies entirely on donations and the goodwill of supporters who are prepared to loan a float, for example, or offer equine services at a discount rate and so it’s not surprising that much of Emma’s time is taken up with finding ways of raising funds.

When Bluestone visited, Emma was preparing horse treats made of molasses, oats and other horsey ingredients to sell to raise money for the horse sales, where Second Venture tries to buy horses that are otherwise destined for the knackery. The horse treats, thankfully, have been selling like hotcakes through orders on her Facebook page.

Shari Henderson, from Cherwood Park Equine Supplies in Warrnambool, has been one of Emma’s biggest supporters and continues to admire her dedication.

“We need more like her,” she says.

We happen to agree: Emma is our first quiet hero for 2014. You can contact Emma via her Facebook page or on 0432 625 880. Find out more about Second Venture Horse Rescue here.

[box] Emma will receive a coffee and cake voucher from The Pavilion Café in Warrnambool. Thankyou to owners Mary-Ellen and Jon Watson for supporting this week’s Quiet Hero.[/box]

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[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] G [/dropcap]iven Joe Logan is a reader, an English teacher and a bibliophile, what she does to used and old books can only be described as tough love.

In order to create her craft as an upcycler of pre-loved books, she first needs to pull them apart or, at the very least, remove several pages, fiddle with the spines, or redecorate the covers with an assortment of creative twists.

“The first hard cover book I had to pull apart was very hard, but it does get easier: you do get over the desecration,” Joe, from Portland, laughs.

During the working week, Joe teaches senior English classes at Portland Secondary School, but in her spare time she works as one half of luciandjoe (pronounced Luci and Joe) creating new-from-old pieces using bookbinding and papercraft techniques.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] W [/dropcap]hile Joe enrolled in several workshops to learn the traditional methods of bookbinding/restoration and papercraft, she has since turned those techniques on their head to create her own style.

“Basically I learned how to do things the proper way and then butchered those techniques to create something very individual, but which still maintains the integrity of the original book,” she says.

Joe scours op-shops, tip-shops and secondhand stores for pre-loved books that may be a bit crusty, but still have a certain charm or character: perhaps an interesting cover, for example, or some lovely illustrations.

The books are then transformed into something useful and beautiful by having fresh, blank pages added, some old pages removed, and a freshening up of their covers through beading, or stitching, or by adding a special trinket.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] T [/dropcap]hrough this technique, an old encyclopaedia starts a new life as a funky travel journal, a cookbook can become a photo album, or a long-forgotten adventure book is reborn as a diary.

“Every book I select has its own character and I keep that character, because that is also what makes each piece individual and appealing,” Joe explains.

Like most creators, Joe started out making gifts for her friends about 10 years ago, before Megan Langdon, from The Little Bookshop, in Portland, saw the potential in the unique products and began to stock a few pieces. The response prompted Joe to “go public” and, in the past three years, she has started a market stall that visits Warrnambool, Ballarat, Port Fairy and Geelong, while also setting up a shop online.

“People still really love books – they love the tactile nature of a book,” she says.

“And, at the same time, there is a resurgence in crafts and people are more appreciative of hand-made, quality possessions.”

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] A [/dropcap]side from upcycling books, Joe creates a range of cards using her own photographs (such as those taken during a trip to Paris), or screenprinting her own designs.

“I am enjoying exploring the papercraft side of things a bit more and seeing what can be done with screenprinting and embroidery, for example, which brings together my love of paper and fabric,” she says.

People can also commission Joe for a one-off piece of work – perhaps using a book they have chosen – but she has had to knock back customers looking for a book restorer.

“When people ask me if I can restore one of their treasured books, I say ‘you might want to take a closer look at what I do to books!”’

Now we did mention earlier in this story that Joe is one half of luciandjoe, which means there is another half: Joe’s silent partner, Luci.

Luci is 11, white-haired and, despite having four paws, is not particularly dextrous. She is, however, Joe’s beloved Maltese Shih tzu and loves nothing more than a dog-eared book.

[box type=”bio”] Joe Logan will run a series of workshops at the Julia Street Creative Space, Portland, in March. Contact the space (03 5523 6566) for more details. Visit the luciandjoe online store here or find them on Facebook here.[/box]

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We are not sure what sins Warrnambool has committed to deserve being woken in the middle of the night each week, but its poor residents endure what are possibly the worst rubbish collection times in Australia.

Yes, it’s a first-world problem to be worrying about garbage collection times, but what a blessing it was over Christmas – due to a change in routine – to have a brief respite from the normal 3am kerbside collection.

I remember when I first moved to Warrnambool last year and being woken by what I thought was a car accident outside my bedroom window in the dead of night, only to leap out of bed and find the garbage truck squealing and flashing its way along the street.

It later returned to pick up rubbish from the other side of the street. Then the recycling truck turned up … Four passes in two hours does not make for a good night’s rest! (We also know of at least one courtyard in Warrnambool where the rubbish truck reverses the whole way in, despite their being a wide turning circle at the end. Can you imagine the racket?)

Bluestone Magazine decided to do a spot survey to find out if Warrnambool residents are the only Victorians who endure garbage pick-ups anywhere from 10pm to 3am: the 10pm folk are the lucky ones!

Our spot survey included councils and shires in Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland and we found that all residential kerbside rubbish collections took place between 6am and midday – except in Warrnambool.

Even in the largest city in Australia, Sydney, the rubbish for Sydney City Council is collected at around 9am.

There is no doubt rubbish collection is a vital weekly ritual and we are grateful for an efficient service, but why has Warrnambool gone for a nocturnal pick-up?

We went in search of an answer.

Warrnambool City Council contracts Wheelie Waste to provide a weekly garbage and fortnightly recycling collection. Wheelie Waste  also provides rubbish collection services for 12 other council areas in Victoria, including the Moyne Shire and Colac Otway Shire – both of which have rubbish collection starting from 6am.

I called Wheelie Waste to find out why Warrnambool wasn’t also on the 6am schedule, but they didn’t want to comment to Bluestone Magazine and directed me to the council.

The council’s Manager of Communications, Nick Higgins, was more forthcoming:

“The night time collection of waste occurs for two main reasons: safety and efficiency,” he said in an email.

“Collecting during daylight hours would mean the trucks would be on the streets when there is more pedestrian traffic and potentially during school drop-off times.”

(But what about Sydney, surely it has more pedestrian traffic?)

Nick then went on to say:

“Collection of waste during the day is more costly due to the collection being less efficient as a result of factors including traffic, parked cars and school zones, all of which slow down the service.”

So in effect, the council’s main reason for collecting rubbish overnight is about cutting costs – although we are not sure how much is saved – because if it was all about safety, every other council would run overnight collections to avoid running over any school children.

We already know that Wheelie Waste has no problem with collecting waste during the day, because its general manager of contract garbage, Chris Philp, said late last year that manoeuvring around traffic and parked cars was not a problem.

“We pick up waste all around Victoria and don’t have problems with cars parked on the road,” he said.

I wonder, if asked, would Warrnambool residents prefer an end to their weekly garbage wake-up calls, or saving a dollar or two from their rates? After all, the biggest savings in the cost of garbage collection have come from recycling. Maybe it’s time for a re-think.

Let’s sleep on it.

How we compare: Warrnambool 10pm to 4am; Port Fairy (Vic) from 6am; Portland (Vic) mid-morning; Cheltenham (Vic) from 6.30am; Mirboo North (Vic) around 8.30-9am; Ballarat (Vic) from 7am; Traralgon (Vic) between 6am-9am; Colac (Vic) 6am- midday; Albury (Vic) from 6am; Richmond (Vic) 9am-noon; Gawler (SA) from 7am; Port Adelaide (SA) from 7am; Huonville (Tas) 8am; Kingston (Tas) around 7am; Sydney City (NSW) 9am; Northern Rivers (NSW) 10am; Manly (Qld) from 7am.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] I [/dropcap]f you thought you were going to get away without even ONE Christmas Carol from Bluestone Magazine, then think again.

After all, Carol is one half of Bluestone and this is her season!

Click on the image of the great crooner himself to enjoy our selection…

(And try not to feel like you are at your relative’s house already – that will happen on December 25!)

Merry Christmas everyone!

There is a fair chance that among all of the thousands of cafe reviews ever written, very few have featured a cafe inside a nursing home.

“A what?” we hear you say.

Yes – a nursing home. And the particular nursing home in question is the largest and oldest in Warrnambool – Lyndoch – where Cafe Connect has just celebrated its first birthday.

Whether we like it or not, most of us will have some connection to a nursing home at some point in our lives, either as a resident, a visitor, or even as a staff member, and Cafe Connect manages to connect with all three groups.

The key to its raging success – and it is incredibly successful – is that it operates as a regular cafe where anybody is welcome to drop in for a coffee and a cake, or something savoury, and the quality is outstanding.

People who remember Conn’s Cakes in Timor St, Warrnambool, will think that Rex Conn himself has returned to make sensational cream sponges (with real cream), jelly cakes, hedgehog, caramel slice, peppermint slice, apple charlottes, fruit cake, chocolate cake (are you drooling yet?), cupcakes, Anzac biscuits and passionfruit slice…and that is only some of the ever-changing selection available at very reasonable prices.

The cooking is all done on the premises by three talented and cheerful women who share the role  – Jill Ellis, Gina Walker and Madeline Boyle – but Gina and Madeline happily nominate Jill as the driving force.

“Her cooking is just amazing,” says Gina.

Even more amazing is that Jill, who worked many years ago at the now defunct Echo’s cafe in Liebig St, never uses a recipe. Instead, she has a feel for what works and remembers the combinations in her head.

The choice of treats is also a deliberate throw-back to the past.

“I think one of the reasons that the cakes are so popular is that they remind people of the cakes and slices they enjoyed when they were younger,” Jill says.

The nostalgia doesn’t stop there. People also enjoy the sights, smells and sounds of cooking in the kitchen.

“One day I had the mixmaster going and I apologised to a customer about the noise and she said, ‘no, keep it going, because it reminds me of my Mum when she was in the kitchen and she always had the mixmaster going,”’ Jill laughs.

Cafe Connect, which was funded by Lyndoch’s annual community raffle and other community events, has become a vibrant, colourful hub to Lyndoch and, because it is located right in the main entrance, the general public are also able to wander in – and they do. (At least one member of Bluestone Magazine is known to drop in regularly, just to see what slices might be fresh out of the oven.)

In recognition of their success, Jill, Gina and Madeline recently received one of only two Excellence and Innovation Awards awarded annually by Lyndoch. Jill has also been inspired to become a chef and is studying for her qualification…but we secretly hope she still doesn’t stick to any recipe.

Cafe Connect, Lyndoch, Hopkins Rd, Warrnambool, is open seven days a week.

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