She reads books as one would breathe air…..

…….to fill up and live. (Anne Dillard)

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This past week went quickly as this whole year seems to have disappeared. Here are some highlights.

For one thing I am looking forward to Wednesday as blogger Sue, from Whispering Gums (https://whisperinggums.com is going to be in town from Canberra and we are meeting for a coffee at Fullers Book shop. My home away from home. After following her blog for several years it will be fun to meet up.

I just finished an audible book I’ve been listening to. In search of greener grass by Graham Field. He rode his motorbike from the UK eastwards to Mongolia. He described the trip in detail. He wrote of the trials with his bike, wild camping, the people he met up with, the joy and the hardship. One of the best motorbike travel books I’ve come across. I absolutely love travel writing of people motorbiking, bicycling or walking to distant places. There was lots of information about Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Mongolia, the three countries he spent the most time in over four years.

I’m currently listening to Through sand and snow by bicyclist, Charlie Walker. Also from the UK he has bicycled to Kathmandu from England and then sneaked into Tibet and rode across it in winter, almost dying in a blizzard. He doesn’t seem as sensible as Graham Field was. He is quote foolhardy in his travels. He has just now been caught out in Tibet by the police and is trying to tell them he thought a Chinese visa was good in Tibet as it is ruled by China now. Even I know that isn’t going to work. Since I can’t do these trips I love travelling vicariously through others.

I also finished the book club read due next week of On a bright hillside in Paradise by Annette Higgs. it is the Tasmanian book I mentioned last post. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The only down side is it became a little too repetitious as the each part of the book is a different family character discussing their reaction to the same life events however they did tack on something new at the end of each part specific to them. . It is a pleasant read and would be a good long plane ride book as easy to remember what is going on with all one gets from interruptions travelling. I will look forward to what others thought of it.

On a walk to an Op shop I found an Agatha Christie book, Mrs. McGinty’s dead, I’d not seen before. I’ll have to get onto it as the cover does make me want to read it. It is obviously an old edition by Funlane of which I have not heard of. It is a slim book and would be a fun read on a bad weather day of which we seem to be getting a lot lately. Book groups end in November and are probably stopped until March so summer has a lot of time to read my TBR books.

Our photography group had a fun day Saturday when 10 of us hit the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens for the morning. 9:30 coffee got everyone fired up in the gardens restaurant which is very nice.

We took photos for the next two hours and then met for lunch. I had a Korean chicken dish with ginger on a bed of light noodles. It was quite good and the presentation required a photo. I will leave you with a couple of photos from the gardens. Considering our spring weather has been sideways rain, a bit of sleet and winds from the southern ocean with 137 kph gusts off the mountain, we were so lucky to finally get a lovely, no jacket but long sleeve day. Just perfect.

I will also leave you with a little exercise to share for fun.

I grabbed Frankenstein. “She died calmly; and her countenance expressed affection even in death. ” Be sure to mention the name of the book.

Now, onto the gardens…..