It is hard to believe it’s the middle of March!

This week has been a pretty good one. Monday was a public holiday, Labor Day or 8 hour day. 8 hours of work, 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of play. The gym has reduced classes on holidays so the pilate class I was going to attend was booked full so I had to sleep in. 😁

Tuesday was Photo Club 2 meeting that evening. I am in two photo clubs. We shared and discussed quite a few black and white photos. We’re currently on a kick with mono photos lately. In April we’re going to the top of Kunanyi (Mt Wellington) with a very good photographer and practise our trade.

Wednesday was the Barre class at the gym. So many squats at the bar and so much balance work. My balance is quite bad these days so good to have exercises to work on. But hard to move the next day.

Then my book club met in a conference room in a local hotel. It is nice as people can come early and get a drink to bring into the meeting if they want. We discussed The Death at the sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson.

Death at the Sign of the Rook” is the sixth novel in Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie series. The story follows ex-detective Jackson Brodie as he investigates the theft of a Renaissance painting, “The Woman with a Weasel,” from the home of a recently deceased widow. His inquiry leads him to Burton Makepeace, a once-grand Yorkshire estate now hosting a Murder Mystery weekend to generate income. A snowstorm traps Brodie, the event’s guests, and staff at the estate, blurring the lines between the staged murder mystery and real-life crimes, including art thefts and an escaped convict on the loose. Amidst the chaos, Brodie and Detective Constable Reggie Chase navigate a web of deception to uncover the truth. 

Several people asked why such a light weight book was chosen. Last year’s books were all horror war or violence in refugee stories. Heavy topics. Also last month’s book of Alexis Wright’s Praiseworthy is very tough going. But most members said they are just so upset at the world news these days they really enjoyed delving into this lighter book.

Would I recommend this book? If you like Agatha Christie books, escaping the news and closed room mysteries then Yes.

Next month’s book is Antarctica by Claire Keegan.

The blurb:

Antarctica” (1999) is Claire Keegan’s debut short story collection, featuring a series of quietly powerful tales about human longing, isolation, and the complexities of relationships. The stories explore themes such as betrayal, desire, and self-discovery, often set in rural Ireland. Keegan’s writing is known for its lyrical prose and emotional depth, capturing the hidden tensions in everyday lives. The title story, Antarctica, follows a woman who embarks on a brief but intense affair, leading to unexpected consequences. The collection as a whole showcases Keegan’s ability to reveal profound truths in seemingly ordinary moments.

I’m on a plane this coming weekend so I will read it then.

I was going to pick three random books for a Clear Your TBR shelves but as I’m going to be away I will wait until I return. I’m spending 10 days on the mainland between two friends.

The week before last week I attended a Fullers book launch of the book The Ancients by Andrew Darby. The conversation was facilitated by past Senator and environmentalist Bob Brown. What is happening to our forests here is just so wrong. Just chop, chop, chop. This event was absolutely brilliant.

In The Ancients Andrew Darby goes on a journey to find the world’s oldest surviving trees in wild Tasmania. He tells of their exploitation and loss to fire even as their true value was revealed, and of the people offering hope for their future. In wild Tasmania there are trees whose direct ancestors lived with dinosaurs. Many of those alive today are thousands of years old, and some have been growing for ten millennia or more. They are mostly hard to reach, hidden in forest valleys or on remote mountains, survivors of human greed and fire. Prize-winning nature writer Andrew Darby takes us on an island odyssey to discover the world’s oldest surviving trees.  First, he seeks the little-known King’s Lomatia, perhaps the oldest single tree of all. Then the primeval King Billy, Pencil and Huon pines – with their vivid stories of admiration and destruction – and the majestic giant eucalypts. Finally, he looks at the ‘mother tree’, the Myrtle Beech, and Australia’s only native winter deciduous tree, the golden Fagus. On his journey he shares the stories of the people who identified the ancients, scientists and nature-lovers who teased out their secrets and came to venerate them. Lacking defences to fire, these awe-inspiring trees face growing threats as the climate changes. But their protection is becoming more sophisticated, offering hope for their future – and ours.

I think I would like to listen to this book if it is available.

The week was busy but it was good. I finished the week off, yesterday with my veterinarian friend with a drive to a small town nearby for lunch, a bit of shopping and a cold drink in a lovely book shop. We spent a bit of time discussing the disaster of the fish farms along our coastlines as they had a high rate of deaths recently in their pens with the hot weather and overcrowded pens. They also contracted a virus and are being pumped with anti-biotics. I would not eat Tasmanian salmon. The anti biotics are being found by recreational fishermen a few kms away in their catch. Not good.

The veterinarians aren’t eating it and the RSPCA withdrew their backing. Hmmm

While at the book shop the owner recognised me as a past Penguin book collector and we had a fun conversation. He is collecting them as he goes but is more interested in collecting the Modern Library books. He said they are getting quite hard to find now in thrift stores. As are bintage Penguins.

Well that sums up the week for now. I’m heading out to Sydney next weekend for a couple of days and then up to Port Macquarie. I am looking forward to seeing these favourite people of mine.