It’s March already…

Books of the week.

I’m currently listening to Lily Brett’s Old Seems to Be Other People. I have always enjoyed her a lot. Brought up in Melbourne but now lives in New York City she tends to write short essays, almost anecdotes of the thoughts in her head. Many about life experiences, her relationship with her father who at the time of writing is 99 yrs old. She is quite a hypochondriac. Her parents lost everything while interred in the death camps of WWII but survived. Although other family members all perished.  Listening to this audio book is like sitting in a crowded living room in a New York apartment with a lot of ‘tchotchkes.’  I have always loved books about New York City but have never been there. I have a large image in my head of probably old New York and if I visited I would lose that. It is the only city in the world I feel that way about. 

The other very short book I read was Claire Keegan’s story Foster. What a beautiful book. I will say that again. It is just so beautiful and the ending would make for great discussion in a book group. I read it in a single setting. I will give you the Good Reads description in case you haven’t read it though everyone I know has told me to read it. 

“It is a hot summer inn rural Ireland. A girl is sent to live with foster parents on a farm, not knowing when she will return home. In the stranger’s house, she finds a warmth and affection she has not known. Before and slowly begins to blossom in their care. But in a house where there are meant to be no secrets, she discovers how fragile her idyll is.”

Reading this book is like sitting indoors on a rainy evening with a cup of hot chocolate and a purring cat in your lap. I will probably read it again. It is only 96 pages long so I guess more of a novella. 

Photography this week

I haven’t done too much this week. A friend and I popped into the Botanical Gardens looking for things in the lily pond. Insects, ducks, any thing that sparks our interest. It is such a lovely place to drop into and only 15 minutes away from where I live. Going in late afternoon is nice as not many people are there and no running and screaming kids darting around. 

Playing with filters.

Random photos from the bus. Each time the bus stopped on way home I snapped a picture out the window.

Vinnies thrift shop- always several people milling around

Hobart street scene. All our electric boxes in town have art work on them by various people.

Life

As I write this I have the windows open on a mild summer’s day.   The council just laid about a meter (it seems) of hot tar on the road out front and the smell is strong. Now they have big roller machines going back and forth flattening it out. I always hate to take the car out on hot tar but I think by this evening when I need to leave it will be pretty well squashed into the ground. Looking forward to the white lines.

There is going to be a lunar eclipse tonight right across Australia and a blood moon and I have another engagement so can’t take up the invitation to go to the top of Mt Wellington and try to get photos. Even the clouds are moving away. I am really disappointed I can’t get up there. I guess there will be other nights but the lunar eclipse could be interesting but photographing the moon can be tricky. You need a building or a tree in front or beside it as it rises. If you’ve ever pointed your camera or phone camera at the moon and snapped a shot you’ll know what I mean. It turns into a “nothing-burger” as one of the photographers in America often says about photos he critiques. I already have a bunch of nothing-burgers so don’t need any more.

Family life with 5 pets.

Peanny falls asleep watching me write this.

All of our guys are doing well. Our cat, Cousin Eddie was at the vet last week for a severe gastritis but modern medicine has knocked that right out of him. People can break the world speed record when they hear a cat retching and about to throw up on your bed. We often have someone sprinting across a room to move him to the floor before he finishes the task.  It is a good way to really fly out of a chair.

That about sums up life around here for the past 10 days or so. Let’s hope it gets a bit more exciting. I did book a couple of photography tours but they are later in the year. More on that later.

All the best for the rest of the week. 

Question. Did any other Australian see the blood moon and eclipse?

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Note: I wrote this yesterday then accidentally deleted it. So the lunar eclipse was last night. I could see it from our yard. The moon did in fact look orange and I watched it as the shade covered the moon.