Travelling to the forest…

First day of winter

Tasmania is in the middle of a wintery heatwave. The temperatures have been beautiful. Yesterday we hit 26 degrees (79 F) and it’s May! The last time it was this warm on this date was 100 years ago. But of course it is all about to change.

Travel:

I leave early tomorrow morning on a small group photographic excursion for a few days into the southwest of our state to the old forests. We will be photographing fungi and waterfalls.

The eastern half of the state hasn’t had much rain so can’t find fungi as usual. But the southwest has had rain and reportedly the fungi hunting is good. However it is predicted to rain in the southwest for the next three days. So we will be covered in wet weather gear.

I cover my camera in a shower cap to keep it from getting soaked although it is pretty much weather sealed I feel the need to keep as dry as possible. We will be crawling around the forest floor, inspecting old dead logs and getting our tripods straight. I am really looking forward to it.

Books:

I just finished listening a really interesting book. Non fiction. Memoir. The Uncaged Sky by Australian Kylie Moore-Gilbert. Narrated by the author. Wonderful narration.

I was really engrossed by her story. She describes the whole experience so well. One of the senior guards fell in love with her and he made her life hell. There was no sexual assault but the mind games were dreadful. She would be told she was going to be released and then when in the car, driven to another prison. She wouldn’t love him back, of course, so he finally got rid of her by shipping her off. However he would still turn up. He used his position of authority in awful ways. I learned quite a bit about Iran and there were some women guards who were nice to her. She made a few good women friends. All in all it was a very informative, interesting book and I enjoyed it. I am glad she finally got home after a couple of years. It was also interesting to hear the Australian side of things. Scott Morrison, a far right religious Christian zealot was the prime minister and pretty useless in getting her home. I was close to biting my nails by the end lf this book.

Life:

There were some other things happening. Not a lot of exercise. Having a bit of a break. And one of the friends from my senior group passed away and that has been sad. There is a memorial I will attend later next week. We will wear bright colours for her.

The pets are all fine. Ollie and Peanny enjoy chasing the postman’s motorbike from the front of the yard to the back yard. Our road passes both the front of our house and the back side as we live on a winding road. The dogs figured out if they run as fast as they can they can bark at his bike in the front yard then get him again at the back gate as he drives past it going up the road. They do the same with the Wednesday rubbish truck. A highlight of their day.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend.

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