TravellinPenguin

I’m back..Where do I begin?

Posted on December 18, 2018 by TravellinPenguin

Snip20180427_2 Whoever devised the term, “Best Laid Plans…”, well, you know what I mean.

First things first….We returned from our holiday trip to Sri Lanka. Guess what! I forgot Penguin. I am getting old. He remained on my book shelves while I was away. I could not believe it. I have promised him a trip to Spain, Portugal and Morocco in May. More on that later. You have to laugh. This almost 70 year old person feeling bad on the trip because her Penguin was left behind in Hobart.

Snip20181218_7 — A Catholic Church that needed painting so the community all chipped in and raised the funds. Sri Lanka is around 8 % Catholic. 70% Buddhist. 7% Muslim and also have some Hindu. They all live together and get along. No problems. They often have interfaith marriages without too much trouble.

I will post up some of the photos in future posts. Sri Lanka is a wonderful country to visit. Not overrun by tourists yet. Portuguese, British history. Stunning wildlife especially the bird life. Beautiful mountainous tea plantations. Friendliest people on earth. I documented all of it in photos. I don’t want to bore anyone stupid with travel photos so will just pop up a few at the end of some posts as I go along. As I am concentrating more and more on my photography, I will share more of that on this blog in 2019.

Speaking of 2019. I can’t believe 2018 is gone already. I know everyone is saying, “Where did this year go?” but it is true. Where DID it go?

Speaking of 2019- I’ve been thinking of what I will focus on for our next year. I’ve made a bit of a list. First off, more time at home devoted to study, reading and dog walking. No running around like a blue ass fly next year.

More reading, study, films, photography, and more frequent posts. No reading goals except to focus on library and TBR stacks. Travel will always be there especially regarding my photography. It might be overseas or just lots of Tasmanian local. Photography is wonderful in our beautiful, four seasons island state.

I need to put dog walking exercise in there as we don’t want any muffin tops here. My vet actually told us our dog is a bit of a muffin top. “A bit of a nanny dog”, she said. “What’s a nanny dog?” I asked. “You know those old ladies that walk with those old fat dogs down the street.” We’ve been successful in getting his weight down to where it should be but now we need to work on ourselves. Nanny dog fixed. Now I just need to work on the ‘nanny’.

Snip20181218_8 On our trip I did read two ‘fluffy’ books. Those are books that don’t have much to them and one reads them when exhausted at night to the point it might be difficult just turning the page. This is usually when I read fictional crime. I read book 26 in the Alex Cross detective series by James Patterson. Before you all cringe, I started this series back in 1993 with Along Came a Spider. I continue, not because the stories are substantial, but I do like his characters who I’ve known now for 25 years. His kids, his 90 some year old grandmother. The setting of Washington DC. They have gotten a bit more violent over the years but I skim over that as I know they will generally be ok, except for some of his girlfriends over the years. Need that revenge story line once in awhile. Snip20181218_1 The latest, Target: Alex Cross. It was over the top and far fetched. The plot is the four top White House people, President, Vice President, Secretary of State of Leader of the Senate are all assassinated in the same week in four different locations. It really was a free for all as everyone scrambled and I enjoyed watching how the country was going to handle it all. To tell you the truth it wasn’t that much crazier than what goes on in Washington DC now. I read it in two sittings. I saw James Patterson interviewed once. The interviewer asked him how he copes with all the criticism he gets about his writing. He was quite honest when he said, “I don’t have the ability to do strong literary works so I write books that people read for entertainment and I make a bucket load of money doing it.” I have always been one who does not judge what people read. I simply want them to read. One woman in my book group once made a derogatory comment when Bryce Courtenay died, “We don’t need writers like him anyway so I’m not going to feel sad.” I admit, I turned on her. He may not have won the Booker prize or the Pulitzer or the Nobel Literary awards but by gee, generations of people read his books and loved them and him. I met him at a book signing once and he was a lovely man that took time to talk to people and never looked down his nose at anyone. So get off your high horse and be quiet. We all need to make a living and/or do what we love.

Snip20181218_2 I also read Lee Child’s latest book, Past Tense. I spent time with a young couple who became stranded in an old motel room and later kept prisoner. Rich, well dressed men began to arrive in luxury cars. We didn’t know what was going to happen to the couple until halfway through the book. Jack Reacher also just happened to be in the same area researching his genealogy. As the story continued and we figured out why the young couple were being kept hostage the suspense builds and Jack Reacher’s path intersects with theirs. There was quite a bit of page turning suspense. I’ve probably ever only read two or three Reacher books in my life but they are fast paced.

Travelling in Sri Lanka we began our day at 5:30 or 6:00 am. We walked miles in high temperatures, climbed rocky outcrops, listened to long talks from our guide and ate tons of food and didn’t get back to our beds much before 10:00 or 11:00 at night. When we got home we said we felt like we have attended a university course. We learned so much. Would you read an obscure, complex literary tome at this time of night? Point made.

Snip20181218_9 The last time I posted I also shared the competition photos I sent in to Australian Photography magazine the day before they were due. I am happy to say the magazine people contacted me and have told me the photos have been moved to the short list. At least I will get a commendation from them and at best they will be first or second prize. (I should live so long.) I am happy with this result and don’t need anything more but the two top photo portfolios will be featured in the February issue and I should know results towards the end of January. I can’t begin to say how pleased I am. I think 2019 will have me entering more competitions and if I never win anything the skills I learn are more than enough.

I’m wishing everyone the merriest of Christmases and all the very best for a happy 2019. I look forward to places visited, books published and interaction with blogger friends. Snip20181218_10

I’ve popped in three Sri Lanka photos below. More soon, very, very, soon.

Snip20181218_5 — We stayed in this hotel. We were amazed to see the size of this swimming pool. 100 metres. Very high temperatures that day so it was wonderful.

Snip20181218_4 — Do you ever wonder what happens to all the fresh fish you see in fish markets that aren’t sold? They go to this beach, get laid out and the sun dries them. We were very surprised at how many fish were laid out on tarps on the hot sand. I cannot even begin to describe the smell.

Snip20181218_3 — This man was happy to show us this large tiger prawn for sale.

Snip20181218_6 — An example of old architecture we viewed on the way back from the fish market.

Bit of Fun

Wednesday Waffle

Posted on November 21, 2018November 21, 2018 by TravellinPenguin

I guess a few of you will be preparing for Thanksgiving overseas. We don’t have it here and we’re celebrating spring with a bit of rain and lovely cool temperatures in Tassie.

Mr. Penguin, the Penguin and I are getting ready to head off to Sri Lanka on Saturday for a 17 day trip. We have not been there before and I think it will be very interesting. Visiting cities, country, Buddhist temples, national parks and an elephant orphanage which I am very excited about. Anything with animals just draws me right in.

Snip20181121_7 — Pinnawala Elephant orphanage (photo taken from their website)

I’ve been busy with photography, socialising and preparing for this trip. Our dogs are looking forward to the house sitter arriving as they love her. The cats are headed for camp, as we tell them.

I always say I’ll post the trip as I go but I find the days are long, the weather humid and hot and by night time I only want a cool shower and bed. We’ll see how we go. I thought I’d take some photos this time with my Samsung phone as it is quicker to post up a few photos that way rather than using my big Canon, downloading to computer, editing and posting. I just don’t have the time or energy to do that.

I’ve downloaded a couple of drawing books on Overdrive from the library. I plan on doing a drawing class next year and a friend of mine and I want to visit a few parks and reserves and make time to sketch. Both of us are beginners so I guess it will be a bit of motivation and some laughs.

I am still listening to A Gentleman in Moscow but only when I’m in the car. (I always have a car book). I’ve just finished The Dry by Jane Harper which I enjoyed much more than I thought I would. I did think parts of the explanation for the murders were sometimes a bit more far fetched than reality but overall it was a good story and held my interest.

I got a gorgeous 2019 diary some books for my birthday from very dear friends and I’ll share them here.

Snip20181121_14 — I love the idea of these seasonal essays. I also bought the Rain book by the same author as well. Comfort reads I think.

Snip20181121_16 — This is a wonderful book. Something to dip in and out of.

Peter Dombrovskis was the ‘premier’ photographer of Tasmanian wilderness and his photos are marvellous. He did for Tasmania what Ansell Adams did for the American west.

There are a couple more books but I will share them at another time.

I’m thinking a lot about what I want to do for 2019. First off…NO challenges. No Deal Me In, no promising I’ll only read from my TBR; absolutely nothing promised. I do think I’ll read some more suggestions from the 1001 Children’s Books. I’d like to fill in a few from my Century of Books. That could take me the rest of my life but hey, who cares?

I would like to listen to more classics in the car. I find listening to Classics on Audible is a very good way to hear them. I lose concentration if I wait until night time to read them because I run out of energy. I would like to read more Australian literature especially some of the older books.

I have to plan my weeks differently next year as the fatigue from the MS is getting me down. I overdo it then I’m laid up in a chair in front of Netflix or in bed watching you tube for a couple of days. That’s the bugger of MS but I am extremely fortunate it has not progressed much over the past 18 years so I am not complaining. But some things will have to go. Back to Sunday nights designing my energy budget for the week. Not as many nights out. More exercise, less eating. More time in nature with my dogs and camera.

Snip20181102_18 I will think about all of that while I sit on long plane flights and map my immediate future. I find travelling always puts things in perspective and shows me what is important and what isn’t.

So stay tuned. I’m putting in a few photos just to break up this post a bit.

Bit of Fun

Some Miscellaneous Fun

Posted on November 14, 2018 by TravellinPenguin

Tomorrow is my birthday and I know I’m getting book vouchers for Fullers Book shop. More on that later. I also bought myself a few little books (they weren’t too dear and I love them) that I can’t wait to read. I think one should always treat oneself on their birthday.

But for today… I’ll share something else that was 1. funny and 2. hopeful.

Funny item first:

My friend Patricia and I went to the Tasmania Museum for a scientific talk on moths. We like to go to these free events around town and this one looked fun. I really don’t get to the museum often enough. This is what happened:

There were about 25 to 30 people who attended this talk. The first thing we learned about Dr. Catherine Byrne (the speaker) is she is a Taxonomist. She told us it has nothing to do with taxidermy or taxes. She is a scientist that identifies and catalogues various species. She said that 75% of what’s out there in the world has not been identified. All of this really appealed to my almost Asperger’s like personality.

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Next she gave us an overview of the Satin Moth. They are very pretty. Snip20181114_9

More information on how to identify and classify. I found it really interesting.

Snip20181114_15 More information identifying insects. Snip20181114_10

After the 40 minute talk we got to see some of her collection, look at the UV light in the bucket she uses to catch these little critters and then we peered through a microscope to see a very tiny little moth. Not much bigger than a couple of pinheads. It was very sparkly.

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Pretty little creatures. Snip20181114_13

She also explained how insects are named. They can be named after the person who discovered them, a celebrity, a family member, anyone. One rule exists though: There are always two words and they are both Latin words. She told us the moth Neopalpa donaldtrumpi was named after Trump because of its ‘hairstyle’ and when they put it under the microscope it had a very tiny penis. I thought the audience would fall off their chairs laughing. It had been such a scientific talk and when she very seriously explained the naming of the moth it really got a laugh.

Snip20181114_14 — It kind of fits, doesn’t it. Well, at least the hair. We’ll leave the rest alone.

2. Hopeful:

Today was the last day entries could be submitted into the Australian Photography magazine for Photographer of the Year. I have never entered a competition before but they had a category for wildlife photos taken within the past year. I thought, “Why not?” Four entries had to be entered into each category so I went through my backlog of Snip20180427_2 wildlife photos taken in Botswana and Namibia in March this year. I chose four and sent them in. It would be amazing if I won or placed but whether I do or not I am very happy with these photos.