TravellinPenguin

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.

Enjoy the effort and send good thoughts. I hope you enjoyed this little bit of fun for today. What did you do today? Anything fun?

Male Lion

Botswana Lion 2

A Cheetah cheetah

A Caracal Caracol

A Baboon

Baboon

The Weekend Wander – Jane Harper in Hobart

Posted on November 11, 2018 by TravellinPenguin

I know a few of you have read the Jane Harper books. Those are the books I keep meaning to read but haven’t got around to. On Friday night a friend and I went along to the Fuller’s Book Shop launch of her most recent book, The Lost Man.

Snip20181111_6 As there were quite a few people expected to come it was held in a conference room at the RACV Hotel across the street from Fuller’s. It was very flash sitting in reception with our drinks waiting to enter the room. The event had a good turnout but wasn’t mobbed.

I really enjoyed hearing her talk about how she writes and the research she conducts for her books. I love research and this sounded like so much fun.

Jane is a journalist who lives in the city of Melbourne. Very urban. However her books, of which there are three, all take place in the outback. She talked for quite awhile about her experiences researching the isolation of the outback, the people she met, the pubs she visited. She also spent time with organisations such as the Royal Flying Doctors. She said she enjoyed it so much she didn’t want to leave. She spent most of her time in western Queensland. Australia’s drought ridden country plays a role in all of her books so far. She stated her journalistic background was instrumental in succeeding in the research she did for these books. She talked quite a bit about how she had to get the dialogue right as the country folk of rural Queensland speak differently than those urban dwellers of Melbourne. Snip20181111_7

She also mentioned The Dry has been optioned for a film by Reece Witherspoon’s outfit so look out for it in the future. One audience member asked her about who would be cast as Aaron. She couldn’t tell us due to confidentiality clauses but stated she was happy with the person chosen if it goes ahead. It will also be filmed in Australia and not America.

She presents as a really down to earth author and everyone in the audience seemed to enjoy her. I came home and began to read the copy of her first book I have, The Dry. It features a federal policeman, named Aaron Falk. He returns to his hometown for the funeral of his childhood friend, Luke Hadler. Luke and he had hung out as part of a group of four, including their girl friends when they were young.

Luke Hadler killed his wife and son, then shot himself. The younger daughter was spared. There was a history that involved a death of one of the girls. The classmate from years gone by and the town people still think he killed her. His reception in his home town after 20 years doesn’t go that well.

I am enjoying this book and now Aaron and the local town cop are beginning to think things just don’t add up around Luke’s family’s death when they visit the scene of the crime…well… let’s say, the plot thickens. The Dry is Jane’s first book and I am right into it. I think I am not alone in thinking this is a very good book.

Since then she wrote a second book with the same protagonist called Force Of Nature.

Snip20181111_5 The launch I attended was about her third and latest book that is a stand alone novel that doesn’t include Aaron Falk. It is titled The Lost Man.

During question time one of the audience members asked if Aaron would come back in the future. She stated she didn’t see a long term series as she didn’t want to do that, but she felt she owed him quite a bit, so don’t be surprised if he reappears in future. That got a laugh from the audience.

It was a lovely, fun way to spend an evening with a friend and I plan on reading her other novels once finished with The Dry.

If you’ve read any of her books what did you think?