Author: TravellinPenguin

There is quite a bit happening here and there. I finished the book Death of a Rook by Kate Atkinson for Wednesday’s book group.

I thought it was an okay book. I’ve not read her before but know she is popular. It is pretty much a take off of the golden crime age and I thought very similar to an Agatha Christie novel, The humour in it was the best bit. I kept asking myself, why? Agatha Christie did it so well, why is she trying to replicate it. I’m sure there is a great literary answer but it escapes me. It gets a little discombobulated at the end. People running around the mansion playing a murder game, Dead bodies here and there. Who is part of the game, who isn’t?

It begins with our retired police detective, now private, being hired to find a missing , possibly Renaissance art work after the elderly matriarch dies. She has all the greedy relatives wanting to cash in. A couple of the characters were developed well but others seemed like drop ins yet they had important roles. Anyway, it was mostly entertaining and probably would be better if I were on a long distance flight without distractions.

Next week I’m going to a Fullers book shop launch of Trouwerner by Tasmanian indigenous elder, Aunty Patsy Cameron, journalist Martin Flanagan and our previous governor Kate Warner.

I was lucky that I got the first copy the library ordered and picked it up this week. I was going to read a few pages of it last night to see how I like it and next thing I knew it was after midnight and I was on page 60. It is so good. The history takes place mainly in the north of the state and on Flinders Island where the Aboriginal population was settled back in the 1800s where many died. We get more history of those days in the book. I can’t wait to hear the discussion of this book and hope to finish the book in time for the event next Friday. More on this later.

Other activities. Monday I went swimming at the spa in town. Woke up after a nights sleep of up and down. Pilates was not in my mind when morning came so I headed off to this pool. No one else there except one young woman in the corner chair reading a book enjoying the steaming of her sinuses. I guess that’s as good a reason as any to be there.

I had the small pool and waterfall to myself and splashed around for half an hour. The room is low light as well so very relaxing. Then I hopped in the newly repaired jacuzzi spa and enjoyed the heat on my tired old bones.

Afterwards I adjourned to my favourite cafe outdoors and watched people as I had a toasted ham, cheese and pineapple sandwich and a cappuccino. I made a 30 minute friend, an elderly local woman of 87, who was also enjoying a coffee and we shared our glaucoma stories. That made me laugh. How far we’ve come from being young and vibrant to older and half blind. Haha, you have to laugh. Then we each went our separate ways to our busses home.

While waiting for the bus I heard crazy dog barking coming down our main road through town. I looked up and saw a WWII motorbike with side car coming by. In the side car was a large black labrador retriever, wearing goggles, happily barking his head off. Of course I didn’t have my camera. That is always the way.

For something different-

Last week I made some pumpkin muffins. I had a hankering for American tasting pumpkin pie but wanted to use local pumpkin and not Libby’s canned pumpkin from USA foods.com. With the correct spices I was able to replicate the taste exactly so who needs to buy American food? At least there wasn’t a tariff on it. Lol.

A couple of more gym sessions during the week, another Fullers event on Thursday evening, more on that later and my monthly seniors meal with friends filled out the week.

Upcoming: tomorrow I will be attending the Pancreatic cancer fundraiser as one of the required photographers recording the event. My brief is to photograph the speakers, stall holders and purple costumed people and dogs. We get there early to set up and then let the fun begin. I think it will be moving, fun, and important. I’ll post a couple of photos later if they turn out. We’ve been asked to turn in 100 photos each they will then be turned over to the organisers for marketing and advertising.

Monday is a public holiday here for 8 Hour day or Labor day. 8 hours work, 8 hours life, 8 hours sleep. Though I don’t know many people who stick to that schedule. I’ll use it as a quiet day at home after Sunday’s activities.

Well I could say about the week- that’s a wrap!

I’ve been a bit fatigued the last couple of weeks but think I’m coming out of it now. Autumn is my favourite season so looking forward to getting out into some colours and maybe a country town or two with my camera.

I finished Helen Garner’s book The Season. I am not into Aussie rules footy much but I love Helen Garner’s writing. I listened to the audible in the evening while I worked on puzzles and she reads her own work. She has a wonderful reading voice and her intonations and sometimes sarcastic wit comes through. I laughed out loud a few times.

The Amazon blurb:

It’s footy season in Melbourne, and Helen Garner is following her grandson’s under-16s team. She not only goes to every game (give or take), but to every training session too, shivering on the sidelines at dusk, fascinated by the spectacle.

She’s a passionate Western Bulldogs fan (with an imperfect grasp of the rules) who loves the epic theatre of AFL football. But her devotion to the under-16s offers her something else. This is her chance to connect with her youngest grandchild, to be close to him before he rushes headlong into manhood. To witness his triumphs and defeats, to fear for his safety in battle, to gasp and to cheer for his team as it fights for a place in the finals.

I enjoyed this book so much and the relationship between her and her grandsons is wonderful. Helen is 80 now and the conversations between her and her teen grandsons were touching, funny and quite respectful most of the time. The boys appreciate her so much. It is a short read and you won’t go wrong with this book if you love Garner’s writing or love footy. She managed to make footy sound quite exciting even for me.

I think I mentioned I finished Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks. Geraldine is doing a book tour now in Australia but I am so disappointed she misses Tasmania this trip. She has been here twice before and the last time she filled the Theatre Royal when launching her book Horse. I see she does an interview with our prime minister so at least I can listen to that. That is a bit different for her but she is a journalist after all so it might be interesting. She is probably more riveting to listen to than he is (chuckle).

I have now sent this book off to a very dear friend whose husband sadly passed away recently and I will enjoy talking to her about the book when I visit in a few weeks. More on my quick trip to Sydney and Port Macquarie to see two of my dearest friends.

I am currently reading Death of a Rook for book group meeting in March. It is authored by Kate Atkinson. I am enjoying it quite a lot. It is a mystery in the style of the golden detective writing of the past. It begins very much like an Agatha Christie book. I will have more on this after our meeting.

Last week I spent some time focusing on some street photography. I am trying to think of small projects with my photography as it is better to have a goal for the time spent then to wander around aimlessly. I did a couple of street portraits then looked for little stories. That was fun and I will share those here.

We have been spending extra time with our dog Ollie. He has ear infections and allergies and his new meds clashed a bit with his regular allergy med. He became lethargic and seemed quite depressed. He took himself off to be alone and wouldn’t interact. We stopped the new medication as the infection wasn’t a problem anymore and he is back to himself again. We are probably taking him to the dog beach today. He loves that. I might tag a photo of that later so you can share his joy with Peannie, his sister

I need to catch up on some post reading as I haven’t checked lately who has written what lately but I intend to go back and see what I have missed. I have a habit of withdrawing from the world here and there and though my psychologist said that is one of the main signs of autism I understand it now. I need to recharge and let my batteries drain then the cycle continues. I always thought it was MS fatigue but evidently it isn’t. It is so weird to learn all of this at my advanced age. If only….I say.

Well, not to linger. Enjoy the photos and I’ll be back soon. Hope all of you enjoy this coming week. We never know what will pop up do we?

What happens on the streets of Hobart 🌻

Trying to work out what bus to take.

I am looking at a sunny 29C degree today and a weekend with no plans. I am getting through a couple of books this week and a couple of social events. I hit the gym a couple of times too. It is so much easier to get some exercise when the weather is nice.

In my last post I randomly picked the Ladies Motorcycle and Flying club book to read. I got into it a bit but it turned out I am releasing it to the wild as it is just too silly. I lost interest very quickly. I thought the audible might work better but listening to the sample narrator I gave that away. It is read but the author who does not have a great reading voice. Why do authors all think they have the voice to read on audible. Get an actor and just spend time writing.

I am moving on to our book group read, Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson. Our book group met a couple of weeks ago to discuss Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright. Fullers has 5 book groups that meet monthly, consisting of a total of 100 members spread across several different meeting times. Of the 100, we were told only 16 could finish this book. An interesting discussion began as to who is the intended reader for this book if only 16% of serious readers could get through it. The ones who did manage to finish it seemed to enjoy it and one member said it is the kind of book you need to just read and don’t ask questions as you go and it seemed to eventually fall into place.

Instead I turned my attention to Australian/American Geraldine Brook’s latest book, Memorial Days. In 2019 her husband, Tony died suddenly in Washington DC. His death occurred while she was in the middle of writing her successful book Horse. His death was a shock to many and this book tells how she coped with it. She struggled with the financial side of things as that was mainly his domain. She detailed what she had to do after his death. It prevented her from really grieving at the time. In 2023, after Horse was finished, she finally took time out to properly spend time alone and grieve while renting a remote shack on Flinders Island. For those of you who are not Australian, Flinders Island is a small, remote island between Tasmania and mainland Australia in Bass Strait. She and her husband had vacationed there previously and she walked through many memories. Geraldine is an Australian, American and still gets great comfort from being back in Australia. The chapters of the book alternate between the aftermath of his death and the time spent on Flinders. I found it interesting and quite gentle , especially on the island. I have met Geraldine twice on her visits to Hobart and like her so much. So I was really interested in hearing her voice again in this book.

i also finished a book I had started last year by Markus Zusak, Three Wild Dogs and the Truth. I attended the launch of this book at Fullers book shop last year, got started with it, put it down due to distraction and finally finished it. He discusses life with these dogs who are untrained and quite dangerous. Being fairly strict with dogs over my lifetime, I found his irresponsibility quite disturbing. The dogs killed his family cat after living successfully with it for several years, climbed a tree to kill a possum and bit the piano teacher of one of his children, requiring two stitches. They don’t come when called, knock people over at the dog park, yet his love for these animals is so incredibly strong he just can’t see through it.

The reader feels torn between the love of these dogs Markus has and the dogs for him, yet the irresponsibility is really irritating. At least it was for me. Read this at your own risk, if you are a devoted animal lover. I could see both sides.

I am also doing a group read of sorts with my sister and two of my good friends. We are laughing our way through Mel Robbins, a social influencer on Tik Tok and Instagram and author of the best selling American and Australian book, The Let Them Method. it has been flying off the shelves. In Tasmania, Fullers and Dymocks could not keep it in stock.

The blurb-

The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About” is a groundbreaking book by New York Times bestselling author Mel Robbins. This transformative guide empowers readers to reclaim their lives by focusing on what they can control and releasing the rest. With two simple words—“Let Them”—Robbins offers a path to free oneself from the exhausting cycle of managing others’ opinions, drama, and judgments. Through relatable stories and science-backed strategies, she provides the tools to prioritize personal happiness, pursue meaningful goals, and build authentic relationships. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to unlock their full potential and create a life they love. 

A few of us are laughing our way through this as we see people discussing or trying to control others in several situations as we keep saying, Let Them! Just let them.

Her examples are, you find out you didn’t get invited to something- Let them…attend. A spouse wants to attend to a task you disagree with his/her method? Let them. Then it goes further to say, Let Me. Let those events you can’t control go to “Let Them!’ then you go to part 2 , which is ‘Let Me’. Just move past it and go your own way. There has been much humour in my circle of friends and family and it really does help letting go of small stuff you can’t control.

Of course, one can’t let them do some of the big things. If you know your partner wants to move your mother in law 3000 miles and pay for it, you might draw the line. But I find it is generally the small stuff that gets your goat!

Well, on that note I will move on a bit. What is something that made you laugh this week?

What makes you laugh?