Author: TravellinPenguin

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.

Good Morning from Penguin and Me

Yesterday we had a bit of travel and camera work. Last week we started a new book. There are photos up today as well from a well known Tasmanian tourist spot.

Let’s begin. 

First the book. The latest book is by Tasmanian author Konrad Muller. He is a Tasmania implant as many of us are.

Konrad Muller grew up in Melbourne, studied Arabic in Egypt, and was posted as an Australian diplomat to Cairo and Tel Aviv. He now works on a small family vineyard in northern Tasmania. His literary writings have appeared in The London Magazine. My Heart at Evening is his first novel.

Robert Dessaix (author) describes it as: A glossy black cockatoo of a book, as black as midnight, menacingly courtly, with mischievous scarlet flashes.

There is Tassie history, nature and mystery I am told. I actually went to the launch of this book awhile back at Fullers book store so am looking forward to seeing what it is about. 

Now onto the travel. Yes it was only a day but it was still travel. I joined a photography tour run by Tasmanian Photography Tours. {Wilkography_Tasmania)

There were 8 of us with two professional photographer guides. Ben and Charles. We hopped into the mini van and drove the hour plus up to Triabunna on the east coast of Tasmania. We then received a big box of yummy sandwiches and one of the members shared a wonderful almond cake. 

We hopped onto the Maria Island ferry with a million very excited Asian tourists (it is summer tourist season after all) and off we went on the 35 minute journey to the island. Once on the island everyone dispersed and the island seemed almost vacant. Except for us.

Maria Island is a mountainous island located in the Tasman Sea, off the east coast of Tasmania, Australia. The 115.5-square-kilometre island is entirely occupied by the Maria Island National Park, which includes a marine area of 18.78 square kilometres off the island’s northwest coast. It is a car-free national park. It is renowned for its pristine natural beauty, abundant wildlife (including wombats, kangaroos, and Tasmanian devils), and rich convict history.

Cape Barron goose

As it was a very bright sunny day the wombats, wallabies and devils of course were sound asleep somewhere out of sight. However we did have fun photographing the Cape Barren geese. These birds are of significant size and they do have quite the attitude.

We hiked up and down hills, through the bush and admired the beautiful views all while learning new photography strategies from our hosts. It was lots of fun. We got back to the dock at 2:30 and headed back to mainland Tassie. 

We were presented with a great big box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts for afternoon tea and that just added to a lovely day. Another half hour drive to the north and we landed on Kelvedon Beach. We spent around an hour pr so there enjoying the Tasman Sea and surrounding area with our tripods and cameras. I finally arrived home at 7:30 pm, was in bed at ten and slept a good 9 hours as I was exhausted after the almost 9 km walk up and down hills, over loose sand, rocks and the freshest air on the planet. What is it about older age and fatigue?

I didn’t think one could do a lot on the island in just a few hours but I was wrong. It is certainly accessible from Hobart for a day trip. Some people were camping or staying in some historic basic colonial accommodation on the island. But the day trip is still very doable and a lot of fun. It is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I would like to visit again when not a hot summer day and the wildlife are more active.

So there we have it. Another week of life.

The Penguin has a good question for you all this week.

What was the last island you were on? 

Travellin’ with Penguin since 2012

Instagram wanderlensphotographyTasmania

BOOK OF THE WEEK

I was recently reading an article in the New York Times newspaper about a woman in New York City that had established a women’s only apartment community. It was as much a supported community as accommodation only. The rise in homelessness of more senior women was the impetus to get this project underway. At the end of the article there were recommendations for a few books that are in this vein of thought.

One of them sounded interesting and was available on audible. Narrated by the author. I had a credit so decided to listen to it. The book I chose is a non-fiction memoir of two Korean women in Seoul that decide to pool their resources and buy a house. 

Two Women Living Together by Kim Hana and Huang Sunoco isn’t a novel with fictional characters. It details their unconventional co-living arrangement.

Kim Hana is a Korean writer, podcaster and “chosen family” partner who moved in with Sunwoo in mid life to share a home, domestic life and experiences of friendship, work and everyday routines. 

Hwang Sunwoo is co author who is also a Korean writer and editor who, after years of living alone chose to buy a home together with Kim Hana and share a life not defined by traditional marriage or family roles.

Women in Korea are expected to marry and settle down with families. These families involve the care of children and often living with a mother-in-law.

They wanted to avoid this lifestyle and keep their independence. However it is an expensive choice and that was the main reason the two friends believed they could make shared living work.

The other characters were their four cats. The cats are repeatedly mentioned throughout and are a significant part of their family. 

The structure of the book is composed in alternating brief essays with a focus on the lived experience, personalities and evolving partnership of Hana and Sunwoo. 

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I really enjoyed this story. It moves along nicely, it is well written and I enjoyed the two women. It was interesting to see how they problem solved. The main problem they needed to work on together is that one woman is very neat and tidy and the other leaves everything out and doesn’t take care of much. The women hadn’t thought of these issues before they moved in together. There were other issues they worked on together but it is overwhelmingly a story of the importance of friendship and the ability to create a life outside of expected norms. 

LIFE IN HOBART

The past couple of weeks have been quite hectic with more events happening than I wanted. Though I did want to participate in all of the events!

There were a couple of events at Fullers that were interesting. Two book launches in particular. One was A Brain that Breathes: Essential Habits for an Overwhelming World by Australian author Jodi Wilson. Four of us attended this believing it would be on the scientific side. However it turned out to be a bit too new “agey” and aimed at younger people immersed in families and full time jobs. Not as relevant as us retirees who have time on our hands to indulge in all the communing with nature, reading books, taking a walk in the rain she prescribed in order to keep our sanity. Pretty average we thought.

The second launch was much more interesting with the Hobart launch of Niki Sava’s book Earthquake. The launch was moved to a large conference room of a local hotel as so many people attended. She was in conversation with Sabra Lane. Sava is an Australian journalist, author and former senior advisor to Prime Minister John. Howard. As this launch was on the same day as the change in leadership of the Australian liberal party there was a lot of interest and the conversations were both enlightening, interesting and funny. 

PHOTOGRAPHY

There wasn’t a lot of photography but I did do a random walk from South Hobart into Hobart City. The photos below show you some of the neighbourhood of South Hobart and where I walked. I quite enjoy a random walk and sometimes while on the bus home I’ll snap a photo out the window every time the bus stops. This changes with every bus ride.

A local church.

TRAVEL

My travels have been quite limited as of late but I am going on a photography workshop on Maria Island very soon. Maria Island is a small island off the east coast of Tasmania and is known for its scenery and wildlife, including wombats and birds. Those photos will be featured in a coming post. 

You can see Maria Island off the east coast.

PENGUIN’S  QUESTION OF THE WEEK

What did you stop and look at on your last walk? What is the last book you put your hand on?