Author: TravellinPenguin

Staying calm…

I’m sitting here with a cup of black tea with a single swipe of sugar in it. Just relaxing a bit with Les Préludes by Franz Liszt playing. I pulled out the book of 1001 Books of Classical Music you should listen to before you die. There are 949 pages in this book so no shortage of wondering what to listen to. I used a random generator and it sent me to page 344. There was a Bartok and a Liszt so I chose the Liszt first. I will do the Bartok though as I like a lot of his music.

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Grizzy’s Christmas photo.

It has been a stressful week as we had one of our cats, Grizzy, in the vet hospital all week.  He is ten years old now and has always been over weight. It is hard to get him to move. He is such a lazy boy. He is like a walrus. He lies around watching the activity of the household but doesn’t get involved in much. He started weeing a lot and drinking big amounts of water. He has also lost weight. I know you have figured it out.

After a week of tests he is now diagnosed as diabetic. There is a new medication in Australia that is given orally. No daily needles. However we had to find out if he could tolerate it. If not it will be one or two injections per day. The good news is he is okay with it so far but is under a very watchful eye of my good friend and veterinarian. The bad news is we need to test his wee every morning and he has to have his medication every day at the same time. As we have three cats, he can’t share a litter box either so at 10 pm he goes to bed in a separate room with his own litter. I found it a bit stressful but now having completed day one, I am finding it isn’t that difficult. We’ll see how he goes. (Thank goodness he has pet insurance.)

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I love this cover.

Now onto some books. I have opened four books lately. The first one I really enjoyed was The Evenings by Gerard Reve. Amazon describes it as:

Edgy, mesmerising, darkly ironical: this one-of-a kind novel tells the story of ten evenings in the life of Frits van Egters – a disllusioned young man, walking the streets of post-war Amsterdam. The young protagonist’s aimlessness and ennui belie the extraordinary wit and beauty of this powerful piece of outsider fiction, which has been voted one of the greatest novels of all time by Dutch readers.

It was published in 1947. Translated by Sam Garrett.

I loved this book. Fritz hangs out with a couple of his friends and the conversations he has with them and those also of his parents are very funny. Though this is not a whimsical book by any means. The conversations are full of black humour and also are often quite crude. There were many times I laughed out loud. There is not a lot of action either. Time is spent going to the movies and in conversation. I could read it again as I’m sure I missed a bit of it. If I were to rate this book I’d give it five stars but I don’t rate books. Lol. I would love to know how the rest of his life turned out.

This is a big YES..

Next-

Another book I got half way through was: Floating Home:  Lessons from a life less ordinary byAdam Lind

It is the story of a man who decides to live on a canal boat in the UK. I wanted to hear stories about life on a river boat. However he went so far into himself, naval gazing about feelings and emotions I just turned the whole thing off after I got about half way through. I kept thinking it would pick up but it didn’t. I can’t recommend this to anyone unless you want to know about the author and how he feels about everything. 

This is a NO

Next-

The next book I am reading on my Kindle Scribe and taking lots of notes is for our February Fullers Book group meeting. The book is Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner. This book was short listed for the Booker Prize.

Described as: 

Sadie Smith – a 34-year-old American undercover agent of ruthless tactics and bold opinions – is sent by her mysterious but powerful employers to a remote corner of France.

Her mission: to infiltrate a commune of radical activists influenced by the beliefs of an enigmatic elder, Bruno Lacombe. But just as she is certain she’s the seductress and puppet master of those she surveils, Sadie becomes caught in the crossfire between the past and the future…

This book is starting out to be quite interesting and I am highlighting quite a few passages. It should be an interesting book group discussion.

I can’t say yet.

And finally another light hearted book I’m listening to is one by David Sedaris I am listening to. It is called The Best of Me released in 2020. A collection of anecdotes both recorded live and not by him. The voices he does when talking about his family are extremely funny.

Some of the stories I’ve heard before in his other books but he just makes me laugh out loud and I have needed that this week.

I must warn you though there is a great deal of foul language. Definitely for the over 16 people. 

This is a MAYBE. If crude doesn’t bother you then go ahead, otherwise keep riding your horse outta town.

Well I really must stop here as this has become quite long. I’ll do a part 2 soon as there was a lovely photography day this past week with a good friend and I’d like to share the wonderful photographs we got. Stay tuned, I’ll be back before too long.

Penguin wants to know: the name of the last book you touched.

All I wanted for Christmas was some peace and quiet at home. I’ve done the fun things with friends and wandered around town both shopping and watching people shop.

I’ve been stuck in grid lock traffic. I’ve had people bump into me. All the rushing around. It;s over!!

The weather is windy and quite chilly today (11degrees C – 51.8 degrees F) with off and on rain. I know, it’ s summer but the upcoming weekend is to be hot. So moving on.

As far as presents, etc go I wanted chocolate and I got a fair bit of that. I wanted a book. That wasn’t hard at all. One of the books I received (from myself with leftover birthday book voucher credits) is called A Year of Junk Journaling by Martina Calvi.

I love my journals. I have my small journal for just noting what happened today. Such as an animal to the vet, paid an electric bill, walked to town. It is a day to a page. I have my Commonwealth Journal to record things I enjoy reading about. Maybe a new comet in the sky. Maybe a new recipe or a book review. I read a lot of photography magazines and there are always notes to take from that. 

Then I have the day to a page that is just a brain dump. Maybe something fun happened. Maybe some idiot showed road rage. Just getting out the day so sleep comes easily.

I can add little pictures or stickers to that. Then there is the Junk Journal. Anything and everything goes into that. I can get as creative as I want using any bits of paper, buttons, feathers, menu items, receipts, you name it. This book of Junk Journaling has many ideas and illustrations of things I can do if I want to.

One page I have in one of my older journals is just a page of the wrappers from all the different teas I drink. I have a lot of T42 teas and the wrappers are different colours. You get the picture.

I’ll share a couple of more pages. It’s also fun to cut out the heads of people on magazines, then draw the clothes and bodies. I’m so hopeless at drawing it becomes very funny.

Another book of activities is Hobart’s Best Walks, published last year as part of the Woodsman Walking Guides. There are over 40 walks listed just around the Hobart area (southern Tasmania). I can include that in my days out to do photography. I’m always trying to think of places to take my camera that I’ve not been to for awhile.

I hope to post a few photos of the Penguin and I as we traverse these some familiar walks and some not so much.

On this note I will now wish my North American friends and family a lovely, peaceful Christmas for tomorrow and hope my Australian friends have had a good day. Merry Christmas to all the other countries people might drop in from no matter how you celebrate these days or ignore it altogether.

From our family below I’ll share a bit of cuteness.

Ollie.

Peanut (Peanny)

12 yr old Cousin Eddie

9 year old Grizzy (Griswald)

And for her first Christmas with us is 3 yr old Pickles who we inherited from our friend and neighbour Denny, who sadly passed away this year.

Pickles has settled in well and is almost running the household single handed.

See you next year!

And no we don’t have snow. The good things of AI. But it feels like we have snow.

Well, we have finally travelled through the year to another Christmas. Grid lock traffic, people everywhere. Rushing. Stressing. Laughing. Silly. These are the words and actions that come to mind. 

This week has been an incredibly sad week for Australia with the tragic events on Bondi Beach last weekend. I won’t add anymore comments or noise to this situation as there is more than enough. I am tired of feeling so sad about it. Must move on. I will say though I am very much thinking of the Jewish community who were so happy celebrating Hannakah.

Everyone and their dog wants to comment about it on every social media platform, news outlets and visual media. Enough said.

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I am going into a fantasy world with Stephen King this week. I don’t read much of him. For one there is too much of him. He has so many published books. Some of them are way out in the stratosphere. The one I’m reading is a bit graphic but it is fun.

11/22/63.  That is the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

I remember that event like it was yesterday. I was in the last class of the day when I heard about it. 8th grade. Math class. Mr. Nixon. Though this incident happened in the morning, students weren’t told about it until school dismissal.  I remember walking home. I went into the house and my mother was curled up in an old blue chair we had watching the black and white tv. I think she had been there all day. My dad was at work.

We lived in a small town in mid Michigan. King’s book takes place in a small town in Wisconsin. His old pal who runs a shop has discovered a way into the past through an old staircase. He shares it with our protagonist. Old pal (as I will call him) is dying of cancer. He doesn’t have long. They have conversations about all the things they can do with returning to the past. I love those conversations. They speculate on what they could do.

They settle on the killing of Kennedy. If only Oswald could be stopped there would be a lot of changes in the world. 

I would probably choose a different event but would need to think about what it would be.

But first they decide to see if their action does change anything so they pick a crime from the 1950s where a drunken father goes home one night and kills his wife and child and permanently disables his son.

Our protagonist changes his name and heads back to the past. The fun part of this book is the prices of things, the  conversations, the news of the day. 9 cents milkshakes. The car he buys which is now a classic he buys for $300.

He has to be careful not to mention events that happened beyond the 1950s and 1960s. It is just a lot of fun and the memories it evokes are so much to laugh at. The candies, the drinks, the food. The cars, the types of shops. I remember it all from the 50s in my small town in Michigan. It is all so familiar and I feel I am there with him. 

It is funny he has the horse racing results so makes some good bets and wins (of course). That is how he collects an income while there. He also works as a substitute teacher. His real job in the present is a secondary school English teacher.

I really laughed at the books and plays taught in the schools. Of course The Catcher in the Rye was not in the school library. Haha

The school play was Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. I remember the books we had to read in high school. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. Didn’t appreciate any of them at the time. I think now the only one I wouldn’t mind reading again is Steinbeck’s book. When I look back I remember all the religious connotations in these books that were drummed into us even though it was a public school. Very sneaky- eh?

This book is 900 + pages long. I am just at the part where our protagonist is watching Lee Harvey Oswald who has just moved to Texas after marrying his wife, Marina Oswald. 

I am listening to this book on Audible. It is narrated by Craig Wasson. He does a great job with the variety of dialects between the north- Wisconsin and the south- Texas. 

I’m finding the book suspenseful, a very pacy read and very well defined characters. Stephen King’s characters are always very well developed. He is a wonderful writer. Love him or hate him, he sure has a backlog of very different books. I love his imagination.

I’ve been trying to remember the other books I’ve read by him over the decades. The Shining, Pet Cemetery, Cujo, Carrie, Dolores Clairborne (I think that is the name) and Misery. I began the Long Walk but got stressed so put it aside. I was a lot younger and braver when the books I mention came out in the beginning of his career. I also read On Writing which is a wonderful book with no violence. 

I wouldn’t mind reading that again.

Well that wraps up this past week. I haven’t done much else except exercise at the gym, do some Christmas shopping. I checked out all the gifts and books at Fullers book store. So much fun. I had a gift certificate from my birthday so bought a 15 minute, beautiful glass hour glass for my desk. 

I haven’t wanted to be around people this week but we have a lovely lunch coming up tomorrow with some dear friends and their family we’re looking forward to. Along with their five adult children, four of whom are home from university and their youngest finishing up high school.

Christmas will be a quiet day with our dogs, Ollie, Peanut (Peannie) and indoor cats Cousin Eddie, Grizzy (Griswald) and Pickles. I’ll get the dogs to the beach when we have good weather. Shouldn’t be long now.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s season and a very happy 2026. Looking forward to all the bookish challenges. 

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Penguin;s Question of the Week.

If you could time travel and change one thing , what would it be?