TravellinPenguin

A Quiet Simple Sunday

Posted on December 13, 2020 by TravellinPenguin

Photo of cockatoo Kevin is mine. Other three photos are from stock photos.

We have a lovely warm Sunday happening here. It seems quite still. The windows are open and I can hear our local neighbourhood birds twittering quietly away. I know all the pairs of birds around our yard. We have Mr and Mrs Blackbird. They are good workers and always busy doing one thing or another. We had bachelor Wattle Bird but this summer he got married and they can be seen in the birdbath quite often though he also bathes in the eaves of the house over the porch. He sure likes his baths. I haven’t seen her much lately so she may be busy with eggs or chicks. Then we have a new pair of magpies. We’ve never had magpies here before as we are up towards the base of Mt. Wellington and it has been too cold. In 30 plus years I’ve not seen them but they have now moved in. They have spent the past two weeks rolling around on the neighbour’s yard mating. Everyday they are cavorting in the grass. Surely she’ll lay some eggs soon. They moved in on the plovers who had a family of five chicks of which four survived. They are now enjoying an empty nest for awhile.

Then we have Kevin. Kevin is a dorky cockatoo that we believe was an escapee from a backyard aviary at one time and though he does stay with the flock much of the time he’ll often be found on our front porch screaming for a few sunflower seeds if we don’t put them out. He doesn’t get them a lot because I don’t want him to become dependent on us for food as these birds can live well over 100 years. If Kevin sees us in the yard he’ll fly by and give us the “eye”. It is not uncommon for him to sit on our porch railing and look in the lounge room window looking for us.

You can see I have a lot of time on my hands now.

Today I spent some time choosing some books to work my way through. I chose one Audible, one E-book, one Fiction and one Non Fiction. A couple I’ve begun, the others not yet.

I played around with the design of my blog a bit and now I’m sharing the books I chose to dig into. Once again 2021 is the year of the TBR shelves. I didn’t do that well this year so must buckle down next year. Here we go.

Progress so far–

Ann Cleeves Vera Mystery = 33%. Harold and Maude (ebook)= 28%

Julia Child-My Life in France (audible) = 25%

The Bookseller’s Tale (non fiction essays) = 0%

I’ll write more about these books as I finish them off. For now it is time to wrap this up and do something non computer related.

I hope all of you are having a nice weekend.

Non Fiction

Looking forward to the weekend…

Posted on December 11, 2020 by TravellinPenguin

This week has ended quite well and the weekend is looking better. I’ll get the first news out of the way as I am not dwelling on this body thing anymore. I am well and truly over it. But pathology results have returned and there is no cancer. I am happy and relieved. Now onto a book I just finished.

I have been listening to a lot of audible things during the past week or so. A book I downloaded from audible.com is called, Things I Learned on the 6.28, A Commuter’s Guide to Reading by Stig Abell. Narrated by the author, published by John Murray, 2020. UK

The book blurb states:

For a whole year on his train to work, TLS Editor Stig Abell read books from across genres and time periods. Then he wrote about them and their impact on our culture and his own life.

The result is a work of many things: a brisk guide to the canon of Western literature; an intimate engagement with writers from Shakespeare to JK Rowling, Marcel Proust to Zora Neale Hurston; a wise and funny celebration of the power of words; and a meditation on mental unrest and how to tackle it. It will help you discover new books to love, give you the confidence to give up on those that you don’t, and remind you of ones that you already do.

He began in January and finished just before Christmas. His train ride was approximately 55 minutes and each month he planned a different genre.

The winter months (in the UK) were Jan- Crime; Feb- English Classics; Mar- Shakespeare

Spring had him discussing Apr-American classics; May-Historical Novels

Summer were Plays, Translated Classics and Poetry.

Autumn was Modern Literary Fiction; Autodidact Non Fiction; and December was Lucky Dip.

My reading corner on the porch. Our porch is tiny

Overall I enjoyed this book. I loved the concept and was surprised at how much he could read in such a small space of a day. He had a family with children and the time on the train was pretty much his best reading time.

He gave a good bit of information about the authors, the time periods of the books and their impact on society as he saw it. At times he got a little bit too wordy and I skimmed ahead as it began to drone a bit but not often. I must say I lost a bit of interest on Plays That Aren’t Shakespeare in June. I was familiar with a couple but some were very obscure to me only because I don’t read a lot of the classical plays from centuries past.

It was a good book to listen to during the night when sleep escaped me and the topic changed regularly enough I could concentrate on what he was doing. He seems really committed to the value of books and I enjoyed that.

So I actually finished a book this week. Progress.

I’ve been thinking about some projects for next year to replace time on my motorbike. I’ve got a few ideas but am still pondering. Hint- I have a brand new kitchen and it’s all ready to go. Also, Australia (even Tasmania) is very hot in summer so would be nice to be indoors if not under a shady tree.

This weekend is to be between 28 and 31 degrees C (approx 86 F). I have my lounge chair set up on the porch, Ollie is happy in the front yard with his assortment of bugs to stalk and places in the sun to nap and I think we will be doing some reading in the shade.

And just for fun…..This photo popped up this week on my facebook memory. Ollie as a puppy as I listened to an opera and the soprano came on. He had been sleeping and it startled him.

Enjoy your weekend everyone.

1001 Children's You Must Read Before You Die

Hangin’ in there like a rusty nail…

Posted on December 8, 2020December 8, 2020 by TravellinPenguin

This year just keeps getting better and better. I’m writing this for my good friends who I know read this. Then I might delete it as I am not about discussing body parts. I had major surgery last Thursday. I’ve had a very large mass, (think large baby’s head) removed plus all those internal (infernal?) female parts and although thankfully it does not look like there is any high risk cancer as part of it, it is being evaluated by several pathologists as something to look into more. I should know more by next week. I am feeling relaxed and positive and know I will get through this as we must all get through anything. I plan to stay in the current moment and do what I can. After all what else is there? I’m thankful I live in Australia where there are hospitals clear of Covid, people on the whole do the right thing and government leadership has been strong. It has saved many lives. I don’t care what side of the political fence they are on they are keeping us alive as much as possible.

I think the saddest realisation I’ve had with all of this it is time to sell my trusty scooter. I’ve been riding almost 25 years and when my friend who runs Motorworks said he would sell it for me, I hung up and cried. It is like losing an old dog who took me up and down the east coast of Australia, around Victoria, the Great Ocean Road and around Tasmania several times.

I am a believer that we realise and accept limitations in our lives and as much as we want to keep doing what we love we must get up and keep looking for other things to fill the void.

I think being an old lady now in her 70s with many interests can find other things to do. My photography is at the forefront and hopefully travel will be in the future. But when I came home from hospital yesterday, which is a place I never want to spend time again, I thought of the wall of books I have, Mr Penguin who helps me with so much and gives us all love and the wonderful Ollie, Molly, Uncle Buck, Cousin Eddie and Grizzy who love us with all their hearts.

I might add that the kitchen was pretty much finished and everything moved back in by the night before my surgery. Now just to paint the ceiling, the attached laundry room and put in the floor. Can’t believe it will be completely done and we won’t be cooking in a 70’s time capsule anymore.

So while I do feel grief at losing the past I guess that is what we all come to terms to and I plan very much on being my silly, joking self, laughing at the silliness of much of the world. I have no plans until 1 January to go anywhere. I’m going to get my strength back, get back to the gym, my pilates and personal trainer work, take amazing photos, spend time with Ollie on the beach, spend time with my friends who have been so supportive both here and overseas. It meant a lot through some very dark nights.

I promise this will be the last you hear of this nonsense. I will probably delete this post once it’s been read by the people who have followed my “letters” as I tend to look upon this blog and back to exploring Tasmania, Hobart, books, reading and everything that adds value to life.

I look forward to the clean slate that is to be 2021. Hopefully. a vaccination that does its job most of the time, no Trump antics in the White House, a bit of kindness and warmth and hopefully people taking care of each other, and our environment and animals.

Okay, now I’m off to read Pollyanna and eat sweet cherries while patting small children on the head and smiling at the flowers in my yard.