TravellinPenguin

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.

A Penguin Post, Miscellaneous

Crazy Days of Autumn

Posted on November 24, 2020 by TravellinPenguin

Reading this past week or so has been a mish mash. We have builders, an electrician and plumbers tearing the kitchen apart. We have confused pets checking everything out constantly wondering where their food dishes are and Ollie spends days in the backyard looking through his crack in the fence for the neighbour’s cat, Stanley; playing with his toys and standing, staring at rocks for the local lizards to emerge. I am trying to keep him from killing them. So far the score is Ollie 1 the Lizard 0.

I’ve also been informed in this past week of a health problem I have and it will require surgery within a very short period of time. I’ll have more on that front on Friday. Needless to say it is a hard time to concentrate.

I’ve been enjoying further essays in the book I wrote about in the last post, The Gift of Reading. I find them quite uplifting. I’ve also pulled a beautiful copy I have of Andersen’s Fairy Tales off the shelf. It is illustrated with lovely black and white as well as colour plates and there are 100 stories within it’s beautiful covers. I go to random.org each day and choose the number of the tale I will read that day. It is a total comfort read.

I was given several book vouchers for my birthday which I will probably save until after Christmas when new books stock Fullers Book shop after the Christmas rush or older shelved books will be on the large sale table.

Last night had two of my wonderful friends and I at our popular local Italian restaurant, DaAngelo’s for our annual birthday, girl’s night out. The next one will be in March when they celebrate their birthdays. I received a book from each of them, plus a beautiful little note pad and a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolate. My dessert was a delicious crème brulee. Birthdays can be so much fun even as I progress into my 70th decade. I cannot believe I am so old.

Love Clancy is a book of letters from Clancy to his parents in the bush. It is a tale of a young dog’s musings about the oddities of human behaviour, life in the big city and his own attempts to fit in. An interesting perspective I think by a well known author.

The second book I received is both a title and author I am not familiar with. The Phone Box at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messini. The author has been living in Japan and works between Tokyo and Kamakura where she lives. It has been translated from the Italian by Lucy Rand, from the U.K. She has also been living in Japan for the past three years. No idea where the Italian link comes from.

It is a story of Yuri who loses her mother and daughter in the tsunami and wonders how she will carry on. She hears of a disused telephone box in an old man’s garden where those who have lost loved ones find the strength to speak to them and begin to come to terms with their grief. As news of this phone box spreads people travel to it from miles around. Interesting? Certainly different. Should be fun.

I received the latest copy of Womankind magazine and this month it features the women of South America. Some interesting articles and brightly coloured photography.

I am also working my way through my copy of October’s Australian Book Review with several interesting articles of books I’ve read or own on the TBR shelf.

As you can see November is a big month of chaotic mish mash and my reading,Mr. Penguin and our affectionate animals are keeping us sane in the run up to Christmas.

I’m not certain what December is going to bring except to say I will have no problem farewelling the year that has been 2020 and I do wish/hope/pray for better times worldwide in 2021. To think one year ago we had no idea what this year would turn into. Wow!

Until next time…