Hi everyone. It has been very busy lately with a lot of activities. So not to dawdle I’ll just bring us up to the current week.

MONDAY: Back to weight class but our regular instructor is on holiday so we had a very hyperactive instructor from Brazil. I haven’t seen such mania and chaos in a person in a long time. I actually left a few minutes early as I had finished my main exercises and had to find some calm.

That night I finished a book by David Sedaris. Theft by Finding. It is his diary from his attendance at university to just beginning to get serious about his writing. He had some really tough experiences with road trips and he had some very hard edged friends. Lots of alcohol, drugs, family issues especially with his parents. He is a feminine looking man and more so as a young man. His parents were both difficult and did not cope with his coming out at all. Homosexuality caused him to receive a great deal of beatings and discrimination back in he 1970s and 80s of America. It is really surprising he has survived his life.

This book is not for the faint hearted who don’t like awful references about women from some of his acquaintances and the language is foul throughout. I actually skipped a few pages when it got too bad. Overall I enjoyed reading about his life as he travelled a great deal throughout the USA, experienced extreme poverty for many years, lived in Europe off and on, mainly in Paris. Throughout he seemed to keep his gentler nature and I wondered how he did so having lived in squalid conditions, sometimes being homeless but always writing, writing, writing. He is also extremely funny and the subjects he pondered were hilarious at times. He has a very unusual (to me) take on the world. The book wore me out but I’m glad to have found it and would certainly read another of his. He is currently touring Australia and I will see him at our beautiful Theatre Royal on 1 Feb. I had tickets to see him before. I did see him here several years ago but the last time Covid cancelled it.

TUESDAY: This day started a new venture. I have a new Minelab, Equinox 800 metal detector. I know, I know. I’ve heard the jokes. I took this up quite a few years ago but didn’t have good equipment but did fine a few old horseshoes from the brewery and a couple old Aussie pennies. Now I’ve upgraded, joined a couple of metal detecting fb groups, one being Tasmania and I plan on getting out with it along with my camera. On my day out I can do photography and when that is done I can do a few sweeps and maybe find some jewellery, coins or even a hidden stash from a gaoled bush ranger who never retrieved. I like the history behind the targets people find. So far as I’m learningabout frequencies and settings and various metal types I’ve only been sweeping my backyard. I found an old chain and lock we lost from our back gate over 30 yrs ago and a broken toaster was dug up out of the yard. Our property used to be owned by Cascade brewery and I’ve found horseshoes and pieces of chain over the years p,anting things. They used this area as a rubbish dump and there is a lot of old fill so who knows what lies buried here in this neighbourhood.

I’ve picked up Patricia Highsmith’s Diary I started sometime back. I’ve been dipping in and out of it for months as it is a very large diary. As a young women, once again, lots of booze and love affairs but now her writing is starting to take off and I’m finding it more interesting. I’ll persevere between other things.

Well I noticed this is very long so going to stop midweek. I can add Thurs through to Sunday soon as there are a couple 0f things happening. So until then. Stay well.

Well Christmas is all over and I for one am looking forward to the new year. I have American brownies just out of the oven, so the house smells good. I haven’t had anything sweet in the house for ages as my personal trainer at gym suggested I lose a couple of kilos which I have now done. So the brownies will be a treat and then out it all goes again.

I got a light hearted book to read this week. It’s Australian but I’m not familiar with the author. It’s called Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson. It is a mystery filled with dark humour. I have only started it but have had a few laughs. It begins with him having to dispose of a criminal body his brother accidentally ran over with the car. The brother didn’t want to save the man because the man was wearing a balaclava and had a bag with $280,000 of cash in it. Once our protagonist got out of that situation he is obliged to attend a big family reunion in the mountains run by an aunt who organises everything in spreadsheets. The company, the meal, the accommodation and the relatives get memos related to the spreadsheet that drive all of them nuts. Of course there are those spouses that marry into the family who are seen to speak,out of turn. Two of the attendees are participating in a private bingo game unknown to those who are the butt of the game.

A paragraph: ‘Glad you’re finally here. I was waiting for you to rescue me- I knew you’d distract everyone. Here.’ She handed me a small, square piece of cardboard, which had a grid printed on it. Inside each box was a short phrase, relating to different family members: Marcello shouts at a Waiter; Lucy tries to SELL you anything. I spotted my name- Ernest ruins something- in the middle of the left column.

I can see my family having participated in a game such as this in the past. I only wish I had thought of it. Mr Penguin and I had a family very similar to Clark Griswald’s in the film Christmas vacation with Chevy Chase. It has long been our favourite silly Christmas movie along with sharing jokes with my brother.

All of this happens in the first two chapters.

Now we have wrapped up the holiday season quickly I look forward to our reading groups beginning next year as well as my photography groups getting active again. I have joined a second one also and look forward to seeing what they get up to. Stay tuned.

I look forward to hearing about new books out there exchanging hands and a clean slate of a new year beginning. I’ll have a toast that all of us have a good year.

We’ll kick off here with Thursday today. It has been a very busy week but interesting. I started off Thursday with my trip to the weight training group. Some days I really drag but today I was right up there, feelin’ good.

I had dropped Ollie off at the vet for his sedation and X-ray following his six weeks of recovery from his surgery. I had to get back and pick him up. He is healing well and his orthopaedic surgeon sent us a six week plan of physio. It was addressed to Ollie but I think we’ll have to encourage him on his progression beginning with 15 minute walks through to a short beach walk and then longer bush walks. Six more weeks living life on his lead.

Then Thursday late afternoon had me coming home, scrubbing up and getting myself down to the Theatre Royal for the Tasmanian Literary awards.

I bought a dress for the event but had to exchange it when I discovered it was slightly too small. All I could think of was comedienne Kitty Flanagan saying “If you look like a rolled roast, go up a size”. So I did!

It was a pretty good evening but sadly most of the more well known authors, Amanda Lowry , Robbie Arnott, Aunty Patsy Cameron were not in attendance.

The evening started with a recognition of country by an indigenous poet, sorry I forget her name. The following awards were in the categories of fiction, non fiction, children, poetry (for the first time), Margaret Scott award, and on it went. Australians who are interested in the winner’s list can go here. https://www.arts.tas.gov.au/tasliteraryawards/home .

As this was the first time the awards were held since Covid many were happy to see their return. The honourable MP for the Arts, Elise Archer, liberal, handed out the major awards. The highlight for me was when Andrew Darby won the non fiction category for Flight Lines.

The book…..

“Andrew Darby follows the extraordinary migratory shorebirds from Australia’s southern ocean to the Arctic and back. On these travels he explores the power of science to reveal the mysteries of these birds, and to heal both their endangered world – and unexpectedly – himself.’

The journey of these rare, grey plovers, is incredibly long and perilous. Andrew gave a passionate speech about the risk to these endangered birds by the liberal government’s plan to put up a mass of wind turbines on one of the islands in Bass Strait, directly in the flight path of many of our migratory birds. Of course the presenter of his award is from the liberal party. There was much applause and hooting and hollering.

I think members of our liberal government lie awake at night just thinking of ways they can bulldoze our state and eradicate all wildlife.

It was good to see Arts Council Tasmania bringing back the literary awards. Of course Ms Archer announced a measly increased amount of money in the state budget for the arts. But nothing like the $750 million dollars they are planning to spend on our THIRD football stadium in our little state of 500 million people, half of whom don’t care for football. The AFL won’t give Tasmania a team unless we build a new covered stadium as the existing two are without covers. Forget the ambulance ramping, little to no low cost housing and the increasing number of homeless here. Every state in Australia has one stadium and we are going to have three!

However I won’t start. Instead I will wish everyone a happy holiday season. We are not doing Christmas this year as we have taken our Christmas funds and donated them to animal welfare groups and the Bob Brown organisation for the wonderful environmental work it does. All the best for however you choose to celebrate the season or not.

I’ve been busy catching up on blog reading but lately there are too many posts to comment on so my comments are a bit sporadic. And sometimes there just isn’t a good response to make so I slide into the next one.

I’ve been following the Intrepid Arkansawyer for awhile now and I really like her format. It is in the format of a weekly diary and details not only books and tv events she watches but life with her mother and cats. I like the personal touch.

So I think I might try a bit of the diary format as I find if I wait too long before I post, it is just overwhelming to remember and write everything that happened since my last post, so I don’t. I would like to post more often.

So here goes… MONDAY:

Today was quite hectic. I did my normal weight training after a trip on the bus into town. Only 5 in the group so was nice. Getting strong. Then had a couple of errands before getting the bus back. I recently got this cookbook called Recipetin Eats Dinner by Navi Maehashi. Evidently this is one of the fastest selling cookbooks out there. I have looked at some of her you tube videos (recipetin) and really like her no nonsense approach to good food with a wonderful Asian slant to it.

I bought ingredients for one of her recipes I’ll cook tomorrow.

Once home I had to take Ollie to vet for a check on his surgery wound. He is doing good but has now been confined for six weeks and he really is over it. Thursday he has his sedation and x-ray to see how his leg has settled.

For relaxation this week I am reading Heather Rose’s newest book, her memoir called Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here.

TUESDAY:

Needing to get rice for today’s RecipeTin recipe. Teriyaki Beef Bowl. I’ll let you know if we like it.

More reading on the Heather Rose book. Since I missed her launch as she was the author I wrote about earlier making us wait so long for the event to begin and also on Ollie’s surgery day I was not keen to indulge her on her book. Just being stubborn. But I am so enjoying the book. Her life has been remarkable and extremely different to what I, with biased thinking, thought it would be. Her writing is very visual and I can see the places in Tassie she writes about and her experiences with the Native Americans in the USA as a young adult we’re just incredible.

I am quite surprised she survived her youth after reading of those experiences and her time in Asia in the 80s. I would recommend this book as I am just speeding through it and I don’t speed through books generally. I am enjoying the part now where she has just completed the Overland track walk with her 13 yr old son. Quite funny. I read her book Bruny previously but think I need to get her book The Museum of Modern Love.

I just had some good news from Australian Photography Magazine. Two photos I entered into the Photographer of the Year competition have been shortlisted. I’ll share them here than publish this as I have a big event coming up Thursday and this post will be too long if I include it. This is now Part One.

Winners of photography competition will be announced the end of January. I have no thoughts of being in the top ones but am very happy to be shortlisted.

Photos below: 1. Global Warming melts the Sydney Opera House.

The Retired Showman.

Stay tuned for Part 2, end of week.

…..of a great deal of wind and rain and cool temperatures. However we are going to reach a high of 19 degrees C today, (56F) so the temps are beginning to climb.

I got up early this morning and finished the book, Bodies of Light by Jennifer Down. This book won Australia’s Miles Franklin literary award 2022 and was short listed for the Stella prize here.

I have heard a few say they don’t want to read it due to the subject matter but it is a wonderfully complex story (IMHO) and once into it I couldn’t wait to find out what happened to Maggie, the protagonist.

Here is the blurb on the back of book: “A quiet small town existence. An unexpected Facebook message, jolting her back to the past. A history she’s reluctant to revisit: dark memories and unspoken trauma, warning knocks on bedroom walls, unfathomable loss. She became a new person a long time ago. What happens when buried stories are dragged into the light?”

The story starts with Maggie as a 4 yr old. Her mother has left and she is left with her father. When he is imprisoned for manslaughter, her life in foster care and institutional care begins. We follow Maggie until she is in her 40s and see the ramifications of a traumatic childhood. It went in directions I could not have predicted and once into this story I think the reader is really on her side.

I found the writing amazing and the characters jumped off the page.

I’m not going to say another word about her journey as it would spoil her trajectory.

Here is another book I’m reading from the library:

Postcards from the Asylum by Tasmanian poet Karen Knight. I went to a Fullers book launch a week ago of a book of poetry she and her photography partner put together. He would take photos of the landscape of the Tasman peninsula (google Tasman Peninsula photos if you want to see it’s beauty) and she wrote a poem to go with each photo. I did not buy this book but I was interested in a previous book she mentioned that she published in 2008. It is a book of poetry of her time as an inmate at the Royal Derwent Psychiatric Hospital in 1969.

Willow court has a very old history as a hospital, lunatic asylum, psychiatric hospital and all manner of people were incarcerated there over the decades. Many with disabilities, immigrants from WWII who could not speak English, the mentally ill. It didn’t take much to end up there. It closed in 2000 and I was working for Disability Services at the time. We supported residents moving into community homes as part of a team. Reading the files of my clients made for disturbing reads and although the buildings of Willow court still stand many are now derelict with their steel bars over windows and even a moat round one building. Various organisations have tried to make a go of different enterprises since but the government has been less than helpful in managing anything to do with this place. Vandalism and graffiti have taken its toll and who knows what might happen to these heritage buildings in the future.

I am looking forward to seeing how she manages her poetry of such a dark place.

Well, I am off to the gym soon on the bus so I will move along here and leave you with a photo or two to cheer this post up a bit.

I have to do this. When I was in the wonderful days of collecting my Penguin books beginning about 2011 or so, I forget. I acquired the little mascot of Penguin.

Since then he has travelled with me as I travelled in 6 continents on both holidays and book collecting these lovely vintage books. A couple of years ago, with 3000 books of varying Penguins on the shelves, specially built shelving and many travel stories the journey is over, having sold the library a couple of years ago. Getting older one begins to worry what will become of our valued collections.

However the Penguin remained. I couldn’t part with him and I take him with me still. In my 70s, I now travel, embarrassingly at times with him. He recently accompanied me to Sydney and whenever I take him out of my bag or pocket to hurriedly take his photo while he enjoys the sites, as my childhood takes over, I almost turn red in the face. But today that all changed.

I read this article in the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/nov/19/adults-who-have-cuddly-toys-comfort-objects

It is a wonderful article about adults who take comfort from inanimate friends. The story I love the most is the last one about the recently widowed woman in her 70s who acquired a teddy bear for comfort. They watch the news together and she stated she tells him “what sons of bitches they all are.” I really laughed out loud. Who is to say what the appropriate age is to give up their soft friends.

I think now I’m going to feature our household Penguin even more here. After all he’s sat on walls in Cornwall looking out to sea. He sat on the porch of Doc Martin’s porch. He’s been on camera safari in Namibia and Botswana. He had tea in Japan with several,people in our group who would borrow him for their own photo opportunities. That was quite funny as they posed him with cherry blossoms in yards we walked by.

He’s been in the subways of Moscow and once he fell off our bookshelf and one of our dogs grabbed him. I really saved his life that day.

So while this post isn’t about reading books now or going to many places, I do feel like this article in the Guardian may be life changing. I wonder how many other adults out there refuse to give up a childhood friend or find comfort in hard times with an old friend.

I haven’t gotten to the point that he goes into the will but you never know. I hope everyone is having a pleasant weekend and maybe this post puts a smile on your face.

It’s been a good week in southern Tasmania despite the confused weather. One day I’m outside with the dogs in the sun, the next day there are snow flurries and it looks to continue over the coming days.

The gym I attend started a new way to kill us. I attended my first “barre’” class. It is a combination of ballet, Pilates and yoga. I just passed my 2 yr anniversary of weight training and this new addition was great though I was on paracetamol for the next two days so I could walk. My second class is coming up this coming week. So much fun. 😏 , no really!

I attended a couple of really fun book launches through Fullers book shop over the past couple of weeks. Australian tv presenter and comedian, Shaun Micallef has released a new book, Tripping Over Myself. The launch was held in the historic Town Hall as he was interviewed by actor Marta Düsseldorp, who I really admire. I’ve not really followed Shaun but he was very entertaining. I went because I admire Marta so much and have seen her performances both live and on television. The two of them really played off each other and there were lots of laughs, The book is autobiographical related to his rise as a comedian and presenter.

The other book launch was the children’s book Runt by Craig Silvey, author of Jasper Jones and Honeybee. The book, though written for younger readers is also touted to be enjoyed by adults. A tale of resilience and hope and everyone wanted to read this book by the time we left. Looking to the future it could very well be an Australian children’s classic and will most likely be made into a film. Craig was an entertaining speaker and quite a bit of conversation went on around me as question time had many people putting up their hands, including one child. The feel of the book is wonderful due to the texture of the cover and the illustrations are like the sparse black and white children’s book of the past. I just loved it.

I was going to add the books I’m travelling in this week but as this is starting to become long I will post a part 2 soon.

In the meantime, I will leave you with a couple of bird photos I took during the last 10 days exploring nature reserves with friends.

All the best for the coming week.

Sunday night, looking to another week upon us. Isn’t this year just sailing by.

It’s been a real mish mash this week but I am into two books and I feel the need to read upon me. Some snippets from the week.

Our dog Ollie injured his cruciate ligament and had a big surgery on Thursday. Those of you who know dogs will know how much care a post surgical dog takes. One rough coated Jack Russell who is used to having his own way most of the time and never holding still. One who is now confined to a pen with a cone around his neck and enough pain meds to stop a horse. Forget our bank balance. Thank goodness for pet insurance is all I can say.

One day last week I was invited to go on a morning photography excursion to photograph birds. I haven’t done specific bird photography before but I do have a long lens and with two friends we spent a lovely morning hunting birds. Photographers can be divided into two types of people. The hunters and the fishermen. The hunters stalk their photos, walking for miles or climbing hills looking for the photo. Fishermen sit still for hours waiting for the photo to come to them. Thursday we started out hunting but ended up fishing. I got a good shot of a silver eye and several more of swallows. Ever try to photograph swooping, flying swallows? It’s very difficult but fun trying. Will share a photo of swallows in another post but here is the silver eye.

We met three old men taking their morning stroll on the track we were walking on. One asked if we wanted to photograph 3 old buzzards. Then another one told us he had just seen a “red headed blackberry picker” up the track. They were just full of it. Nice to see them enjoying themselves.

Once home I pulled a birding, travel book off my shelf and began it. Birding Without Borders by Noah Strycker.

The blurb states: Noah Strycker set himself a goal: to become the first person to see half the world’s 10,000 species of bird in one year.

With an itinerary covering 41 countries, spanning all seven continents, and armed with a backpack, binoculars, and a series of one-way tickets, he sets out on the greatest adventure in the birding world. Along the way he meets a colorful cast of fellow birders—and discovers a world of blood-sucking leeches, chronic sleep deprivation, floods, war zones, ecologic devastation, and conservation triumphs.

Vivid, charming, and full of wonder, Birding Without Borders is a celebration of passion, exploration, and the birders’ ethos that, if you keep your eyes and mind open, you never know what you might see.

The other book I’m reading and enjoying is Atomic Habits by James Clear. I wanted to read something that was motivational to fall in line with motivation for my health and fitness. I enjoy my weight class and fitness work …..once I am there. It is getting there with enthusiasm I need to work on. I’d heard a lot of good things about this book and I am not a self help book fan but I am enjoying this very much. I am listening to it on Audible and have it on whenever I’m in the car which lately has been a lot.

For the foreseeable future…. My plans are to continue to get my book enthusiasm back and make time for one day a week to do more bird photography.

When attending university in Michigan years ago I took an ornithology class as everyone there had to do at least 2 yrs of basic courses before deciding on a major and minor. Part of the final exam consisted of 25 tape recorders and sets of headphones of bird calls that had to be identified. I have always wanted to be able to identify more birds and their calls in Australia, especially the small ones. This could very well be a bonus to the photography. We’ll see how it goes. I know a lot of American birds but now I might learn about more Australian ones.

The other night I went to see the book launch of Heather Rose’s newest book. It was to begin at 5:30 pm. However when I arrived, there was a cast of thousands, many seats reserved by her so the rest of us had to sit in the back, overcrowded with recording equipment and cameras and very bright spotlights. This particular room holds 80 people but there must have been twice that with very few wearing masks. Heather continued to make her way around a myriad of people, chatting, hugging. More chatting and more hugging. Well that day Ollie had his surgery. I had been on the photography excursion in the morning, later having discussions with the vets. I was tired and I couldn’t cope with all the mayhem around this particular book launch.

Fullers are very good at keeping launches from 5:30 to 6:15 then time for questions and out the door just past half past. Most authors who are well attended have a party or large gathering elsewhere or just stay on after the launch but this had already begun. This author would leave the room, come back, sit down and chat some more to old friends and acquaintances. At 6:10 I’d had enough. Tim, the manager of Fullers was herding cats. There were so many people, many who were quite elderly all waiting for her to start and she just didn’t. There has been so much hype about this book. Anyway, I walked out at 6:10 and went home. I’m sure the talk would have been good but I really think she should have just begun earlier and then talked to everyone who wanted to talk to her or she wanted to catch up with after the event. Many people there were not friends of hers. I like to keep perspective. It’s a book launch for one book not the coronation of King Charles. I thought it was ridiculous but others may disagree and I was tired and it was hot in the room. So moving forward.

Well, I guess that catches you up on the week. Here’s hoping I enjoy the books, Ollie continues to heal and get rid of the cone and none of us catch the new strains of Covid. I won’t even mention the cruise ships that have been dumping people on our shores this week. With Covid people quarantining on board the ship.

I hope everyone is staying well and enjoying books and anything else of interest to you. I’m also enjoying a few days of 20 degrees C and NO rain. All the best…..