Travellin' Penguin

This has been a hectic few days. The good news is I finished Australian Robbie Arnott’s latest book Dusk and really loved it.

What’s it about? Let’s see how Chat GPT explains it:

“Dusk” is Robbie Arnott’s fourth novel (published October 8, 2024 by Pan Macmillan), weaving myth, nature, and the human condition into a compelling Tasmanian-set thriller. 

🌄 Setting & Plot

Tasmanian Highlands: The story unfolds amid the island’s wild, high-elevation terrain—boulder-strewn, snow-swept, haunted by ancient bones—emphasising the raw connection between humans and the natural world.  The Hunt for Dusk: A South American puma, introduced to curb feral deer, has gone rogue—attacking sheep and humans. In response, graziers place a bounty on the animal they’ve named Dusk.  The Renshaw Twins: Iris and Floyd, hardened siblings from a troubled past, decide to hunt the puma for the reward. Accompanied by a mysterious outsider, Patrick Lees, they venture into lethal terrain. 

🔍 Themes & Style

Predator vs. Prey: Arnott unpacks this duality across species and humans alike—hunting becomes a metaphor for greed, survival, and moral ambiguity.  Nature’s Majesty & Violence: Expect gorgeously vivid prose (“rock and water… mirror tarns”, currawongs with “fierce yellow eyes”), painting the landscape as simultaneously enchanting and unforgiving.  Mythical & Gothic Elements: From enigmatic fossil bones to whispered Aboriginal histories, it blends myth and mystery into ecological realism—occasionally unsettling in how it handles Indigenous presence.  Sibling Bonds & Redemption: Central to the novel is Iris and Floyd’s fierce, caring connection. Though orphans of violence, their mutual love offers a path to healing and redemption. 

I listened to it on Audible and the narrator was Zoe Carides who I believe used to act on some tv programs several years ago. She does a very good job. (note:She actually had a role in the film Death in Brunswick.)

I just liked everything about this book. The characters and landscape are stand outs. There is a twist or two I didn’t see coming though probably should have. Our book group will be discussing it in August.

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On the other hand we have some personal stuff going on that has been sad. A friend and neighbour of 36 years has just been taken into Palliative care at the hospital. We knew this would happen but it is tricky as her two sisters live on the mainland and I’m not sure how close they are. There are a few eye rolling moments when it comes up. But the problem is Pickles. Pickles is her beautiful cat the two of us picked up at Ten Lives Cat Centre about 3 yrs ago after her previous cat died. Pickles is a beautiful indoor cat who is still home as no one is available to care for her at the moment.

So we are taking care of her as long as she is in the house. But the dilemma is her future.

Though I’ve not seen her as she runs and hides under the bed when we enter the house. Being an indoor cat she is not used to many people coming over. She hid when the ambos came the other day and I think she is still hiding. I need to go over there with a torch (flashlight).

She is eating well though as her dish is always empty. And we keep her litter clean.

Our friend loves this cat and we promised her she would be cared for but by whom? My veterinarian friend is Pickles’ (I never know where the apostrophe goes when a word ends in s.) vet so we will discuss it this next week. I can’t give her away as we don’t know how long our friend will be in hospital or if she may yet spend time in her home again. We can’t board her. We can’t bring her to our home as we have two dogs and two adult cats. We might create a storm if we introduce an adult cat into the fold. So I guess for now we just keep caring for her in her own home. Stay tuned. 🤔

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I haven’t done any photography though I see our photo club is taking a winter excursion up to the Central Highlands on Tuesday. There has been snow up there recently but I think it is clear now. I have not decided if I will go but it would probably do me good to get out with a group of friends and take photos. It is a beautiful area.

This coming week a couple of other friends and I are seeing Jane Austen’s story Emma at the theatre. That should be fun. I always love live theatre.

So for now, we are going one day at a time and staying in the present moment. Outside of worrying about Pickles and waiting to see if the severe weather warning of rain and high winds eventuates later today we are all fine.

Mental health plan for this coming week:

• Start a new book 📕📖📗
• Exercise 🧘🏼‍♀️🤽🏼‍♂️🤸🏽‍♀️
• Journal 📓🖍️🖊️
• Take a load of unwanted things from a cleanup to auction and get some cash then buy a coffee with a friend. 💲☕️☕️

Have a good week.

Tassie winter morning in Hobart.

I am a bit behind in my posts as I’ve been busy while Mr P is in Canada and I have 4 little furry guys following my every move as they know something is different. They don’t miss much.

It has been down to 2 degrees C (35F) overnights and only gets a handful of degrees higher during the day time. Although the sun has been out quite a bit. My best purchase of the week was a polar fleece throw to put on my reading chair. However when our cat Cousin Eddie claimed it I went back to the end of financial sale and bought a second one and put it on the bed. Now there are two dogs and two cats taking turns on it.

I have been listening to audio books in the evening while I work on a puzzle. I finished Rebecca by old Daphne and we will discuss that at our book group this Wednesday.

I began the book Everyone in my family has killed someone by Benjamin Stevenson. It centres around a family reunion in blizzard conditions and the ramifications of the ostracised brother because he turned his brother in to police for the murder he committed. But of course another body turns up in the blizzard conditions. There are more entanglements and after getting through a bit over half of this book I tossed it into the charity box. I was just over it. DNF.

I am now really enjoying the memoir of Gina Chick. People overseas may not know who she is. The book is titled Gina Chick: We are the stars. She was the winner of a show here called ALONE Australia. Several contestants are individually dropped into very remote locations in the southwest of Tasmania. The contestants don’t know how the others are doing. They all give it up, one at a time for various reasons of not coping. The one who lasts the longest wins. It is a very gruelling competition but the money is great if you win. I don’t normally watch this show but because it was in Tasmania I did. Gina won it. She was quite the tomboy as a child and she loved nature. Her parents encouraged her in all her adventures growing up. As an adult she lost a very young daughter and she is also grieving for this child in the isolation of Tasmanian wilderness.

She is a remarkable woman. I love stories about strong women who participate in big adventures or travel.

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My social life picked up this week after spending a couple of weeks at home just being a quiet homebody.

A friend of mine had a small birthday lunch at a local Vietnamese restaurant and it was a lovely time. The dessert was amazing. Wish I could have this every day but then it wouldn’t be very special.

Ice cream rolled in coconut, with chocolate sauce over it. Cream on the side and a shot of Kahlua to finish it off along with a raspberry.

Yesterday was spent having lunch and doing the Salamanca Saturday markets with another good friend. She had to find a gift for a long time family friend who has her 103 rd birthday. Then we toodled along in her Tesla (which she wants to sell since Elon became so crazy) to the university oval is to watch the last half of her son’s AFL football match. We caught up with her husband too. Nice chatting while watching a game in cold weather.

So today I am having a quiet Sunday with the slow cooker. I saw an easy slow cooker recipe for a chicken dish but not having all ingredients I changed it a bit.

About 500 grams (1 lb) chicken thighs, no bone. 1 brown onion cut up. Some crushed garlic. One jar of Sherwood butter chicken sauce and almost 1/2 cup peanut butter. Swish the Sherwood jar out with water after emptying the contents and toss that in. Stir it all up. Put cooker on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours. You could use cocoanut milk or add chilis or doctor it up anyway you want I guess. You might need to add salt and pepper but I don’t add salt until I eat it, if I need it. Anyway, I’ll thicken it up a bit and put it over some rice I think, it should give me a few meals this week. I’ll probably top it with plain Greek yogurt or sour cream. We’ll see how it goes.

Well this sums up my life recently.

I haven’t downloaded my Bruny Island photos as my desktop is in the spare bedroom and I have that room closed off because of the cold for a bit. I’ll get to those photos soon but I will add a Bruny Island sunrise for you below.

‘Librum furatur: per collum penderetur.”

Translation:

“He who steals a book: let him be hanged by the neck.”

This is from a little book of Book Curses by Eleanor Baker. Published by the Bodleian Library. It’s a fun little book of curses pertaining to books from ancient to more current times. I only have a few books this might apply to.

Sorry I missed everyone last weekend. I was gearing up for a three day photo excursion on Bruny Island, south of here abiut 45 minutes to the 15 minute ferry to get across. There were two originally signed up with the photographer leading us through night photography (I got the southern cross in the middle of the milky way, I think), sunrises, sunsets, rocky seascapes and a beautiful extensive garden full of birds endemic to Tasmania. Photos to come. The good news about this trip is the other participant dropped out so it was just two of us so had some high level photography tuition to myself. The bad news is it was very cold, down to about 3 degrees C for night skies (37.4 F). We also did a tourist three hour boat ride out into the Tasman sea around the cliff faces. We saw albatross, dolphins every where and many fur seals. But the last hour was pretty high speed and very, very cold. But great fun.

One of the photos taken from the boat on my phone of the tall cliffs of dolomite rock. Lots of caves along these cliffs.

I read the book Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier for July’s book group discussion. We do a classic each year. I had read it before but not for years.

Here is the description of it from Deep Seek.

Rebecca is a classic Gothic novel written by Daphne du Maurier and first published in 1938. It is a haunting tale of love, jealousy, and secrets, set against the atmospheric backdrop of the English countryside.

Plot Summary

The story is narrated by an unnamed young woman who works as a companion to a wealthy American woman. While in Monte Carlo, she meets the wealthy and enigmatic widower Maxim de Winter, the owner of the grand estate Manderley in Cornwall. After a whirlwind romance, they marry, and the new Mrs. de Winter moves to Manderley, only to find herself overshadowed by the memory of Maxim’s first wife, Rebecca, who died under mysterious circumstances.

The housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, is fiercely devoted to Rebecca’s memory and subtly torments the new Mrs. de Winter, constantly reminding her that she can never replace Rebecca. As the protagonist struggles to adjust to her new life, she begins to uncover dark secrets about Rebecca’s true nature and the events leading to her death—revealing shocking truths that threaten to destroy Maxim and Manderley itself

I imagine most bibliophiles have read this but it may have been years ago. I enjoyed it very much. Rebecca is very much in love. There is much miscommunication. Mrs. Danvers is creepy. And there is a murder thrown in as well. All within the beautiful landscape of Cornwall. What;s not to like.

I got back from Bruny Island on Friday late afternoon and Mr P headed off to visit family in Canada the following morning. He was kind enough to organise an early morning uber so I didn’t need to drive him out to the airport in the cold. It was much appreciated.

I will be pet sitting for the next three weeks. I’ll pop in a photo of my charges.

Well there has been more going on but I’ll catch up later. It is getting late. I hope everyone has a good week. Let me know if you’ve read Rebecca and did you like it? Have you also seen the 1940 film adaptation by Alfred Hitchcock? I saw it years ago but I see there is a more recent adaptation on Netflix so will have a look at that.

Cousin Eddie age 11. He was in hospital all week with pancreatitis and inflammation of his bowel. He is a bit of a high stressed boy so quite fragile at times.

Grizzy 8 Very laid back all of the time.

Ollie age 5– Such a big doofus.

Peanut (Peannie) such a little mother to everyone. Bery bright. She is a mixture of Pug, Bichon, Toy poodle, Miniature Poodle and Maltese and 12.5% companion dog unknown.