Travellin' Penguin

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner.

I finished this….finally. Did I enjoy it? Can’t say that I did. I usually think of story lines being linear or ‘horizontal’. If this story can be visualised I’d say there are several vertical tangents in it. Standing side by side. But they didn’t seem to connect.

This is the story defined by Wikipedia:

Plot and Setting

“The story is narrated in the first person by Sadie Smith, a 34-year-old American undercover operative who now works freelance for shadowy clients. She’s sent to southwestern France to infiltrate a radical, self-sufficient commune called Le Moulin—a group of activists resisting corporate land grabs and industrial agriculture. Sadie’s mission is to provoke and destabilize the group, gathering intelligence and pushing them toward actions that her handlers can exploit. 

However, as she becomes more enmeshed in the commune’s life and relationships, the line between her assignment and her own sense of self begins to blur.”

Did I want to finish it? No. But it is for book club so I persevered. I didn’t like Sadie. She was all over the place. She really played people and I just didn’t see the point. The other characters seemed sketchy. Did not connect with any of them. I would love to talk to someone who loved this book so they can tell me why. The book group discussion should be fun.

Photography

I had two days out with two separate clubs this week. Last Sunday one group went to a spot along the Derwent River called Cornelian Bay. There are several varieties of birds along the banks. I enjoy seeing the black swans. There are colourful boat houses too. I’ve not edited all the photos yet but will share two.

Then on Wednesday another club group went to Mt Field national park. There are a couple of beautiful waterfalls there. Those pics are still in camera as I haven’t had time to download them yet. Hope to share soon.

Life in general

Our big old Grizzy cat who has recently been diagnosed with diabetes is settling into his routine. He sleeps separately from others at night as we test his urine each morning. Then at 4:30 pm he gets his medication. i chose 4:30 as we’re generally home at that time. Too late for lunches or other appointments, too early for night out. The new medication (to Australia) is working so no needles.

I got to training at the gym a couple of times this week. I had to see my gp to adjust my blood pressure meds time as I was getting very light headed doing the squats, etc. I’m already the oldest person in my classes and the last thing I want to do is fall on my face wearing my Target leggings and faded, old t shirt in front of the young people in their specky Lululemon gym gear.

So far, so good.

Looking forward to

The Fullers book shop events are starting up now and I’m booked into a couple of them with Mr P and a couple of friends. I’ll share those later.

Another three friends and I are doing something really silly soon for an afternoon tea event at one’s home. You are probably familiar with the Cozy Colouring books that are everywhere in stores like Kmart and Big W and all over social media. They are little square books with simplistic pictures of cozy scenes. Bears, cats, etc. People colour them in very creative ways. No more worrying about staying in the lines. It now goes deeper than that. Four of us, me in my 70s, two friends in their 80s and one 92 yr old, are going to sit at a table with our cozy colouring books and many pens, acrylic markers, etc and see what we can share. Looking at spots, stripes, shading, snow flurries or sun beams all while enjoying a glass of sparkling or coffee and cake or all three. We are looking to do things together that make us crack up laughing. This should do it. I’ll have to share the results. (Maybe).

Here are a couple of examples of finished pages from looking on google.

My coming week TO DO list

*** To pick a couple of new books to begin

To pick up a couple of Cozy colour books at Big W. It is near the dog beach so will take dogs out first. Don’t worry, dogs won’t be left in hot car. They have an underground cool car park and this errand won’t take more than 10 min.

The dogs love the dog beach.

*** Need to get to the gym a couple of times and get some walks in

*** Edit photos from Cornelian Bay and Mt Field to share.

*** Continue the photography/software education from you tube I do regularly.

*** Keep my journals updated

*** Continue home and pet care for the week. See what everyone needs.

Have a good long holiday weekend to my Aussie friends and all the best to everyone else.

Question of the week. Do any of you still draw or colour or do something else to exploit your inner child??

A BOOK

I’m back sooner than expected. I just finished listening to a book I mentioned previously by David Sedaris. As funny as he is he also brings up a lot of very serious topics and issues within his family. At the end of the book there is a one hour interview by Paul Thompson a writer from Seattle, Washington. When David was asked about how he and his family feel about him writing such personal stories (his mother’s alcoholism, his sister’s suicide) he states he does feel maybe he shouldn’t have said as much as he did in hindsight but then follows up by stating he knows there are many people “out there” who have dealt with those issues and it is a part of life for many people.

When asked about living in a Democratic bubble in New York City what did he think about the Trump election. He stated that when he went to the family beach house in North Carolina and saw Trump signs everywhere and people wearing all the t-shirts and hats he also thought that if he needed help, many of these people would help him. They just vote differently. He focuses on the kindness of people and not how they vote. One can only do so much when it comes to selecting a political person. Interesting.

Now I will move on to Creation Lake and see how I go with this new book to me.

SOME PHOTOS

I have no idea what these plants are called. But I like them.

A friend and I went to the Royal Tasmania Botanical gardens one day last week to work on our tripods with macro photography. It was a beautiful day and there were flowers everywhere. We spent a very pleasant morning looking at unusual flowers, baby ducks everywhere and tourists admiring the orchids in the orchid house. We finished up before the day became very hot as we had quite a heatwave across Australia last week.

Here are some of the photos.

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GARDEN FLOWERS

I was reading the Tasmania Sunday paper and saw this phot and article about this gorgeous plant. It says it is very good at attracting insects and some birds. So I went on a quest. Garden store number one didn’t have them. They used to but not now. Garden store number two which is a big native garden had all kinds of varieties. So I bought two small plants and will put them in the front yard along a fence border. They are supposed to grow to 1.5 – 2 metres in height. The flowers can be different colours. I think one of mine will be yellow blossoms, the other white. We shall see.

NAME: Ozothamnus plant or commonly known as Rice flowers.

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This week is looking to be much quieter as having to deal with a diabetic cat who drinks masses of water, has to sleep in a separate room, be tested daily until we know he’s stablised on his medicine is changing my schedule a bit. He is also highly incontinent so a load of wash must happen and a floor mop daily. I don’t know what the future will be like living with this but it is our responsibility to care for him and we will certainly do that. 

So until next time, a smelly goodbye. (Just kidding- the cleaning agents seem to be working). 

QUESTION

Do you have a favourite flower or plant?

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.