Travellin' Penguin

I am trying hard not to eat a lot of junk food, especially chocolate, biscuits and ice cream this weekend. I have been doing well but all the chocolate rabbits, squirrels, marshmallow chickens,(my favourites) have not gone unnoticed. My good friend gave me a chocolate squirrel which I did demolish one night quite late but that is all. I have lost 4 kgs since November as I needed to. I don’t want to put it back on. So…

Let’s get on with how last week was. Monday started the week off with a weight training class and a dentist appointment. I managed to get to the weight training but had a bad night’s sleep the night before and missed the weight training class.

Tuesday was a quiet day at home where not much happened. I don’t even remember it really.

Wednesday had me at the hospital for my annual MRI that needs to be done before my June MS specialist clinic appt with the neurologist. I panic in that machine. They gave me a tablet for sedation but I might as well have eaten a jelly bean for all the good it did. A minute into the tunnel with the helmet type mechanism that encloses my head had me squeezing the bulb each patient holds and the technician pulling me out. My MS hasn’t really progressed in 20 years which is wonderful but my neurologist is known for the research he does. He is internationally known for MS reseach through the Menzies centre here and I have participated in quite a bit of it over the years. I’m sure he continues these MRIs because it goes into his research. My brain hasn’t really changed. So I’ll talk to him in June and see if it’s really necessary. Enough of the body parts talk. Germaine Greer once said after the age of 50 body parts should not be mentioned as you’ll become a boring old person. It is harder to do than not. I spent the rest of the day in an anxious state so wasn’t much good to anyone.

Thursday picked up a bit as author Lucy Frost was interviewed by Cassandra Pybus at a Fullers event three of us attended. Lucy has recently launched her historical book Convict Orphans. These are stories of the children that arrived either with or without mothers who were put in orphanages and then farmed out at age 12 to work without pay on the farms and in homes during Tasmania’s colonization by the British in the 1800s.

It was absolutely cases of child slavery and large numbers of children were affected. The stories represent their experiences of abuse, abandonment, and also kindness and generosity. It really did become luck of the draw.

There is a good introduction, a lengthy bibliography and a comprehensive index. It was such an interesting hour followed by Lucy signing books then we disappeared into a very good Malaysian restaurant across the street for a meal. The Fullers events are frequent and well managed. They go from 5:30 to 6:15 with questions for another 15 minutes , then book signing at 6:30. They don/t often run over time. So plenty of time to grab a quick Asian meal and be home between 7:30 and 8. Quite often with a new book!🙄🙄🙄

Next thing I knew we were going into Good Friday and a long weekend of the coldest Easter Tasmania has had on record. It included rain and wind and was good for catching up on things indoors.

I have now finished the two David Sedaris books and will begin Between A Wolf and A Dog by Georgia Blaine. It is going to be discussed in early May.

Not much photography or metal detecting this past week due to inclement weather but the coming days look promising. That’s it for now and I’ll leave you with a couple of photos. Hope all of you had a good weekend and if you’d like to comment about what you did I’d love to hear about it.

Now I have things to do such as read some books, renew my passport as I squeaked into New Zealand with just over 3 months left on it. Most countries require six months left, so got lucky. I think the best part of travel is anticipating it and then returning home exhausted. I also have to have my annual MRI on my brain next week before the MS specialist clinic appointment. Always things to look forward to.

I read Yeonmi Park’s book While Time Remains. It is an easy, interesting read but needs tighter editing as there is much repetition in it. The story is certainly worthwhile and her comparisons with what happening, politically in the USA comparatively with autocratically run countries is frightening. I really need to completely tune out my home country and only immerse myself in Australia’s systems. I would never go back.

On to more pleasant things. I have been continuing to listen to David Sedaris about 30 minutes each night. The book I have now is Carnival of Snackery. If you enjoy him as a writer and story teller you will enjoy this one and his books are so easy as a listen. The book club book I am about to begin is Between A Wolf and A Dog by Georgia Blaine. Our book group will discuss that book in May. I had not heard of it but it was published in 2016 by Scribe. Amazon describes it as:

WINNER OF THE 2017 VICTORIAN PREMIER’S LITERARY AWARD FOR FICTION

WINNER OF THE 2016 UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND FICTION BOOK AWARD

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2017 STELLA PRIZE

Outside, the rain continues increasing silver sheets sluicing down, the trees and shrubs soaking and bedraggled, the earth sodden, puddles overflowing, torrents coursing onwards, as the darkness slowly softens with the dawn.

Ester is a family therapist with an appointment book that catalogues the anxieties of the middle class: loneliness, relationships, death. She spends her days helping others find happiness, but her own family relationships are tense and frayed. Estranged from both her sister, April, and her ex-husband, Lawrence, Ester wants to fall in love again. Meanwhile, April is struggling through her own directionless life; Lawrence’s reckless past decisions are catching up with him; and Ester and April’s mother, Hilary, is about to make a choice that will profoundly affect them all. 

Taking place largely over one rainy day in Sydney, and rendered with the evocative and powerful prose Blain is known for, Between a Wolf and a Dog is a celebration of the best in all of us — our capacity to live in the face of ordinary sorrows, and to draw strength from the transformative power of art. Ultimately, it is a joyous tribute to the beauty of being alive.

I am looking forward to reading it.

Now I will leave you with some roadside photos of the southern island of New Zealand. My main photos taken with my big camera are still on the card. Those will be shared here and there in future but enjoy the drive.

Until next time.

So far we have had a very lovely, laid back trip. We don’t have long days of driving and stay at each destination for two nights. Weather has varied between beautiful days to pouring rain.

I have taken photos as we go. I’ll post up a few here. Looking forward to getting home and seeing our fur guys. We always misss the four of them when away. They are such a large part of our lives but all are in good hands.

Arrived into Queenstown last night to a very rainy welcome but it has since cleared up.

Tomorrow we head to Lake Topako then back to Christchurch. They had a 4+ earthquake the day after we left so we didn’t feel it but I understand people there felt it. Not an experience I aspire to.

Mr Penguin finished Yeomi Park’s book, While Time Remains and is now in my possession. I look forward to reading it. Will be back in touch.

I might add I gave up on Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. I’m sure it is an interesting, well written book to have won a Booker but the tale is extremely convoluted and violent from the point of view of a dead man. I will attend the book club meeting to hear about it but just not the book for me while enjoying travels and needs more concentration than I am willing to give at this time.

More soon…….