Storytime

I don't do challenges very well. Not writing wise, not emotionally...and definitely not physically. My problem? I'll tell you a bit later on but at the moment the universe is showing me that challenges are good. I have a friend, Miss F, who is going on a great holiday in June...hiking in the Rockies is a big part of it. So her challenge is to improve her fitness- and yep there she is...walking day and night. Even with a dog that has decided she's bonkers. Another friend, Miss K, has decided her future challenge (apart from runs, mini triathlons and other fitness orientated tasks) is to walk Kokoda. Yep, Kokoda. She hasn't decided quite when, but this will be her challenge. And last weekend I went to an afternoon tea fundraiser for my daughter, Miss L... who will be walking the Oxfam Trailwalker. 100 kilometres in 48 hrs. Yes, you heard correctly. She will be part of one team, amongst 800 teams, walking 100 kilometres. From Wheelers Hill, up the tho...

No this is not a crime story, or even a piece of horror writing.This is straight from the source. Children. The above was from a friend's child- who it seems the week before asked 'how do you become a princess?' This week the question is much more practical and down to earth. A child's curiosity and the way they see the world offers up so much for the writer. We babysat Miss Four on the weekend. The first time she had spent the night, so I think we were all a bit anxious. (especially her parents- but I have never lost a child that I have looked after). Typical of a child, she refused to listen as I repeated the 'leave the cat alone, she's old and cranky'. There was much 'oh Kitty Kat why don't you love me?' and even an episode of tears as she was scratched. Little did she know, that night Tigger slept with her. All night. But it was the statements she made, the comments, the way she looked at life. She found a parcel and opened...

In theory, all writing is easy. Put pen to paper, fingers to keyboard and let the worlds flow. It always amazes me how many people, that don't write, do imagine it is that easy. And so many people think that writing for children is the easiest form of writing, because it is for children. I mean how hard could it be? Use very simple language, talk down to them of course because they are children and won't understand any highly dense vocabulary. There should always be a lesson learnt, why else would you write for them? Never, ever write anything controversial or with any serious content. It is always best if it rhymes, no matter how bad the metre or rhythm...remember they are children and won't know. Add a few talking animals, of the cute variety and remember there should always be a HAPPY EVER AFTER ending. Complete with rainbows, sunshine and unicorns spewing forth sprinkles. Or that is what a lot of people think. In reality...it is so much more difficult. ...

Recently I took the other half out for his birthday treat (a few months late but heh some things can't be rushed). We went to Veu de Monde . It was an amazing experience. Offering some of the best views of Melbourne (even on a scorching summer's day when a brown haze covered the sky, our city still looked wonderful). Even before we got to the food it was an experience. Glass of champagne to welcome us. Leather clad tables, with an assortment of stones and driftwood arranged on the top. We learnt that everything on the table has a significance, will be used at some stage during the meal. I must admit to drooling over the cutlery (gorgeous....can one have a cutlery fetish?) Then came the food. Small serves, beautifully presented. On the menu this is called - Barramundi, caviar, potato and lemon. If I had served these four elements, it would look nothing like above. I will admit that not everything was to my taste- but I tasted. I sampled. I explored fl...

Once upon a time there was a fairy. She didn't live in the meadow or the forests, in the sea or even the garden frolicking amongst the flowers. Although she did love flowers.... This fairy spent her time in a wonderful place called a library. This library was full of magic. It offered so much. Music. Games. Information. Romance. Horror. It offered aliens (and not merely green gloppy ones)  and vampires, cowboys riding the range in Montana and socialites in New York, it offered detectives and policemen, crooks and criminals, it offered love and sorrow, pain and glory. It offered spies and angels, the past, the present and the future. But most importantly it offered the chance to escape. Choose a book, any book she dared....and you will forget yourself. Most took up this challenge. They chose book after book, becoming addicted to this sense of adventure...this ability to become anyone. This thing called reading. And the more the people read, the m...

Over the past few years, we've had quite a few major celebrations at the old homestead. Two fiftieths, a couple of Christmases, one eightieth and just last weekend the biggest affair so far, an engagement party. Touch wood, all events have gone amazingly well. This, of course, has meant lots and lots, and lots and lots, of preparation beforehand. Nobody wakes up one morning and says,' oh 80 or so folks coming tonight, wonder what's in the fridge?' It requires thought, planning, preparation...and lots of damned hard work! Nothing just happens.... You plan, hope the weather is perfect (and have a Plan B if not - or if the power goes off like the 80th party). Usually there is a theme, the engagement was a picnic casual affair. We had rugs on the front lawn (begged, borrowed and stolen), we had a trestle table laid out with yummies, baskets held aeroguard as well as torches...and fairy lights helped create an atmosphere. The chef at the pizza stat...

But I'm a list and therefore goal kind of girl. So goals work for me---not goals set in concrete but so I know basically where I'm headed for the year. And of course January starts and the year spreads before us so young and we are so eager for all that could happen. Then before we know it it's half way through the month, not a thing has been achieved (apart from being too hot here at the moment to think let alone do anything)....and so I begin to think of goals. Some are so much easier to plan. The garden for instance.... I look at this bed and know that the slate I placed on the sides are okay, but I want to dig them down a bit and set them in, not just lay them as the divider between bed and lawn.  I want to put my bird house on a pole and actually set it up in a bed, not have it on the ground where it has lain for too many years (yes years). I want to revamp a few beds, to cut back, prune, remove...this is easy. Gardening goals are never diffi...