Storytime

Birthdays have this nasty habit of sneaking up on a person. I know there are some that love to celebrate, with all the bells and whistles...but I fear as you get older, and older, and older it all begins to blur. Numbers become lost, unless it's a major birthday, one of those that end in a zero. My sister tends to ask me how old I am - she's fourteen months younger and so when she knows how old I am, knows how old she is. Because as most of us come to realise, age is simply a number. It doesn't tell us how healthy we are, how smart we are, how happy we are...just how many years we have lived on this planet. So what have I learnt after living this many years? That I still don't like red wine. Give me a port or tokay and it's another thing entirely, but alas my palate has not matured with the rest of me. I've learnt that I have this grey swathe in my hair, bit like Cruella De Vil, beside the cowlick that decides where I part my hair. (Hello hairdre...

Sunday was Valentines Day- but more importantly- February 14 is also Library Lovers Day. A day to celebrate all that libraries have to offer.  The above is the library I call home....Pakenham Library. This is where I spend most of my time - our children's area.... So why should we love libraries? What do they offer, especially in these hurried days of technology and community. The days of libraries being places of cardigan-wearing librarians peering over their spectacles to shush you is long gone. (Mind you I do rock the odd cardigan, do wear specs at the computer and will tell you to 'keep it down' when and if needed). Libraries, of course, offer books. If you want to learn a language - read a Shakespearean sonnet or two - learn how to puppy train - toilet train- if you want to know how to bond with your bump or tile the laundry - make your own cushions or design your next tattoo. Whether you want to know how to dress your house for a quick sale o...

On the weekend I went to my first ever BBQ festival. I went with five men who were ready to celebrate the carnivore within. Now I know a little about these slow cookers---other half has one at home. But until now I didn't realise the huge variety of cookers - there were barrels and egg shaped ones, box shaped, ones like ours which resemble a small train (puffing billy in fact) and even this one... How great is that?  Not only did I get a lesson in the various types of cookers / bbqs available - it was also time to learn some of the lingo.  Talk of fireboxes and creosote. The difference between a dry brine and a rub. What makes a good bark (yes bark)- how to assemble the flavour base then the flavour layers . Talk of blind box, hickory pellets versus apple shavings.  Then of course there was the tastings... It reminded me how language plays a large part in creating an atmosphere. At the BBQ everyone talked of ribs and briskets, of flavour b...

Seems that I blinked and somehow January is behind us and we are heading off into February. Second month of the year. One twelfth of the year gone and dusted...can't take it back...can't change it. As for goals for this year...I am stumped. Really have no idea, a few vague nuances yes but for a concrete THIS IS WHAT I WILL ACHIEVE THIS YEAR...nothing. For the garden, it's different. I have an idea...dig a bit...usually dig a bit more...more often than not I dig a whole lot more. Then I plant, and plant, and move some around. I let them stay at least for a while. Some I will move again... And so I tweak and rejig until it resembles a bit of how I wanted it to look. Most often it is just a vague nod to my original plan, but I had a goal. An aim. The above bed began with other half cutting down the blue spruce. Add in the weeping cherry from Dad, Christmas and birthday present, then I added the plants from daughter's wedding (so it is called the Wedding ...

School holidays, children moaning 'there's nothing to do' and the dreaded 'I"m bored'. We've all been there. And when faced with a child that states 'I'm bored' and you tell them they could always do fun stuff like clean their room, or read the books they should have read for school- only to be met by the death stare.  What to do? There's always lots of options, some even include nothing to do with cleaning. Last weekend Other Half and myself headed into the city with Little Miss, Miss A and Master R. We lunched at Fed Square then a wander through the graffitied alleyways which raised much discussion. Why are they allowed to do that? Can anyone come along and paint? Cover Little Miss's eyes, there are bad words painted there...and there...and over there. (As Other Half says, at least it got them reading). They oohed and aahed over the three groups of brides posing for photographs. They discussed which were favourites and...

Last week I headed east...to my sister's place for five days. I knew before hand that she and my brother in law and my niece would be working...that it would be me and two teenage nephews (with an X Box fixation). So I planned accordingly. I took down lots of books, some colouring books I'd received as Christmas presents and my writing. I took down notebooks and hard copies and pens and papers...knowing I would have lots of time in the relative peace and quiet to write. However there was quite a lot of this... a bit of this... a lot of this... and even a bit of... So I bonded with the animals and the hammock. Always a good move. I went for a drive with my sister one day...so that meant a bit of.. some of this.... and a bit of this... I didn't write - well I think I wrote a paragraph.  That's it. But I read and I read, I read and I read. It was a total relax. Nothing major to think about, no plans to make,...

Yep, it's here. 2016 No matter how much you ignored it, or celebrated it in style..the new year is here. Sitting. Waiting. Staring. A blank canvas waiting for me to put my mark on it. Hmmmmm. So of course I prepare. One can't merely plough full on into a new year, you must sort yourself, prepare yourself and your writing environment.  Get yourself mentally and physically ready. Tidying my desk, is of course on my list of MUST DO items. It always is. And I do tidy my desk...occasionally. The trouble is, it never lasts. For a day or two, perhaps even a week it looks so sleek and inviting and appealing. I become lost in admiration of my own hard work. In my dreams my desk looks a little like this... in reality, it never ever will be. This is a part of life that I must come to terms with and accept. Eventually. So before I do anything else I must tidy my desk, my writing area. This will, on a good day, take about a month. Perhaps two months, allowi...