tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87199566170768220152012-01-31T20:14:42.175+11:00the writing hiveWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.comBlogger1771100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-17259906058352879532012-01-28T22:06:00.001+11:002012-01-29T07:40:05.092+11:00PotatomaniaLast year our friend Sue was obsessed with potatoes. She planted 40 varieties, which she documented to discover which type gave the best yield and which were best for which purposes. After Farmdoc's surgery she gave us a gift of around a dozen varieties with instructions that we were to note how each type did. We planted them as instructed but we haven't dug any up yet, so we haven't had to WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-70132394117877101712012-01-17T14:42:00.000+11:002012-01-17T14:49:06.220+11:00The Wool Cheque
Taking
the wool clip in is one of my favourite
farm chores. Last week it was time to do it again.
We always sell to Saunders in Launceston. We must be amongst their smallest wool producers, but they treat us as though we were the biggest. Although our small clip is lost in a sea of wool packs and fleeces they remember us from year to year and always give us a personal WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-48926446310369588332012-01-01T15:27:00.000+11:002012-01-01T15:27:02.895+11:00Farewell 2011<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
0
false
18 pt
18 pt
0
0
false
false
false
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-50855294610771754422011-12-29T11:48:00.000+11:002011-12-29T13:52:11.001+11:00Team Canada
For the past week the Onemilebridge guest wing has been occupied by a Canadian family, friends of ours who have stayed with us several times before. Before they arrived, the youngest member requested a regional specialty that he remembered from his last visit: frog in the pond. This delicacy consists of a chocolate frog set in a bowl of green jelly (or as he calls it, jello). We, of courseWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-20775293160692109622011-11-14T21:47:00.001+11:002011-12-29T13:33:27.172+11:00Memories Are Made of This
My dad grew up on a farm in the wheat belt of Western
Australia. A long time ago he moved east to Melbourne, and then gradually so did
four of his five sisters. His four brothers stayed in the west.
Every summer of my childhood, my parents, my brothers and I
flew across the continent to visit Dad’s family. I learnt to swim in
Rockingham, a beach suburb just south of Perth, where the whole WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-1726179324244769512011-09-13T17:11:00.001+10:002011-09-13T17:39:48.310+10:00On the move
Farmdoc and I are on the move. Well, not exactly yet, but the decision has been made. Onemilebridge is officially on the market. Note I didn't say, 'for sale,' but used the euphemism, 'on the market'. I guess that expresses my ambivalence about the whole thing.
We've been in Tasmania for about 20 years now, the last nine here in Onemilebridge. We've built up a whole life in Mole Creek - WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-63382226363208030472011-08-30T20:15:00.108+10:002011-08-30T22:24:27.741+10:00Museum of old and newLast Wednesday, Farmdoc and I visited the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Hobart's controversial new art gallery designed by Nonda Katsalidis. I've been dying to go but this was our first visit to Hobart since the museum opened in January.
The whole visit is an experience, from having to walk across a tennis court to get to the entrance, and being greeted at the door and herded into a group toWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-36497537799576858542011-08-25T13:09:00.020+10:002011-08-27T13:57:40.923+10:00The Race
Brett Hoffmann's not very popular around here at the moment. Or rather he is with me but not with Farmdoc.
I just got hold of Brett's new book - his second thriller involving Australian Wall Street analysts, Stella Sartori and Jack Rogers - and I can't put it down.
'Are you ready?' 'Mm...Coming...''Did you hear what I said?' 'Mm...Stella...'‘We’re running late.' 'Mm...Jack...''Can you put thatWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-67377580663775215242011-08-01T13:03:00.002+10:002011-08-02T10:45:26.444+10:00No Sting in this TaleI've been dying to make stinging nettle pesto ever since I came across it in wholelarderlove.com, which is the blog of a photographer friend of Number One Daughter's.
To begin with I pulled on some gloves and strolled a little way up the drive, where I picked a colander full of nettles, trying for the youngest and tenderest looking.
Back in the kitchen, I boiled the nettles for a couple of WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-51898703876986914622011-07-30T19:18:00.009+10:002011-08-03T11:26:16.378+10:00Celebration at CradleWell, the 12-week cardiac rehab period is officially over this weekend. Farmdoc now graduates back into his own life - or rather into the new life that has been granted to him by a team of doctors and the everyday miracles of modern medicine.
Physically, Farmdoc's almost back to normal, but emotionally...looks like that'll take a little longer.
We talk about it all the time but I'm not sure WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-25899456623597061172011-07-06T11:23:00.000+10:002011-07-06T12:28:10.780+10:00Six and SixEight weeks down, four to go.
On the evening before Farmdoc's bypass surgery, the surgeon sat on the end of the hospital bed while he told us about the twelve-week recovery process.
During the first six weeks, progress would be measured week by week. There'd be bad days and slightly better days, but overall there'd be forward movement. Farmdoc should expect disturbances in every area of his WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-25316773208839934852011-05-16T21:40:00.003+10:002011-05-16T21:59:12.821+10:00A Week In The Life OfIt's been a long, long seven days. This time last week we were trying to make time go as quickly as possible. While Farmdoc was in the operating theatre the rest of us were trying not to think about all the things that could go wrong.
On Monday he had a quadruple bypass and woke in Intensive Care at four am on Tuesday with no idea what day it was. He wiggled his fingers and toes and tested his WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-50279158655868621912011-05-06T21:35:00.001+10:002011-05-06T21:37:01.114+10:00A Change of Heart
I had planned to follow up my last post with one about life in the very slow lane. Autumn is so mellow and lovely in Mole Creek. But then our lives took a strange turn. Strange for us though at the same time very ordinary. Banal even.
For many months now Farmdoc has been complaining of intermittent indigestion when he exercised. A kind of dull ache behind the breast bone. He has a family WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-20584427491539364142011-04-07T11:52:00.002+10:002011-04-07T14:30:53.211+10:00Life in the Slow LaneThere was the sound of a truck reversing down in the alley. Then there was some banging, and voices. Always the busybody, I looked over my balcony to see what was causing the ruckus.
People were unloading plastic crates and arranging them in what seemed to be a well-planned operation. After they left I tried to work out what the structure they'd built was, but it was too dark.
By daylight the WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-56621725661235731252011-03-12T13:43:00.020+11:002011-03-12T14:00:23.236+11:00Doing ItDo you listen to podcasts? I do. I listen to them every chance I get - while I walk to pilates or to the market, while I'm on the tram, while I'm watering the vegetable garden.
One of my favourites is Radiolab, a podcast that sets out to explore the boundary between science, philosophy and the human experience. The episode I just listened to is called 'Help!' and it looks at how we might controlWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-51528339155481665612011-02-24T12:46:00.002+11:002011-02-24T12:50:19.512+11:00Bearing GiftsIt's just over two years since my mother died and I have thought about her every day since.
In the early days I could remember only how she was when she was in the grip of Alzheimer's Disease. Her helplessness and despair as the mists began to swirl and she knew she would soon cease to be counted as a person who mattered and become instead an object of pity - someone of lesser value. Then that WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-58912208216357113292011-02-12T16:45:00.003+11:002011-02-12T16:59:37.641+11:00Wombat BenIt's been many months since there was an occupant in the Onemilebridge wombat Hilton. So long in fact that today Farmdoc and I opened the door to allow wallabies to come in and graze on the grass there. It's about waist height.
Yesterday we had a little preview visit with its next occupant, wombat Ben, who'll be coming to us at the end of this year. For now he still has some growing to do. WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-42566516562706828592011-01-19T17:07:00.003+11:002011-01-19T17:46:00.378+11:00One Computer TwoFarmdoc's computer died last week. It was five years old - about quarter of a century in computer years. Fortunately he'd learned from a false alarm about 18 months ago, so he'd backed up just about everything. But still there are ongoing problems, in part because things have changed so much in the computer world over the last five years.
Yesterday our friend Craig, who in a previous life was an WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-38720181539171395192011-01-15T13:28:00.005+11:002011-01-15T14:31:07.175+11:00FloodThis time last year it was bush fires we were afraid of. In the end they came close to Onemilebridge and the air was full of their smoky breath but fortunately we weren't directly affected.In the twelve months since then there have been wild winds that brought down dozens of fine old trees on our property but otherwise left us unscathed.Now it's floods. Again the devastation suffered by others WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-74291310575512455632010-11-21T21:12:00.005+11:002010-11-21T21:58:56.997+11:00Suffer the Little LambsThis morning we put rings on the tails of all our new lambs. It wasn't a big job, just a matter of rounding up all the sheep, catching the lambs, vaccinating them and then slipping on the rings. But it's important because if we don't do it the lambs run the risk of fly strike, and if you've ever seen a fly blown sheep you'll want to avoid it at all costs.After we let them go there was a WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-87389731009477584042010-11-16T17:38:00.007+11:002010-11-16T17:50:56.214+11:00A Year In The Life OfIt's a year now since my book was published. A year of interviews and articles and reviews and speeches and festivals and libraries and book groups and emails from readers. An extraordinary year really.This photo was taken at the inaugural Melbourne Jewish Book Festival. That's me there on the left with, in the centre, Michelle Prawer from Sunflower Books who was one of the organisers as well as WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-31519761142164990822010-10-21T10:08:00.001+11:002010-10-21T10:38:25.438+11:00Peter Bakowski ReadsAs all writers know, books don't sell themselves. Writing and getting published are only the beginning of the process. How do you find readers? How do readers find your books?This applies across all genres, but particularly I think to poetry. My guess is that the poetry section of the bookshop, tucked away in the back corner, would be the least visited.Peter Bakowski, a Melbourne poet, meets thatWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-68676357586325015302010-10-10T22:02:00.004+11:002010-10-10T22:14:15.540+11:00Feast and FamineThere is an interesting series of human interest videos on the ABC Northern Tasmania website. The overall topic is 'Change' but this has been interpreted in many ways.I provided the producer, Richard Pree, with some scanned photos from our family albums, and a recording of me reading a couple of extracts from my book. He then put these together to produce a very moving short video.The piece WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-22786769749680122162010-10-05T21:12:00.003+11:002010-10-05T21:43:40.317+11:00OtherlandGorgeous weather here in northern Tasmania. Perfect for sitting on the kitchen deck with a cup of tea and a good book. I've just finished reading Otherland by Maria Tumarkin. This is an account of Maria's trip back to Kharkov in the Ukraine, a city she'd emigrated from about twenty years before as a 15- year-old schoolgirl. She is accompanied on this return journey by her daughter, 12-year-old WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-22083928802307187322010-10-01T17:02:00.002+10:002010-10-04T22:22:38.156+11:00What's Cooking?The last weekend Farmdoc and I were in Victoria we taught a cooking class at the Daylesford Neighbourhood Centre. I used to be a keen cook. I did a course at the Cordon Bleu School of Cooking in London back in the day, and I cooked for our household of six for years, sometimes serving up five different meals to cater for vegetarians, dieters and those who wouldn't eat anything that was coloured WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-69826975325502733482010-10-01T11:36:00.004+10:002010-10-01T11:40:09.711+10:00Stormy WeatherBack at Onemilebridge after a few weeks in Melbourne, I dreaded seeing the damage caused by the wind storm that kept Farmdoc awake at night while he listened to the wind's howl, fearful something would fall on the house. For a couple of days he couldn't get our car off the property because six or seven huge trees had fallen across the driveway. Others had landed across tracks and paths, and of WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-24554913593096816172010-09-23T18:45:00.000+10:002010-09-24T10:12:19.187+10:00Dementia Awareness WeekThis week is Dementia Awareness Week, though you'd be forgiven for not knowing. There hasn't been a lot of publicity. Dementia is not a very sexy disease.To be perfectly honest, for me every week is Dementia Awareness Week. As it is I'm sure for anyone who is caring for someone with the disease, or who has lost someone to it.According to Alzheimer's Australia, in Australia right now 200,000 WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-72012979043457237152010-09-05T12:11:00.014+10:002010-09-05T13:54:42.015+10:00Happy Father's DayHappy Father's Day to you dads, and to all you women and children who made them fathers.It's funny, but even though I know that these Days are cynical marketing exercises, they still touch me. Especially I suppose as my own dad is now 92. Maybe it's pure sentimentality, but I do love to see families together, taking a moment to celebrate their parents.This morning my older brother and his wife WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-58541029139627133982010-08-24T15:51:00.002+10:002010-08-24T16:06:18.586+10:00Room With a ViewI've turned my desk around so that instead of facing this:it now faces this:I know. Crazy, eh. But the trouble with a passive solar house is that in winter the sun comes in the north-facing windows and I had to keep my blind pulled down all the time. So there was no point in having a view I couldn't see anyway.I quite like this set up, with nothing to distract me. I'll see how it works. Maybe WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-67801144287300815402010-08-22T16:45:00.001+10:002010-08-22T16:50:55.648+10:00Casting the VoteYesterday, along with the rest of our fellow Australians, Farmdoc and I fulfilled our civic duty.We walked down to our local polling booth at the Mole Creek Primary School, admiring the local sights as we went.Though admittedly, some of the sights were more attractivethan others.WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-89189206516223173092010-08-18T17:34:00.003+10:002010-08-18T17:47:59.013+10:00Top Five BooksI'm in big trouble. In late October I'm going to be speaking at the Brunswick library. That's not the problem; I love giving talks. I'm looking forward to it.No, the problem is that they asked me to provide them with a list of my five favourite books. They'll display this somewhere in the library with the heading Author Top Reads. Now, I think that's a great idea. Anything to encourage reading WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-29013468208109632010-08-16T17:49:00.004+10:002010-08-16T18:37:52.841+10:00The Simplest ThingsDon't you hate it when cliches turn out to be true? The one I'm thinking about now is, 'The simplest things in life are best.' Maybe it's not always true, and I'll bet winning an Olympic gold medal backed by millions of taxpayers' dollars (therefore the opposite of simple) must feel pretty cool, but mostly the saying's spot on, I reckon.Take yesterday for example, here at Onemilebridge. Sunday WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-76727151315829684082010-08-15T19:42:00.004+10:002010-08-16T19:44:38.874+10:00New VoicesWriters' festivals are such a terrific opportunity to learn more about writers, books and writing and to meet other readers. I had a great time at the New Voices Festival in Eltham. There was quite a bit of excitement on the day because the short list for The Age Book of the Year was announced that morning, and two of the day's featured writers were on it but only found out once they'd arrived. WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-57529282744762081842010-07-29T14:07:00.001+10:002010-07-29T14:12:18.036+10:00Reality BitesLast weekend I attended the Reality Bites Nonfiction Festival in Cooroy, Queensland. The festival is held over two weekends and this was the first of the two. I found it exciting but pretty exhausting. I flew up on Saturday morning, appeared on one panel on Saturday afternoon, a second on Sunday morning, and then flew home Sunday afternoon. Phew!The weather wasn't wonderful - overcast most of WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-518128618542902592010-07-11T18:30:00.003+10:002010-07-11T18:45:14.148+10:00Winter weekendThis wintry weekend we've eaten pumpkin scones, repaired a fence and established a new vegetable bed in the orchard.After quite a bit of experimentation I have found the easiest and most reliably delicious scones to make are, despite her politics, Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen's. They don't taste of pumpkin at all but have a lovely golden colour and are soft and buttery. They're particularly WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-12683544312772999772010-07-05T18:27:00.013+10:002010-07-05T22:36:05.402+10:00Reading and WalkingFarmdoc and I have just come back from almost a week in paradise - otherwise known as Cradle Mountain. The plan was that we would each take a pile of the books that we have been dying to read and just haven't had the time for, and in the bad weather that we were bound to experience, we would simply sit in front of the fire and read.But then, just our luck, we struck a week of mostly fine weatherWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-49866704615288265742010-06-28T12:20:00.009+10:002010-06-28T13:23:44.861+10:00Author! Author!I'm always nervous before an appearance. Will anyone come? How will it go? Yesterday's event at Petrarch's Book Shop in Launceston went very well indeed. Peter and his staff had set the shop up beautifully, and friends travelled long distances from all over the state to be there with us. As usual at these events I heard sad and remarkable stories. One man bought a copy for the widow of his heart WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-10871304798830669492010-06-27T10:49:00.005+10:002010-06-27T11:19:04.516+10:00Ice in the BirdbathPretty cold here overnight and early this morning. The temperature plummeted to a low of -4.3 degrees.We still managed to eat breakfast out on the kitchen deck. One of the joys of a north facing house.Not so sure about the birds though.WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-63005038401374317032010-06-24T10:47:00.005+10:002010-06-24T11:12:07.744+10:00Book SigningNext Sunday afternoon I will be at Petrarch's Bookshop in Launceston from 2pm for a book signing and discussion event. If you're in the neighbourhood come along. I'd love to meet you and answer any questions you may have. I love discussing my book and issues that arise from it with readers. It makes all those lonely hours at my keyboard worthwhile.To sweeten the event I will be bringing along a WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-35454319317460861952010-06-22T13:31:00.008+10:002010-06-22T15:31:41.508+10:00Winter SolsticeToday's the shortest day of the year, which is cause for celebration at Onemilebridge. Now the days will gradually grow longer, and the longer the day the more chance we have of absorbing enough solar energy to run our house. We've run the generator a few times already.I haven't posted on my blog for ages because I've been writing. That's right, I've been too busy writing to write. I've moved WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-78935109278912321222010-05-27T11:37:00.009+10:002010-05-27T12:21:04.851+10:00OverwhelmedThere should be a word for how I feel right now, after my time last week, a word that would encompass after-glow, still high, coming down, sad it's over, trying to hang onto as much of the experience as I can.I spent last week at Varuna, the Writers' House in Katoomba. I drove, flew, bussed and trained to get there the Sunday before last and then flew, bussed, drove and trained back last Sunday. WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-17339237169412658602010-05-09T20:49:00.002+10:002010-05-09T21:23:57.508+10:00CradleAlthough we live only about an hour from Cradle Mountain we usually need an excuse to go there.A visitor is always a good reason, especially one from from overseas. Yesterday's justification was the autumn foliage of the deciduous beech, Nothofagus gunnii, Tasmania's only native winter-deciduous plant.Normally the leaves go from vivid green in spring to dark green in summer, through yellow to WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-81085451067348606532010-04-18T18:31:00.002+10:002010-04-18T19:06:50.103+10:00Mole Creek AutumnThis year autumn has been particularly mellow and fruitful at Onemilebridge.There are fungi everywhere you look. Some are clearly poisonous, some we're not sure about and others I've already turned into soup and pizza topping.We went shopping for a new ram to service our Border Leicester ladies, though he won't go out until next month. We like to lamb in mid to late spring here.We ate too many WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-72712685570209345072010-04-16T10:16:00.011+10:002010-04-16T15:03:44.079+10:00Wombat Bonney AgainBonney may be our first release failure. She seemed to be settling in. Her droppings were becoming firm and she would come to eat while Farmdoc was in her enclosure, though she stayed well away from him. All looked normal though she did seem to have lost weight.Then yesterday morning Farmdoc noticed the fur on all of Bonney's legs had come off. We couldn't tell from a distance what exactly was WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-22105692309630225762010-04-11T21:23:00.009+10:002010-04-13T20:42:14.263+10:00Rich and FamousTwo lovely book related things happened to me last week.One was the arrival of my first royalty statement and cheque. In its first three months out in the world Alzheimer's: a Love Story had already sold enough copies to pay back my advance, with some left over for a payment.To tell you the truth, I was so excited that I danced around the kitchen, singing, 'I'm in the money...' and then I trippedWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-85942289038131889372010-04-05T19:49:00.007+10:002010-04-05T20:53:49.774+10:00Welcome Wombat BonneyThis morning Bonney arrived for her stay in the Wombat Hilton. She is the thirteenth wombat and ninth female to stay in our pen while being prepared for release on our land.Arrival of a new wombat is always a poignant moment. It's hard for the carers to farewell an animal they have lovingly reared from infancy and whom they have come to know well. When they go home they will be surrounded by WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-65514538300667916922010-03-28T22:53:00.006+11:002010-03-28T23:15:16.898+11:00Dearth HourI guess observing Earth Hour in Melbourne during the weekend of the Grand Prix must have been a Comedy Festival act.If so, it was pretty funny: sitting around in the dark with candles, ears ringing from the noise of all that burning fossil fuel.Hilarious really.Not.WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-666605077310569632010-03-25T22:09:00.002+11:002010-03-27T13:45:44.472+11:00Tools of TradeI wrote this post for Damon Young who is publishing a series about the various tools writers use on his very interesting blog, darkly wise, rudely great. I met Damon when we both read at the Wheeler Centre.I began writing in school, seduced by my love for reading, by an imagination that was my favourite companion, and also – if I’m entirely truthful – by the reactions of teachers. I wrote WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-85955724144669896132010-03-16T17:09:00.006+11:002010-03-16T17:45:39.855+11:00Reading the WritingLast night I read extracts from chapter one of Alzheimer's: a Love Story at the third Wheeler Centre Debut Monday. The other three writers on the night were an energetic young philosopher, an American born novelist and a loud performance poet. They were all amazing - talented, polished and confident. Beforehand we hung out in the Green Room, chatting about writing-related topics -such as the fun WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-56777623278797066422010-03-05T18:39:00.004+11:002010-03-05T18:52:59.943+11:00Mole Creek, Early AutumnIn Mole Creek each of the four seasons has its own distinct personality. This week even a trip to Deloraine on a regular workaday morning was transformed by an autumnal mist:Down the driveway,Along the road,and off to town.WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-86869114238956370102010-03-03T17:24:00.022+11:002010-03-07T19:51:02.684+11:00Opinion MakersLast night on the ABC's First Tuesday Book Club, Jason Steger, who is the books editor of The Age and someone whose opinion I greatly respect, highly recommended Alzheimer's:A Love Story.Below you can watch a very short segment where he calls it 'touching and poignant'.
How excited am I!WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-78225169352194694192010-03-01T11:13:00.010+11:002010-03-01T15:50:40.569+11:00Onemilebridge End of Summer JamAh, the first day of autumn is upon us. Here in Mole Creek we celebrated with a temperature of 0.4 degrees centigrade at around 7.15 this morning, though it warmed up to a pleasant 17 by late morning.I love autumn. There's still heat in the sun though the breeze is cooler now; the evenings continue to draw out and the vegetables and fruit in the garden loll about ripening.A few days ago we pickedWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-83434149248561488942010-02-19T20:53:00.003+11:002010-02-19T22:03:59.911+11:00The City of Food, Culture and WritingOne of the pleasures of being in Melbourne for me is helping my daughter Kate and her family at the farmers' markets where they sell their beautiful organic produce. This picture of the Daylesford Organics stall was taken last Saturday morning at the Collingwood Children's Farm market.This market is held on the second Saturday of every month. The fourth Saturday Bren and Kate take their produce WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-6202643437855080572010-02-08T14:04:00.002+11:002010-02-08T17:26:39.111+11:00Marakoopa CoffeeI've been dying to try out Marakoopa Coffee, Lars and Sarah Cooper's new coffee cart. They set it up in late December in the garden of their house, which is on Marakoopa Road on the way to the famous caves of the same name.The location is ideal because the caves, which are fascinating and should be on every tourist's itinerary, attract hundreds of thirsty visitors, and Lars and Sarah's garden isWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-53968101372140489512010-02-01T17:58:00.003+11:002010-02-01T18:16:35.922+11:00Fire, FireNo photos for this post. Don't feel like it. Farmdoc is off fighting a fire not far from here. I'm worried about him and I'm worried about the fire.Sharon, our share farmer, and I have just been on the phone discussing what we'll do with our livestock if the fire comes through here. As for our possessions, we both decided we'll walk out the door with almost nothing: for me it's my laptop and my WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-50099596644356738452010-01-31T20:20:00.004+11:002010-01-31T21:03:03.690+11:00Where There's SmokeThere's fire. This is the view from our house right now. Smoky and growing smokier.There are several fires burning in Tasmania at the moment. This smoke is probably coming from two fires burning in forest close to Cradle Mountain about fifteen to twenty kilometres from us.The Tasmanian Fire Service website classifies these fires as: 'A fire has started - there is no immediate danger.'There have WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-32401773092452313652010-01-30T09:46:00.010+11:002010-01-30T12:00:40.262+11:00Rams For SaleIf you want Border Leicester rams you'd better be quick. We had six for sale but there's a shortage, ours are extremely well priced, and this year there's strong demand. We ran this advertisement in this week's Tasmanian Country and already all our boys have just about gone.Border Leicesters are very pretty sheep, I reckon. They're the type of sheep that starred in the film, Babe. This is one whoWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-73944418364395123742010-01-27T19:13:00.003+11:002010-01-27T20:12:05.353+11:00ReviewedMy book has been out for nearly three months now and, though I've had some terrific reviews, I'd given up on seeing one in the Melbourne Age.I was disappointed at first. Alzheimer's: a Love Story is such a Melbourne story, I think. One of the best parts of writing it was learning about a Melbourne that has now vanished. I loved hearing my father's story of running out of petrol during the WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-32278331817400452642010-01-17T11:35:00.015+11:002010-01-19T10:19:16.369+11:00Sour Cherry JamI have just made my best batch of sour cherry jam ever! Some years I have overcooked it so it tasted like toffee and sat in lumps on the toast; last year I undercooked it so it ran down your fingers when you tried to eat it.A couple of days ago we picked several ice cream containers full of cherries. That's the best part of the process: working in the shade of gnarled old trees, admiring the WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-24297348534931907352010-01-16T12:38:00.012+11:002010-01-16T14:12:50.880+11:00JourneymenI'd never heard of travelling journeymen until a day or two ago when our friends at Habitat Nursery in Liffey told us they have three German journeymen staying and working with them.Journeymen are young tradesmen and women who, having finished an apprenticeship, set off on a journey to hone their skills and learn from masters in other parts of the world. They have an ancient history, which seems WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-67923697069480572462010-01-14T10:36:00.001+11:002010-01-14T13:01:08.264+11:00Bridge BuildingThis is a big week in the life of Onemilebridge Farm. Last August I wrote about how the bridge to our property had begun to fail and needed to be replaced. I wrote about how we loved that bridge and how our friends did too. Our artist friend Janet, who had picnicked with us on it and fished from its weathered boards, painted it. This is the picture I use on my desktop.It was sad to see our old WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-784596738636488782010-01-06T17:57:00.002+11:002010-01-07T08:56:16.952+11:00JammingEvery morning at this time of the year Farmdoc and I start the day by picking raspberries. Our maximum harvest was last Friday, New Year's Day, when we picked one and a quarter kilos. Now we're down to about three-quarters of a kilo each day. We freeze some, eat some, and I'll turn the remainder into enough jam to last the rest of the year on scones, toast and as gifts.Over the last couple of WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-39435932756265356222010-01-04T20:11:00.005+11:002010-01-06T18:38:23.883+11:00On the other foot...Farmdoc and I live in a house with a polished concrete floor. This is excellent for the passive solar values of the building: in summer, when the eaves keep the sun out, we are cool, and in winter the floor traps the warmth. An unfortunate side effect, however, is that when we drop something it smashes.We discovered this early. The first thing to go, the week we moved in, was a small pottery WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-88234558676823458302009-12-24T14:42:00.003+11:002009-12-24T16:10:19.510+11:00Early summer, Mole CreekThis morning we walked a section of our boundary fence to check for fallen trees. (Why do trees always fall across fences no matter where they are?) We found two that we'll have to return for with a chainsaw when we have more time. It was so beautiful out there in the bush in fine drizzle. I didn't take my camera so you'll have to take my word for it, but it was one of those mornings when farm WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-87031588147054827592009-11-29T16:11:00.005+11:002009-11-29T16:11:00.219+11:00Mole Creek Food Mile MarketYesterday was the second ever Mole Creek Food Mile Market. The market was launched on 350 Reverse Climate Action Day, Saturday October 24th, and is the brainchild of Laurie Rose who owns our local Guest House and Laurel Berry Restaurant. Stall holder fees support the local community tourism association. The market is a small but excellent attempt to promote the idea of buying local. Yesterday WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-63771344052283678982009-11-28T14:41:00.006+11:002009-11-28T15:27:35.454+11:00That's nyoice, that's different, that's unewesyewl!I wasn't going to play the My Place and Yours game this week. I only joined in last time because my gorgeous daughter Kate was theme queen. I found I was a bit distracted all week, constantly looking at what other people had posted, dying to see how other bloggers had interpreted the theme. But then Pip chose me as one of her favourite collections of the week! My very first attempt! And then I WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-66669560216364357502009-11-24T21:01:00.016+11:002009-11-25T17:28:12.110+11:00In the BeginningNow that Alzheimer's:a love story is published, it feels - even to me - that it wrote itself. I've had lots of calls and emails from readers telling me they couldn't put it down and that they read it in one or two sessions. I know that I worked hard to achieve that effect, but I can't remember now what I spent all that time on.Yesterday I found a journal from the summer of 2007-2008, which is WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-57390733218488343472009-11-21T09:08:00.010+11:002009-11-21T13:16:48.953+11:00My CollectionThis week my daughter K is the theme queen for the My Place and Yours game. The theme she has chosen is My Collection.I have collected many things in my life - beginning with swap cards and marbles and books - but my favourite collection is my family: Farmdoc and my four beautiful daughters.For today I have chosen some of the stuff I display on my dressers. To be included, an item should be WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-65813671868398810362009-11-19T17:56:00.005+11:002009-11-19T20:47:57.026+11:00Ten, Nine, Eight...How quickly this week has sped by compared with how slowly time passed while I was counting down the hours until my launch with equal amounts of excitement and nervousness. Would anyone come? Would too many people come? If they came would they think it had been worthwhile to trek across town in peak hour traffic in all that heat? What part of the book should I read? What sort of speech should I WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-86075315839143547012009-11-12T14:27:00.003+11:002009-11-12T15:05:47.140+11:00Book LaunchThis evening's the launch of Alzheimer's: a love story, the story of my parents and the love they shared, love that did not end with the onset of my mother's Alzheimer's Disease.Speech written. Check.Extract to read chosen. Check.Outfit laid out ready to wear. Check.Hair washed. Checked.Cookies baked. Check.Sweets bought. Check.Farmdoc here. Check.All systems go.I'm feeling excited and a little WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-53493786146891619622009-11-10T10:36:00.001+11:002009-11-10T10:52:56.796+11:00Launch CookiesI posted a bit of a rant on my blog over the weekend, but a friend of mine misunderstood it completely, so I thought maybe other people would too, and that maybe it was in part the heat that was stoking my irritability, so I took it down. I might rewrite it and repost it when there’s a cool change - both external and internal. Meanwhile, with the temperature today already over 30 degrees, I’m WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-27229527343997323562009-11-04T12:10:00.002+11:002009-11-04T22:45:27.795+11:00Stupid HeartI am obsessed with this tiny gem of a story by Lydia Davis. It's called 'Head, Heart'. This is the complete story:Heart weeps.Head tries to help heart.Head tells heart how it is, again:You will lose the ones you love. They will all go. But even the earth will go, someday.Heart feels better, then.But the words of head do not remain long in the ears of heart.Heart is so new to this.I want them WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-5195326224005056222009-11-01T16:35:00.003+11:002009-11-01T16:44:48.072+11:00Sunday in the City Part TwoThis was the view of the lane from my apartment this morning. Smoko time for three of the city's beggars. I didn't go down to get a closer look because it would have been intruding and it would have cost me money, but there was fragrant smoke and laughter and animated conversation. Perhaps they were discussing us.Elsewhere in the city, it was business as usual.WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-87988651451512094692009-10-31T14:35:00.003+11:002009-11-01T01:16:00.303+11:00Fifteen MinutesI think one of the reasons I write is so I can be in control of my story - of my words, my opinions, my viewpoint, of how I am portrayed altogether. Now that my book is out in the world I am busy being interviewed. It's a disconcerting experience. I slave over my writing - polishing and rephrasing, eliminating repetition and anything that sounds vaguely like a cliche. In speech, however, I umm WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-84941290992679950052009-10-25T23:43:00.001+11:002009-10-25T23:48:31.148+11:00Sunday in the CityI've seen people doing a lot of things in the lanes around where I live in the centre of the Melbourne CBD: chroming, smoking, shooting up, spray painting, stenciling, postering, arguing, peeing, vomiting, eating. There are regularly rubbish trucks collecting, delivery vans delivering, street sweepers cleaning. One night I saw two guys beating someone up; that was scary but we managed to frightenWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-57016487682866207942009-10-22T16:27:00.011+11:002009-10-22T17:02:50.978+11:00In The ShopsWhat does an author do in the afternoon when she should be working on her novel? Well, if it's the day her book first hits the shelves, she hits the shops in pursuit of it. These photos aren't wonderful, but she was over excited and the only camera she had was the one on her phone.This photo was taken in Hill of Content bookshop in Bourke Street, Melbourne.And so was this oneUnfortunately, when WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-21495004461915284232009-10-20T17:44:00.008+11:002009-10-22T17:03:34.525+11:00In the LibraryPublishing a first book is full of milestones. Discovering that your book is available for loan in Australian libraries is one of them. (Shame they put the sticker over some of Raimond Gaita's lovely words though.)WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-54901519217535562002009-10-18T15:10:00.003+11:002009-10-18T15:36:48.056+11:00Patches LeapingThis is a photo I have been trying to take for ages. These are two of our neighbour Sharon's dogs in their run. That's Timmy with all four feet on the ground and that's Patches leaping with excitement and natural exuberance.Whenever the dogs see us approaching, they encourage along us with a frenzy of barks, and Patches hurls herself into the air against the side of the shed. The trick to WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-35237458439951164342009-10-17T18:48:00.004+11:002009-10-18T17:30:01.883+11:00Hallelujah SpringFarmdoc and I have sharefarmed with our next door neighbour, Sharon, since we moved to Onemilebridge. A few years ago a tree fell onto one of the fences between our properties so we took the opportunity to put in a new gate.Then Farmdoc made a track from the gate to our driveway. The track meanders through a sycamore forest and is wide enough for walking or riding a four-wheel bike. This morningWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-82468091144073608392009-10-07T21:50:00.006+11:002009-10-07T22:26:26.419+11:00The First ReviewIs it vain to blog about a good review? If I do then am I going to be honest enough to blog about bad reviews if and when they come my way?Mm. I'm not sure, but surely there's an exemption for the first review! I've just had mine. It's in Bookseller and Publisher and describes Alzheimer's: a love story as 'powerful and rewarding'. The full review is on my website www.vivienneulman.com.The WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-47618268940796928852009-10-04T13:40:00.003+11:002009-10-04T22:19:13.344+11:00Steering By Noah's CompassI've always been a huge Anne Tyler fan. In fact I own most of her eighteen novels. My mother loved Anne Tyler books too, so when I saw there was a new one - Noah's Compass - I had to buy it. I have to admit it made me sad too, to know I'd be reading it alone.But this time the magic didn't work for me, and I can't decide if it's Tyler who's lost the excitement of invention and is coasting along onWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-13404588957207943022009-09-30T20:15:00.005+10:002009-09-30T20:28:36.186+10:00FathersThere's an article in the September issue of The Monthly magazine by Drusilla Modjeska called 'The Death of The Good Father', which discusses Granta magazine's issue number 104: Fathers.I was particularly interested in the piece by Siri Hustvedt, 'My Father Myself'. In it, Siri describes sending her parents a copy of her third novel, What I Loved. Usually her father didn't ring her; she and her WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-84705259325356096892009-09-27T20:30:00.002+10:002009-10-05T20:44:18.640+11:00The Farmers In The DellAfter a rainy, sleety morning, this afternoon the weather fined up enough for some farming. Truth is, it's always fine enough for farming, even when it's pouring. Farming waits for no man - or woman.Paddock by paddock we rounded up the goatsgave them a pre-kidding dose of drenchand where necessary trimmed their feet.After all the recent rain the Mole Creek is in full flow.And after last night andWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-22945569845172137152009-09-26T17:35:00.001+10:002009-09-26T18:08:50.284+10:00To Every SeasonEach year at the autumn equinox, on March 21st, Farmdoc tilts the solar panels on our roof by the number of degrees latitude we are from the equator - ie 41 - to capture the maximum amount of sunshine during the winter months.Then, at the spring equinox, September 21st, he climbs back onto the roof to lie the panels down again, ready for the warmer weather.It's been too wet for roof climbing WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-9997704883929016052009-09-25T20:40:00.004+10:002009-09-25T20:49:15.061+10:00Death In The AfternoonFarmers say, if you've got livestock, you've got dead stock. You can't be sentimental if you farm.I'm used to stock dying; I'm even used to killing animals for meat. But today we killed Mrs T. She was over eleven years old, and for seven of those years she lived here on our farm. She was a fine old lady who was gradually worn down by age and weather. Over the last couple of days she couldn't get WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-4746041180378096342009-09-23T21:06:00.003+10:002009-09-23T21:24:12.309+10:00Full Charge AheadLast Monday our solar system reached full charge for only the third time for the month of September. Last September we were fully charged three times for the entire month, but as there is another week to go we may beat this target this year. Last August we got to full charge on 14 days; this August we didn't make it once. It's been a long cold wet winter, and so far a wet spring. Tonight again weWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-63061039135061440862009-09-22T20:50:00.000+10:002009-09-22T20:54:45.131+10:00As You SowNow that the new hothouse has had enough time to settle into position in our vegetable garden, we decided to go ahead with some planting.Last week we bought packets of seeds from The Lost Seed Company, which is not far from us in Sheffield, and which specialises in rare, open-pollinated, heritage and heirloom seed varieties. We were impressed by what Kerryn Martin, the 'proprietor and grower', WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-18855985037318149452009-09-20T19:21:00.000+10:002009-09-20T19:29:20.251+10:00Sunday, Early SpringI love days like today. The sort of day where we light the kitchen stove to make the breakfast porridge and keep it lit all day. As much for warmth and keeping the house cosy as for cooking.I made a pot of soup and left that simmering for a few hours. I also made a lamb stew for later in the week when we have guests for dinner. And then there are the herbs - sage and rosemary - that are drying onWriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-24450670009822012992009-09-12T19:48:00.001+10:002009-09-12T20:00:05.421+10:00With A Little Help From My FriendsWell, here they are - ten author copies of my book. I picked them up from the lovely people at Scribe yesterday. I was so excited I couldn't stop babbling, but I guess they must be used to that behaviour and they all acted as though I was perfectly normal.Apparently it will take from now until late October for the distributor to get the books out to all the shops so the rest of you will have to WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-5980308800256993202009-09-09T18:16:00.011+10:002009-09-09T19:29:48.803+10:00Getting DunkedI hate to do this to those of you who have toughed out the winter without escaping north, but Farmdoc and I have just returned from ten days in Far North Queensland and I can't help gloating. It was so beautiful it was almost impossible to take photos: they all looked like such cliches. These three were taken from our room on Dunk Island.We swam, we ate too much, we paddled a kayak through WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-92216339666891437902009-08-28T16:45:00.008+10:002009-08-28T17:35:52.240+10:00The Writers Festival ContinuesYesterday I took my dad to a session at the Writers Festival. When my mum was alive this was the sort of thing I shared with her. Now she's gone I'm doing more with my father. I miss her, but I am loving spending time with him.Before the session we sat and drank coffee and chatted. People always make a fuss of Dad; our waitress took this photo.The session we saw was called 'The Lucky Child'. The WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-22444483920786596252009-08-22T23:33:00.013+10:002009-08-23T14:23:41.298+10:00CelebrationYesterday I went to four sessions of the Melbourne Writers Festival, beginning at 10 am with Emily Ballou, Philip McLaren and Steven Amsterdam (pictured, from left to right, with apologies for my poor quality photo) reading from their work and talking a little about it.The previous night Steven had discovered he'd won the Age Book of the Year with his first novel, Things We Didn't See Coming, so WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-21713658959316200762009-08-20T21:03:00.001+10:002009-08-20T21:38:05.552+10:00Falling Down, Falling DownI have no illusions about living in the country. I don't see it through a rosy romantic glow. Who was the writer who wrote 'There is no hell like a small town'? There's the lack of privacy, the gossip, the suspicion of anything or anyone new, the unthinking clinging to tradition. You can't be considered a local unless you, and possibly one of your parents, were born there.But we enjoy our own WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-26174872380287865932009-08-16T19:25:00.001+10:002009-08-16T19:29:23.282+10:00Bridge Too FarOne of my favourite parts of our farm is the bridge over the Mole Creek that you have to cross to get to the front gate. We love it so much we even named the farm after it: Onemilebridge.Every time I cross the bridge I enjoy its quiet beauty. We've held parties and picnics and platypus viewing sessions on its aged wooden boards and our friend Janet has even caught trout from it.In fact Janet WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-42722103453679180392009-08-14T16:07:00.010+10:002009-08-14T16:53:33.358+10:00People With GlasshousesFarmdoc and I have been talking about getting a hothouse since we first moved to Mole Creek, nearly seven years ago. We have such a short summer growing season here, with frosts well into November, that by the time our vegetables get going it's autumn again and they are running a race against winter.When we first laid out the vegetable garden we even left a hothouse-sized space.For all these WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-40681472727244327442009-08-13T16:11:00.022+10:002009-08-13T21:43:21.103+10:00Advance Reading CopyThe book is here. When Farmdoc and I walked down to the post office this afternoon, there was a padded bag from Scribe, addressed to me, waiting in the box.I had decided that I'd wait until I sat somewhere before I opened it. I wanted to relish the unveiling. Instead, as we walked, I ripped the bag open, desperate to see what it looked like.Beautiful. Just beautiful.Raimond Gaita's full WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-52533891073148248922009-08-12T21:10:00.006+10:002009-08-12T21:31:51.932+10:00Kids Will Be KidsHere is one little kid watching the video of another little kid from the post below:
Meanwhile, the goat kid is thriving and has been joined by several new playmates.The cold weather doesn't seem to be bothering them at all.WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-49830177973388167032009-08-09T14:45:00.015+10:002009-08-09T16:15:15.908+10:00Just kiddingWhen we fed out hay to the stock this morningWe found the kid we'd seen yesterdayplus this little brown one being guarded by its motherStanding around in the cold we heard bleating coming from the bushes. Up amongst the rocks I found this new litttle chum:I watched it as it struggled to its feet:It wobbled slightly:and then stood firm:
WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-15357221144880728972009-08-07T15:50:00.005+10:002009-08-07T16:05:17.242+10:00New Kid on the BlockLook what we found when we were feeding out hay to the goats this afternoon! The first kid of the year!These are not great photos but the first kid of the year is always an exciting moment. You can't tell from the picture, but she's a girl.This is very early for us. We normally don't start kidding here until late October or early November, WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8719956617076822015.post-20847790432977073802009-08-06T10:35:00.015+10:002009-08-06T12:26:23.195+10:00The Nature of DreamsThis year I was only in Melbourne long enough to see three films at the Melbourne International Film Festival. I especially loved 'Unmade Beds', an English film made by Patagonian film maker, Alexis Dos Santos for its cheekiness, music and storytelling. And I loved 'Amos Oz, The Nature of Dreams' for its portrayal of Israeli writer Amos Oz (pictured).Inspired by this second film, I have begun WriterBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628264091204856514noreply@blogger.com3