Licence to party!
Social Licence. It sounds like approval to have a good old knees-up with friends, doesn’t it? A bit of a bash with those you know are likely to make you feel good. A party. And it’s not that not far off the mark…
Social Licence. It sounds like approval to have a good old knees-up with friends, doesn’t it? A bit of a bash with those you know are likely to make you feel good. A party. And it’s not that not far off the mark…
There is an internationally recognised art facility in town – MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art.
Till now, my husband and myself have always found other things to do than visit this fine collection. People would say ‘You haven’t been yet?’ and we’d sheepishly say, ‘No…’
Cold Christmases? Snow? Robins sitting on a yuletide log whilst carollers sing with lighted lanterns?
It’s such a perfect picture and one that I grew up with courtesy of books, Christmas cards and fledgling TV programmes.
I remember at primary school when we made our own Christmas cards and I couldn’t WAIT to get hold of the glitter to sprinkle around because the glitter would be the winterlight dancing off the snowflakes that I was contriving to design.
But our reality here in Australia is really so very different…
Street libraries have become the libraries of the day as shortsighted governments close down libraries or shorten the operating hours.
The first one I ever heard of was when writer SJA Turney told me about the red phone box in the village of Kirklington, North Yorks and which was filled with books…
After that I noticed every country seemed to have their version.
And on the radio the other day, I heard about the Liverpool Street Library in Hobart and thought ‘Oh good, Hobart’s catching up!’
Imagine the surprise then, when driving down a coast road, I spotted this! The Retro Library!
Of course it required investigation and I found a great selection of books and magazines.
It has a window with a view over the beach too.
And a seat to sit and read in between gazing at the view.
I suspect the owners of the Retro bus stop sign have built the Retro library and I say more power to their foresight!
May it please many readers through this summer.
One of my favourite walks is not far from House – perhaps two or three kilometres. I get my husband to drop the dog and I off along the coast and I walk back along the shore, over white sand and rocks, past beach cottages locked up until the next long weekend or Christmas…
Dark Mofo – Tasmania’s winter solstice festival that lasts ten days. Filled with on-the-edge art installations, a beautiful winter feast, astonishing creative thinking far outside the square and setting a buzz in our town when we could all slump in a heap with a dose of S.A.D’s…
A huge day working on the farm today. Too tired to cook dinner so we will have fish and chips…
Too tired to write Tobias out of his next trauma. Almost too tired to write a blog.
Instead, as the mellow yellow of late afternoon cast it’s caul over the farm and the shadows lengthened and the light became soft and dream-filled, I took my camera and tried to let it write a blog for me…
Today the world remembers those who lost their lives during the battle at Gallipoli, Turkey, in 1915. They were chaps who landed at the beaches under hopeless odds and who kept themselves and their mates going even when they knew it was pointless…
Those who know me as a historical fiction writer, also know me as a beach lover and someone who spends much time walking on beaches up and down my coast. Sometimes I just daydream about whatever I’m working on at the time. Sometimes I just live in the moment. And sometimes I become an interior decorator because living by the sea, one doesn’t have to spend a fortune on trendy decorating pieces…
For many tourists and weekenders, Maria Island is a great place to visit and observe. Looking from the mainland shore – “The island (could) seem one of those places … that belong to a life in which (one might) never take part.”― Arthur Ransome, Swallows and Amazons