Over the past three months, my COVID-19 pandemic book of choice has been the Poldark series by Winston Graham. During this time I have read all 12 books in the series. (That’s one a week!)
Continue reading “Book Review: The Poldark series by Winston Graham”
Today my son goes back to school. It has been three months since our world went crazy. Today life starts getting back to normal.
Continue reading “Today life starts getting back to normal”
In a little over two months the world has changed. Irrevocably. It will never be the same. Where do I start? How do I start? What do I say?
Continue reading “Where do I start?”
We have had a fun-filled three weeks in Australia catching up with family and friends in three states; Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales. However, underlying is a deep sadness as every state we visited is experiencing drought and/or bushfires.
Continue reading “Why my holiday wasn’t so good”
I’ve just been diagnosed with FOMOOF!
OK, so I diagnosed myself. And I also totally made up the condition. But that doesn’t mean it’s not accurate. And I’m willing to bet that there are other people out there with FOMOOF. I know that I am not alone.
Continue reading “I’ve just been diagnosed with FOMOOF!”
I couldn’t have picked a better day to practice shinrin-yoku (forest bathing). Today was a classic autumn day. Cool. Crisp. Blue skies. Beautiful.
Continue reading “Observations of an autumn day”
Whenever we visit my husband’s family in England I really look forward to walking in the nature reserve near their home.
Formerly a farm, the nature reserve is now 33 hectares of wildflower meadows, woodland, ancient hedgerows and ponds. While we are visiting I walk there most days. I refer to it as my “happy place”.
Continue reading “Discovering Shinrin-Yoku”
This week marks my return to university study.
It’s been a long time since I studied at university. Put it this way, Facebook wasn’t even invented when I went to uni. No-one I knew had mobile phones and only a few people had personal computers. I remember typing up my assignments late at night in the uni computer lab and printing the results on a dot matrix printer!
I’m going to be what they call, a “mature age” student. I remember those people – they were serious, focussed, and knew so much more about the world. I remember the 23 year old mature age student in one of my lectures. He seemed so old and knew everything. He even had in depth conversations with the lecturer about the state of Australian politics when I barely knew who the opposition leader was!
This time I won’t be sitting in lecture theatres or even seeing my lecturers face to face. I’m entering the world of online learning. My lecturer lives 7,600 km away. And my classmates will be all over Australia and some, like me, living in other countries. Not only do I have to make my lecture on time, I have to figure out the time zones and plan accordingly.
I’ve put off studying for a long time. There have been a lot of reasons (excuses?). I don’t have time (or want to make time). I don’t know what I want to study (not that I looked all that closely). I have other priorities (raising a child, a social life). I’m scared of failing…… hmmmm.
I’m still scared but I’m also looking forward to the challenge. I’ve worked for so long in the marketing and communications area I’m actually excited about the prospect of learning about business law, managerial finance, international business, ethics, governance and sustainability.
So why now? I’ve found myself in a position where I have time available to commit to the course work. And for regular readers of this blog, you’d be aware that I have been questioning my life goals and my career path. I believe that studying will expand my knowledge and experience, and perhaps open up new opportunities for me to pursue.
Wish me luck!
This summer I went on a reading frenzy.
Holidays, long flights, sport on the television gave me the opportunity to indulge in my favourite pastime.
Over the past 12 months or so I have been focusing on books that furthered the purposes of my sabbatical. Books that I could blog about on my journey of discovery.
Well, I have discovered that after a while these books can get boring. One reason why I haven’t blogged in ages is because I was working my way through another book of discovery. However, I got stuck halfway through. I felt guilty because I wanted to read other books but hadn’t finished this one for my blog.
Then I remembered my earlier discovery; there are too many good books in the world to waste my time on one I am not enjoying.
I am pleased to say after reading 12 books in eight weeks I have rediscovered my passion for reading for pleasure.
So what were the books that took me on my reading frenzy?
Cedar Valley by Holly Throsby – Coming from rural Australia I have an interest in stories set in the Australian countryside. It sometimes helps with my homesickness. I’ve read Holly’s first book Goodwood and liked it. Cedar Valley didn’t capture my imagination as much possibly because it came to quite an abrupt ending. However, it was still an enjoyable read, especially as it was my first fiction book in some time.
One Hundred Years Of Dirt by Rick Morton – Another one based in rural Australia. This time non-fiction. I was somewhat disappointed by this book as I was expecting the author to focus more on his mother’s battles raising her children alone in the outback. However, I still found it quite interesting, especially his perspective on the lack of diversity of journalists (from a socio-economic point of view) and the implications this has on media news and reporting.
The Virgin’s Lover by Philippa Gregory – My other area of interest is historical fiction and Philippa Gregory is a champion of this genre. I’ve read quite a few of Philippa’s books (as you’re about to find out). The Virgin’s Lover was an easy escapist read which lead me to…..
The Last Tudor by Philippa Gregory – After reading about Queen Elizabeth I, I thought I’d follow up with the story of her cousin, Lady Jane Grey and her sisters, Katherine and Mary. I’d read this book before so it was an easy read and included more on Elizabeth from another woman’s perspective.
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory – To continue the focus on Elizabeth, I then read more about her mother, Anne Boleyn, and aunt, Mary. By this time I’d had enough of the Tudor England and returned to 21st Century rural Australia.
The Year of the Farmer by Rosalie Ham – Again I went with a known author (Rosalie also wrote The Dressmaker) and wasn’t I disappointed. This “love” story was set around farmer’s access to water and government bureaucracy. Having lived in both New South Wales (somewhere in the middle of the Murray Darling basin) and South Australia (at the end) I’m particularly interested in the differing and competing perspectives of water use in this region.
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier – As I was spending a few days in The Hague, Netherlands, I wanted to read a book set in the area I was visiting. I’d not read Girl with a Pearl Earring, so this was the perfect opportunity. It really added to my visit and was topped off by the chance to see the painting by Johannes Vermeer.
Dirt Music by Tim Winton – Back to rural Australia and Tim Winton’s book Dirt Music was one I’d been wanting to read for a while. I almost didn’t read it due to a review of the book by someone who totally didn’t understand the background of the characters (perhaps he/she wasn’t from Australia?). Anyway I very much enjoyed it and now want to go back to the Margaret River area.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris – Back to Europe again, this time the mid 20th Century. This book has been on the top of many reading lists and I was interested to read an account of someone who had lived though the horrors of Auschwitz. However, as I read the book I felt a certain sense of incredulity, that what happened to the characters was a little unbelievable. When researching the book further I found out that that some of the story, which read as factual, has been proven as incorrect or dramatic licence taken. This lead me to be somewhat disappointed with the book. I think if I’d known this before reading the book I would have taken a slightly different approach in reading it.
The Kissing Season by Rachel Johns – This was a random read. I woke up during the night and couldn’t fall back to sleep. I’d just finished the above book and needed something to distract my mind which was running at a million miles an hour. I’ve read the Kissing Season a few times, it’s a quick easy read, a love story set in coastal Western Australia. After two hours I finished the book and fell asleep.
The Nowhere Child by Christian White – While this books starts in Australia most of the story takes place in the US. This is Christian White’s debut novel and I really enjoyed the twists and turns. Just when I thought I’d figured it out Christian throws in a curve ball. The Nowhere Child is definitely one book I will read again and I’ll be on the look out for Christian’s next novel.
Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane – I found this book through The Bibliofile’s blog. The Bibliofile said “This type of book, with its detailed character sketches and focus on family relationships, is not going to be for everyone, but if you think it sounds interesting, you’ll probably love it.” It sounded interesting so I thought I’d give it a go. It definitely was interesting but I felt like there are a few too many unanswered questions, like why Peter’s parents didn’t like Kate? The big reveal about Peter’s mother’s past should have elicited some sympathy but didn’t really help her character. Did I love it? No. But I kind of liked it.
I am a work in progress and I know I’m not perfect. But I’m OK with that.
My blog post today falls somewhere between a book review and a diary entry.
I have just started reading Busy, Stressed and Food Obsessed! by Lisa Lewtan and am working my way through the “assignments” at the end of most chapters. Rather than review the book as I usually would I thought I would share my progress as I work through the book.
I grew up in a family where we were told to “eat everything on our plate” and to “not waste food”. Growing up in a family of five siblings with not a lot of money or opportunities to eat out our main meal was the basic meat and three vegetables. Treats really were sometimes foods. And if you had something delicious (bacon, chocolate or lollies) you ate it quickly so no-one could steal it.
Fast-forward to now; I can eat what I want, when I want. The trouble is I want to eat everything all the time. I think about food often. What am I going to eat next? When am I going to eat next? I eat when I am bored, stressed, sad, happy, relaxed. I eat to reward myself. Hunger is rarely in the equation but when it is, the feeling is magnified 100 times. If you look up the word HANGRY in the dictionary there is a picture of me.
Many of us get caught in the pattern of over-scheduling our families and ourselves. Your to-do list is your map. Your cell phone is your compass. We say we hate it yet we just keep doing it. We rarely give ourselves permission to sit down and reflect, think abut our choices and our true desires and schedule our lives with our dreams and long-term goals in mind…. So we just keep going and going, getting more stressed along the way. Rather than slowing down, we turn to prescription drugs, wine and food.
Just like watching porn works to excite its viewers to want more sex, food porn excites its viewers to want more food! As a result, we are thinking, planning, and dreaming about food all day long. Is it any wonder we are all food obsessed?
A snapshot of my day
Wake up: flick through social media posts from friends about meals they ate last night and recipes for cakes and chocolate. I’m thinking what am I going to eat for breakfast. Do I need to put something out to defrost for dinner tonight?
On the way to work: I’m tired. I need caffeine, I need a cup of tea.
Mid morning: Hmmm I need a break from work. Maybe a snack. No I’ll resist and have another cup of tea.
Late morning: Lunch is coming soon. I’m getting hungry. I need to make healthy choices.
Lunch time: (in the cafeteria, lots to choose from) There’s the healthy choice, a salad. Oooh no, there’s dumplings for lunch. Yum I love that. I’ll have that. Scroll through social media and see what my friends are having to eat (see below).
Mid afternoon: Hmmm I need a break from work. Maybe a snack. No I had too much for lunch. I’ll resist and have another cup of tea.
Home from work: Arrgh! I’m exhausted. But I have to start making dinner. I’ll just have a snack while I’m getting dinner ready. I’ll make it a healthy choice. Fruit! Yeah, fruit is good.
10 minutes later: I need to taste what I am making. Yum, not bad if I do say so myself. I need another taste (repeat, repeat, repeat).
After dinner: I’ve had a hard day. Scroll through social media (see below). I deserve a treat. Chocolate and a glass of wine. Some more chocolate. It’s almost all gone, I better finish it off…..
Busy, Stressed and Food Obsessed!: Calm Down, Ditch Your Inner-Critic Bitch, and Finally Figure Out What Your Body Needs to Thrive, Lisa Lewtan, Healthy, Happy, and Hip, 2015, ISBN: 978-0-692-50051-4
Dream Beautiful Fly High 