Category Archives: Non-Fiction

Opinion pieces on issues that interest me – momentarily

Reached a low point

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I cannot find a place in myself that has the energy and motivation to do anything. I’m doing only the bare essentials, dragging my feet on anything else.

If I have a full workload, I can make myself do it. The sheer pressure of the expectation and remnants of a sense of pride in a job done well pull me through. 

But I’m not busy at the moment. There is not pressure to perform. And my default has become streaming TV and grazing on crap. I lost 32kg in 2019 and I’ve gained 10kg. I don’t know why I eat, it’s not like I enjoy it. It’s like filling holes, trying to fill myself up. 

My self talk has never been particularly healthy, but has gone downhill in a hurry. 

If I’m not working, I’m on the couch. I’m not writing. I’m not moving.

I can’t face a routine. I fight it. 

I’m afraid of how few years I have left, and instead of somehow making the best of what I’ve got or challenging myself to really embrace these next few years, I’ve already stopped. Like, what’s the point?

Every night, as I fall asleep, I wonder if this is the night I’ll die of a heart attack, which I guess is one of the better ways to go. Dying in your sleep.

I’m browsing online articles / studies on middle-aged women (late-middle aged women) and a couple of the phrases that connect are ‘frustrated goal attainment‘ ‘depressed mood, negative appraisal of aging changes‘. 

One of the more positive articles expresses ‘Healthy aging is happy aging‘ and that’s where I need to find myself. My husband is four years younger than me and a professional working man, who loves his job. So, he gets ongoing enjoyment and positive feedback in his life. It would be easy for him to ‘get over me and my negative attitude’. I wouldn’t blame him, but that adds another fear to my list.

(The top part of this post has been sitting in drafts since July. It is now September, and not a lot has changed!).

I am not a friend to myself. I’m now grasping at the positives, while wallowing in quiet misery. I hesitate to post this, because I don’t want to be all negative. It is not a cry for help, just me talking out loud about my reality. 

Some positives are:

  • In August I attended a writer’s conference in Perth, which has ‘inspired’ (such an overused word) me to put one of my manuscripts into a competition. The first 10,000 words and then if I’m lucky to progress to the the second round, the full WIP. 
  • In 2022, I’ve entered quite a few short story competitions, in particular with #nycmidnight and #furiousfiction. I’ll also enter something into RWA Australia’s Sweet Treats anthology competition. Maybe I’ll put one into the Spicy Bites, although I’ve just read the 2022 anthology – and WOW there are some quite graphic (to my eyes) stories, with excellent writing. If I enter something, I’ll be writing sensual not raunchy.
  • I auditioned for The Chase, Australia last week. That was fun! I applied online on the Wednesday, they called me Thursday and while I sat at a pavement café in the rain (the other diners had all run away) they quizzed me. Then set up a Zoom meeting ‘in 45 minutes’ at which time they went through my application, finishing with a ‘fast minute’ quiz and small multiple choice. 
    The very first question these types of comps ask is ‘tell me a crazy/exciting/funny thing that has happened to you’, and when the chap asked me, I said ‘I knew that the one thing that could stop me being accepted is that I’m a quiet personality who doesn’t do spontaneous anecdotes.’ However, we then spent 40 minutes or so going through the application and chatting and laughing, so hopefully I’ve sold myself and I’ll get a call up.
    If successful, it will be this year, and I should get two to three weeks notice – to record in Sydney.
  • I’ve been able to get to Perth twice this year (May and August) and so have seen our grown children. Who tried their best to fit me into their busy lives 😁
  • Eric and I are going to Singapore in November, and will see Phantom of the Opera in Melbourne on the way home. Phantom in Melbourne was our honeymoon show back in 1991. 
  • AND BONUS, our cat didn’t die in surgery on Friday!

 

 

SHARE YOUR WORLD 6-27-2022 – with Melanie

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QUESTIONS
What’s your favourite way to spend a day off? If you’re retired, what’s something you now include in your schedule that you dreamed about while employed?

Historically, any day off is a reading day. Except that streaming has forced its way into my life, which is both interesting and sad. Sad that I’m more of a couch potato than usual, and I’m pretty sure my brain cells are melting in protest. 

I’m on our work books as permanent-casual with an intense period between November and June, with lots of free time the rest of the year. I want to be a writer and I mean to write, but somehow the days go by without pen hitting paper.

Now that Covid isn’t so strictly monitored and folks can go out and about again, are you into after-work happy hours?

I’ve never been into attending work events or doing after work happy hours. I still actively avoid crowds. I continue to practise safe anti-Covid habits.

A good excuse to remain unsociable.

What physical traits do you share with your relatives? (Example:  I have my mother’s nose)

My sisters and I all sound the same on the phone. If our daughter calls, it can still trick my husband of 30 years.

As I’ve aged and grown heavier, I feel myself move around with sore joints and groaning and I can see my mum and sister in my mind’s eye.

When young, each of us had our right hand pinkie compared to dad, because he famously has a very turned-in finger.

I have my dad’s bushy eyebrows!

How long does it take you to decide if you like someone or not?

I am quick to decide.

If I get a bad feeling, I’m usually found correct even if it takes a long time for everyone else to figure it out.

 At the same time, I can make mistakes and so I don’t just cut them off. I hold to myself and wait, but don’t trust easily.

 While at the same time again, I can be quite naïve and gullible. I assume everyone means well, until they don’t, which includes still being caught out by my beautiful husband when he’s teasing me.

* * * * * * * 

GRATITUDE SECTION
Feel free to share some wisdom you live by.

I have been lucky in life. There have been downsides, but they’re quite far back in history now.

I live in good circumstances, have enough money, a loving and supportive husband, great kids. I’m citizen of a safe country, with great freedoms.

All around me I see people are hungry and homeless, one of the biggest catastrophes it seems. People are suffering and while I’m too introvert and self-conscious to be out physically helping them, I try and donate to causes and foodbanks whenever I can.

Thanks to Melanie for this prompt 

Share your world – 4 April 2022

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Share your World – Autumn

Questions

Are you more productive at night or in the morning? Do you think it’s possible to change and get used to another schedule?

 I always say that my brain doesn’t ‘wake up’ until about 10am. I also get a ‘new lease on life’ from about 4pm.

At the moment, however, I am very scattered and unfocussed and don’t seem to have the same pattern of alertness. I feel like a zombie, all day. State of the world, mind and body. I’m not looking after myself, so it’s no surprise.

Also, I’m generally not good at routine and schedules. Either I’ve something to do, or I don’t. Full on, or fully off.

The couple of times I’ve successfully completed nanowrimo I have managed to get up early and do a set amount of words or minutes before the rest of the day distracts me. So, I can do both change and routine.

What’s the biggest vehicle you’ve driven?  If you don’t drive, what’s the biggest vehicle you’ve ridden in? 

Driven, a Mitsubishi Pajero, the husband’s car. Too big. I don’t know where the edges are and was stressed the whole time, but was taking my turn 🙂

Ridden in? A tank during army reserve days. Otherwise, those big wheel tour buses that take you onto the glaciers (Canada).

What songs would be played on a loop in hell?   

Bad cover versions of classics. Country music 🙂 Discordant jazz. I can appreciate the cleverness, but can’t stand the listening.

Mariah Carey, Celine Dion – any of those screaming, high octave, ballady songstresses. I can listen to a song, but not on a loop. You’d give up and die, and die.

(Deep and chewy philosophical question):     What does it mean to be a person?  What constitutes “personhood?” (there may be some diverse opinions, but we’re all mature adults in here, so be respectful of others please).

Specifically on this planet, I was thinking human because of the ability to choose and make decisions. To feel compassion and empathy (there are degrees of empathy, so you don’t have to be a saint).

Sentience alone doesn’t lead to personhood.

But then if my parameters are compassion and empathy, and making decisions / choosing – doesn’t man’s best friend the dog display all that?

Do I lack the passion to be a Writer?

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Sunday night, 11th July I submitted a 1st draft manuscript as part of the 12 month Write your Novel course I joined in October 2020, with Australian Writers Centre. Other students in the class and my tutor will read this draft and feedback to me.

It was a requirement to have a manuscript of 10,000 to 20,000 words, and be seeking a process to get yourself moving toward a finished manuscript.

This week, I feel free. Vulnerable and nervous that my readers will tell me it is a crock of sh*#, but relieved.

I wasn’t looking for how to write lessons. I was happy for writing to remain a natural, calm, almost stream of consciousness activity that I undertake, because I enjoy stories.

I’ve always dreamed of being an author. As 60 inexorably approaches it seemed a good time to seriously pursue that goal.

Sixty years old. It doesn’t seem possible that I’m coming up on old age. At what point do we cling to the froth of 40 is the new 30, 50 the new 40, etc? All I know is that generally I feel about 26, which probably also goes for level of maturity [LOL]. I’m supposed to be in an amazing place in my life where I know myself, have confidence in my strengths and abilities. Funny that.

My background is secretarial and I believe that things would fall apart if you didn’t have hardworking administrators. But have you heard of the Golgafrinchans? Their story resonated with me from the get go, particularly on the many days that I’m down on myself.

If you’ve read the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series of books, you would know about the Golgafrinchans. On their planet, I would fall into the class of ‘middle-men’  – people like hairdressers, consultants, marketers, insurance salespeople, telephone sanitisers. In other words, the people the world can do without.

The remaining two-thirds of Golgafrinchans were considered the thinkers and the doers and they fooled the middle men into departing the planet for places unknown with various ruses. The planet would soon crash into the sun, a swarm of 12 foot high killer bees was about to attack, or the planet was soon to be eaten by some sort of mutant goat. This two-thirds promised, we’ll be right behind you, and of course, the idiots departed.

It might sound harsh that I include myself in a fictional group of people described as the worthless ones, but often I feel it describes me. Lost, at a time of life when I’m supposed to have come into my own. 

What I looked for in a 12 month WYN course was feedback and deadlines. Because at work, I’m a robot slave but in my downtime, I’m a sloth. I work well to a deadline. Busy beaver, busy bee, take your pick. A course that says ‘here, and here, and here you will delver 5,000 words and at this point, a final draft’ worked for me.

However, for most the last few months I wrote to deadlines, and not a word more. Since October I’ve barely participated in the writing prompts I like to follow, the flash fiction. These great creative challenges hone your ability to say quite a lot, with few words. I missed it. But as queen procrastinator I didn’t allow myself that treat, because if I’m writing it should be on the blasted manuscript. 

For most of those months, I was barely writing.

With regard to this blog, somehow this last couple of years of COVID and Trump-related angst discouraged me from writing opinion. I’ve felt paralysed, as if what has been going on is too big. Add in the social media world of fake news, and I seem to have lost the ability to offer my naive thoughts.

If you want to be considered a writer, you need to write. Thinking about writing, dreaming about it doesn’t qualify you. I don’t have that many strings to my bow, but like to think of myself as a writer. But am I?

When I’m in the flow of participating in flash fiction, I write and enjoy it. I like to read (55 to 65 books a year). I’ve always wanted to be a writer, as in published author. 

But I’m not passionate, about anything. I’m not very emotional. There has never been a muse in my life. My characters don’t talk to me or follow me around looking for attention. Doesn’t a writer, any kind of creative actually, need to be passionate; emotional. 

I’m just practical, pragmatic, pedantic, process driven – workmanlike. 

Good news. I completed the draft and met the deadline. Good news. There is another MS with more words that called to me while working on the other. 

Bad news. I want to write fresh, alive stories – so flash fiction calls. I don’t want to rewrite and rewrite until the words turn into something the publisher wants. That part is boring. And I only have so many more years to waste.

BTW the exiled Golgafrinchans landed on planet earth and after eliminating the existing humanoid species, became our ancestors. Those who remained on Golgafrinchan enjoyed their lives without the middle men, until the day they all died of a disease contracted from dirty telephones. Irony upon irony.

A Christmas Letter

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Bollocks to 2020, said everyone to anyone they met during the Christmas season. Or whoever they spoke to by phone or via internet connection because their town, locality, region, country was in lockdown – again! Or still.

Before we could get around to smelling the roses, seeking the silver lining, gilding some lily, we had to get past the bah humbugging of the year that was.

January brought trickling news of a mystery virus within  China. For some, antennae were raised, radars began to scan, and higher senses engaged in keeping an eye on things.

For others, it was something happening to somebody else. In China, no less. Who cared!

By March, if you lived in New Zealand or Australia (to name only two such countries) you were locked in – and everybody else was locked out.

And that has been a triumph! Yes, we have sick. Yes, we’ve had dead. But on such a small scale, it has barely blotted the landscape compared to the rest of the world.

From the microcosm of Australia, it has been an anxious year for many reasons. We walked into the pandemic from the terrible stress of a traumatic (for many) bushfire season. Even those of us who weren’t in the line of fire, didn’t have homes destroyed, lives threatened, livelihoods erased – we lived with constant smoke, sometimes from fires several hundreds of kilometres away. The fires were close enough that if your house was older and therefore more flammable,embers floating into town were a perceived danger, even in large regional centres.

In the relative safety of a city or large town, you still felt for everybody else. How could you not, and be a thoughtful human being. If you were financially able, you donated. If you were physically and personally able, you volunteered. In our large town, we weren’t in any real danger but we had a go-bag packed, the car fuelled up, ample spare water, devices always charged, and important papers or valuables to hand.

From her Facebook account, Celeste Barber (Australian comedian) managed to raise over $51 billion from approximately 1.3 million donors from around the world. Huge sums came from those celebrities who could afford it.

What a triumph of human spirit and goodwill.

But as Celeste nominated the NSW Rural Fire Service as the recipient and their Trust Deed limits what donated funds can be spent on, the money couldn’t be used to help those who had lost everything – for relief, rebuilding and to help injured wildlife; a particular image that captured hearts around the world.

The NSW RFS can only use the funds for machinery and training (and as decided through court action) to assist injured firefighters, to support families of the injured (or killed) firefighters and trauma counselling.

The funds can’t even be used for other state firefighting services (only NSW). And definitely can’t be used to help the everyday people in the community who had lost so much, as was the intention.

To me, the inability to overcome the legal limits of the Trust Deed even though pursued in court (it requires NSW government legislation to overcome) highlights the craziness of 2020. We had deadly bushfires (Australia and the US) Brexit, Trump, that explosion in Lebanon and the Covid-19 pandemic. And I’m only naming some ones obvious to me. Depending on who you are and where you live, there will have been other priorities.

For a moment, the world came together. Strangers reached out with a helping hand. And the aid was caught up in bloody red tape and bureaucracy. What a tragedy.

And so to a degree, we were already in ’emergency mode’ when the pandemic triggered panic buying and hoarding. We were already plenty stressed and ready to react to this perceived (and ultimately real) threat.

DO NOT HOARD, said the government. DO NOT PANIC, they cried. WHATEVER. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE JOKING, decried the people.

People were scared and it makes sense that the poorest and most marginalised people in the population were not going to listen to that patronising advice. They live in fear and stress all the time. They know to react to real danger. They know not to wait. People used to security, even if only modest wealth, might take longer to react and perhaps look down on those poor fools buying up toilet paper, pasta, rice and sugar. Those people who could least afford to be lost reacted to survive, as they knew to. In a very real catastrophe, they at least would have supplies to keep them for a while, as businesses closed, jobs were lost, people began to sicken and die.

Typical Christmas family gatherings include hopping from home to home, sharing food and anecdotes. Cheerful one-upmanship. The sharing of successes and ordinary disappointments. Shared food, shared hugs, shared kisses, hand shaking, leave taking, memory making.

Inevitably (of course) there are the years when people suffer serious losses that lead more to reflection and inflict unnatural darkness upon the event.

A normal Christmas for us is to share our travel adventures, to connect with our family around Australia, to rejoice at the births, weddings, graduations and new opportunities of friends around the world. Covid spread its evil shade over everything and tainted the seasonal celebration of life, love and the joy of giving.

I assume the majority of us were tired and dispirited by Christmas 2020, praying for miracles, wishing for a Happy New Year and a return to ‘normal’. The new ‘Covid-normal’ we’re getting used to saying.

While my husband and I celebrated a quiet and safe Christmas, without our children who live in another state, we remembered those in the world who can’t celebrate anything like a normal Christmas season. People who are still locked down, afraid and threatened by the invisible enemy, and by those who won’t harken the call to unselfishness. To listen to the guidelines, to stay indoors, to mask up and take it all seriously.

We all imagine and pray that 2021 will bring an ease, an erasure of the virus, a return to normal-normal. Unfortunately, at the time of writing 2021 is only days away and although vaccines are now in the wider community, and promised here in Australia by March, I don’t see them  as golden tickets out of the pandemic.

So …. I normally write a happy Christmas letter to my family and friends – but what was there to write about that hasn’t already been said BY EVERYBODY! There was nothing fresh, no particularly joyful anecdotes. For us, our children didn’t marry, have babies or celebrate milestone birthdays. Our nephew’s planned wedding became a covid-closure event.

We continued to work (often from home) and watched too much TV. I read even more books than usual. For the first five months, my husband and I walked heaps but somehow, by July, fell out of the habit. We spent too much time in front of the computer, particularly with the upsurge of Zoom and Team meetings.

On the bright side … I’ve worked on my writing dream. Enrolled in writing courses, attempted to participate in more flash fiction opportunities, and seriously tackled one of my work-in-progress novels.

I woke up post-Christmas and decided that 2021 was the year I would present a finished and polished manuscript to publishers. Publication is not a given, of course, but I’ve been inspired by feedback so far given in the Write Your Novel course I’m involved in. So, bring it on.

Note: Apologies for the dreariness and overall depressing nuance of this article.

Cheeriness in photos!

Autumn walking
Books (? out of 73)
Winter
Winter Walking
Autumn
Summer
Spring
Autumn
Winter Cat 1
Winter Cat 2
Writing space

Fibbing Friday 18th September 2020

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New to this challenge … so here I go!

  1. What exactly is Yorkshire pudding?

A rotund young man from Yorkshire.

  1. What is treacle, and why do people make tarts out of it?

Treacle is that bitingly sarcastic ‘thank you’ offered to one of the ‘Happy Friday’ crowd, as you hand them a sharply sticky (sugar free) apple pastry; also known as tart.

  1. What is the key ingredient of haggis?

Ground up old mother-in-law (of the unfriendly kind only).

  1. How is toffee made?

You get a toff …. And go for it!

  1. How did pound cake get its name?

One day a virtuous nutritionist, realising that sugar in the form of cake was detrimental to waistlines everywhere, tried to change mindsets by putting a negative name on to a cake. Good luck with that one!

  1. Why is candy corn so named?

I believe the name derives from the Dentists of America Association, who believe candy shaped like teeth (aka Oompa Loompa candy in the trade) will:
a) bring them more clients or at the very least
b) discourage people from eating the candy corn

  1. What is marzipan?

A mad hatter who has run out of hats; therefore, pans.

  1. Why is a baker’s dozen so named?

Originally, bakers were notoriously bad at addition and so in the early days, a baker’s dozen just meant ‘quite a lot’. Over time, they settled amicably on a true number.

  1. What is meant by the idiom, “Too many cooks spoil the pot”?

Well, when brewing a batch of marijuana, one needs to keep ones wits about one. And therefore if there is more than one, and one is ‘wired’ it just doesn’t work – and the pot may well blacken.

  1. What is meant by the idiom, “What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander”?

Sauce isn’t gender biased and currently enjoying a surge in popularity.

I am woman

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I had a work teleconference to attend this afternoon, but as I’ve effectively had a panic attack and am full of anxiety, I sent in my apologies. And while eating my late lunch, I jumped on to one of the news sites I follow and read this headline –

‘JK Rowling’s career declared ‘dead’ via #RIPJKRowling hashtag’.

I knew immediately that this would be about her position and comments on transgenders (and other such things) on the day that her latest book is published. You may not be aware that JK Rowling has expressed opinions (via Twitter) over recent times about transgenders (and other things) that has caused lots of negative and angry reaction. It just so happens that:

  1. I’ve recently been thinking a lot about how people can’t take a contrary position on transgenders (or make any kind of comment that is not immediately supportive) without being judged harshly and condemned.
    This could also be true of taking a position on black matters if you’re white, police matters if you’re black or a criminal, white matters if you’re black (or a white idiot, supporting black matters to the point where you’re rejecting your whiteness), First Nations if you’re from a long line of colonials, or white, etc and so forth and so on!
  2. I picked up the latest Cormoran Strike book this morning (JK writes this series as Robert Galbraith). Apparently (I haven’t read the book yet) there is a ‘male’ transvestite serial killer. Oh no!
  3. And of course, the world has gone crazy and you can’t possibly suggest that a transvestite could be a serial killer – especially if we suspect that you are against transgenders (even though I understand that a transvestite is a person who enjoys cross-dressing and is not necessarily a transgender; who is a person with a gender identity different to their gender at birth).

What has happened to it being okay to hold an opposing opinion? JK Rowling and some of her contemporaries express this as the intolerance of opposing views. A link to a letter shared in Harper’s magazine in July 2020 is here. I have pulled out some of the phrases and declarations that jumped out at me:

  • The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted.
  • … spreading more widely in our culture is … an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty.
  • We uphold the value of robust and even caustic counter-speech from all quarters.
  • … the result has been to steadily narrow the boundaries of what can be said without the threat of reprisal.
  • We are already paying the price in greater risk aversion among writers, artists, and journalists who fear for their livelihoods if they depart from the consensus, or even lack sufficient zeal in agreement.
  • This stifling atmosphere will ultimately harm the most vital causes of our time.
  • The restriction of debate …. invariably hurts those who lack power and makes everyone less capable of democratic participation.
  • We refuse any false choice between justice and freedom, which cannot exist without each other.
  • … we need a culture that leaves us room for experimentation, risk taking, and even mistakes.
  • We need to preserve the possibility of good-faith disagreement …

I’ve read several articles that discuss the position and comments that JK has made, and it seems to me that she is being quite reasonable. But in the cancel culture we currently inhabit, it is almost impossible to speak against any of the current trends and alternate lifestyle positions (I didn’t say ‘choices) without being harshly judged and vilified.

It is quite helpful for me to have access to this letter because it helps me present to you snippets of somebody else’s word explanations for the feelings I’m trying to express. And as a writer in a writing community here on WordPress, a cancel culture impinges on my ability to express myself and my thoughts, and have open debate and conversation.

I am a white, middle-aged woman whose husband earns a good living and the pressure has been off me to reciprocate in the financial sphere. I have been extremely lucky. Therefore (apparently) it seems that I am not allowed any opinion on anything or anybody else, because ‘who am I to talk’?

I’ve an almost guaranteed freedom of movement and safety just because of who I am, barring the standard risk of accident, home invasion, or visitor of the murderous persuasion.

But, I’m also in a perfect situation to be an avid observer of the world. Through listening, watching news programs, following social commentary, interacting in my community and above all – reading; I get to see things and hear things from a stand-off position that allows me some understanding of things, without having to live it. In fact, having to live things can close you off to other possibilities and opinions, because you are in fact living it.

My observation is that JK Rowling and others aren’t saying it is wrong to be transgender. She has expressed concern at the large numbers of very young people showing a desire to transition – where has it come from, has it been pushed on them? People who feel lost and don’t know where they fit look to popular culture, and aspire to what seems the surest way to be loved and accepted. Being transgender could be perceived as trendy, and if you’ve uncertainty about your sexual identify, perhaps transitioning could seem like the way to go.

People arguing against the prevalence of transitioning are asking ‘has the right decision been made for this person? Is it being made for the right reason? Were there other alternatives. And in a society where support, support, support seems to be the creed – don’t ever suggest that somebody cannot  – it is important to be able to say that the decision to transition is by true definition ‘life changing’ and to be undertaken carefully.

And here I clumsily interject as an example; look at the overuse and prevalence of Ritalin and other amphetamine type drugs administered to a generation of children unnecessarily. Dare I compare?

I do feel bamboozled by all the changes in society. The idealism about rights, the bombardment and intensity of expression about wants, needs, rights. What we used to think of as minority groups (and I’m not talking black people) have such loud voices and the platform now – that they are disallowing the rest of us to have or express a contrary opinion. They want to disallow me to identify as a woman and a mother as per the most base definition. A woman bleeds, gives birth, marries a man (if that is her choice). She is the feminine parallel to man. I have absolutely no problem accepting all the different types and ways of being in this world.

I don’t want to be identified as cisgender, because you want to be labelled as ‘across/other’, you want me to be labelled as ‘same as’.

I am a woman; don’t cancel me out. And, don’t cancel my right to voice.

Friday Fictioneers – Blue

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Wilmington

Photo Prompt by Rochelle

It hasn’t changed. I quietly weep.

If I waited for another five minutes, I swear dad would come through that glass paned door.

In standard heavy work boot clad feet, deep blue denim shirt, with his darkly tanned and leathered skin and bright dazzling smile. He’d push his way out, full of enthusiasm for the day.

With Bluey, his faithful Beagle leading the way.

What a team. Full of love. Inseparable. Friends for life.

And death.

Daddy died in a site accident, timber crushing his strong body.

Bluey dug desperately, for hours.

Then pined away; succumbing to heartbreak. (98 words)

Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a story in response to a photo prompt – in 100 words or less. You can find other stories here.

Liebster Award Nomination 2020

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THANK YOU Snoopy M for nominating my blog for Liebstar Award 2020. That was a huge surprise and most welcome! I’m such a newbie blogger 😊

The Liebstar Award is a way to be discovered but also to connect and support the blogging community. A great idea in promoting your own blog and others. Originally it was given out to blogs with less than 2000 readers, but this has slowly lowed as the reward has gained popularity. It is now only 200 readers or less. It’s really an arbitrary number. If you like helping other blogs out go ahead and do it regardless of its size. This award is all about promoting and viewing other people’s blogs. (Taken from https://theglobalaussie.com/the-liebster-award/)

RULES :

  1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog
  2. Answer the 11 questions given to you
  3. Nominate 11 bloggers
  4. Ask your nominees 11 questions
  5. Notify your nominees once you have uploaded your post

Snoopy M set me the following tricky questions.

  1. Name one thing/person that/who makes your life complete (or would have made complete).
    My husband Eric. Somehow we found each other. I was already married, and we had only just broken up (he had moved out) and then into my workplace walked Eric. Within 6 months we were engaged. My divorce came through a year later (in October) and we married in November. We will be married 30 years in 2021.
  2. Did the pandemic bring any positive change inside you?
    I’m not too sure of that. Like many people, I had aspirations I guess of what would be achieved now that we had time and space. But really, I just ate more! I wish I could say I’d grown, more than just in waist size 😉
  3. How do you intend to grow your blog further? 
    I write the most when I’m travelling, which my husband and I love to do. Otherwise, I participate in weekly short story writes, where someone posts a photo or word prompt. I do have two works in progress (novels) and in the back of my mind, my blog is making my ‘literary contacts’, in case I’m ever published. While also collecting a bunch of like minded friends from around the world.
  4. Which is your favourite corner in the house?
    We only have a small house, and I do love our living room. Our sofas are a groovy lime green, my bookshelves are there, and it is the room where I have indoor plants. Also, the television is there, and as I love movies, it finishes off my favourite space.
  5. Love at first sight – Does any such thing really exist? What is your opinion?
    I think love at first sight does exist. I was very aware of my husband almost immediately I met him in my workplace. At the time, I wouldn’t have articulated that I’d fallen in love, but in hindsight it seems obvious.
  6. Mac Book Pages or Microsoft Word – which one do you prefer more?
    Microsoft Word – but only because that is what my workplaces have always used, and it has become normal for me.
  7. Do you know anyone (including yourself) who has used all the features offered by the iPhones till date?
    I don’t use an iPhone. If you include Android phones such as Samsung, I think I use many of the features. I’m fairly tech savvy for an oldie!
  8. Which social media platform do you think is more popular in 2020 – Facebook/ Instagram/Twitter? (you can add any other social media platform if you want)
    Apparently, only oldies such as Mums and Dads use Facebook. Is that currently accurate? Twitter is very popular. Instagram has had a resurgence, perhaps because you can do ‘live’ events on them now?
  9. What do you think about India as a nation? Have you ever tasted Indian food?
    I have never travelled to India. I do enjoy Indian food; it is my daughter’s food of choice when we have a celebration. It has been on my travel wish list to visit India, while at the same time I think I’ll be overwhelmed by the sheer number of people there. And the poverty. Although that might be a personal misconception.
  10. Who is all you all-time favourite author? Please specify the genre.
    All-time favourite author is tough, you know. As we are all writers, I’m assuming we’re all readers and who has only one favourite? I’ll choose my long-time favourite Stephen King, horror author extraordinaire! I’m a little embarrassed that it is not a more literary writer, but I’ve grown with him.
  11. When was the last time you received a compliment from someone and what was that?
    Just today. I volunteer as a tech operator and reader on Vision Australia radio. It’s not commercial radio. Not like talk back. You don’t need to have a bubbly or loud personality! We read the local newspaper for vision impaired listeners. It makes local community news more accessible to them.
    Someone on our radio committee called me today and said I was one of their best on-air readers – so that was very ‘WOW’!

My questions to the nominees :

  1. How long have you been blogging?
  2. What is your favourite writing genre?
  3. Have you previously been nominated for a blogging award?
  4. Where have you travelled to and what is your favourite country / culture?
  5. Do you have a bucket list?
  6. What has been your biggest triumph?
  7. What has been your lowest moment?
  8. How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected your life?
  9. What do you think of Donald Trump?
  10. Name your favourite memory of your hometown.
  11. Do you believe in a spiritual deity / higher power?

And I nominate :

Michael Humphris

Paula Stevenson Writer

The Road Back to Life

Our Literary Journey

Keith’s Ramblings

Notes to Women

Neil MacDonald Author

Tannille

Sound Bite Fiction

Jibber Jabber with Sue

Living Authors’ Society

I tried to choose blogs I follow that have 200 or below followers, but that was too difficult. And so two or three of these are below 1,000 followers. I enjoy reading all your words and hope you are happy with this nomination.

Who won the week – Daniel Andrews MP

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Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is doing an amazing job during the Covid-19 crisis.

Australia-wide, our politicians have served the country well. Up until early July, it seemed we had everything under control. And then it became serious in Melbourne, Victoria.

Every day, Mr Andrews has to front the media. He has to present the ‘bad news of the day’ – while guiding, inspiring and sometimes – chastising us.

He appears to be more tired each time we see him – and no wonder! I bet he doesn’t switch off by 8pm to watch Netflix! And when did he last get a chance to sit with the newest blockbuster novel?

In this time of weaponized word bites, it is very easy for us to complain. And not everything has been done right. But as has been said for the last seven months – these are unprecedented times. And unprecedented means acknowledging that we and our politicians are learning a lot ‘on the job’ and ‘in real time’.

So, hats off to Mr Daniel Andrews. Keep going. Love to you and your family.

Thank you. 

My contribution to Fandango’s “Who Won The Week” #FWWTW – politician Mr Daniel Andrews MP.