THE YELLOW ROBIN AT HOME It lives in the mountains where moss and the sedges, Touch with their beauty, the banks and the ledges. D.F. Thomson Australia’s Eastern Yellow Robins are as trusting as the English redbreasts, although they are not related. They will hop about your
Read more →Well last week I went on a holiday to Tasmania in search of two special little girls called Ellie and Ash. My elderly guardians Pauline and Rob are their great auntie and uncle. I reckon this might make me their adoptive fourth cousin thrice removed. OK, so
Read more →GOLD IN THE BLOOD? Many years ago one of my elderly Larcombe aunts sent me a yellowed newspaper cutting of a famous gold find in Western Australia, It was The Golden Eagle nugget, discovered in 1931. I can only presume that the Jim Larcombe in the article
Read more →Dementia has become an epidemic in our society. This is a story about my mother-in-law Jean, but it is also the story of countless others in the same situation. CIRCA 1945 A CALENDER OF DEMENTIA APRIL 2015 This calendar had become a lifeline in my mother-in-law Jean’s life.
Read more →WIRE IN THE BLOOD Growing up on a small farm in Tasmania, I often felt that the whole place was held together with barbed wire and binder twine. Most of our fences were made of wire and wooden ‘droppers’. My sister and I quite enjoyed collecting snagged
Read more →There has been some ‘argy-bargy’ on our local Facebook gardening group about controlling what some people see as ‘pests’, not so much snails and slugs, but hungry possums, bandicoots and birds etc. Increasingly, others say we should not impose ourselves on the natural world, especially here in
Read more →‘If you go down to the woods today……sing sing …….Today’s the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic.’ Well I love picnics….I think it’s in the genes of bears really, don’t you? Most picnics require a bit of shopping before hand; bread, wine and stuff like that.
Read more →Some people might say that the best part of writing a book is typing the words THE END. Or that the most satisfying part is setting out on the journey and writing that first sentence. But for me, there is one stand out moment of pure joy
Read more →Every autumn my guardian Pauline Conolly takes me to Mount Tomah Botanical Gardens so we can gather Spanish chestnuts from their big tree. It’s very exciting. It’s usually a bit chilly, but there is a lovely fire in the cafe where you can warm up first.
Read more →The following story on the Launceston woollen mill was first published in the Sydney Morning Herald. On January 8 2024 I watched the movie Mrs Lowry and Son. The images of the industrial landscapes and the mill workers portrayed by artist L. S. Lowry prompted me
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