YELLOW ROBINS; THE DAWN HARPISTS

YELLOW ROBINS; THE DAWN HARPISTS

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

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GOLD! I COULD HAVE BEEN RICH.

GOLD! I COULD HAVE BEEN RICH.

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

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BARBED WIRE AND BINDER TWINE

BARBED  WIRE AND BINDER TWINE

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 

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EDITOR DES & HIS ‘NO PESTS’ GARDEN

EDITOR DES & HIS 'NO PESTS' GARDEN

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

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TEDDY BEAR’S PICNIC

TEDDY BEAR'S PICNIC

‘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.

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THE BEST PART OF WRITING A BOOK?

THE BEST PART OF WRITING  A  BOOK?

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

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THOSE OLD CHESTNUTS!

THOSE OLD CHESTNUTS!

  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. 

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The Mill & Mr Lowry.

The Mill & Mr Lowry.

  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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