HELLO DOWN THERE FROM EDITOR DES….AKA ME! OK…to celebrate my birthday I thought I would tell you a little bit about myself. I was actually born in China, but I think my parents sold me ( I know, how could they part with someone so
Read more →Hello, You know how Pauline Conolly posts rather showoffy pictures of her garden? Well I’m about to take her down a peg or two, hahaha. Made a little bicycle tour the other day and by gum there are some pretty dire ‘blots’ ! Here I go down
Read more →Hello from Editor Des and some English friends Well I have been traveling around England and OH MY WORD, I do like all the lollies here. I have to remember to call them sweets though, because English people think lollies are only on sticks! I thought
Read more →A RARE AND BAFFLING ILLNESS – CHURG STRAUSS SYNDROME! This is the first time I have written about the very rare auto-immune condition I was diagnosed with in February 2012. I had been rushed to hospital a couple of weeks earlier after collapsing with a suspected heart
Read more →OLD MEMORIES LINGER! I grew up on a hilltop farm in Tasmania….next stop ANTARCTICA! In winter, biting winds and sleet often prompted my father’s diary entries to begin, “Very rough day!” No wonder we appreciated my mother’s ‘comfort cooking’ ; rabbit pies, rich beef stews, pastries and
Read more →Hello. Here is the first article from my trip to Lille, in northern France. Pauline Conolly helped me, but not very much. Dr Bob Conolly took the photographs. I hope you like our work. Editor Des. xxx IN THE BEGINNING In
Read more →The spectre of climate change and periods of prolonged drought have created an upsurge of interest in the growing of Australian native plants. However, we have been slow to embrace them. I suspect this would surprise and disappoint women pioneers such as Elizabeth Macarthur, who began
Read more →While in England some time ago I was shown an ancient piece of scrimshaw in a private collection. My interest was aroused because the whale’s tooth was carved with an image (artist unknown) of a three-masted sailing ship. On one side was the tantalizing inscription; STORES SHIP
Read more →Dr James Colthurst is perhaps best known for having been a close friend of the late Princess Diana. He was trusted implicitly by Diana , and acted as a go-between during one of the most difficult periods of her life. It was Colthurst who conveyed the secret tapes she
Read more →It’s an extraordinary thing having two very different books published in one year, and it would be quite impossible for me to choose my favourite. My first, The Water Doctor’s Daughters, has a special place in my heart due to its content. I became so emotionally involved
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