“Bang! Pht-pht.”   Silence.  “Bang! Pht-pht.”   The dogs are trying out the new dog flap in the back door.  The last one was translucent and this one is clear, so it’s a new experience.  They follow each other in and out several times to make sure, then they get on with other dog games, like destroying a cardboard box. (more…)

The Quest for Justice
Ken Crispin
Scribe 2010
ISBN: 9781921640438
$35
290 pp + notes

This is above all a thoughtful work.  The author assumes the reader to be intelligent and he treats the reader with respect.  It is not a dispassionate book – Ken Crispin’s hopes and aspirations for society are clearly stated.  He also expresses little patience with those who would impose their prejudices and bigotry on others. (more…)

Breastfeeding welcomed here.  A simple, small sticker on the door of a café, letting mothers know that they are not going to be harassed if they show a bit of flesh.  Across the road, at another café, four young women are sitting around a table in intimate discussion.  They are leaning forward, their breasts almost falling out of their tops.  And, by the way, breastfeeding is not welcome in this café. (more…)

If I loved you, I would tell you this
Robin Black
Scribe, Melbourne, 2010
ISBN: 9781921640421
PB, 268 pp   $32.95

This is very welcome addition to my short story collections shelf.

It has been said that, while in a novel there is a need for a plot and the development of characters, the short story need be no more than just that: a fragment of life, an interesting tale with a cameo of characters.  Then you come across a writer like Robin Black and you learn that a short story can be a novel in miniature.  (more…)

Happy Birthday to this blog.  One year ago tomorrow I wrote the first ‘From the Kitchen’ and this blog was born. (more…)

The earth is cloud-hidden and the sky a range of blues.  Yes, I’m flying again.  It seems to be a new habit, writing while travelling.

Certainly, viewing the earth from the perspective of 35 000 feet makes a difference when thinking about things.  This may be why people sit on top of mountains to meditate.  Of course, one can meditate anywhere, but being able to sit with eyes open and see a large part of the earth’s surface spread out below automatically gives a different quality to the meditation.
Hurtling through the air in a closed container is also not the same as floating and gliding suspended from a paraglider.  Paragliding, or hang-gliding, forces a more intimate relationship with the atmosphere – the air currents and thermals.  There is immediacy, as there is with sailing. (more…)

I’m about to take off again, literally.  Flying to Perth for a stint of work, to be ensconced in a hotel for four days.  Apart from the décor in the rooms and the colour and quantity of the marble in the foyers (or lack of it), one hotel in Australia seems to be much like any other, especially if I don’t venture outside. (more…)

I am in the middle of upgrading my computer, with a new hard drive and new operating system.  I temporarily have no spell chequer to catch those odd words that I mist when proofing.

I try so hard to get things write, that I sometimes miss the obvious, such as failing to see that what I’ve written makes no cents; I get bogged down in the detail and no longer see the bigger pitcher. (more…)

For almost a week, my life has had a different rhythm to it.  I’ve been attending a Tai Ji retreat in New Zealand. (more…)

I’m sitting here, exhausted, after completing four days of intensive work – mostly non-physical, but long hours of concentration and attention to detail and including a night away from home. The word ‘exhaustion’ is the one that rolled off the pen, but is it accurate? (more…)