April is whirling past at a great speed!
Here’s a quick round-up of what I’ve been up to:
April 8-10 – a weekend at Bellingen, two hours drive down the escarpment towards the coast, for a writing get-together with the other members of the Romance Writers of Australia Four Points Author Network, coinciding with the Bellingen Readers’ and Writers’ Festival. I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend – great company, good food, and much discussion about writing!
Remember the joey and mother ‘roo from a couple of posts ago? The joey has now left the pouch and is exploring the world with enthusiasm. The weekend before last, Gordon and I watched from the sunroom window while the female kangaroo behaved a little strangely – standing still for a long time, not grazing, and periodically licking below her pouch. This behaviour went on for close on an hour… she was giving birth to a tiny new joey, damping her fur so it could climb up to her pouch. New joeys are only an inch or so long, so we didn’t actually see it from where we stood, but it was pretty magical, anyway!
Last Wednesday, I spent all day travelling by train, down to Canberra via Sydney. My dear Dad, who’s been in hospital for over two months, moved to a nursing home on Monday, so I wanted to go down and spend a few days with him, my Mum, and my family. I visited my Dad a couple of times each day I was there, and it was good to have some time with him as he makes this difficult adjustment in his life. Other highlights of my 3 days in Canberra include some time with my 16yo nephew, talking over lunch and then afternoon tea; an outing with my Mum to the National Gallery to see the breathtaking Ballets Russes exhibition – it closes on May 1, but if you can get there in these next few days, then do it – it’s a fantastic exhibition!; and a family dinner at my sister’s place, when my DBIL cooked scrumptiously delicious lamb shanks, my sister made a wonderful apple crumble, and my Mum, sister, nephew, niece, and niece’s boyfriend played board games and talked well into the night.
I arrived home late yesterday afternoon, in time to make Gordon a birthday dinner of home-made pizza, and sourdough pancakes with Nutella and icecream for dessert. Today I’m catching up with some washing, making bread to restock the freezer, and I will get to the writing shortly, I promise! Tomorrow is another public holiday, and if the weather’s fine we may go on a day-trip, possibly to the area the current book is set in.
On Friday I’m heading off again for a couple of days – this time to the Gloucester Writers’ Festival, where I’ll be on a panel about the romance genre with fellow authors Helene Young, Erica Hayes, and Lexxie Couper.
And now I really am going to unplug from the internet for an hour or two and write… although with Mother ‘Roo and the big joey just outside the window, I may be a little distracted for a bit!