A quick-round-up of bits and pieces from the past week or so:<\/p>\n
My university job finishes up next Friday, and although I’ve enjoyed many aspects of it, it’s been a heavy load, so I am looking forward to being able to concentrate full-time on writing and life in general after that. I still have a large pile of assignments to mark over the next couple of days, though, so it’s not over yet – but I am on the count down!!<\/p>\n
We had a wonderful visit from cousins I haven’t seen for many years on Tuesday night. It was lovely to catch up and spend long hours over dinner and well into the evening talking with them. We’ve seen other family members every few years, but not them, however in recent months we’ve connected again via Facebook, which has been a great way to keep in touch and renew the bonds. <\/p>\n
Of course, for a couple of days before they came, I kept busy mounting an archaeological dig in the guest bedroom, excavating the guest bed from underneath piles of papers and books, and cleaning up the Our next lot of guests arrive tonight – my brother-in-law and my niece and nephew. My niece is going to stay for the week, while the others head up to Queensland for a few days, before coming back through and picking her up on the way home. My niece is now 18, at uni, and has just today got her driver’s licence – and I’m looking forward to spending some time with her. Gordon is off to Queensland as well, for a conference for the week, so Lauren and I will have girl-time together.<\/p>\n Our major drama for the week was the discovery on Monday that our two vehicles had been attacked and damaged – by a rat! Yes, you read that right. A rat (or rats) have been munching on the various rubber hoses and plastics around the engines in both vehicles, although Godon’s was by far the worst affected – to the point of being undriveable, as there was coolant leaking out at a great rate when he set off on Monday morning. So, we had to wait for a tow-truck to come and take his LandCruiser in for repairs. Fortunately, mine isn’t as badly munched, and although there’ll be some repairs, it’s not urgent, and can wait until next week. In the meantime, we’ve been putting out rat poison, which we don’t really like doing, but don’t have other options.<\/p>\n Speaking of Gordon, he’s been putting up photos from our outback trip on his photoblog<\/a> – he posts one per day, so if you’d like some sense of our travels, hop over and have a look. Or try the direct link<\/a> for the outback series. I still haven’t gone through my photos properly yet – it’s on my (long) To Do list – maybe after next week!!<\/p>\n And, in book news, it’s now less than two months until Dark Country hits the book shelves. I’m starting to get quite excited – and a little nervous! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A quick-round-up of bits and pieces from the past week or so: My university job finishes up next Friday, and although I’ve enjoyed many aspects of it, it’s been a heavy load, so I am looking forward to being able … Continue reading site<\/del> room ready for them. However, that’s now done (mostly – we won’t mention one pile of unsorted papers stuffed into the new filing cabinet) and now that I have two filing cabinets, I’m hoping it will be easier to keep tidy.<\/p>\n