this week

This is actually from last Friday - our last morning in Orford, doing my Morning Pages and having coffee with the magpie that visited us each morning we were there. It was very friendly and made me think I’d like a neighbourhood magpie at home. I know they swoop on the mainland but they don’t tend to down here….that I know of!

Another strange week, despite the joy and fun of the last, so we’ve tried to prioritise having some Mental Health Days, which has helped. As stated previously, the Philippa Moore Way is not to dwell (too much) on the less-than-ideal but to focus on the good, because there is always some to be found.

Favourite experience of the week

Having a dear friend round for dinner on Easter Monday, who made us laugh and smile. I do love entertaining and cooking for people, but the omicron surge has put a (hopefully) temporary stop to that. But we had negative RATs after the wedding so round she came. We had a nut roast feast and I even sent her off with leftovers!

I also enjoyed, as part of aforementioned Mental Health Day, just sitting and reading a book for hours one afternoon. It’s something I don’t allow myself to do very often, unless it’s a PhD-related book, but in that case my brain is in work mode rather than relaxed. It felt nice to be relaxed.

New mug who dis?

Looking forward to

A dear friend’s wedding this weekend. Digging up my potatoes. A few unavoidable things being dealt with and behind us.

Reading

Three-Martini Afternoons at The Ritz: The Rebellion of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton by Gail Crowther - this is the book I sat down with and lost myself in for a few hours, during which I finished it. It was uplifting and hilarious on one page, then heartbreaking and rage-inducing (most of them involving Ted Hughes, the bastard) on the next. A brilliant book for two brilliant women who were so ahead of their time and who deserve to be remembered and read in more nuanced ways that better reflect the complex, rebellious and brave women they actually were. Loved it!

Think on the Page by Sarah Firth - I bought this as a birthday gift for Tom last year and I finally read it myself this week. Sarah was one of the few people on Instagram who made me feel joyous and creative, so I do miss her. She’s one of my favourite artists and this book has lots of wisdom and observations about the complexities of modern life that are funny, relatable and deeply intelligent.

Sydney Review of Books: Lost Weather by Louis Klee

Meanjin: Joy by Anna Spargo-Ryan

Jack Monroe: It’s Not About The Pasta, Kevin - Jack Monroe is a courageous and well-known activist for poverty issues in the UK, particularly hunger relief, and I’ve followed their work for a long time. This post is a long read but an important one and, in true Jack style, pulls no punches (and nor should it).

Listening to

BBC Sounds - World Piano Day - Interview with Ludovico Einaudi: thank you to reader Helen for alerting me to this. It was a great interview and Ludovico played “Flora” off his new album, which was utterly beautiful.

As a result, I have been playing Underwater non-stop. Perfect for meditation, writing, or just sitting.

I’ve also been playing the new album from Lisa Mitchell, A Place to Fall Apart, out today!

The Shift: Philippa Perry takes issue with your inner critic and Esther Freud on motherhood, guilt and upending your life in your 50s (I enjoyed both but particularly this one).

Best Friend Therapy: this may be my new favourite podcast. I caught up on the last three episodes on my walks this week and particularly enjoyed the Shoulds and Oughts episode. I had to pause and sit several times during that one to take in the truth bombs as they landed.

Grounded with Louis Theroux: Interview with Fka Twigs which was quite incredible. The grounded, intelligent and utterly perfect answers she gave to some very weird questions had me almost punching the air on my walk this morning. Thank you Sophie for alerting me to this! Any creative person who just wants to do their own thing will get a lot out of listening to this.

Eating

I haven’t had a great appetite this week, but that hasn’t stopped me eating All The Chocolate. We discovered Lindt’s vegan milk chocolate is now available in Australia too, which is delicious!

In addition to aforementioned nut roast (which was actually still in the freezer from Christmas), I made Pip Lincolne’s Pumpkin-y Lamb Casserole (pictured) but obviously there was no lamb - I used chickpeas and mushrooms instead, and tarragon instead of parsley (so it was probably nothing like Pip’s original recipe!). OMG this was SO incredibly delicious. For such a simple recipe, it’s full of flavour. I was seriously bowled over by its subtle spicy sauce and the sweetness from the tomatoes and pumpkin. I will be adding this to my regular repertoire for winter, I think it will work with pretty much any root vegetable. Also, as it was meat-free it only needed to cook for just under an hour, not 90 minutes. Bonus!

I also made a tempeh banh mi (pictured right) for lunch one day this week, which was insanely good. And surprisingly easy to whip up quickly when we got back from town, hungry, with a fresh baguette. I was suddenly seized with the desire to do something other than slather avocado and dukkah on it. And I also wanted to start using all the pickled vegetables in the fridge. I’ll write up the recipe next week, as it will be made again!

Picking

The last red tomatoes and some kale and silverbeet. The potatoes aren’t quite ready yet but will be very soon. There’s lots of green tomatoes left on the vines so I may end up picking them to ripen inside.

Watching

Spider-Man: No Way Home - a great popcorn flick, as they say. The plot is a bit scatty, with a lot of plates in the air, but I did enjoy it, particularly when the two previous Spideys turn up (Tom, who saw it in the cinema, said the audience went wild at that moment!). I found the scene where Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man prevents Tom Holland’s Spider-Man from avenging his aunt’s death (sorry for those who haven’t seen it!) very moving. I’ve been doing a lot of reading about transactional analysis and so I interpreted Maguire’s Spider-Man as the younger one’s older, wiser self stepping in to guide him to a better choice. That made me cry, admittedly.

Antoinette dans les Cévennes (English title: My Donkey, My Lover and I) (iTunes) - an utterly charming French film with my favourite actor of the moment, Laure Calamy, in the title role of Antoinette, a primary school teacher who is having an affair with the father of one of her students. When the lovers’ plan of a week alone together during the summer holidays is thwarted by the man’s wife surprising him with a walking holiday in the Cévennes, Antoinette is devastated….and decides to go on the same holiday herself, with a stubborn donkey as her companion. It’s as hilarious as it sounds.

Run Fatboy Run - an old favourite that I’ve seen so many times, as it used to be the film Tom and I would watch the night before a race. For a period of time, we would watch it every weekend! But I hadn’t seen it in many years and it’s still very, very funny and a real comfort watch. My long distance running days were a happy time in our lives and I remember how patient and supportive Tom was, coming along to every race of mine all over the country, without complaint, always with a smile on his face, cheering me on. I still feel very grateful for that support. And I of course went for a run the next morning, you can’t not!

Julia (Binge) - I mentioned the first episode in a previous This Week saying I wasn’t that impressed by it. I will now, pun intended, eat my words. After reading a Guardian review, we were encouraged to give it another chance and I’m glad we did. We’re now all caught up and impatient for the next instalment! I stand by some of my original thoughts but I’m slowly being won over, especially by Sarah Lancashire’s performance. I’m also appreciating that some of the characters are possibly meant to be emblematic of some social mores of the time, rather than accurate reflections of the real people. It’s very enjoyable either way.

Call My Agent! (Dix pour cent)(Netflix) - we have only three episodes left! What will we do?!

Creative Mornings Global: Nina Elizabeth Lyrispect Ball talks about Roots - I was a keen member of the London chapter of this organisation when I lived there, and their newsletters are always worth a leaf through. There is always at least one nugget of gold in there. This time it was this wonderful talk from Nina Elizabeth Lyrispect Ball, well worth watching with your morning coffee to get you set up for a day of creating and serving!

“Give the same energy, no matter what. If you’re an artist, you’re an artist. It’s not about who’s responding or how many people are clapping, but what is coming from your soul.”

Wearing

A smile, despite everything! And a Loki t-shirt which I picked up for a bargain.

Thinking about

On my walk this morning, I noticed a wheelchair user not just having to dodge wheelie bins that were out for collection scattered all over the pavement but those fucking scooters just dumped there too. He ended up having to go into the road to continue on his way to wherever he was going. Nearby I also noticed a car parked at the top of a driveway rather than further down it, so it was blocking that section of the pavement. Again, a wheelchair user would have to go into the road (a busy main road, I might add) to pass, likewise anyone with a pram. Why don’t people think about this?! Admittedly I never used to notice this sort of thing as much as I do now. Perhaps it’s been reading more disabled writers, being a bit more conscious of ableism…I’m not sure. Regardless, I’m pretty appalled at the fairly consistent lack of consideration for everyday accessibility that I witness, not just this morning but in general. It’s not good enough. I will have a think about what I could do to help change things.

Quote of the week

“Let everything happen to you. Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” - Rainer Maria Rilke

If you’d like to share your thoughts on this post with me, please do! Otherwise, stay tuned for another exciting instalment next week xx

this week

Mrs Hunt’s Cottage, Maria Island. Picture by Tom!

After a pretty rough past couple of weeks, this one has been really good for the soul.

We went to a family wedding up on the east coast, and you can’t help but feel happy at a wedding, surrounded by love! This one was particularly sweet and romantic, and it was lovely to see some people I haven’t seen for ages. We decided to make the most of being in the area and took a day trip to Maria Island - a place I had never been, and was utterly blown away by. It was one of those places that is truly magical, that pictures and words will never do justice to. If you ever visit Tasmania, it is a must do. We’re already planning a return, but staying longer!

I had also forgotten the profound impact that a change of scene can have on your mood and outlook. We’ve barely left the house since the borders opened and I hadn’t appreciated how much we needed just a little break in the routine. It has been a literal and metaphorical gust of fresh air!

Favourite experiences of the week

Maria Island was absolutely spectacular. We haven’t stopped talking or thinking about it! The ferry from Triabunna was a breeze - though I highly recommend booking as far ahead as you can. I stupidly left it to the day before, thinking we could stroll up to the marina like we did with Rottnest Island when we visited Perth in 2020 (before covid). It wasn’t a complete disaster but as the earliest and latest crossings were already full we only had half a day to explore rather than the full day. But that’s OK, we’ll definitely be going back!

I just love spending time in nature, and getting up close and personal with adorable wombats was one of the highlights of the visit:

One of about a thousand pictures we took of a mother wombat and her joey, who were totally unbothered by the presence of humans.

A Cape Barren goose in its lush natural habitat.

The lesser-spotted writer of this blog post on the deck of Mrs Hunt’s Cottage (the house in the first photo).

The Painted Cliffs.

A beautiful tree.

I mean LOOK at that water!

It was extremely hard to pick a leading image for this week’s This Week, let me tell you!

With my husband of nearly twelve years! Attending a wedding always makes us feel very nostalgic for ours!

The wedding was also a highlight, because it’s always wonderful to be in the presence of love and joy. Whenever I go to a wedding I can’t help but be overwhelmed with happy memories of my own, remembering the incredible high of it all and how full to bursting with love you feel, not just for your new spouse but for all the people sharing in your excitement and wishing you well. And it’s so wonderful to know someone you care about is having the same experience, and you get to be a part of it. The happy couple were also very blessed with the weather, it was an unseasonably warm and sunny autumn day, and the setting was stunning.

We enjoyed the festivities so much that one of my sisters suggested that Tom and I renew our vows at some point and have another wedding for all the Australian family who couldn’t make it to London in 2010. We’re certainly thinking about it!

Looking forward to

Another upcoming wedding, this time of a dear friend. Another dear friend visiting Tassie soon. Finishing the introduction to my thesis. Potentially another trip to Maria Island before the end of the season!

Reading

The Writer Laid Bare by Lee Kofman - I’ve just started this and just want to tell every writer I know to buy a copy and read it ASAP. Incredibly insightful and relatable!

The Practical Australian Gardener by Peter Cundall - I plan to make good use of the Easter break and get some jobs in the garden done as the fruitfulness of autumn is starting to wind down.

Bigger than Us by Fearne Cotton - a lovely book I dipped into each night at bedtime, about intuition, connection and “finding meaning in a messy world”. Some really beautiful reminders to trust the Universe a bit more and to stay open rather than close down when life gets tricky.

Sydney Review of Books:  Plath Traps by Felicity Plunkett

Poetry Foundation: Sylvia’s Table by David Trinidad

Listening to

The Shift: Marian Keyes on menopause, Botox and learning to be shameless - I particularly loved this quote from Marian, “Other people’s anger and judgement is utterly survivable and, ultimately, it’s not even important.” I also enjoyed the follow up with Marian which aired last month.

Now You’re Asking, with Marian Keyes and Tara Flynn: The High School Problem and The Co-Dependency Problem, both enjoyed while gardening. I love this podcast, Marian and Tara are so kind, encouraging and understanding with their answers to problems sent in by listeners (apart from the idiot who wrote in saying that he had cheated on his wife and now didn’t understand why she didn’t trust him - their response to that was gold). You might notice that my listening habits tend to reflect the fact that when I’ve really enjoyed an interview with a particular person, I start listening to everything I can find with them in it! I’ll try not to be too repetitive or boring in that regard, haha.

My main writing playlist on TIDAL - it’s so full of goodness, for my writer’s brain at least!

Eating

We made fresh pasta dough with chickpea water and it was utterly amazing. Like, life-changing. I couldn’t recommend trying it more highly!

It seemed to be the week of pasta - I also made a Moroccan pumpkin, chickpea and feta pasta which was delicious.

Lots of hiking and road trip food - energy balls, apples, muesli bars, mini packets of chips.

Today is Good Friday so I’ve procured fresh hot cross buns - as this is the appropriate day of the year to eat them, not on Boxing Day when the supermarkets start selling them! I enjoy a fruit bun as much as the next person but I do think we lose something when something that is meant to be saved for a particular time of the year is simply made available once another major holiday is out of the way, or even all year round as is often the case. OK, I’ll get off my soap box now.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the potatoes with garlic, oil, herbs and preserved lemon at my cousin’s wedding (made by another cousin)!

Picking

The remaining red (or red-ish!) tomatoes and there’s still a few zucchini that may or may not be coaxed into their fullest expression by the heatwave we’re expecting over the Easter weekend. I will also dig up the first potatoes over the long weekend, I think.

Watching

American Beauty - I hadn’t seen this film for many years and we enjoyed it last Friday night. On this rewatch, I found it more funny than I did dark (as I had on previous watchings) and I wondered why that might be so - perhaps it was because I found it rather amusing to watch a privileged white man explode his current life in the pursuit of a supposedly more authentic one. And I agree with Stephanie Zacharek’s take that American Beauty is “a movie from a time when we didn’t know what we wanted. From where we stand now, the dark, buried desires of affluent suburban men and women, no matter how ludicrously they’re presented, seem even a little touching. Maybe that’s partly because our eyes have been opened to the way so many men—unlike Lester, regardless of how you feel about him—have simply taken what they wanted, with no regard to whom they’re hurting.”

Fences (iTunes) - another great film based on an August Wilson play. We saw a clip of this played in Brene Brown’s Atlas of the Heart and were immediately intrigued. It’s set in 1950s Pittsburgh and centres around a middle-aged garbage collector named Troy (Denzel Washington), a man who appears jovial and charming on the surface but deep down is very bitter about his failures in life and his missed opportunities in professional sport, which were primarily due to being too old for the professional leagues by the time Black people were allowed to play in them. His son Cory (Jovan Adepo) now has the opportunity to go to college thanks to his talent in football, but Troy is dead-set against the idea. Odie Henderson said in his review that “anyone who had a strict taskmaster as a parent will find parts of Fences unendurable” and, indeed, Troy’s brutality and pig-headedness in dealing with his son is hard to watch and ends up driving Cory away. Unfolding in parallel is the revelation of Troy’s infidelity which devastates his devoted, long-suffering wife Rose (Viola Davis) and has some permanent consequences. It’s superbly acted, and very powerful, but we weren’t wild about the ending, which seemed a little neat and sentimental given everything that had preceded it. But worth a watch, for Viola Davis’s performance alone.

Call My Agent! (Dix pour cent)(Netflix) - our addiction to this fabulous show continues, but we only have a few episodes left! I hope they make more!

Wearing

I had at least five people comment on my outfit at the wedding - which was my glorious Keshet jumpsuit, both stylish and incredibly comfortable! The photographer came over at one point and just said “Keshet?” which made us both laugh! They are certainly a distinctive Tassie brand for those in the know. I do want to get some more of them because they are so wonderful to wear.

Quote of the week

“He who jumps into the void owes no explanation to those who stand and watch.” - Jean-Luc Godard

If you’d like to share your thoughts on this post with me, please do! A Happy Easter and Pesach Sameach to those celebrating this weekend xx

this week

My week, summed up in a photograph!

It’s been a time, hasn’t it?

But this week was an improvement on last week, which can only be a good thing. And when times are trying, it’s deeply comforting to have people who care in your corner. Thank you to those wonderful people, you know who you are!

Looking forward to

Getting in the garden this weekend, getting the beds ready for winter. Making apple butter with the giant bag of apples my Dad brought to the door.

Reading

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf. I haven’t read this for years and had forgotten how lively and incandescent the writing is, and just how utterly right she is about everything. I was also glad for the reminder about John Keats and his epitaph (it’s basically “fuck the haters” though far more poetically expressed, as you’d expect!). As Woolf points out, “unfortunately, it is precisely the men or women of genius who mind most what is said of them.”

Why I Write by George Orwell. I’ve been picking away at this little book for a few months and every time I read it I am convinced these essays must have only been written last week or last year. So very little has changed. I love Orwell, and I have Rebecca Solnit’s amazing Orwell’s Roses (also highly recommended) to thank for reintroducing me to his genius.

Around the Kitchen Table by Sophie Hansen and Annie Herron. An absolute delight, as expected! I’ve been inspired to revive both my sourdough starter and my sketching.

Elusive Subjects: Biography as Gendered Metafiction by Susanna Scarparo. This is a PhD-related one but I’ve barely been able to drag myself away from it. A very interesting interpretation of how several writers have reimagined notable women who have been forgotten or excluded from history. My PhD is centred around that concept so everything she had to say was very relevant and exciting.

The Sun: The Love of My Life by Cheryl Strayed. “What does it mean to heal? To move on? To let go? Whatever it means, it is usually said and not done, and the people who talk about it the most have almost never had to do it.” And also something I know from experience: “if you lose a ring in a river, you are never going to get it back, no matter how badly you want it or how long you wait.” Oof.

Women’s Agenda: Everything you need to know about Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the US Supreme Court. This sent me down a rabbit hole of wanting to know about women, and women of colour, in the highest court of my own country. I didn’t know the current Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia is in fact a woman, Chief Justice Susan Kiefel, and it’s fairly even in terms of male/female representation - three women, four men - which is better than I expected (when I was a law student 22 years ago, the last time I was aware of the composition of the High Court, there was only one woman). But there are no people of colour, not currently nor in Australia’s High Court’s entire 120-year history. I found this fantastic AFR article that asks why. Lack of diversity perpetuates bias and as long as federal judicial appointments are solely at the government’s discretion, it won’t change. “The demography of the bench will never perfectly match the nation, but people should be able to see themselves in the faces of those chosen to dispense justice,” argues Andrew Leigh in the article. I wholeheartedly agree.

Listening to

Best Friend Therapy: Boundaries - what are they? Do we need them? How do we say no?

Broadly Speaking: Roxane Gay in conversation with Jamila Rizvi at the Wheeler Centre, Melbourne

Inner spring TIDAL playlist

Dare to Lead by Brené Brown on audiobook

Torch by Cheryl Strayed on audiobook

Eating

Nigella Lawson’s spaghetti with chard and chilli from Cook Eat Repeat - I followed her vegan suggestions and used olives (kalamata) and Vegemite instead of anchovies. Delicious!

Lauds Aged Cashew Cheese - made in Tassie, and absolutely lovely! I want to try everything of theirs now. I put some of the cheese on top of the Nigella spaghetti, as pictured. So good.

Vegan banana bread - again! I particularly like it spread with peanut butter as a post-run snack.

In January I pickled some cherries and had some leftover pickling liquid so I pickled six fresh apricot halves as well. I discovered these were still in the fridge a few days ago!! After a quick taste test, I confirmed they were not only still fine to eat, but delicious - sour and tangy, yet sweet. For lunch today, I grilled some halloumi and served that with the pickled apricots, alongside some mint, celery and spinach leaves from the garden. Eaten in the sunshine, it was truly ambrosial. Many memorable meals in my life have involved halloumi in some way! I am yet to eat the pickled cherries. That might end up being an Easter thing.

Picking

Ruby chard, tomatoes, the last of the beans. My beautician sent round a bag of fresh red chillies she’d grown, which was so kind! I think I will freeze most of them, as chillies can be successfully used from frozen. I also have about 10 kilograms of apples to preserve this weekend. I’m going to have to find a few podcasts to queue up!

Watching

Atlas of the Heart (Binge) - a dear friend told me she’d watched the whole season in one weekend, and Tom and I did pretty much the same. It’s like having therapy, in a good way. Highly recommended.

Jackie (iTunes) - I didn’t love it, but being a Kennedy aficionado I still enjoyed it. Oh my god, how did people used to smoke that much?!

Julia (Binge) - I was so excited about this show but I wasn’t sure what to make of the first episode. The Nora Ephron film Julie and Julia is one of my favourite films of all time, so perhaps I am just too attached to Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci as Julia and Paul Child. This show is a bit…grittier, for want of a better word. I know, I know, they were just fallible, ordinary human beings at the end of the day, but everything I’ve read about them suggests Paul Child was nothing but supportive of his wife and her late-in-life career. This show, certainly the first episode, seems to think otherwise so I’m wondering where they got that from or is it pure speculation? And what are the ethics of telling a story about someone’s real life and injecting some drama into it? Again very relevant to my PhD work. I don’t know if I’ll keep watching…but I probably won’t be able to help myself!

Call My Agent! (Dix pour cent)(Netflix) - our addiction to this fabulous show continues, and we have to ration it because we’re down to the last season now. It’s just a delight.

Wearing/applying

I treated myself to a Smitten Merino scarf which I haven’t stopped wearing, apart from today because it’s been so warm! I love the bright colour.

I ran out of my favourite shower gel so will have to replace that, stat!

I stopped using anti-perspirant deodorants in 2017 - when we moved back to Australia a year later, I found No Pong and have been a subscriber ever since. It’s the best, most effective natural deodorant I’ve found in this country. For someone who is very active (I walk to work, run at lunchtime, etc) and was really worried about odour, this stuff is seriously the bomb. In the UK, this one was my favourite (after trying pretty much every single one on the market) and I also had no BO issues! Also, no marks on black clothes with both No Pong and Neal’s Yard, which seriously used to be the bane of my life!

Favourite experiences of the week

Cooking with my two-year-old niece, who is utterly adorable, and has her own apron and little chef’s hat, which was too cute for words. She was quite fascinated by the onions and painstakingly peeled the skin off one. Her parents have joked that that’s how they’ll keep her occupied from now on! She’s a beautiful child and spending time with her truly is balm for the soul.

I also joined my university’s Shut Up and Write Zoom group this week and found that a concentrated period of time to focus on my exegesis revealed many ideas, all of which are slowly connecting like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. It is quite thrilling to see it come together. Not to mention a relief!

Quote of the week

“I’m going to aim high. And why not.” - Anne Sexton

If you’d like to share your thoughts on this post with me, please do! Otherwise, same time next week? xx

this week

A cute friendly creature we often see on our morning walks.

I’m not going to lie, this has been a long, fairly shit-house week. And yet it still had some highlights and lovely things - so that is what I’ll focus on, for that is the Philippa Moore Way. When you’re in the arena of life, you can’t get bogged down by feedback from the cheap seats. Onwards!

Looking forward to

A break over Easter. Reorganising my book shelves. Maybe seeing friends on the mainland again soon. Making Nigella’s vegan gingerbread again!

Reading

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami - I haven’t read this book in years. It was an old favourite in my marathon days, and now that I think about it, a real influence on The Latte Years too. I have been running for sixteen years now and, like Murakami, my journey as a writer has unfolded in parallel and there are so many similar lessons and challenges. I keep running now to, as he puts it, “maintain, and improve, my physical condition in order to keep on writing novels”! It was nice to spend time with this old friend again, and even nicer to find my old Up and Running postcard bookmark. Good times.

The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle The Master’s House by Audre Lorde - this is just phenomenal and a wonderful introduction to her work.

Creative Histories of Witchcraft: Magpieing, sparking the creative process by Anna Compton. I just love reading about other people’s creative processes. I engage in quite a bit of magpieing myself!

Three-Martini Afternoons at The Ritz: The Rebellion of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton by Gail Crowther - only a few chapters in and LOVING it.

I also enjoyed many of the articles and blog posts on Gail Crowther’s wonderful website - particularly What Sylvia Plath Can Teach Us About Gaslighting which felt particularly pertinent this week.

Vox: How To Forgive Someone Who Isn’t Sorry by my old blogging and running pal Rachel Wilkerson Miller. “Forgiveness is my safety valve against the kind of toxic anger that could kill me…waiting for the apology is to misunderstand your free will, and it’s to misunderstand the medicine that is forgiveness, that you should be able to take freely, whatever you want.”

Julia Bausenhart: Why I Quit Social Media

Jen McLeary: Why I Am Leaving Social Media For Real This Time

I’ve also continued reading My Body by Emily Ratajkowski but, to be honest, I am finding it very triggering. Should I keep going, knowing it is an important book and it is vital that stories like this are shared - or should I shield myself from reliving my own painful experiences, and continue to suppress the rage I feel for what so many women have been subjected to? Thoughts welcome.

Listening to

My Running playlist!

The First Time Podcast: Masters Series: Sarah Winman - an absolute must for any writer, I loved every minute of this one. Perfect for walking to work and getting ready to face the page.

BeWILDered with Martha Beck and Rowan Mangan: Comparing Lives and On Top of Things?

James and Ashley Stay At Home: Living with ambiguous loss with Erin Stewart

Eating

I have not had much of an appetite and thus have not enjoyed my food as much this week. But these were the highlights:

Rick’s pasta - our last jar of capers had gone off so we used green olives instead, which was pretty delicious. I didn’t think it was possible for capers to go off, but there they were in the jar, a mouldy pink like the scum that grows at the bottom of the shower. Gross!

Pumpkin-topped cottage pie - a recipe I was intrigued by in the Woolworths magazine, which I veganised. TVP instead of mince, an easy swap! Very delicious, served with beans from the garden.

Vegan chickpea curry jacket potatoes - I was lazy and used tandoori paste instead of the spices, which turned out very nicely.

We also polished off the last of the cocoa brownies I made from Leah Hyslop’s The Brownie Diaries.

Picking

It’s all been about greens and beans this week. I also threw some of the last strawberries and figs into our morning smoothies. There are still plenty of tomatoes that seem to redden overnight like magic, and the potatoes will be ready to pull up soon. I also bought some mustard green seedlings at the Botanical Gardens for a bargain $2 each, so I hope those will be a bountiful source of winter greens.

Watching

I watched the first two episodes of Season Two of Star Trek Picard (Amazon Prime) for my darling husband, and they actually weren’t too bad! Patrick Stewart makes anything bearable!

Wearing/applying

Modibodis - these have changed my life and I only wish they had been around 28 years ago. My very first pad is probably still in landfill somewhere, which is a haunting and horrifying thought indeed. It feels a bit odd to finally be embracing the power of my cycle, only to know I may not have it for much longer. It is very weird indeed to be asked by your GP “are you still getting your periods?” but I guess that’s to be expected. I am 40 now, after all!

Favourite experiences of the week

The article about my Nan and her Anzac biscuits in this month’s Australian Country Style - we were at the shops first thing on Thursday to get a copy!

A bolstering and productive meeting with my PhD supervisors, who are kind, perceptive and deeply intelligent women who truly get what I’m trying to do and always offer the right encouragement when I need it. I couldn’t be happier or luckier with my team.

Quote of the week

“I am the sole author of the dictionary that defines me.” - Zadie Smith

If you’d like to share your thoughts on this post with me, please do! Otherwise, same time next week? xx

this week

Looking forward to

The release of Sophie Hansen’s new book on Monday! I have her other two and they’re both just lovely. Is there anything better than the anticipation of a new book that you already know will be brilliant?

Going for my first run in my new running shoes, which arrived today. Honestly, the last pair I bought wore out so quickly, and I have been feeling the roughness of the trails through the soles for months now. This is a long overdue purchase!

Reading

The Brownie Diaries by Leah Hyslop

Planet Simpson by Chris Turner - I haven’t read this book since 2004 when it first came out, and I had forgotten how brilliant it is, and how timeless/prescient so many of its observations are.

Do Inhabit: Style your space for a creative and considered life by Sue Fan and Danielle Quigley

Markkula Center for Applied Ethics: The ethics of fiction writing (PhD related, obvs!)

A Writer’s Diary by Virginia Woolf

Why I Write by George Orwell

Sydney Review of Books: Circuit and The Writer’s Clutter, both by Vanessa Berry

Listening to

TIDAL’s Baking Beats playlist - I really like lo-fi music for cooking, reading and working to.

Rethink Moments with Rachel Botsman: Trust Issues/Vulnerability is not a Weakness

Unlocking Us with Brené Brown: Accessing joy and finding connection in the midst of struggle, with Karen Walrond

BeWILDered: Self-Doubt and Creativity

The Creative Penn: Your Story Matters with Nikesh Shukla and Dealing with Self-Doubt and Writer’s Block with Dharma Kelleher

Happy Place: Clover Stroud

The Tim Ferriss Show: Interview #366 with Neil Gaiman (Neil loves fountain pens and Leuchtturm notebooks too!)

Eating

Noodles with fried tofu and orange nam jim from Ottolenghi’s Flavour

Apple and fig crumble (using my parents’ apples and my own figs) smothered in this.

Otherwise, it’s just been tomatoes and zucchini every which way - curry, soup, risotto, pasta.

I made a batch of dukkah this week which is fabulous on top of avocado toast, or just with good crusty bread and olive oil. I also like it sprinkled over hummus and cucumber rolled up in a wholemeal flatbread, which has been my regular work lunch this week because cucumbers have been plentiful, thanks to our generous neighbours.

I also made stewed apples (for more crumble, or maybe for porridge), pickled tomatoes and pickled cucumbers.

Picking

Zucchini, tomatoes, beans and silverbeet from my own garden, and our neighbours invited us to go over to their garden and pick whatever we wanted as they’re away and didn’t want the vegetables to go to waste. So there were also cucumbers, in addition to more zucchini and tomatoes!

Watching

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix) - what an incredible film, beautifully acted and written. A powerful reminder of why art is so vital, and the terrible price we sometimes pay in the pursuit of it. And Chadwick Boseman’s monologues are all the more powerful knowing that he must have had his own mortality in mind as he shot those scenes, as it was his last film. What a loss he has been.

Black Mirror (Netflix) - I enjoy surreal, futuristic dark comedy that still feels like it takes place in the real world, and this hits the spot while feeling terrifyingly prescient.

Call My Agent! (Dix pour cent)(Netflix) - safe to say we are now completely addicted to this fabulous show, and have also started learning French on Duolingo again.

What do you think - is being off social media agreeing with me? ;)

Wearing/applying

I bought some new jeans last November and they are the best I’ve had in recent history - Curve Embracer by Jeans West. I highly recommend them.

New Vitamin C serum and a new night cream - I may return to the old favourites if these don’t pass muster but so far so good. I’ve had an occasional mild bout of maskne and Go-To’s exfoliating swipeys cleared that up within a day, so I will have to restock those as I am perilously close to running out.

Apart from having them shaped regularly by a professional, I’ve never paid much attention to my eyebrows but a beauty editor friend recommended Rimmel London’s Wonder Last Brow Tint for Days and I’m not sure what it is but (I think) I look more polished and put together on the days I use it! Very easy to apply. I, obviously, use the blonde shade.

Thinking about

My friends currently in isolation/quarantine because their children caught covid at school. I know at least four families in this situation at the moment!

The fact that when I was born, if my mother had wanted to get a passport, she would have needed my father’s permission to do so. Australia didn’t change that law until 1983. That blows my mind and frankly makes me incredibly angry. I love writing historical fiction but oh my god am I glad to live in this time, as a woman, despite how far we still have to go.

An essay I started writing this week about superstition, friendship and the writing process. I’m going to have to dig deep for this one. It will be interesting!

Favourite experiences of the week

Getting a Wordle in two guesses - and Tom got one in ONE! I am yet to experience that phenomenon.

My monthly seminar with ACT Writers - this month’s lecturer was Claire G. Coleman and WOW, what a powerhouse she is. So generous, insightful and fun to learn from. “Don't be afraid to write garbage” was one of her many pieces of pithy advice.

Meeting up with my new PhD supervisor, who is actually an old acquaintance from London! One day we will share the incredible story of how our paths crossed and now have crossed again. It makes me believe in magic.