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Weekending - mountains to the east

 Last weekend we went to the Grampians, the mountains in the west of Victoria. this weekend e went to Marysville, which is in the Cathedral ranges to the East of Melbourne. We went, as we often do in the second weekend of November, to participate in the Marysville Marathon Festival, hand out at my parents holiday house and also with my parents. This year we had a bonus. Josh (an American friend who has featured on the blog quite a lot - he used to work in Antarctica and come visit on the way back to the USA) was coming for a lightening fast trip. He was happy to hire a car at the airport and come and see us in Marysville. that wasn't weird, we're friends because our fathers are friends, so he was glad to catch up with my folks and us. We did the things you do in Marysville. Eat good food: Walk up to the falls at night and take really bad selfies. And look at birds - I don't meant birdwatching, the birds are scavengers and hang out at the cafe and bakery! On Sunday we ran th
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Linky Wednesday - the one with the trouble with the formatting

Last week I said I was going to read  The Close-Up  by Pip Drysdale , but I had some issues with the formatting (sometimes NetGalley gives books as PDFs rather than ePubs, which sucks, and I've only recently worked out how to check before requesting the book)  so I read Crescendo by Joanna Howat - also a NetGalley review book. It was quite good. Then I read  Traitor by Krista D. Ball,  the first of a space opera series. It was really fun, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series. Then I didn't know what to read next. I was a little lost. I'm still struggling to get  The Close-Up  into a readable format, and I tried to read the next Maisie Dobbs  Birds of a Feather  book from the library. I put a hold, and got an email saying it was ready, but when I went to get it is still a couple of days off. I'm still confused about the library! So I picked a random romance off my e-Reader  Love, Lies and Lavender by D.E. Malone . So far so good - it seems reall

Weekending - on a bush block

 We had a four day weekend - Tuesday was Melbourne cup-day so, like most of Melbourne, we took Monday off and made a holiday of it. On Friday after work, Skip and Bee came and got us, and we drove down to Skip's parent's place in Portarlington to borrow their caravan. In the morning Leon and I did our last long run before the half marathon we are doing in Marysville next Sunday. We ran along the foreshore and it was beautiful. Then we drove up to Dick and Carly's place. they live at the foot of the Gariwerd (Grampians) on a great big property and it's beautiful.  A bunch of us camped there. That's Skip and Bee's caravan in the forground, and our little tent in the background. The weather was perfect, and we ate good food and drank good wine. Mostly we relaxed, hung out and breathed fresh air. I visited the sheep: We finally climbed Mt Zero, which is a walk the other way from the Grampians Peak Track. I got a lot of knitting done, and not quite as much reading as

Wellworn - time for new luggage and a weekend away

I have two bags I take away with me - my hiking pack and my Country Road Kit bag. Prior to my hiking pack, I borrowed Elise's backpacking pack. I've never had proper luggage. I bought my Country Road bag in about 1996. Anna had one, and I wanted to be like Anna. It cost around 100 dollars. It's been everywhere with me. It comes on planes as carryon, it goes car camping, it's great. Here's it packed for Thailand in 2017: It's got two problems - it's starting to tear at the handles and it's not that comfy to carry full - it cuts off the circulation to my arms. After our last trip to Bendigo I decided to upgrade to a bag that could also be carried on the shoulders. I'm lucky enough to work very near Little Bourke Street, where there are a lot of travel shops, and I went looking for the perfect bag. Which I found at One Planet , who not only made my hiking pack and sleeping bag but actually manufacture in Melbourne. Its a convertible kit bag, that can al

Linky Wednesday - the end of sOctober

We have come to the end of sOctober - my favourite month of the year. To celebrate I am knitting  Sake  by Cookie A . It's not overly difficult, but every stitch is charted and every row has cable crossings, so it's a slow knit. I'm also knitting the sleeves of Leon's jumper, which are very simple and soothing. We're going on a road / camping trip this weekend, which will be a chance to make some good progress on the body. After a couple of not so great books I'm reading  The Watchmaker of Filigree Stree t by Natasha Pulley  It's a lovely book (cosy fantasy, maybe, although not that much fantasy) I really like the way Natasha Pulley writes, which is great, because she has written ten books, and I think the library has most of them. Next up is  The Close-Up by Pip Drysdale.  A review book which is apparently a twisty thriller. That's probably what I will read.  I like Pip Drysdale, but I mainly selected it for the cover: I love a face cover, I love palm t

Non-fiction book reviews part 18 - Two misses and a hit

W elcome to part 18 in a series of non-fiction book reviews, originally based on the idea that the books I request tell you everything you need to know about me.  I have, after so many chapters of this series, realised that all these posts say about me is that have eclectic taste and endless curiosity. This time I am exploring whiskey cocktails, gnome poems and a book about counting sheep designed to help children sleep. All books in this post are kindly provided in e-arc form from the publishers through NetGalley. The 20 Little Poems for 20 Little Gnomes by Raven Howell (already released)  I've recently become a little obsessed with gnomes , so when I saw this book I had to request it. It's a beautifully illustrated book of lovely, positive little poems. I thought it was utterly charming, and ended up reading half the poems out loud to my husband. I would buy this book as a gift for a friend with a new baby, or for an early (1s, 2nd or 3rd) birthday present. Utterly charming.

Linky Wednesday - the one with new begginings

As I write this I have just finished a library book -  The Lessons by Naomi Alderman . I loved it. Now I am embarking on the oldest book on my Kobo -  Transmission  by Morgan Rice .  Look at that cover! It's the first in a sci-fi series about aliens arriving on earth. It's pretty short, and I've just discovered it's young adult (quite young) so I don't know how why I bought it. After that I have  Happy Place by Emily Henry,  which I had on hold at the library, and it just appeared when I had my Kobo on wifi to return The Lessons. There was no email or anything, and now I am confused as to how I'm meant to know that a book is ready. The only thing that has come over from previous weeks is the audiobook  Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke . Not my favourite cover, but I am enjoying the book. 32 hours for an audiobook is good value, and I'm enjoying the narrators tone. I've got less than ten hours left, so I'll have to start thinking ab