Weekend Cooking: The Last of the Apple Blossom by Mary-Lou Stephens

Recently my friend has started a new bookclub. It is something we have tried to do for a while now, but it never worked out, so this time she put a call out on Meet-Up and has bought together a group of people who share a desire to read but are otherwise a group of strangers. Well, other than the two of us who already know each other.

I was really keen to have this be a read-on-a-theme bookclub rather than nominating a specific book to read, although we may also do that on occasion. The theme for this time was Spring and I chose to read The Last of the Apple Blossom by Mary-Lou Stephens because blossoms mean spring right? It was a book that I already had on my ereader as a review copy and it also counts for Weekend Cooking - it's a triple whammy!

The story opens on 7 February 1967, a day known as Black Tuesday in Tasmania. On that day, there were horrific bushfires in and around Hobart and many people were killed, injured or made homeless. 

I count myself very lucky to have never been too close to a bushfire. The closest was a few years ago when there was a grass fire a couple of suburbs away and we were instructed to evacuate. As an Australian, every summer we dread the days when the news headlines start with stories of bushfires raging, of the volunteer fire fighters risking their own lives to try and save the homes and towns of others, of heartbreaking stories of homes lost or even worse, lives. Whilst I haven't personally been affected, I know people who know people who have lost it all. And we have all smelt the smoky air as it drifts across the country, felt the gloom descend and the pride that we feel in those people on the front line who give so much of themselves to help others.

The first few pages of this book were gripping as the author took us into the face of these horrendous fires in Hobart. The fear and the panic, the desperate need to get back to your family, and the heartbreaking moment when you realise that you have lost significant parts of your livelihood or heritage, and, even worse, members of your family. It was so well written, I could feel the tension, fear and the heat.

Our main character is Catherine Turner, a young teacher who grew up on her family's apple orchard in the Huon Valley. As the fires spread Catherine makes is charged with supervising the children who can't get back to their families due to the fires closing in. As soon as she is able, she makes the somewhat reckless, actually make that very reckless, decision to try to get home to her family's orchard. The roads are closed, and she and her friend are told not to proceed, but they do and in doing so they place themselves in the path of danger.

When she does get home, it is to scenes of utter devestation all through the valley. Fire is fickle. It can destroy great swathes of land and yet some structures will remain standing. For the Turners, they pay the ultimate price. Their main house is gone, and their young son/brother is dead. Fortunately a cottage remains for them to live in while they start to rebuild their lives. Catherine's father has always been of the opinion that the land is no place for a girl so the orchard was always going to go to Peter, despite the fact that he wanted to be a vet and Catherine wants to be an orchardist. Catherine's mother has been devestated by the loss of her son and withdraws into herself.

What follows is a history of the apple industry in Tasmania, since that fateful day and some of the key events of the late 1960's through to now through the lens of Catherine and her friends and family's lives.  Tasmania is known as the Apple Isle but the apple industry has been decimated over the last 50 years thanks to the fires, to changes in the export markets and increasing transport costs. These changes resulted in schemes from the government to pay people to rip out their trees, and families moving away to find a new life off the land. On the positive side there are the introduction of more efficient farming techniques and the introduction of organic farming methods.

Catherine's closest friend is Annie who is married to Dave Pearson. On the day of the fire, she is at home with her kids, plus young Charlie who is the son of Dave's friend Mark. Annie has five sons and a much wanted newborn baby girl. Annie grew up in an affluent family in Hobart, but she was disowned when she married Dave. Mark is living on their property with Charlie seeking an escape from his life in Melbourne, although Annie would like him to be gone. 

As Catherine gets to know the shy Charlie, she also begins to get to know Mark, but there are many impediments, not least of all the fact that he is married to the absent Lara. Catherine faces many challenges to keep her family legacy, whilst still having to deal with the ongoing trauma that is the legacy of the fires and her brother's death.

This is the author's debut novel, and it is a strong debut. I enjoyed learning about the history of the apple industry and the lives of characters. Some of storyline was a bit unlikely, but it was definitely readable.

It should come as no surprise that there were lots of mentions of food, most of which were apple recipes. I wanted to make something apple-y, but I wasn't sure what until Mae shared a poem about apple pie a couple of weeks ago. I have also been thinking that I needed to try and make a "proper pie" which sent me off on a search for recipes.  

Mae had mentioned having cheese with her apple pie, which is a new flavour combination to me and, in the end, I took that idea and twisted it a little and made a cheddar cheese flavoured pie crust, filled with apples and topped with a streusel which apparently. Apparently this style of pie (without the cheddar) is called a Dutch Apple Pie. 

I took bits and pieces and inspiration from various recipes and put them all together, but predominantly it was based on this recipe from Olive and Mango. I didn't use the nuts in the streusel because we have a nut allergy in our house (my son is allergic to tree nuts) so I looked around at various other streusel recipes until I decided to use rolled oats in my streusel.

And the verdict? I enjoyed the flavour combination, but it got mixed reviews in my house. Robert said that he would like it to be made again but with just a plain crust and my son wouldn't even try it! So overall, I would use that recipe for the apples again, but it would be a different pastry and an adapted streusel.

I am linking this post up with the Australian Women Writers Challenge, Historical Fiction Reading Challenge and Foodies Read.

Weekly Meals

Saturday - 

Sunday -  Fancy Dinner

Monday - Pork Chops, mash, mushroom sauce, broccoli

Tuesday - 

Wednesday - Spaghetti Bolognaise

Thursday - Fajitas

Friday - Take away

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

The Wreck by Meg Keneally

There seems to be a lot of really great Australian historical fiction around at the moment. Just this year I have read and enjoyed books by Alison Stuart, Victoria Purman, Tea Cooper and more, and now to this list I need to add Meg Keneally.

Sarah McCaffrey is a young woman who was left orphaned when her parents are killed in a peaceful protest turned massacre in Manchester. Along with her brother, Sam, she flees to London but they soon find themselves caught up in a rebellion plot. Unfortunately for Sarah, there is a police informant in their midst so the plot is foiled. Sarah escapes to a ship docked at the wharves of London called The Serpent. All alone in the world, Sarah finds herself unwillingly under sail. The boat, The Serpent, is headed for the other side of the world, to the colony of Sydney. 

The ship's captain was an ally to the planned rebellion, but he is a danger in other ways. He doesn't have a great relationship with other captains or shipowners and the ship itself isn't in great condition either. 

Having assumed a new identity, Sarah befriends another young woman on the ship, as well as some of the crew. When they are just hours away from reaching their destination there is a terrible storm, and the ship is dashed into the cliffs. Sarah is the only survivor, and so once again she is alone in the world 

Taken to shore, she shares a room in the hospital with a young woman named Annie who is about to give birth. Sarah is something of a celebrity in the fledgling penal colony. People want answers as to why the ship sank, how she came to be the only survivor, and who she is. 

Life in the young colony is tough. Whilst there are some substantial buildings, a lot of the inhabitants live in wattle and daub huts. And life is particularly tough for young women. Sarah and Annie are taken in by a local woman who gives them jobs in an upmarket boarding house providing food and shelter but little else. Despite her seemingly good fortune, Sarah is still determined to find out what really happened back in London and soon finds herself mixed up once again with rebellious types. When someone from her past reappears, could she find the answers she is looking for without the secret of who she really being revealed once and for all?

It is not necessarily rebellion that Sarah wants, but rather the chance of more equal rights for all, especially the women who so often find themselves without any means of support. Eventually she finds an ally in Mrs Thistle, who is a remarkable character and who is based on a woman named Mary Reibey who appears on our $20 note. Mrs Thistle is a successful merchant, in a world dominated by men, who has her own way of doing business.

Whilst some of the events in this book may seem fantastical, they are in fact based on true stories. There was a massacre in Manchester in 1819, and there was a shipwreck called The Dunbar which sank with only one survivor. Added to these events inspired by history, Meg Keneally has created an array of interesting characters that kept me reading until late at night, and bought the early days of colonial Sydney to life on the page.

Rating 4.5/5

Goodreads summary

All Sarah ever wanted was a better life ... From the bestselling author of Fled comes a moving tale of revolution, treachery and courage.

In 1820 Sarah McCaffrey, fleeing arrest for her part in a failed rebellion, thinks she has escaped when she finds herself aboard the Serpent, bound from London to the colony of New South Wales. But when the mercurial captain's actions drive the ship into a cliff, Sarah is the only survivor. Adopting a false identity, she becomes the right-hand woman of Molly Thistle, who has grown her late husband's business interests into a sprawling real estate and trade empire. As time passes, Sarah begins to believe she might have found a home - until her past follows her across the seas...

Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop

We get to celebrate Australia Day this weekend! Normally it is a day for relaxing but this weekend I have barbecues (there may even be prawns on the barbie!) and booze, maybe going to the fireworks nearby, watching the tennis, oh, and getting ready for back to school but I don't want to think too hard about that!

I am pleased though to be sharing some Australia Day celebrations with you! Today, I am participating in my first ever blog hop giveaway, the Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop being hosted by Book'd Out and Confessions from Romaholics! I am pleased to be giving away one book to the value of $30 (excluding postage). Because this is an Australia Day celebration, I am going to insist that the author be an Aussie!

As the giveaway is open internationally, it may give some of my international readers a chance to try some of the fantastic books we have that are only easily available here.

Need some ideas for books to choose from. Here are a few suggestions

Rural Lit - very popular here and kind of uniquely Australian. I certainly haven't read much like them set in other countries. All three of these books include outback settings, in very male dominated environments and all of them are great reads.

Historical Fiction - settings from WWII in Perth to ancient Etruscan civilisation to 19th century England

Contemporary Fiction  -Set in Melbourne or Sydney both of these books made laugh, and one of them nearly made me cry!

Speculative Fiction - I am a big fan of the entire Twelve Planets series from Twelfth Planet Press

That's probably enough in terms of suggestions, despite the fact I haven't even gotten to some of my favourite authors or the authors I know I should have read but haven't yet or to romance as a genre or literary fiction! So many fab choices!


How to Enter

The Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop is open for entries until Midnight January 28. Open internationally! Winners will be announced before the following Friday.

Complete the form below

Entry Form

Be sure to visit Book'd Out to see all the other great Aussie blogs that are hosting giveaways this weekend too!


In the comments

I am sure that there are lots of favourite Aussie authors that I haven't mentioned. Share your favourite Aussie authors, or the books that you wish you could read by an Aussie author!

Weekend Cooking: Tim Tam Slam

Last week I confessed that I had never seen a Star Wars movie from beginning to end. Without actually meaning to, I am today posting a second instalment of Things I've Never Done. Before that though, I want to mention that I am currently hosting a giveaway of a book that those of who like to read foodie fiction might like. It is international so anyone can enter, so head on over to find out all the details of how to win a copy of Vanity Fare by Megan Caldwell - baked goods and literature in one book!

Anyway, back to Tim Tam Slams. Last night I finished reading Free-Falling by Nicola Moriarty which I thoroughly enjoyed. For my post today, I am sharing the quote which got me thinking about Tim Tam Slams.

"That was amazing!" Evelyn slid the packet of Tim Tams across the table to offer one to Bazza, then sat back in her chair, taking a sip of peppermint tea and letting the exhilaration of the day wash over her. They were relaxing in the staffroom at SkyChallenge. The staff there had accepted her as a regular and were wandering in and out of the tiny kitchen, giving her congratulatory little pats on the shoulder as though it were perfectly normal for her to be relaxing in their room.

"McGavin, I knew you were going to love it!" Bazza dunked his Tim Tam into his coffee and then slurped the liquid through it, shoving it into his mouth just before it collapsed. "There's an art to this, you know?" he mumbled through his full mouth.

"To skydiving? Of course there is. That's why I did all that training."

"Nah, not to jumping. You jump, you count, you pull the cord, done. No, to drinking your coffee through a Tim Tam. You have to get the timing absolutely spot-on to avoid losing it in your cup - but you can't eat it too early, otherwise the whole thing isn't soaked through. You try it."

"Bazza, I have no intention at all of drinking my peppermint tea through a Tim Tam."

"Whoa, did you just call me Bazza? Looks like taking the leap all on your lonesome has finally loosened you up a bit, McGavin. I didn't know you were capable of using an actual nickname. Anyway, you have to try out the Tim Tam thing. It's in your contract." He folded his arms in an unsuccessful attempt to look menacing. Despite the shaved head and eyebrow ring, Bazza's warm eyes and cheeky grin meant he just couldn't pull it off.

"In my contract?' She raised her eyebrows at him.

"That's right. When you signed all the forms to start up your training, you agreed to take part in the official Post Skydiving Come Back Down to Earth Tim Tam Ritual. You're legally bound. Please, pick up your Tim Tam and take your position." Bazza demonstrated this by grabbing another biscuit from the pack and holding it above his coffee.

Evelyn laughed and gave in. She picked one up and held it above her mug in imitation of Bazza. A couple of staff members had come into the kitchen for a drink and stopped to watch.

"Right, first you take a bite from the bottom-left corner like this." He munched away the corner, then added hurriedly, "But don't take too much - all you want to get is a good clean entry point for your beverage. Next, flip your Tim Tam and take a similar bite from the corner diagonally opposite."

She did as she was told, finding herself laughing at his serious tone. Goodness, this boy has turned me into a giggling schoolgirl.

"Place the top bitten corner into your mouth like so, lower the Tim Tam into your chosen beverage so that the bitten corner sits just on the surface, and then suck." He proceeded to slurp up another mouthful of his coffee and then shove the Tim Tam in. "Right, your turn!" he said thickly through the biscuit..

Evelyn pursed her lips awkwardly around the top of the Tim Tam and then lowered her face down to her mug of tea. She began to suck but reeled back as too much of the hot liquid flooded her mouth, burning her tongue. Meanwhile, the Tim Tam completely disintegrated, showering the table with mushy bits of chocolate biscuit as she flailed about, waving her hand at her mouth. "It'th too hot, too hot!" she yelled, holding her tongue and dancing around. Bazza and the other staff members fell about laughing and, despite burning her tongue, Evelyn couldn't help joining in. It was all just so ridiculous. As she watched all the young boys snorting in hysterics at her, a memory swam to the surface that she thought she'd all but forgotten.

So, yes, my confession today is that I have never done a Tim Tam Slam. Given how rarely I drink hot beverages these days it probably isn't a surprise that I haven't done one recently but to have never done at all is!

The things I force myself to do for blogging

More surprisingly, I just realised today that despite blogging about all sorts of things for more than 7 years, I apparently have never, ever mentioned Tim Tams on this blog. I was quite rightly chastised on Twitter for being unAustralian as a result of making this confession!

For those who do not know what a Tim Tam is, they are basically the unofficial biscuit of Australia. They consist of chocolate cream sandwiched between chocolate biscuits and then smothered in chocolate. Originally they were only available in one flavour but these days you can get all sorts of different flavours like white chocolate and double coated, honeycomb and more, but the original is still the best! Structurally they look similar to Penguin biscuits that were available in the UK when I lived there (I have no idea if you can still get them or not) but Tim Tams just taste so much better.

Just for fun, here is a video of a Tim Tam Slam being performed.

 

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. For more information, see the welcome post.  

Sunday Salon: Bastille Day in Napoleon Land

Yesterday, it was Bastille Day! Without even consciously realising it, I had arranged to have morning tea with Lisa from ANZLitlovers at the National Gallery of Victoria. She wanted to look for some specific types of paintings, and I had intentions of going to see the Napoleon exhibition that is currently on there.  We always seem to find lots to talk about, and today was no exception!

Below are some photos from my day, including just some general Melbourne ones, and then I will talk more about the Napoleon exhibition in a bit more detail.

First up, here are some photos, all taken on my phone:

After saying farewell to Lisa, I headed into the Napoleon: From Revolution to Empire that is being shown at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) until October.

This exhibition is very much about Napoleon the conquering general, the hero. It follows events mostly chronologically so we do see a little something about his life on St Helena after he was exiled, but even then it is put in the context of an Australian connection. The battles where he didn't do quite so well barely rate a mention. The most famous battle, or at least the one that I know the most about, Waterloo was mentioned only once.  However, once you know and accept those limitations, the exhibition was completely fascinating.

The exhibition is peppered with Australian connections (which I will get back to later in the post) but covers the end of the reign of Louis XIV, trying to show excesses of that time that led to the French Revolution and then to the rise of Napoleon, initially as First Consul and then when he was invested as Emperor. The irony of the fact that many of those excesses that the revolution was against soon came back into play once Napoleon became emperor is not lost, especially in the displays of gift boxes, jewellery and more that was lavished on guests and family and friends, and the appointment of his children, siblings and loyal friends to the kingships of the conquered countries of Europe.

Throughout the exhibition, we see various displays elaborating on the symbolism that Napoleon and the leading artists of the day employed as propaganda - Roman and Egyptian abounds, as well as the decor of the State rooms and at Malmaison, uniforms of the day and the only dress that is known to have been worn by a lady at the coronation of Napoleon and Josephine as emperor and empress.

Of the art, the star of the show is undoubtedly the huge painting of Napoleon Crossing the Alps that dominates. Whilst there is no doubt that the crossing of the Alps was a formidable achievement, this painting definitely has elements of propaganda about it, no matter how impressive it is!


There was a lot of focus on Malmaison, the retreat that Napoleon shared with Josephine, and in particular on the fascination that Josephine especially had with the flora and fauna, and animals, that the various expeditions to Australia were bringing back to France. I knew, for example, that Josephine had a fascination with roses, but I didn't know (or at least I didn't remember) that there were emus, kangaroos and black swans that wandered the extensive gardens at Malmaison.

Here are some of the photos that I took that relate to the staging of the exhibition.

There were no photos inside the exhibition, or at least there wasn't meant to be, so here is a link to the trailer, and embedded below is a video which shows some of the beautiful objects that were featured in the exhibition.

And now, I come to the Australian connection, and the possibly puzzling post title today. Do you sometimes what you have known previously but now have forgotten, and then when you learn it again it is a surprise?

I knew that despite the fact that the British claimed Australia as their territory, there had been other European explorers who had spent time here. I knew that the Dutch and Portuguese had been here, and yes, I knew that the French had explored the Australian coastline. For example, when Matthew Flinders was mapping the South Australian coastline, he met up with French explorer Nicolas Baudin and the place where they met is now known as Encounter Bay.

What I don't remember knowing is that the French actually claimed a great deal of the South Eastern Coast of Australia, and had named it Terre Napoleon (or Napoleon Land). For example, on the coast of South Australia there are two big gulfs that are now known as Spencer Gulf and Gulf St. Vincent, but if we had of been a French colony, those two stretches of water would have been known as Golfe Bonaparte and Golfe Josephine (his was obviously the bigger of the two!).

To bring this back to books, I was left pondering how someone like Napoleon would be presented in French historical fiction? Are there books that are published in France about the adventures of men like La Perouse who disappeared on his way back from exploring the Australian coastline, Baudin who met up with Matthew Flinders, or Freycinet whose map is shown above? It would be fascinating to be able to read about important world events from a different perspective!









Currently Reading

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (a lot of the section I read today was set in France), Cracklescape by Margo Lanagan (not set in France at all), Fables 3 by Bill Willingham and The Proposal by Mary Balogh (featuring survivors of the Napoleonic wars)

Next Up

The Thread by Victoria Hislop (set in Greece, just for something different!)

Anzac Day 2012

Today is ANZAC Day, a day of national importance for both Australian and New Zealand. ANZAC is an acronym for the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps.

Whilst the day is an emotional one, starting at dawn with the sound of the bugler playing The Last Post and going through the veterans parades, the images of people making the trek to observe ANZAC day in places like Gallipolli and France, today I thought we would take a lighter approach. I have therefore teamed up with one of my favourite Kiwis....Maree from Just Add Books.

It would be remiss of me not to offer Maree sustenance before we get started!

Fush and Chups anyone?

Excuse me, don’t you mean feeesh and cheeeps?

Ah, the accent jokes never get old!

Let’s talk sports.

I remember being on a tram in Melbourne and hearing a VERY heated discussion about the nationality of Pharlap? Yes, we fight over the nationality of a horse!

Yes, the horse who was born in Timaru. In New Zealand. Pharlap is ours by birth. ;D

The same horse who made his name in Australia, whose body is in the Melbourne Museum and whose heart in the National Museum of Australia?

One episode that we couldn’t go past, is one that still lives large in the memories of sports fans on both sides of the Tasman - the infamous underarm bowling incident which took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1981.










With one ball remaining, New Zealand needed a six to tie the game, and in a very unsportsmanlike fashion, Australian captain Greg Chappell instructed the bowler, his brother Trevor, to bowl the last ball underarm so that the Kiwis couldn’t score.

The underarm incident. I grew up watching that footage on news shows and my dad shaking his head over it. It’s still trotted out even now, even though one would hope that it had worn out its welcome ...

Then there are the celebrities we love to claim as Aussies - Yes, Russell Crowe, we are talking about you (something I never thought would actually happen on my blog!) but there are plenty of others too. In an acceptance speech, he said “God bless America, God Save the Queen, God defend New Zealand and thank Christ for Australia”

I am not a fan, so to be fair I would be happy for him to go back to New Zealand.

To be honest, you can have Russell Crowe. No, really. We don’t mind at all.

Ha! Who knew we would fight over who didn’t get to keep Russell Crowe!

What about Aussie legends Crowded House?

Okay, those are FIGHTING words. What’s next, Split Enz? Pavlova?

Well actually, I was thinking more about Lamingtons, but I suspect the arguments would be similar. We might have to agree to share Crowded House seeing as the make up of the band has fluctuated over the years and has feature some Kiwis, some Aussies and apparently even a couple of Americans (who knew!)

For all that we do tease each other, we do know that when the chups (cheeps) are down, then we will be the first to jump to each others aid, as evidenced over the last few years with the Pike River mining disaster and the Christchurch earthquakes.

We fight like siblings, but like siblings we’re there for each other when it matters. Pike River and the earthquakes; whenever bad bushfires strike in Australia, volunteers from here don’t even hesitate before heading over the ditch to help out.

Our friendship was forged on the beach at Gallipolli, in the trenches of the Somme and in the years and conflicts since. We may bicker like siblings occasionally, but at the heart of it, we know that when the chips are down, Australia and New Zealand will stand strong together. We honour the men and women* who have served for both of our countries on this day that unites us.

We bicker and fight, yes, but if you try to take on one of us, you’re taking on both of us. Our history together is long and - let’s be honest more than a bit rocky - but when it really matters, we’re in it together.

Lest we forget

Lest we forget

*Thanks for Sean for reminding me of the terrible omission I had made. We also honour the women who have served our country over the years, and who continue to do so.

Coo-eeee!

Yesterday I put up my Library Loot, and the one and only book that I got from the library was called Cooee by Vivienne Kelly. In the comments to the post, Julie from Read Handed said

The title is fun to say. I have no idea what it means, but it's fun to say. Thanks for sharing!

The word cooee comes from Aboriginal tribe known as the Darug who originally occupied the land that most of modern Sydney is built on. The word means come here, and when done properly, the sound can cover quite a long distance. It is especially fun to do in an environment where there is a good echo.

I wouldn't say that it is a word that is in common usage in modern Australia, but it is fair to say that it is pretty much irresistable to give a few coo-ees if you find yourself in the bush, or up a mountain!

Here's an example of how it is done.

Australia Day 2011

The second verse of this poem is really the one that is the one that is most well known, but I thought I would share the whole poem in honour of Australia Day this year.

My Country by Dorothy Mackellar


The love of field and coppice
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies
I know, but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!

The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops,
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze ...

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand
though Earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Sunday Salon: Floods

As I am sure everyone is aware, Queensland has been inundated by flood waters this week with a terrible human cost for those who have lost everything, and for an unfortunate few who lost their lives. What may not be as well known is that that flood threat has now spread through five states including Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania. There has also been flooding in northern Western Australia over the last couple of weeks. It's hard to fathom earlier in the week they were comparing the size of the flooding to either the size of Germany and France combined, or greater than the size of Texas, and that is before the flooding spread to the other states.

Even the river that runs near me has flooded causing road closure. There's no danger to houses or lives (as long as people aren't silly near the water) but it is kind of weird to look at a piece of road that you drive over every day completely submerged by a rushing torrent of water. I do have some pictures but I can't for the life of me figure out how to get those photos off of my son's phone. Once I do I will post the pictures.

Personally, the end effect is inconvenience of having to drive around the long way to get where I need to go. I was also planning to go to Adelaide tomorrow for a couple of days, but because the highway between Melbourne and Adelaide is cut due to flood waters and isn't due to peak until tomorrow we have had to revise our plans. That means time at home, which will hopefully translate into some reading time, but we will see!

There are people who I know through blogging and Twitter who have been effected in various ways, either through having to evacuate, or whose livelihood has been lost, or who have lost many of their possessions. At times like these, you realise that it doesn't take much to connect with people who you know online - most of us know someone who has been affected, or at the very least knows someone who knows someone.


It seems completely surreal to think that just under two years ago our horror was due to terrible fires that destroyed hundreds of homes just outside of Melbourne and left more than 180 people dead in its wake.  Even at that time while there were fires near Melbourne there were floods in the northern states. Oh, this is a tough country at times.

Coincidentally, this week I have been reading a novel that is set in historical Australia called Walk About by Aaron Fletcher. This is the third book in the Outback Saga which follows two families from colonial days as they try to establish and run two huge sheep stations in the Outback. Of course, where you have a saga there will inevitably be drama but there were definitely surreal moments this morning as I turned on the news to hear news of flooding in places like Wilcannia and Menindee, when just a few pages before I had seen mention of these same places in the novel. Even though I haven't been to either of those places before, I instantly felt a jolt of recognition and empathy for those towns. Not to mention that the characters in the books had to deal with both fire and flooding.


That's part of what happens when we read. We are transported to places we may never visit, and learn something about the people who live there, the environment around them.

What has come out both through the book, and through the stories that we are seeing constantly on the news is the resilience of people, the eagerness of people to pitch in however they can possibly, the way people gather together to help those who have seen their lives turned upside down by the strength and fury of Mother Nature.

Now the questions come for those of us who are far away from the drama but want to do something - how can we help? There are lots of ways. The most obvious is to donate to the Queensland Premier's Flood Relief Appeal, or to well known charities like The Salvation Army or The Red Cross.

Within the book community, people are doing their part as well. I am sure there are many efforts that I am not aware of, but here are a couple that I do know of:

• At the upcoming Australian Romance Readers Convention in Sydney in March 2011 there will be a silent auction allowing delegates to bid on donated items from authors. The organisers have put out a call for donations. There was a similar silent auction at the last ARRC convention which raised around $7500 for bushfire victims.
• The Romance Writers of Australia have set up the RWA Flooded Communities Book Appeal asking for donations of books which will be sent to local libraries.
• Fablecroft Publishing has a limited edition e-book called After the Rain which is being sold by donation, and all donations are going to the Flood Appeal. The stories are all spec fic, which is probably a little bit out of my comfort zone, but this is one of the things I am going to be doing.
• The Writers Auction 4 Queensland has been set up on Facebook. They are no longer accepting auction items, but it sounds as though the bidding system is in the process of being set up. Similarly, the Queensland Writers Centre is setting up Writers on Rafts which is another author auction, and there are some big names attached to the project.
• The team behind 100 Stories for Haiti and 50 Stories for Pakistan are reconvening and looking for submissions to 100 Stories for Queensland - an anthology of short stories with all proceeds going to charity.

I am sure there are many other ways that we can help. One final, non bookish way, is to download the song that seems to have become official anthem related to the flooding - Never Break You by Casey Barnes. I know it is available on iTunes in Australia to download with all profits going to the flood appeal. I am not sure if it is available on iTunes internationally though.




And whilst we are watching events as they happen here in Australia, we are also conscious of the terrible flooding in Brazil which has caused such devestating losses there.

TSS: The Post Election post

Yesterday Australia went to the polls to vote for the Federal Parliament. I am not sure that I can give a very good, simplified, summary of our political system, but I will try.

Our political system is based on the UK system of parliament. The parliament itself has a two house format. In the lower house we have the members of parliament, and the upper house is the Senate. For the lower house, we vote for our local member of parliament for our seat and whichever of the two major parties has the most seats get to become the governing party. Whoever is leading the party in the lower house gets to be our Prime Minister. For the upper house, there are a number of senators per state and we vote by state.

Around 8 weeks ago, the man who was Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, was removed as leader of the Labor Party, and we had a new prime minister, our first female prime minister, Julia Gillard. Soon after, a Federal election was called and after around 6 weeks of listening to campaign ads, interviews, and political rhetoric, yesterday Australians lined up to vote.

Luckily, I have never had to queue for hours to vote, and the short wait yesterday was made better by the prospect of a sausage sizzle and a chat with friends after the deed was done.

Image from SMH.com.au

One of the things that is a little bit unusual about the Australian electoral process is that it is compulsory to vote in elections here. If you are eligible and don't register to vote, or if you are registered to vote and you don't do so, then you can be fined. Once you have your name crossed off the electoral list, you can choose to enter a donkey vote (maybe as a protest vote or possibly a can't be bothered vote), and it seems as though we have had a relatively high number of those votes in this election. Personally, I don't understand why you would donkey vote, but lots of people have done it, including people I know.



Some historical milestones - this election brings us our first Muslim members of parliaments (I can't find a link for this one but it is being reported on the news), our first indigenous member of parliament (maybe anyway - the votes are still being counted in that seat), our youngest parliamentarian ever, first Greens MP to be elected in a full election (one had been won had a by election which is when only one seat has to vote due the early departure of the sitting member for whatever reason) and, most importantly, our first hung parliament in more than 70 years. It's difficult to imagine that at this stage we don't know who is leading our country, and the power to make that decision appears to lie with four independent members who will decide which party they will side with.


No matter who you voted for yesterday, one of the things that I think that some times get lost in the political headlines, or at least taken for granted, is that as Australians we have a say in who leads our country, and that we get to express that right safely. Other people around the world are killed when they are trying to take up their democratic right to vote, but for us here it is occasionally an inconvenience, but nothing more.

Maybe part of the reason why I found myself thinking about that more than normal yesterday is because I am currently reading The Dead of the Night by John Marsden, the second book in the Tomorrow series. In that series, Australia is invaded by an unnamed armed force, and the people are rounded up and imprisoned. We have been lucky and never actually faced this threat since European colonisation (an important distinction, as some indigenous Australians see the European colonisation of the country as an invasion) although it did come close during WWII, and I hope to goodness that our country continues to be safe and prosperous whoever is our leader once all the votes are counted, and the negotiations with the independent members are completed.

Hopefully, we will know who our Prime Minister will be soon whether it be Julia Gillard (leader of the Labor party) or Tony Abbott (leader of the Liberal coalition). I know who I hope it isn't, but I guess we will have to wait and see what happens.

Weekend Cooking: Anzac Biscuits

I haven't participated in Weekend Cooking which is hosted by Beth from Beth Fish Reads before. I am not sure how regularly I will participate but over the last few weeks I have been trying quite a few new recipes so I might post something every now and again.

Last week I posted about Anzac Day. Depending on which version of the tradition around their creation you subscribe to, these biscuits were either first made during WWI by soldiers using the available ingredients they had in the trenches, or the more likely story is that they were originally made by the wives of soldiers and sent to them, and would still be edible when they arrived due to the ingredients that they are made from.

Last Monday was the first time I ever made these, and I was really surprised at how easy they were to make, and how tasty they are, and my son really enjoyed making them with me!

This recipe comes from Taste.com.au

* 1 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted
* 1 cup rolled oats
* 1/2 cup caster sugar
* 3/4 cup desiccated coconut
* 2 tablespoons golden syrup or treacle
* 150g unsalted butter, chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda

Preheat oven to 170°C. Place the flour, oats, sugar and coconut in a large bowl and stir to combine. In a small saucepan place the golden syrup and butter and stir over low heat until the butter has fully melted. Mix the bicarb soda with 1 1/2 tablespoons water and add to the golden syrup mixture. It will bubble whilst you are stirring together so remove from the heat. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix together until fully combined. Roll tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls and place on baking trays lined with non stick baking paper, pressing down on the tops to flatten slightly. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Alphabet in Historical Fiction: F is for French

Not F for French as in someone from France, but F for French, as in Jackie French, who is a very prolific Australian YA author! She writes all sorts of novels, including some adult novels, YA historical fiction, straight YA novels, non fiction and picture books. And that adds up to good news for me as I work my way slowly through at least some of her backlist!

I am going to post about my impressions of The Night They Stormed Eureka by Jackie French.


Here is the book blurb:

It's 1854 and, on the Ballarat goldfields, men are willing to risk their lives to find freedom and make their fortunes in the mine.

Sam, a homeless teenager, is called back to the past to join the Puddlehams, who run 'the best little cook shop on the diggings'. The Puddlehams dream of buying a hotel with velvet seats, while others dream of freedom from the government with its corrupt officials and brutal soldiers.

As the summer days get hotter, and the miners' protests are ignored with catastrophic results, Sam experiences first-hand the power of a united stand, which will change her life forever.

Jackie French's fresh look at an event entrenched in our nation heritage will touch and surprise every reader.

First an introduction. I had heard of Jackie French, but must confess that I often would get her confused with an Australian actress called Jackie Weaver. Last year, I participated in Book Smugglers YA Appreciation month, and asked for recommendations for YA historical fiction, and for YA by Australian authors. It must have been while I was visiting other participants that I discovered that Jackie French who met both criteria, and so I had to request a book from the library catalogue by her!

What I didn't realise when I first requested the book, is that this was actually a time travel novel. When we first meet Sam, she is a very unhappy, lonely teenage runaway. She is hiding in the cemetery and finds herself curled up on a gravestone of a couple called the Puddlehams. When she wakes up, she finds herself in a very different time and place - the Victorian Goldfields during the 1850s.

The goldfields are no place for a young girl, and Sam soon finds herself pretending to be a boy, and being taken under the wing of Mr and Mrs Puddleham. Mr Puddleham used to be a butler for Queen Victoria before he followed Mrs Puddleham to Australia. They quickly realised that they wouldn't make their fortune by panning for gold, but rather that they could make enough money to follow their dreams by running a cookshop on the diggings, or rather, the best cookshop on the diggings.

Sam is soon drafted in to help in the cookshop, and soon begins to make friends - not only with the Puddlehams, but also with the eccentric former professor, and a local half-caste boy. She finds it difficult to equate some of the things that happen to her friends with her 21st century experience.

The goldfields were a very volatile place with corruption and violence rife, and with tensions rising, it was only a matter of time before there would be trouble. Sam knows what tragedy is coming, and she hopes to keep those that she loves from being caught up. With the principles of freedom and justice at stake though, it is difficult and Sam finds herself at the encampment as the time approaches for the confrontation between the miners and the authorities.

The Eureka Stockade is one of the iconic events of Australian history. Whilst the actual stockade wasn't a success, the events that occurred there were the catalyst for change that helped build the foundations of Australian society particularly in terms of the right for non land owners to vote (just the men at this point). It was also where the Eureka flag was used for the first time as a banner to rally around. Even today, the Eureka flag is used by some of the trade unions as a symbol.

Whilst Sam brings us a bird's eye view of the events that lead up to the Eureka Stockade, she is also learning valuable life lessons like being able to ask for help when you need it, and about learning to love, and to accept love from others, but not without having to deal with sorrow along the way.

I definitely intend to read more from Jackie French. I am starting with a series about animals being present at major events in history. The first book in that series, The Goat Who Travelled the World is on my TBR pile to get to soon, and is about a goat that travels with the First Fleet to Australia (or New South Wales as it was known then).

Not only does this book qualify as my read for this letter in the Alphabet in Historical Fiction, it also qualifies as one of my reads for the Aussie Author Challenge, the Year of the Historical Challenge, and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

Rating: 4/5

Teaser Tuesday: Shadowfae by Erica Hayes

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I have mentioned before that when I participate in Teaser Tuesday my normal process is to open the book, skim through to find a teaser and if nothing jumps out then I will flick through some pages and try again until I find something interesting. Every now and again, I specifically pick something out. This week is a specific week!

My teaser this week comes from page 21 of Shadowfae by Erica Hayes. First I will share the teaser and then I will tell you why I chose this specific section:

Or they had, until DiLuca started seducing them away, and the whisper in Carlton was that a war was brewing, a clash of brass and blood to rival anything we'd seen in the nineties. But by nature, the fae lived on the edge of chaos, and it was to be expected that one or two would turn up dead every so often.

Erica Hayes, the author of Shadowfae is an Australian, and she has chosen to set this book in Melbourne, which is where I live. There are numerous mentions of Melbourne landmarks in the book, and as I have been reading the book I am wondering if maybe I need to open my eyes to the possibilities of otherworld happenings going on around me, because obviously Erica Hayes sees them, as well as Keri Arthur whose Riley Jensen series is set in Melbourne. It seems that I really need to be more observant around Carlton when I go there next!

The most interesting thing about that passage is a little kernel of information that is in that first line that I don't know would mean anything much to non Aussies who read it. Yep, there was a war in the 90s in Melbourne - a gangland war. To most Australian readers, that would pretty much instantly bring to mind the gangland killings which were taking place in Melbourne in the nineties, with numerous underworld identities being killed, sometimes in broad daylight and in public. This gangland war provided the material for a book called Leadbelly, which in turn was turned into a TV series that was one of the most successful Australian productions in years called Underbelly.

Personally, I never watched Underbelly, basically because I don't watch a lot of TV but also because I felt that in many it glamorised the gangland lifestyle, but it is hard to miss the Underbelly phenomenon in Australian society, and especially particularly in Melbourne.

Just for something a little different I thought I might put up some pictures of some of the locations talked about in the book -

Eureka Tower - when it opened the Eureka Tower was the tallest residential building in the world. Not sure if that is still the case or not! Scene of pretty key party in Shadowfae

(Image from Wikipedia)

This is how I see Carlton! A great place to sit outside, drink coffee and eat, especially on a balmy summer night. Apparently, I need to look closer to see the vampires, werewolves, incubus, succubus and fae hangouts!

The Victorian Art Centre spire - mentioned quite a few times as a sight through the books. There is an awesome craft markets right near here on Sundays. Not sure that Jade, the main female character, and resident succubus would have been there, but I like it!

An Anzac Day tradition

Today is Anzac Day, a day when we celebrate the sacrifices made by our soldiers during conflict. The reason why it we celebrate on this day, is because on April 25, 1915, our soldiers arrived a Gallipoli, the first time that we had fought not as British soldiers, but as Australians. The word Anzac stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, and this is a day that we share proudly with our New Zealand comrade.

This day is a day I actually get very emotional and very proud to be an Aussie. There are the inevitable documentaries about various actions, either the debacle at Gallipoli itself or the conflict on the Western Front. If you are really keen you can go to the dawn service, or there are generally services later in the day, and a big parade in the city as well.

Over the last few years I have posted poems, and videos and stories of sacrifice, but today I thought I would post about something a little different.

It has often been said that Aussies will bet on just about anything, and on Anzac Day especially, if you want to throw some money away you might do it by playing Two-Up. It is actually illegal to run a Two Up game for money anywhere outside of a casino any other day of the year, but on Anzac Day two-up schools (which is what a game of two-up is called) pop up all over the place.

So what is two-up? Basically it is a betting game when you toss up two coins (traditionally pennies) and bet on whether they are going to land on heads, tails or odds (where the coins land with one head up and one tail up). Among the rules are the stipulation that the coins must be flipped up more than 1 metre above the head, and the spinner (the person flipping the coins) wins if they can throw 3 lots of heads in a row.

I was trying to find some video where the noise didn't just sound like a rabble, but one of the thing that goes hand in hand with two-up for many is drinking, but here is a short video of a veteran being the spinner (warning there is a little swearing at the end), and the second video is some radio announcers at a Brisbane radio stations learning how to play two-up.

They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

It does a readers heart good to read this article

From News.com.au

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd won't tell Australians how to spend their stimulus bonuses, but says if he is eligible for the handout, he would blow it on books and music.

Taxpayers earning less than $100,000 will receive a one-off bonus of up to $900, as part of the Federal Government's $42 billion stimulus package.

Speaking on Nova radio in Sydney today, Mr Rudd was asked how he would spend the money if he was eligible for the bonus.

"Some people have accused me of being a nerd from central casting,'' he said.

"What I would probably do is go down to the bookshop and buy some books I've been wanting to buy for a while. A bit of music, that sort of stuff.''

I am not sure that Kev and I would have the same taste in books or music but I am pretty sure that I could quite easily spent $900 on them, if I didn't have other expenses!