Member: Picola43

Hello Picola,
I wake up to Radio Australia on our national broadcaster as I work very early. Have been following the news of the fires and have been horrified. And now more. Just terrible that some were deliberately set. I do not understand what provokes such behaviour. I was impressed with your PM and his handling of it. Fire has to be one of the scariest things in life. That is why I live across the street from a fire station! (And they are wonderful in so many ways!) I hope you get rain soon.
We are still getting snow here. It's been another cold & snowy winter. 2 yrs ago, I didn't wear socks till mid-January! It was blustery cold today.
I have the website to Heligan open and the birds are driving my big beautiful Tabby nuts! What a gorgeous place. I hope to get there one day. If you are ever in Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia on Canada's west coast, do make a prolonged stop at the Buchart Gardens. They are breathtaking.
I am sooo looking forward to seeing things sprout from the ground again, the birds returning and the smell of spring!
Cheers from Canada and I hope all the fires are out and no longer a threat.
Clamato

posted by clamato at 7:01 pm (EST) on Feb 24, 2009

Oh and yesterday I added to my collection of the Day in the Life books with the Australia one! I was beside myself finding it for $2. It's worth so much more and such a beautiful book.
Cheers

posted by clamato at 6:52 pm (EST) on Jan 21, 2009

Hello from snowy and very cold Canada!
I do hope you get a chance to read Lost Gardens and even better - get a chance to go there. I sure hope to. I haven't been in the UK for a very long time. I am still amazed at what they were able to achieve and I never thought a book about a garden could be so interesting! I read it when I was watching all the Rosemary & Thyme episodes which if you haven't seen them, I highly recommend them. (Felicity Kendal)
Can you recommend something from Elizabeth Jane Howard for a book group? I only recently discovered her by hearing an interview with her on our CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company)She's had quite a life and was very interesting. I have since picked up a few of her books.
Thanks a bunch and hope it's lovely weather where you are. We are currently under mounds and mounds of snow and it's going down to -29C tonight. brrrrr!
Clamato

posted by clamato at 6:51 pm (EST) on Jan 21, 2009

Oh Picola! You amaze me with your reading. Your note came in just as I am finishing entering all my collection (yet to do tabs, stars, etc.). I do list them on a database on my computer, but became really hooked on the versatility, communications & fun of LT -- and have been on an "entering blitz" for a couple of weeks (neglecting all but the utterly urgent things in my life). I've got 1,019 listed on my computer, but with this exercise - have discovered that some of them have gone off with the daughters & husband & some are just too trivial to list (such as magazine-format cookbooks, etc.). So have come in with a library just short of 1,000 items. You're right - it's amazing to get acquainted with each & every volume once again. I tend to get carried away at the public library & for every book I finish reading the ratio is about 5:1 , Library:My Books (they can only count as "read" if I don't abandon them mid-read). That usually happens because something even more interesting at the moment comes along -- A.D.D. reading.

Now, back to real life once again. Choir practice in an hour

posted by caroleyeaman at 6:07 pm (EST) on Oct 16, 2008

Thanks for the link Picola. So far I've listened to the one about population and water, and also the one about Australian cinema.

Regarding Germaine Greer I saw her last year at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield where she was speaking about Anne Hathaway, which of course was mostly speculative and the subject of her latest book. As you'd expect both entertaining and erudite. She's certainly good value.

posted by hazelk at 9:20 am (EST) on Sep 4, 2008

Picola, hope your Melbourne day out went well - couldn't fail I should think.

Been looking for the other Helen Garner books you mention but availability a problem here in the UK: might ask son in Melbourne to get them second-hand and my daughter will pick them up when she's over there at Christmas. Thanks for the reccos.

posted by hazelk at 5:01 am (EST) on Aug 19, 2008

No,Picola, I haven't read any of her others but I will certainly do so.

Besides the quality of the writing I can see that there have been resonances for you regarding your friend that, touch wood, I haven't had to deal with.

On a much more trivial note, I picked up on pages 26-27 a description of strolling through Melbourne CBD seeing "the beauty of my city and was proud that she saw it too" which so reminded me of my trips to family in Melbourne when I've strolled happily there on sunny Saturdays - oh, those coffee shops!!

posted by hazelk at 7:22 am (EST) on Aug 12, 2008

Picola,I said I'd let you know how I got on with The Spare Room. Well, I found it an engaging read. By turns I wanted to scream at Nicola, commiserate with Helen, and then silently shout 'keep going' to the terminal Nicola. The writing is very fine - not at all ponderous or forced: I loved the clarity of it. A good examination of friendship in extremis.

Hazel

posted by hazelk at 11:02 am (EST) on Aug 9, 2008

You're very welcome, Lois. I'm new to LT, less than half-way through adding my books, have scarcely explored the vast range of the site and you are the first member I have communicated with, so it is lovely to make a connection and I'm quite thrilled with the potential opening out in front of me when I log in each day. I wonder when I will get back to reading my books!! Pulling them off the shelves to examine and add is a really enjoyable process - I'm rediscovering the front covers just for a start as well as remembering the contents. My book group has Patrick White's "The Aunt's Story" on this year's list - it will be interesting to hear everyone's responses because, although White is traditionally considered the uber deity of Aust. Lit., he has tumbled from his plinth academically in recent years. He seems to be better known for his frequent severing of friendships than his Nobel prize-winning literature which many readers turn from as too difficult. But there is so much more to our writing than White....Best wishes, Suzanne.

posted by Picola43 at 7:28 pm (EST) on Jun 17, 2008

Picola, thank you for your recommendations! I have read a few of the books you mention, and have read a few different titles by some of the authors you list. I was hoping to get to some other books before the trip but it may not happen (I'm a bit overcommitted with group reads here on LT :-) Again, thanks. Best, Lois

posted by avaland at 7:23 am (EST) on Jun 17, 2008