Intro | Wombat News
Astrid Lingred Award Nomination
Book News | Schedule for 2013
The December Garden | Holiday Recipes

I blinked this morning, and suddenly it’s nearly Christmas. Where did the year vanish, she asks, waving hands distractedly towards the wrapping paper. At least the presents are piled on the spare bed, and have been for several months. There’s only Hank’s dog biscuits to get, Hank being a dog of conservative digestion who will be visiting over Christmas.
       The cake is made and has been made since mid-winter, and half eaten too, but the other half will see us through till at least the end of January – a good fruit cake lasts, and this one was BIG. No Christmas pud this year a.) because I eat half of it by myself and b.) because no one else eats the other half, except a taste ‘because it’s Christmas’. Bryan reckons the cake gives him all the dried fruit he needs.
       This year dessert will be a rich chocolate tart, slightly crunchy at the base, that takes ten minutes to make and probably less for everyone to eat their first helpings and ask for seconds.
       Blimey – I haven’t ordered the cherries (ours are ripe and eaten long before). Bryan picks up the peaches on Christmas Eve from down the valley – when you live in this valley there’s no point growing a dozen varieties of peaches. We have the one white-fleshed peach, the sort that bruises if you breathe on it so will never find its way to the supermarket, and a Golden Queen because hardly anyone grows them commercially any more as they just look vaguely green and peach-like outside. But once you get past the peach fuzz they are divine, fragrant and firm fleshed.
       So what do I want for Christmas? Peace on earth, goodwill to all men, women, kids and wombats, possibly some teatowels and not much else. No bushfires, no cyclones. A week of family and friends and lunch by the creek, and a large smelly wombat grunting past in the evening. Paradise and peace.

Goodbye 2012
The most wonderful things?
. Baby wombats under every bush (okay, every third bush) and a valley still lush with rain.
.  Fat golden skinks zapping mosquitoes out of the air.
.  Hank for the holidays
. One million four hundred thousand nine hundred and sixty-two finger paintings of wombats, carrots and very green grass.
.  12 unexpected mulberry trees that I planted twenty years ago and which died in the drought. Except they didn’t – their roots survived to grow again and suddenly there they are, laden with fruit and silken, deep green, crinkled leaves.
.  Working with inspired editors and artists who I won’t name but owe so much to.
.  Finishing Refuge and knowing it is as good as I (and the aforesaid editors) can make it. How good is that? I don’t know, and won’t till after the first few thousand have read it and if, just possibly, it changes the tiniest fraction of a millionth part of the word.
.  Kids who began the year unable to read, and have ended it reaching for yet another book with joy and confidence, true and absolute readers forever.
.  And friends and family, miracle editors and generous readers… and too much to list here.
It has been a year to be grateful for, with good things to come.

Wombat News
       No, there has been no Mothball demanding carrots at the door, though every time the possum thumps on the veranda I look out to see if it’s her. But I don’t think any wombat wants carrots just now. Just lush green grass, and more grass, and then a mouthful more. But there have been giant Mothball-sized droppings in the past three days, and a distinct smell that is only Mothball’s. Or, of course, possibly her son or daughter’s.  Will mooch out and try to see tonight.

Astrid Lindgren Award
        Another nomination this year too. Am enormously grateful and honoured.

Book News
       The Girl from Snowy River is being reprinted as I write this, a week before it’s even been released.
        I gave a day of video workhops on Queen Victoria’s Christmas last week, to about fifty schools and I’m not sure how many kids. It’s a fun book. Not remarkable- I think we had more fun with the idea than the book itself- and the kids grin and want it read again.
       Christmas Wombat is out in ‘boardbook’, and Diary of a Wombat is out in a gorgeous 10th anniversary edition, no words on the cover, just wombat.
       The reviews of Pennies for Hitler are still coming in, and they’re good – it’s always terrifying till the first few reviews come in, especially for a book close to your heart.
       And now that I am home for more than a few consecutive days, I am writing again, with joy and fulfillment and just the smallest amount of terror. (I doubt any author writes a book without that whisper of anguish.)

Schedule for the Year to Come
       This is probably it- no more talks, no more visits, except for those that are impossible to refuse. The year will also contain travels for family reasons, trips to the dentist and other necessities. Mostly, it will contain time to write, which has been missing his year when I wasn’t able to say ‘no’ often enough, or firmly enough. Plus, possibly, even time to answer all the mail within a month of getting it; cut back the jungle that’s enveloping the lower garden; say hello to the chooks and do a lot more mooching about the bush than I’ve had time for this year.
       Many many apologies for all I have, or will, refuse for next year. This year has been wonderful, but far too full.  And several friends will speak sternly, and often, if they see it happen again. 

March 12-16: Somerset Literary Festival, Queensland.
March 21-24: Children’s Book Festival, State Library of Victoria.
Late March onwards: Hitler’s Daughter: the play, by the wonderful Monkey Baa Theatre for Young People tours the USA and Canada. At this stage I don’t know which openings we may go to.
May 20-24: School days at the Sydney Writer’s Festival.
July 23-25: Talks in Brisbane. Contact Helen at Speaker’s Ink for bookings and details.
August 18 Talks at the Australian Jewish Museum, Sydney.
19, 20, 21 Talks at Sydney schools (already booked)
9-11 September: Ipswich Festival, Queensland.
13-14 September: Celebrate Reading National Conference (Picture Books), Literature Centre, Fremantle, WA.
November 9, 10: Open Garden Workshops here. Contact the Open Garden, who organise it, for bookings.

The December Garden
This is the time to pick, eat and stuff flowers in vases, not plant. The first beans are fattening, the mulberries and cherries picked, the apricots ripening, the first zucchinis will hopefully be with us for Christmas dinner and, maybe, even the first red tomato, or even a dark purple or black Krim.
       The red and yellow gladdies that grow wild down in the cottage paddock always bloom in time for Christmas, great massive bunches of them. The single mini dahlias will be blooming by the front gate, the great blue spires of the salvias shimmering with eastern spinebills and other nectar eaters.
       As for work, I’ll just shove sugar cane mulch on the weeds in the vegies, and maybe mow if the wombats and wallabies don’t eat it fast enough. (Mowing will also give the brown snakes a helpful hint that we don’t want them snoozing around the house.)
PS If you are looking for a gift for a gardener, you can’t go past a good garden hat. Plants, and books, are often deeply personal choices. So are hats for that matter, but a garden hat will get grubby and damp with sweat and sunscreen anyway, so it doesn’t matter if it’s crocheted by Aunt Dahlia, or decorated with plastic sunflowers.

Holiday Recipes
Make these to give, or make them to eat. (Just like no unread book should be given, every edible homemade gift should be nibbled.)

White Chocolate Fudge
This is decadent, simple, and fast.
1 tin condensed milk
2 tbsps butter
450 white chocolate, chopped
1 tsp vanilla paste

Lay baking paper over a tray.
Place the condensed milk in saucepan; place on the lowest heat possible and add the butter and chocolate. Stir with a wooden spoon till all the chocolate has melted. Add vanilla. Scoop out onto the baking paper. It takes about two hours to set. Cut into small squares and store in a sealed container.

Orange and Pistachio Fudge
Flavour with 3 tbsps grated orange zest instead of the vanilla and add half a cup shelled pistachio nuts.

Rum and Glacé Fruit Fudge
Add 1 tbsp rum instead of vanilla, and 1 cup finely chopped glace fruit: peaches, apricots, pineapple or ginger.

Almond Fudge
Use 1 tsp almond essence instead of vanilla. After you scoop out the fudge scatter on half a cup of flaked almonds.

Chocolate Cherry Squares
2 cups finely chopped crystallised cherries
2 cups sliced almonds
450 gm dark, milk or white chocolate.
Optional: ½ cup dessicated coconut (which Bryan hates)
 
Melt the chocolate in a china bowl in the microwave on high for 30 seconds, then another 20 seconds if it isn’t soft. Don’t overcook it or it will turn grainy. Stir in the other ingredients, then quickly place teaspoons on the baking paper. They’ll take about 2 hours to set. Store in a sealed container in a cool place.

More or Less Magic Sorbet
1 small pineapple
½ cup lemon cordial
Blend. Freeze in a sealed container. When half frozen blend again to aerate it. Keep frozen.

Fruit Slush
4 cups berries, including cherries (pitted)
½ cup caster sugar
Blend. Scoop into a container; put on the lid. Place in the freezer, when half frozen blend again. Keep frozen till needed. This can be served fully frozen as dessert, or half melted, to be eaten with a spoon then the rest slowly sipped.

Lemon Pots
Simple, fast and lemony.
1 cup lemon juice
¾ cup caster sugar
1 cup cream
Mix until sugar is dissolved. Divide between four mugs. Bake at 200º C for about 20 minutes until set. Serve hot or chilled from the fridge.