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Jackie's January Message continued . . . It's hot and green here in the valley, one of those seasons when the trees shoot up another three metres overnight and the grass is so thick the wombats have indigestion and just nose about in the greenery then go back to sleep. January always feels like it could go on forever, the tomatoes ripening, the zuchinni turning into giants under the eaves and the avocadoes getting fatter and fatter and the currawongs looking at them speculatively- they love avocadoes. (It is almost worth losing an avocado to watch them struggle to fly off with one. Must look for giant varieties of avocado, too heavy for currawongs to lift.. Have just put in the thorniest possible roses too, to teach the possums that rose bushes are not necessarily edible.) As for other news in th French household, we've just got a new fridge which is not exactly earthshattering news for anyone else but it is front page banner headlines for us! It actually FREEZES!!! Because our power comes from sun and water, and we live in a deep valley where the sun rations itself to brief dashes across the ridges and the creek stops in a drought, we have to be careful with our power use, so have a gas fridge (Well, we could have a 12 volt solar one, but all reports of them from friends who have tried them haven't been good.) The old fridge was 20 years old and..., but I doubt very much you're interested in the saga of our fridge, no matter how fascinating it is to us. I'm off to the Buderim Ginger festival later this month, and then the Magic Pudding Literary Festival in the Blue Mountains. I suspect that the Magic Pudding changed my life forever when I was 7, which is possibly why they've asked me. It was that illustration on the final page, of them all living in a tree in a market garden, with veg to pick whenever they wanted it and good conversation with friends, not to mention puddin' to eat, and I thoguht 'Yes, that's the way I want to live'..and now umpteen years later it's the way I AM living. Don't let anyone ever tell you that books can't corrupt you..... I could be a respectable inner city accountant now...well, I could if I'd ever managed to master the eight times table. (No, I'm not joking. I never can remember what comes after 8 X10) The next books to come out will be Earthly Delights this month, a hilarious and VERY tongue in cheek look at potatoes, celery, passionfruit cordial, blueberry body paint and other moods of love, then In The Blood, a sci fi vampire thriller detective romance, but with a definite difference. I started writing it as escapism when Bryan was ill, but it turned into something more. It's the first of a trilogy now, with the next one, Blood Moon due out next year. It's for adults/ young adults. Cafe on Callisto is due out next month too- it's for 6-12 year olds, about interplanetary colonisation and eating- very funny(I hope). Also the food bits are good too. Bryan has just wandered in wondering if there is anything for lunch ie other than getting himself a sandwich. He's looking very hopefully so i'd better go. (he's been slashing blackberries along our entrance road all morning, so we don't get hedgd in here like Cinderella among the thorns. Would be embarrassing to wake up one morning and find a handsome prince hacking his way in here exepcting a sleeping princess or two. Don't suppose he'd find the wombats an acceptable substitute
Lots of love, |