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Picnic in the Park
Dec. 17th, 2004 12:56 pmOne of the benefits of being self-employed is that I can take time off to do what I want, and yesterday I took an hour or two to join SUJIE and her family in the Botanic Gardens for a picnic.
The ripples from the splash of that copy of Blackwater I tossed into Lake Burley Griffin are still spreading out across the world, with Sue playing an active role on the forums, getting books sent in from overseas for her people in Borneo, and closer to home she has signed up daughters Kate and Gwynn and husband Dave. And niece Bron. Her grandchildren are not yet members, but they were the only ones yesterday who weren't when I joined all of the above for lunch.
Such a pleasant day. Cool and clear in the shade of the trees on the green lawns outside the cafe at the Australian National Botanic Gardens. I brought along a bottle of Yellowglen Pinot Noir, some juice, cheeses and stuff to add to the mix and we all stuffed ourselves and talked of books and Borneo and babies and things. The two youngsters were suitably distracted, mainly in rolling their grandfather down the hill towards the duckpond. Dave didn't seem to mind this at all!
A great time. Must go back for the summer Jazz concerts in January and February. Bron and Gwynn are keen, and I'm sure I can talk Kerri into coming along.
Brother-in-law has been posted to Sydney and we'll have the use of his apartment on weekends. Not quite in the centre of town, it looks out on Hyde Park and has a car space. And it won't cost us $187 a night, neither. We'll stay there when we pick up DD after Christmas. Poor B-I-L - he'll be spending his weekends driving to and from Sydney.
Finally found a bit of time to begin watching The West Wing episodes I bought last week. Started off with the first ep in Season 2, just after the shooting. One of my favorite episodes because it begins the flashbacks to the time of Bartlett's first campaign. This time I had a brainwave and turned on the subtitles. So much became clear that was just a jumble before. And I realised some of the deeper relationships. The Senator Josh jumped ship on was Hoynes. Such an excellent series. It repays re-viewing, like the best of literature when the subtleties emerge.
Which doesn't describe my novel at all. Needs a lot of work and I'm toying with putting in another ten thousand words or so to round it out. It would pull in a new voice and would be quite tricky to write, and would have the effect of making it darker, but that would merely make Ann's triumph all the brighter. Must think about this. In the meantime, the first printed version won't have this material, not unless I don't sleep for two days.
The ripples from the splash of that copy of Blackwater I tossed into Lake Burley Griffin are still spreading out across the world, with Sue playing an active role on the forums, getting books sent in from overseas for her people in Borneo, and closer to home she has signed up daughters Kate and Gwynn and husband Dave. And niece Bron. Her grandchildren are not yet members, but they were the only ones yesterday who weren't when I joined all of the above for lunch.
Such a pleasant day. Cool and clear in the shade of the trees on the green lawns outside the cafe at the Australian National Botanic Gardens. I brought along a bottle of Yellowglen Pinot Noir, some juice, cheeses and stuff to add to the mix and we all stuffed ourselves and talked of books and Borneo and babies and things. The two youngsters were suitably distracted, mainly in rolling their grandfather down the hill towards the duckpond. Dave didn't seem to mind this at all!
A great time. Must go back for the summer Jazz concerts in January and February. Bron and Gwynn are keen, and I'm sure I can talk Kerri into coming along.
Brother-in-law has been posted to Sydney and we'll have the use of his apartment on weekends. Not quite in the centre of town, it looks out on Hyde Park and has a car space. And it won't cost us $187 a night, neither. We'll stay there when we pick up DD after Christmas. Poor B-I-L - he'll be spending his weekends driving to and from Sydney.
Finally found a bit of time to begin watching The West Wing episodes I bought last week. Started off with the first ep in Season 2, just after the shooting. One of my favorite episodes because it begins the flashbacks to the time of Bartlett's first campaign. This time I had a brainwave and turned on the subtitles. So much became clear that was just a jumble before. And I realised some of the deeper relationships. The Senator Josh jumped ship on was Hoynes. Such an excellent series. It repays re-viewing, like the best of literature when the subtleties emerge.
Which doesn't describe my novel at all. Needs a lot of work and I'm toying with putting in another ten thousand words or so to round it out. It would pull in a new voice and would be quite tricky to write, and would have the effect of making it darker, but that would merely make Ann's triumph all the brighter. Must think about this. In the meantime, the first printed version won't have this material, not unless I don't sleep for two days.
