Every Tuesday afternoon, I have French classes. Our teacher serves us dessert at the end of the class and it’s fair to say I’ve had some delicious cakes in this class. Today, she pulls out a large box of hamburgers! My first thought was “this is different! No cake?” The mini hamburgers were actually the […]
Book Review: My Husband by Maud Ventura
Here’s the latest video I published on YouTube. This book was recommended by one of the ladies in my book group as a quick, if not, a creepy read. A woman is so in love with her husband that she does everything just to spend time with him (at the expense of everyone and anything […]
Recurring Dream: Locating My Room in a Corridor
I’ve been having this recurring dream for a while and I wonder why. I’m always either at one of three places. The Australian Defence Force Academy (which is a place I used to work at); Monash University Biochemistry Labs or a hotel that I’m staying at and I need to check out to catch a […]
A Visit to Mont Albert & Box Hill
It’s Friday. It means that it’s a day to go jaunting around Melbourne to discover its glorious suburbs. So I jump into my car and decide to drive to the eastern leafy suburb of Mont Albert. The Mont Albert Village in Hamilton Street is a cute strip of old shops that are a mix of […]
Bits & Bobs For the Week
Virtual Visit to 🇯🇵Japan I’ve been in a Japanese Culture Appreciation phase for a while now. I can’t get enough of it. It may have been inspired from all those novels I’ve read this year that take part in Japan. Or reading Japanese authors. It may also be because I’ve been living through the travels […]
Vladivostock Circus Book Review
I love the writing of Elisa Shua Dusapin who is a French Korean author. I read Pachinko Parlour this year that set me off on a love affair reading all her books as well as exploring Korean and Japanese books, food and culture. I wanted to read her latest novel Vladivostock Circus which was all […]
McClelland Sculpture Park
Last week I visited the McClelland Sculpture Park in Langwarrin Melbourne. It’s a great place to spend a morning or afternoon wandering the grounds and looking at the various modern art sculptures that interact with the elements. Looking at art – any art – opens the mind into a curious and inquisitive state. I was […]
Visit to Canterbury
On Saturday it was a lovely day so rather than stay inside, I wanted to go and explore a bit. One of the things I like to do is to visit second hand bookstores and I found out that there was one in the quaint suburb of Canterbury. Our first stop was to the Canterbury […]
Why I Love My YouTube Channel: For The Stories People Write
Even though creating videos to share online on YouTube is a bit of a pain, I prefer reading the comments from viewers and fellow readers. This morning I read one that I loved. As a history buff, this reader brought back to life a part of Melbourne that was long since forgotten: Cheshire’s Bookstore. What […]
New Book Review: Body Friend by Katherine Brabon
I’m a member of my local library’s book club and over the last few months or so, I haven’t enjoyed the books that were chosen for us. However, I guess that’s why we have book clubs. We don’t always need to love the book we read. Instead, if it inspires thought provoking conversation or changes […]
My Book Club Books for 2024
I started a Book Club this year at my local golf club that has various clubs that members can get involved with. It’s a great way to socialise with others other than just golf. Here are the books I’ve chosen for the year. I select them based on recommendations by others but also my own […]
New Book Review on Stoner by John Williams
Here is one of the book reviews I uploaded last week. It’s on Stoner by John Williams. I loved this book so much that I went out and bought his other books. His writing style is beautiful and evokes images in your mind’s eyes. It reminded me of Steinbeck’s writing. Here’s what I have to […]
A Nothing Day
Today was a weird blah day. I guess we all have days like this. It’s Tuesday. This means it’s my day of French class which I eagerly look forward to but for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to leave the house. I was feeling under the weather. My stomach was sore (it didn’t help […]
Fog
This morning was an exceptionally foggy morning. The radio was blasting announcements to stay home and travel later in the day as the fog on the roads was heavy. I had an 8am tee off time and arrived earlier. I prefer playing golf early in the morning and being one of the first there because […]
La Surprise de l’Amour
Yesterday afternoon I headed into Carlton for an afternoon at a French theatre. I had arrived early and drove down Rathdowne Street, somewhere I hadn’t been in years. I parked the car in Canning Street which had a great view of the Melbourne skyline. The theatre was in the corner of this street and as […]
A Little Bit of Japan 🇯🇵
I count myself lucky to be living in a multicultural city that is well known for its foodie and cultural scenes. Today I decided to drive ten minutes down the road to the suburb of Clayton. Clayton Road is full of Asian restaurants and cafes. Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, it’s all here. I’ve never tasted […]
Uneasy
I used to say, “I’ll never understand how the world got itself to the point of World War II happening.” Now I know. I’m not going to lie. Every night when I see the horror happening in Palestine and how, despite countries condemning Israel through words alone, I’m at a loss trying to understand my […]
Embarrassing Job
Now that I don’t work, I come across people who are still working and hear some horror stories of what is happening in their place of work. A few have mentioned to me that they’re simply “going through the motions”. There has also been a couple who (once they found out what I used to […]
Clingy Cat
Meet Pud. He’s our cat and he’s about 10 years old (I don’t know what that is in cat years but I think he’d be middled aged.) I love him so much. He’s my little buddy who keeps me company and who follows me around. My constant companion. Unfortunately he’s been sick these last couple […]
East of Eden
Why have I not read this book sooner? I’ve yelled out in places when I’m reading this book. I gasp and sigh. It torments me when I put it down and settle to sleep every night. Why is Kathy so evil? This is why I love reading. How great is Steinbeck at story telling? This […]