Walking The Nile and Some "New" Penguins

This month is pretty busy. There is the Tasmanian Reader's and Writer's festival starting on Thursday. I am signed up for 6 sessions. There are interviews to watch, a master class to participate in, an opening with champers and some books to hear about.  I am looking forward to it.  I will try to put up some posts and maybe a couple of photos over the weekend or the following week. I will certainly be taking notes.

Happy Spring Australia

My blogging is slowing down a bit until probably Christmas. I have signed up for a Hobart Photography society membership.  Now I need to catch up to the skills of the other people in the class. One woman recently won top first place prize in an international competition of several thousand people. You can see what I'm up against.

I have signed up for a photography class that goes six weeks beginning in November. I will learn how to use all the manual settings on my Canon 700D.  Last time I took a photography class was in the early 1970's and digital DSLR cameras had not been heard of. Had I only known.

I am also taking a six month online Photoshop course from America. There are 13 sessions, they tell you you'll learn everything (EVERYTHING!!) about photoshop in the six months you have to finish the course.  So far I have learned how to make a preset template under File : New:  Select a template: Save it. Moving right along as you can tell. I am trying to devote four days a week to the study of all that.

I have a MOOT mindfulness class starting on Monday through Future Learn website. They have heaps if free classes.
Hopefully that will teach me how to settle down and concentrate on everything else. It's hard not to be scattered when the flowers are blooming and spring is in the air.

My current book is Walking the Nile by Levison Wood. I love travel and adventure books and walking is one of my favourite methods of travel (in other people that is.)  This is a remarkable tale. The man begins in Rwanda walking north along the 4000+ mile Nile River to Egypt.  The history of the countries he travels through is very interesting although so violent. The guide who goes with him is an interesting man and certainly has his own opinions about the trip in general and the tribes he talks about.
No one has ever completed the entire journey before.  The swamp lands are enormous. The heat, the insects, the animals, the jungle, the terrain are all extremely difficult to deal with. The writing is good and as the story is true it is most interesting.

He writes so well I feel like I am travelling along beside him as I sip a cappuccino, curled up in my warm bathrobe in a comfortable chair. I love to endure arduous adventures with other people.

I was not familiar with this series. Need to research it a bit.

There has been quite a bit of Penguin hunting. I was driving home a couple of weeks ago and something inside said,  "Turn here", "Turn here". It was the road to the tip shop. I had been there the previous week and knew I wouldn't find a thing. Well I turned. I like to think I listen to my inner voice. Sure enough I walked back to the bookshelves and everything looked the same. Until the attendant walked up, pushing a trolley and it was (YES!) full of Penguin books. I could not believe it.

Is there a God? and does he help one look for Penguins? The thought did cross my mind. He won't stop the Syrian war but helps me find Penguins? I don't think so.

A couple of PG Woodhouse books I did not have.

So I will share some of them here and also I found two hardcover Penguins in a series I had not seen before in a second hand book store I go to regularly.  I need to find out more about them before I write more but I have included their photo.

Also there is a new book out about the Lane brothers I just wrote and turns out Allen Lane was not the kind man I believed him to be.  Also the story about Allen Lane getting his inspiration from standing on a train station platform and thinking small, cheap paperback books is a lot of bunk too. That made me sad.

The book is scathing of the man and the ABC radio ran an interview I accidentally heard late one night with the author. The author was hired by the daughter of the other Lane brother who Allen allegedly ripped off big time.

If you click on these I think you get a larger photo. A PL series
with the plays and the L series with the old classic.

I  walked into my local, Fuller's book shop and the owner, Clive put the book into my hand. Had to laugh. I am in that bookshop so much they call out "See you tomorrow" when I leave.  I will have to write another feature on Fuller's  in future as they have new front renovations and it looks lovely.

That's me for today. Moving along quietly. There is a virus that has been going around here that is a nasty cough and fatigue and you cannot shake it before a 3 week period of time has gone by. I am speaking from personal experience.  So no big time scootering going on here but the other interests have been fun.

Lots to look forward to and I will try to keep everyone updated. Happy Springtime Australia.

I have most of the King Penguins but was delighted to find the
Crown Jewels that is this one. Two Penguin classics that are
not vintage but I collect them because they are such fine books.