The Elm Trees of City Park

The best time to go looking for deciduous trees is, of course, in winter when they have no leaves and all look the same. So maybe not but it IS the best time to take photos of their lovely branch shapes. To identify the trees, I have two maps from the Launceston City Park Conservation…

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Wreck of the Waterloo

Looking for something else, I came across this: Registers of Convicts’ Deaths (CON 63-1-1, B 2) That led to this… POSTSCRIPT – We stop the press to announce the melancholy intelligence of the loss of the Waterloo, on Sunday, the 28th August, at Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope. By this fearful event 189 human…

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Australian Publishers open to unsolicited submissions

Allen & Unwin Adult fiction & nonfiction, illustrated, memoirs, children/YA fiction & narrative non-fiction Don’t want poetry, category romance, adult fantasy, science fiction, short stories, scripts or picture book texts Email only. (Friday Pitch is open every day, despite name.) Submissions guidelines. Hachette Australia Don’t want science fiction/fantasy, children’s books, illustrated books, cookbooks, poetry, self-help,…

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Postcard Behinds

“The Address To Be Written on this Side.” A quick way to date older postcards is to look at the back and see if there’s a postmark. But while you’re there, check if the back is divided. Originally, postcards had to have the address on one side and the picture (and message on the other)….

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A Visit to the Gardens

Some photos from the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, on the Queens Domain in Hobart. I used to like going here in winter because less visitors but all the interesting stuff is still there. I’ll show you some of the interesting stuff below but I only got to part of it. The photo above is a…

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A visit to the zoo: Beaumaris Zoo site

This is the site of the former Beaumaris Zoo, on the Queen’s Domain in Hobart. The zoo was first established as a private collection in a garden in Sandy Bay that the owner, Mary Roberts, opened to the public. When she died in 1921, the zoo was gifted to the city, and moved to this…

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A Thing About Procrastination and Editing

Actually it’s not. It’s links to things about procrastination written by other people, with some comments added. The first one is Why Writers Procrastinate. This is an important question, because there are different reasons for procrastination and if you don’t know why, how can you fix it? The linked article looks at two reasons: Because…

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Goat Fest 2018

Goat Fest Tasmania, the annual goat event at the Launceston Show Grounds. Some young Saanens: Anglo Nubians. The boys are big.  (Jiel Anglo Nubians.): Toggenburgs (Manx Maid Toggenburg Goat Stud): Angoras: Boers: Minature Goats are the, um, big thing. (Willow Creek Mini Goats) Cow goat! (Petite Paradis)

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Point of View: who and why

This is a post about Point of View (henceforth to be referred to as POV). It is not about the What or How of POV. It is about the Who and, most importantly, the Why. Why does POV matter and Why is it important to master it. Let’s face it, POV is the microwave of…

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Christmas Day

This is Christmas Day, at Mum’s place, Youngtown. While we waited for the others to arrive, we played Racko. Then Nicquel turned up with Jess, Douglas

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