Now we chat, our tiny community of 3, each morning to figure out what’s ahead. It gives a purpose to the days. The hope of renting a house for the cold months died with reports on the radio of strangers in country towns met with hostile reactions. Strangers are dangerous for what they may… Continue Reading
I found what I’ve needed all this time under the house, when we were fossicking for junk for Moxham’s barge – which still hasn’t come back, so the jetty is lettered with rubbish, and we have a hard time checking the fish traps. But there it was – a seed germinating box! complete with… Continue Reading
GG says because of our failure, clearly the crabs aren’t running and the creek must be fished out. He might be right. He often is. Then there’s only the garden to feed us. But which are the weeds and which the spinach? I sowed the spinach seeds, admittedly out of date, along the… Continue Reading
Written 2 April, 2020 Today, no farming, no fishing. The water tanks overflow, the power drops to 9, the generator roars half the day…. But with headphones on, i sit on the sofa and read. I run down to the veggie garden to check the spinach. Who’d know if it was… Continue Reading
Written 1 April, 2020 Twenty-four hours of hard. The power crashed last night at 11pm. K texted me in the cabin, I ran up to the main house and switched on the generator, saying it was just for half an hour, hoping against hope that J&T close by down the track could… Continue Reading
Day 13. Written March 31, 2020. GG is still not home but I’m nervous about my NIDA lecture this afternoon to playwrights because I’m again addressing weird things that happen in the creating brain- weird, not considered normal – although who knows what people in moments experience?- and in the usual course of things,… Continue Reading
Day 9 G is staying one more day before he goes back to the city. But that day begins in disappointment. In the fish trap that goes up and down like a blind, which would catch enough fish for even the neighbours, we catch only leaves and a long stick. Worse, again there are no… Continue Reading
Written March 26, 2020. A baby goanna takes a lively interest in our untidy deck. For my life as a farmer: There’s a line of 3 or 4 green spikes, like little green tweezers. Perhaps they are spinach-lings. To be sure, I plant 6 seeds in the damp soil of one of the pots… Continue Reading
Day 4 Written March 24 2020 My new life as a farmer : the spinach seeds haven’t showed little tips in a line, but I water assiduously. I told my students I was watering them assiduously and Anne warned: “keep the soil damp but not waterlogged”. I squat and consider the puddles; have I water… Continue Reading
Written 21/3/20 I always wake early. I always lie looking at the water, marvelling at being here. I always listen to the deep blue silence and remember that we’re out of the city. And then memory comes to me, creeping, slithering, snaking. What’s happening in the city, the city and the people we love. What… Continue Reading