March, 2025

The wombats are mating. No, I haven’t seen it happen yet this year, but I can smell it. A wombat in a receptive mood is pungent. Males can smell her kilometres away. Note to all who share their lives with wombats: do not hang your washing near the burrow of a female wombat in mating season, or your sheets will absorb an odour that is not conducive to slumber.

     There have been some wonderful things happen in the last month.

     The fabulous bits include:

•  My grandson seriously asking a passing bicyclist who was about to cycle briefly through our property - because the road had fallen away and anyone trying to use it either has to trespass on our place, or fall to the rock 300 metres below - ‘Are you a bushranger who is going to hold up a gold coach?’The young man assured him he wasn’t a bushranger. I explained that there’s been no gold coaches for nearly 150 years. The cyclist was told he could continue, and sped off with a grin;
  

• There been a small rockfall in the wombat hole behind the bathroom had led to wombat housework, the kicking out of fallen dirt and stones. I love watching the debris fly out during wombat hole doing cleaning;
  

• The naked ladies are springing up all over the garden. Naked ladies are otherwise known as belladonna lilies, and ‘naked’ because they rise without their leaves and are flesh coloured: the flesh of a very white skinned person with a terrible case of sunburn;
  

• The dog lost down the valley is home again. (I love local communities. The Facebook page is full of relevant information. The wandering cow on Dirty Butter Lane is safely behind a fence again.
  

Mostly I am deeply enjoying writing a book that won’t be published till May next year, so there’s no point telling you about it now. The book that IS being published now was written last year.

     The Whisperer’s War is set 1942 -1947. It’s a thriller; a work of fiction that reveals royal secrets people have died to keep. It’s a love story too.

     But it’s also the first time I have ever based a book on a ‘before I go to sleep’ dream.

     Ever since I was a child I have told myself a story before I slept: a tale of such relaxed happiness that dreams would be good and sleep come quickly. Once you get to chapter two of The Whisperer’s War you’ll be in my before bed tale: a place of total peace and joy.

     The book has much more in it, which is why I can no longer use that scenario to ensure sleep, but bits of it wander in and out through the book. I wonder if anyone will guess which part it the equivalent of my security blanket. I hope they enjoy it, too.

Book News

Tigg and the Bandicoot Bushranger and Ming and Ada Spark the Digital Age have just been announced as CBCA Notable Books for 2025. Thank you to the fabulous team that helped create them, from inception to sending them off to print.

The Whisperer’s War has hit the shelves, or will in a few days. Order it now, and see  the intro for more about it.

RECENT RELEASES:

Tigg and the Bandicoot Bushranger

Age: 9+

Set among the Long walk of the Chinese to the goldfields as well as the teashop serving the best scones in Goulburn, this is the story of a 12 year old bushranger called Tigg, who only takes half people’s money and only if they can afford it. “Mad as a bandicoot’” the trooper say. Till Tigg is shot by the mysterious Mr Rudolph, and the book becomes an adventure story that almost seems impossible, except that like most of my books every episode is based on real people, true events, meticulous detail and genuine places all composted together to make a story.

What was a European princess doing in the  middle of the goldfields?

What does stewed rat taste like?

How do you make a fortune on the goldfields?

Read the book to find out… but also because it’s a great adventure, about a time that is often misunderstood.

Ming and Ada Spark the Digital Age: 

Ming Qong is sent by the mysterious Herstory to meet girls who have changed the world. But which girl in this wealthy household will it be? The dark skinned servant with a passion for learning, or the daughter of the house, bed bound and blinded by measles? This is the story of the world’s first ‘computer’, the girl who by 12 years old had designed a jet engine and would inspire the computers of today.

The Sea Captain's Wife

For adults

A compelling story of murder, mystery , and mutiny on the high seas, and a love so intense it can overcome two different cultures.

    When Mair McCrae follows her island tradition and hunts for a husband cast up on the beach, she has no notion that the naked, half-drowned man she rescues is not just Captain Michael Dawson, heir to a major shipping firm, but that he is also obsessed with a ‘ghost ship’ carrying golden cargo.

On Big Henry Island women make the decisions, and knit the patterns that mark a man as their own. But Big Henry is also a volcano, and threatening to erupt. And when Mair breaks with island tradition and accompanies her husband to Australia she finds a danger just as real: a social system that tries to keep women confined to small roles at the edge of men's lives.

    And as Michael hunts for the ‘Ghost’ in one of the revolutionary new steamships that will change the history of Australia,  a strong of mysterious deaths haunt the women of the Dawson family.

     Accidents, or murder? And why is Mair the only one who can see the truth?

Confessions of a Vampire: A Belated Thank You To My Mum and Dad

My childhood wasn’t great. These days they call kids like I was then ‘neglected.’ But my parents also gave me all the riches of books and words and stories it was possible to share. Dad would recite ‘The Highwayman’ before I went to bed.

My Mum recited Portia’s speech from The Merchant of Venice as we did the washing up: ‘The quality of mercy is not strained: it droppeth like the gentle rain from heaven. It is twice blessed; it blesseth him that gives, and him that takes…’

Don’t correct me if the quote is incorrect. Those are the words I remember Mum reciting, gloriously, a tea towel in her hand.

    I didn’t get hugs. I didn’t get dinner unless I cooked for everyone. But I devoured books like a vampire, and both my parents jumped through every hoop they could find to get me more: tram tips to different libraries, till I had read each book in every one, Mum getting me books from the adult section on her card. Mum and Dad’s parents sent me every secondhand book they could find, glorious 1900s Girl’s Own Annuals where ‘gels’ went to boarding school and time travelled to ancient Egypt with a magic talisman; every Biggles book ever written; Plato’s Republic and the Great Dialogues of Socrates.

      I was probably the only ten year old given Freud for the Jung for her birthday. (It seemed to be mostly about sex, which didn’t interest me and ten, so I skipped most of it).

      Even at 84, months before Dad’s death, our phone would ring at 4.30 each afternoon. ‘Jacq, have you read the latest Tom Keneally? ‘ His proudest possession was a dinner napkin signed to Barrie ‘Good on you, you old Irish, best wishes, Tom Keneally.’ I’d asked him to write ‘Irish bastard’, but Keneally wouldn’t swear.

       I read every newspaper, every advertisement, the births deaths and marriages columns.

I even read the telephone book. No vampire ever hunted blood with the determination I had for books, and more books; stories and more stories and words crafted into so much beauty they sang into your soul.

‘On either side the river lie,

Long fields of barley, and of rye,

That clothe that wold….’

‘Break break break,

On thy cold grey stones oh sea

Ah that my heart could utter

The thoughts that arise in me…’

We five year olds had to recite out favourite poem. Miss Davies was a bit startled when I recited that, instead of ‘Mary had a little lamb’. I don’t think I entirely understood the poem. I certainly didn’t share the sexual despair of its author, Matthew Arnold. But ‘thy cold grey stones’ was just like a tiny curve of beach near Moreton bay that had pebbles, not sand, and tiny waves broke over them and back again, and only that poem seemed able to evoke it’s strangeness and beauty.

    Again, please don’t correct me, if a memory of a poem sixty seven years ago is wrong. Those are the words I remember, and still love.

         So this is a very belated ‘thank you’ to Mum and Dad, words I never said to them, as other aspects of my childhood seemed to matter more.

        Now, far older than my parents were then, I know I was wrong. Mum and Dad gave me the greatest gift of my life - language, and the love of it, and the myriad ways a story can be told, from song to poem, opera to theatre, film or animation, or just whispers in the night.

Thank you. I’d never have written books; never have sung poetry, never have sat in an audience and captured every nuance, the music in every word and gesture, without everything you gave me: the magic of words, of language, of history and story.

GARDENING NEWS

The Garden Fairy Club

A Garden Fairy Club is where the fairies renovate your garden. 

The fairies are actually three friends, plus you. Each weekend for a month you spend an afternoon transforming one of your  gardens. 

The result? Sheer magic. Four people get about ten times as much done as one. (I know that sounds dodgy but despite gossip and long cool drink breaks, it works). Dressing as a fairy is not compulsory. 

Other jobs:

• Put iceblocks in the dog’s water dish

• Put freshly picked mint leaves in the icetray for your iceblocks, to encourage you to drink more lovely cooling water

• Buy a mint plant (sniff before you buy to ensure it’s a mint that you like) – but plant it in a largish container so that:

   1. It can’t mug it neighbours 

  2. You can keep it watered in the heat without having to break water restrictions

• Check your garden for trees that may become dangerous during (and after) summer storms. Most trees growing in the middle of lawns have shallow roots – the lawn is watered so often they haven’t had to put down deep ones. Thin out the branches so they are less likely to come crashing down in the next high wind or hail storm. 

• Spray rose leaves and zucchini leaves with 1 cup milk, 3 cups water, and a pinch of bicarbonate of soda to ward off black spot and downy mildew 

What to Plant 

Flowers: Alyssum, ageratum, coleus, gypsophila, Iceland poppy, larkspur, linaria, lupin, mignonette, pansy, portulaca, stock, salvias and sunflowers.

Veg: Beetroot, carrots, celery, corn, lettuce (not if the temperature is over 30ºC - they may not germinate), parsnip, radish, silverbeet; plus pumpkins and zucchini except in humid areas; plant sweet potatoes in frost-free spots or big pots, plus rhubarb .

questions of the month

Question: I tried to strike a lavender cutting but it shrivelled in the pot.

Answer: I’d shrivel in this weather too. Wait till autumn; use ‘propagating mix’ or sand – soil or ordinary potting mix holds too much moisture and the cutting may rot. Keep it in dappled shade, water every day and your lavender – or rosemary, wormwood, hydrangeas, daisies, roses, mint and the many other plants that grow easily from cuttings – should be a blooming beauty by next summer.   

Question: My indoor pot-bellied fig has yellow leaves. Do I need to feed it?

Answer: I suspect it has scale. Do not feed. Look for tiny white things on the bark. Spray with pest oil and give it a  holiday in dappled shade outdoors for a couple of months. 

COOKING

Thai-style eggs with pork and prawn stuffing  (our chooks are laying well)

Ingredients

10 hard-boiled eggs, shelled and halved

oil for frying

for stuffing

1 cup shelled cooked prawns

200 grams minced pork, fried in a little oil

3 tablespoons coconut cream

2 tablespoons chopped coriander

1 tablespoon fish sauce

for batter

1/2 cup plain flour

1/2 cup self-raising flour

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons oil

1 cup water

Method

• Mash the egg yolks from the hard-boiled eggs into a bowl with the stuffing ingredients. 

• Fill the eggwhite halves with the mixture and press them together. Chill for at least an hour, otherwise the batter will slide off them.Now make the batter. Mix the dry ingredients and slowly add the combined moist ones. 

• Let the batter stand for 30 minutes before you use it. 

• Dip the eggs into the batter and then fry quickly in the very hot oil until puffed and brown. 

• Serve hot.

Egg curry

Ingredients

8 hard-boiled eggs, shelled

2 large onions, chopped

6 tablespoons oil

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons turmeric

6 teaspoons coriander

1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic, chopped

3 cups natural yoghurt

Method

• Sauté the onion in the oil until transparent. 

• Add the spices, ginger and garlic and cook at a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring so it doesn’t stick. 

• Add the yoghurt and eggs and heat gently. Don’t boil or the yoghurt will separate or become too runny. Take off the heat as soon as the yoghurt is hot.

• Leave for 30 minutes for the flavours to amalgamate (overnight, if preferred). Reheat gently and serve hot.

Piperade

There are many versions of this dish, which is a sort of Basque omelette or scrambled eggs. Don’t bother to make this dish unless you have really good tomatoes.

Ingredients

6 eggs, beaten

pork fat or olive oil

3 large onions, chopped

4 red capsicum, sliced

6 large, very red, ripe tomatoes

Method

• Melt the pork fat in a pan or add the olive oil. 

• Sauté the onion until transparent. 

• Add the capsicum, cook for another 2 minutes, then add the tomatoes.

• Cook for 10 minutes, stirring so the mixture doesn’t stick. Pour in the beaten eggs. Don’t stir once the eggs are mixed with the vegetable purée. Just shake the pan as vigorously as you can. 

• Take it off the heat when the eggs are nearly set. Don’t overcook.

Rumbledethumps (no eggs needed)

Ingredients

2 cups mashed potato

2 cups cooked cabbage

1 chopped onion, sautéed in butter

grated  sharp cheese

pepper

Method

• Mix all the ingredients except the cheese. 

• Place in the oven, top with cheese. Bake till hot.

Banana Bread

This can be frozen: an excellent way of storing bananas.

Ingredients

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 beaten eggs ( can be omitted and more yoghurt substituted)

125 grams butter

2 cups self raising flour

4 mashed, very ripe bananas

half a cup of sour cream/ skim milk natural yoghurt

Method

• Cream butter and sugar, beat in eggs one at a time, fold in other ingredients. 

• Bake at 180°C for an hour, or until the top springs back when pressed.

• Lift out carefully- this cake has a tendency to break at the bottom.

Alternative: steam the mixture in a  greased steamer for 2 hours.

Strawberry (or other berry) Snow

Ingredients

1 kilo strawberries

1  cup cream

2 egg whites, whipped into peaks

4 tb castor sugar

2 tb Cointreau

Method

• Whip the cream, mash the berries; add sugar to the beaten egg white and beat gently till it dissolves. 

• Now gently mix it all together. 

• Keep in the fridge. It will keep for several days and is a good way of using overripe or bruised berries. It can be sweetened.

The Egg White Substitute

This sounded so odd I had to try it. It works!

Method

• Drain a can of chickpeas in a strainer set over a bowl. 

• Simmer it till thickish. Cool. 

• Use 2 tablespoons, well beaten, to replace a beaten egg white, and a quarter of a cup to replace an egg.  

And yes, it does make a pavlova! Or macaroons.  It won’t lighten a cake though, nor stop biscuits from being crumbly. The best way to stop the latter is to add melted chocolate….

Lemon Slice

Method

• Mix 1.5 cups plain flour with 1/2 cup icing sugar and 150g melted butter. Press thinly into a baking dish and bake at 200 °C for ten minutes.

• Remove.

• Mix you mix a 380/400gm can of condensed milk, 1 egg, 1/2 cup lemon juice, and 2 tbs plain flour

• Pour over the crust.

• Bake for 30 minutes at 180 °C.

• Cool before cutting.

This is incredibly lemony; lasts for a week or even two in a sealed container in the fridge; and can be cut into small squares so that no one feels guilty eating two or three.

Victoria sponge cake

This sponge cake originated in the state of Victoria and is perhaps the lightest of sponge cake recipes.

Ingredients

4 eggs

1 cup caster sugar

1 cup plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons boiling water

1 teaspoon butter

Method

• Beat the eggs and sugar together for 20 minutes with an egg-beater. The mixture should be pale yellow (almost white) and thick and ropey. 

• Add the flour and baking powder, then boiling water in which the butter has been melted.Bake in two buttered and floured tins at 220°C for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned and the edges shrunk slightly from the sides. Don’t overcook. 

• Cool. Spread one cake with whipped cream and sliced strawberries, then put the other cake on top of it. This too can be laden with strawberries and cream or simply dusted with icing sugar. I prefer the extra cream and strawberries myself. If you don’t have strawberries, you can use fresh passionfruit instead (you can use both if you are greedy). Kiwifruit are a modern addition and good in moderation.