Update - New project, paths, and upsidedown seasons
Nov 03, 2024 9:31 am
Hi
Hello to all my readers, and a warm welcome to any new subscribers. I hope this email finds you well.
It’s springtime here in Australia – the azaleas and jacarandas are in bloom, and the weather is starting to warm up. Even after 30 years here, I still struggle with the upside down seasons – I’ve kind of got the hang of December being summer and August being winter – but October should definitely be autumn and April is definitely spring. That said, those in between seasons are my favourites - warm sunny days with cooler nights. Perfect!
I’ve been spending a lot of time in the garden at our place in the mountains recently – the stormwater works are finally done and as part of the landscaping we had some paths put among the overgrown wilderness that was our back garden. We also now have a lawn area (well, it’s been seeded and will become lawn very soon) and it looks amazing. I can’t wait to start putting in lots of new plants – I’m planning to use as many Australian natives as I can. Now we just need to get the engineer to give it his tick of approval, submit it to the Council and, fingers crossed, get our final occupation certificate at long last!
In the midst of the diggers and earthmoving, I’ve been working on an idea for another World War II story. Years ago, just after Another Time and Place was first published, I wrote a draft of a story that just didn’t quite work. While I loved the premise and the characters, I couldn’t figure out how to bring it all together in a narrative that was convincing, and the idea has been bubbling away in the back of my mind ever since. But in the last few weeks I think I’ve finally worked it out. It’s still in the planning stages – writing character sketches and doing research etc, but I’m really excited to start writing it soon. I hope next month to have a little blurb to share with you.
What I’m reading – The Magician by Colm Toibin. I’ve only just started this novel about the German writer Thomas Mann, but I’m already intrigued. Beautifully written, with compelling characters set in a vividly drawn turn-of-the-century Germany.
What I’m watching – Brideshead Revisited. I fell in love with this series when it first aired in 1981, and even though I’ve read the book (which is also wonderful) at least a couple of times since then, the show has retained every morsel of its magic. TV at its absolute best.
Please do drop me a line if you have any comments or feedback - I'd love to hear from you.
Here are the links to my books. Have you read them all?
See you next time – until then, happy reading!
Kind regards
Samantha
https://www.samgrosserbooks.com
