I am a liar

I am a liar.  Have you heard that before in your lives?  It's unfortunately, quite a prevalent phrase.  Actually, no it's not, because the perpetrator very rarely admits to it, right? Anyway, I AM a liar because I told you I would write on Tuesday and I did not. I was feeling unwell and not up to blogging.  I feel a bit better today.  I've OD'd on life and all it has to offer, that's all.  I will recover.  Looking at these gorgeous flowers makes me feel better already.  My friend Pierre is a budding photographer and has taken some amazing snaps.  Check these out!

I have also been volunteering at the Brisbane Writers' Festival, which was sensational!  I met one of my journalistic "heroes", Susan Wyndham who is the literary editor of the Sydney Morning Herald.  My favourite session was one by the English and literacy program of TAFE which involved several refugees speaking about their experiences of leaving their homelands to travel to Australia and start a new life. It was incredibly, incredibly moving and shocking and many of us were in tears.  We have no idea at all how lucky we are here in Australia. One of the best speakers was Anh Do and I had the pleasure of meeting him. I bought his book (about his life in Australia having escaped Vietnam in a leaky boat in the 70's) and he wrote inside the front cover, "Jennifer, you are wonderful" and signed it.  Isn't he lovely? 

That evening, after the Festival, they put on a barbie for us volunteers on the deck of the State Library, overlooking the Brisbane River.  Best of all, it was RiverFire - a big fireworks festival with an F1-11 jet flying over.  So, we had one of the best positions in town - for free!  AND with a sausage sandwich and a plastic cup of red wine to boot!  This was the view at about 5:30pm.

I bought a Val McDermid book for Spud and she wrote a message to him inside it, while William McInnes wrote inside the book I bought for my  neighbour and Simon Winchester wrote inside my copy of "The Map That Changed The World".  So, I ended up buying too many books really, and now I have plenty to keep me occupied - and possibly to prevent me from blogging!  I am feeling quite inspired to write a best seller!  Maybe a memoir with all my tawdry, richly ridiculous life events....  We'll see.  Time to sign off for now.  Adios! Here are Spud and the Pumpkin enjoying some 8th birthday fun times this weekend.