The Laughing Gas Cure

Last week I attended a full-length play reading here at the Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery in Launceston. As much as I love live theatre I had never before seen a play reading - and now I am hooked.

The Laughing Gas Cure, written by award-winning Launceston playwright Stella Kent, is set in the 1770s and features Joseph Banks and his friend Thomas Beddoes. The play looks at how science came to replace anecdotal evidence and natural philosophy and the title refers to the enactment of early laughing gas experiments in tooth-pulling. But the play is not just informative and educative, it is very funny - and I loved it.

This particular production, which featured Tasmanian actors, was hosted by the Royal Society of Tasmania (Northern Chapter) to celebrate its 175th Anniversary.

If you ever have the opportunity to see it - please do!

Reading into Spring

Memoir of an Irish Guard, for which I was ghost writer, is now published and it looks fantastic. I'm so pleased with how the project has turned out.

I have also had the opportunity to read some fabulous books in the past months, both fiction and non-fiction. Just finished The Re-origin of Species by Swedish science journalist Torill Kornfeldt. What a wonderful read. Kornfeldt has done things I could only ever dream of as she followed various scientific efforts in de-extinction around the world, including spending time in Siberia. What a job!

Prior to this I read Cold Cold Heart by Tami Hoag. I've read several of Hoag's books over the years and always enjoyed these crime thrillers. This one was very different and more a victim story than a crime solving story and was a good exploration into the human mind and spirit. I enjoyed it but probably wouldn't rush to read another of hers - since I still have nine books on my bedside table...

And there must be something about winter as continuing the 'cold' theme I've just started another Louise Penny novel, Dead Cold. I'm only one chapter in but I'm already hooked - as usual.

So many books, so little time...

Where do three months go?

I looked at my blog this morning and realised I hadn't posted for that long. So what have I been doing all this time? Well, I have been writing two ghost-written books.

One is Memoir of an Irish Guard (120,000 words) which, as the title suggests, is the story of an Irishman,  Roger Gillen, who became a Guard and went off to the second world war. He was captured in France and incarcerated in a German POW camp; he escaped, three times, and eventually returned to England. What a fabulous read.

The other is The Big Steal (30,000 words) about the whistleblower who thwarted the great bullion robbery of Heathrow Airport in 1948. Another great read.

I have also just completed a first draft of an historical essay about the Tasmanian International Exhibition held in Launceston in 1891-92. What a fabulous event it was - a first for Tasmania and a real boost for Launceston.

In July I joined the committee of the Launceston School for Seniors and have taken on the role of Newsletter Editor. Previously the newsletters were printed in black and white and left at the school. I I suggested we email them out to as many as possible to say printing and enable students to see them in colour. It turned out that 2/3 of the school was already on email and it was a mammoth task to correct hundreds of email addresses and create 15 alphabetical email listings, but we did it! Our first e-newsletter went out this week. It looks great on the computer in full colour and with live hyperlinks!

And in between I have read a few books. The one I really want to recommend is The Falls by Australian author B Michael Radburn. I picked it up at the Book Grocer in Melbourne for $7 and can't believe how good it is. It is the follow-up to The Crossing which I have just ordered from e-bay. The Falls is a crime mystery set in the Victorian high country; The Crossing is set in the Tasmanian wilderness - just one more reason I have to read it.

And that, in a nutshell, is three months! I still don't know where the time goes.

Vibrant Victoria and the rest!

From the snow and ice of Alaska to the sunshine and colour of Victoria, British Columbia. This capital city sparkles; the harbour with its myriad boats and float planes, magnificent historic buildings and manicured lawns and gardens surrounding stylish hotels and apartments. Our highlights were:

The Royal British Columbia Museum is one of the best we have seen anywhere in the world. We just happened upon a special exhibition on life in ancient Egypt, but just as rewarding were the exhibits on the history of British Columbia where we wandered through streets in days gone by; the languages and culture of the first nations peoples; and natural history which included a life-size replica of a woolly mammoth amongst its vast collection.

 

Life in ancient Egypt exhibition

 

First nations exhibition:

Totems and canoes

Hand weaving - we watched a video of a current-day craftsman weaving this skirt

 

Native hut set beneath the ground

 

 

The history of British Columbia exhibition

Natural History displays:

Life-size woolly mammoth... the brown one!

 

Giant sea lions

 

 

Coastal birds and mammals

 

Inside a submarine

The famous Butchart Gardens are a must-see in Victoria. We spent several hours walking through the 55 acres of gardens which were started by Jennie Butchart who had the idea of beautifying a limestone quarry her husband Robert was using to supply a nearby cement plant. The gardens, which opened in 1904, are a mix of rare and exotic shrubs, trees and flowers displayed in formats including sunken, Japanese, rose, Italian and Mediterranean gardens. Close to a million people visit them annually and we can see why.

Miniature World highlights fact, fiction and fantasy in a vast series of dioramas depicting wars, railways (one of the world's largest model railways), castles, dolls houses, old and modern London, the wild west, Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and even space in the year 2201. It took us some time to get through the collection as there was so much to see, and so many buttons to push!

 

 

On our last day in Victoria we toured the historic British Columbia Parliament Buildings.

 

 

 

Victoria Harbour with the famous Empress Hotel in the background

 

Back in Vancouver for a few days we took a day trip to the mountain resort of Whistler. The scenery is outstanding and the town is much bigger than we anticipated, reminiscent, however much larger, than Queenstown in New Zealand.

 

 

Stopping on the Sea-to-Sky Highway

 

Magnificent Shannon Falls

 

Once the snow melts, the gondolas are used for trail bikers

Village of Whistler

 

 

We walked the length of old Vancouver - Gastown - which was named for British born Gassy Jack (John Deighton) a bar owner known for his talkativeness and penchant for storytelling.

 

Steam Clock - powered by steam!

Gassy Jack's statue

 

Inside the O.K. Boot Corral

 

After purchasing a bison leather belt, Jim and the owner discussed the differences between his hand made boots and R M Williams', as well as the difference between the Akubra Hat and the Stetson 

 

The Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver is actually 130 acres of gardens set in the geographic centre of the city. At the very top is the Bloedel Floral Conservatory, full of spectacular coloured plants and many different exotic birds.

 

 

Tomorrow is our last day in Canada and then we fly to Hawaii for a few days before returning home!