Spring delights

Happy spring! Or happy autumn [fall] if you're reading this in the northern hemisphere. I had my three busiest months of editing ever in June, July and August, and am currently enjoying a more relaxed September. This has conveniently coincided with plenty of things to do in the garden, many great books to read, and heaps of fabulous podcasts to listen to. Self-employment is GREAT.

I recently finished reading The Erratics, a memoir by Vicki Laveau-Harvie. It was brilliant. While the reviews for the book make it sound quite grim (the author's parents were bizarre), it's so beautifully written, and even humorous, that it was a joy to read. While we're on the topic of dysfunctional families ... I collected Mary Trump's book Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man from my local library today. I 'attended' a live-streamed interview with Dr Trump as part of the Canberra Writers Festival a couple of weeks ago and found it intriguing so am eager to learn more.

Another activity I have more time for, when between jobs, is listening to podcasts. There are just sooooo many great podcasts available now! Some stand-outs include Trace and Patient Zero on ABC Radio National, No Filter with Mia Freedman, Think Like an Economist, Dax Shepard's interview with Atul Gawande, Democracy Sausage, and Mamamia True Crime Conversations.

Anyway, while listening to all the wonderful podcasts I'm often pottering in the garden. It's looking fabulous. The arborist came to trim our large, old eucalypts so falling branches don't kill us in our sleep, and our fruit trees (plum, apricot, lemon ...) are blossoming. In what is, perhaps, the triumph of optimism over experience, I'm attempting to grow NZ yams. (Again.) Yams are a root vegetable I really enjoyed while growing up in New Zealand, but which I've never seen for sale here in Australia. I bought some yam plants via mail order in 2018; they appeared alive when they arrived in Canberra but soon keeled over. Perhaps because I inadvertently over-watered them. In 2019, I bought some yam tubers, also by mail order, and planted them in the garden, to no avail. The foliage developed but there were no new yams underneath. Determined to do better this time, I purchased nine yam tubers this year, and have planted them in pots so I can better protect them from cold weather while the foliage forms. Let's see how that goes ...

All fingers and toes crossed that I manage to grow some yams. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to bake a loaf of pumpkin bread.