Pen Hanley's Blog

Greed, vanity and a cautionary tale about multi-tasking

Braidwood radio and four other artistic pursuits

I’ve been filling in for someone on Braidwood Radio https://braidwoodradio.com.au

on Tuesday afternoons (Rod and Penny on ‘Bunkum Faves and Raves’, 3.00 to 4.30 on current affairs, ancient history and the arts – an eclectic but entertaining mix). What with researching for that and continuing with the Argentine tango plus collage plus a new writing group, it’s been a while since my last blog. As well as all this and trying to keep au fait with contemporary literature, a couple of friends and I are reading the six short-listed Miles Franklin award novels. See https://lithub.com/here-is-the-2023-miles-franklin-award-shortlist/

We don’t talk about them until everyone has read them all and then we meet for an animated discussion about them and which one we think should have won. It’s fun. Nearly every activity I do these days is fun but there are too many of them! And still too many books to read realistically in the time available.

I flip through one, a recent gift, Lune by Kate Reid, a large, expensive coffee-table book with an irresistible-looking iridescent croissant on its luxurious, puffily-padded cover.

It was while trapped in Heinrich Böll’s cottage on Achill Island last December (iced in, but with the day before’s Saturday Irish Times and Guardian to read) that I first came upon rave reviews in both newspapers of this book Lune by a young Melbourne woman with an unusual story.

Now I long to follow the author’s extremely detailed instructions and bake some of the 64 delectable creations inside, but because of the aforementioned creative pursuits I’m reluctant to spend the time – many of these recipes take literal days! And besides, I live in a place some call ‘Breadwood’ where it would indeed be profligate to use my time that way when I can buy surely almost as good pastries at one of the six bakeries within walking distance, (with five of the six excellent quality).

As it is, I eat too many of those fine pastry-cooks’ carbohydrate offerings. And so I am led to the well-meant but unfortunate event of the other morning, which taught me a lesson that I want to share with you, dear reader.

My Near-Death Experience while Attempting To Save Time Continue Reading Greed, vanity and a cautionary tale about multi-tasking…