Archive for the ‘travel’ Category

Posted on October 13, 2008 - by MG

Good Old Rotto

Good Old Rotters (actually it should be ‘Rotto’ – the preferred Aussie form)

Originally uploaded by mgharris

Well here I am at Rottnest Island, formerly a prison colony now converted into an eco-island playground for Western Australians.

I brought my daughter and her cousins to enjoy the gorgeous unspoiled beaches and crystal clear pools of (chilly!) water.

As for me, it may be the last chance to enjoy the sun before returning to an autumnal UK…

Ah, Rotto. Just as good as my brother-in-law used to tell, back when we shared tissue-culture room cleaning duty, in my younger days working in the lab.
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Posted on October 8, 2008 - by MG

Perth before the moisture burns off

Reclaiming the lake in Claremont, Perth.

Every time I’ve been to Perth, WA, this lake – which is visible from the flat we stay in – is nothing more than a muddy puddle from which bleached old tree stumps emerge, like ancient bones.

 But in October – spring in Australia – look! Blue water and everything.

It’s wonderful to meet up with my siblings and  nephews/niece. Australia always freaks me out because you travel for so darn long to wind up in a country full of English-speaking people who live in nice bungalows with front gardens and eat fish and chips by the sea.

I shouldn’t be posting to my blog, I should be trying to sleep. A touch of insomnia from a bit-of-a-cough and I have to get up in 90 minutes to drive ‘down south’ to Smith Beach.

A very interesting guy called Daniel introduced me to a jazz recording of a pianist named Jan Johansson, a wonderful album called Jazz Pa Ryska.

Hmm, I thought. I’ll use that.

Meanwhile have been thinking a little about ZERO MOMENT. I typed the last sentence a few days ago but now need to do a good polish before anyone is allowed to read it. Anyone means two people right now; my agent and my husband. And then my new editor.

I keep getting the feeling that it might be quite good. But then again it might not be. At this stage, I can’t tell.

Meanwhile, check out the awesome Jan Johansson. Died in 1967, very sadly. Daniel gave me the CD. I’m taking it right back to my daughter’s jazz piano teacher…

Posted on August 28, 2008 - by MG

MG and baby bro

MG and baby broOriginally uploaded by mgharris

Yes, yes, I’m fully narcissistic with all these photos of me-n-someone else but COME ON!

What cooler way to navigate the mountains of Switzerland than in a Porsche?

R kid is driving, Michael who lives in Switzerland with wife and kids.

Today we did birthday celebrations (including mine!) with cousins and all. Two of the boy cousins, Max and Cyrus, are 14, the same age as Josh Garcia in books 2 & 3. Watching them play like daredevils in the playground I wondered how they’d fare if plunged into the same kinds of perils and dangers as Josh. And decided that they’d probably do pretty well, no worse than Josh.

At 14 they’re MUCH fitter and stronger than…ooh, let’s say, for example, me. They may still be children but they’d survive jungle dangers far better than I.

I’d be a total wuss. I’ve seen the rainforest thicket into which I sent Josh. You wouldn’t get me more than 5 metres into that without severe panic…
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Posted on August 27, 2008 - by MG

Swinging under the Spitzhorn

Swinging under the SpitzhornOriginally uploaded by mgharris

Lying here watching my daughter on the swing, my legs are actually sizzling inside my jeans.

Yes, heat! Have hardly felt it all summer long but here in the Swiss mountains, there’s plenty.

Oh it’s lovely, very Swiss with log cabins and the gentle tinkle of cow bells and the smell of warm hay.

I feel a desperate need for cheese and milk chocolate…

The manuscript is taking a break while I work on my tan and play with babies.
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Posted on August 16, 2008 - by MG

Aching for salsa…Edinburgh bound…and maybe Oz too?

I’ve been getting ready for the Edinburgh Book Festival, much excitement, yay!

My event is on Wed 21st – sold out, I’m surprised and impressed to see. It’s a heck of a marketing machine, the Edinburgh Festival. Most of the Schools Events are sold out.

I have been getting my multimedia stuff up to scratch, cutting DVDs of my videos and rejigging my Powerpoint slideshow with one new slide – all about 2012. Apart from that, I have now booked my schedule solid between seeing friends who are visiting the Festival and hanging out at parties and lunches with my lovely publishers.

And I’m flying there! I will feel rather fabulous…

Meanwhile my sister has made us all very proud by giving birth to a bouncy boy, Benedict. I’m seriously thinking of going to his christening, all the way in Australia. Since we all live so many squillions of miles away from each other, my brother and sisters, these sorts of events are starting to be the kinds of excuses we can use to justify the increasingly terrifying expense of meeting up.

But maybe Scholastic Australia would like me to do some book events and schools visits….

That makes it much more justifiable, doesn’t it?

Meanwhile despite some very good news (apart from a new nephew) – which I’ll share in the next few weeks – I’m feeling rather melancholic. It’s been far too long since I went dancing – not since the Oscar D’Leon concert on July 12th. I think the doctor may order a trip to Mambocity soon. Damn salsa for being so addictive! I’m good and hooked.

Listened to BBC Radio 4 last night; Grevel Lindop reading from his book Travels On the Dance Floor - also on listen again. For a UK-based salsera like me his experiences are very familiar. It made me think nostalgically of Cuba. Especially when he played a song which played often when we were in Cuba. Whenever I hear it I feel a kind of desperate, romantic ache for Havana.

Well I listened to the lyrics, searched for the first line on Google and found this video: it’s the late guajiro Polo Montanez singing “Un Monton de Estrellas“.

Very romantic song. And turns out he’s dead – in a traffic accident in 2002, when he was 47. *sob*

I NEED TO DANCE TO THIS SONG SOON OR I WILL BURST!