(We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites)
Yesterday, I was bumming around on Instagram, when I caught sight of one of the channels I watch fairly regularly. It’s a big tall English guy, Isaac, married to a Chinese woman with kids and in laws. He has some really interesting posts. This one was about washing shoes in the washing machine, which led to a whole conversation with my daughter-in-law. The Instagram channel is @fisherzhangs_in_china and the post was about their new washing machine, Chinese designed and made, Little Swan Xiao Wu Mei Multi-drum laundry room with dedicated shoe-washing drawer.
So I started commenting on the post and Ferdi, my D-I-L says yes, I was so surprised when I saw you put your runners in your washing machine when I first went to Australia. Now, I have to admit that when Ferdi and my son first came to stay just after they got married and Covid allowed them to travel, I thought Ferdi was germ phobic. You know with Covid and all that, who wouldn’t be.
She was very particular, used disinfectant in the washing machine, cleaned her phone screen with alcohol wipes, every day (maybe more often)-(this habit I have adopted because eeww! phone screens and germs). Also, even with things that go in the fridge. Uncovered things etc. Nope.
But last night, the whole cultural difference was pulled out and explored. Chinese people wash their underwear separately. They also wash socks separately and then the clothes go together. I haven’t asked about towels and stuff but I will. I tend to wash towels together so I’m not completely ick!
She explained how Taamati now sorts the washing like a Chinese person and that they have three baskets for underwear, socks and then clothes. How did I not know this?
Here is me, time poor, generally, just shoving whatever into our large 10kg front loader. I mean separating the whites from the darks is hard enough but, this information has me reconsidering.
There is definitely a logic behind it all.
Ferdi says most people will probably handwash their underwear but they would not put shoes in the washing machine. According to Isaac’s relatives, you send your shoes to a shoe cleaning shop or clean kids shoes with a brush.
Now the Little Swan has a shoe cleaning drawer!
Ferdi and I popped onto Tao Bao to look up the washing machine, which probably costs around $2000 Singaporean. We even called Taamati, who is currently in Shanghai and he’s like -not until we buy a house. It’s a very cool looking machine. I think I can find a link for laundry eye candy. Link here.
Anyway, what a clever thing.
While we were on the call, Taamati showed us the hotel toilet, which the lid opens when you walk in. It’s a Japanese style one with bidet etc. Everything is button controlled and you don’t touch the toilet except with your butt I suppose.
Generally we ended the conversation on how clever the Chinese are.
But for me, it made me understand how little things, like how you wash your clothes (and shoes) can create barriers to understanding and expose cultural differences.
Also, how cool is my daughter-in-law because our family is completely weird and non-traditional compared to Chinese families and culture and she is very open minded, even when I weird her out by washing my runners in the family washing machine. I had been thinking this before we discussed laundering methods, btww.
There is probably a lot more cultural differences to flesh out between us.
This post is full of excitement, enthusiasm and wow! It seems so long ago, well ten years, but so much has happened since then. I got the PhD but did not publish a paper.
It’s lovely. The weather is warm, of course, but less humid than on my visit last year. Or so my body thinks.
I have been to the pool every morning so far. Yay me. It is so convenient as the pool is downstairs. At home I have to drive for 20 minutes so it’s an event, rather than every day.
We caught some of the birthday fireworks. It’s not Singapore’s birthday yet but these are the lead up. We are right next to the stadium so the fireworks sounded like bombs going off. Very scary. We caught the last one.
Last hoorah of Singapore’s fireworks on the weekend.
I have started working on the revision to Gentleman Magician. I need to get a move on with that. However, it shouldn’t be too long if I knuckle down.
I’ve also been editing audio files for The Founders’ Legacy. And well that takes a lot of time and some of the errors (pickups) I can’t do here. I tried but the sound quality is different and I hate the sound of my voice so much anyway and the way I stumble over words that I feel that I might start over again, again, again. At least I got the whole book down this time, instead of redoing chapter one over and over again. Practice makes perfect.
But again, I winkled some more typos out so I have updated the files, yet again. I’m going to stop typo hunting now so I can move on. I found the issue was really in Vellum, the program I use to format the books. Somehow I had an option on to automatically correct spelling errors. I didn’t even know that option existed. My novel has a whole lot of made up pronouns, strange names and Vellum changed them and created chaos. All that careful proofreading torn up. However, I believe it is sorted now. But if someone mentions typos I may go up in flames.
For Russell Kirkpatrick’s memorial, which I’ll miss in person, is on Friday. Kylie kindly asked me to talk about Russell’s writing and links to the writing community. I have sent that video off but damn that was hard. In the end I just had to run with it, be as natural as I could, even though I hated listening and looking at me and I didn’t want to become emotional.
In other news, The Founders’ Legacy is for free on Kobo for a little bit. Hopefully this universal link will work. Barnes and Noble is inaccessible from Singapore for some reason. Link for The Founders’ Legacy. Here.
I have been putting this post off for a while. At first the grief was too raw. Then it was too hard to bear so shutting it away where I couldn’t see it or feel it seemed a better option.
It’s been nearly a month since he passed. I can’t believe it has been that long or that time passed so quickly.
I first met Russell on line. Back in the day, Harper Collins Voyager had a online bulletin board, cutely named the ‘Purple Zone’ and there readers could interact with authors, well those that chose to hang out. It was moderated by F8, who is still knocking around somewhere. The purple zone was one of the places where I let people now about Conflux in 2004, the Australian National Science Fiction Convention that was held in Canberra that I was chair of. A number of the people on there became friends in real life. Obviously Russell was one of those.
Russell had just had Across the Face of the World published in 2004 and I was heading to NZ for a family trip. I reached out to Russell and we met up in Hamilton. He’d not long moved there from Christchurch and was planning on building a house and was working at the University of Waikato. I mean in those days, you could meet people from the Internet, just saying! Russell, me and my two daughters and younger son met up. We went to Hobbiton. In those days it was a ruin, but there were still some things to see, remains of hobbit holes, the party tree and stories. Russell took us to his favourite fish and chip place in nearby Matamata. And I encouraged him to come to Conflux, offered accommodation etc.
The purple zone was where I met and befriended Glenda Larke as well. I visited her in Malaysia back then.
So Russell came to Conflux and then also started attending writing retreats. First one was Yackandandah, the next Metung and more. In those days, Trudi C and Paul came along, and besties Kylie and Nicole. We also used to chat online in real time in the Harper Collins Voyager hosted chat room, then later when they closed that, on Yahoo chat.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, Kylie and Russell began to correspond and fall in love. At this time, I had started going out with Matthew. Kylie moved to New Zealand to be with Russell. They hosted a writing retreat at this lovely home in Keri Keri and then later moved back to Australia.
I think that’s when we settled into a groove. We had weekend writing retreats, dinners, hung out, talked. Russell was always a good listener and supporter. I remember when I started my Phd, he had doubts but he supported me and listened to me as I raved on about philosophers and writing academically and the challenges of doing a PhD. You really did need to be a self starter. Russell was also a cartographer and did some maps for me for Dragon Wine and Argenterra. He also did a few workshops on maps–showing us weird historical maps, how cultural and religious imperatives governed maps and more. He also was a music buff and did a presentation at one of the Conflux’s on science and music and how music had been optimistic about the future and science and then how it turned negative. Absolutely fascinating. Russell was also mad about Lego and his collection was amazing. I don’t know how he did all the things. For the first while when he moved to Australia, he wasn’t working much but then he got an opportunity to tutor at the University of Canberra and then ended up over the years running courses as that’s what he had trained to do. He excelled at teaching and loved it. He did like to lecture but I loved finding out stuff from him. Anyway, we were buddies and his friendship network grew in Canberra. Nicole M, Shauna, Kim, Cat, Rob, Angie and Ian and lots more. He was loved and respected.
Did I mentioned he liked to lecture! But always in a nice way I thought. He was the font of all knowledge as far as I was concerned. He was also handy and would come to help with things around the house. We even went half in a whipper snipper back in the day when we first bought our places.
The hardest thing was Covid 19. That changed things a lot. Russell had medical anxiety even before then so it was harder to connect with Russell during and after Covid. However, we did, even it if was one lone birthday dinner and cake. In the time he was in Canberra, his son came to live and met his partner and had a kid and Russell became related to Cat and Rob. Lol. I love this. They also grew close too.
I think on Russell and Kylie and their life together and I feel that Russell’s life was enriched and so was Kylie’s. They had good times together. Kylie had the knack of getting people to talk and she definitely had Russell talking about his feelings. They made a beautiful house together, full of warmth and joy. It is Kylie who my thoughts are with the most. All of his closest friends are suffering and mourning him. But Kylie was his partner, the person who knew him best. And Russell would want us all to support her and look after her. Love you, Kylie!
So what happened you might ask. Russell was fit, teaching, cycling, and enjoying life until he had symptoms of pneumonia. He said to me the antibiotics are working and that he was on his second round. The doctor then thought to test for lung cancer. Meanwhile, Russell started feeling unwell, just odd things and Kylie would take him to the ER. Eventually he got admitted after a few visits as things weren’t right. I talked to Russell in the hospital and he was so anxious about his health he could not eat. He had cancer but didn’t know what type. They did a scan and it was in his lungs, liver, spleen, hip etc. I talked to him another day and they had taken him for a brain scan and it was in his brain and that was his worst fear. His intellect was under threat, his life was in the balance. When they sequenced the biopsy, it was melanoma. He was slated for immunotherapy and there was hope.
Meanwhile, I had trouble sleeping. I kept worrying that Russell’s illness was too far gone, that he didn’t have time for treatment. Sadly, this is what happened. I saw him after the first treatment and Russell was laid out by it. He said, the trouble is Donna, the untreated me is not very well. He went back into hospital and then every day more bad news. By 26 June, he was gone. A few short weeks and he was gone. So many tears over his passing.
His mob, his friends, we just needed to be together with other people who understood our loss. We ate New Zealand lollies and toasted Russell with Coke Zero, his drink of choice.
Now as I’m in Singapore, I will miss his memorial. There wasn’t a funeral as was his wish. I loved Russell as a friend and I will miss him. I thought he would be giving the eulogy at my funeral. He was a year younger than me. But life is not fair. Cancer is not fair.
Is there anger? Yes, there is rage against the unfairness of this. Why some people get time to live with cancer, maybe even get into remission. Alas, our friend Russell was not one of these.
I try to imagine that Russell is here somewhere. Not gone. Just elsewhere. It is my coping mechanism. All I could do on the day he died was dedicate The Founders’ Legacy to him as I was launching it on the day he died.
He was a stalwart friend of the keenest mind. I am better for knowing you Russell.
An older photo from when I launched one of his books at a NZ SF convention in Auckland. It was my early days with Matthew and the start of his life with Kylie. So an old photo!
I arrived on Thursday evening and I’m adjusting to the slight time difference. I’m not quite there yet. I am here mostly to chill and be with my son and my daughter-in-law. There are a couple of things I’d like to do. Maybe visit the science museum on recommendation from a writing buddy. Also, a Portal exhibition of SF and fantasy miniatures came up on instagram so we will go to that. And catching up with a couple of friends.
I usually set some goals when I come for a long visit. Five weeks is a long visit. Enough to get a break and settle my mind. First goal is to get to the pool to walk everyday, usually early morning. Two days in and I’ve done that. This is to help keep me fit. Something I have been neglecting. To eat good food but to be food smart because I have gained 5 kilos since I was here last year and that’s not good. I am meant to be losing kilos not gaining them!
Writing wise, I have a few things on. My original plan was to start drafting Amethyst Way, the next Cry Havoc novel. However, I need to revise Gentleman Magician first and I have booked it in for an edit so best get going.
The other thing was edit the audio book of The Founders’ Legacy. I’ve recorded it but not edited and mastered it. I did a bit of that yesterday but I may switch to Gentleman Magician as that’s more pressing (and less frustrating).
The audio book recording is such a challenge. Sometimes your mouth does not obey your commands and you mumble or say the wrong word. Eep. Then there are words you can write but not easily say. For example, self-congratulatory which I can say but not when I’m recording myself etc. There are other tongue twisters like ignominy, preliminary and many others. And dealing with non-gendered invented pronouns! Oh well, hopefully I will learn from this.
Anyway, the only picture I have taken is of the pool and noodles from last night oh and the delightful meal my daughter-in-law cooked when I arrived. Did I mention that noodles are my friend? My daughter-in-law and I bond over noodles.
Next post is a tribute to Russell Kirkpatrick, who passed away fairly suddenly.
I haven’t done a book launch in a long time, so it is right that I launch The Founders’ Legacy into the world with a bang. Smith’s Alternative is a great venue and I am so pleased that they have room for me.
I am almost done recording an audio version. I just have to edit and master the files. This is every exciting!
I had my book professionally proofread. But you know even the best can miss a few things, right. Step one!
Then you have to be real careful taking up changes because you can make more errors. Mmmm. Step two!
Well this happened to me and I’m wondering if I will ever learn to read the thing before uploading. I did not read it again after the proof changes. Step three!
What was a vortex, though, was I had another program, that I no longer subscribe to, working in the background and unbeknownst to me it changed things and I didn’t see it. Step four! Vortex achieved.
It’s not that I rushed the proof changes, I didn’t. I took two days and did it slowly. However, obviously I have issues with my eyes, recent surgery, new glasses etc. But I didn’t realise what was going on. I have since removed the offending program from my Mac now.
So what did this vortex do besides leave in and or create errors.
Tal became Tai, or Sal, or I don’t know. Random.
Gen became Get and Ben and random.
Sihe Pel because Sihe Pal, Sihe Sal. Who knows.
Then there was Si that was changed to ‘is’ so I’m left with sentences like ‘is was’ instead of ‘si was.’
Or sihe became she. Eyes rolling here.
There were missing little words. Annoying and hard to catch.
Some sentences I rethought because they were not precise enough so not proofing errors just me thinking What?
So is it all fixed now. I’ve tweaked the cover, too, for the print version. New versions are up everywhere.
I will continue the saga of reading the book to create an audio book. I just keep redoing chapter one. It’s like I’m stuck in a vortex of my own creation!!!!
Apologies if anyone bought a copy with the typos. The new version should update. If not let me know. I don’t believe anyone bought a print version yet so that’s a relief.
Sometimes you just have to live with whatever. Sometimes you might feel you are in a vortex of shit.
On Monday, which was a very lovely day in Canberra, I went for a walk around the lake and then on to the Botanical Gardens with friends. Just near the end of my walk in the gardens, I did not see a step. And wow does landing on your knees hurt! I managed to hobble out there and put on a brave face. When I got home, I asked Matthew to clean the grazes with alcohol wipes. I might have screamed. However, they had to be cleaned. I managed dinner with friends being dropped by the door of the restaurant.
Some pictures from the walk.
I slept with my legs elevated because I expected swelling and the next morning I was not surprised to have jelly knees. I spent the day vegging in front of the TV, eating all the inappropriate food I could find. I contacted the office of orthopaedic surgeon who did my partial knee replacements and he requested an Xray. My view of the Xray is that it’s all okay bone wise, no breaks, the arthritis on the knee cap is worse that previously. I’m guessing it’s just soft tissue damage. The surgeon hasn’t called so I’m thinking there are no issues with my prosthesis either.
A picture of gumnuts!
Anyhow I can mostly walk okay. Occasionally the right knee gives and the right knee does not like leading the way upstairs. The swelling has come down somewhat.
In amongst all this are some family issues, some friends adversely affected by health news and I wonder if the stars are in the wrong quarter or something. The world is pretty shit too and all in all it is quite difficult to stay positive.
I moved out of my craft room on the weekend too. And it looks like I’m going to sell my floor loom. I’m not using it enough to justify the space it takes up. And I’m hoping I kept my craft makings accessible this time but with the knees I cannot assemble shelves and finish the tidy up. The test will come when I want to work on something. These days it is sewing that floats my boat. If you can believe it, I actually culled some fabric and a lot of yarn. It went to the local buy nothing group. I found things too that I had totally forgotten about.
As part of clearing the craft room, I finished the walking bonnet that I started in a workshop at the Regency weekend. It is made from violet dupion silk. I don’t have much in violet so I thought why not.
A little bit of writing has been achieved. Mostly the restructure of Tainted Lady. I have some beta reader feedback coming for Gentleman Magician that I hope won’t take long to address. All in all, I am a bit behind schedule.
I also need to organise a launch, virtual and real of, The Founders’ Legacy. So I must start with a blurb and that requires brain power.
Today I am interviewing Jemima Hardcastle Huntington to gather her views on the revelations contained in The Prudential Light- A memoir of a lady–Mrs Prudence Wainwright.
Me: Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Mrs Huntington.
Jemima: And Monster Slayer. You must not forget that but do call me, Jemima, otherwise we will be here all day. I have things of a personal nature to attend to.
Me: And Monster Slayer. (Me dying to ask what monsters she has slain recently). Jemima what was your first reaction to reading The Prudential Light?
Jemima: (waves a hand). I had many reactions. I snuck a few reads of the draft while the memoir was in progress, you know. My first reaction was, Aunt Prudence is not as old as I thought. My second was she has been through a lot and I realised that my life was not as nearly difficult as hers had been. I was only an orphan and sent to school aged fourteen. No hardship in that in hindsight.
Me: And other reactions? You being blood related?
Jemima: That was a surprise but I liked it better that way. I have grown fond of Aunt Prudence and she is nowhere as annoying as she used to be. She helped me during my confinement, you know. Totally surprising at the time but when you read the memoir you understand better. Now that I have a child, I do not think I could have been as strong as she was when she faced such a traumatic separation.
Me: You have returned now to Willow Park. Do you think that you will spend time such a long time with Mr and Mrs Fulton again in future?
Jemima: I adore Fulton and Milly and we get along so well. I wish that we could all live together all the time. I imagine we will stay together either here or at Hatfield when the rebuilding is complete. As it is I write to Milly most days.
Me: I’ve been dying to ask about the Hardcastle talent that appears to run in your family. Was it a surprise that Aunt Prudence has this so called Prudential Light?
Jemima: I knew there was something about Aunt Prudence that needed explaining, which is why we all urged her to write her memoir. What was contained, therein, was certainly astonishing. I am glad that she has the Prudential Light and that she was able to use it in defense of me. As for it running in the family, that is a surprise. I thought my power came from the Emerald Fire and also from the magic leaking into me from my Ruby Heart. It appears I always had some of my own. Edward’s magic is like a life force and as he made my Ruby Heart and he powered it with magic that has slowly come to me. Fulton has the same thing, except for him, the magic Edward placed into his arm and leg keep him alive and also make him strong.
Me: Now that you know Milly is blood related too, do you suspect her of having the Hardcastle traits?
Jemima: Oh you mean like magic? Milly is a wonderful person and she does not need magical talents. She has Fulton for monster slaying but I dare say Milly will surprise us all with some magical talent all her own. Only the other day I had a letter from her that has me quite puzzled. I believe she encountered a fae in the Hatfield estate forest.
Me: That does sound intriguing indeed. We must finish up our interview now. If you had something to say about The Prudential Light what would that be?
Jemima: Are you asking me to sum up the memoir in one word? How odious! Do you want me to say it is scandalous? Well, it is indeed. I am glad for the present that is only circulated within the family. There would be an uproar and it would sell like hotcakes if it was for public release. It discusses all kinds of private things…come to think of it. How do you know about it? You are not family?
I find them helpful, even though I don’t use them all the time.
The big 100 days to do list fall in a heap for me. I have so many things I want to do that there are too many things to keep track of.
On work days, I use my calendar to manage the things I should be doing. That’s because in my day job I only work two days so I need a way to keep track because I forget inbetween the weeks.
On other days, well it depends on what I have on, what I want to achieve. Between Christmas and New Year I generally switch off so to do lists go out the window unless I’m hosting a deck party. Parties need to do lists. How else can you delegate?
Generally though if I am not doing the day job, I need a to do list to set myself goals or achieve something. Otherwise the day can just fritter away with a little bit of this, some couch/streaming etc. If I’m struggling there might be one or two things on my to do list.
Today (example only)
write a blog post
write Gentleman Magician for an hour
cook dinner.
Now I have done other things. I picked up my glasses, I’ve had lunch with Rob, I went to the supermarket. I’ve also fixed a Chinese character in The Prudential Light, uploaded new print files and new ebook files. They are additional things.
Whether I will write today remains to be seen. I’m giving my brain a rest.
However, that being said, to do lists work for me when I’m enthusiastic, need to get things done. If I’m not enthusiastic, then I’ll put one thing on that to do list that is important for me, just to get me going.
Motivation can sometimes be thin on the ground. There is a push pull-thing going on with what I want to do and making the effort to do them.
I’ve bought a wall planner and a desk planner. I’m going to fix up my workspace tomorrow when the new hutch arrives for my desk. I want to achieve a lot in 2026. However, sometimes it’s hard.
A wall planner is one massive to do list really.
The downside for to do list though can be where you do things not on your to do list. Or as you are marking things off, you add things you forgot! The list doesn’t get smaller.
Anyway, here are my writing to dos for 2026. Wish me luck.
Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing 