Piglets

This morning a friend of hubby's stopped off with two intrepid young travelers on the back of his ute.


They were actually traveling inside the drum for safety but made a brief appearance for publicity!

These are two young pigs about 2 months old, fully weaned and ready to venture forth. In their case, this means being released into the wild where they will take their chances as to what life holds for them. These two little boys were smaller than they looked in the pic.

This is something that many New Zealand pig hunters do - release pigs into the wild. Some will grow to a ripe old age and father or mother many youngsters. Others will be caught and killed.

It's the luck of the draw.

Their release point will be a quiet place where by common agreement no one will be hunting. As they mature they'll roam further afield. One day, they will likely run into a pig hunter and his dog.

I wished these two young fellows rapid growth, long legs and a wily brain. If I ever see them again, I hope it's dashing up a steep hill, laughing at the dog laboring behind them and escaping back into the bush.

I love Santa!

Well, I did hand out a few clues as to what Santa hid under the Christmas tree for me this year.


That is a photo of our deck.

In case you still haven't guessed - let me throw in another clue. Below is a view taken from the deck of Kaahu.


You got it! Santa bought me a digital camera. This is so great because it has been such a pain having to get film developed and put on to disk.

The camera is a Cannon A2000IS and is a joy to operate. I just have to remember not to keep raising it to my eye! Old habits die hard! It takes wonderful pictures - I'm impressed with the quality.

So prepared to be inundated with snapshots of my life from now on.

Hope every one had a wonderful day yesterday (or the day before - depending on just where you live). Time to start preparing for the new year now.

Merry Christmas

Here in New Zealand it is Christmas eve.

I'm rather excited because I got a sneak look at what Santa has in his sack for me - and I like!

My lips are sealed BUT there will be no more waiting for me to get film developed!!

Anyway, have a wonderful Christmas. To everyone who bought Ripples on the Lake during the year - thank you. You made a penniless writer very happy!

To readers of Ripples who emailed me with your thoughts, I truly enjoyed basking in your praise. You'd be surprised to know how insecure we writers can be. It is your support that keeps us going.

And to the people that have contributed to my blog, whether by adding your comments or simply by visiting and reading - thank you. I enjoy the contact that the world of the web provides. I feel as if I've developed real friendships all over the globe.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

and if you don't celebrate Christmas, have a lovely holiday anyway.

I'm on YouTube

I really am quite excited.

I'm on YouTube - or at least my little probiotic website is.

You may or may not be aware that I started a raw food diet a few weeks back. I like to try and eat healthily and this seemed like a good way of losing a few pounds and getting a healthy diet as well. Now I don't eat 100% raw or anything like that, but I am eating a raw food breakfast and loving it and usually another meal too.

And I've lost almost half a stone in under a month and so me and Probiotics LoveThatBug are featured on this video clip about raw foods diet. (It's quite save to click through without being press ganged into eating raw nut cutlets for life!)

Now one or two of you will be wondering just how this raw food diet fits in with my obsession for cream filled apple donuts! In fact THAT temptation has been totally eliminated by the little shop down the road changing hands and no longer having them on the menu! Haven't had a cream filled apple donut for months (although I dream about them!)

The latest temptation is ice cream. We have raspberries galore and they are just so nice with ice cream. Not just any type of ice cream. It has to be Tip Top's vanilla.

I try not to yield to often and must be doing fairly well because I AM losing weight. Mostly, I mix a handful of raspberries in with other raw fruits for breakfast. Sometimes, I eat a plate full with yogurt. And occasionally - I confess - I do have them with ice cream!

But most days I eat two raw meals a day and have cut right down on the amount of meat I'm eating - much to hubby's horror. He's one of those men that thinks you die of lack of protein if you don't eat meat every day.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video clip.

Ripples on the Lake Revisted

I received such a lovely email this morning about Ripples on the Lake.

"I read your book over a year ago now and I am still finding the story-line and characters slipping into my thoughts quite a bit! I think it would make a really powerful film. Is a movie on the cards at all?

I have never written fan-mail before, this book has just hit a nerve I think, it is not just a fictional story, there seem to be parts of all of us as New Zealanders in it and I feel it should be shown to the world."

Sometimes - because life flows on - I forget what a powerful things this story was in my life. I lived and breathed with those characters for several years as the story came into being.

And it strangely moves me when I hear from someone who feels the same way.

Whilst the reviews were mostly positive there was the odd one who just didn't "get" the story at all. (Remember the one who said it suffered from "excessive schmaltziness"!) So it is both humbling and moving to hear from people who do "get it".

There was a brief moment of excitement when a movie director made contact about possibly filming Ripples but it all faded away to nothing in the end. My HarperCollins editors assure me that is almost always what happens. But I live in hope that one day it might make the screen - as I'm sure do most writers.

I don't think about Ripples on the Lake so much now. It is as if the act of writing the story and it being published brought closure to it for me.

Ah - but that crappy first draft of the next story -the one I gave up on and moved on to do other things like build websites - ah, THAT story lives with me constantly. Have absolutely no idea how to turn it from a series of wonderfully visual "made for the movies" scenes into a logical story - but I do know that one day I must return to it and try.

So thank you to the lovely lady who sent me the email today. It meant more to me that you could have imagined.