So just recently I went on a trip with my awesome school friends, to Victoria. We went up a mountain and did some skiing and then we went to Melbourne where I had an excellent time exploring the city and spending all my money. And, as you should have expected, I took along a book and a couple of pens so that I could do some writing while I was on holiday, and this is what I am blogging today.
To begin with, I kept a holiday journal for the first couple of days of the holiday, but forgot about it once we got to Melbourne. But anyway, here is my holiday journal:
Day 1, 6.20 am
We have departed the plane. The flight was good. We got food; it was okay, I guess. The movie was I Love You Too. It wasn't great, but I quite enjoyed it anyway. I cried in the happy part. I think I miss Luke. Oh well!
Currently we are sitting at Nando's, just chilling for a while before we have a bus to catch.
We are all tired. I'm a bit hyper.
Maybe breakfast at Nando's, did you know they did breakfast?
Anyway, I guess I'm keeping a holiday journal now - did not expect that!
Signing off - ♥N♫
(At this point there is a picture of a cat, which I can't be bothered to scan for you. It is a cat, with a speech bubble saying "Meow?" An arrow pointing to the speech bubble informs viewers that the cat is saying "I'm happy." There is also a note next to the picture that says "Less than 33% Happy kitty For Kaz".)
Day 1, 11.45 am
We're on a bus! The wait at the airport was not really great fun. I started to read a book but it was a bit sucky. I'll try another one later. I had a chair-nap and a floor-nap while we waited downstairs, unfortunately in the cold because we were near a sliding door to outside. Before we got on the bus I bought some Krispy Kremes! The bus has just had a break. I feel really refreshed now because I had a bit of a sleep on the bus (albeit rather uncomfortable and interrupted) and then a cup of tea at the Pickled Olive. None of us rang through to order food but it was an option. Instead of real lunch, I ate a chocolate iced Krispy Kreme and shared an original glazed with Kellie. I like spending time with Kellie. She is fun. Hey, horses! Out the window, lol. Anyway, I texted my mummy and soon I'll text Luke but it's only 10 am at home so he might be sleeping in, idk.
Thinking I might do some writing. I've been doing my puzzle books and I really should work on my newsletter but I think I'd like to write. No story ideas just yet but the picturesque country-side passing by the windows ought to be sufficient inspiration.
Till later - ♥N♫
Day 3/4, 12.40 am
So Thursday kind of sucked tbh. I think I had the wrong ski boots. We changed them, though, and I had a bit of a cry, well, everywhere, frankly. I skied for nearly two hours and I guess in some ways it was pretty fun. But skiing is really hard on my knees so that was bad too. To my credit, I only fell over once.
Our house is really nice, all wooden and warm with heaters.
It's Friday now, anyway. No one really went skiing today because it's been a) foggy and b) rainy. I am totally okay with that, lol. It makes me feel a bit guilty, actually. I wish everyone else could go back out into the cold and slushy horribleness but I am content to stay inside and read.
I've finished two books already.
Books reviews:
1. Writing Jane Austen
****
A book about writing Jane Austen, which is written in the style of a modern day Austen. The novel lacks the romance elements I've been craving (with Luke so far away), but it is well written and entertaining and managed to keep me snuggly warm in all this cold. Definitely worth reading especially for people who appreciate Austen but maybe aren't hardcore Janeites. =)
2. Carolina Moon
***
A Nora Roberts book. Not much to say here except that you read these books for the formulaic plots and they do their job at providing some okay porn-for-women. =)
Anyway, we all got hell drunk tonight. I had 6 glasses of wine, but I mostly behaved myself. I called Luke while drunk, and then later, while less drunk, convinced him to call me. I miss him a lot but having had a bit of a chat and stuff I'm feeling a little better. I know I can have a good time without him. It's just unusual, I suppose. But I can do this.
Anyway, really sober now and just chilling with the awake people. Tiffany and Natasha are really awesome, they are my new friends now. Poor Natasha is a bit sick from teh alcoholz. Bit sad =( but she'll be okay, Patrick is looking after her!
Signing out. ♥N♫ xx
And there you have the entirety of my holiday journal.
As well as that, I did some extra writing. Only 2 pieces. One of them was on the bus after the second journal entry, and the other one was after that last entry, in the early hours of the morning.
Piece 1:
A fluffy, white cow flew across the world's blue canvas. When it reached the peripheries of my vision, I refocussed on the centre of that huge blue sky and looked for the next shape. And there is was! A rubber duck drifted on past, whispy cirrus clouds forming the foamy bathwater upon which it sailed. As that picture left my vision, a T-rex entered it. I imagined that I could hear it roaring it's battle cry as its cloudy figure stomped across the sky.
"Beep-beep, beep-beep," said the digital watch on my left wrist. I reached my hands up above me to turn off the beeping, and then stared back up at the cloudy sky. As I watched, a cat morphed into a typewriter.
I felt something cold and wet on my feet. Sitting up, I was able to see a pair of soft eyes staring at me. The border collie sitting by me tilted its head as if to ask, "shouldn't we go now?" and then licked my feet again.
"Okay, Annie," I said to the dog, "let's go."
Standing up, I brushed as much of the dry grass off my back and backside as I could do. When I was satisfied I'd brushed myself down enough, I ruffled the fur on Annie's head.
"Annie, heel," I said, and she came right up close to me and walked by my side, a faithful companion, as we headed south back towards home.
Piece 2:
Midnight, Nat thought, was the best time for inspiration to strike. The most inconvenient, definitely. But it produced the best work, there was no denying it. A picture was forming inside her head, built up from the bare canvas to the vibrantly coloured scene in her mind's eye. The same blank slate that she faced now, standing before it in her pyjamas, had been just that - blank - for the whole month. And somehow at midnight on this dark evening she had finally realised what to put upon it. Within seconds of the picture entering her mind, that flood of pure inspiration, shape, colour, she had picked up a stick of charcoal and begun to sketch flaky black lines over the taut white canvas. She became aware, just for a second, that she must look ridiculous standing there. She was wearing flannelette pyjama bottoms and a jersey singlet top; no bra, just knickers, trousers, the little singlet and bare feet on polished wood floorboards. There was barely any light coming through the window on that dark eve; Nat didn't mind. She liked working in the dark, especially when the picture in her mind was so bright. She'd nearly covered the blank canvas in faint black squiggles before she was interrupted.
"Inspired?" asked the male voice behind her. He was affectionate, understanding, and not quite in tune with what was happening to her mind, emotions and body.
"Just a little," she said, with a sigh.
"Am I interrupting? I'll go back to bed, if it helps."
"No, no. Don't worry, I've nearly finished."
They stood silently, with her hand holding a piece of charcoal and wiggling it gently but purposefully against the canvas and his hands skimming gingerly across her stomach.
Barely minutes later, maybe only seconds, her hand made its last stroke over the canvas and feel to her side.
"Nat?" breathed the man behind her.
"I'm finished, yeah. Bed time?"
"Might do you some good, love. Only when you're ready."
"It's okay. I've got an outline down. It'll stay with me, I think. At least till morning."
She turned around in his arms and pressed as close against him as she could. It worried her that it wasn't as close as she used to get. It was okay though. When it was their baby between them, it was okay.
"I love you," she whispered.
"I love you too, Nat," he whispered back, breath warm against her ear.
Holding hands, they walked away from the black-lined canvas and towards the comfort of the bedroom.
She was up at six the next morning, eyes and head hurting from lack of sleep. Ethan woke when she rose and then slipped back into the empty blackness of sleep. Later, closer to eight o'clock, he came out to the living room to see her standing there, silent, with a paintbrush in hand and utterly lost in concentration.
"Nat," he said, short and sharp, but not unkind, "have you eaten?"
She was startled by his voice, not surprised or appalled by the tone in his voice, because she knew it was necessary sometimes.
“Not yet.”
“Will you eat if I cook? Bacon or eggs maybe?”
“Not eggs,” she said, her stomach turning to jelly.
“Bacon?”
“Okay?” She’d already tuned out, though, raising her paintbrush back up to the work on the easel. Ethan pulled a few fresh rashers of bacon from the fridge and began to work. Cooking was what he did, and even though lately it had been difficult to find something that Nat wanted him to cook, he still tried his very best to please her.
And that’s it!
Nice work if you read it all. As always I appreciate lots and lots of constructive comments. More on the actual writing that the journal, though.
Hope you enjoyed it. =)
♥Nancy♫
