A quick note to say, “Hi!” and to wish you a Happy New Year. I’m excited about being more active on my blog in 2023. For the last couple of years, I’ve been focusing on my podcast, and last year I was organising a big event that I’d like to tell you about soon – both of which left little time or headspace for longer-form pieces. But I’ve missed writing for you, and I want to do more of it this year.
Bob and I just got back from Bali. Morning and afternoon swims, leisurely walks stopping for delicious nasi campur at a warung, afternoon cocktails made with tropical fruits we don’t see a lot of in Australia, watching the sunset on a beach chair surrounded by other travelers. Have you ever had a juice made from soursop? That last one left me slightly perplexed, but I very much enjoyed it. I felt very spoilt and fortunate.
The heat was a challenge at times, and so some nights after dinner we’d retreat early and watch what the hotels had to offer in the way of random television content. Perhaps not what you’d expect, but a regular go-to in Ubud was a Japanese news channel with fascinating stories, and then in Seminyak it was Netflix. We started watching Wednesday. What a delicious show headlined by the phenomenal Jenna Ortega! My suggestion for Season 2 is given Christina Ricci, who played Wednesday in the ‘90s films, has a (different) part in this new incarnation, it’s time for the producers to invite Lisa Loring, the original Wednesday, from the ‘60s series for a cameo.
Speaking of children full of woe, on the plane, and then on my pool chair, I began reading The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames. It’s a tale of an unlucky (or maybe lucky given she survives her brushes with mortality) girl growing up in Calabria. My family are from Calabria, and so I’ve been taken aback when a character does something that is so very my family, but which I hadn’t realised was a Calabrian thing. I never realised fried eggplant could be so dangerous. Such a fun read.
What have you been watching? Reading? Drinking? I’d love to hear from you.
