When Waltzing Australia was published in 2007, I felt certain that there would be a sequel—a book that covered the astonishing adventures I’ve had during return trips, each of which took me even farther afield.
But life intervened. I had to earn a living, so I began writing textbooks and magazine articles. Then I became increasingly drawn into food history, and a couple of books came out of that (Midwest Maize: How Corn Shaped the U.S. Heartland and Pigs, Pork, and Heartland Hogs: From Wild Boar to Baconfest). As the years went by, it seemed increasingly unlikely that I’d ever get around to that sequel.
And so, I’ve decided that this blog will stand in for that second Australia book. The adventures are now a few more years in the past, but that’s the nice thing about falling in love with a really ancient land—if you’re considering a rock that is 35 million years old, it doesn’t really matter if a few years have passed since you last saw it. So I’ll be getting back to blogging here, though not perhaps so regularly, and probably with fewer photos, because I was still using film on those last trips, and scanning slides takes a lot of time. But we’ll see. Books without wizards or werewolves don’t make one rich, so I still have to earn a living “on the side,” so there is never as much free time as one would like. But I still want to finish recording the trips back, as there were so many wonderful adventures.
Wish me luck. And hope to see you as I continue the journey.
Waltzing Australia 
So good to see you again! I look forward to your future posts. Have a great day in your neighborhood!
And lovely to hear from you. Hope all is well.
Lovely to see you again! I was only thinking about you the other day. I’ll try to keep up with your posts.
What a treat to reconnect with you. How have you been — aside from the pandemic?
Pretty well Cynthia … done more Australian travel, and more overseas travel. Not liking the current clipped wings, but c’est la vie eh? So glad you to see that you are OK!
Caring for my mom at this point (she’s 94), so my travels have almost all been confined to the Midwest. However, I have discovered that this is a remarkable and beautiful region, so I’ve benefited from the limitation. Even just finished writing a book about some of the surprising history and beautiful destinations here. So the cloud has a silver lining. That said, the pandemic definitely cut into even that local travel. But we’re hanging in there.
Oh, I didn’t plan to go there but I will. I’ve had an awful few months. My dear Mum died in June after a short (in terms of diagnosis) illness. She oas 3 weeks off 91. In May my Dad turned 100, and moved into Aqrd Care at the end of June . I visit him every day. My wings have been clipped by all this as well as by Coria. Both my kids live in Melbourne as does my toddler grandson. We haven’t seen him since March. Our kids were able to come for the 100th and the funeral in a brief window of opportunity. So grateful for that! Melbourne is now in serious lockdown.
So sorry for your loss. Not an easy time, made worse by the virus. How odd is seems to think that everyone is trapped by the virus.