misguidedleopard

[misguidedleopard]

Musings on magic in the modern world

Musings on magic in the modern world

Disclaimer: this is a writing exercise only, not pretending or intending to be a factual or accurate account of the types of magic in modern-day life nor of people who practice magic. It was written to explore some thoughts on how magic might fit into my stories, and evolved into helping me figure out how magic works in a particular piece I’m working on. Its aim is to entertain only, and maybe…

[misguidedleopard]

Tales of Morocco

Day 9: Ait Ben Haddou Date: 3 July | Temperature: 41 | Steps: 8,147 Stayed in luxury! Such a grand, historic hotel! Um, yeah, that’s all I had that day. So Ait Ben Haddou is an old village that has been updated by Hollywood into one great big movie set, and has been the home of films from Lawrence of Arabia to Gladiator. If I remember correctly we went for a walk here and crossed a river over…

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Tales of Morocco

Day 7: Off to the desert Date: 1 July | Temperature: Scorching hot | Steps: 12,644 Today’s the desert day! We set off early from the auberge to get a head start on the heat. We each had to make up a day pack with the things we want to take into the dunes to the camp. Over the High Atlas and down to the real desert. On the way we stopped at a fossil workshop, ie a place that digs up and sells…

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Tales of Morocco

Day 5: Fes Date: 29 June | Temperature: Over 40 | Steps: 10,404 Free day today. We took it very easy – so much so that I got restless, bored and annoyed. We finally went shopping in the evening after the big heat of the day had passed. D, E and I ducked into the medina to a stall we saw last night with Mohamed, our tour leader, to get some jewellery. I love what we got and I even got babouches…

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Tales of Morocco

Day 3: Casablanca to Meknes Date: 27 June | Temperature: Bloody hot! 41 degrees at Meknes | Steps: 20,000 Saw the Hassan II Mosque this morning. There are no words to describe it! It cost 800 million dollars to build. The minaret tower stands at 200m tall. At Ramadan when everyone who can comes to worship, there are 1 million people there, inside and out. The main hall has a roof that, while it…

[misguidedleopard]

Tales of Morocco

As I sit in the afternoon sun reading my Moroccan travel journals, I am vividly transported back to the warm company of our tour guide and driver, the chatter of our sweating tour groupmates, and the buzzing of the wasps drawn to our hot but refreshing cups of sweet mint tea. We were crowded around small tables opposite the grand market of Marrakesh, and lamenting that our time together had come…

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A whirlwind through Italy: Pisa, Nice and final thoughts

A whirlwind through Italy: Pisa, Nice and final thoughts

Pisa Pisa, it seems, didn’t leave me any more in its thrall than Rome did. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is, I quote: a tower, and it’s leaning. For a much better experience and to discover the rest of Pisa (and apparently there is so much more!) check out this Discover Tuscany one day itinerary. Leaning (?) Tower of PisaTower of PisaAh there’s the Lean The train trip from Pisa to Nice inspired…

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A whirlwind through Italy: Roma / Rome

A whirlwind through Italy: Roma / Rome

We spent three hectic, tiring and pointless nights in Roma, going out when we should have stayed in, mashing our feet to death with all the walking, and overwhelming our senses with the sights. Years after our tour, my remaining impression of Rome is one of ancient wonders polluted with modern-day city life. Imagine with me: you’re standing in front of the Colosseum, one of the most well…

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A whirlwind through Italy: Fiorenze / Florence

A whirlwind through Italy: Fiorenze / Florence

Perk up, folks, things are about to improve. I loved Florence. If there is one Italian adventure I would embark on again, it is Florence. Our hostel (the David Inn, 31 Via Ricasoli) was reportedly super-bien. Before you go booking, bear in mind this was many years ago, although their continued existence does indicate that they may well be worth it. Since I was obviously feeling more refreshed…

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A whirlwind through Italy: Venezia / Venice

A whirlwind through Italy: Venezia / Venice

Venice Our trip to Italy seemed destined to be a continuous run of bad beginnings. Our arrival in Venice did not go any more smoothly than our mad dash through the Gare du Nord. We arrived late in the evening to find that our hotel was actually in the middle of nowhere. Crestfallen, disappointed with our single room with one queen bed and couch for the four of us, and feeling guilt for choosing…

[misguidedleopard]

A whirlwind through Italy: Milan

A whirlwind through Italy: Milan

Many many moons ago, I was lucky enough to experience a whirlwind adventure from France to Italy and kept an erratic journal during my few days there. A few years ago I promised that those travel journals would be my next to be published. And here I am, a bit later, finally coming through with my promises! Better late than never, right?! Looking back through my journal, I realise that there was…

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A study in light and shadow

A study in light and shadow

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Twelve hours

This story is one I wrote for a short story program which had ‘countdown’ as the theme. I was keenly interested in Australian crime at the time of the program and wanted to mirror the bleakness of this story in the Australian landscape. I also wanted to evoke the ochre colour of the Australian outback, and I hope you will see this as a common theme throughout.

8am

After a frosty…

[misguidedleopard]

Tomorrow we have the pleasure of seeing a lunar eclipse and a full moon coincide on the same day. I’m taking advantage of the frenzied energies we’re experiencing to marshall some progress towards the goals I so wisely set out at the start of the year. And yes, I have been making steady progress toward some of my goals despite the disruption of bushfires and COVID-19 in the social fabric around me.

Today, I present a collage of this year’s achievements so far:

  I hope this post finds you all well and safe. Be kind to each other and we might just make it through this crazy year to tell future generations about the movements that were kicked off this year. Let’s hope that what we’re seeing in the world right now will be the call to action for a new generation that respects and heals the earth and each other, and that the changes that are so sorely needed can be actioned more quickly than any of us can hope for.

A super lunar eclipse update Tomorrow we have the pleasure of seeing a lunar eclipse and a full moon coincide on the same day.

[misguidedleopard]

Shine on 2020

Let’s get the obvious out of the way to start with. It’s a new year! A new decade even. And while I’m not normally a person for setting new year’s resolutions (which can be so easily unmanageable, unSMART, and unmaintainable), this year I decided there are holes in my life that a few intentions might be able to salvage. Intentions, y’hear, not resolutions. I can’t maintain resolutions like ‘I…

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The legend of Bushman Bill

The legend of Bushman Bill

So the results are in for this year’s Elyne Mitchell Writing Award, and the final rose went to John Jenkins for his story ‘The Girl Who Wasn’t There’. I am very excited to receive my copy of the shortlisted stories! It is invariably a great read, and if last year’s winner was anything to go by, I’m really looking forward to reading this year’s winner 🙂 In the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy my own…

[misguidedleopard]

Powerless: a story of Australia

Powerless: a story of Australia

This time last year I was waiting to hear back on a short story submission for the Elyne Mitchell Writing Award 2017. To my great surprise the little story about a quintessential Australian experience was shortlisted! So I thought I’d share it. I hope it makes you feel things 😉

Powerless

Boring. Stifling. Frustrating. It was a summer’s day just like many Swampy and Edith had experienced before…