Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

I’m so excited – no, I haven’t sold another book. In fact I’ve been receiving a lot of rejections, but I’m not talking about those today. No, I’m not. Hubby came home last night and said, “How would you like to go on holiday in September?”

“September?” I said. “I thought we weren’t going on holiday again until next September.”

He grinned at me and said, “How would you feel about Phuket in Thailand?”

My answer was yes. (of course!) and so long story short, we’ll be jetting off to Singapore and Thailand in September for 11 nights. I’m really excited since we haven’t been to Phuket. We’ve visited Bangkok and also Singapore, but Phuket is new territory.

A few days ago Sandra Cox posted the following called Ever Wonder? It made both hubby and I chuckle, so I thought I’d repost for your enjoyment.

EVER WONDER …

Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?
Why women can’t put on mascara with their mouth closed?
Why don’t you ever see the headline ‘Psychic Wins Lottery’?
Why is ‘abbreviated’ such a long word?
Why is it that doctors call what they do ‘practice’?
Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?
Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
Why isn’t there mouse-flavored cat food?
Why didn’t Noah swat those two mosquitoes? -
Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?
You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don’t they make the whole plane out of that stuff?!
Why don’t sheep shrink when it rains?

I wondered recently what Samoan men wear under their lava-lavas. In fact, I’m still wondering because I didn’t like to ask…

What have you wondered recently?

I’ve been thinking about food a lot this week, mainly because I’m having a bit of cut back and watching what I eat. I like food. One of my favorite meals is pasta. I love pasta and can eat it for several meals in a row. It’s a real comfort food for me. I’m also a big soup fan. There’s nothing better than a big bowl of soup with a couple of pieces of Vogel’s toast when the weather gets cooler. When it comes to dessert, I’d have to say ice cream, although I’m savvy enough not to buy ice cream these days. It doesn’t stay in my freezer for long!

What are your favorite comfort foods? Does your preference change with the seasons?

A complimentary fifteen-minute massage came as part of the package on our recent holiday in Samoa. Massage isn’t something I’ve had a lot of experience with in the past. I get a head massage whenever I have my hair done, and when I injured my shoulder in a fall, the physio treatment included massage.

On the first day of our holiday, one of our friends and I went off to check out the spa while the others attacked the golf course. (I say attacked because it was a brutal course and the sand bunkers were so deep, the players had to use the ladders provided to climb down inside to play their golf balls out of the bunker.)

My first real massage was great. I stripped off and wrapped in a towel before being escorted to the open-sided huts where they did the massages. They used coconut scented oil and below the table they had sweetly scented flowers and oils. The entire experience was wonderful. I thought about having another massage, but I have to admit the cost put me off a little. Feeling good is not a cheap business. Maybe when I win lotto I can have a massage every week.

Have you had a massage before? Did you like it?

I like to keep up with the news, to hear what’s happening in different parts of the world. Keeping up with current events is one of the things I miss while I’m traveling. From experience, it’s difficult to keep abreast of current affairs in parts of Australia. Their news tends to mostly relate to whatever state you’re in. They don’t think New Zealand news is important. In America, it’s impossible. I’m convinced that the news people don’t know there is a New Zealand or Australia. The only way to learn what’s happening in the world is to tap into the Internet, or at least that’s what we do when we’re visiting the US.

In New Zealand our news coverage is broad in all medias—television, radio and newspaper. I generally know what’s going on in different parts of the world.

Just recently, I’ve noticed a trend, particularly with our television news. They sensationalize everything, in some cases making mountains out of things that are mere hills. Two cases in point.

Like the rest of the world, swine fever has been a big story down here. We had several groups of Auckland students who spent their school holidays in Mexico. They developed symptoms, were isolated fairly quickly on their return to NZ and given treatment. I thought our health ministry handled everything pretty well, the students, their families and others who were showing symptoms were put in isolation and monitored closely.

We’ve been lucky in New Zealand since we haven’t had any deaths and everyone has recovered. Anyone listening to the news coverage after the story broke would have thought all the students were a gasp away from death and the pandemic would be halfway across Auckland by the next day. Despite officials coming out with strong statements, telling of their progress and what they intended to do, the news coverage was scaremongering, plain and simple. I wasn’t the only one who thought so.

The second thing that happened was a shooting. A policeman was killed and others injured by a gunman who holed up in his house. The armed defenders were out, neighbors were evacuated and the press went overboard. Yes, it was a serious situation, but several of the things the press reported during the day were incorrect. I can see that news is big business these days. It’s a race to see who can get stories out to the public first, but it would make me happier if the gloom and doom reports were reserved for matters where the world really was going to end.

Lately I’ve been watching the headlines and leaving it at that. I don’t need to listen to the scaremongering from our reporters.

How do you keep up with the news? If you live in Australia or the US, am I being unfair about your parochial news coverage? Do you think, like me, that sometimes the news coverage is heavy on the scaremongering? What say you about news?

Look for the blog participation winner announcement later today. Oh, my newsletter contest winner announcement as well. I ran out of time today, but on the plus side, my website is looking more up to date. Check out my new covers for Make That Man Mine and Lynx to the Pharaoh plus details and an excerpt for CatNap, the next story in my Middlemarch series. I also have a new free short story for you to download.

A lot of people love visiting museums and art galleries. They can spend hours wandering through the various displays and visit a different museum each weekend.

Not me.

I visited Te Papa this weekend, New Zealand’s big museum in Wellington. I checked out the colossal squid exhibition (very cool) and the Monet art exhibition in one of the private galleries of the museum. I also enjoyed this very much, but that was enough for me. I was ready to leave.

I’ve always been like this with museums. An hour or two is my limit. Knowing my limitations, I tend to pick the galleries that interest me most and head straight there. I loved the historical costumes in the Victoria & Albert Museum. The bog man in the British Museum and the dinosaurs in the Natural History Museum in London all attracted my attention.

Any exhibitions that have things I can touch make me want to linger. I went around the colossal squid exhibit touching everything we were allowed to study at close quarters. A little girl followed me and we touched squid beaks and tentacles, grinning at each other the whole time. It was great fun. I didn’t touch any Monet paintings—all the guards put me off, but those “do not touch” signs really made me want to touch.

Do you like visiting museums? Do you have any favorite museums or things you love to see?

Today I have a gardening post about how to plant an upside down tomato, courtesy of Mr. Munro.

UPSIDE-DOWN PLANTER by Mr. Munro

What to do with that old paint pot or unwanted container.

It may seem strange to plant a tomato in an UPSIDE-DOWN container, but there are benefits. Very little soil related disease as the plant and its leaves have minimal contact with the soil. Roots easily absorb the nutrients as gravity provides a constant flow. Regular watering is crucial as gravity not only feeds but drains – there are larger than normal holes at the bottom of the container.

To make an UPSIDE-DOWN PLANTER procure a suitable vessel. A 10 liter (2.5 gallon) pail is ideal. Whether it is a new or old paint container, it doesn’t matter. The important thing is that it has a lid and a handle. The lid can be adapted from anything but it must be able to retain the soil / potting mix once the container has been inverted. You are now wondering why we are turning the container upside-down. Think about it, it is an UPSIDE-DOWN PLANTER!

We are getting ahead of ourselves. Before inverting the container we have to fill it with suitable material, potting mix would be preferable with a slow release fertilizer. Put the lid on and turn the container upside-down. Cut 3 x 30mm (1&1/4inch) holes in the bottom, which is now the top!! A 10 liter container should be able to cope with 3 plants, smaller containers perhaps only one plant. Now plant your seedlings in the small holes.

After a week or two the plants should be established and able to cope with the next procedure. This entails the container to be raised up, turned over and held by the handle, discard the lid and hang by the handle. The plants are now hanging from the bottom of the container but will soon head outward and upward.

DON’T FORGET TO FEED & WATER!!!!!

Enjoy your UPSIDE-DOWN PLANTER suitable for any sized garden or apartment.

I know some of you are gardeners. Do you grow your own vegetables? Do you prefer to grow flowers? What do you enjoy most about gardening?

I had to go to the doctor this week, and I arrived home with a bottle of large pills. I know the pills will make me feel better, but I want to know why they have to make them in a size that’s more suitable for large animals. I choke and gag and stress out every time I have to take pills of any description. I’ve always been like this and remember having an ear infection when I was a kid, and my father becoming exasperated with me. In fact, he told me I’d go deaf if I didn’t take my pills. I’d frustrated him that much.

I’ve passed my dislike on to some of my characters. This is Kate from Playing to Win.

The nurse returned, handing her a glass of water and two white tablets of a size suitable for horses and other large animals.

“Thank you,” Kate said, with just a trace of sarcasm.

I’m with Kate all the way. Pills are not made for human consumption or at least our consumption!

How are you with taking pills?

You might have heard of authors (me included) complaining about people pirating our books. It’s a huge problem these days for both print and e-authors. It’s also a problem for people in the music and movie business. For example, a rough copy of the latest X-men movie has been pirated before the release date.

Here’s a link to an article about the founders of Pirate Bay who have been involved in a court case regarding music downloads. The decision has come back and the judge has sentenced them to a years jail term, and they were ordered to pay $4.5 million in damages. They are appealing the sentence.

Here’s the link.

Samhain Publishing is having a Spring Fling. The fling starts today with a scavenger hunt. There will be a new scavenger hunt every day plus there are some free Spring Fling stories for you to download. I’m part of the scavenger hunt on 22 April, and I have a free short story called Wild Thing available on 20 April. Enjoy!

Have you seen the YouTube featuring Susan Boyle? The judges took one look at Ms. Boyle, listened to her talking and decided she wouldn’t be able to sing. The music started, Ms. Boyle started singing and smashed apart every one of the judges’ preconceptions, showing true talent. The audience loved her. Millions of people have watched the performance on YouTube. I’m one of them, and I smiled the entire way through. Her performance was amazing.

It made me think about stereotypes when it comes to the romance community. Don’t authors lounge around wearing flowing pink dresses (sometimes with ruffles) and eat lots of chocolates while they’re writing about arrogant alpha males and quivering virgin heroines? And don’t romance readers wear thick glasses, fluffy bathrobes and stay at home with their fictional friends on a Saturday night, eating lots of chocolate while they’re reading their chosen genre?

We know these stereotypes are wrong. Lots of people don’t and accept the above descriptions (or something similar) because they don’t know any better. Well, the chocolate part might be right, but you understand what I mean. We’re all individuals who love the written word and reading/writing about love and romance. Stereotypes are wrong, and we should wait before judging anyone. First impressions aren’t always right, but we’re probably all guilty of judging or applying sterotypes at some time or another. I know I have.

A few days ago, Julia tagged me with a meme called Keeping It Real. I had to post a photo of myself taken without primping and doing ordinary things. The photo caught me on a day when I wasn’t wearing pink, but I’m in my second office i.e. my chair with my laptop. As you can see – no stereotypes here.

I’m meant to tag people, so if you’re brave enough, consider yourself tagged. Follow the Keeping it Real link above and scroll down to the bottom of the post. I have to say that Julia takes a great photo.

How would you describe a writer or a reader? (You can have fun making up a stereotype or you can do a truthful description of a writer/reader as you see them)

Butt cracks in a public place. Not a pretty sight…

Big shudder. I need to scrub my eyeballs. Just sayin’…

What say you?