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Bella Mary – the miniature pig that grew. A gift from my mother to my sons. Apparently able to provide an endless supply of pocket money if they breed from her and sell miniature-pigs-that-grow to unsuspecting buyers. The fact that there is no miniature pig BOAR for 500km escaped mother's notice. Frustrated girl, our Bella.
Took – A Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. Walks like a sailor on his first shore leave for 12 months. Sweetheart of a dog.
Fin – Closest breed possibility: Border Collie. Do not house on your average suburban block. Named after Irish whistle player and multi instrumentalist, Finbar Fury, because he does everything fast.
I’ve been a breakfast cook in Vancouver, a low roller in Vegas, a chalk artist in Paris and a farmhand in Wales. I’ve dived the Red Sea, seen the red caves of Petra, been stranded in the Sinai, and breathed the spice markets of Istanbul. Those are the places that stay vivid in my mind.
Eventually I returned to Australia and acquired a husband and children. We worked in the cotton fields for a while, me as an agronomist, my husband working on his PHD. We then moved to Brisbane, where my husband, now a research scientist, worked a biological control project for CSIRO and I worked for the Department of Primary Industries coordinating teaching programs for farmers. We went to Malaysia as a husband and wife team on another biological control project, fell in love with the food but not the isolation.
We decided it was time to settle down so we returned to Australia and made our home in rural New South Wales. My husband took a lecturing position at the local University and the kids went off to school. We acquired cows, chooks, and pets, and we dug gardens and planted trees whose roots grew deep into the ground. I work part time filling vials for a veterinary pharmaceutical company and also spend a day each week demonstrating Soil Science at the University. Oh, and there’s one other thing I do with my time these days. I write romance.
Ships and steel, king tides and southerlies. And me. I was born in Australia in the port city of Newcastle, famous for its steelworks, drinking holes, and deep, safe harbor. "That’ll be such-and-such," my grandmother used to say at the sound of a ship horn, deep and mournful. "She’s been waiting offshore for the last eight weeks but they’re bringing her in and she’ll dock at number three." Some grandmothers keep an eye on the neighbors. Mine kept an eye on the ships.
I did my schooling in Newcastle, went on to university and ended up with a Science degree and a research fellowship in Biochemistry. A year and a half later I traded in all my worldly possessions (there weren’t many), cashed up, and set off to see the world.
