Today my hubby had a day off, as they shut the bin due to the rain that had stopped harvest. So this morning we went up to the golf club to see how bad these nastsy weeds were.  We managed to walk three holes and this big drum was nearly half full just from one fairway.  My hubby has been trying to pick this weed before it drops it’s nastsy seeds. I can tell you that my thumbs and back are very sore tonight! Yesterday my dad and I did some clean up, mowing and weeding the weeds around the hall.  No parks and gardens council workers for Pingaring, just locals.  Then this afternoon we went to the hall to finish setting up some decorations and doing some hall maintenance. (We had a huge crack down the wall we had to foam-a-fill. And when I say ‘we’ I mean my husband.) What was wonderful is

Yesterday my son and I jumped into the truck with my dad and headed out for a load.  It’s hot and sweaty, dusty and sometimes itchy and there were spider webs….but besides all that it still is fun to go out for a ride. Here is my son, sitting up the back enjoying the ride. When we got out to the farm, they had finished those paddocks are were getting ready to move to another area of the farm. So my dad & Blake went back to the CBH bin to drop off his load and I stayed to help John shift.  With my Uncle & Aunty not on their farm anymore, I miss out on helping them shift, so this was fun.  They gave me the old Landy, which was still in good shape. The comb on the back makes it hard to turn through gates as it is, but this one had no lenght on the tow hitch,

I went for a ride in the truck with my dad the other day. Kids came too.  Out to a farm to pick up a load of wheat. You can tell from the stubble that the crops around here are not so great. We didn’t get the finishing rain so everything dried out early. We have farmers finishing up harvest now and thats just not the norm.  Everyone will be done before Christmas at this rate. Loading up. Had to take a photo of this old strainer post. Don’t think it does much these days, but still it looks great. Some advertising for his dad’s place of work! lol. The kids have early close on a Monday so that gives them more time to play.  They love it when pop carts the grain to the bin, they love seeing the bin crew and their daddy at work.  Just some crop pictures I took the other day. And as always Sally

Because my new book has a small section of speedway in it, I thought I’d go into detail on my seven years of racing. Don’t stress, it won’t be long winded for those who don’t like cars. I just have a collection of old photo’s to help share my journey . It will be painless, I promise. My family had always been into racing, from my dad, my grandparents, to aunty’s and uncles. My Grandad was a mechanic and my dad followed suit.  My racing career started at the age of 16. I was driving a go-kart my dad built from the age of 3 and drove various buggies and cars the moment I could, (or sometimes couldn’t) reach the pedals. This was the norm for me and my cousins. So by 16 we were all very able with a car. You can start racing speedway in Juniors from as young as ten, but it was something

I spent a few days down at Hopetoun, (south east coast of WA) to give myself some writing time while the kids enjoyed a break during school holidays. As it was, I had to spend half the day cutting branches off a fallen tree and dig out gutters full of rotten leaves. Fun, not! But the excercise helps balance the rest of the day sitting on my backside writing. (Not the most physicall of jobs being an author!) I love the white sandy beaches here, perfect, but HATE it in my car. Kids brought heaps home in their pockets by accident!! Don’t let them do this, the morning before you head home.  When we got home I took the kids out to Buckley’s Breakaway. A place we went to lots as kids for birthday parties and fun (and my dad even had a few parties out there when he was younger), so I couldn’t believe I hadn’t

Today i’m posting just a collection of photos I have taken around home. Enjoy. x These three were taken at Gumlea. (my uncles farm) The Kulin Bush Races are on this weekend, so it will be great to see what new creations come from it. This was last years winner. (made from points -things used to dig into the ground during seeding) Sunset over Kulin, and below over Jilikan lake. A cloudy day over Pingaring area. Townsite is out of picture to the right.  Gorgeous time for bush walks around the rocks, especially while the orchids were out. Out playing with these nine gorgeous Kelpie pups. Kids out at the farm. With the temp into the 30′s they insisted we stop by Gumlea and check on the pool. I don’t know how I left without a wet kid! If you want more updates, you can follow me on facebook, or twitter at @fiona_palmer 

I am someone who see’s beauty in almost anything. Its always a half glass full with me, and why shouldn’t life be looked upon so fondly? When I’m in the city, I see beauty there, from the lights, rivers and fancy houses and when I’m home in the country its everywhere I turn.  Take this morning for example. I go out to feed the chooks and let them out just as a thick fog rolls in. So I grabbed my new camera and headed out to the lake to take some snaps. Only problem is, when you see beauty in everything you look at…how do you take a really good photo???  I just wanted to take a photo of everything! When I was up the rock the other day I took photo’s of the moss as it was shimmering in the sunlight. No one else may see it, but to me it was just awesome.

  A while back we got a heap of chooks from a friend, and combined with ours it overloaded the chook pen. This weekend we (and in we I mean Hubby, while I held a few bits of tin when I had time) finally got the new shed finished. I counted my chooks a while ago and was shocked to find I had 18 and not forgetting our two ducks. Since when did we have so many chooks?? No wonder we had about five dozen of eggs in the fridge a while back! But not now, the cold has put them off the lay. So the girls are very happy with the new bigger shed. Their old shed is now used to store their feed.  Seeing as it was a long weekend, and the day was a glorious (if depressingly rainless) day, we lit up the bonfire to roast some marshmallows in celebration of the

  Okay so my dog Sally has nothing to do with this blog on research, I just needed a nice picture and besides – she is famous after all. Did you know she was on page 3 of the Weekend Australian. Now thanks to Karin, who asked about my research process, I will attempt to share with you how I go about it, research that is. (I’m sorry if you fall asleep whilst reading this.)  When I decide to write about something in particular, say shearing in Heart of Gold, then I research it further.  Seeing as I had worked in a shearing shed, I knew most of it. But I’d never shorn a sheep, or even knew how to do it correctly. Now Lindsay, my male lead character, is a brilliant shearer, so for him to know…I had to know. Yes, I could have thrown on my boots and headed out to the nearest shearing shed to

Not that long ago I blogged about the film crew that was in Pingaring, doing a doco for Penguin. Well it’s finally finished and Andre Sawenko has done a fantastic job putting all the shots together. (Especially my parts…I didn’t give him much to go on lol) So here it is, I hope you enjoy seeing where I live. After all, it’s what inspired me to write.