Record of meeting 21 January 2015

News

Snake skin

Terry took a grandson to Mogo Zoo and asserted common sense at the entrance.  Elizabeth has had a hoard of visitors to check on her.  Jo brought in snake skins from two diamond pythons. David C visited his 18 year old grandson in Queensland. Geoff had another letter published in the Fin Review about constructive Government policy development. Helene has two grandchildren staying and a plumber found a plunger in her drain. Cath is cleaning up for visitors. Pauline has relinquished her patronage of P&O. Lynn is painting again. Diane had her grandson visiting for a few days and played cricket and monopoly.

 

Words of the day

Mordacious = biting or sharp

Delve = research

Incorrigible = not able to be changed

Bizarre = strange, quaint or fantastic

Ambidextrous = able to write with both hands

Cavil = to raise trivial objections

Aberrant = going off track

Altruistic = living for the good of others

Obdurate = stubborn, refuse to change

Maladroit = lacking skill, fumbling, clumsy

 

Stories from words of the day

Jo – A good child

Elizabeth – Ancestry research

Diane – Conflict in the brain

Terry – Joe with a pout

Lynn – The attack

Pauline – The granny flat plan

Cath – Tom and the team

Helene – conflict in the group

Geoff – Our shallow PM

David C– Feet and hands in mouth

 

Reading of homework

Terry – Common or refined

Pauline – A visit to Melbourne

Cath – Manual to automatic

Helene – The snake

David C – RBT

Garry – two stories The Tsunami & Beauty

Jo – Frightened by school - What is “abc”

 

Exercise

We wrote short stories on the topic, what I recall

Cath – A Filipino fishing boat

Helene – What will people think?

Geoff –Times of economy

David C – When the Titanic sank, London fire etc

Jo – I couldn’t swim but won a cup

Elizabeth – A holiday in China

Diane – Life without TV

Terry – No regret

Lynn – Lollies three a penny

Pauline – The church

 

Homework

Write a true story include one detail which is 100% made up. When you read it next week see if we can guess the one lie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Record of meeting 14 January 2015

News

Elizabeth lost her new glasses temporarily. Pauline mislaid her key cars and her handbag and found all missing items. Leonie was stung by a wasp and is still thinking about getting another dog. Diane has been getting rid of tadpoles. Lynn has been working all week at home. Terry is investigating music as therapy for dementia patients. Geoff had a quiet week. Cath remembered we may have missed an invitation to speak at the church about what the group does. Helene has her grandson visiting and taught him to sew this morning. If you want to make Joey bags for injured wildlife look for Wildlife Rescue South Coast. Wendy visited a flooded cake shop in Braidwood and reported the Braidwood to Nerriga road is starting to be sealed. Wendy goes to hospital for surgery on Tuesday 20 January.

 

Words of the day

Stipend = fixed salary or allowance

Gambit = opening move

Zealot = member of radical group

Vituperative = insulting, abusive

Incisive = sharp or cutting

Effluvial = strong smell

Whiffling = to blow in light or shifting gusts or puffs

Maudlin = tearfully sentimental

Crannog = fortified dwelling

Smackgirl = Japanese female martial artist

 

Stories from word of the day

We created amazing stories from the words of the day as follows

Helene - Suzie and her partner

Wendy - To my hearts content

Elizabeth – Use my ability

Pauline – Now I’m off to sea

Leonie – Win at any cost

Diane – the Company meeting

Lyn – Anger

Terry – There is no other way

Geoff – Odour from Tony Abbot – a great witty story

Cath – Holding her nose

 

Reading of homework

Leonie – A lesson in adversity

Diane – Refuge for breakfast

Lynn – Jennifer the Rottweiler

Terry – The meeting from Facebook

Geoff – The trapeze artist – great dialogue

Cath – The mystery

Helene – Pink tape

Wendy – Secrets

Elizabeth – From ballet to waltzing

Pauline – At the day spa

 

Garry - sorry forgot to read your homework

 

Exercise

We wrote stories of our experiences with spiders as follows

Funnel web spider

 

Cath – filaments of a gossamer web

Geoff – bitten by a spider in bed

Terry – A boy of 12

Lynn – Blocked my vision

Diane – Hiding everywhere

Pauline – 20 spiders at home

Wendy – big and hairy

Helene – under the pillow

 

Homework

Appearances can be deceiving

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2015 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards

Are you an author whose fiction, poetry, non-fiction, Australian history, children’s fiction or young adult fiction work was published in 2014?
 

The 2015 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards are now open for entries - ‪#‎PMLitAwards
 

Read the guidelines, submit your entry and find out more about the Awards on the website www.arts.gov.au/pmla


Entries close at 5.00pm (AEDT) on Saturday 28 February 2015.

Record of meeting 7 January 2015

News

 

It was great to have 11 members attend our meeting today.  Jo is not lost anymore, Lyn is over Christmas, Leonie had breakfast by the water and did her homework there too, Diane has hundreds of tadpoles in her pool and doesn’t know what to do with them (look on line was the suggestion), Pauline didn’t hear her alarm at the beach, Elizabeth spent Christmas day on the edge of water with grandchildren making paella, Geoff had a quiet pleasant get together for Christmas, Helene had a quiet Christmas and swims at Collingwood beach, Wendy had a quiet Christmas and New Year, Cath surprised a few people while she enjoyed floating  in the water at Paradise Beach, Terry felt new muscles after sailing in Jervis Bay.

Collingwood beach 1 January 2015
 

Words of the day

Jingoism – patriotism in the form of aggressive foreign policy

Chagrin – disappointment or annoyance

Inexorable – relentless

Vicarious – taking the place of another

Cast offs – abandoned or discarded

Phenomenal – highly extraordinary

Ostensible – outer appearance, put forward to conceal the real

Obstreperous – unruly or boisterous

Cronut - a mix between a donut and croissant

Gist – the meaning

Appropriatonist – using from other sources

 

Stories from words of the day

Pauline – the gift

Elizabeth – my younger brother

Geoff – Imitation of Abbott

Helene – Recycled Australia day party

Wendy – I have no clout

Cath – The rebel

Terry – Amazing stories

Jo – I will go for it

Lyn – What happened to Devonshire tea? - very funny

Leonie – Foreign policy in the Oval office

Diane – In the Senate

 

Reading of Homework

Elizabeth – adventures on my birthday

Helene – Leo’s short fuse

Leonie – change happens by the lake

 

Reading – Harry selections

Lyn bought the book and Terry read out a section of “Harry’s last stand” written by Harry Leslie Smith a 91 year old man in the UK.

Terry recommends “The story of Mohamed” – on line written by Harry Richardson.

 

Exercise

Terry gave us the names Jennifer, Felicity, Rita, James, Scott and Wally to write descriptions of these characters. We each read out our descriptions with some similarities and other differences.

Homework

If you didn’t attend the meeting, select two names from the exercise above and write a few lines listing the characteristics of those characters. If you did attend the meeting select two of the characters you described.

 

Using the two characters describe a meeting in a coffee shop between them.

 

 

 

 

 

2015 positive changes

Christmas message 2014

Our final meeting for 2014 on 17 December was attended by seven hardy writers including one wise man. The group enjoyed grazing on a large quantity of Christmas food, with some chatting and writing as time permitted.

Words shared were

adroit - skillful, dextrous;
gammon - ham - (also) humbug;
doit - trifle,small amount;
kindle - start (fire), awaken, inspire;
penchant - interest(in), leaning (to) ;
facetious  - sarcastic, humorous;
wassail - toast, celebrate

 

Enjoy time with family and friends over the Christmas break and time for reading and writing.

Next meeting 1 pm on Wednesday 7 January 2015. See you there with renewed enthusiasm for writing in 2015.

Record of meeting 10 December 2014

Important notice

Meeting 17 December 2014 - 12.30 pm start

Please arrive at 12.30 pm and bring a plate of food to share for lunch on Wednesday 17 December for our last meeting in 2014.

Christmas Pavlova

News

Jo told us about her old family home in Arncliffe. Lyn has been clearing out her mother’s house. Leonie has been writing and had the busiest morning ever. Di had a stressful week with her family. David C is still chopping fire wood and eating porridge. Elizabeth has new glasses after an interesting experience at the Optometrist. Geoff read his letter to the Australian and is having a book published. Cath has posted her Christmas cards. Helene has a new printer. Wendy had a good Christmas party with the car club at the Lady Denman on Sunday and advised that the Post Office at Sanctuary Point hours have extended by the new owner. Terry’s grandsons have done well at school in 2014.

Words of the day

Indolent = slow lazy

Turpitude = wickedness

Climatic = an exciting feat or climax

Fimbriated = furnish with a fringe or border

Bae = before anything else – pronounced bay

Rambunctious = boisterous, wild,

Eviscerate = to deprive or take away something important

Supersede = set aside, out dated

Minion = unimportant follower, highly regarded person

Epiphany = revelation or bright idea

Magniloquent = speaking loftily, grandiose, bombastic
 

Writing from words of the day

We created brilliant stories from the brilliant words of the day

Jo = Rewriting his will

Lyn = Before any one could stop him

Leonie = Performing pranks

Di = The princess

David C = The GP co payment - very witty

Elizabeth = Those around him

Geoff = The future path – great political comment

Cath = The curtain came down

Helene = Fin and Laura

Wendy = Chains around her neck

Terry = You have 12 minutes

Reading of homework

Helene = Fifi and Mark

Elizabeth = Dreams to buy – a lovely poem

David C = Looking for the remote control

Leonie = Elsie and Lifeboat at sea - Two different interesting stories

Jo = Swearing and clichés – a great entertaining portrait of Sandra

Terry = Dressed in rags – a great poem

Garry = Another nappy change – a different look at change

Stories and reading

Di told a quick story and showed a picture of a mother spider and babies on the veranda of her house. Jo told a story of a spider bite in her ear.

Helene recommends the book “Elizabeth is missing” by Emma Healey, borrowed from the Sanctuary Point library.

Exercise

We shared two words, one with each of our near neighbours and wrote a story using those words.

Elizabeth – A deathly silence

David C – Down the well – a funny story

Di – The chestnut stallion – romance at the farm

Lyn – Ugly zits

Jo – A birthday present - a fun story

Terry – Skye is lost

Wendy – Nearly drowned

Cath – Starving the sheep

Geoff – His arms reached out for her

 

Homework

Short fuse