# 4 / The Painter

If you would walk up on a sunny day to the pathway that leads towards the high stairs that villagers here still call the ‘Sky’s Stairs’, and if you then look to your right, you might see, if there are no grey clouds that day, the roof of my house and you might wonder who…

The Yellow Wallpaper / A Review

There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will.- Charlotte Perkins Gilman I found this book through the Masterclass given by Carol Oates and I just went to it on Apple Books to see if I happen to have downloaded it, and then I just went to read a few…

# 3 / Myrtle

 Rosemary’s hands rest on the ivory keys for just a second and then she starts playing nocturne No. 20 in C-sharp Minor by Chopin. Fingers with nails dark red tap the keys delicately, the small living room zings with a melody that reminds me of zesty oranges, toasted almonds and the slight perfume of lilac.…

# 2 / The Ivory Dragon

Once there were three daughters, equal in birth, blood and color. In the morning they went to get water from the well, at midday they ate bread and cheese, and in the afternoon they listened to music. They were equal in interests, plays and smiles, though the youngest was unequal in beauty. As the days…

# 1 / The Beginning of New Things

No one had ever died in this room. I had seen it coming and the doctor had seen it too, but the shock came anyway. My aunt Mary had known it as well and now I saw her crying in the corner as if she hadn’t known. Her shrieks echoed through the white-panelled house we…

Bird in the Tree

There’s this bird in our garden that picks berries from the tree. The tree is not big and has large leaves and bony stems and shudders when the wind travels through it. Not always are there berries in this tree, that looks more like an outgrown shrub, but when there are berries, the bird will…

A Thunderous Time

When any year is nearing its end, one cannot help but to reflect on what one has achieved. A year starting out as a promise - the prospect of getting married in July, moving to Amsterdam and then traveling to Canada - was completely thrown into disarray. Although I cannot emphasise enough how happy my…

Vegan Raspberry Cake

I've been baking and cooking dairy free for a while now, because of my milk allergy and I've always wanted to attempt one of these cakes. I find it so clever how people think of using different ingredients (that would never occur to me to be used in baking) to make a vegan cake. Like,…

Jekyll & Hyde

It's been almost a year since I arrived at Sydney airport. Tim picked me up and we drove to Merimbula and we celebrated Christmas with his family. I had never spent time away from home for this amount of time and in that time I've been away, a lot has happened.  It is a curious…

The Haunting of Hill House

Last night, Tim and I sat down for a long-anticipated evening with wine, chips and Netflix. A friend had mentioned a new show that had received exceptional high praise, with an impressive 9.1 on IMDB. Little did we know, we were about to watch one hell of a scary show! The Haunting of Hill House…