A Vibrant Kickoff to 2024: Diving into Glass Blowing, Crafting Tales, and Culinary Capers

The beginning of 2024 has proven to be a busy time, I have travelled to various places, delved into the world of glass blowing, exploring a new art form that has captured my interests. This was my inaugural attempt, and the possibilities of creating intricate patterns seamlessly aligned with my artistic style. A picture of the bowl is attached.
Currently I have been experimenting with different cooking approaches. Such as baking biscotti using indigenous herbs such as lemon myrtle and wattleseed.
In the realm of literature, I've taken on a new project early this year—a children's book that stands in stark contrast to my previous work, "Whoa Wash Your Hands." While I continue to work on expanding that series, my latest venture hopes that it will immerses readers in a world filled with the charm of Australian wildlife. The narrative revolves around a riot of kookaburras and an ensemble of native animals. The inspiration for this story struck during a recent visit to my family on the northern coast of New South Wales, Arakoon National Park. Each morning, just before sunrise, the lively chorus of kookaburras provided a natural wake-up call, setting the tone for the creative journey that followed.
Simultaneously, I've been engrossed in bringing the story to life through illustrations. The vibrant scenes and animated characters I hope will captivate the imaginations of young readers, offering a delightful escape into the wonders of the Australian landscape. My challenge is whether to make the illustrations of the creatures humorous or realistic in their appearance. I have spent considerable time in researching all the creatures who appear in the book. I have enjoyed learning new facts about each and this helps me with the illustrations started already. Hence a ‘riot of kookaburras’ is a group of kookaburras. I know that when I venture on working on more that one thing it keeps me fresh with ideas. So this new book has helped in my approach to the ‘Whoa’ series.
Now, let's switch gears to Chef Bert, whose culinary adventures have added a touch of unexpected twists to the start of the year. Attached to this blog is a comic strip that captures Bert's misadventure, offering a lighthearted visual representation of the culinary escapade.
In Bert’s words - "For the New Year I took on a challenge to make the world’s largest mud cake. It was at first a great success. I planned to light up the cake with some big super candles and bought these from Microwave Man. He didn’t tell me that these weren’t ordinary candles but fireworks that started off like a candle. I was soon thrown into a gooey, mud pile mess and my cake was no longer what I had planned.
Although it still tasted good! But I couldn’t offer it to anyone at my cafe".
I hope the start of 2024 was good for You.


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