It is an honour to feature this latest submission from Susan Mellsopp in our 2019 Authors Showcase.

Susan has asked me to stress that It is a very personal story so she hopes that readers will understand that.
 
Read her very moving contribution Dark Chocolate here.

Susan Mellsopp is retired and lives with her golden retriever guide dog Jay in Hamilton New Zealand.  Much of her life has been spent as a dairy farmer and also working as a librarian, archivist and accessible transport researcher. She belongs to a writers group and is constantly being challenged to write in genres other than travel and memoir. She has published two school histories and writes for a national magazine. She is a voracious reader, loves to travel, listen to classical music, cook, and enjoys learning to use modern technology.  
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​Susan at Government House

The latest submission in our 2019 Authors Showcase is the second from a regular supporter of this blog, Robyn Boswell.

I always enjoy reading her stories and this latest one is no exception.

Catch up with Robyn's memorable life experience, All at Sea, here.  

Robyn Boswell

​​I live in the Far North of New Zealand, a long narrow peninsula bordered by the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Apart from a couple of stints overseas, I have always lived no more than 15 minutes from the Pacific. I was brought up in a beautiful bay on the stunning Whangarei Harbour where I learned to swim in the ocean and always had access to boats big and small to go fishing, holidaying and adventuring on the water. When it was time to travel the world, it was inevitable that my love of the sea and the experiences of my childhood would have a bearing on my favoured mode of travel.

As we approach the halfway point of our 2019 Authors Showcase, it is a pleasure to feature this third contribution from Syd Blackwell.

His first story took us to Portugal in 1991 and his second to India in 1977. His third intriguing memorable life experience takes us to Amsterdam and London in 2001.

Enjoy Syd's latest piece AMSTERDAM HAZE AND LONDON DAYS here. 

I am loving the variety of memorable life experiences that are being submitted to the 2019 Authors Showcase. I hope you are too. If you have missed any of them then you can catch up with all 27 contributions (so far) here. 

Our latest story is from a newcomer to this year's showcase, Catherine Berry.  I am sure you will enjoy her story Lice Friend as much as I have. Read it here.

Catherine Berry

Catherine was introduced to the French language at high school in Australia and whilst immediately fascinated with this subject had no idea that it would guide many of her life choices.  With a dearth of Maths teachers at the time of her high school graduation, she went on to complete a Maths Science degree imagining that this would be her passport to employment.
 
In fact, it was her French that led her from teaching posts in Tasmania to country Victoria, to France as an assistant to the English teachers at her allocated schools in Grenoble and back to Melbourne. A Graduate Teaching Diploma, a Graduate Diploma in Educational Management, a Certificate in TESOL, a Masters in Education and roles in educational leadership (Head of LOTE, Head of School, Head of Professional Development) followed. This, alongside her marriage and three children, meant that her inner Francophile took a back seat for quite some time.
 
A series of lucky coincidences ultimately led Catherine, her husband and young family to set out on a French adventure of their own. ‘But you are in France, Madame’ is this story. After several years living in France, Catherine returned to Australia, but unable to turn the page on their French adventure, she and her husband purchased a home in France (search for Our French Village House in Talloires on the Annecy Lake).
 
To connect with Catherine:
 
Blog: https://butyouareinfrancemadame.blogspot.com
 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/butyouareinfrancemadame/
 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/butyouareinfrancemadame/
 

The latest submission in our 2019 Authors Showcase is the third contribution from one of our regular supporters, James Robertson.

Enjoy his latest memorable life experience  Californian Ghost Town here.

The latest contribution in our 2019 Authors Showcase is a real treat and will certainly brighten up your Monday.

It is the second submission this year from Nancy McBride and is accompanied by more of her magnificent drawings, which were done at the time. I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy Nancy's latest story “THE MOM” CRASHER. You can read it here.

Riding on the waves of her occasional bursts of energy, she paints, draws, writes, and sometimes teaches writing, and painting. In her segueing years, she also works as an actress for a medical school where she helps prepare physicians by acting out specific case scenarios for their practice, then critiques them to boost their professional skills. 
 
She begins an impro class, this summer. Save us all.

It is a pleasure to feature this fabulous second contribution from Tina Mattern in our 2019 Authors Showcase.

Tina explains, 'this one is a sort of prelude to the lamb story' (which we featured last month.

Read and enjoy Tina's latest submission, 1955 ~ On the Farm here. 

The 2019 Authors Showcase continues to bring us some remarkable memorable life experiences. Our latest is the third from Ronald Mackay.

His story is entitled Lighten our Darkness. Enjoy it here. 

Ronald Mackay
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During a varied life, Ronald Mackay has survived a great many perils including a military arrest on the Romanian frontier with the USSR in 1968 shortly before the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, a journey by dog-sled on sea-ice off the coast of the Melville Peninsula in the Canadian Arctic and an eruption of Mount Yasur on the island of Tanna in the Republic of Vanuatu in the South Pacific. He still regards as one of his greatest challenges, however, a period of his life spent in the company of a single-minded dog-breeder. His take-home lesson from that period is: It may be futile to compete for the attention of a dedicated pet-lover.

Ronald and his wife Viviana, live happily and bilingually in a home they built themselves on the shores of Rice Lake in Ontario, Canada where the only live-in animal company is each other while they are surrounded by a wide and fascinating range of wildlife the year round from orioles to ospreys  and mink to moose.

Ronald writes plays for the theatre and is the author of “Fortunate Isle, a Memoir of Tenerife” and “A Tenerife con Cariño”. 

It is wonderful to be able welcome our latest contributor to the 2019 Authors Showcase, Susan Mellsopp.

I am sure Susan will not mind me mentioning that she suffered a serious concussion a while back. This has impaired her considerably and her recovery has been a long and difficult one. Her contribution is made even more special because of this.

​You can read and enjoy Susan's story Nora here.   

Susan Mellsopp is retired and lives with her golden retriever guide dog Jay in Hamilton New Zealand.  Much of her life has been spent as a dairy farmer and also working as a librarian, archivist and accessible transport researcher. She belongs to a writers group and is constantly being challenged to write in genres other than travel and memoir. She has published two school histories and writes for a national magazine. She is a voracious reader, loves to travel, listen to classical music, cook, and enjoys learning to use modern technology.   

Susan at Government House

A warm welcome back to Mike Cavanagh, who has been a regular contributor to our travel writing competitions in previous years. This is his first submission to the 2019 Authors Showcase and what a fun filled piece it is. I hope you enjoy his story Runaways as much as I have. You can read it here.