Change of season.

Yesterday morning started with this golden, late summer light; by evening, winter had arrived. Today was cool, hovering around 15 degrees for most of the day after a top of 19 degrees C. Whilst the more temperate climates of the southern and eastern parts of the country enjoy the seasonal transition offered by Autumn, here in Central Australia we seem to go straight from summer to winter. And then back again all too soon. I am embracing the change and welcoming the cooler weather. Winter: I am ready!

It's been five months since Peter and I began doing the Territory Tango. He's living at one end and myself, the other. He's just up the road, really; except that in real terms, there's a distance of 1,500 kilometres between us. The Northern Territory is a really, really big place. Alice Springs is far away from a lot of places. We have just spent two weeks together - me, a week in Darwin and then he, a week in Alice - a luxury as we live together, apart.

Our last book club read was Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. This was actually my choice, as we've been taking it in turns to select a book. I chose it for two reasons: it is set in Iceland and for a long time I've been fascinated by this remote island country; and secondly I heard the author interviewed a while ago on Radio National (listen here) and thought the process of forming the book was interesting. I appreciated the richly tactile and textural descriptions of the landscapes; the dim, cold interiors; the smells, sounds and touch of the characters and their environs. Kent received a seven figure advance for this, her first novel - astounding! But don't read it with this in mind. Read it for the harsh yet gentle narrative of Agnes Magnusdottir, the last woman in Iceland to be publicly executed.

Another recent read is Tracks by Robyn Davidson, the 1980 memoir of Davidson's journey walking with camels across the desert from Alice Springs to the Western Australia coast. I started reading this on a flight from Melbourne to Alice Springs and it was poignant to be reading her descriptions of 1970s Alice Springs whilst looking out of the window at the ancient (yet timeless) scorched red desert country. I thought the Alice Springs of her description was a place I wouldn't want to live - which, if you've been reading this blog for a while, is not the way I feel about this town, today. And, a spoiler - I almost sobbed out loud (this time, on a flight from Alice to Darwin) when her beloved companion, a dog called Diggity, becomes poisoned by strychnine. I won't tell you the rest. It's too hard to imagine having to do this to any animal to relieve its pain, let alone a beloved companion - a friend. The descriptions of Central Australia and the communities Davidson passes through - Areyonga, Pipalyatjara, Wingellina - are interesting and familiar. It's certainly not a comfortable read, and many aspects of this journey made me cringe. I haven't yet seen the movie - have you?

Now, I'm partway through (and quite enjoying) The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and am also going to start our next book club read, Room by Emma Donoghue. Oh - and speaking of books about Alice Springs, I heard an interview on the local ABC with a writer who used to live here, so I've ordered one of her books, written to reflect her time living here - it's called The Rest is Weight, by Jennifer Mills, who also blogs here.

So that's a bit of an update on what's been going on around here lately. What's been happening in your part of the world? Has winter arrived yet? Or summer, for that matter?