‘Mum I know Spring is coming when the magpies start singing. And then they start swooping. I can’t ride my motorbike, only the buggy.’

I know Spring is coming because overnight, literally every night this week, shoots emerged. I swear it’s by the dark of night. I watch then during the day and there is nothing and then the next morning, Poof! Green shoots everywhere.

I also know because the Grey Shrike Thrush’s song floats in on the morning breeze.

My drive into town is a blush of pale and then bright yellows of various roadside wattle, which I just think are the most beautiful thing.

The winds have come and

I also know because I mowed the lawn, and then had to do it again a week later.

Spring is not unfurling in me.

Do I wish winter to be longer? Where hibernation, slumber and shuttered windows are the order.

I picked up a book this week that has been waiting to be read for years. I’ve no idea why I picked it up now, after so long, I wasn’t looking for something to read.

Winter by Karl Ove Knausgaard.

“It is as if something is always held back, as if something is never let loose, and that energy, of restraint and control, marks her presence, which regardless of how mild and soothing, considerate and self effacing it is, is always filled too with tension, a stiffness in her face, something thought out in her movements, as if her soul were forced to fill a form which isn’t quite its own.”

This is of Christina. His wife? He observes her so beautifully that I know it has to be.

We cannot wait for others to observe.

Like the Grey Shrike Thrush maybe, we just need to do what we do, when we can. It is beautiful and sure enough someone will observe and admire.

Most often we will not know the observation. It happens anyway.

No matter the ‘season’.

I still enjoy the morning sun on my face while I drink the first coffee in my coat, the fires still burning inside. I still want to throw my doona on the lawn and sleep mid-day. I still walk the garden searching for the new. I still harvest bunches of everything to put everywhere.

We are in the in-between.

Slumber in winter if you still need….. Spring will arrive.

Podcast Playlist

This one is all about the beauty of friendships.

Bloody loved this one. Food for thought about different ways to farm.

Lay your eyes on these Instagram accounts

@eleanorbowmer || @cottontailfarmhouse || @erosbyerinschaumburg || @preppygoods || @alligeers.art

This pile of things to read

I think one day I’d like to start designing hotel interiors.

Paying subscribers got access to this lovely list of moochy things to watch this week. Become one yourself, please! and dive deep into the couch.

In a moment of decluttering this lady found a letter she’d penned to her older self.

When the group chat replaces the group?

15 of the best literary substacks according to The Guardian.

I know were almost done with Winter but here’s something on the importance of Winter rest.

The Seasonal Traveller

Winter 2025

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash…

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a year ago · 4 likes · 2 comments · Christine Newell

News from the middle of nowhere (aka rural Australia)

My beautiful friend who has an incredible nose and appreciation of a good rural story, Ali Smith launched her book The Outback Astronomer with Liz Hayes in Broken Hill this week. Can’t wait to read it.

Love this about 40 years of friendship in rural Australia.

And so pleased to see Galah highlight the ongoing fundraising efforts for the Eleanor Bryant Memorial Fund. In Eleanor’s memory, the Fund will provide perpetual memorial scholarships for rural students studying or training in the allied health and early childhood fields - a vocation that the very special Eleanor loved so much. If you would like to donate, in any small way, click on this link.

Forwarded this one on to the group chat this week. On Mormon’s buying up Australian Farms.

It’s so lovely to be back with you this week dear readers. Please have a think about becoming a paid subscriber here - it will make an absolute difference at the moment. It’s $10 a month or $120 annually. I see every new paid subscription come through via email notification - it is all very much appreciated by me. Sxxx

Subscribe now

This post is only visible to paying subscribers - that’s you! Thank you so much for your continued support during this topsy turvey personal time for me.

It’s still winter here. Rain. Mizzle. Fog. Frost. Cold. Fires. Doonas. Hot Water Bottles. Tv. The Couch.

But also glimpses of Spring. Hellebores. Daphne. Sunshine. I’ve started mowing the lawn and it’s growing back. Lambs.

I’ve leant hard into the season this Winter and there has been a lot of time on the couch. I thought you’d like to see my list of ‘moochy’ things to watch. These are my recent favourite movies and series that are like a warm cuddle - and they are absolutely re-watchable.

Go on, watch it tonight. Watch it today.

Sxxx

PS: But now that I have watched all these, I need your recommendations. Please!! I would love to hear from you in a reply.

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This winter, its been a real winter hasn’t it? That’s what Dad says. Frosts (a friend counted 24 in the last month). Rain. Wind. Cold. and then some glorious days of Sunshine.

Forced inside for most of the time into proper hibernation, in front of the fire, with a doona and eyes that want to shut.

We all have seasons.

And this is certainly a season for me.

I’m shedding/renewing/recentering. Maybe you are too, cause after all it’s the season for it.

Wintering.

While I hibernate, I’m going to scale this newsletter back to a monthly occurrence - probably until the beginning of 2026.

The fires will still be burning here just at a lesser ferocity.

I love writing to you.

And I promise for my monthly musings to still be wonderful.

Thanks for sticking with me. I’m not going to pause paying subscriptions because I’ve worked hard to make it a really nice place to be …….. and I think you think it’s nice here too……. now more than ever your subscription means the world to me.

If it doesn’t suit or sit well, I absolutely understand. Paying subscribers will receive x2 newsletters a month. Free subscribers will receive one.

Until next time, sincere thankyous. S xx

Podcast Playlist

Celeste Barber and Elizabeth Day. Love. Esp her family mantra about consent.

There may be tears …

Lay your eyes on these instagram accounts

@theselfspace || @hannahrowrites || @hellolucieco

This pile of things to read

Happiness is the little things, it’s true.

Productivity Hacks from our fave fictional characters.

I’ve had this one bookmarked for a while. Anne Lamott on getting older in mind and heart in the NYT.

Japanese ways to stop overthinking.

Mother Hunger. Pfft.

We stopped going to niteclubs but we need to bring it back. ‘Millennials grew up on dance floors while Gen Z is growing up on their phones.’

The sublime beauty that planes leave behind.

News from the middle of nowhere (aka rural Australia)

The beautiful Melinda O’Donohuge was the feature on Back Roads this week.

Bloody loved this from the SMH on creative farming women ft Whitney Spicer, Meg Bignell and Lisa Adinsall.

For some local wunderlust (and a new date to pop in the calendar) checkout @riverinagoodfood

This board game club in rural SA is tackling loneliness.

Podcast Playlist

Three glasses of wine per night is too much. But I still do it most nights and I know I’m not alone. So this was illuminating to say the least. It also talks a lot about HRT.

In the same vein this pod by Dr Becky is new to me but will, I think become a regular. This ep is about the cultural narrative that all mothers inherit the second they become mothers with little thought nor sympathy for the nuaced differences in the way we all ‘mother’.

Just a bloody great story, would love to have Rika on the pod on day.

Lay your eyes on these Instagram accounts

@thefashionadvocate || @elizabethchapin || @mariadelaordenstudio

This pile of things to read

This on Mornings.

5 designer ideas to make you home more fabulous.

This is escapism. A 7-day journal of ‘life’ in a French Chateau.

I’m tempted to go rouge and do this with the paint brushes.

We stopped clubbing but we need to bring it back.

My Miserable Week in the Happiest City on Earth. NYT Magazine.

The Devil Wears Prada 2, May 2026.

News from the middle of nowhere (aka rural Australia)

Sheesh it’s been a big week in rural and regional Australia. I’m not going to focus on the politics split (sort-of) or the flooding or the droughts or the welcome widespread rain (we got some) - people have died, livestock have been killed and thousands have protested in the streets feeling unheard and under-valued - it just been a really massive week emotionally for peeps living on the land and in regional centers.

In other ‘softer’ news ….

Samuel Johnson ( you know from Secret Life of Us) on Australian Story - he lives an hour north of Melbourne in a tiny town with 950 people. He’s the postie there, a job he uses to curb too much drinking. (There is not a theme here peeps)

As we’re on the topic of Postie’s - meet another one, this time from Cunnamulla. (No joke, I have often wondered about one-day becoming the local postie - they are a really important person in any community)

Online tips for rural businesses by a lingerie designer from Deniliquin. Graziher

I liked this one: Ag needs to do more than offer a job to attract the next generation.

And a scholarship for anyone interested by the NFF and Woolworths - 20 scholarship of $20,000 for anyone aged 25-40 that wants to kickstart leadership aspirations.

Welcome to Sunday. Have you got something nice planned? Hope so. I’ve no idea how our day will pan out but I do know it will involve football, a fire and some garden planning. A bit of book time would be nice, maybe a nap or maybe a bit of bath time too?! We’ll see. Eitherway, I hope you love this little excuse to sit down and escape for a few minutes. Sxx

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Hello all, long time no chat for some of you. Nice to be back in your inboxes. Wishing you all a Mother’s Day that’s part family, part self, part eating, part relaxing, part cuddles, part tears (if thats what you need), part watching, part sitting-in-the sun and part reading (this long list of good things).

And if all else fails maybe just find Jessica Ulrich and soak up some of her poetry.

S xxxxx

Podcast playlist

Without a doubt this is the best story I have listened to in a long while. I need to get this guy on our podcast - and hooray for what he’s doing, against all odds.

In celebration of a bookshelf perve.

“If I visit your house, I’m 100% having a furtive perve at what’s on your bookshelves. Everything I want and need to know can be answered fi I see the pile on your bedside table. Forget dating app’s if you want a connection provide a recommended reading list. If I saw this book on someone’s bookshelf I’d know there were someone I wanted to talk to.” Micheal Williams, Read This host.

Have also been giving this podcast a bit of a run, its light and a bit of fun. It’s a chat style pod, hosted by two young rural-ites Bella and Toni.

And then also, there’s Galah’s podcast: it’s a delight, of course it is. Fave so far is defs Mushroom Man: a had like a million thought bubbles and takeaways from this one ie ladies, it’s not just about mushrooms, but about life with a bit of AI thrown in for good measure.

Lay your eyes on these Instagram accounts

@waggleandround || @freyasimonne || @_ju_et_cie_

This pile of things to read

The NY Magazine has a daily newsletter on Substack.

This is a delightful read - its the story of a once dwindling tiny town in New Zealand’s south island where locals, inspired by Wigtown, a Scottish ‘Booktown’ - have reinvented Featherson to also become a town that’s all about books. They have a festival and three bookshops. Via Shepherdess.

“Ten years ago, the perception of Featherston was not good. A number of things had happened, including a couple of brutal murders. The town was totally demoralised and feeling quite hopeless because a lot of things were happening to it from the outside.”

No subscriptions, no problems. An ABC pile-up of free things to watch in April. TBH any watch list is a good list.

How many notebooks do you have in operation at any one time? Ah, about a kajillion. Loved this on notebook ‘systems’

Thank you to whoever introduced me to ’s newsletter READ.LOOK.THINK - it’s a bit like this one in that it got lots of on-trend and also left of center recco’s from life.

This, made me think. It’s about fun and experiences. Some experiences have lots of inconvenience rolled up in them ir waiting in line for the concert and others ie playing a game online have zero inconvenience and may be fun but they are not etched in your mind. Not sure if this is making sense - maybe just read it to see what the. I’m talking about!

I’ve told you before but I bluddy love Bri Lee’s newsletter - the paying part of this week’s edition riff’s on Graydon Carter’s new book about the publishing world (will be adding to the pile) and laments the Australian magazine scene. Main point is: what wrong? I could be editors with no strong pov, no strong difference and therefore nothing to get behind. A being all things to all people kind of argument.

News from the middle of nowhere (aka rural Australia)

Printhie Wines x Oroton. How cool is this collaboration? Classy, stylish, fresh. Bravo!

ABC profiles a new athleisure brand using Australian wool. @homesteadroad_au

Also the Victorian Country Hour: asked are politicians wearing wool and its lead to a feature on what clothes they wear in general.

Until next week, Sxx

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Just a quick ‘hello’ today - we’re knee deep in school holidays and hosting lots of people at Little Bloomfield (plenty of spots available in May if you fancy a wee getaway - get the last of the autumn goodness before it gets chilly).

We’re all looking skyward in the hope of some rain at some point this week - let’s hope the small totals add up to something.

But everything is ok: we have an addition to the family. Kip, Cute Kip.

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The Moon has been making its presence felt here this week - rising bright and strong in the east. The dust in the still evening air ushers it up, huge and brilliant, throwing stage lights of blues, purples, pinks and yellows.

We’ve been busy with holiday guests at Little Bloomfield, they’re doing exactly what I had hoped - nothing - but I hope more they too have caught the energy of this daily cosmic ball of beauty.

In the paddocks, husband has been sowing; the activity keeps us all busy with other jobs and its making for a productive and busy first week of holidays.

The dams are next to dry, the water run out. To cool off, or just to be dirty, the boogie boards have come out and the hijinks have been had by the kids in the muddy sludge that remains.

And maybe by the time I next write we might have taken ownership to some new puppies - am I insane?! I know the answer is yes but maybe, just maybe it’s no.

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Happy Sunday lovely readers, just a short one here today.

Still hot and dry here - we are complaining about the lack of rain but I am not complaining about this glorious weather. I’m writing to you on from the veranda again.

I’ve been thinking about Hankies - do you still use them? Love to know.

Enjoy your Sunday afternoon read.

Sxx

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This week I’ve spent most days working in the sun on the front veranda - the weather has been dry autumn in all its glory.

It’s suddenly so dry here - everything is a hue of grey, big trucks have been bustling past either taking sheep to sale or delivering grain for feeding stock.

But there is certain beauty to the countryside when its like this; I feel it’s almost Australia in its naturally habitat, everything is subdued and the stark fresh white bark of the gums pops at you adding to the beauty.

The gums are the star of the show rather than the bright greens of grass and habitat that have come with the wetter autumn of the last few years.

And the birds;

Each morning I walk on the lawn and find another tiny feather with another colour, red, blue, green and yellow. I’ve started a collection.

And then this little fella has been saying hi most days.

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‘Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body,’ was first coined by 18th century poet and politician Jospeh Addison but it was Bibliotherapist Germaine Leece who brought it to my mind recently, in her podcast Something to Eat and Something to Read which she co-hosts with Sophie Hansen.

Of late, I have been so hungry for something better to read. I’ve not been watching much TV and exercise, well I should be better. It’s reading that’s fuelling my mind.

It would be inappropriate of me to add alcohol to this mix - but not entirely untrue in my experience, ‘alcohol is to my aspiration, what reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body.

I jumped on the wagon doing Dry February this year and it was h.a.r.d.

In the evenings I was bored.

On reflection, I realised that end-of-day-drink charged my mind - processing the day and ideating the those ahead. But without the match - the fire (aspiration) could not exist and so I wanted to read and read and read.

Maybe it was the escapism I was missing, not the alcohol.

Those of you who know about these things will know the two go hand in hand. You must be relaxed in order to fly, alcohol helps with that but also so does reading, and cooking.

In their podcast, Germaine and Sophie discussed wether reading always needs to be fuel for the mind, and the same with cooking as they reminded us that sometimes, these activities can be mindless and that’s actually not a bad thing. We spend hours mindlessly scrolling on Instagram, so why is it such a bad thing thing that we might read a book without taking in any of the words, ‘that distraction, in small doses, can let us breathe.’

‘It’s a bit like swallowing a meal without tasting,’ says Germaine and adds, “I’ve lived in limbo through reading ……. in someway I haven’t let a story in but it’s acted as a buffer between me and whats happening in the real world.’

Sophie called it, ‘an intentional shutdown in order to reboot.’

The pair also referenced this brilliant read by Ochuko Akpovbovbo in a guest essay for Pandora Sykes Substack where Ochuko explains why she wants to read less.

Said no-one ever. But as I read on, I see her point, that sometimes reading can slide into refuge.

She reads a lot. Three hours a day to be true. In one month she once read 24 books!

And by way of this essay, she questions if reading had become too much of an addiction, an unhealthy shuttering off from the ‘real’ world.

Books + Bits

On reading versus living

I’m excited to commission more guest essays this year. The ambition is two-fold: to expand this letter beyond my own reading and and to introduce the readers to great new writers that I think you sho…

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2 years ago · 731 likes · 49 comments · Pandora Sykes and Ochuko Akpovbovbo

Is it ok to be addicted to reading? Cooking? Alcohol?

I don’t come at this writing with a solution or an answer.

Just a reflection on our different forms of escapism and whether anything, everything in excess is unhealthy or not.

And also, that a wine at night can be helpful in more ways that we might know it to be on the surface. Sxx

Podcast Playlist

Lay your eyes on these Instagram accounts

@goodvibeswithwords || @tattieisles || @PROJEKTITYYNY

This pile of things to read

The one place on social media that still feels human - FB Marketplace - via NTY Magazine

I was like this as a child and try really hard to be it as an adult too - Mudlarking by Sophie Dahl - I have posted this before I'm sure but it's so delightful for me

15 Australian destinations that feel like Europe.

This game is a sign of my attention span - I came here for something and left hours later with not the thing.

Gah - loved this on Cecil Beaton’s Garden Party via The UK Times.

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Sometimes my friends ask me,

‘How on earth do you find time to actually read all the things you put in your newsletter?!’

Well, let me let you in on the secret. As I keep saying, I absolutely love pulling together this newsletter - it’s one of my all-time favourite things to do.

Because there is so much reading required.

I’ve always been a reader, a keen observer of culture and just a curious being - so newsletter or not I would be reading, digging, discovering and investigating. A natural busy-body you could say.

Prior to starting this newsletter journey, I was forever thinking of others who would love to see or read what I was consuming and so, now I can share. Rather than reading and scrolling being a *waste* or *indulgent* it’s now a work job - but mostly I get kicks out of sharing and recommending and generally starting conversations in other people’s world.

My inbox currently has 1,000’s of unopened emails, I guess this is a product of oversubscribing to news and newsletters but I want to have a plethora of options when it comes to newsletters writing day.

My filing system

In Google Keep I have a looooong note where I copy and paste all my interesting reads - along with a little thought bubble that I expand on when I’m writing.

I utilise the ‘saved’ function in Instagram a lot as well as screenshotting content.

For my podcasts I scroll ‘recently played’ in Apple Podcasts - I’m conscious of recommending the same podcasts all the time, so I try our new ones weekly, it’s actually really rare that I find a newbie that I love, again you’d probably be surprised at how many don’t make the cut.

For more meaty, deeper reads my regular weekly check-in’s include:

And it’s not just a peruse of the home page - I’ve sort of learnt which rocks to look under and where to find the goodness.

The Guardian | ABC

I have digital subscriptions to: NY Times | The Atlantic

I dip into these newsletters of a weekend for essay form reads

LitHub | Longreads | Pocket | Sydney Review of Books

I’m a paid subscriber to the following newsletters and I religiously open them as soon as they land in my inbox, I love them:

The Sit -Spot by

News and Reviews

The Hyphen by

Bits + Books by

Galah newsletters

And wonderful free offerings from Graziher’s Friday Finds and Sophie Hansen’s Monday newsletter, still the most lovely offering to dip into with a coffee once the kids are on the bus.

Interiors, Gardens, Travel and Fashion:

For interiors I tend to scour UK websites as I love the fabrics and mismatched colourings of English interiors, everything else I glean from Instagram. For Fashion I absolutely love Vogue’s YouTube offerings; In The Bag (UK), Une Fille Un Style (FR) and for Garden’s there are also a few UK offerings that I check in with regularly. I also regularly buy the irl magazines of Homes and Gardens UK and House and Garden UK - I really love anything that Sophie Dahl writes - she used to have a column for House and Garden UK. Come to think of it there are lots of writers, everywhere, that I keep tabs on and plenty of other websites not listed here that I have navigated my way around - but this list is of the ones where I hang out most.

House and Garden UK

HIP Paris

Broadsheet

T Magazine newsletter

Health, Wellness and Routines

Dr Chatterjee’s Friday Faves newsletter. I love Rangan Chatterjee’s podcast and also his small tips to look after yourself so this is one I always look forward to opening.

Practising Simplicity by

The School of Life

ABC Lifestyle - I receive a weekly email for this but I can’t seem to find where the sign-up is.

Rural news:

This space is quickly growing in Australia which is exciting.

I keep tabs on the websites of ABC Rural, the Guardian and Graziher.

I subscribe to newsletters from National Farmers Federation, The Rural Network by the Guardian and AuctionsPlus.

I’m not a subscriber to the rural papers, which is kind of sacrilege I know, I guess this will change as time goes on. I also find so much wonderful content from rural circles coming in from socials.

So there you go! Last week I told you that there are going to be some changes to free and paid subscriptions and this post is part of my transparency on that - but it’s not only about that. I know that I would absolutely love to extend my own list of interesting people/publications to follow so if you are that way inclined I hope you get some great value from this and I suppose, if becoming a paid subscriber isn’t for you, then you know where to find all the info!

And now on with normal programming …. Sxxx

Podcast Playlist

My fave for the week was this conversation with Cotton Australia about its innovation around sustainability but also how its partnership with RB Sellars played out.

And then this chat with Miranda July - who wrote All Fours. I think I am going to like this podcast. There are chats with Yung Pueblo, Melissa Henry, Malcolm Gladwell, Rachel Kushner, Yottam and more

Lay your eyes on these Instagram accounts

@molist_floristes (above) || @aesthetic_logophile || @sable_85

This pile of things to read

The NGV in Melbourne has the coolest exhibition - featuring shopping lists retrieved from the bottom of shopping trolley’s.

Elizabeth Day of the How To Fail Podcast - has a new novel; in anticipation of it she writes on two of her earliest memories being around words and the fact that she’s been enamoured ever since, she says she’s never not reaching for a book.

Putting ideas, thoughts, recollections into words ensures they last beyond the ephemeral moment. And there is a specific kind of satisfaction that comes from alighting on exactly the right word, at the right moment, to communicate the thing you’ve been reaching for - a sensation akin to slotting smoothly planed crenellations of wood into their own perfectly judged dovetail joint.

Ahhh - this ‘List of Underrated Green Flags’.

Be careful of who’s in charge of your moral compass and the magnets that may distract it by .

11 ways to start your day on a joyful note.

And long live the Locket (you know, the thing we all used to want around our neck?!)

News from the middle of nowhere (ie Rural Australia)

Love love love love this design collaboration creating a woollen sphere pendant light from Australian Wool. Inspired by the rural upbringing of Rakumba Lighting’s managing director, Micheal Murray - which of course, makes me want to interview him. Click on the link to get the full image and film rich story - it’s just beautiful. Also wouldn’t mind one of these in my hallway.

A new documentary of the making of Crocodile Dundee has been inspired in part by the discovery of boxes of items from the set of the film by Delvene Delany who’s late husband John Cornell, produced and co-wrote the film.

No sooner had I finished watching this on ABC News Breakfast that I came across this NYT Article on the Cinémathèque Française exhibition of Wes Anderson’s collection of props, costumes and curio’s from his movies.

Then I came across this with the owners of the Walkabout Creek Hotel - and now have wanderlust.

The new cover of RM Williams Outback Magazine is a bit of a show stopper.

It’s getting incredibly dry here but we seem to be savouring the last of day light savings. Lingering outside in the endless evenings, winding down after the surprisingly hot days and then absolutely crashing into bed once the sun finally goes down. I know the days are set to get shorter and soon we’ll be in early darkness so I guess we’re just getting our credits up for the winter months ahead. Hope you’re having a good week beauties, Sxx

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For the last few months I’ve been reviewing Company on Sundays mostly to try and give each of my subscribers the most appropriate level of value. Thank you so much to all of you that took the time to fill out our survey recently.

I learnt some happy things……

56% of you love the writings and blurbs here.

You don’t mind receiving x 2 emails per week.

Many of you want to see more links to rural news stories - hence the ‘News From The Middle of Nowhere’ section on Sundays.

You also wanted to see more Q&A’s, short form audio or video and a return of the Daily Routines (podcast).

Why the review?

I absolutely love creating this newsletter. It’s my favourite work job of the week.

I spend hours and hours reading, researching, rabbit-hole diving and curating so I can the perfect mix of things for you to scroll through. You might be surprised to hear that not everything I read makes the cut here - it has to ‘fit’ with the lovely, cosy, female-friendly, rural-australia-celebrating tone that I have been perfecting here and on all our podcasts for years.

I really value my time and I really love what I give to you here and I think you do too.

So I’m confident you will be happy to support my work financially. If not now, then hopefully sometime in the future when it works for you.

I’m feeling really good about these changes.

This new offering will, I believe, put me in closer contact with you all and solidify this really special, supportive community.

What will change?

Company on Sundays will be delivered once a fortnight from the beginning April 2025

Unless

You are a paying subscriber. The cost is $10/month or $120/year.

I’m not going to go into the conversion comparisons here but a coffee in town costs about $5.50 these days so let that be your yardstick.

Paying subscribers will receive:

- Company on Sundays email newsletter each week.

- The Mid-Week Missive email each Wednesday.

- Early alerts to upcoming events, Q&A’s, podcast extras

Some other things I am considering:

• More longform essays

• Newsletters in audio form

• Online meet-up’s and live interviews

Next week in the newsy*, I’m going to run you through How I Work here - what I subscribe to, what websites I frequent, how I store my notes and my ideas and basically just the routine that I go through to write Company on Sundays. It’s going to be fun, see you then, Sxxx

*I’m inspired by an Australian journalist doing really great things in the newsletter space - she publishes on Substack weekly, talking news and current affairs with nuance, she is fun and supportive and seems to be really open to connecting with her readers. I highly recommend subscribing to her. This is her recent post about how she pulls together her newsletter.

News & Reviews by Bri Lee

What Are You Paying For?

Dear Readers…

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a year ago · 58 likes · 37 comments · Bri Lee

Podcast playlist

Fashion Neurosis (new one for me) with Cate Blanchett apart from her sultry deep voice, she speaks so much sense for someone so celebrity. Someone recommended this recently, I can’t remember who but thank you!

How to survive this absurd life with We Can Do Hard Things

If your routine a strait jacket? How to enact change via Happy Place

Lay your eyes on these Instagram accounts

@polly__in_wonderland || @yourhomediary || @paris.explore

This pile of things to read

Pooft - A great recommendation by : ‘The Insanity that can be ‘Wellness’

‘focus on protein, no focus on fibre, focus on meditation, no wait exercise is your focus, but are you getting enough magnesium, iron, zinc, and taking all the other supplements (sea moss is so hot right now) and are you doing strength training many times a week for bone density, and getting 10,000 steps in a day, but also yoga for mind body balancing, as well as drinking the highest grade water, and sleeping a solid 8-10 hours, and not checking your phone 90 mins on waking while you get direct sunlight into your retina - but early enough in the morning that you don’t damage them (and also how is this possible in a northern Winter?) and are you doing acupuncture and kinesiology and the like, watch those heavy metals, and EMFs - dear god what type of sauna are you using, as the science keeps shifting. Cold showers or ice baths, and how many times a week and wait, are you in perimenopause or do you have a disrupted nervous system as there are wildly differing thought schools on what works and on and on. Get your blood work done, get your hormones balanced. Oh, and don’t forget to hold down your fulfilling career, have wildly sexy sex, parent your children in the latest way, and listen to all the podcasts so you can Do All Of This In Even More Optimised Ways. Oh wait, and you also now have to be fulfilled BUT you have no space and time to breathe because you are so busy Doing All The Things.’

Trains are amongst the list of odd things I love (along with lighthouses) if your also that way inclined check out the new fit out of Europe’s TGV trains.

OMG this greenhouse is actually a house.

On dopamine fasting, Dr Rangan Chattergee says this is such important work and research as we all navigate an increasingly complex digital world - on switching off, unplugging, stepping away from the screen.

Magazine junkies; you will loooove this:

Stroopwaffled

The glory, and flaws, of working in women's magazines

The editors in chief I worked for in women’s magazines all possessed hidden talents. One previously had a career singing scat in the jazz scene, and had appeared on a popular game show. One had a small role in the movie Caddy Shack when she was a teenager. All of these women were glamorous, and, more importantly, wise in the ways of navigating tricky, c…

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a year ago · 131 likes · 46 comments · Jennifer Barnett

News from the middle of nowhere (as in rural Australia)

This round up of rural getaways that are good for the girls (or boys) group.

Everyone’s doing it. Starting egg farms.

The girls of the shearing industry are sticking together, they’re calling it a ‘shearing sistahood’ which I love!

Anywhere but Canberra is a new Guardian segment in the lead up to the Federal Election: ‘The Ballarat Food Entrepreneur; It just doesn’t make sense for us to be miserable.’

And Graziher has a new segment called ‘Dollar Diaries’ which is pretty awesome.

Happy Sunday all, Sxx

A little late this week but still here. Anyone else agree that March is buuuuusy? I know why. March is one month after school goes back and so it’s like we all hit everyone with everything in this month - and I think I am just realising that maybe March is not the month to do things, just the month to get ontop of things ahead of the other months which are (hopefully) not as full on.

Enjoy this Mid Week Missive my beauties - and I’ll be back in your inboxes on Sunday.

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I’m writing this at the cricket. It’s the Grand Final. The dad’s are leaning on the railing behind me commentating every ball. The tension is a bit palpable because in an unexpected turn of events there’s been about 3 run out’s and stumpings that have been given out. Our team of beautiful boys and girls, may actually win.

The coach says he’s a bit edgy, he didn’t want to field first. and tells me he’s told the boys not to bowl high balls.

There’s a crowd here today. Boys from the other teams have come to watch. We are all delighted. This is not the big league, it’s just the small town junior cricket comp.

The morning too, is glorious. Not a breath of wind and mild. Autumn. Perfect.

Ruby our dog is here. The kids from all the teams seem to know her. ‘Ruuuuby,’ they call out and she runs, abound. They love her, throw her balls to her keep her from running on the field.

I feeling very Helen Garner writing this. Honestly, when I read her all I want to do is take my notepad everywhere and observe.

I absolutely love the cricket sideline. We set up our chairs or a rug and chat. Families come and go to get coffee or breakfast or do some quick town jobs. We can dip in and out of conversation and I know that for the other parents on the other side of the field, I’ll get time to say him to them soon too.

The footy sideline by comparison is full of tension, I’m always cold, shivering and uptight, there’s only 40 mins (I don’t even know) of the game which makes having any decent sort of conversation hard, if you like to watch the game, which I do.

I prefer cricket. Way prefer.

I written about the annual old blokes ie fathers cricket match here before, this one happens only once a year and gosh, there is nothing better for their souls, the banter, language, cheek and wit. They have no idea how good it is for them. There should be one for the ladies too.

Podcast Playlist

Going hard on some ag podcasts this week, and of course my new fave: She’s on the Money (which have x3 eps a week)

Hugh Killen on The Australian Ag Podcast:

Local boy Jack O’Connor is a recipient of the Zanda McDonald award for 2025. Here he is with Oli on Humans of Agriculture

And I had lots of take aways from this thoughtful ep from Germaine and Sophie:

Lay your eyes on these Instagram accounts

@noreservations.sk || @annabelnowlan || @barbaralong_art

This pile of things to read

Books because: by . I often have three or four books or magazines surrounding me in bed, I agree there is some comfort, safety even in being surrounded by the realms of reading material.

10,000 kazoo’s. I can see why this would be infectious. A gathering of 10,000 people for an impromptu Kazoo playing fest. No experience necessary. Ultimately uplifting despite a lot of saliva flying around everywhere!

A new subset of rural voters perhaps. Love that this is has been identified.

For all the Helen Garner enthusiasts.

Equally…. this one’s for all the sewing enthusiasts. I could not love this more. Bringing mending, transforming. altering and educating under one roof.

This week on the podcasting front:

So often when I'm in the garden or mowing the lawn - I get the biggest urge to share the beauty of it all with you all.

I think it's not an uncommon thing.

But to actually make it happen is another story.

Lou Crawford had the same inclination. She's has always loved the rugged, inaccessibility of her hilly farm near Boorowa in southern NSW and has hosted 100's of picnics by the River.

And one day - when the time was right ie *when she had kids and knew that an hr long commute to work was no longer going to work* she got to work on @rovenumby a unique walking/hiking getaway - that includes touches of all the things she loves about where she lives.

Let this story be an inspiration for anyone who ever has thoughts of sharing the beauty of their farm with others.

The Company podcast is produced in partnership with @rabobankaustralia

A day. In bed. Stomach cramping. Body recoiling. Is never nice. But sometimes necessary. The body keeps the score. Doesn’t it?

I’ve had a mysterious bout of gastro.

So this here will be short and sweet.

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