Can you help me make a difference?
Hi there,
This April, I am taking on the Childhood Cancer Association's - Pledge 450
I have pledged to read 450 pages of non-fiction works. I like to read a number of books at once so I will not be starting one book at page one and reading to page 450. Interesting, informative but challenging because my reading time is limited. But that is what makes it a worthy task.
Why? Each year, around 450 families rely on the Childhood Cancer Association for emotional and practical support following a childhood cancer diagnosis. They offer over 30 services including counselling, accommodation for country families, support groups, equipment loans and educational support.
Please help me reach my goal by making a donation through my page. It only takes a minute and any money you can give (no matter how large or small) will go a long way to helping me reach my target.
Thank you, I really appreciate your support...
My Achievements
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Received First Donation
Raised $225
Reached my Goal
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Hit the Target
Sunday 27th Apr Yesterday, I was so close to the target that I pushed on and read the final 54 pages. I travelled with John Julius Norwich to his beloved France in "France A History from Gaul to de Gaulle". I met Charlemagne and Louis the Lazy and Louis the Fat.And I voyaged with Bligh as he left the Sandwich Islands without his Captain and sailed on into the Pacific in an effort to find the Northwest Passage around the top of North America. Ice thwarted his plans, but he then brought the two ships safely home to England. I left him sailing out into the Atlantic on The Bounty. We know how that ended.
But his story went on. A second and successful breadfruit voyage. Commanding a ship under Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen. Governor of New South Wales - which did not end well as he was deposed in a military rebellion. He was eventually promoted to Vice Admiral of the Blue. And his Great Great Great Great Granddaughter became Premier of Queensland.
Along my 450 journey, I met all sorts of interesting authors from Agatha Christie HG Wells and Mark Twain to Laura Ingalls Wilder. Laura was related to Ulysses S, Grant and more distantly to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I revisited the incredible home designed by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. I met British Prime Ministers and flew with Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith and Amy Johnson.
I had a thoroughly good time without leaving the comfort of my armchair - and all for a wonderful cause.
Thank you to the wonderful staff and volunteers at the Childhood Cancer Association for your great work. Job well done.
Two Thirds of the Way
Monday 21st Apr After day 20 and I am happy to say that I have made up the deficit and am slightly in front.One of the distractions that I mentioned in my last blog was that I was finishing writing a children's book. Whether it will ever be found on a shelf in a bookstore or online remains to be seen but it was very enjoyable to commit my imagination to writing.
The list of books that I have been reading for the 450 Pledge has grown.
I have picked up Agatha Christie's Autobiography.
Having spent her life writing about people being murdered in many and varied ways I half expected that she would have had a tough childhood.
But in fact, she recollects a delightful early life. Reading her anecdotes really does bring smiles and the occasional chuckle.
I selected a book on Mount Vernon and Monticello the wonderful homes of George Wahington and Thomas Jefferson, respectively. I had the pleasure of visiting both these wonderful houses when I was on a trip to the U.S. in 2010.
Monticello was built and rebuilt by Jefferson during most of his long life. It put a great strain on his finances. When the Library of Congress was burnt down, he offered to sell his entire library of 6487 volumes to Congree for a tidy sum. The offer was accepted.
Other books that I have been reading this month include "Books that Changed History" and "The Times Aviators."
On my journey with William Bligh, he has reached the Sandwich Islands on Captain Cook's third and final voyage. This was where Cook came to an untimely end.
As an aside, Matthew Flinders sailed with Bligh on Bligh's second breadfruit voyage. The one that didn't end in mutiny.
After Flinders circumnavigated Australia his voyage home was interrupted when he pulled into a French port. His friendly dealings with Baudin did not help because it was seven years before he was able to continue his journey home. It was in prison that his cat Trim met an untimely end. Trim had character and Flinders wrote a short book on his adventurous life. Flinders also wrote a book on his own voyages, as did Cook. And books by or about Cook, Flinders and Bligh have a place in my library.
Earlier I mentioned Mark Twain visiting Adelaide. Although not part of my pledge reading list, I have a book by Twain called "Innocents Abroad" It is his account of what amounted to the first organized cruise. He sailed from New York and travelled to the eastern Mediterranean. There were even optional excursions. Hilarious, donkey rides, confusion with exchange rates, seeing famous people like the Emperor Napoleon III and the Ottoman Sultan. He even met Tsar Alexander II All in all, he had a very adventurous time. I also have the book on his travels in Australia.
That is enough talk about books. Now I need to get on with reading.
I will leave this blog for now and hopefully the next one will announce the successful completion of this challenge.
A Third of the Way
Friday 11th Apr With ten days down I have read 118 pages. The aim was to read 150 by this time but distractions got in the way.I have finished "West From Home" It was interesting to read about the girl who grew up on the frontier experiencing the modern world of the early twentieth century. I previously enjoyed "On the Way Home" Which was her journal of the trip in 1894 by covered wagon with her husband and little daughter from the Dakotas (where her family settled) to Mansfield Missouri where she lived the rest of her long life.
She tried to get her autobiography published but it was rejected. She then turned the story of her early life into a series of beloved children's books.
Other books that I read in the last ten days apart from those previously discussed, included:
"The Prime Ministers" about British PMs from the first to the present day. I am up to the 1870's.
"Brief Encounters" which is about writers who have visited Australia.
Some came to Adelaide to stay or pass through.
Mark Twain got off the train in the hills and came down by carriage. He enjoyed his visit.
Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle set foot here. There is a plaque commemorating the latter's visit in the city.
HG Wells came in 1939. He might have enjoyed his visit more if we weren't in the midst of a record- breaking heatwave. Temperatures in the high 40s were a bit much. We only recently broke that record.
Wells visited the zoo, Carclew, where he met Langdon Bonython, the museum and Windy Point among other attractions. He had flown in from Perth but went to Melbourne by car with the heat still bearing down. He did not enjoy the trip.
"The Cities Book" by Lonely Planet.
So, I am a little behind target, but I have 20 days to make it up.
The Challenge
Tuesday 1st Apr My goal is to read 450 pages of non-fiction writing.It would probably be simpler to start one book at page 1 and read to page 450, but I like to read a number of books at once.
I am starting off the first week with three books.
The first is a book about Captain Bligh written by Rob Mundle. If you were stranded in the middle of the Pacific, then you would want him on board your little boat to get you safely back to civilization. But sailing with him in more normal circumstances was probably not much fun.
The second is "The World in Arms" about the revolutions and wars in the first two decades of the 20th Century.
And the third is "West From Home" A collection of letters written by Laura Ingalls Wilder to her husband Almonzo when she visited their daughter Rose in San Francisco in 1915. Laura made it to the ripe old age of 90 and died in February 1957. What changes she would have seen. Just reading the semi - autobiographical "Little House on the Prairie" books reveals the world of her younger years. Compare that to developments in the first half of the 29th century. Extraordinary
450 pages equates to 15 pages a day. My time for reading is fairly limited but I expect that I will get to the target well before the 30th of April.
We will see how far I have progressed at the end of week one.
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What a fun way to raise money for a wonderful cause.