LIAN TANNER

New year, new chooks

January 5th, 2014

My niece Megan came to stay the other night, on her way down to Bruny Island to visit her sister. While she was here, we got out the photos of me and my brothers when we were kids, and laughed at the bathers we used to wear, and how my father used to line us up by size for having our picture taken. And in the middle of it all I found this picture, taken on my grandfather’s farm in South Australia. I don’t remember it, but Mum told me a while ago that I found the chook feathers myself and insisted on putting them in my hair. Must have been an early burst of creativity. πŸ™‚

Why is this relevant? Because two days ago, I got chooks! I’ve been wanting them for a while, partly because I’ve got so many insect pests in my back garden, partly for the eggs, and partly just because chooks are nice to have.

So on Friday I drove into the wilds of Tasmania and returned with three chickens. They spent the first afternoon locked in their shed, the next day roaming behind a temporary wire fence, and today they’ve been wandering freely around the garden (I’ve wired off my vegies so they can’t get to them). To my joy, they like both earwigs and grasshoppers, and seem very contented with their new home.

They don’t have names yet, so I will consider all suggestions. One is a deep reddish-brown, another is a lighter reddish-brown (she’s the boldest), and the third is a mix of pale red and white (I think she’s the most timid).

Am I writing? No, I’m on holiday this week. Next week I’ll get back to the edit of Sunker’s Deep.

0 thoughts on “New year, new chooks

  1. Claudia says:

    Hi! I’m new on the blog and I jsut wanted say Happy New Year!I’ve been to Bruny Island many times! I remeber mum saying to me last year “Claudia, do you know that Lian Tanner loves in Tasi?” and I remeber being so excited! I think I might;ve asked her if we could visit you, but she said “And how would we find her?” We had a good laugh afterwards. I am 13 and love the character of Goldie so much! Do you think it is possible that The Keepers could become a film? I would really discuss it with you because I have many ideas for it! I would love to act Goldie! Anyway, that’s all from me now!
    Claudia

    1. Lian says:

      Happy New Year, Claudia! Isn’t Bruny Island gorgeous? I’m really glad that my nieces are living there because it gives me more of an excuse to visit. πŸ™‚

      I’m glad you love Goldie – I’m rather fond of her myself. And I’d love the Keepers to be a film, but it really depends on whether a producer becomes interested in it. I have no film-making skills whatsoever, plus I much prefer writing books. So we’ll just keep our fingers crossed that a producer somewhere (a really good one!) has a son or a daughter who one day hands her a book and says, ‘Hey, Mum (or Mom), read this, I think it’d make a terrific movie!’

      1. Claudia says:

        I know! I rekon Bruny Island is the most beautiful place in the world! My aunt’s best friend who is our GP is also a movie director – maybe I could ask her to read it…
        I have just finished writting a short story – I was wondering if I could somehow send it to you so you could take a peek at it and see what you think – because I’d really love that! I think a name for your shy chook could be Clara? I love that name and I think it suits a shy character.
        What I’ve been doing in the past two hours is creating storyboards for a trailer that I’m going to make in the rest of the holidays for the first Keepers book. I’d want the movie to be made by an Aussie producer – if it could!

        1. Lian says:

          Hi Claudia, I really like the name Clara for the shy chook. I’m thinking about giving them two names each πŸ™‚ and Blossom Clara is rather nice. Or Clara Blossom. I’ll try it out on her and see what she says. I’m also thinking of Dolores – Dolly for short – for the bossy one. Haven’t found a name yet for the in between one. Maybe Florence.

          I’m very impressed by you making storyboards for a Museum of Thieves trailer. Such a nice idea! Let me know when you’ve finished it, I’d love to see it. As for the short story, I always say no when people ask if they can send me their writing – I used to say yes, but these days I get so many requests that I decided to turn them all down, otherwise it’s not fair if I just pick one or two. But you started me thinking – every now and again I run competitions, and I’ll probably run one in the next few months. I’ve got some really nice Ice Breaker posters as prizes, but another of the prizes could be ‘I’ll read your story/novel and give you detailed feedback’. What do you think?

  2. Claudia says:

    I love the name Blossom too! I thinkClara Blossom is very nice and ‘Dolly’ is very cute an would suit her. Florence defiantly – that’s my cousins name! We call her Floss for short πŸ™‚
    Yes – I’m excited to start filming for the trailer!! I have a few very vivid images for it. Fair enough for the reading – but I love the idea for the prizes!
    I need I go now – got a flight to catch!!

    1. Lian says:

      Ha, great minds think alike – I had already started calling Florence Flossie. So now their names are set. Hope you have a good flight, wherever you are going!

  3. Io says:

    Sorry I haven’t posted for so long. I’ve been on holiday since November, in the Philippines- We have limited internet. You look adorable in that photo! How old were you? And Flossie(?), Dolly (?) and Clara (?) look so cute! Wish I thought of name. I used to have chooks too. America and Singer. America was really shy and Singer was always screeching! Hope none of them wake you up too early in the morning on your holiday! (Hope you start writing a lot after your week of holiday- I can’t wait!)

    Happy New Year Everyone! πŸ™‚

    Io πŸ™‚

    1. Lian says:

      Happy New Year, Io, and I hope you had a wonderful holiday in the Philippines. I agree about the photo – I am amazed that I used to look so cute. πŸ™‚ I was pretty young, not sure of my exact age – maybe 4? I love the names of your chooks – and no, none of mine are noisy, in fact they are surprisingly quiet. I’m starting to learn the different sounds they make – the warning sound if there’s a cat too close, the ‘it’s-nearly-time-for-bed’ sleepy sound, the ‘ooh-look-what-I-found’ sound. I continue to be vastly entertained by Flossie, Dolly and Clara. πŸ™‚

  4. Kate says:

    You should call them scrambled, omlet, poached, fryed, roasted, and last but not least……… eaten!

    Just kidding. You could call them after people in your books or famous people.

    1. Lian says:

      πŸ™‚ I definitely couldn’t call them eaten, Kate, not now that I’ve got to know them. And they have names at last – Dolly, Floss and Clara. Dolly is the boss, and started to lay a few days ago.

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