Day 19: Turquoise and Amber drops

Opening my jewellery box each evening to deposit another pair of earrings has become a ritual that has taken on so much more significance since I started this blog, and is now one of the most satisfying moments of my day.


And what a beautiful jewellery box I now have. It was a gift from Deb and Mel for my 50th birthday last month; they had it made for me to their specifications. The cedar timber is studded with tiny silver balls, and inside it has a suede lining of the most perfect shade of Tiffany blue. Apposite and stunning!

Today's earrings have been with me since a 1995. I bought them at a market stall in Soho, New York on a frigid, snowy day.  They are now looking worse for wear, but I've always liked the colour combination and still give them an outing from time to time. When I do, they always evoke memories of that trip. Taking a break from my PhD research in Canada, I'd gone to New York for Christmas to visit with the the wonderful Australian author Glenda Adams and her partner Chris, a Manhattan native. Glenda, spent her time between a tiny terrace in Redfern and an apartment on the Upper West side, just across from Columbia University. A Miles Franklin Award winner, Glenda taught creative writing in Sydney at UTS and in NYC at Columbia. I met Glenda through my Sydney University friend Bob Howard - they were cousins. She and Chris were the most gracious and generous hosts to me at a time when I needed company; I was feeling very lonely having been away from home for many months in a freezing Toronto winter. We kept in close contact after this visit, and saw each other when she was in back Sydney. Sadly Glenda died in 2007, from a recurrence of breast cancer.

Glenda leaves a legacy of some brilliant writing, much of which is evocative of the Sydney of her childhood - especially in her short stories and her novels Dancing on Coral and Longleg. There is now an annual State Library Award for new writing in Glenda's name. All week I've been thinking of her short story The Hottest nights of the Century - set on the night she was born in 1939. I need to dig it out for another read as we swelter through this heat wave - apparently last night set a new record!

The aim of the game on Day 19 has been to keep cool. A quick dash up to Newtown to get prescriptions filled in preparation for the next infusion almost wiped me out. I'm feeling so grateful for the aircon in the bedroom - where I spent the rest of the afternoon - but I am wracked with guilt about adding to the greenhouse gases producing this weather in the first place!