This year at #EnbyLife Journal we want to publish even more non-binary & gender diverse creatives. This means we’re going to need a bit more money! Please consider a one-off or monthly donation to #EnbyLife Journal to help keep us running 💖 Head to ko-fi.com/enbylifejournal or the link in our bio.

I think it's close enough to the end of the year to mention my highlights for the year. Starting with music there's one concert, three new cd's, one lost if not mythical cd, one music video and a mention of a favourite read from last year.

Brief glimpse of a wombat on the Fosters Gully Nature Walk at Morwell National Park. There's a bare patch on its back which indicates it isn't in full health. The Friends Group had received reports of an unwell wombat in the area so it was helpful to get a look at it.

Oh FFS. I've just heard this played as a jaunty little piano tune.

Public Service Announcement. Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah is not a Christmas Carol.

This is one of the most interesting author book recommendation lists I've seen. Apart from Nan Shepherd's The Living Mountain and J.L. Carr's A Month in the Country which I love and heartily recommend, there's a heap of other titles I need to catch up with. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/d...

Vale Bob "Bongo" Starkie from Skyhooks. In the early Countdown years I was a Skyhooks, not a Sherbet fan. Only a couple of years later The Saints would release I'm Stranded and the world changed overnight. Despite that, I still have affection for those early Skyhooks years. youtu.be/E03HpnmoyZ0?...

⚡ 24 November - 1 December ⚡ We’re running our first ever Black Friday promo… our own way! Blak Friday online now: www.magabala.com This week, every online order goes into the draw to have your entire purchase fully refunded. One lucky customer = their whole order free!!

Until now all of the books in Polygon Book's excellent Darkland Tales series have been published in Australia with their original minimalist covers which brilliantly reflect the intent of the series. Not Benbecula which Text have published with the bloody awful cover on the left.

"The hammering of guns, wrestling, locked in conflict Like brute, stone gods of old struggling confusedly" www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...

I bawled my eyes listening to this live because included amongst the 374 pipers are family friends and members of the Morwell Caledonian Pipe Band who will be playing at my father's funeral tomorrow morning. Dad is a life member and former pipe major of the band. www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

A little video of one the Striated Pardalotes which has been nesting in a hanging pot in our garden. After they moved in I fenced around the pot and then roughly placed some wire over the fence to protect the nesting area. The added bonus is that it gives them a safe perch just outside the nest.

Had an amazing time sitting in the front row seeing Bleak Squad at the Melbourne Recital Centre last night. The photo was taken during the encore when they played Summer High, a Magic Dirt song which featured Roland S Howard.

June Lockhart, always fondly remembered by me as Maureen Robinson in Lost in Space, has passed away at the age of 100. Love this story about her from The Guardian.

“Day to myself. Will I see anyone. Will I see anyone. Don’t care. Sounds rude, it’s not rude, it’s not antisocial, I don’t need to see anyone.” Nova Scotia House - Charlie Porter

New additions.

First Eastern Koel heard this morning. The monotonous sound of summer has arrived.

Ooohhh!!! Found this on my library app. Josephine Rowe reading her leading her latest work, Little World. Ooohhh!!!

Magabala is thrilled to announce the acquisition of award-winning Mununjali and Dutch author, editor and educator, Ellen van Neerven's first middle-grade novel. 'Ruby's Web' will be published by Magabala, February 24, 2026. Read more: bit.ly/4nS7ML0

New addition with added story. I ordered Boy Parts from its original UK publisher back during the Covid lockdowns. It never arrived; one of a few no shows at the time. Hard times, small publisher, I didn't ask for a replacement. Was surprised to find the Faber reprint in my local QBD today.

With the prevalence of low attention streaming services it seems crazy that someone would release a triple-album, but Jeff Tweedy has done it with Twilight Override. And succeeded. This fantastic homage to Velvet Underground and watching bands in dives opens the 3rd album. youtu.be/GJdpGt35DMY?...

I've been let loose in @paperbackbookshop.bsky.social again.

General Knowledge crossword clue in The Age today. "Who is the pessimistic farmer in John O'Brien's 1919 bush poem who constantly fears ruin?" That miserable prick Hanrahan was a longer answer than they required.

🦋 #BogongMoth — Agrotis infusa 🌌 Observed by Matt Campbell in Jeeralang Junction, Victoria, during the #GSB2024 this remarkable migrator travels to the Australian Alps each summer to escape the heat, now Endangered due to drought and climate change. 🌿 #GSB2025 #CitizenScience #Biodiversity

New additions.

You may know Skye Cusack as the mastermind behind Magabala's incredible social media channels, but today we are thrilled to announce that she is becoming a Magabala creator, as Magabala has acquired Skye's debut novel. Read the full announcement here: bit.ly/48bZ1GS

“It had turned into a nice spring morning: bright and warm on the sunny side of the street, but in the shade there was a head cold waiting for anyone who thought it was an early summer and went out hatless.” Leonard and Hungry Paul - Rónán Hession. I’ve waited far too long to read this gem.

Apologies for the image being a little shaky. This is one of a pair of Striated Pardalotes which are nesting in the water well of a hanging basket on the outside of our verandah.

Is anyone else having trouble with Bluesky loading? It’s barely functioning for me.

This year Radio National is running a poll asking people to vote for their top books of the 21st century. Let's get some Blak books on this list! Voting closes at 5pm on October 2, 2025. The countdown will be broadcast on Radio National over the weekend of October 18-19. Vote here: ab.co/3KxAXEh

New additions.

We’re nominating for awards this year, including Best of the Net! (For creative works we published between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025). @sundresspub.bsky.social Shout out to our amazing creatives and wishing you all the best! 🎉🌈

First post in what I hope will be an ongoing thread of songs heard in various places. I did try this once before but it failed for reasons that are no longer of interest. Alone With You by The Sunnyboys. Heard in my local Woolies yesterday. youtu.be/FRazvQ8Pai0?...

New additions from a visit to @paperbackbookshop.bsky.social yesterday.

If Mozza disowns The Smiths can we go back to listening to listening to them? On CD of course. Wouldn’t dare reward the corporate wankers who buy his share by streaming them. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/s...

“What’s really happening: This the novel cannot know.” Cristina Rivera Garza - Death Takes Me.

Loved this after the first listen.

Both happy and relieved to say that a long two year plus journey of recovery for my left eye is finally coming to an end. I had advanced keratoconus in that eye which left me with very thin cornea. In late July, 2023 a full thickness corneal transplant was performed on the eye.

Today we’re excited to share a new poem with you — 'A Week After I Tell You I’m Questioning My Gender' by Abby Bland. READ MORE: enbylife.net/2025/08/26/a...

Found in a charity bookshop this morning. The original paperback edition of Billy Bathgate by EL Doctorow. Those were the days. Simple cover, author photo on the back, not a blurb in sight.

"Occasionally the musical universe offers unexpected gifts that we might never have thought to ask for and had no right to expect." Andrew Stafford - The Guardian Bleak Squad - Adalita, Mick Turner, Mick Harvey and Marty Brown. Looking forward to getting my hands on this. youtu.be/C-dpQ6sISuU

Waiting rooms and daytime television. 🤬🤬🤬

Received yet another your email address was imported into Shitestack without bloody asking email last night. The fact that this one came from a publisher who I binned because of their unsatisfactory follow-up service after a $100+ package of books was lost in transit only added to my grumpiness.

I've loved The Triffids' Wide Open Road for almost 40 years now but until I travelled across the Nullarbor Plain on the Indian Pacific train I truly didn't appreciate the power and imagery of David McComb's lyrics. youtu.be/dGgct-rjBIc?...

Thinking about The Triffids iconic debut album, Treeless Plain, as the Indian Pacific enters the Nullarbor Plain. youtu.be/xIl-TU53tfg?...

One for the Jen Craig nuts here. The Museum of Fire in Panthers territory taken from the Indian Pacific train.

A kick-arse track with a timely Woking comment. youtu.be/muoddHKZthg?...

Leaving this here because WTF is Horses doing in the list? #hottest100 youtu.be/6dlHxiuSO9Y?...

Bad Art Mother was recommended to me by a friend sometime in late 2023. Can’t quite remember who recommended it on Bluesky some months back. I’ve finally read it and yes, it’s bloody good.

Brenda Fricker reading Voice by Majella Kelly. youtu.be/-uaOk62Y6mw?...