About Me
- Satima Flavell
- Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- I am based in Perth, Western Australia. You might enjoy my books - The Dagger of Dresnia, the first book of the Talismans Trilogy, is available at all good online book shops as is Book two, The Cloak of Challiver. Book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation. I trained in piano and singing at the NSW Conservatorium of Music. I also trained in dance (Scully-Borovansky, WAAPA) and drama (NIDA). Since 1987 I have been writing reviews of performances in all genres for a variety of publications, including Music Maker, ArtsWest, Dance Australia, The Australian and others. Now semi-retired, I still write occasionally for the ArtsHub website.
The Dagger of Dresnia
The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans
Available as an e-book on Amazon and other online booksellers.
Mythic Resonance
Mythic Resonance
Mythic Resonance is an excellent anthology that includes my short story 'La Belle Dame', together with great stories from Alan Baxter, Donna Maree Hanson, Sue Burstynski, Nike Sulway and nine more fantastic authors! Just $US3.99 from Amazon.
Got a Kindle? Check out Mythic Resonance. 
My Blog List
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Medieval Jobs That Disappeared - If you go back to the Middle Ages, you’ll find numerous professions—some requiring skill and learning, others chosen out of desperation—that have since van...2 hours ago
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Top 10 Fantasy books I’ve read in 2024… - Top 10 Fantasy books I’ve read in 2024. I realised, after posting the children’s, young adults, younger children’s, and historical fiction books, that I’d ...12 hours ago
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Book Beat: Regency Dragons, a Sci-Fi Mystery, & More - Book Beat aims to highlight other books that we may hear about through friends, social media, or other sources. We could see a gorgeous ad! Or find a new-t...17 hours ago
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Thoughts On “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” - When I first saw a trailer for the newest Lord of the Rings movie, I was incredibly excited because it was an animated movie. I could hardly believe they w...1 day ago
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Meaningful economics - [image: Image of blue sky with white clouds and sun shining] Meaningful economics Human beings mean. We just do. Human beings contemplate the importance or...1 day ago
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The London Under London by Miranda Miller - This is a photo of the Great Hall of the Guildhall which has been the City of London’s civic and ceremonial centre since the 12th century. In the M...
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Katie Tallo - Katie Tallo has been an award-winning screenwriter and director for more than three decades. After winning an international contest for unpublished fiction...
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5 Edits to Strengthen Your Writing, Right Now - *By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy * *Making some simple word edits can turn a flat scene into one that sings.* Back when I was first learning how to write,...
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On Watching YouTube! - I do enjoy watching YouTube. There is such a variety of channels. I download Andre Rieu concerts for my mother. There are quite a few films and TV shows...1 week ago
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Time, what even is it anyway? Newsletter 9th December 2024. - Hello fiends I really am rubbish at this newsletter frequency thing, huh? If it’s any consolation, I’m even worse at keeping my YouTube channel up to dat...1 week ago
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Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light in six documents - Explore some of the historical records used to inform the second series of BBC's Wolf Hall. The post Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light in six document...2 weeks ago
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A preview of my end of year round up - This post is based on an email I sent to the CSFG group. It has been amended. We came back from the UK end of February 2024 and I hit the ground running. I...2 weeks ago
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A preview of my end of year round up - This post is based on an email I sent to the CSFG group. It has been amended. We came back from the UK end of February 2024 and I hit the ground running. I...2 weeks ago
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Are You Dysdexterous? - “That’s not a word!” Yeah, you’re right. The word doesn’t exist. … YET! But maybe it should exist. Maybe there is a massive blind-spot...3 weeks ago
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About Holly - There is no way to soften the blow of this and Mom never liked euphemisms, so I’m just going to speak plainly. Mom died due to complications from cancer on...1 month ago
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WRAP UP OF HORRORFEST POST, OCTOBER. - Hi all! Thank you so much for posting to WEP's Horrorfest in October. I'm sure everyone enjoyed reading the entries. So good to see so many of the 'oldi...
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Henry of Lancaster and His Children - The close bonds which Edward II's cousin Henry of Lancaster, earl of Lancaster and Leicester, forged with his children have fascinated me for a long time...8 months ago
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Questions from year 9 students - Recently – actually, not very recently but I somehow forgot to write this sooner – I did what has become an annual online Q&A with the Year 9 girls at Bedf...1 year ago
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Flogometer 1180 for Christian—will you be moved to turn the page? - Submissions sought. Get fresh eyes on your opening page. Submission directions below. The Flogometer challenge: can you craft a first page that compels me ...1 year ago
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another review for the Christmas Maze - *The Christmas Maze by Danny Fahey – a Review by David Collis* Why do we seek to be good, to make the world a better place? Why do we seek to be ethi...2 years ago
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#332 - Question: I wrote LOST IN LA as a retelling of Pretty Woman with “modern” social issues, but I don’t know whether to focus on the characters, the fake rel...5 years ago
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Al Milgrom’s connection to “Iron Man” - Via the Ann Arbor online newspaper - I felt it was worth repeating as a great example of Marvel doing the right thing by a former employee and without the ...
14 years ago
Places I've lived: Manchester, UK
Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia
Places I've lived: Geelong, Australia
Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW
Places I've Lived - Sydney
Sydney Conservatorium - my old school
Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ
Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier
Blue Lake
Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA
Places I've Lived: Perth by Day
From Kings Park
Places I've lived: High View, WV
Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK
Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland
Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA
Places I've Lived: Perth by Night
From Kings Park
Inner Peace Blog
Awarded by Joanna Fay. Click on the image to visit her lovely website!
Versatile Blogger Award
Awarded by Kim Falconer. Click on the pic to check out her Quantum Astrology blog!
Fabulous Blog Award
Awarded by Kathryn Warner. Click on the pic to check out her Edward II blog!
Wednesday, 20 December 2006
Where did the last week go?
Wednesday, December 20, 2006 | 
Posted by
Satima Flavell
Omigod, it's almost Christmas! Actually, insofar as such ideosyncracy is possible in our society, I'm opting out. I've sent no cards (although I will write greeting letters to the few friends I won't see and who don't have e-mail) and there's absolutely no money for gifts in my present impecunious state.
I will, however, eat as many mince pies as are on offer. I wait all year for mince pies. As soon as they are in the shops I buy packet after packet, a different one each week; trying out brands, comparing them to my memory of earlier mince pie delights, and especially remembering my mother baking them from scratch. Now those were mince pies! They contained real lard and sundry other strangenesses, and omigod, they were good! No mince pies since have borne comparison, but that doesn't mean I won't keep looking...and buying...and tasting. Mmmmmm...
Merry Christmas, everyone!
I will, however, eat as many mince pies as are on offer. I wait all year for mince pies. As soon as they are in the shops I buy packet after packet, a different one each week; trying out brands, comparing them to my memory of earlier mince pie delights, and especially remembering my mother baking them from scratch. Now those were mince pies! They contained real lard and sundry other strangenesses, and omigod, they were good! No mince pies since have borne comparison, but that doesn't mean I won't keep looking...and buying...and tasting. Mmmmmm...
Merry Christmas, everyone!
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8 comments:
Lard, eh? Them wuz the days ... I can remember my mother saving the dripping. I have a vivid picture of it sitting in the fridge waiting to be re-used for cooking other stuff. Nobody worried about the state of their arteries in the 1950s.
Heh heh - as a product of WWII I well remember dripping. You know, the goey dark stuff with all the meat juices burnt in. When it was past being reused we'd have it spread on bread.
And clogged arteries not withstanding, it was yummy.
Mince pies. How could you resist them? Why should you? Although they're on my 'forbidden because they make me sick' list, I always manage a few and suffer the consequences much to my family's bemusement.
My very British mum makes the best mince pies. She doesn't use lard any more, but does spike the fruit mince with lots of alcohol. Can't resist them.
There was suet in the fruit as well as lard in the pastry. I think my mum used to put a dash of brandy in, too. And we talk about junk food today!
You are with mince pies as I am with chocolate, Helen. An excess gives me the worst migraines possible, yet confronted by a superfluity of the stuff I feel obliged to gobble the lot, with disastrous consequences. Somehow, I just forget in between!
Carol, ask your mum for the recipe. Such treasures should not be allowed to die with their owners.
Yep, my mum gives me her recipes. Yorkshire pudding, dumplings, steak and kidney pie (except I leave the kidney out), shepherd's pie, christmas pudding, rhubarb and apple pie...
Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
I heard a piece on mince pies the other day on ABC radio. Apparently the first ones had minced meat (not fruit mince) filling and were rectangular to represent the manger, with a tiny pastry baby Jesus on the top.
That reminds me of a time my mother offered one of her amazing mince pies to a very Occer neighbour - this was in the days before mince pies became commercially available here in Oz - and he poured tomato sauce on it. You can imagine the expression on his face when he discovered that it did not contain meat, but fruit!