Lesley Truffle - Writer

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Observations

Phoenix Rising

January 4, 2021 by Lesley Truffle

  Phoenix Rising   ‘Hope. It’s like a drop of honey, a field of tulips blooming in the springtime. It’s a fresh rain, a whispered promise, a cloudless sky, the perfect punctuation mark at the end of a sentence. And it’s the only thing in the world keeping me afloat.’ Tahereh Mafi   Moira Finucane … [Read more…]

Posted in: Historical, Melbourne, Mythology, Observations, writers & creatives Tagged: 2021, Ancient Myths, burlesque, Finucane, hope, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, Moira Finucane, Mythology, Phoenix, Phoenix Rising, Phoenix Year, Tahereh Mafi

Pagan Rituals

December 19, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

Pagan Rituals Many present day Christmas traditions were derived from ancient cultures. Originally created by our ancestors, the same rituals manifest across the Western World every December. In the past these traditions were mysterious and sacred rites. They were backed by superstition, belief in magic and the desire to protect communities from fear of the … [Read more…]

Posted in: Australia, current news, Historical, Mythology, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: Ancient Celts, Ancient Myths, Celtic Druids, Celts, Christmas, Christmas mythology, Christmas rituals, COVID-19, Druids, Lesley Truffle, Mistletoe, Mistletoe myths, Saturnalia, Xmas

Halloween and Pagan Jollifications

October 23, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  HALLOWEEN AND PAGAN JOLLIFICATION October turns my local supermarket black and orange. Ghoulish looking snacks appear and recipes are popular for anything that resembles decapitated hands, lost eyeballs, witches, jack-o-lanterns and skeletons. Currently popular are frozen hands in a bowl of spiced up red wine for the adults or red cordial for les enfants. … [Read more…]

Posted in: Melbourne, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: All Hallows Eve, Ancient Celts, Ancient Myths, Celtic, Faery Host, Fire Festivals, Halloween, Headless Horsemen, Lesley Truffle, Melbourne, Samhain, Sidhs, Sluagh

Book Dreaming

September 24, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

Book Dreaming I’ve often been asked – what are the books that meant a lot to me growing up. This is a difficult question because there are so many books I love. And I often revisit books, usually classics, I already know are going to transport me. In winter there’s pleasure to be had in … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Mavericks & Renegades, Observations, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Ada, Casanova, Eloise, Eloise in Paris, Emily Brontë, Giacomo Casanova, History of My Life, Kay Thompson, Lesley Truffle, Lolita, Nabokov, Vladamir Nabokov, Wuthering Heights

Freud’s Cigar

September 13, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  Freud’s Cigar ‘Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.’ Dr Sigmund Freud 1856 -1939.   In my novel The Scandalous Life Of Sasha Torte, Sasha is introduced to the famous Austrian neurologist Dr Sigmund Freud, at The Sperl Café in Vienna. Sasha Torte – world famous Tasmanian pastry chef – is very taken with … [Read more…]

Posted in: Mavericks & Renegades, Observations, Psychology, Social Comment Tagged: Carl Jung, Cocaine, Dr Sigmund Freud, erythroxyline, Freud, Freud's cigar, Id Ego Superego, Jung, Lesley Truffle, Psychiatry, psychoanalysis, Psychology, Sasha Torte, Sigmund Freud, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte

There Goes the Neighbourhood Dogs

July 25, 2020 by Lesley Truffle
Dogs face and eyes

  There Goes the Neighbourhood Dogs   ‘A lover tries to stand in well with the pet dog of the house.’ Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) French playwright, actor & poet.   In my bayside suburb dogs are everywhere you go. There may well be a pandemic rampaging across the globe but for our local dogs, it’s … [Read more…]

Posted in: animals, Australia, Melbourne, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: Bayside Melbourne, café, cafes, dogs, Lesley Truffle, Melbourne, mongrels, neighbourhood dogs, Pugs, street dogs, Whippets

Forest Bathing

April 16, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  Forest Bathing   My mind keeps wandering to the empty spaces and forests that will still be there when the pandemic retreats. Dreams of whispering trees and rustlings in the grass. When I was living and working near Tokyo a few years ago, I got to know a Japanese bullet train driver. Roshi is … [Read more…]

Posted in: Australia, Historical, Nature, Observations, Psychology, Social Comment, Wilderness Areas Tagged: Australia World Heritage, Australian rainforests, Australian Wilderness, Calm, Dorrigo rainforest, ecotherapy, Forest Bathing, Gondwana Rainforests, Japan, Japanese forests, Lesley Truffle, Meditation, Nature, Shinrin-Yoku, Wilderness areas

Strange Days

March 19, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  Strange Days ‘andrà tutto bene – everything will be fine.’   The Italians are living in the European COVID-19 epicentre and Italy is currently under emergency quarantine measures. To date there are more than 24,700 people with the disease and more than 1800 have died. Italy has a world class health system but it … [Read more…]

Posted in: animals, current news, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: andrà tutto bene, Australia, Australian animals, Coronaviris, COVID-19, everything will be fine, Italians, Italy, Laura Baldassari, lockdown, Mogo Wildlife Park, Mogo Wildlife Park NSW, optimism

Sorrentino – The Pope Maker

February 13, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  Paolo Sorrentino – The Pope Maker   ‘Face it, I didn’t become famous until I took my clothes off.’ ‘I always wanted to be an actor and not a beauty pageant winner.’                                                                                  Jude Law  Jude Law plays Lenny Belardo, Pope Pious XIII in The Young Pope & The New Pope.   Paolo … [Read more…]

Posted in: Film, Observations, Television series, writers & creatives Tagged: Catholic, Catholicism, Fellini, film, Frederico Fellini, HBO, John Malkovich, Jude Law, La Grande Bellezza, Loro, Malkovich, Paolo Sorrentino, Pope Pious X111, Roma, Roman Catholicism, Romans, Rome, Sorrentino, The Great Beauty, The New Pope, The Vatican, The Young Pope

My Friend Nigel

January 25, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

My Friend Nigel   Nigel was a street cat. I first met him in a French cafe in inner city Melbourne when he strolled out of the kitchen and slipped up onto my lap. He made me laugh. To hell with health regulations, he’d settled in for the evening. Nigel had no interest in the … [Read more…]

Posted in: animals, Melbourne, Observations Tagged: Cat, Cats, fitzroy melbourne, friends, friendship, fur friends, Melbourne, Nigel, rescue cat

Everything is F*cked

December 12, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

  Everything is Fucked   ‘Look, it may be that you came to this book looking for some sort of hope … I am sorry. I don’t have that kind of answer for you. Nobody does.’                                             Mark Manson, Everything is F*cked A Book About Hope   Mark Manson’s first self-published book in 2011 was … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, current news, Observations, Psychology, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Abraham Maslow, America, Elon Musk, Everything is f*cked, Everything is F*cked A Book About Hope, Everything is fucked, Everything is Fucked A Book About Hope, Mark Manson, Maslow, Maslow's Hierachy of Needs, Models Attract Women Through Honesty, Self-help books, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, The subtle art of not giving a fuck, USA

Jack’s Story

November 21, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

  Jack’s Story Jack Charles – Aboriginal Elder, film and stage actor, potter, indigenous activist and former cat burglar – is a brilliant storyteller. His gift of writing from the heart, provided him with cachet and respect when imprisoned. He would sit down with illiterate inmates, discuss what was required and then pen deeply felt … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Film, Observations, Social Comment, Writers & Readers Events Tagged: Aboriginal Elder, actor, Australia, Australian, biography, First Nations Family, human rights issues, Indigenous activist, Indigenous children, Jack Charles, Jack Charles vs The Crown, Melbourne, screen actor, stage actor, Stolen Children, Stolen Generations

Travelling with Casanova

October 17, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

  Travelling with Casanova   Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was a gambler all his life. He also had numerous other careers and was known as: a soldier, a spy, a preacher, a professional writer, a violinist, a silk manufacturer, a lottery director and an alchemist. Born April 1725 in Venice, he graduated at seventeen with a law … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Historical, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: Brunelleschi, Casanova, Chevalier de Seingalt, Giacomo Casanova, History of My Life, Lesley Truffle, Umberto Brunelleschi

Rites of Spring

October 9, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

Rites of Spring The advent of spring initiates a whole new wave of city madness. At the very first glimmer of sunshine Melbourne folk tear off their puffa jackets, scarves and beanies and recklessly bare their skin. Melbourne’s denizens believe that first of September tells us that spring has arrived. And that the last few … [Read more…]

Posted in: Melbourne, Observations, Social Comment, Uptown Downtown Tagged: Botticelli, La Primavera, Melbourne, Melbourne Trams, Sandro Botticelli, Spring, trams

Wicked Women

August 16, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

Wicked Women   Famous historical figures are frequently sensationalized to provide fodder for films, plays, operas and books. Facts are wilfully ignored because wickedness, orgies, incest, violence, psychological abuse and criminal activity will always find an audience. Cleopatra was frequently represented as an objectified woman. Everyone from Cicero to Shakespeare used her to their own … [Read more…]

Posted in: Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, Cesare Borgia, Cleopatra, femme fatale, Italian History, Italy, Lucrece Borgia, Lucrezia Borgia, Pope Alexander V1, The Borgias, Victor Hugo

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

May 16, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

    Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ‘Kissing your hand may make you feel very good but a diamond bracelet lasts forever.’ Lorelei Lee from Anita Loos novella, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.   One of my favourite books is a hardcover 1926 tenth edition of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. So popular was Anita Loos’ novella that it ran to … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Mavericks & Renegades, Observations, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Anita Loos, film, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Howard Hawks, Jane Russell, Marilyn, Marilyn Monroe, Monroe, movie

Is Paris burning

April 18, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

Is Paris Burning?   Shortly before Paris was liberated by the Allies in August 1944, Adolf Hitler ordered the total destruction of the City of Light. It’s been claimed that the German army placed explosives in readiness around transportation areas, under bridges and around famous monuments and landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower. Hitler is … [Read more…]

Posted in: current news, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: Adolf Hitler, chimera, City of Light, fire, gargoyles, General Dietrich von Cholitz, grotesques, Lesley Truffle, Liberation of Paris, Notre Dame Cathedral, Notre-Dame, Paris

Easy Rider

April 11, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

  Easy Rider ‘You watch the white line and try to lean with it  . . . howling through a turn to the right, then to the left and down the long hill to Pacifica . . . letting off now watching for cops, but only until the next dark stretch and another few seconds … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Mavericks & Renegades, Melbourne, Observations, Social Comment, Uptown Downtown, writers & creatives Tagged: Bear Grylls, Bikies, BMW motorbikes, David Beckham, Ewen McGregor, Harley Davidson, Harleys, Hell's Angel's, Hunter S. Thompson, Kawasaki, Lesley Truffle, Motorbikes, Motorcycle gangs, Motorcyles, Steve McQueen

Melbourne Tram Devotees

March 14, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

      Melbourne Tram Devotees Melbourne’s denizens love to moan about public transport. It was recently noted in the press that currently we have the largest network of trams in the world – yet we still have no train line out to Melbourne airport. Whenever train and tram seating gets a makeover, there’s inevitably … [Read more…]

Posted in: Melbourne, Observations, Social Comment, Uptown Downtown Tagged: Duchess of Sussex, Duke of Sussex, Ladies who lunch, Meghan Markel, Melbourne, NUMTOT, NUMTOTs, Prince Harry, Public Transport, The Royals, trams

Vive la France

November 24, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  Vive la France! I’m thinking of taking a trip to Europe next year and Paris is already on the itinerary. I’ve been there a few times but too much Paris is never enough. Cole Porter wrote the lyrics to I Love Paris and just about everyone recorded it. Frank Sinatra sang it for decades, … [Read more…]

Posted in: Film, Mavericks & Renegades, Observations Tagged: Audrey Hepburn, Billy Wilder, Cinema du look, Diva, France, Frank Sinatra, French film, French films, Humphrey Bogart, I love Paris, Jean-Jacques Beineix, Lesley Truffle, Paris, Sabrina

Screaming Quietly

November 23, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

Screaming Quietly   The place is very well and quiet and the children only scream in a low voice.                                                                                                 Lord Byron 1813   The poet Lord George Byron was a rake and a hellraiser who also happened to enjoy his own company and the solace of silence. Apparently he wrote much … [Read more…]

Posted in: Mavericks & Renegades, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: Byron, high density living, Lord Byron, Lord George Byron, neighbours, noise

We are amused

October 13, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  We Are Amused   What is it that strikes a spark of humor from a man? It is the effort to throw off, to fight back the burden of grief that is laid on each one of us.                                                                                                                                                      … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Observations, Psychology, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Gustave H, Humor, Humour, Jim Carrey, Kidding, Lesley Truffle, Mark Twain, Monsieur Gustave H, Psychology, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson

Home Sweet Home

September 10, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  Home Sweet Home   One of the questions I’ve often been asked is – how autobiographical is The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte? Given that Sasha Torte is sabotaged by abusive and neglectful parenting, escalating depression and a later addiction to opium, laudanum, champagne, piratical men and hard liquor, the question becomes loaded and … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Observations, Psychology, Social Comment, Television series, writers & creatives Tagged: At Last, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dr Drew Pinsky, Drew Pinskey, Edward St Aubyn, Lesley Truffle, Patrick Melrose, The Melrose Family, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte

A Room of One’s Own and other Catastrophes

August 26, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  In a recent interview journalist and former editor, Michael Gawenda, said of his son Husky Gawenda, ‘He can spend a lot of time by himself in his room. If you’re going to be a writer you have to be lonely in some way.’ (from ‘The Two of Us’. The AGE Good Weekend, 11August  2018). … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Mavericks & Renegades, Observations, Psychology, writers & creatives Tagged: Emily Brontë, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jeffrey Meyers, Lesley Truffle, Michael Gawenda, Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Virginia Woolf, Wuthering Heights

The Bees Knees

July 15, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  If you’ve ever been stung by a bee you probably got the impression that bees are quite hardy creatures.  I accidentally trod on an unsuspecting bee, in bare feet, when I was a kid and his sting was excruciatingly painful. The adults in charge couldn’t seem to decide how best to handle the situation. … [Read more…]

Posted in: Observations, Social Comment, Uptown Downtown Tagged: bees, Bonaparte, cocktails, golden bees, honey, Lesley Truffle, Mayfair Hotel, Napoleon Bonaparte, The Urban Beehive, VIcky Brown
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