Lesley Truffle - Writer

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Lesley Truffle

My Favourite Horror Child

February 25, 2021 by Lesley Truffle

  My Favourite Horror Child   Eloise and I go way back. At about seven I discovered six-year-old Eloise. She was parent-free, running amuck in the Plaza New York with her nanny, a pug and a turtle. I didn’t find it strange that Eloise exercised with champagne bottles, as my sister and I had hidden … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Eloise, Eloise in Paris, France, French, Hilary Knight, Kay Thompson, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, The Plaza Hotel

Venus in Steel

January 13, 2021 by Lesley Truffle

  Venus in Steel   He has the slimy assurance, the gross patter about transcendence through art, of a blow-dried Baptist selling swamp acres in Florida. And the result is that you can’t imagine America’s singularly depraved culture without him.                                                                                                                                                     Robert Hughes on Jeff Koons.   Jeff Koons has always been a divisive … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, artists, Australia, Melbourne, writers & creatives Tagged: Andy Warhol, Australia, Ilona Staller, Jeff Koons, Koons, La Cicciolina, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, Melbourne, NGV, NGV Melbourne, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, Venus, Venus de Milo, Warhol, Wilhelm Christian Myer

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

Trees of Paradise

December 23, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  ‘He who loves not women, wine and song remains a fool his whole life long’. Martin Luther – Professor of theology, author, composer, Augustinian monk.   Trees of Paradise Historians believe our Christmas trees might be a close relative of the Medieval Trees of Paradise that appeared in Western Europe around late December in … [Read more…]

Posted in: Historical, Mythology, Nature Tagged: Adam and Eve, Celtic Mythology, Christmas, Christmas mythology, Christmas trees, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, Luther, Martin Luther, Trees of Paradise

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

My Life as a Nightclub Cocktail Girl

August 27, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  My Life as a Nightclub Cocktail Girl   When I was a child, my mother used to play vintage movie songs and the lyrics to Gigi were: The night they invented champagne It’s plain as it can be They thought of you and me The night they invented champagne They absolutely knew That all … [Read more…]

Posted in: Australia, current news, Melbourne, Social Comment Tagged: champagne, cocktails, Cointreau, COVID-19, global crisis, Golden Dream Cocktails, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, Melbourne, nightclub cocktail girl, Nightclubbing, pandemic, Perrier-Jouët, Veuve Cliquot

The Problem With Henry

August 17, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

The Problem With Henry                                        ‘I swear again, I would not be a queen  For all the world.’                    Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife.                                           Shakespeare, The Life of King Henry the Eighth.   King Henry VIII has been receiving bad press for centuries. Shakespeare, along with later writers and playwrights, got in … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment Tagged: Anne Boleyn, film, films, Henry V111, King Henry, Lesley Truffle, movies, Shakespeare, The Private Life of Henry, the Tudors, Will Shakespeare, William Shakespeare

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

Shakespeare’s Lascivious Lutes

July 11, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  Shakespeare’s Lascivious Lutes    ‘Grim-visaged war hath smooth’d his wrinkled front; And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, He capers nimbly in a lady’s chamber To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.’          Richard III by William Shakespeare.   I went to a girl’s high school in … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Historical, Playwright, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Elizabethan, King Lear, Lesley Truffle, Richard 111, Shakespeare, the Bard, Will Shakespeare, William Shakespeare

Devilish Desires

June 11, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

Dorian Gray’s Devilish Desires   ‘The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.’ The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde   In Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray the characters throw themselves around dramatically and rarely ever sit quietly. They fling themselves at the furniture with … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Fashion, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: British playwrights, British writer, Dorian Gray, gothic fiction, gothic fiction books, Lesley Truffle, Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde, Oscar Wilde, playwright, poet, poets, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde

Hello Sailor

May 17, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

Hello Sailor   As the Water Rat in Wind in the Willows, advises the mole, ‘Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing –  half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.’ I messed around in boats when I learned to sail on a lake. It was comedic right … [Read more…]

Posted in: Australia, Melbourne, Nature, Sailing Tagged: Australia, boats, Lesley Truffle, Melbourne, sail boats, sailing, Wind in the Willows, Yacht Clubs

Beach Dogs

May 9, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  Beach Dogs Bayside Melbourne is dog heaven. During shutdown I’ve been walking the beach promenade every day. It provides a complete brain clean. Many mongrels and pedigree hounds are out there on the beach before first light. I chat to the owners outside the Guilty Moose café, as I pick up my morning takeout … [Read more…]

Posted in: animals, Australia, Melbourne Tagged: Australian beach, Bayside Melbourne, beach, dogs, Lesley Truffle, Melbourne, mongrels, The Guilty Moose

I Want That Cake

April 20, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

I Want That Cake ‘Let there be no shame on me tonight!’ Prince Wenzel von Metternich 1832   The narrator of my novel, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte, was named in honour of a famous cake. Sasha Torte is a world-class Tasmanian pastry chef and she establishes her magnificent cake emporium in Wolfftown, a fictional … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, cakes and cooking, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment Tagged: Anna Maria Sacher, cake, cakes, Eduard Sacher, Franz Sacher, Hotel Sacher, Lesley Truffle, Sachertorte, Sasher Torte, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte

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

To Proust or not to Proust

March 12, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

To Proust or not to Proust   ‘One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory’. Rita Mae Brown   Memories get a bad wrap from quite a lot of folk, including Rita Mae Brown. Yet so many song lyrics dwell on memories. Love songs frequently combine memories with intense regret, and in turn … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, cakes and cooking, Film, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades Tagged: Alain Delon, cakes, childhood memories, Delon, France, French cooking, Lesley Truffle, madelaines, Marcel Proust, memories, memory, Proust, Remenbrance of Things Past, Swann in Love, Swann's Way, Un Amour de Swann

To Nap or Not to Nap

January 9, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  To Nap or Not to Nap   Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care, the death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath, balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, chief nourisher in life’s feast.’                                                                                                             William Shakespeare   Shakespeare knew a lot about sleep, especially insomnia. I suspect he was … [Read more…]

Posted in: current news, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment Tagged: Charles Dickens, Elon Musk, insomnia, insomnia cures, Kips, Lesley Truffle, Napping, Shakespeare, Sleep, sleep problems, the Bard, William Shakespeare

The Amorous Goldfish

December 19, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

  The Amorous Goldfish The first theatre play that I wrote, involved a character named Alphonse. I’d been fortunate in that I’d been offered a mentorship with a professional director. The Australia Council for the Arts also offered me a rehearsed reading in a city theatre with the director, professional actors and an audience. It was … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Melbourne, Psychology, writers & creatives Tagged: Alphonse, Australia Council of the Arts, goldfish, Lesley Truffle, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte, Theater event

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

Ma Kelly’s Boy

June 15, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

Ma Kelly’s Boy   ‘Don’t be frightened. Nothing will happen to you. I have a mother of my own.’                      Ned Kelly to Anne Calvert while robbing the National Bank at Euroa.   On November 11 1880, Edward ‘Ned’ Kelly was hanged for murder at Melbourne Goal. A reporter at the time claimed that Mrs … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Mavericks & Renegades, Melbourne, writers & creatives Tagged: Charles Nettleton, Edward 'Ned' Kelly, Ellen Quinn, Grantlee Kieza, Ireland, Irish Catholics, Kelly, Lesley Truffle, Melbourne, Melbourne Goal, Mrs Ellen Kelly, Mrs Kelly, Ned Kelly, outlaw

The Man in the Moon

June 12, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

  The Man in the Moon Half a century ago Neil Armstrong and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin walked on the moon. On July 20 2019 their moon landing of July 1969 will be celebrated worldwide. Given that there’s no atmosphere on the moon, it’s possible that Armstrong and Aldrin’s footsteps may still visible on the moon’s … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, books, Film, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: A Trip to the Moon, American astronaut, astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, Coleridge, Edwin Aldrin, film, French film, French filmaker, Georges Méliès, Le Voyage Dans La Lune, Lesley Truffle, Méliès, moon landing, movies, NASA, Neil Armstrong, The First Men on the Moon., The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

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
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