Showing results by author "Sally Cook" in All Categories

Pigs on Trial looks at the natural behaviour of pigs and dispels the notion of laziness but it probes even deeper to the Middle Ages when some pigs were put on trial in a court of law for harming or killing children. They had their own defense lawyers who argued on their behalf and tried to deny...

Sandman tells the story of the origin of the Sandman, cultural sleeping habits around the world, sleeping in the Middle Ages, sleep remedies and potions, how humans fall asleep and where. and cultural customs and views regarding sleep as well as the plethora of things which keep us awake...

Raising The Roof looks at the history of dolls houses, how many centuries ago the first ones were built, the fact that the earliest ones were built for adults and sometimes cost as much as an average house in the mid 1600s. It looks at the many years it took to build some of them and the the...

Up, Up and Away tells of the author's experience in making her own hot air balloons including accidentally setting a paddock and her husband to be alight, her escapades chasing such home made balloons across the suburban night skies and her experience of going up in a piloted hot air balloon...

Just A Broom looks at the humble sweeping device which has cleaned homes, hearths, temples, streets and bare earth for centuries. It has been used to celebrate unofficial and official weddings, to bless new homes or bring good luck but it has also been used in allegations of witchcraft with...

The Sea At Our Door is an autobiographical look at growing up almost as a child of the beach and sea between the ages of 10 and 14. The author swam, used a paddleboard with her brother, steered a raft with young siblings, rowed offshore and lay down fishing nets for families on the beach to haul...

House of String takes an autobiographical look at childhood before television, Internet and Smart phones. It describes inventive games such as billycart escapades, creating a backyard circus and covering bedrooms in a network of elasticised string. It embraces the sense of freedom where nobody...

A Sunburnt Tongue looks at the rare instances of people waking up post surgery and speaking entirely different languages to their native tongue. It looks at talking in unfamiliar accents following brain trauma and looks at exanples of talking in childhood in foreign, unexpected accents, It also...

Bad Luck Spiral looks at some phenomenally unlucky people in history, the origins of bad luck from antiquity, the association of certain animals with the devil, the meaning of bad luck in certain cultures, unlucky numbers and associations and the role of witchcraft for three hundred years in...

Ask The Agent is an amusing look at some aspects of selling a house including when the wrong house is put up for sale, when the back of a bus is one way to see a dream home, when a kitchen leaks badly before an Open For Inspection and when a young couple render their house with mud, poo and glue.

Walking Towards Gold tells the story of the author's pioneer colonist forebears who arrived in newly formed Adelaide, South Australia from Portsmouth, in June 1838 and how thirteen years later three of them walked 580 miles from Adelaide to the Victorian goldfields pushing a wheelbarrow.. There are intrepid accounts and interesting descriptions of early Adelaide and life on the Victorian goldfields. This is part of the Downer family's story.

Mirrors is a look at the panopoly of mirrors we confront in our modern daily life - for better or worse. Ongoing self reflections are unavoidable and come in all forms from the expected to the unexpected.

Who's at the door tells the story of two dogs crashing through a beach wedding, of their rambunctious play on the sand, of another family dog knocking over a Christmas tree and eating all the chocolate decorations, of a guinea pig wearing sunglasses, of a rabbit wearing dolls clothing sitting in a pram and a Mexican walking fish blowing bubbles in a book case.. Not to mention a child and goldfish in the same outdoor bath.

Spiders sometimes create terror, admiration and fascination and in this account spiders are heroes and victims. They induce one arachnophobe to pull over in blind panic as one of their members crawls out from behind his car pedals while he is driving at speed along a country road. Another toys with a spider, bouncing it up and down on its web as if it were a yoyo. Spiders create strong reactions in many of us. This story takes us into their web of life.

The author has a bad bout of insomnia and tries all sorts of ways to overcome it through a varying list of remedies. She knows that kangaroos are grazing on dewy grass just over the road and that she has a blanket of brilliant stars above her house but these comforting images do nothing to take her into sleepy oblivion. In this humorous account she recalls her miserable journey.

Roadworks and train station overhauls are confusing this author who has driven into oncoming traffic, avoided a kangaroo crossing a new roadwork barrier, got lost and couldn't find her train station carpark and who believes her amygdala must be growing as she negotiates new roundabouts, traffic lights, new road hazards and witches' hats. Follow her journey.....

Two near death experiences in one lifetime both involving loud, unexpected bangs. The author survived both a car collision and a plane catching fire and recounts the events with dramatic sound effects and clear recall.

This story tells the frustrating but sometimes humorous journey of the author's interactions with the virtual world where she combats chat bots, racks her withering brain for passwords, almost has a hissyfit at the supermarket checkout, accidentally buys online goods she doesn't want and gets all scrambled regarding pins, passwords and cyber theft.

Two young lovers have a number of adventures together, much to the approval of those around them. They watch movies together, dance together, share beach and park catch ups, frolicking like no others. But one evening one of them becomes stuck under an old building where not even the fire brigade nor the emergency services can get them out. But as the last light fades there is a solution.

This story tells of a powerful older woman who has maintained her life through the war years and beyond via her love of reading and poetry. But 88-year-old Harriet is something of an enigma even to her daughters and granddaughter. Unusual events happen during this tale of love and loss even beyond Harriet's eventual death.