My daughter is looking at obtaining a work visa to work in Australia. Do you have some idea of where she should start in the labyrinthian process of obtaining such an item?

Honestly I'm not sure how helpful this website is, but the Department of Immigration's homepage may be found here: [link] They do claim to have work visa info.

Good authors do this, right?

Yes, Susan, they do.

The town I live in was founded by Moravians, and the original settlements still stand. Some of the houses have been lived in continuously since they were built, pre-Revolution. In the late 1960s the tourism board began to wise up, and stopped razing the historic buildings, re-routed the main street into town proper so that it no longer went through the old settlement--which is still a functioning college and church, but now includes tourism-oriented businesses. The baker bakes bread by a 16th Century recipe, with 16th Century utensils and fireboxes, all within view of visiting tourists, and sells breads and cookies in the shop. Women pour candles in replica molds, work in the herb garden to harvest and dry herbs, and make wreaths, potpourris for various uses (moth chaser, headache remedy, etc.) and tisanes. Tour guides dress in authentic costumes as they man museum and shop counters, and guide tourists around. There is also a functioning forge, with an authentically dressed blacksmith, who makes iron hinges, pulls, bells, and other items for use in the village, as well as for sale and for technique demonstration.

When I had writer friends visiting from England, they stayed in the B&B in the village. He was overjoyed to have discovered the smithy while she and I were off shopping. We all went down, and I watched while the two of them absolutely made this man's day--probably his whole month--by spending more than an hour asking him intelligent questions about his tools, his technique, his materials, and his products, as well as his own background. And she took notes! The smith was in heaven. And come to find out? While a smith was a prominent character in her book, all the stuff she'd learned and taken notes on was never mentioned. It merely informed the character and lent an easy familiarity with the subject and the tools and methods of the trade.

That was the long answer, sorry. The short answer is, it's all fodder, and you never know when a bit of knowledge is going to come in handy. Enjoy your outing.

Cass has a new tag and I am gronky.

I just found out that a friend died yesterday afternoon. We knew it was coming, but in some ways that doesn't make it any easier.

Oh, vw bug, I am so sorry.

...

It feels totally inappropriate to post the rest of my post, but I'm in a hurry, because we have ice damns (yes, I spelled it that way on purpose, because reeeeeally...) and a leaky roof, and I think handy!b-i-l (whose number I just saw on the caller id) is probably on his way over, and I have to get out of my PJs. So yeah, anyhow...

All I can say now is:

Well STACK MY CATS and call me Cindy!!!

This made me laugh and laugh and larf, and I *really* needed that. Thanks, Frank. (Got to level 18 yesterday, by the by).

I'm sorry, vw. That's no way to begin a Saturday. {{bug hug}}

This made me laugh and laugh and larf

It made me laugh too. I'm glad you posted that. Sorry about the leaky roof! That sucks!

Thank you for the hugs and thoughts. I didn't know her well, but it's still hard for some reason.

I got your survey, vw. I'll fill it out as soon as I appease my stupid editor by explaining EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT SCIENCE.

No rush, PC.

ION, I just made a pot of chili. How horrible would it be to have chili for breakfast? It just smells so. damn. good.