Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) in Geelong. Photograph: National Trust

No, this isn’t a sarcastic, political post — it’s true. Here in Victoria (my state), we’re regularly asked to vote for a tree, as well as a bird and other things. 

The National Trust of Victoria began asking people to vote for a tree back in 2016, in an effort to to raise awareness about trees around Victoria and advocate for their protection by celebrating significant trees. It’s a nice idea, I think. Too many grand old trees get knocked down in the name of “progress” and this is one way of protecting them. You can see the list here.

To be eligible, the trees must be listed on the National Trust significant tree register, which it recognises up to 10,000 important trees in Victoria for their cultural, scientific, and historic value. Each year people nominate their favorite tree and a short list is drawn up. Then we’re asked to vote. It’s purely voluntary, and I think it’s also a bit of fun, scrolling through the list and deciding which tree to vote for.

Normally I’d vote for a native tree, but this year I’m going for this magnificent ginkgo tree. This particular tree was planted in the Geelong Botanic Gardens in 1859, and is more than 167 years old.  Another name for the ginkgo tree is the “maidenhair” tree, and that’s because the leaves look exactly like maidenhair ferns, only bigger, and in autumn they’re pure, brilliant gold.

Do you know the ginkgo tree? I first saw some many years in a beautiful old garden (The Alfred Nicholas Memorial Garden) in the Dandenong Ranges, about an hour from Melbourne. 

Actually, it was a grove of ginkgoes planted around a small lake, and I was there in autumn and the leaves were gloriously golden. The fallen leaves were scattered on the little lake like floating golden coins. It was a breathtaking sight and I’ve never forgotten it. 

Autumn ginkgo trees at the Alfred Nicholas Gardens. (From Shutterstock)

The Alfred Nicholas Memorial Garden is a beautiful garden to visit at any time of the year, but my favorite times are autumn and spring, when blossoms and flowers are everywhere.

Do you have a favorite tree? Or a favorite garden to visit?

Recently a reader reported this “distracting issue” in A BRIDE FOR MARCUS”. (see on the right.)

It was a missing full stop (or period if you’re American.)

Okay it was a pretty small error, but a couple of readers had contacted me saying they’d spotted a few mistakes in that book (though they didn’t say what), so I went through the manuscript again, and found a couple more small mistakes. I fixed them and then reloaded the e-book. (I can’t change anything on the print version.) But it was easier to spot the mistakes this time as it had been a long time since I’d reread A Bride for Marcus.

Copyediting is harder than many people think, especially for authors. There are two main types of editing — developmental editing, which is editing for plot, characters, story etc. The second type is copyediting,  which is editing for grammar and spelling, typos, missed words, characters whose eyes change color, and prose that’s awkward or confusing. (I blogged about editing before, if you’re interested.)

For me it’s the second type of editing that’s the hardest. My grammar is generally good, and so is my spelling (though I have to remember not to use Australian/English spelling for my books, since my main readership is in the USA. As well, my previous publisher was American, so I’m keeping the books consistent.)

But I’m a poor typist and I often make typos. Usually I spot them and correct them, but occasionally I’ll miss one or two. My trouble is, when I’ve finished writing a book, chances are I’ve also rewritten it or parts of it numerous times, and when it gets to that point, my brain sometimes reads what it thinks I’ve written, rather than what I’ve actually typed. Of course I’ll do a spell check. And Word flags words it thinks are wrong — BUT their suggestions are often wrong , sometimes badly wrong. 

When I was traditionally published, my books passed through the eyes of an editor, a copyeditor (and then came back to me) and then a proofreader. Even so, mistakes still slipped through. The most memorable was with  The Scoundrel’s Daughter. In it, I accidentally gave the Scottish nanny three different Mc names. I missed them, my editor missed them, the copyeditor missed them, and the proofreader, in the absolute final read-through, only picked up one of the three different names. 
Luckily I’d sent the manuscript to my friend Mary Jo Putney who spotted the different names and told me, just in time for me to notify my editor — the book was to go to print the very next day!

For my self-published books, I’ve employed two different so-called copyeditors, but neither one did a good job. One even did a bad job, inserting words that were plain wrong without telling me! So I’ve had to do most of the copyediting myself, with the assistance of some friends who offered to read the books and pointed out the odd mistake — thank goodness. 

I used to run every manuscript through a voice program, which read it back to me. That’s a great editing tool, and picks up all kinds of mistakes as well as word repetition and awkward phrasing. Unfortunately in the last update, the program now only reads back a paragraph at a time, which made it impossible. So now I’m on a search for a better voice program.

So while I do my very best to make my books error free, I hope you’ll forgive any small ones, or at least let me know so I can fix the e-books.

Or if you’re American, jello slice. This is a favorite sweet slice in Australia, and recipes can be found in almost every school cookbook— by which I mean the cookbooks that are collections of favorite recipes put together by parents at a school and sold as a fund-raiser.

One of my sisters was famous for her jelly slice — she took it everywhere to all kinds of gatherings and it always disappeared fast. It’s pretty simple — no baking, but it takes a while, as each layer has to set.

The gelatine setting can also prove tricky for some. And when I checked her recipe against some on the web, quite a few people didn’t like so much lemon juice as in most recipes. So if you’re a sweet tooth, go easy on the lemon juice. (Personally I like the lemony flavor which cuts some of the sweetness of the condensed milk.)

It’s basically a crushed biscuit (cookie) and melted butter base, the middle is condensed milk and lemon juice thickened with gelatine, and the red topping is jelly, though made with less water than the usual packet instructions. And each layer in turn has to set before the next layer is added. I think getting the timing right is the main difficulty with the recipe, so maybe do a practice run first before making some to take to a friend’s place.
And I’m sorry, but her measurements are a mix of the old imperial ones and the metric ones.

My sister’s recipe:
1 packet of plain sweet biscuits  (about 14 oz)
6 oz butter
1 tin of sweetened condensed milk (about 14 ozs)
juice of two lemons
3 heaped teaspoons gelatine powder
1 packet of red jelly (raspberry or strawberry), made with less water than usual for a firmer jelly.

1) Line a slice tin with baking paper

2) Crush biscuits, melt butter, mix together and press into a tin and put in the fridge to set.

3) Make jelly with 300 mls water  (one and a bit cups) and leave until almost set (about the texture of raw egg white.)

4) Meanwhile, beat condensed milk and lemon juice, add gelatine powder and beat until it thickens.  Pour over the crumb crust base, and leave to set in fridge.

5) When packet jelly is almost set, spoon the jelly carefully over the set condensed milk layer.
Then leave the whole thing in the fridge a few hours before serving. It should have all set well and be easy to cut into squares.

6) Store in the fridge (or cool place) until you’re ready to serve. (Heat melts jelly)
It will last  a week or so in the fridge, but usually gets eaten well before that.

Of course you can use different flavored jelly, but the red is traditional. And there are dozens of variations, including this adult version I spotted on the web, made with shiraz gin!
Here’s a video of a richer recipe that uses cream cheese as well as condensed milk.

If you make it, let me know how you went.