About

Hi, I’m Larissa. Thanks for dropping in.

I write. I love to write and – this sounds weird if you’re not into writing – I actually have to write.

So, at the start of 2016 when our youngest daughter started school, I announced that, with all of this time on my hands, I was going to write a novel.

Turns out there are not as many hours in the day as I thought and writing a book is hard. Who’d have thought?…

Having said that, it’s a work in progress and I’m excited by it. Stay tuned on that.

We farm in northern Victoria, growing crops like wheat, barley, chickpeas and lentils. Sometimes we have sheep. At the moment we only have one.

Until this year, I was designing and creating nursery mobiles and kids clothing under my label, The Bear & The Whale. But I have given that away to write.

(If you know of my creations and there’s something you really want, drop me a line and I will see if I can still help you. If it’s my mum’s dolls clothes you’re after, please look on eBay where you’ll find her beautifully made creations.)

I started writing a blog for The Bear & The Whale so that my customers could know who I was and so that I had another excuse to write. I’ve loved having a little following there so I’m going to continue writing under The Bear & The Whale for now.

Why ‘The Bear & The Whale’? When our daughter, Elsie, was two, she made up a song. It had one line only, repeated over and over (worked for Kylie Minogue with Can’t Get You Outta My Head). When I was trying to think of a name for my sewing business, Elsie was strapped in her carseat in the back, singing the song. My husband motioned toward the backseat and said, ‘There’s the name of your business.’

Here’s a video of her singing it when she was two.

I hope you enjoy what’s happening in our world, and please feel free to comment on my posts – I’d love to know what’s happening in yours.