THIS summer, local writer PATRICK MULLINS is hoping for a peaceful Canberra so he can…

• Look forward to morning walks around Lake Burley Griffin, breakfasts on the Kingston Foreshore, and an evening wine at the Pop Inn at Bowen Park.
• There’s nothing better for reading than a rainy summer, so walks, wines, and meals aside I’m also hoping for wet days where I can put a dent in the much-swollen stack of books by my bed: Hilary McPhee’s “Other People’s Houses” will be first. 
• The National Gallery’s Matisse & Picasso exhibit, and the National Archives’ ASIO exhibit, are both on the to-do list, perhaps even on the same day: there should always be shadows to beauty. 
• I’ll take a break from writing by seeing the NLA’s exhibit on Australian children’s literature; will escape the heat by going to Manuka Pool.