That was the year that was*

There’s been bits I could have done without and there’s been times that have not been fun for anyone living with me, but I’m finishing the year feeling not too bad at all and on reflection 2010 had a whole bunch of pretty fabulous bits too. Here’s a few of them. A beautiful day at the beach at Terrigal in January Armidale Dark Ages camp at Easter The kids at Cruickshanks farm stay after the Armidale camp. A fabulous Mothers Day feast A trip to Cockatoo Island with my Mum. Yulefest in Moss Vale with wonderful friends A walk with … Continue reading That was the year that was*

Put me doon! There’s gonna be poetry!*

There’s hasn’t been enough poetry in my life recently, mostly because I’m not reading to the kids as much any more. We start kids off with poetry and many of the books that I hold closest to my heart are full of the stuff. Yesterday a twitter hashtag wandered into my tweetstream and pretty much made my day, it produced such gems as these: @johnbonbailey: SO YOU JUST HOLD THIS DOWN WHILE YOU TYPE EH? CLEVER! E E CUMMINGS #poetryretractions @RichCastles: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, Dam this Navman … Continue reading Put me doon! There’s gonna be poetry!*

Travel with kids scares me

And this is why. I remember, you see. I remember being 14 years old and being completely hideous when my parents took us on a month long trip to Athens, Crete, Paris, London, Boston, Washington and New Orleans before we settled in Boulder Colorado for a 6 month stay. Here I am with my mum and brother and sister at the Parthenon in Athens. It’s on the top of a bloody great hill you know, and we’d just walked up there. I was not pleased. We did a lot of walking in Athens, I spent a lot of time being … Continue reading Travel with kids scares me

Thankful Thursday

I’m taking a leaf out of Ariane‘s book for this one (oh, and I believe there’s some sort of big holiday about giving thanks happening overseas somewhere…), here’s what I’m grateful for today: Friends who respond to a very last minute invite to a candle party (like a Tupperware party only with, well, candles), and turn up at my place to provide great conversation and remind me how lucky I am to have wonderful people in my life. Children who rise to the occasion when I really need their help and do a terrific job cleaning up and, as David … Continue reading Thankful Thursday

Kids, ruining photos for decades

Aunty Liz, my Dad, my Mum, Grandma, Grandpa, me, Uncle Bruce, Aunty Faye, Warwick, Emma, Rebecca and Martin. (Uncle Rob presumably took the photo.) At Epping c.1980 I’m always complaining to my kids that they’re ruining photos by making stupid faces in them, but I sort of like this photo. Nice one, ten year old me! Continue reading Kids, ruining photos for decades

Dried leaves in boiling water…

…an exercise in associative blogging. Tea. My Nanna (Dad’s mum), who I remember as teaching me to drink tea – no sugar, a bit of milk, strong and hot. Breathing in the steam from the mug, cupped in cold hands, sitting around a campfire at night. So many glorious camping holidays with my family and my mum’s twin sister’s family when I was a kid. Yum cha, the brew getting stronger as the meal progresses until the pot is refilled and it goes back to hot water lightly tinged with colour and flavour. The ritual of Grandma’s teapot, readied before … Continue reading Dried leaves in boiling water…

100 years – a life

This piece was written by my very wonderful Aunty Liz. Liz is my Mum’s twin sister and our family historian, she has self-published a series of books about various branches of the family and I’ve very much enjoyed reading them all. My cousins Cameron and Rebecca read this out at Grandma’s funeral on Tuesday and as I listened I thought I really wanted to share the story with my readers. Liz has very kindly given me permission to publish it here. I’ve added some photos (mouse-over for captions) from a slideshow that Liz also put together for the funeral. Gladys … Continue reading 100 years – a life