Every time I’ve looked at this writing prompt the ONLY thing that pops into my head is the chorus from The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond as sung by Harry Secombe playing Neddie Seagoon in The Goons episode “The Treasure … Continue reading #KellsWritingChallenge Day 7 – The high road
Hosted by Mrs4444. Friday fragments, all the bits and bobs from the week gone by that are rattling around inside my head. Far too noisy! Better get them out via the keyboard and plonk them down here instead. When I … Continue reading Friday Fragments
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!*
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
My first pet was a grey tabby cat named Tiddles. He walked out of the bush across the road from our house when I was a baby and took up residence. Me at 6 months old with Tiddles Me (13 … Continue reading Pets
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
…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…
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
I can’t remember learning to swim, though I do remember swimming lessons, specifically taking the life-saving course at Pymble pool in the summer holidays while my younger siblings were learning to swim and going to the school swimming scheme in primary school. I know diving clicked for me when I was 9 and we were in Tahiti on our way to the US where my dad was going for a 4 month sabbatical. There is also the family story of sibling rivalry wherein I was going without floaties for the first time at 3 years old and my sister, 21 … Continue reading Swimming
Hosted by Unknown Mami After our busy furniture rearranging day yesterday we took it easy this morning and ended up having breakfast at about 11am. Dave and I went and did the grocery shopping while Adam, Tom and Caitlin baked choc chip cookies and brownies. Then after lunch (which we ate at 3:30pm) we put the Anglo Saxon style leg of lamb in the oven to slow cook and headed over to my Mum’s place for a walk. My Aunty Liz and Uncle Rob and my Dad had been at Mum’s for lunch so altogether there were 10 of us … Continue reading Sundays in my City
Mim's Muddle 