The Sun Sets on the Holidays

The Sun Sets on the Holidays

Tonight, the school holidays draw to a close. No more long days in our bathers. No more serene afternoons with a book. No more evening walks and swims under a reddening sky. It’s back to the daily grind of uniforms and books, and lunches and bags, and music...
Bottling the Kids

Bottling the Kids

There’s been a lot going on this year—mostly good, but not all of it. Normally, I cope. Normally, I feel good about the good things, but I’ve had trouble feeling good at all this year, about anything. I think I’ve worked out why: I don’t like...
Cradle Mountain

Cradle Mountain

I’ve been off-line lately whilst we’ve been on holiday. Not that I would call what we’ve done ‘relaxing’. Far from it. But we completed something that we’ve always wanted to do: the Cradle Mountain – Lake St Clair Overland...
Bittersweet

Bittersweet

It’s that time of the year, busy with Christmas preparations, end-of-school services, speech days, and a graduation: The spec family Our eldest has finished school. Hard to believe, really, as I still think of our family as looking like this: 2003 But no, this...
When a Pet Dies …

When a Pet Dies …

We knew the time had come, yet it was still hard to make the decision to let her go. Ending the life of anything goes against the grain — death is final. That’s it. The end. No going back. So we kept putting it off, until we couldn’t avoid the...
Trusting My (Maternal) Instinct

Trusting My (Maternal) Instinct

I had a fairly run-of-the-mill first delivery — sixteen hour labour, overnight of course, episiotomy, forceps. Then I was rewarded with my baby, a purple bundle in my arms. Obviously we’d never met before, yet she was so familiar. And when I spoke, she...