Off the beaten track

We are off camping for the weekend! The trailer is packed, the mattress is tucked into the back of the ute. I have a bag of clothes and books (a new Maisie Dobbs! A new trashy vampire series! A new Ruth Rendell!), and both cameras. The firewood is packed, as [...]

Overflow

I drove my Dad to the train station this morning, after having him stay with us for two weeks.  He’s heading off to China for a year, although he’ll be popping back into the country briefly after 6 months, and I was glad he was able to spend some time with us before he left.  [...]

And the frogs begin to call

I am sleeping in a small apartment - bedroom and bathroom - attached to a storage shed; a corrugated iron roof, held up by exposed wooden beams and concrete floor covered with a bright rug. The bed faces two large windows looking out into the garden, an expanse of different shades of green. During the [...]

Exotic mosquitoes

I occasionally like the challenge of sitting down to a blank screen having no idea what I’m going to say. Mostly I sit here with a story in mind, or some news to relate - if I have none, I stay away from the keyboard. Tonight, I have nothing, but my fingers are [...]

Jeans in the workplace

It’s nice to read all these Thanksgiving-themed posts from US bloggers (although I’m sorry to say that that thing you do with sweet potatoes and marshmallows is just wrong). It must be rather strange to have two family-gathering type holidays so close to each other though - I imagine Christmas is quite enough for [...]

That old city

“And there’s been a cool change in Melbourne, with a top temperature of around 14C,” announced the pilot cheerfully as we descended. I groaned, picturing all the summery skirts that I’d packed in my suitcase, and thinking with relief of the shawl I borrowed from the Prince’s mother to wear with my sleeveless formal [...]

I’m going to steal the rose petal idea

My cousin the bride smiled ecstactically throughout the ceremony, shivering a little in her gorgeous strapless gown so that the pale flowers she was carrying trembled against her hands. The groom began to cry as he read his vows, causing all the women in the crowd to simultaneously burst into tears and dab carefully [...]

Books before clothes

Tomorrow morning I am off to Melbourne, where there will be a lovely wedding, relatives galore, and a brand new baby cousin to meet. I am planning on gifting him with the Amazing Mismatched and Very Large Baby Booties ie. the first pair of booties I ever knitted and my god it really shows. [...]

Tasmania and dairy products

It was a beautiful drive from the airport to my cousin’s house in Tasmania - as we drew closer, and began to drive along the coast towards St Helens, the enormous yellow full moon was rising above the water, its bright twin reflected in the bay. It was a beautiful beginning to our holiday.
I [...]

You’ve got a "personality"

I indulged my compulsive tendencies, and created a folder for our holiday. It has a lovely cover, with the imaginative title of “Tasmania Trip” and a little map of Tasmania, and is filled with draft itineraries, our flight and car-hire information, and suggested road trips I’ve printed from the internet.
It constantly astonishes me that [...]