Back in August, I wrote a post setting out my plan for how to use this blog over the next year or two. In the absence of other things to write about, I’ll aim for a seasonal post celebrating ten good things that have happened in our lives.

Spring has been very busy for all of us, with some lows as well as some highs – but the point of this series is to focus on the highs, so let’s do that.

1. Visitors from Scotland: in September my dad and stepmum made the long, long journey over from Scotland to visit us. They’d visited once before just after we moved, and honestly, I wasn’t expecting a repeat trip knowing how big the undertaking is. So it was a lovely surprise when they said they were coming again!

Determined to make the most of it, we packed more into 18 days than we’d usually do in a year – meals out, walks, museums, vineyards, beaches, wildlife, and of course every kind of weather – often in the space of a few hours.

2. DorkySon’s driving progress: You can start learning to drive in Tasmania at 16 – not 17 like in the UK – but it’s also quite a long process. First you do an online course to get your L plates. Then at least a year on your Ls building up 80 logbook hours, including 15 hours of night driving. After that you can sit a P1 test which allows you to drive on Provisional Plates – a year on red and then a year on green – both subject to stricter road rules than drivers on a full licence.

(Despite this arduous process, it doesn’t seem to produce better drivers than the UK system does… but anyway.)

DorkySon is about halfway through his logbook hours and doing really well. We pushed through most of the night hours over winter and spring, when sunset was around 7 or 8pm, rather than waiting for the summer when we would have to go out late at night.

Now we’ll focus on building up daytime hours in a variety of conditions, and we’ll book him in for some RACT lessons over the summer holidays to practice parking and other manoeuvres.

Having got a new car a couple of weeks ago, I feel as much of a learner as he does at the moment. Apologies to the person I unintentionally honked at in a traffic queue the other day.

3. Naps with the dog: I saw a meme a few weeks ago that said if you’d ever taken an afternoon nap with a dog, how could you believe in capitalism even a little bit. I am fully onboard with this mindset. If there weren’t bills to pay I would take both morning AND afternoon naps with the dog… but as it is I like to work hard and get my writing done in the mornings, and then have the freedom to snuggle up with Luna on the sofa for an hour in the afternoon.

It’s a genuine life highlight.

4. Family photos: a few months ago I had some new work headshots done by our friend, local photographer Karen Brown – and I was delighted with them! When DorkyDad’s birthday rolled around in August, DorkySon went back to Karen and asked her to do a family shoot for us (something we hadn’t done since just before moving to Tassie in 2013!).

So, on a very rainy Sunday morning, we met at a nearby park and spent 40 minutes putting on our best smiles. For three people who don’t especially enjoy being on that side of a camera, it was surprisingly fun – Karen has a knack for making people feel relaxed and at ease, and I think that comes across.

Hopefully she’ll still be working 12 years from now when we attempt to get the next set done.

5. Gold Coast Suns make it into the AFL finals (finally): anyone who knew me at high school knew that I was OBSESSED with Manchester United. That passion has faded now, although rewatching the footage of the ‘99 Champions League Final still turns me into a sobbing mess. Sport allows us access to – and expression of – a whole range of emotions that we might not otherwise tap into so easily.

DorkySon’s AFL team is the Gold Coast Suns, and up until this season the only emotion they have allowed him access to is deep disappointment. For 15 years they’ve been the weakest team in the league. But this year they made finals! While they fell to the Brisbane Lions in the semis, it was a glorious little glimpse of what good sport can help you feel.

6. Migraine improvement: I’ve been plagued by migraines for the last few years and they are the absolute worst, requiring a constant effort to identify and eliminate triggers. Is it hormones? Is it gluten? Is it soy? Is it alcohol? Is it changeable weather? Is it night driving? Is it too much sleep? Is it not enough sleep? Is it post-viral? Is it just being alive? Yes… to all of the above.

I’m getting better at predicting when there is one on the way. Food cravings, stiff neck and shoulders, inexplicable crankiness… probably better take a precautionary triptan.

By getting to know the patterns better, I’ve been able more often to keep them to a couple of hours of feeling crap, rather than a couple of days wiped out. But I’ve also been working on other things that make migraine a little easier to live with. DAO supplements have helped me slowly reintroduce some histamine-heavy foods, and I’m seeing a massage therapist to deal with the knotty disaster that is my neck.

But I think most importantly – after reading a memoir called A Brain Wider than the Sky, by fellow migraineur Andrew Levy – I’ve changed my approach a little bit. Rather than fighting to eliminate every single thing that might trigger a migraine episode, I’ve just accepted that they are something that is with me for now. Even if I do every single thing ‘right’ I might still get one. Better to just live wholeheartedly and trust that just as each individual episode passes, so too will the whole thing eventually.

7. Some good books: I think I’m going to end up reading slightly less this year than I did last year. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe there have been some chunkier ones in there, or maybe I’ve had less spare time. (Or maybe I’ve been distracted by, you know… *waves hand at everything*)

Still, there have been some excellent reads. Am I going to tell you which ones? Nah… you’ll have to wait until I do my 2025 book post over on my other blog!

8. DorkySon’s work experience: In November, DorkySon did a two-day work experience placement at Hobart Airport and had an absolute blast.

It’s a great program that runs four times a year, taking just two students at a time. He ended up paired with someone he knows from planespotting, and they had a jam-packed schedule across every department: operations, assets, baggage, media, ATC, safety, HR, commercial… a really good glimpse into the whole range of aviation adjacent careers.

It sounds like there were too many highlights to list, but the anecdote that will stick with me is learning that their head of safety has to fill in at least one incident report a week for a passenger who leans on their four-wheeled suitcase and falls over…

9. Fruit: After a long winter of apples and bananas, spring is when it becomes easier to eat the rainbow… we are back to berries and watermelon, golden kiwis and mangoes, and now with summer is on the doorstep I’m even starting to see some of the first stone fruit appear in the shops. Bring on the Christmas cherries!

10. Our newly decorated gatepost: My talented friend Bec from Becksi Design is in high demand to paint murals all over Tasmania, so I’m thrilled that she found time in among all her other commissions to liven up our gateposts.

DorkyDad has been saying for years we should do this, and after doing a bit of garden clear-out we finally got round to it. We chose yellow-tailed black cockatoos (one of my favourite Tasmanian birds) and violets (which grown in abundance in our garden). It’s such a cheerful sight to come home to – and has even earned approval from the school kids who line up at the bus stop outside.

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Share a little joy and let me know in the comments what good things have been happening in your lives recently!