Category Archives: Family

2015: Time to Focus

December 27, 2014 By in Family, Photography, Tasmania Tags: , , , 17 Comments

Christmas Collage

Merry Christmas! I hope you had a wonderful day, and are feeling as full as you should be of cheese, roasted parsnips, tangerines, turkey or whatever the tradition is in your house.

You can see from the photo above that our current traditions are chunky socks, handwritten letters to Santa, ugly but loved tree decorations, stockings, apples and cherries… Oh and crackers, which are sold here as ‘bon bons;’ but will always be crackers to me.

We started with Eggs Benedict, and I surprised myself with some pretty good hollandaise sauce and perfectly poached eggs. (Actually no, we started at 6am with stockings in bed, but I hadn’t had my coffee at that stage, so…) We had roast pork and potatoes, fresh peas and plenty of champagne. This year it was just the three of us, and it was the calmest Christmas Day I can ever remember. Neither DorkySon nor I got out of our pyjamas all day. Continue reading →

Small School by the Sea

November 30, 2014 By in Family, Tasmania Tags: , , , 15 Comments

Screen Shot 2014-11-30 at 20.26.22

It is December tomorrow, and while I’m excited because that marks the first official day of summer here, DorkySon is excited because it means he gets to open the first door on his advent calendar. I don’t think Christmas in summer will ever stop being weird.

There are just three weeks of the school term left, and they are packed to bursting with activities. DorkySon has a kindergarten trip to a marine centre, an all-school trip to a big outdoor playground, a family picnic day, a visit to a local old folks home to share some festive cheer, and a final school assembly with a Christmas performance from all the pupils.

When the new term starts in February, my boy will be moving up a grade – from three days a week of kindergarten to five days of prep. He is so excited at the prospect, but we are already anticipating a tired and quite crotchety first few weeks as he adjusts. Continue reading →

Signed GPJ

November 28, 2014 By in Family, Nostalgia 17 Comments

GPJ

My Grandpa died almost twenty years ago. I remember the date because it was the day after my 12th birthday. Most of my primary school classmates were away on a residential trip, but I’d chosen not to go (an introvert even then) and so there were just a few of us left.

Later that week the headteacher – the perfectly named Mrs Spankie – came into the classroom, placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, and told me I’d won a national competition for my project on Robert Burns.

I have never liked Robert Burns. Continue reading →

A Day at MONA

October 13, 2014 By in Family, Tasmania Tags: , , , , , , 2 Comments

View from MONA ROMA Hobart Tasmania

Friday was the last day of DorkySon’s school holidays, and as he has been asking me for ages if we can visit The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) again I thought we’d better take advantage of a sunny day and go for it.

By happy coincidence, I’d received an email earlier in the week asking if I wanted to take part in a project organised by the International Currency Exchange, in which bloggers around the world would be sent £100 GBP and challenged to make the most of that money for a day out in their country. £100 GBP is equivalent to around $180 AUD, which would allow us to have a hugely indulgent MONA experience – how could I say no?!

We decided that rather than drive up the Brooker Highway to the Museum, we would instead get a taxi into the centre of Hobart and then take the MONA ROMA boat from the harbour so we could enjoy the thirty-minute ride up the river. Even before we’d set sail, DorkySon was thrilled because he nabbed a window seat on the boat and sat watching the workmen who are currently building the new Brooke Street Pier. As we set off, we got a great view of the Astrolabe and Mount Wellington, and then as we got a little further out we sailed right past the Aurora Australis and the new CSIRO research vessel RV Investigator.  He loved the graffit-style art on the walls, the sheep seats on the outdoor deck, and the resident (live) parrot. He also spotted some tasty looking biscuits for sale from the onboard bar, and persuaded me that he should have one as a second breakfast… Continue reading →