Category Archives: Tasmania

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 →

Words in Other Places

December 9, 2014 By in Poetry, Tasmania Tags: , , , , , , , , 8 Comments

A super quick post just to let you know about a couple of Dorky Family things going on in other places.

My third column is up at The Island Review. It’s all about food in Tasmania and you can read it here.

Far more exciting is that DorkyDad’s first big poetry gig in Tasmania is happening this Thursday night. It’s called Beat Night – Where Jazz Meets Spoken Word and it’s at the Lark Cellar Door at 7pm.

The band is a brilliant group of musicians – Andrew Legg (piano and hammond organ), Nick Haywood (bass), Alf Jackson (drums), Al Dobson (horn), Damien Kingston (guitar), and Frank Bansel.

I always get super nervous watching him at events, but this one should be a lot of fun, and I’m hoping that a dram or two might keep me calm… Please come along if you can!

Beat Night in Hobart

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 →