This is how you found me in 2015

December 27, 2015 By in Blogging 7 Comments

When it’s getting towards the end of the year, one of my favourite things to do is check out the search terms that people have used to land on the blog. It has become a bit less fun since Google started to hide theirs, since that’s where most of my traffic comes from, and the most popular search terms are usually quite dull: Ruth Dawkins, Young Dawkins, DorkyMum and the like.

But even so, there are usually a few in there that make me scratch my head and laugh, and this year is no exception… I hope if any of these were you then you found what you were looking for.

Blog Terms

15 things I’ve been doing instead of blogging

November 11, 2015 By in Blogging, Family, Tasmania Tags: , 18 Comments

My Wife is Blogging This caption tshirt

DorkyDad went to Canberra for a work event earlier this week, and on his way out the door to the airport he said to me, “You have to write a DorkyMum post. Even if it’s just a post about why you’re not blogging, you have to blog…”

So I’m doing what I’m told. (Pretty sure it’s just because he wants an excuse to wear this nifty t-shirt I bought him a few years ago…) But anyway, here are some things I’ve done over the last six weeks, none of which are blogging. Continue reading →

The things he has learned

September 23, 2015 By in Family Tags: , , 21 Comments

Young boy looking at globe

First he learned the basics: how to smile, and then to laugh.

He learned how to sleep, to sit, to hold a spoon. To grab his own toes, stick a fist in his mouth, clutch a blanket tight when he needed comfort. He learned to crawl and walk, and then to run, to jump, to stretch up high like a tree and crouch down low like a lion. He learned to make noise with a ladle and saucepan, to build towers and knock them over, to roll a ball, and then to throw it.

How foolish I was to think that was it. It does not stop at one year, or two. The learning continues, every day, forever. Continue reading →

September and Spring

September 3, 2015 By in Family, Tasmania Tags: , , , , , , 12 Comments

spring notebook

September has always been a favourite month of mine.

In my head it has always felt like a time of new beginnings. When we lived in the northern hemisphere that seemed at odds with the fact that it marked the start of autumn – a time for closing in rather than reaching out – but perhaps I associated it with the start of the academic year.

Now that we are in the south, September really does signify something new – it is the official start of Australian spring. You would not guess that to look at Mount Wellington, which still has a generous covering of snow on the peak, but the increasing noise levels from the birds in our garden and the lighter mornings are both giving a hint of what’s to come. Continue reading →

A Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary Review in Pictures

August 11, 2015 By in Photography, Tasmania Tags: , , , , , , , 8 Comments

A figure patting a kangaroo at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary in Tasmania

I’ve wanted to go to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary for so long!

We had some friends from the UK staying last week and, as is always the way, we seemed to fit in more visits to local attractions in that five days that we had managed in the previous five months. It was lovely being able to share some of my favourite Hobart spots with them – the view from the top of Mount Nelson, fish and chips at Maning Reef, and a lovely sunny walk in the Botanic Gardens – but the highlight for me was a trip out to Bonorong. Here are a few pictures from the day. Continue reading →