DARK MOFO and the Winter Solstice

June 23, 2014 By in Family, Tasmania Tags: , , , , , , , , 27 Comments

DARK MOFO Hobart 2014

What a lovely little weekend that was.

It was the winter solstice here on Saturday. The shortest day of the year was a sunny one, filled from dusk until dawn with light and brightness.

DorkyDad and I went out to the Winter Feast on Saturday night – a loud and lively celebration of local food. It was the only DARK MOFO event we went to together. DorkyDad had been to listen to poetry and music at the Odeon Theatre last week, and DorkySon and I spent a merry afternoon with our mops at Yin Xiuzhen’s ice sculpture, but Saturday night was special.

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Boxes

June 17, 2014 By in Family 34 Comments

child playing with cardboard boxThere is a bit of a box theme running in this house at the moment.

One of DorkySon’s favourite playthings is what he calls his ‘random box’ – a large, lidded plastic container filled with an assortment of absolute tat. There are those dreadful cheap toys that you get free on the front of magazines – shaky little vehicles that lose a wheel the first time they go out on the road. There are golf balls that have been liberated from DorkyDad’s collection. There are pieces of tinsel and sparkly rosettes with small scraps of Christmas paper still attached. There are assorted collectors cards – Australian animals, Disney characters, Phillies players from the 2009 baseball season. There are slices of cardboard pizza that smell of basil – sort of. There are empty Kinder Surprise cases, and a couple of old phones with the batteries removed. There’s an egg timer and a magnifying glass, a plastic fishing rod with assorted sea creatures in lurid colours, a few pieces of doctor’s kit… Continue reading →

What My Sight Means to Me

June 16, 2014 By in Activism Tags: , , , , 28 Comments

Sightsavers logo

 

What are the most beautiful things you’ve ever seen?

The beaches of Harris. The churches of Prague. That view you get of the Tyne as you cross the rail bridge heading north into Newcastle. An Arctic sunrise. A Greek sea. Every painting by Alison Watt. The way petrol in a puddle makes rainbows, and how it sidewinds slowly across a yard. Johnny Depp’s cheekbones. Fireflies. The Edinburgh Meadows in late afternoon, hazy with smoke from all those barbecues. My husband’s hands. My son’s smile. An angel’s wing icicle hanging from a wire. Flowers on the machair. White umbrellas in a crowd. Beckham’s goal from the halfway line in 96.

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Boy Love

June 3, 2014 By in Family Tags: , , , , , 55 Comments

Fripp Island beach

DorkyDad and I were lying in bed the other night. We were laughing.

“He’s like you,” he said.

“No, no, no. Don’t blame that mess on me,” I said. “He’s all you. Every last bit of it. It’s all your fault.”

It was a shock to have a son. It was all a shock, actually. Pregnancy, labour, birth… that deep intake of breath that came when I was handed a solid little body for the first time.

I was so sure it was a girl. We had chosen her name. She would arrive calm and quiet in a rosy glow. Instinct would kick in and the rest would be easy.

Ha!

That’s what DorkySon says now. ‘

“Ha! Tricking you!’

Wee bugger.

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Hacked: A Guest Post from DorkyDad

May 31, 2014 By in Guest Posts 17 Comments

macro threads

The attack came in the dark of night, as such things seem to do.

“Baby,” came my wife’s cry from the Big Table in front of the fire. “You’ve been hacked!”

I was sitting on the old leather couch in the den watching a remarkably bloody television series about Vikings while reflecting, a wee bit smugly, on the capacity of our newly installed double-glazed windows to hold back the growing cold of a Tasmanian winter.

She spun her Mac around so I could read the text; something about us being stuck in Istanbul, wallet stolen; hotel angry, threat of police action, send money quick.

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