Every now and then I feel a pull. When things feel unsettled and nerves are jangled, I need something to ground me. And I always find it at the ocean. I call it my vitamin sea.
We are about an hour away from the beach but I never regret the drive. Even with two little boys in the back. Last week the kids and I decided to take the day and head to Currumbin and the SWELL festival. Read more
“Coffee or tea?” she asks and then laughs as she interprets my pause. Accurately. “It’s okay — we have an espresso machine, I’m not offering you instant.”
And with that, I accept the coffee. My caffeine-addled brain anticipating the jolt. Addicted to all the fast, fast, fast — the more, more, more. Coffee suits my lifestyle. Cramming just a little bit more into each moment than is altogether healthy. Using that shot of espresso to push myself just that tiny bit further.
Tea isn’t like that. Tea is cosy and slow. Tea takes its time. It steeps and deepens and takes its sweet while to achieve full flavour. You don’t rush tea. It’s not the kind of drink you slam down so that you can get to the next thing. It’s the kind of drink that you take your time with. It goes well with books, chats, craft and late night television. Read more
Last Friday our school held its annual trivia night. It’s always a big night. Put a group of parents together, give them an excuse to play dress-ups, offer them cheap alcohol and things are bound to get a bit squiffy. Okay, perhaps a lot squiffy. The next morning we gathered around the side lines of our various kids’ soccer commitments, sporting large sunglasses and even larger take-away coffees whispering “So, just how drunk were we last night?”
That Saturday evening we went to the NRL double header. It was E’s first footy game and 80 odd minutes of sitting still went just about as well as you might expect with a two year old. We did not stay for the second game. In fact the whole weekend confirmed the long held parenting belief that toddlers are basically just tiny drunk humans. Read more
They say smell is the sense most closely tied to memory. The right scent sends you hurtling back like an olfactory time-machine. But I think there is something about sound as well. Not just the memory-making music of youth — but noises.
During our recent camping trip I could tell the time of day by the light and by the sounds around me. I had no watch, no phone but I had the time within the half-hour.
Not so long ago I spent nine days camping by the beach. I didn’t write. I checked social media sporadically. I posted a few photos of the beach and the cute take-away coffee cups that I drove 40 minutes each morning to acquire. Mostly I just hung out with my family and friends.
And as I took a break from writing there were stories all around me. Holiday places are like that. Hotels and airports and camp-grounds, full of people and possibility. All travel is fertile ground for guessing at stories and making your own. Read more
