Author: Isolde

We’ve been to Japan! An early 50th birthday present to myself. And the girls had a parallel adventure with family and friends in three cities and Anglesea, all in the space of a week. New Zealand was our last overseas travel, but I haven’t been to a non-English-speaking country for more than 13 years, also the last time Steve and I travelled apart from the girls. We missed them every day on this holiday, and I think they missed us. But we all had an excellent adventure as well. I enjoyed immersing myself in a different culture and language: the…

This has been a month of travel – for work and pleasure. I invested in my leisure and booked a solo trip to Adelaide to see old friends and enjoy the Adelaide Writers’ Festival. It was a lovely interlude. The town was buzzing with ideas, people, music, art, comedy, street performers and food. Heaven! First stop: Will Anderson’s latest solo show, and the first I have ever seen live. He weaves themes of self-deprecating humour very cleverly, like his story about the loneliness of his COVID lockdown in Sydney, prompting him to order flowers to be delivered to himself, complete…

We had weeks in Anglesea over the summer holidays once more, in Rhea’s own words from last year: ‘there were two dogs and two cats (Goose and Bear were the dogs and Duck and Lotus were the cats). We went to the beach a lot but the water was freezing, even with our wetsuits. We also went to a bridge we jump off of but the water was even colder than the ocean.’ This year, the water was warmer both at the beach and in the river. The days were long and we filled them with Nippers at the beach;…

This week I attended my nephew Oli’s Year 12 graduation and met my nine-month old nephew Felix. Felix is a happy, gorgeous baby, and has been passed around his extended family without complaint. He’s at the age when he grabs everything, and mostly it ends up in his mouth. His skin is smooth and soft, his two teeth useful not as much to chew, as to punctuate his frequent smiles. He’s a heffalump at 10kg, the same weight his cousin Oli was at six months but my girls wouldn’t have reached until they were over one year old. When Felix…

I hadn’t intended to initially due to the COVID risk; feeling uncomfortable with the nightclub venue; and the same reason I stayed away from the 10th and 20th year reunions: not particularly wanting to see people who aren’t my friends – but I ended up going to our 30-year high school reunion last weekend. And I left with mixed feelings about it indeed. One friend was intending to go but didn’t in the end, and another did, but apart from that I didn’t know who I might see there, and I was hoping to see a few people it would…

A few weeks ago, I finished pruning the fruit trees out the back. I’m not sure if winter is the right time to prune, when the thin branches are growing bumps, but the trees looked straggly so I tidied them up. I decided to put some of the offcuts into my rectangular vase and medium-sized water jug instead of putting them in the garden waste. I admired their sculptural form (both in the vase and the shadow it threw) so much that I ended up giving some away to mum and my friend. I changed the water regularly and after…

Steve and I worked in Melbourne while the girls flaked out in the house during the first week of the school holidays. Steve took them out to an indoor play centre once or twice and I accompanied them to the local playground one afternoon. By the second week, they were ready to stretch their wings. I took them ice-skating; they had an outing to cat café with Annie and Steve, whereby you can feed rescue cats; and we went to an adventure playground twice, one of those excursions was followed by hot chocolates and a quick hello to their furry…

Twelve years ago since that equally cold, grey day when the girls were born, it doesn’t seem like that long. The great excitement as usual of opening large packages, so many presents, from gadgets like a hoverboard and electric scooter to a dart board, clothes they have chosen, a box of candles, soaps, and some surprises. Their birthday breakfast at the French pâtisserie was a treat, especially on a school day, eating a croissant with Nutella; crêpes with strawberries, lemon juice and sugar; and drinking large mugs of hot chocolate. That night we overcame conflict and the cold weather to…

Lara and Rhea are preparing for a Rostrum speech that they will deliver next week – Rhea on the subject of Teamwork and Lara on Being Organised. Lara is practicing now as I write this at the holiday house we’re staying at for the long weekend. It’s so nice to have a break by the sea, the house has ocean views, two levels on a hill, built perhaps thirty years ago with beach-inspired blue and white furniture, lamps, framed messages and decorative vessels, including the odd carved whale and whale-shaped cushion. And a few vases with fake proteas and magnolias,…

Warning – this contains discussion of suicide. ‘These precious days’ is the name of a book of short stories that I decadently splashed out on from a lovely bookshop by the sea these holidays, by American author Ann Patchett. Splashed out because I rarely buy books, and if I do, they tend to be the cheaper and more easily procured e-books. I haven’t reached the title story yet, I am savouring the reading. It has been a relaxing part of my break, which came after two weeks of long working days followed by unpacking the new house (still ongoing). On…