It’s June, and that means it’s a busy month with a birthday party scheduled. What is involved is this: agreeing on a suitable indoor party venue from a suggested shortlist; selecting guests; selecting and personalizing invitations from a party-invitation-card website; addressing invitations; distributing invitations; negotiating birthday cake possibilities; keeping track of RSVPs; adding supplementary invitees if numbers permit; shopping for the cake; delegating the baking of the cake to partner. The day before the party there is the haircut treat in which my longstanding hairdresser inquires what I am putting in the party bags, prompting shopping for party bag treats…
Author: Isolde
Isolde
After extensive travel for short periods both inside Australia and overseas, I took a break from my health policy job to travel for two months in Spain, Portugal and Morocco and live for four months in France, three of those in Paris. I'm currently living back in Australia with Steve and our twins Rhea and Lara.
Having recently read the very impressive life story of Anne Summers in her Memoir Unfettered and Alive, I had allowed myself to fantasize about the possibility of the labor party making her ambassador to the US, so she could both fulfil a lost opportunity from her past while at the same time living in her partner’s country and contributing to Australia’s best interests in a creative way from there. What a rude shock that another middle-aged white man has been appointed instead, Arthur Sinodinos. It was the final gentle disappointment in the long series of disappointments that a Coalition election…
I read a book by Donald Horne once (he was the one who ironically coined the term ‘the Lucky Country’ but people didn’t pick up the irony), in which he advocated that travel should be undertaken along themed lines, so if your theme was churches, you should only look at the churches of a city; or if your theme was gardens you should only spend your tourist time going to gardens. I think this approach is a bit narrow, but I wonder if I could stuff the holidays we’ve just had into any particular theme. Perhaps it would be Bike…
We went to a camp at Birrigai from Wednesday the 27th to Friday 29th of March. On the first day, we were told which cabins we were in and who we were with. Then we got to choose what bunk we wanted to be in and we had to unpack. I was on the top bunk of the corner bed and there were eight bunks for all of us to share. Rhea, me, Edith, Freya, Sylvia, Sophie, Maria, Frida, and Shasmeen were in the same cabin. Then we had dinner which was lasagne. That night it was games night and…
This year I’ve been on a de-cluttering slow-burn. Feeling dismayed at the sight of teetering piles of junk on many surfaces, toys and books permanently strewn around the girls’ room and a general sense of house dishevelment, I decided on a plan of action to fix it all up. My first move started without a lot of pre-planning by taking out their desk’s third drawer containing the girls’ artworks from the last two years or so and sorting it into chronological piles for each girl, discarding work that wasn’t worth keeping and putting the big paintings aside. Over a couple…
One of the four podcasts that I regularly listen to is In the Minefield with Waleed Ali and Scott Stephens, discussing the ethical and moral dilemmas of modern life. The first podcast of 2018 discussed changing the date of Australia Day. In that discussion they noted a recent poll that has been done about what three words Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians associate with the words ‘Australian Day.’ Non-Indigenous Australians overwhelmingly associated it with the words barbeque, celebration and holiday. Indigenous Australians associated it with the words invasion, survival and murder. That’s quite a divide. My Australia Day this year highlighted…
Another busy and challenging year. Here are some of the most memorable moments from the girls’ utterances and questions: Rhea: Sorry mummy. Lara: That’s weird! Rhea: I’m bored! Lara: What what what? Rhea: Whatever. . . Lara: Yeah, whatever. Rhea: Really? Lara: Seriously? Rhea: Spotto! Lara: Pretty please with cheese? Rhea: Just saying. . . Lara: Spotto! Rhea: As if! Lara: Honestly! Rhea: Honestly daddy! Lara: I’m bored! Rhea: For example. . . Lara: Eww Rhea: I’ve so got it! Lara: Why can’t I have. . . Rhea: Eww Lara: Yes! Rhea: Eek! Lara: Take the second exit means go…
One last thing to do before running out the door at the office on Friday afternoon, taking a taxi to the airport for a flight to Melbourne for Penny and Pierre’s combined 50th/60th birthdays. Phew! I met Steve and the girls at the airport and Rhea and Lara were excited at the prospect of taking a plane for a weekend adventure. The flight was too short for movies but the colouring in booklet on a female superheroes theme was welcome, and you can’t beat a snack and a drink on a plane for intrinsic satisfaction. It didn’t quite live up…
There was a plant sale at the local nursery this weekend. After the timely advice from Gardening Australia last night suggesting people don’t buy leafy greens that are too well developed, I chose a punnet of mixed lettuce, along with three different types of tomatoes: Black Russian, Grosse Lisse and some standard orange cherry tomatoes. I also bought two bags of cow manure and some white oil to treat the aphids on the lemon tree, so I’ll plant all of that tomorrow and give the tree a good spray. Last weekend I weeded the veggie bed in readiness for planting,…
We had a big weekend last weekend. Dad’s play was performed, and we all went and enjoyed it, including Duncan, Becky, Maggie, Peter, Oli, Lara, Rhea, Steve and I, uncle Roger, Noreen, and mum’s friend Catherine. It was mum’s birthday and Alice’s too, who was visiting us for her 50.th She slept in Lara’s bed (Lara wasn’t very happy about that but didn’t complain) and the girls took turns sleeping with us. On the second night, Rhea read Alice chapters from a Rainbow Magic book in Lara’s bed until both were sleepy. We had lots of plans of things we…