South

February 29, 2016 By in Living Tags: , , 10 Comments

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Even after more than two years here there are times when my internal compass spins automatically north – times when I try and do things the way they’ve always been done.

I had imagined that January would be productive. New month, new year, new start – the perfect opportunity to get my head together and work on some priorities for 2016. I was going to declutter the house. I was going to detox – alcohol, carbs, social media. I was going to set up my new computer so I could email editors and write something brilliant.

But of course January is still the middle of school summer holidays here, and none of that happened. Instead it was a month of ice cream and beach time, lazy Bruny days, boat trips and books. We had visitors from Scotland, cuddles with kangaroos, and soft, warm evenings in the Adirondack chairs. There were all sorts of loveliness. Continue reading →

Goodbye, 2015

December 31, 2015 By in Living, Loving, Rambling, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , 8 Comments

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It’s New Year’s Eve here in Tasmania, and like the worst possible Australian cliché, we have spent it on the beach. I’m not quite sure how – I reckon I’ll blame DorkySon – but somewhere along this wonderful journey we have turned into a family of wetsuit wearers. Even on days when the water temperature is a few degrees below balmy, we can now while away our hours bobbing in the Derwent. Continue reading →

This is how you found me in 2015

December 27, 2015 By in Rambling, Uncategorized 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 Rambling 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 Loving Tags: , , 20 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 →