Getting old is inevitable and there’s little hope of getting through it unscathed. Probably the worst affliction on the old is cognitive decline and it is not only a percentage of older humans who end up with dementia; I’ve recently come to understand that our canine friends can also be caught in the net. To […]
Mother’s Day
June 4, 2016 By 46 Comments
How was your Mother’s Day? I know I’m a bit behind in sharing mine but it’s been a little frantic around here. The day after Mother’s Day, first thing in the morning I had a clinical exam, where I had to perform a number of tricks in less than 20 minutes. I can only liken […]
Australia Day
January 29, 2016 By 27 Comments
Australia Day is celebrated on January 26 and bonus, it’s a public holiday. Normally we spend the day with family or friends or even both, enjoying a traditional Australian lunch of lamb and snags cooked on the barbie with pavlova for dessert. But this Australia Day was different because Alfie was asked to sing in […]
A New Year’s Eve Dinner
January 16, 2016 By 31 Comments
Our New Year’s Eve wasn’t full of party revellers, huge crowds and explosive fireworks. It was celebrated in a very civilised yet casual way of a sit-down dinner party for 10, held at a recently renovated tiny cottage on the mid-NSW coast. We were in Stuart’s Point for New Year’s Eve and staying in the […]
The Year That Was
January 4, 2016 By 40 Comments
Happy New Year! Thank you for supporting my blog through 2015. I appreciate you all and really love when you take the time to visit and comment. Working from home and writing away in solitude can be a lonely affair so knowing you’re there is not only encouraging but allows me to feel I’m writing […]
A Suburban Backyard
November 8, 2014 By 36 Comments
The first time I can recall visiting the home of my great uncle and aunt was in 1977. Having just moved to Australia from New Zealand, Doug and Margaret were the only relatives we had in our new country. Doug was an author and a poet and Margaret, a painter. After living in Circular Quay […]
A Musical Soiree
October 29, 2014 By 28 Comments
I had a weekend of music with an 80’s concert of Australian rock bands on Saturday night and then a piano recital the following night. The only thing they had in common was that there was someone on the keyboards at both. I’m going to sound like a Philistine, but this was the first piano […]
Fawlty Chinese
October 27, 2014 By 30 Comments
Last Saturday night we had a concert to go to with a bunch of friends we went to school with. Six of us decided it would be a good idea to meet up for dinner before the concert. Suggestions were called upon for where we should dine. And here’s the unfortunate part. I enthusiastically said […]
A Springtime Wedding
October 24, 2014 By 29 Comments
A very good friend of ours married a few weeks ago. We were thrilled to be invited to share in his very special day. While I’ve known the groom, Shinji, since I was 16, I’d only met his fiance once and that was at his daughter’s wedding where, because of the volume of people, we didn’t […]
Five Siblings
September 14, 2014 By 42 Comments
It’s been a hectic weekend with all sorts of wonderful events taking place but the most significant of these was a Sunday lunch where my parent’s five children were not only in the same country but also seated around the same table. The weather, which has recently been very disappointing actually turned on a warm […]
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