Screenshot I am getting further and further behind with this thing. But here is the third installment of “2025: The Year in Review.” December 10 – A moment you felt proud this year and why I made a bucket hat! Earlier in the year, I connected with a local charity sewing group. Every week, an eclectic bunch meets to sew up items for a range of charities. Things we make include: baby items for young disadvantaged mothers and clothing, pencil cases and library bags for children entering foster care. One of the more challenging items we make is a bucket hat. Every time I went to sewing I would choose other options to sew rather than a bucket hat!! Including a pencil case. [...]

I finished reading a book today! “Wait!” I hear you say. “Don’t you read all the time?” I don’t actually read many books. I am not proud of this statement, but it is true. From childhood to young adulthood, I was a voracious reader. But, somewhere between reading Enid Blyton to my children and drowning in the incredible mental load that is my profession, I got out of the habit. These days I read opinion articles on relationships, sexuality, education, and the indigenous history of Australia. But to read an entire book from cover to cover? Not something I do often. But this post is not about my reading habits. It is about what I read and the questions I am now asking [...]

Screenshot When I first saw this meme and thought about doing posts based on it, I had this fantasy of completing at least a small comment for each day. Like many fantasies, the actual enactment looks very different when it is brought to life. Anyhoo, here is today’s installment. December 5: Routines you’ve upheld If there is anything that has been constant this year, it is the lack of routine. Every time I get into a routine and my life feels productive. something changes. We go on a trip, I start a job and have to quit volunteering. We come home and then work is very hit and miss. The lack of routine has been very frustrating, but the process has forced me [...]

Christmas in Australia is hot. It is also very close to the longest day of the year. Currently where I live, sunrise is at 4:44am. Last Sunday saw our family gathering at my brother’s farm for a Christmas celebration before No. 1 Son and his wife head off to Europe for their delayed honeymoon. At 4.30am, after staying up late the night before playing FARKLE we were treated to the yodelling from the dogs kenneled next to our van in response to the rooster housed a bit further away. Gotta love farm / van life. I did get a couple of nice shots in the early morning light, though. As I wrote this post, I was thinking about Sinful Sunday. I miss interacting [...]

It is that time of the year when people say, “Where has the time gone?” When this journalling idea popped up, I thought I would give it a go. Screenshot December 1: Three positive things that have happened this year There have been many positive things in my life this year. The first one that pops into my head is the wedding of my son. Even though it caused much stress for the bride in the lead-up, it really was a perfect day. The second thing was our trip through Western Queensland. I posted about this trip a few times, but if you would like some amazing images, you can click here or here. Lastly, the most positive thing that has happened this [...]

“My dick only goes up for curvy Australian women.” Honestly, a writer could never come up with a piece of dialogue like that. Chocolate Man was like his namesake, smooth, delicious and addictive. His worship of my body was what I needed to remember how to be a goddess. Something I was forgetting without realising. Ageing is hard. My body aches somewhere most of the time, my memory and grasp of words seem to be slipping, and when I look in the mirror, it is getting harder and harder to see the goddess who looks back at me. But, for a weekend at least, Kenyan Chocolate, by Gen Z large dick man, by mid-thirties talented tongue man, a farmer with talented hands, and [...]

Source: Courier Mail For the last few months, there have been a series of industrial actions by teachers in the state where I live. It has been many years since such a widespread strike has caught the attention of the media in this state at least. Education is complex. The issues that have triggered this strike are complex. But the media had distilled it down to one thing: money. If you read only headlines, you could be forgiven for thinking this whole performance is about remuneration. Most social media posts give a nod to classroom conditions, including physical and verbal abuse by students and parents, but other than acknowledging it happens and giving vocal support to teachers, nothing more is said. Reading accounts [...]

A few weeks back, I posted about being back on the water. It has been a journey from May last year, when we handed the keys over to our beloved first big catamaran, Twoflower, to now. It took much searching and disappointing inspections ti find Velella. Most people selling something that has been a big part of their life see their yacht through rose-coloured glasses and place a value on her that is much higher than buyers in the marked are prepared to pay. The last couple of years of Covid craziness, however, have seen people paying silly prices for everything, especially luxury items like yachts and caravans. We encountered some people who were completely taking the piss both with their price, and [...]

We have some new additions to our household. Meet five fluff balls that have been born at our house over about a week. They are slowly adjusting to life in their outside pen. Although the smallest one, Troubador, was very fond of a snuggle inside a shirt.

Last Monday (has it been that long??) I posted about a dilemma with my thyroid medication. So it turns out I did take a double dose. For the record I am not doing that again!! Anxiety off the charts and it took two days to get over the tiredness and feeling really weird. Coming off that last week was a blur of trying to do too much and not quite hitting the mark. I was attending an event with some past students and wanted to make myself a new dress, I am attempting Novel November and I trying to get a handle on a large garden that has been somewhat neglected for the last few years. I did get some mowing and garden [...]