It’s spring in Adelaide, and a gorgeous time of year. Blossoms everywhere. There’s still a chill in the air, but the days teeter on warm, and we know winter is almost behind us. My chickens are fat and fluffy and laying again. My garden has a new lease on life,
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Right at the beginning of one of my most favourite movies ever — The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — there is an anecdote about a clock made by Mr Gateau, a clockmaker who was blind from birth and lost his only son in World War I. He had been
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When I tell people that my daughter hasn’t spoken to me since a few weeks after her wedding in March 2021, they invariably ask: What did you do? Invariably, my response is: Why does it have to be something I’ve done? I’m sick of the What Did You Do question
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I came across this essay in my reading last week and liked the form and wanted to try it. Coincidentally, I ran into an old spark a week or so ago and wanted write about that encounter. This essay kills two birds with one stone. *** As it happened, I
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In 2011, I wrote a post that put forward a number of things that I knew for sure. These were observations and experiences over almost 50 years. I read through that post recently (I’m updating my blog, in case you’re wondering) and thought it was due for an update. Actually,
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Betrayal is a profound and often devastating experience that can leave a lasting legacy on your heart, mind and sprit. In the tapestry of life, betrayal often emerges as a recurring theme that challenges us to navigate the complex work of trust and forgiveness, control and chaos. Irrespective of whether
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This is new. Well, new as in I haven’t felt this happy and hopeful for a long time. From memory, the middle of 2018 was the last time. In 2018, I was living in Hanoi and my rose coloured glasses were still camouflaging the realities of living in a developing
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1. I’m still somewhat out of sorts. It’s got nothing to do with depression because I’m not depressed; I have no trouble getting out of bed, and there is no black cloud hanging over me. It’s got nothing to do with motivation either: I’m committed to being able to run
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I’ve been to university three times in my life. Three times when I was at a crossroads, where investing in myself and reinventing who I was via learning seemed like the only way forward. The first time was in the late 1980s, at 26, when I was disillusioned with my
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Today I went for a run. No big deal, I hear you say. People run all the time. The thing is: I haven’t gone running for 18 months. Not since I was in Hanoi. This pandemic (or rather, the government’s response to the pandemic) has sucked the productivity right out
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I had no clue I was dating a covert narcissist, mainly because my boundaries had been whittled away to nothing by the sense of opportunity and complacency I’d allowed myself to develop in Vietnam. I said yes to everything that crossed my path. I remember having a conversation with another
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