back from holidays
Been on holidays lately, so apologies to Duckworth for the lack of content. It’s quite funny how you become used to visiting a blog and sad when they don’t post. One of my friends had this experience when his favourite blogger got married and went on a honeymoon: no posts for several weeks!
My holidays were fantastic, I would love to go to Coles Bay again this weekend, it is so amazing to have the Hazards towering over you, to be surrounded by orange and pink tinged rocks and still have large expanses of water and a pristine white coastline. Bay of Fires was also amazing, we didn’t explore Mt William national park so that’s still on the to-do list.
It is hard now to adjust to Andy’s absence, I miss having him next to me, lying on the couch as we read books. We did a lot of reading-I read three books by Elinor Lipman who has a quirky comic style, great characters, and also read some yoga books to help me remember sequences.
On our return, we hosted a dinner party for friends. Eight people is a bit much, I prefer six people, or if you have eight, I think you need to remove some chairs and get people in rotation, taking turns to listen and talk. Ben still has his rating as the most perfect dinner party guest, he is a great listener, enthusiastic guest, and he rang on the night to check what wine he could bring. Oh, he is divine.
Last night had a long luxurious talk with Duckworth (“let me pour a drink first”, we stretched back on our respective couches and chatted about people we know, the characters we recognise, and whether or not he had started a rumour about my advances into family hood (I am guilty of speculating about his romantic status, so I guess we’re even). He reckons it’s compulsory for academics to publish, thus if an academic gets their novel published, it’s not such a big deal or necessary to be envious, because it’s the very least they should do. And we’re putting mental energy elsewhere, so we’re not going to be as fast. I think I find it easier to write now than at 22, I have the mental discipline plus I’ve adjusted to the adult world. At 22 I was leaving my cocoon and learning about grocery shopping.
Also had a great chat with my nephews, Ned and Gus. Gus just turned five so we had a bit of a chat about the merits of the magnetix pieces I gave him for his birthday, apparently he can only building a very small tower with them, due to there only being 22 pieces in the book, and what’s more, only four of one colour compared to six of another (which meant he had to borrow pieces from his older brother). Of school, he was very pleased to describe the sticker decorations he’s added to his reading folder and his appointment this Friday with his teacher who is going to “listen to me read and give me some help”. Sounds like a good learning plan and an example to us all.
Then he negotiated for Ned to talk to me, and thanks to the “crazy injection” that Ned said Gus had given him, he was very chatty. This made me think that perhaps Ned needs to take on roles to get out of his shyness. Normally on the phone he is quiet and not chatty, because he’s shy, but with the liberation of a crazy character to play, we had a great chat.
My holidays were fantastic, I would love to go to Coles Bay again this weekend, it is so amazing to have the Hazards towering over you, to be surrounded by orange and pink tinged rocks and still have large expanses of water and a pristine white coastline. Bay of Fires was also amazing, we didn’t explore Mt William national park so that’s still on the to-do list.
It is hard now to adjust to Andy’s absence, I miss having him next to me, lying on the couch as we read books. We did a lot of reading-I read three books by Elinor Lipman who has a quirky comic style, great characters, and also read some yoga books to help me remember sequences.
On our return, we hosted a dinner party for friends. Eight people is a bit much, I prefer six people, or if you have eight, I think you need to remove some chairs and get people in rotation, taking turns to listen and talk. Ben still has his rating as the most perfect dinner party guest, he is a great listener, enthusiastic guest, and he rang on the night to check what wine he could bring. Oh, he is divine.
Last night had a long luxurious talk with Duckworth (“let me pour a drink first”, we stretched back on our respective couches and chatted about people we know, the characters we recognise, and whether or not he had started a rumour about my advances into family hood (I am guilty of speculating about his romantic status, so I guess we’re even). He reckons it’s compulsory for academics to publish, thus if an academic gets their novel published, it’s not such a big deal or necessary to be envious, because it’s the very least they should do. And we’re putting mental energy elsewhere, so we’re not going to be as fast. I think I find it easier to write now than at 22, I have the mental discipline plus I’ve adjusted to the adult world. At 22 I was leaving my cocoon and learning about grocery shopping.
Also had a great chat with my nephews, Ned and Gus. Gus just turned five so we had a bit of a chat about the merits of the magnetix pieces I gave him for his birthday, apparently he can only building a very small tower with them, due to there only being 22 pieces in the book, and what’s more, only four of one colour compared to six of another (which meant he had to borrow pieces from his older brother). Of school, he was very pleased to describe the sticker decorations he’s added to his reading folder and his appointment this Friday with his teacher who is going to “listen to me read and give me some help”. Sounds like a good learning plan and an example to us all.
Then he negotiated for Ned to talk to me, and thanks to the “crazy injection” that Ned said Gus had given him, he was very chatty. This made me think that perhaps Ned needs to take on roles to get out of his shyness. Normally on the phone he is quiet and not chatty, because he’s shy, but with the liberation of a crazy character to play, we had a great chat.
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