The day I bequeathed my gold tooth
Picture a dying cockroach. Lying on its back with limbs up in the air. That’s how my daughter described me when I was playing the role of someone who needed rescuing. The reason for my bizarre behaviour? I had just given my grandson Kieran a police jeep complete with sirens, a steering wheel that actually […]
I went home and never went back again
As a parent of children with eczema it’s heartbreaking watching them scratch themselves until their skin bleeds. You’ve done everything you can but you can’t make it go away. On top of that you’ve got to put up with unkind ignorant people scrutinising and commenting. That leads me to the accusation of child abuse. It […]
Moisturisers, medicated ointments, bandages and tears
Image: https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/57daab Moisturisers, medicated ointments, bandages and tears. This is often the bedtime ritual for a child with eczema (also known as atopic dermatitis). The daytime ritual includes more of the same but with a range of other things as well such as monitoring everything they eat and touch. When a flare-up occurs, it has […]
How to interpret the Social Bubble for singles living alone
During the pandemic, life has been especially hard for people living alone. With only three weeks between harsh lockdowns, less in some suburbs, many singles did not get the opportunity to reconnect with a real live person. Many people (myself included) have only been in a room with other people a couple of times since […]
Life between lockdowns in Victoria
We only had three weeks between lockdowns. The Government began easing restrictions as the COVID-19 cases were declining. On June 6, Victoria recorded no new cases of the virus. But three weeks later it came back like never before. So metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell shire went back into stage 3 lockdown. The first wave of […]
Bonjour Holly et Wilson!
I love all things French. The food, the music, the culture, the language …… But most of all I love Holly and Wilson, my little grand doggies of the French Bulldog ilk. When Holly was adopted by her human parents, Hannah and Dave, they were besotted. Holly was adorable. Everyone loved that tiny brindle coloured […]
Covid-19 testing this way
It was zero degrees when my daughter Hannah picked me up early on that Friday morning. First we headed straight to the coffee shop for a last hooray – and a coffee. Next stop was the Chadstone Shopping Centre Carpark. By the time we arrived, there were already at least 100 cars lined up in […]
Winston
It’s awhile now since Winston died. He was quite old, very arthritic (had been for years) and when his time got closer he found it difficult to breathe. A sad ending for such a lovely chap. When I first met Winston he was with the love of his life, Heather at the famous Salamanca Market […]
The goats of Forcett
In the 1960s, the cure for eczema was goat’s milk. One of my brothers had really bad eczema so we got a milking goat. This was in addition to hundreds of pigs, sheep, ducks, chooks, a few dogs and the odd cats who decimated any mice that made a (brief) appearance. We also had a […]
Another family reunion
Angus was only 17 months old when we went into lockdown. He was 19 months old when I was able to pick him up and give him a cuddle and a kiss again. Sadly, Angus didn’t like cuddles and kisses anymore but tolerated the affection he was forced to endure. In that two months he […]