Apr 20, 2015 | My Stories
I’ve been in Sydney the last couple of days, interviewing people about belonging and taking a writing course. When I travel — and this includes going to the local library or grocery store — I like to talk to people. I’m an extrovert in the sense that I...
Apr 14, 2015 | My Stories
I could have applied for Australian citizenship several years ago. I’m Canadian, I’ve been living in this country since 2002, and I’m a permanent resident. My children are Australian and my husband has become an Aussie too. Something fundamental held me back. Last...
Apr 10, 2015 | My Stories
It doesn’t seem to matter where we are in the world, if we focus on the ”news’’, it’s easy to despair at events and lose hope in humanity. UK philosopher Alain de Botton says the news plays with our emotions, sparking fear and anger and then ”exploits our...
Feb 13, 2015 | My Stories
Three years ago, I spent several days bent over a bucket cleaning river mud and bacteria-filled slime off Christmas tree decorations, golf clubs and the personal contents of half a house. They were not our possessions and it wasn’t our house that was flooded when the...
Feb 12, 2015 | My Stories
Building a new website is a lot like moving house. You wander through the rooms, taking in years of living and then pick out a small closet and start sorting the clothes that no longer fit your personality. Ok I admit it. I’m not building my new website, someone else...
Jan 29, 2015 | My Stories
1. Be Feisty. Ok. Australians aren’t that feisty in general, but some are. And they’re the ones I admire. 2. How to be Feisty in a Non-Feisty Country. Australia Day, or Invasion Day, has come and gone. Last year I made an effort to celebrate it and while I...
Jan 16, 2015 | My Stories
Voici mon secret. Il est trés simple : on ne voit bien qu’avec le coeur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Le Petit Prince The holiday is over. Suitcases unpacked. Mounds of winter clothes lounge in the laundry with the overbearing...
Dec 25, 2014 | My Stories
When I’m sitting at my desk, sweating in the subtropics in December or January and I think of snow, I would recall the smell of snowflakes, the texture and the temperature. Yesterday (after Brisbane – Sydney – Dallas -Toronto) I stood outside my parent’s...
Dec 10, 2014 | My Stories
As I pack up clothes and dolls and passports for our family I can’t help but reflect that some people don’t have the luxury of packing. That I shouldn’t see packing as stressful because packing means I have choice and many people don’t. Some people may not be able to...
