2008 in Pictures
31 December 2008, 07:11
No narrative retrospective. No NY resolutions. Just a virtual Happy New Year to all my readers. May your 2009 be filled with martinis, mirth and madness…
Scout no longer afraid of Satan… ahem, Santa Claus
Weekend in the country, gonna eat me a lot of Daisies
Bringing the Neighbourhood together in November
Family Bonding
Annual Trip to Adelaide (aka Urban Beach Envy) in November
Surprise weekend at the Windsor. Love Husband.
Budding Carpenter
Beautiful professional snaps at creche
Northcote High Vibes in September
Mother’s Day at Moose Gully
Autumn in Berringama
Blake, Scout, an Alley and an Easter Trip
Scout turns 2 in January!
New Years in Adelaide
Reconnecting with good friends
Chris and Simon’s Wedding
Permanent Link | CommentsChristmas 2008
28 December 2008, 09:23
We usually travel to Newcastle or Adelaide for Christmas so having it in our own home this year was terrific. Not that I don’t love and appreciate spending time with (mainly McG’s) family (really, I don’t, I’m probably closer to them than my own family!) but the fact is you are still a guest in someone’s home without the freedom to dance around to Christmas carols wearing now’t but a cracker christmas hat and a festive grin.
The Eve was pretty cruisy - a very balmy evening accompanied roast chicken dinner and trifle in the backyard with just Scout and McG (+ too many champagne cocktails with grand marnier) - watching the Xmas lights in our living room before putting out some beer for Santa and Crackers for the reindeers. If Scout were a bit older, we would have done a tour of the Christmas lights in Ivanhoe or something, but to tell the truth, having a chilled night was bliss. We were the envy of many families being dragged out to late-night family festivities with overtired toddlers and bubs in tow.
Christmas Morning was the best bit. Scout dancing around in awe and wonderment over Santa’s spoils as she bagged the loot. A day of pottering in the backyard, with Scout and McG playing with the lego (we bought it for Scout but you really had to wonder…) Scout taking her teddies’ heartbeats with her new doctor dressups kit and dancing to the tunes on her Dora tape recorder…
Christmas Dinner was at Hils and Tony’s place - two similarly orphaned friends who went to town on the entertaining - handmade thai sausage roll and garlic prawns for entree, cola-cooked ham, chicken and pistachio ballotine, smashed potatoes and bean and haloumi salad - all washed down with dry martinis, sparkling shiraz cabernet, and boutique beers. My lemon tart for dessert. Hils took my Balderdash crown so I can no longer claim the reign of Queen of Bullshit. Sigh.
McG realised around 10pm that he had left his driving glasses at home, so we ended up crashing at their place, waking up to a breakfast of leftover ham, sausage roll, eggs and turkish bread, all scoffed in the courtyard.
We spent most of Boxing Day in a state of half-doze. We’d only snatched a few hours sleep and we were thoroughly knackered.
Since then I’ve been unsettled. A bit melancholy. Maybe it’s all that trifle I’ve scoffed. The fact I’ve had two (that’s right, two) alcohol free nights. Pffth.
I Go Off
10 December 2008, 17:12
Batman’s plight in Rhythm and Moves.
Survivor's Guilt
9 December 2008, 16:59
I have been very melancholy at late. Company going through organisational overhaul, making jobs redundant, good people being told just before Chrissie that they won’t have a job in the new year - people I know personally. I won’t go into how I feel about the politics of the restructure - truth is, I think it’s both a positive and a negative move (questionable timing) in an uncertain and strained economy - and that’s not just me pursuing the righteousnous of a balanced argument.
I survived the cut. My new position hasn’t “officially” been announced so I won’t say what it is, but I have a job. And in light of this, I’m extremely grateful for my lot. I have a job. I have a great family - beautiful daughter and gentle, invested husband. Live in a great community in a fortunate country. Live small - modest mortgage, one credit card we pay off every month. Scout is playing “fishies” with a magnet and some steel paperclips. Entertains herself for hours in the spirit of low maintenance.
And I feel survivor’s guilt for getting through and holding my family above the waterline of mere “existing”. I know I’m a worthy (read: indispensable…. NOT!) employee with transferable skills which holds me in good stead, but I doubt that anyone is truly safe. And for a part-time worker with family obligations I find myself in a very delicate state and one that sometimes threatens to overwhelm me with melancholy and acute fears of loss. What if I lost my job? What if McG lost his job? What if something happened that upset the fabric of our current lives? All irrational fears but I feel an aura on the streets of restrained panic underpinned by pragmatism that such a downturn won’t last forever.
My masseuse got me to pick a card out of her tarot deck (gotta love my holistic hippie healer!) and I chose “Kali”. Endings and Beginnings. These things don’t ordinarily resonate with me but it finetuned how I felt about the things going on around me. She also saw a pink aura around my head, meaning “Love” (apparently). Also apt, because if I have nothing else in my life, I will have Love.
Santa's Scamp
3 December 2008, 17:55
Permanent Link | Comments [2]
