BEWARE… she might be lurking around…. — Isn’t she lovely? Everybody else’s Mom. Why can’t you be just like her? Here’s a poem to help you in the identification process. Preface: When our daughter was going through her teen years, I vowed and declared I’d write a book about everybody else’s mother. …

The realities of hair on your head… — Just for clarity, “the average life of a hair is between 2 and 7 years, and each hair follicle produces a new hair.” Which basically means we are constantly shedding. My husband has only recently become cognizant of this. That’s because he is responsible for cleaning the vacuum stick. Due…

YOU could end up being the star in their next book… — Over a two-year period I had envisaged the perfect pair for my story. Neither could know each other. Each had to be likeable in their own ways. And a few idiosyncrasies wouldn’t go astray. It was important that they become a perfect foil for one another. I had the mother…

Any alterations to the curriculum “are to be highlighted and explained with an Asterix”. Could he do it? Could Asterix possibly win the day? — This really happened. And nobody said a word. No feedback at all, except that our stage, our team, was the only team not required to make any changes after our programs had been appraised. That’s what happens when you follow instructions to a T! Registration fever

People constantly giving us a wide berth. What crime have we committed? — “The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” It’s correct. We are all still rats, but some of us bear the title with enough grace to sink a ship. For instance… I edited a piece of writing yesterday. …

Immediately a thunderclap of hush was heard. All eyes on the stage…one giggle at least…then we started… — In case you are reading this and have never heard of this amazing talent, let me introduce you to Thomas Lehrer. Born in in 1928, he was a highly-talented individual, a mathematician, singer, musician, songwriter, and satirist, who delighted in seeing the ridiculousness in a situation. Is it fair that…

We were over-the-moon grateful, but on second thoughts…OMG — Some years ago, we traveled to the Philippines. My husband was working there for a while, and I decided to spend a few weeks with him. Which is NOT what this story is about. It was an enlightening experience that we both enjoyed very much. I came home, returned to work, and life went on as before. Eventually…

But I will be soon. With Sydney’s race walker Heather Lee as my guiding light, the world truly is my oyster… — I say I’m not off to a good start, simply because my eyes are streaming, my throat hurts, and the head cold I thought I was experiencing yesterday, is now a full-blown infection. Due thanks to the woman who served me at the news agency two days ago. I should…

Just do it with humor and grace, and, prepare yourself for an unlikely surprise… — When we first came to Canberra, it was pretty much a one-horse town, with just a few pubs and restaurants, and a smattering of bottle shops. It presented more of a regional town, except for the parliamentary triangle, which has only grown and become more impressive over time. And then…

Just don’t make any waves. Here’s what you need to know — Unsplash usage rules, Terms and Conditions and the like have not changed. Just the surroundings (Getty Images). This article concerns using Unsplash in your Medium article-writing context. One important, not so evident, observation… When you access Unsplash from within your Medium article (using the Unsplash interface facility provided), you are doing so through Medium as the…

Writing on Medium is wonderful when an old friend gets in touch — Today was not such a good day, freezing cold, and we’re now fourteen days into summer. We have had ONE warm day so far. I was thinking about writing an ode to summer, a complaint, really, but the words didn’t come, so I went for a walk…always fixes things in…

Anatomy of Her Acronym — Who does your acronym say you are? Musical, but no virtuoso…maybe in another time another era…but maybe not. You need a lot of staying power and determination to be one of those. :) A late-starter marathoner, hooked from the first two km I ran without stopping. Ran my first marathon on Bougainville Island in PNG. Rattray by…

And for us kids, sometimes too, too funny! But were we the cause of the sudden heart attack? — Holy Hour at St. Paul’s was always conducted on a Sunday afternoon. The church was open for just one hour on that special day, and the idea was to go there and pray. …

Who gets the loudest applause? Why? — My first impression of a librarian as a child, was of this grim, unhelpful woman who made no effort to help me on my first visit to the library. She’d just given me my first library card, the key to all knowledge, so she knew I was a newbie, but…

‘Tis the season to be jolly…and to sing your heart out, even at the embarrassment of your sister… — As Christmas draws near… In every Christian school the highlight of the Christmas celebrations, is the nativity play, in my school always performed by the kindergarten students. As you might expect, there are no auditions. Some years you get lucky and the children sing relatively tunefully, but many don’t, which is fine because it’s…

And a bit of a fuddy-duddy…time to equal the score… — The inspiration for this story came from Michele Cambardella, a teacher who encountered some of her students when in hospital, everything a teacher dreads. I was also a teacher, and though I never taught with the principal I am about to write about, I knew him well. …

October Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Collections” — The Mistakes Of Life Made Manifest. Well Mary Chang you really had me thinking. Collections…from me? What collections? As someone who has quite recently embraced, a not-quite-minimalist form of minimalism, what on earth could I offer that would satisfy such a title? And then it came to me. It’s always the wine. As I drained the…

All was instantly hushed, as she slowly descended to take her place at the head of her table. Eyes met eyes, and the dinner chat, now changed somewhat, tentatively resumed — Please note: Though this is basically a true story, about a friend’s marriage, the names and location have been changed for obvious reasons. There was nothing particularly different about the invitation. Dinner parties were Charles’ forte, sometimes formal, but mostly not.

Why not check out this new kid…Gumroad? — I’ve written a few books, and they’re up on Amazon, via KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). Peacefully languishing…. Trouble is, no one checks them out. KDP has a promotional system (KDP Select), whereby every three months, Amazon will, at your direction, market your books as being free, for a short period of time. …

Lies travel quickly, so daringly bold — So it’s Sunday today, a day of rest, so what better to do than spend a few minutes engaging in a challenge passed onto me by Carole Olsen? I vaguely recall this as being something that was played many years ago, so I hope I don’t trip myself up on…