I’m firmly entrenched in a post-Christmas/midsummer haze of test cricket, soaring temperatures and boundless little boy energy.
The holidays were…fantastic.
I don’t know that I’ve ever thought, spoken or written that particular combination of those four words before. But this year was something special with family visiting and a proper American Thanksgiving and a gaggle of young [...]
Archive for 2009
It’s that time of year when the world falls in love
I’m not typically a fan of the old fashioned Christmas carols, especially those of a religious nature. While I’m fully aware that Jesus is the reason for the season, I take my Christmas without much Christ. But for the past week or so, I’ve really been bopping along to Frank Sinatra’s contribution to the holiday [...]
Soon the sleigh was flashing past, right over Marble Bar
I’ve been trying for a few weeks to get a decent picture of both boys for my office. This, seemingly, is an impossible task. I can get photos in which one of them looks good – looking at the camera with a smile of sorts – but none in which they both look good. Typically [...]
Ramble up the stairwell, into the hall of books
As I was walking by the university library on my way to lunch today the automatic door slid open, temporarily smothering me in luscious air condition and that particular smell of library. I stopped in my tracks, caught in a Proustian flashback.
I’ve always been most comfortable in libraries. In Junior High school, my best friend and I used [...]
The ice is thick and my feet are clamped, I know how my cards are stacked
I made a resolution this year to try and suppress my natural Grinchy tendencies. Now that I have two young boys around, Christmas is going to start to become less about me being grumpy and self-indulgently miserable and more about them being smitten with Christmas magic.
They’re both still too young to properly appreciate Christmas, but I’m [...]
Beware the demon bowler
I want to get off of our canine tragedy and talk a bit about the rest of our makeshift family holiday. Starting at the end with the cricket on Sunday. Dr.O’C and I took the boys to the third day of the second test between Australia and the West Indies. I had hoped to wow and woo you [...]
What will be your look this season?
Thanks to all of you who sent me e-mails and to those of you who recognized my need for quiet. I closed comments on that last post because there was a certain theme of commentary that I just didn’t need to read. Somehow, probably through some of my science posts, I’ve attracted some militant animal [...]
Somethin’ filled up my heart with nothin’, someone told me not to cry.
It was an idyllic scene. Walking the beach at Carrickalinga in the late afternoon sunshine, the remnants of the previous days’ storm surge crashing onto the golden sand. My parents, grandmother, Boy Z, Timmins and I strolling along the beach, intermittently tossing a ball to the dog. The sound of Boy Z’s laughter and the [...]
All the kids want to be big city kids
Sydney really is the crown jewel of Australia – a stunning, cosmopolitan city abuzz with activity. It is alive, pulsing, racing with activity. It is gaudy in it’s beauty – almost unfair that one city has so much glamour. From the moment we stepped off the plane, our mouths were gaping in awe at one [...]
So in the end I’d like to say, that I’m a very thankful man
I grew up with distant Grandparents. Not emotionally – they were wonderful when we had a chance to see them – but physically. Our family was nomadic for much of the 70’s, and our wanderings took us far from my parents’ parents. What this meant is that my sister and I saw our grandparents a couple [...]
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