IMG_8057Today is Not Max’s first birthday and I’m stuck in Whyalla, which smells remarkably like industrial solvents, diesel fuel and government money. Not stuck exactly, but on the other side of the state from my family. Story of my life right now. I love my job but she’s a needy mistress this semester, draining my time and energy like a succubus. So, happy birthday from a distance wee boy. Well done on managing to make it through a year despite paternal ambivalence and fraternal abuse.

Today is also the first day of Spring in Australia and it’s about damn time. We don’t have snow or frost but we get an endless barrage of rain and the other thing we don’t have is central heating. It is grey and rainy again today but the hope of sunshine and days at the beach in the not too distant keeping me sane in these lingering days of muddy kids and nights spent huddled around the fire.

This blog has been another victim of my career affair. My last post was nearly a month ago. And the only reason I’ve made the time today is fatherly guilt over missing the birthday of one of my spawn. And all I’ve really got in me, with a diesel fuel headache and a stunning view of endless red dirt and scraggly gum trees is a feeble family update.

100_8636We’re getting a new dog. Because of what happened with our last dog, we’ve opted for the dull, but reliably family friendly, Labrador Retriever. When asked to choose between the two handsome fellows to the right, Boy Z chose, as boys do, ‘the BIG one’. Apparently he’s going to be called “Woody” (as in Toy Story). But that’s better than “Wags”, which was Boy Z’s original preference.

Speaking of Wags, I’m going to climb out on to the loser limb and tell you how much I’m enjoying The Wiggles. Maybe it is my love of my new home, but these four aging Aussie gents and their ‘animal’ posse make me smile. And they do make one feel like dancing. One of the joys of being housebound in a rainy Australian winter evening is the joy that comes from dancing to “Old Dan Tucker” with the boys. That being said, if I have to watch the tea party song one more time, I might just change my opinion. Boy Z’s going to see The Wiggles when they come to Adelaide with his Nana and I’ve got to admit that I’m a little jealous.

    IMG_8077I’m done. In more than one way, actually. I’m coming down with one of the endless string of winter ailments that the boys bring home and sitting here in the Whyalla visiting faculty office I’m just out of steam. The early morning lectures, working at home late into the evenings, the travel and the hundreds of students have just gotten me to the point that I’m ready to collapse. Sixteen days until Spring Break.

    But Happy Birthday, Boy #2. We’ve had kind of a rough road, the two of us, but I still get a big smile from you every time I walk into a room so I think we’re bonding a bit. A year in. Sorry to miss this one, but I’m pretty sure you’re not going to remember it. And we’ve got heaps more to come.

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    The Wiggles “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” is available from You.

     
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