The first time you hear a kookaburra call is pretty damn spooky. Here, have a listen. But when I hear them now, cackling madly in the Australian sun, I sprint outside for a look. There’s something about these birds, something quintessentially Australian.
And in the height of the Australian summer, on the eve of Australia Day, [...]
Archive for the ‘USA’ Category
Oh, Your daddy’s rich and your mamma’s good lookin’
Who mistook the steak for chicken?
A couple of weeks ago I was cooking dinner, as I do most nights. We were having some sort of chicken dish and the recipe called for 250g (~1/2 lb) of chicken breast. I wandered over to the refrigerator, pulled out the twin pack of chicken breasts that Dr. O’C had picked up at the [...]
Don’t you see what life here has done to me?
28 Sep 2009 at 22:11
A Free Man
Australia, Britain, Country, Florida, Georgia, USA, expatica, politics
I feel, of late, that I’ve been veering uncontrollably into the Daddy Blogger genre. I guess that’s what a new baby and two weeks of paternity leave will do to a guy. This bothers me a bit, because one of the things that keeps me interested in blogging is trying to write about a wide [...]
Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the store…
I’ve been in Australia long enough now that the local accent is starting to sound normal. Of course, that’s made easier by the fact that I’ve been living with an Australian for eight years, but still a sign that I’m beginning to feel at home in my new home.
I’ve been thinking a lot about accents [...]
Strike one and strike two… I guess we’re both out.
Listening to Soundgarden’s final album today got me thinking about baseball.*
I grew up with an All-American boy’s passion for the American game. The players whose faces festooned my collection of baseball cards were like idols to me. Steve Garvey, Pete Rose, Willie Stargell, the Niekros – Phil and Joe – Ron Guidry, Don Sutton, George [...]
Come on, save my soul. I need some sugar in my bowl.
Like any good parent, I’m concerned about what I feed my kid. I’m not a zealot, I give the boy an occasional piece of chocolate or one of Dr. O’C’s oatmeal raisin cookies when she deigns to make them. But if there is one thing that I hate it is being screwed over by big [...]
Version six-point-oh of the American way
I wrote this on Monday, the day after the crime that evoked it. The post has sat in my drafts nagging at me since. I still don’t know if I want to post it but it is a few days later and I’m still angry, so what the hell. I asked Dr. O’C to read [...]
I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier
I’ve often been told that I have the face for radio. In fact, during my first stab at college I was briefly employed as a DJ in a Top 40 radio station in a neighboring town. Actually, I was employed for one whole day. I was hired to man the dials for the early morning [...]
And now I know there are no secret tricks
Those of you of a certain age may rememeber the Minneapolitan alt-rockers Soul Asylum. They hit it big in 1993 with their album “Grave Dancers Union” and the brilliantly marketed single “Runaway Train” – one way to get your song played to death on MTV is to turn the video into a PSA. They were [...]
If my family tree goes back to the Romans, then I will change my name to Jones
It has turned out to be a big week for the families of A Free Man and Dr. O’C. We’re spread pretty far and wide, but in a lot of ways are closer for that. Speaking for myself, I think I talk to my folks more now than I did when we lived geographically closer. [...]
courtney
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Coal Miner's Gran...
Irrational Dad
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What You’re Saying