I’m almost ashamed to turn up here today given how long I’ve neglected this poor blog! Well, I’ve had a good reason for the long absence – I’ve been working on the Great American Canine Novel! In fact, I’m on the home stretch now and starting the last chapter today. It’s been a tough slog … Continue reading »
* I apologise in advance to any male readers for this very “girlie” (and probably extremely boring) post! So I’ve finally gone and done it. Last week, I took myself off to a Japanese hair salon I’d found in downtown Perth and 4 hours, 2 stylists, 3 dozen rollers and several gallons of chemicals later, … Continue reading »
I had one of those moments, a couple of weekends ago, when I realised something scary about myself: I’m getting old. No, don’t laugh! I know half of you are probably thinking – what is she going on about?? Yeah, I’m in my late 30′s and I know that’s hardly considered “old”…but it was more … Continue reading »
OK, so we’ve only been in Perth about 4 weeks so I suppose I can’t really talk yet – I guess the title of this post should really have been “- the good, the bad and the ugly…SO FAR!” Well, so far, we are just LOVING Perth! It seems to have all the things that … Continue reading »
So – 3 weeks ago – we finally left Sydney to make our big (and hopefully last!) move…here to Perth, in Western Australia. Anyone who has been following my dog, Honey’s blog, will know that I have not been a happy bunny during our year in Sydney and I could not wait to leave it … Continue reading »
Fluffy white clouds in a brilliant blue sky; sunshine dazzling through the windshield and reflecting off the sunglasses of the man crossing the street, his shorts and flip-flops still caked with sand from the beach…and in the car, Bing Crosby’s voice crooning from the radio: “I’m drea-ming of a Whi-te Christmas…” Yes, welcome to a … Continue reading »
For all those who have loyally stuck by me on this poor, neglected blog – a Merry Christmas and big thank you! As usual, when things get chaotic, my time gets prioritised towards everything else and this blog comes last – I’ve had so many things I wanted to tell you about, such as the … Continue reading »
There’s a Young Adult book series that I really like called Gone by Michael Grant – the basic premise is that all adults & anyone over age 15 just suddenly disappear one day in a seaside town in California and the remaining kids find that they are “trapped” inside this 20 mile dome by a … Continue reading »
You know the expression – “You can take the girl out of Taiwan but you can’t take Taiwan out of the girl..”? Well, for someone who has grown up and lived most of her life in “the West” – and who is considered pretty Westernised - I’m still often surprised by little things that crop … Continue reading »
Thanks, everybody, for your lovely comments to my last post. It’s really heartwarming to feel your support. It’s been a bit weird because on the one hand, it’s quite hard to go on as normal, pretending that nothing has happened…but on the other hand, you don’t really feel like constantly talking about it either. Although … Continue reading »
Do you ever get one of those days when you just feel like you hate everything and everybody? I do. I have days like that every so often when everyone and everything around me just gets on my nerves. Even if they’re not doing anything. Even if they’re being perfectly nice. I just feel all … Continue reading »
My suitcase was finally shut, all the shopping crammed in; my passport and ticket ready for my flight home to Australia the next day. Now I was just looking forward to enjoying one more delicious dinner with my mother in one of Taipei’s wonderful restaurants… But my mother had other ideas. “We go do bai-bai,” … Continue reading »
Wow. Thank you so much to everybody for all your lovely comments in response to my last post and for your empathy and support - gosh, I never realised there were so many “cold fish” like me out there! And sorry for the long absence on this blog (sigh – sometimes I wonder if I … Continue reading »
So I had a pretty harrowing week, last week. Most of you probably follow my Great Dane, Honey’s blog so you’ll know about her emergency visit to hospital for acute glaucoma. (She’s fine now, by the way – back home and completely forgotten about her ordeal and adapting really well to having lost the vision … Continue reading »
I had to laugh a couple of posts ago – when I was talking about the crowded, noisy atmosphere of Taipei – and Melanie, one of my long-time readers and friends, commented that she was hyperventilating just at the thought of all the noise, traffic and people there… It’s funny because while I share her … Continue reading »
As promised, here are some of the delicious things that were keeping my stomach busy during my recent trip to Taiwan! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I left every restaurant … Continue reading »
So I’ve been telling you lots about my mother’s obsession with shopping. What I haven’t told you is that most of the time, she isn’t buying stuff for herself. What she really enjoys is buying things for others, specifically her children. Now, it was easy to indulge her when we were all still living at … Continue reading »
You know, whenever you come back from travelling overseas – even if it was not really for a “holiday” – there is always that moment when you thump back down to earth. It’s true what they say about “a change being as good as a break” and even just being away from your usual mundane … Continue reading »
Spending a couple of weeks in hospital can be a horrible experience but my mother & I were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves in a really unusual, lovely place… My mother hadn’t told me much about the hospital other than that it was “special” and in the South Taiwan countryside – she had picked it … Continue reading »
There are a few things that always tell me I’m back in Asia: that wall of humid heat which smacks you in the face like a warm, wet hand; the general hubub of noise that fills the air beneath the jungle of flashing neon signs; the tantalising aromas of exotic dishes wafting out from street … Continue reading »
