Happy Birthday, Tommy

An extra-special post today, to honour my father-in-law, who turns 83 today. My in-laws love to tell stories, it's one of the many things I love about them. Tommy, my father-in-law, brought the family out here from Liverpool 51 years ago, and they were followed by other members of his family. My head is filled …

In deepest suburbia

I live in a "master-planned community". I use the quotes because as I drive around I frequently wonder what the master plan is, exactly. Community is clearly the last thing that was considered. There are few communal spaces and those that exist are primarily parks. Don't get me wrong, I love parks...but parks + shopping malls …

Family ties

  Some thoughts about family at Christmastime My baby sister is home! I say 'baby'...she's 5'10", 40 and an accomplished professional who has travelled the world and runs half marathons in her spare time. A part of me will always think of her as the little blue-eyed blonde-haired demon child that ate my hoarded sweets, got me …

That’s not funny

Once I wrote a fairy tale about a Princess cursed with the possession of a mirror that showed her how she appeared in other people's eyes, and it drove her to the brink of madness. It was a reminder to myself not to care so much what people think. It didn't work: I still care …