November
November. The first frost on the last leaves, the shelves full of bulbous root vegetables you can only sprinkle liberally with salt and roast, the beginning of a long time… Continue Reading
North Germany, Schleswig-Holstein
A Postcard from Holm, Schleswig
My friend once told me the loveliest story of her Dad visiting a village here in Germany. He didn’t think it could possibly be real and, as if he were… Continue Reading
Shelter
In late summer, the hydrangeas fade, bleached by the sun. Instead of those impossible 1950s blues and purples that always remind me of my grandmothers, they look like they have… Continue Reading
North Germany, Schleswig-Holstein
A Postcard from Schloss Gottorf
A few months ago, on a trip to our regular animal park, we went into one of the houses that form a village the park has recreated. With mud walls… Continue Reading
North Germany, Schleswig-Holstein
A Postcard from Tönning
Back to the west coast, this time to an aquarium in the little town of Tönning. While Tönning itself is little, it plays a central role in one of Schleswig-Holstein’s… Continue Reading
North Germany, Schleswig-Holstein
A Postcard from Friedrichstadt
Schleswig-Holstein’s west coast has, despite living here for six years now, eluded me somewhat. We’re strict east coast people when it comes to going to the beach, the little enclaves… Continue Reading
North Germany, Schleswig-Holstein
A Postcard from Steilküste Schwedeneck
There is a place up here where the trees have caught the wind, trapped it in their trunks. It isn’t easy to catch the wind and hold it – it’s… Continue Reading
Now I Climb Rocks – Available for Purchase!
It isn’t a huge book, numbering only 140 pages. It feels, having finished it, both compact and full. It picks up, almost, where Heimat left off but deals with very… Continue Reading
Fires & Floods
When we booked our tickets for this trip, the fires had just started. As September rolled into October, family marked themselves safe on Facebook, and the Australian media began rolling… Continue Reading
Now I Climb Rocks
‘I found something rather unexpected as I peeled back the layers and peered at what pulsed beneath. I thought my foreignness was the ink in the water, but that wasn’t… Continue Reading
The Bones
I wrote this before the fires began, before the wolf came, as promised, to our door. * We will give our children the bones The bad bones, hollow, poorly formed…. Continue Reading
Still Here
Phew, it has been a minute. October seemed to barge in and suddenly we were knee deep in leaves and soggy grey mornings. Not warm, not cold, just eleven degrees… Continue Reading
Strawberry Plants
Strawberry plants throw out arms, long skinny things that carry a brave little cluster of leaves, sent out to try somewhere new, to another, nearby location, where it can then… Continue Reading
On Writing
I have been writing, in amongst the daily mess of kids and a household and work. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I have been. The collection of essays… Continue Reading
Established
A few weeks after we moved into our new house, my parents came to visit. The boxes had been unpacked and the rooms set up – for now – and… Continue Reading
Eingewöhnung
I spent the first fortnight of this month in kindergarten. The first week, I was there Monday to Friday from 8.30 until around 11am, the second week until 1pm. The… Continue Reading
Not Frail, but Stubborn
There are days in April when the sky stands over you and empties herself of winter. Sleet, rain, hail, gusts of ungodly wind. All of it comes out in bursts… Continue Reading
What If You Don’t Like the Earth?
My four-year-old daughter, after a lengthy interest in pregnancy and birth, has now turned her considerable attention to death. I thought I might have had a couple more years up… Continue Reading
Of Stories & Connections
One of my house plants – they all survived – has brand new, bright green new shoots. My kids put their tracksuit pants on, and all pairs they seem to… Continue Reading
Sharp Relief
Things I always notice when I’m back home in summer: how hot the carparks are, the sun bouncing off the asphalt and burning through the soles of your thongs. How… Continue Reading