Trip the life fandango

What is coronavirus? Leighton: Fooga Booga Ro: Dreariness Huon: A new disease that is very bad. It is very bad because it is new and spreads easily and if you get it you dont feel it at first, and if you do get it you can die except if you are a kid. Jethro: Conjunctivitis (took him about a month and a half to realise conjuctivitis wasn't coronavirus). A thing that can make you die and make you sick. Is that right? Beatrix: Ahhmmm. What do you think about social distancing? Leighton: Default setting Ro: Pretty much life as usual. Huon: Not fun Jethro: Fooga Booga (thanks Leighton). Beatrix: Booga-booga What do you miss from your pre-virus life? Leighton: My bus time. Ro: School. But not the school pick-ups. Huon: Going to Questacon and going near friends on the weekend if i see them. Jethro: Fooga-booga Beatrix: Booga-booga Positives of coronavirus life? What would you like to keep from our coronavirus life? Leighton: All the time close together, working fr

16th  April 2020 The last few weeks have been filled with plenty of ups and lots and lots of downs. Nimbin Street Nursery turned into the Nimbin St Nightmare, with both Huon and I unable to navigate the change of roles throughout the day, and he increasingly rebelled against engaging with school work. I was left feeling frustrated and unable to effectively deal with the other responsibilities on my plate, like the other two children and housework. Things deteriorated to the point where were decided to take the alternative strategy of placing him in the bedroom with Leighton to sit and do his at a little table. Thankfully Easter arrived and not a moment too soon, and has given us the opportunity to have a little break from banging heads hopefully it will give us a little reset. Huon is not missing his studies and it is nice being able to do things all together again. We've been playing lots of games (My First Carcasson, Squatter, Queendomino), doing the odd puzzles, walking to t

26 March 2020 We survived the relocation, the smoke, the fires, the heatwaves, and the hailstorm of 2019/2020, and now we find ourselves under siege yet again with the mind-bending reality of a global pandemic. The isolation thus far isn't so hard for us to bear, as we have relatively socially isolated lives in Canberra thus far anyway, but there are difficulties in keeping 3 children at home and content, whilst allowing for a reasonable work environment for Leighton down the short hall. Until last Friday Huon was attending school, but with a possible visit from Nana and WongaPa and ever increasing number of cases, we decided to stop sending the kids to school/preschool. Once we made that decision it put me much more at ease, rather than constantly questioning the safety of doing so and the government's rational for keeping schools open. As it so happened, ACT schools were effectively closed on the Tuesday due to "pupil free" days until the Easter holidays, so it

After such a torrid beginning to 2020, the new school year was met with relief by all. Finally we all had a focus and meaning to our days, rather than staggering around trapped by smoke, heat and fits of depression. Jethro had his first day of preschool at Narrabundah Early Learning Centre, and found himself in the Grass Parrot room, with teachers Kim and Kris. From day one there was no looking back, and he has been enthusiastic about going and seems to be enjoying the whole process of institutionalisation, which surprised me a little! He is refusing to wear the school uniform t-shirt, preferring to be his own man with his own identity and clothes, but the uniform isn't mandatory for preschoolers so thankfully I don't have to pressure him at all. The first week was a little comic as he was so tired by the end of the day that he would transform in to a little rage monkey and the smallest thing would set him off in the most spectacular fashion, though thankfully it was so trans

After 10 years in Vancouver we have found ourselves washed up in Canberra with three kids, it is 2020, and this blog is an attempt to understand who we are, why we are here and to document our path forward. To date I feel that life has just happened to us in a mostly passive way, maybe that is just a part of who we are, which is fine, so long as it is not simply apathy and submission. Life is not a fait accompli, so maybe a little more consciousness from us to try and bend it towards a path we would like to take is something we should aim for. During this recent difficult transition period of adapting to Canberra, I feel that many little moments of joy, inspiration and fun have been missed, overlooked and forgotten, so I'm hoping that this blog will help us to recognise those times, and demonstrate life isn't all drudgery (even though it sometimes feels it is), and encourage us to find more excitement, challenges and ways to enjoy life. So, who are we currently?  Mama -