She is poised right on the edge, face illuminated in the sunlight and her smile about to bubble over into an exhilarated giggle. One breathless “look at me mama” and she is gone, tearing down the sand dune and landing in a tumbling pile of joy 30 metres down the hill. We are sandboarding the largest shifting dunes in the southern hemisphere. ... View the Post

She is ambling slowly down the path when I feel the words start forming on my lips. “Come on. Hurry up. Let’s go.” I look back at her, and I do not say them. She is leaning over, literally stopping to smell the flowers. If that isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is. This change of pace has made me conscious of how much I rush through ... View the Post

The bowerbird collects shiny things, and layers them all around its nest. I get that. You could even say it was my spirit animal for a while there. I am actually picturing a beautiful, glittery, feathery, sparkly nest right now and thinking how lovely it sounds. Wait, I feel like I am heading in the wrong direction. Minimalism. That's where ... View the Post

Brave and optimistic. That’s what plucky means. It’s what we are aiming for, every moment. A few months ago it hit me that we were tired and busy. All the time. We rushed everywhere, as if that were something to aspire to. We hurried to school, to work, to the shops, back to the suburbs, to dinner and to sleep. Existing. I kept thinking there ... View the Post