Today is my first birthday since Olivier died and I have been dreading it. Usually Olivier would greet me with “Joyeux anniversaire cherie’’ and hand me his gift while I was still in bed. I would kiss him ardently and unwrap his offering in great excitement. It took a good three years for him to […]
My own Joyeux anniversaire
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Roses to bring Magic to Memorial Garden
It’s Thursday, July 19 and I am about to begin colouring in my garden. I have donned by new gardening gloves and am busy working in my fledgling hillside garden with a good friend, who has brought a box full of seaside daisies, which we hope will cover the bare ground up here. The hillside […]
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Local Community Life Lifts the Sad Spirit
The first rule for travelling with grief (because it is impossible to shrug off the process) is to get out of the house regularly. Friends have been fabulous taking me to small social events, but it is a bigger step to take oneself out of the house and do something alone. Puppy Oscar has been […]
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My new grand-daughter
Joyful news at last! On July 26, a new grand-daughter was born to great excitement and I share this amazing family event in two articles – Sweet Scarlett Sweeps Sadness Aside and an emotional piece Grief, Joy – a Strange Emotional Mix. I am now one year older and my own “Joyeux Anniversaire’’ triggered yet […]
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Sweet Scarlett Rose sweeps sadness aside
Joy of Joys! I am a grandmother again because today my daughter-in-law Vanessa gave birth to a daughter, making my son, Tyson, a first-time father. Our happiness at this safe delivery of Scarlett Rose Williams has swept the sadness of husband Olivier’s recent death under the carpet. (It would be naive to think that my […]
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Scuttlebutt and sexism spices up French politics
France’s First Lady, Valerie Trierweiler has vowed to count to 10 before posting anymore tweets following the fallout when she sent a twitter which ruined the political chances of her rival, the French president’s former partner Segolene Royal. Trierweiler, who has been nicknamed Tweetweiler by the French media, has obviously been punished behind the closed […]
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Fizzy DSK drink shameful
Things are lurching from bad to worse in France with news that a fizzy drink with so-called aphrodisiac qualities has been launched under the initials of disgraced International Monetary Fund boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn. And the brew – Drink Safran Kiwi (DSK of course) is about to hit French nightclubs and is blatantly pitched towards the […]
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Sweden swings and Germany surprises
Intrepid world traveller Heather Caddick writes from Sweden, where her family now lives. “We are all steaming along and loving the Swedish summer, where intrepid Swedes have dumped tons of white sand to make sandy beaches along the pristine lakes….perfect for swimming, boating and just lazing around. We live between two lakes and it is […]
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Grief, joy, a strange emotional mix
What a strange juxtaposition of emotions my life has become. Husband’s death has plunged me into excruciating grief and now a beautiful new grand-daughter has been born lighting up my life like the floodlights at the AAMI stadium. I have swung like the big dipper from the sheer joy of handling the newborn to […]
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Police attend Joan’s protest
On and off-camera behaviour of zany comedian Joan Rivers invariably borders on the ridiculous, but news that she handcuffed herself to a shopping trolley sets new heights. A snippet of news from the United States reports that Joan was outraged when she discovered that a Costco store in a Los Angeles suburb refused to sell […]
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Blossoms everywhere herald Spring
What an idyllic beginning to Spring! September 1 dawns a delightful day. Azure blue, cloudless skies, balmy sunshine, soft breezes and a temperature which passes 20. After such a long, cold, wet winter, we surely rejoice at the warmth in the air, blossoming trees and choruses of chirping birds in the trees. For the first […]
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Love, Two Lipsticks and a Lover to be French!
My new habit of reading each morning and night has unlocked some delightful books in my bookshelf which have not been opened for years. Two, in particularly – both outrageously Francophilic – have whetted my appetite for returning to France in future. One is La Vie Parisienne by Australian journalist Janelle McCulloch, who once shared […]
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Be Happy Today
Here are some uplifting words for anyone feeling the weight of the passing years. I found the birthday card which has been in a drawer for years and now I send it to you to endorse those lovely feelings Spring brings. “Be happy today… Because growing older means You have more strength to share… More […]
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Boomers and their bags reveal gen gap.
Here is a light-bulb moment from baby boomer, Gilly Joschke, a teacher at Adelaide’s prestigious Seymour College. “I did an interesting activity with my year 8 students this week. I asked them to interview a significant woman in their life concerning what style of handbag best suited their personality and what they stuff/collect in their […]
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Boomers are chameleons in societal change
No-one told me book clubs were so interesting, not so much because of the books under discussion, but by the real life circumstances of the women attending. When my friend Glenda asked me to be a special guest at the meeting, when members would discuss my book From France With Love, I eagerly agreed as […]
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Prevention a Focus for New Cancer Centre
About half of all cancers are caused by lifestyle factors and behavioural change strategies could save lives, says South Australia’s Minister for Health and Ageing, John Hill. He was speaking at the opening of the new $29 million Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer, based at Flinders University Campus, which will be dedicated to discovering how […]
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Tutti Kids “beautiful” performers
It was a charming event entitled “Beautiful Me, Beautiful Us Caberet when Tutti Kids, children with intellectual disabilities performed at Novita Theatre, Regency Park recently. I had seen Hot Tutti perform a few times at public events and Olivier and I had heard them sing at a private Australia Day event back in […]
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CREATIVITY CREATES SUCCESS AND MONEY AFTER RETIREMENT
They call him the stick dresser and her a soap maker, but Doug Storton and Kaye Quinn reflect how a growing number of people find artistic success once they retire. Doug’s shepherd crooks and Kaye’s hand-crafted soaps are among an exciting gathering of works by South Australian designers and craftspeople at the new Studio D, […]
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Powerful Message of Peace Within
It was eerie déjà vu and I could hardly believe the words my friend was uttering at the end of the telephone. She was describing a painting she had bought many years ago of a magnificent horse standing on the top of a hill and underneath were the words “Be Still And Know That I […]
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Pink heralds pretty Spring garden
My new garden is a picture of pink blooms in its first Spring. Pink roses flower prolifically, countless pink field carnations, chorus-like, nod in the wind and a border of pink daisies form a splash of colour against the pittosporum hedge. I pinch myself each morning that somehow 12 months after this plot of land […]
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