Rambles from World's End

There is one lesson I believe is very important to teach my children and that is the importance of seeing something through to the end.   When the Butterfly asks to do something that will take time and dedication I always make a point of telling her she has to finish what she begins. I do not believe that she will learn anything if she does not follow through to the end. Which is not to say she doesn’t try to get out of things, like mopping the kitchen floor, once she starts and realises it’s a lot harder than it looks.   When she was little, I was happy to help her finish, but now with her at school  whatever she starts she has no choice but to finish on her own. Last cricket season the Butterfly was very eager to play cricket but half way through the season she began to make noises about not playing. Now as much as I would have been very happy to have my Saturday mornings back I dug in my heels and told her she had to see the season through. My main point was...

As one daughter leaves her baby years behind the other hurtles through the terrible twos with the speed and force of a tropical cyclone. What a handful of nonsense our beautiful calm little Lollipop has become In company she retreats into herself and climbs onto my lap to bury her head in my neck in the hopes of not been seen by strangers. Or, with some coaxing, she will sit with her sister in her bedroom and play. But alone with her family she is almost unstoppable. The neighbour’s cat has begrudgingly given up his sunning spot on our trampoline because the Lollipop has trapped him in there a few too many times. In her delight and eagerness to touch the cat, I think she has almost dislocated his tail or maybe dug an eye out. Fortunately for her he is a placid old boy who never retaliates, just tried to run away. She had figured out that to get into her sister's room where all the fun stuff, like felt tip pens and paints are, she just has to pull down the door handle. To ...

It’s the beginning of the October school holidays; I should be relaxed and looking forward to stress-free mornings and no packed lunches. But I’m tense and in limbo I am expecting rain and cabin fever, lots of fighting and far too much children’s television. In my desire to put off opening the curtains and see the rain I began to unpack the dishes from a dishwasher I had forgotten to switch on the night before. “Here please take your juice.” I said to the Butterfly while I tried to disengage my leg from a Lollipop who was insisting on a chocolate at six in the morning! To which she calmly replied “Actually mum I am guessing that’s actually Papa’s coffee you’re giving me!” I put the kettle in the fridge, who hasn’t? I filled the sugar bowl with rice, tried to dress the Lollipop in the Butterfly’s clothes and even put my underwear in the Butterfly’s draw. I took the wrong trolley babies and all while their mother happily filled my trolley with her shopping. I gave the Mauritian...

It is a lazy Sunday morning; it is a warm spring day. The girls are squealing at each other as they run through the sprinkler enjoying the feel of icy water on sun warmed skin. The kettle is boiling, the dishwasher is thumping, and the washing machine is hissing the housework never stops. The Mauritian is slouched on the sofa listening to “Ole Blue Eyes” as he beseeches “Come Fly with Me” through custom-built loudspeakers. I should be attending to the mountain of unsorted laundry that has accumulated this past week but such gorgeous weather finds me outside in the sun reflecting on life and living. I should be playing mother and satisfying the hunger of my two children but I am too content to move. I would not have believed it if I had been told that one day I would be this happy, that life, as complicated as it is, would ever be this good. Now don’t get me wrong there are days when I could quite easily chuck it all in and become a hermit. There are times when things are just to...