Tales from the kitchen
Tag: family wellbeing
Building a longer table
This morning I spent a number of hours talking to someone I'd never previously met about Dinner on the Table. You'll be surprised to know that it's one of my favourite things to talk about. We talked about lots of different aspects of this little idea. But when I boil it down in my mind what we're really talking about is the building of a community. For us, it's a community around a table.
Making the most of it...
With this unseasonably warm (well, weird really) weather, we have felt that we should make the most of the warm afternoons. We dutifully planned a weekend trip to the park. It seemed such a good idea. Turns out it wasn't really.
Nowhere without each other
I mentioned last week my difficulties with a car key that snapped in half, leaving a stump on my key ring. Handily, the stump still locks and unlocks the car. It just doesn't have the bit that actually drives it...
A community conversation
Early Thursday evening I found myself explaining to someone, "I'm in a bit of a hurry. I have a whole lot of people coming for dinner. I don't know who they are all are, or how many places to set at the table."
Eight people sat down to share a meal, and I had met most (but not all) of them before. They had never met each other. We had a disparate of group of people, who, thankfully, had nothing better to do on a Thursday night, and decided to come and have dinner with a group of perfect strangers...
We care about maternal mental health
This Wednesday 4 May is the first ever global Maternal Mental Health Day, a worldwide effort to raise awareness for maternal mental health issues so that more women will get treatment and fewer will suffer.
The great muster
Living in community can be challenging. This is perhaps made more particularly so when you live in community with those who know you best. Those with whom you have spent extensive amounts of time. Basically, those you are related to.
With the long weekend looming we decided to get out of Sydney for a few days. We sought wide open spaces, and green pastures. We found a three bedroom, two bathroom house with the most magnificent view. We found 200 acres of wide open space. And when we arrived, there were eleven other people to share it with.
Getting out into the great outdoors
We're routinely told it is good for juniors to be active and spend time outdoors. Too right. And so we thought to do just that. A trip to the park, a ride on the bikes, throw in a few cousins and you pretty much have junior-recipe-tester nirvana.
Drink bottles. Check. Morning tea. Check. Hats and sunscreen. Check, check. Bikes. ...Ah.
Ultra-marathon for the under-aged
Despite their enthusiasm for public transport of all persuasions, this adventure wasn't the juniors' fault. Generally, school holiday outings involve one kind of public transport, an icecream, and everyone's happy. Yesterday we accidentally ended up on an ultramarathon. At a couple of points I wondered whether we'd ever make it home. So did the juniors.
What's in it for me?
This week I met with someone from a large disability organisation. We discussed Dinner on the Table (now there's a news flash for you), what we do, and what our goals are. We discussed the possibilities of a partnership between our two services. Quite appropriately, the question was raised: what's in it for us?