Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Summer is a comin' in...

I guess the weather is a bit bizarre all over the place these days (They announced snow AND bushfires here last week...) but finally after a few cold snaps and some rain, we're getting those balmy evenings here in Oz, and as luck would have it, The Ashes starts on Thursday! How's that for a summer feeling?!! Nice...

Yep, Freddie and the boys have landed and after a slightly wobbly start the oldest cricket rivalry will soon be under way and I for one will start that long, slow, slide into enjoying one of the more sedate spectator sports. In what other sport can you say "Just popping out to watch the match love!" and come home five days later? All I need to do is figure out how I'm going to get Aggers and the team on Test Match Special over the Internet here in Oz...

As you've probably noticed, it's nearly Christmas. We're having to be a bit more organised this year as the postal situation has changed a little. It definitely doesn't feel right, shorts and sunglasses on, trudging round shops that are all decked out in tinsel with pictures of frosted windows and robins all over the place. Weird or what. I'll have to admit that I'm already missing the idea of Christmas dinner and watching the Bond movie in the afternoon but I'm sure we'll have a blast over at cousin Dave's.

Young Mr.D has continued to keep us busy from dusk 'till dawn. He's well into his swimming lessons now and is loving every minute of it and day-care seems to keep him entertained with lots of new things to try. Actually, that said, the poor guy has another ear infection today and was feeling a bit feverish at 4am, and 5am and 6am this morning. (Apparently four ear infections by their second birthday is about average. Phew) He is now starting to entertain us quite a bit and can do a "two year old's rendition" of Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Now I Know My ABC among other favourites. He's good on names too and insists that Grandpa's name is Grand Peter. Sounds more like a Womble to me...

Monday, November 13, 2006

This week we have mostly...

...been messing about...

...sticking stamps on our heads...



...nicking "dollars" from Dad's wallet...


...and having puppy dog faces...

Oh yea, and it's nearly Christmas and 30C. Go figure...???

Sunday, November 05, 2006

How much is your gopher wood now?

It started raining on Friday. It's now Sunday. It's still raining. The forecast is not ideal until at least Tuesday and while most Aussies will be celebrating the fact as NSW is suffering a serious drought, our unlucky friends, Lorna and Graeme decided to visit us from London this week on the long way round to South Africa! Fortunately, we did managed to make the best of it and had a pretty good weekend all round. On Friday night we had a nice meal at our place with one or two beers out on the decking and some good catching up into the small hours. A lot stories and a lot of laughs to be sure...

On Saturday night Isy and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary with a superb meal at one of Sydney's finest restaurants, Aria on circular quay. The food was fantastic, the drink was a little extravagant and the atmosphere was great. (We even managed to spot the Edradour single malt - The smallest distillery in Scotland which we've visited and loved!) Our night out did mean that young Dylan had to spend his first night away from us (ever!) and slept at good ol' David, Tina and Francesca's place. After some initial tears he was fine and came through unscathed. Not so sure about us though :-)

Sunday saw us all head down to Bondi for a brisk walk across the headland and look at some open-air sculptures. The surf was up and one or two of the more extreme surfers were out doing their thing (pic).







Other muppets were out running around in the windy weather, doing their thing...