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March 30, 2006
Show off
Dominic is one of my oldest and crankiest friends. If you are anywhere near the Blue Mountains in April then you should be popping along to Springwood where he and three fellow artists will be exhibiting their work at Braemer gallery.
Posted by Faith at 11:58 PM | Comments (0)
March 29, 2006
Yes, we have no bananas
It doesn't bear contemplating. Life without bananas.
As the parent of any child between 6 months and 4 will tell you, harmony and happiness and a decent night's sleep all revolve around the provision of an appropriate number of bananas per day. While the government and number-crunchers are concerned about the economic implications of the loss of 80% of this year's banana crop due to Cyclone Larry a far greater problem lurks in the suburbs.
Toddlers are renowned for their inability to be reasonable about things. They don't like changes. Their daily banana has to be delivered on time, in the manner they expect, when they expect it. I don't think long-winded explanations about cyclones are going to cut it. Even if we do throw in the bit about the butterfly, the pretty diagrams and chaos.
And the suggestion that a child expecting a banana might then be content with a pear or apple is just downright embarassing in its ignorance. The price of bananas has quadrupled in the past few days. At this rate Jacob's weekly banana-bill is going to cost more than his day care.
(As I mentioned below I have removed the comments facility, you can email comments to you-know-where)
Posted by Faith at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2006
Weird round ball
Monday morning I was online for the priority sales of tickets to the Socceroos vs Greece at the MCG in May. I'm not the worlds' greatest soccer fan, it is after all only slightly more action-packed than cricket, but this will be worth going to for several reasons.
As the last match of the Soceroos before they head off to Germany for the FIFA World Cup the crowd will be besides themselves with joyful anticipation. As the third largest Greek city in the world (including Greece, where only Athens and Thesalonika have more Greeks than we do) Melbourne is THE place to hold this game. The MCG can hold 100,000 people. I don't think its going to be big enough.
Its amazing the extent to which soccer has become popular in the five years we've been away. Before I left it was a game that you knew existed but didn't have anywhere near the following of real football. (not that I'm into either). You knew all the southern and eastern europeans living here played it but it had no visibility or credibility with the general public and as far as the business-end of sport went in Australia was a non-starter.
Now, you have to fight for a ticket to a venue that can seat 100,000, there's a national league of sorts and the volume of juniors-in-training is apparently, going to give the rest-of-the-world a big shock in a few years. Who'd have thought! And with such an odd shaped ball too?
(As I mentioned below I have removed the comments facility, you can email comments to you-know-where)
Posted by Faith at 05:00 AM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2006
Jet and Dixie
Starting a new thing here.........boys-and-their-dogs. Our friends Jayce and Brendan sent us this photo of Jet, their son and Dixie their beagle. Hi Jet!
Posted by Faith at 11:26 PM | Comments (0)
Autumn
It's autumn here now and the cooler weather is really kicking in with 30+ temperatures for the last four days. Can you hear the sarcasm?
Yesterday we spent a long afternoon gorging ourselves with food and drink and watching a rogue gang of 2-3 year olds tear the place apart. Sitting on the deck with mum, Judy, Kees, John, Abby, Peter and Michelle, and not to forget, Jacob, Queenie, Esther, Beatrice and little-not-so-little Charlie, we wore ourselves out with a feast whipped up by my mum that seemed to go on forever.
Saturday we went to visit Sharon and Dougie. Dougie was my dog but has been living with Sharon since I went to Amsterdam to live so is now shared. She is finally starting to really show her age (15 or 16 -when did Collingwood win the Grand Final?)and it may have been one of our last chances to see her as Sharon has had to consult her vet recently about Dougie's deteriorating condition. As keen on food and walks as ever the only thing letting Dougie down are her hips. Unfortunately they're getting to the stage where she is finding it harder and harder to walk and they seem to cause her real pain when she is getting up or down. I'll miss her, she has always been an amazing dog and before I went to Amsterdam we had a great 9 years together.
(As I mentioned below I have removed the comments facility, you can email comments to you-know-where)
Posted by Faith at 12:33 AM | Comments (0)
March 24, 2006
Photo Friday:Smooth
Posted by Faith at 09:21 AM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2006
Arabesque
Last night we road-tested Jacob's new babysitter, Samantha. Self-sacrificing souls that we are we took ourselves off to Arabesque for the evening. Local enough for us to get home quickly if Samantha had any problems but promising enough for us to feel we'd had a night out. The food was delicious and Samantha wasn't driven to call us once all evening so we've declared the event a success and have booked her for the following week! My only quibble about Arabesque is it lacked a bit of atmosphere, the origins of the space as general shopfront/office space being still too obvious.
Coincidentally, I was at the dentist earlier in the day when the owner of Arabesque, Geoff Malouf, appeared for his appointment after mine. I don't know what the dentist did to him but he bore it well, hosting with grace well into the evening.
(as I mentioned below I have removed the comments facility, you can email comments to you-know-where)
Posted by Faith at 10:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 21, 2006
Stay! Stay I said.
There seems to be some confusion amongst you Amsterdammers. What nobody seems to have grasped is that Amsterdam was supposed to stay EXACTLY as we left it. Disturbingly people seem to getting on with their lives just as if the world hadn't stopped turning once we were no longer around. Whats THAT all about?
Worse still, Jaap and Edmee have moved to Harlem, Peter and Vanusa are moving to Amstelveen and now BBC-star-Kathy-Clugston is moving to London! Where will it end? Will I recognise anyone when I go back? Next the waitress at Cafe Krull will be upping-and-leaving, the Indian on the Albert Cuyp settling for the suburbs! Stop it I tell you, stop it!
(as I mentioned below I have removed the comments facility, you can email comments to you-know-where)
Posted by Faith at 04:43 AM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2006
It's not over yet......
I'm turning off comments for a while. I'm getting just a little tired of spending so much time every day sifting through the BILLIONS of comment-spam searching for the genuine ones. Just before I go cross-eyed I then end up deleting them all accidentally anyway. If I miss a day then the resulting mess doesn't bear thinking about. My database is spinning.
If anyone wants to make a genuine comment then feel free to email me. You probably know my email by now and if you don't then you could find it on the About page. If you have handy Tips and Tricks re the comment spam then I'm all ears.
Posted by Faith at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2006
Respite
We've abandoned house-hunting for two weeks due to the impossibility of getting across the city and around the inner-suburbs during the Commonwealth games. So, it seems, has everyone else, and it looks now as though it would actually be easier than usual to get around! Still, I think we're both glad to have a break.
Last week we went sniffing around Coburg which despite all my prejudices from the associations I have with the place from my childhood, (the Coburg Hilton etc) turned out to be quite fabulous in spots. It didn't hurt that our friends Adrian and Helen have parked themselves there and we were able to finish off the afternoon with a very pleasant interlude on their back deck.
This weekend our entertainment will be provided by Benny, my brother, who has come down from the-big-shed to spend the weekend with us.
Posted by Faith at 10:33 AM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2006
The theory of relativity part III
Its autumn here now and getting kind of cool. That is, during the day it's about 20-24 degrees. Funny to think that only three months ago I would have found that a very pleasant summer's day whereas now it feels downright chilly! I'm wearing a cardigan and scarf. Ron of course, is still getting around in a t-shirt, but then his northern-europeaness goes to the core.
Jacob is wearing a singlet, a t-shirt and a light windcheater. Ron keeps sending him outside in just a t-shirt whereupon either mum or I dash after him waving singlets and jumpers and shrieking "You'll freeze, you'll freeze!"
I haven't blogged much lately mainly because I am now unexpectedly busy translating things. I'll tell you more about it later but it has meant for example the last two weeks I've been effectively working full-time. From home. With Jacob here most of the time. Not fun.
Posted by Faith at 10:21 AM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2006
Photo Friday: Technology
Posted by Faith at 11:05 PM | Comments (0)
Jacob online
Jacob online via the webcam with Maro and Dario in IJsselstein.
Posted by Faith at 09:59 AM | Comments (0)
March 15, 2006
Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony
Posted by Faith at 11:15 PM | Comments (0)
March 14, 2006
Live and gezellig from IJsselstein
Webcams setup, Skype installed, MSN on standby, the Great-Melbourne-IJsselstein-webcam-linkup finally became a reality last night. Jacob was thrilled to see his Oma and Opa in the flesh and I think they felt pretty much the same way. Jacob proudly fetched almost every book he owned and his new doona cover to show to Oma and Opa before retiring to his bath. Reappearing for a final kiss good night he then went to bed happy in the knowledge that Oma and Opa DO still exist, somewhere.
While Ron and I were sipping a glass of wine at the end of a relaxing Monday, Oma and Opa were on the first coffee of the day. The gezelligheid was so tangible we suggested they leave their webcam on and we would do the same so that early morning/late evening pottering could be shared.
An hour later Ron and my mother were sitting watching TV when they heard a strange noise, a buzzing noise. A tour of the house failed to identify any rogue electrical appliances but still the noise continued. It was only when passing the laptop and noticing a flicker of movement from the live-broadcast-out-of-IJsselstein that Ron realised Opa was doing the vaccumming. Loud and clear in Melbourne!
Posted by Faith at 03:30 AM | Comments (0)
Damn!
While deleting a couple of thousand (...and you think I'm exagerating?...) spam-comments that have piled up during our recent on-again-off-again-Great-Optus-Internet-Debacle access issue I accidentaly also deleted any comments posted in the last month or so.
Damn! And sorry to those who have left comments.
Posted by Faith at 03:27 AM | Comments (0)
March 13, 2006
Waving the flag
A routine trip to the shops on Monday morning became just that little bit more exciting for Jacob when an Australian flag was thrust into his hands and he was told to wave as the Queens baton raced past in the pre-Commonwealth Games relay. Like most two year olds Jacob would quite happily wave at a blank wall, especially given a flag to wave with, so the passing baton, entourage and cheering onlookers were all just icing on the cake.
Posted by Faith at 03:50 AM | Comments (0)
March 12, 2006
Jaws
Jacob's been going to swimming lessons for several weeks now.
He has always been crazy about water and disports himself happily in anything larger than an egg-cup full of it with all the enthusiasm and brainlessness of the average upriver-surging-salmon.
It seemed like a good idea then to have all this enthusiasm channelled into some useful activity, like, "swim to shore and mix mum another martini theres-a-good-lad". Unfortunately we haven't found a course that covers this so have had to settle for Torpedo Tots.
For the 'more confident' toddler (read: uncontrollable-in-water) this course promises to teach them to jump in from the side of the pool, resurface, find the side of the pool, dog-paddle to it and then use a kick-board to invade Indonesia.
The first lesson he proved to be a bit more advanced than the other kids qua 'confidence' (read: uncontrollable wildness) and sped through the activities at the speed of light, hesitation or a rational-respect-for-drowning playing no part. Jump into Dad's arms in the deep end from the side of the pool? While the other three toddlers trembled on the edge, knees bent and quivering all over, Jacob indicated that Papa should move further away, 'Nee, weg, Papa!', and then further still before launching himself with a blood-curdling shriek into the air and resurfacing with lungs full of water and non-stop giggles.
The instructor assured us that he'd be more focussed once the others had caught up in confidence and the class moved onto more demanding activities such as dog-paddling. We weren't sure the others were even going to turn up again!
But they did and the swimming lessons are going ......ahem....
swimmingly. There is now a hiatus for three weeks as it the autumn school holidays. Ron just shakes his head. "herfstvakantie? It's going to take some getting used too. 38 C in the autumn holidays".
Posted by Faith at 09:56 AM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2006
Culture Shock
My father made several trips to Amsterdam while I was living there but never got over the culture shock. The discovery that there were parts of the western world that hadn't completely succumbed to the tenets of Economic Rationalism proved to be just too much for him and he retired dazed and confused to the Albury Commercial Club. His relief when we announced that we were bringing his first-and-only-grandchild back to the universe of little-Johnny-Howard was palpable even from the damp and gritty reaches of the Northern hemisphere.
Which is why I was a tad concerned when he announced he was going to India for three weeks. Call me a misguided fool but India seemd to my mind slightly more challenging? Or would he be better prepared?
So it was with some relief that we met him at Tullamarine this week after his three weeks travelling through India to discover that the challenge had been fairly met. I wouldn't say that he'd enjoyed the trip ("when you've seen dire poverty for three days do you really need to see it for twenty-one?") but it didn't seem to have shaken his universe in quite the same way.
While waiting for my father's flight to land we enjoyed the added bonus of the arrival of the Botswanian Team for the Commonwealth Games. An enthusiastic, if small, welcoming committee sang and danced and trilled as their national team streamed through the gates. Although slightly outnumbered by Games Volounteers and police attendance this did not dampen their enthusiasm or quell their cheers. Our cup would have runneth-over if we had also been witness to the Mozambique team's arrival but Dad beat him through customs so we missed THAT spectacle.
Posted by Faith at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)
March 09, 2006
The hazy days of summer
If I hadn't been so busy drinking the 2005 Big Men in Tights I might not have allowed most of the Mornington Peninsula Pinots Week to race past me unnoticed. All that duck too!
Its a miracle I'm not bitter and twisted. Much.
Posted by Faith at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)
March 08, 2006
Hanging out with real tourists
One of the things I WASN'T expecting was for a certain newly-Swiss blogger whom I love reading to send me an email announcing "Yoohoo I'm here in Melbourne!" Now fancy that!
Having slipped away from her blog unanounced I won't mention URLs (yet) but needless to say I was 'rapt', as we say at this end of the earth. Ron and Jacob and I were thrilled to share this week's tourist adventure with M*c**b*k*n and JM which included all the excitement of the Melbourne Observation Deck. Ever the organized one I forgot to take photos.
Posted by Faith at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)
March 07, 2006
Posted by Faith at 11:48 PM | Comments (0)
March 03, 2006
Photo Friday: Feminine
..........feminine to the last.
Posted by Faith at 07:22 AM | Comments (0)
March 02, 2006
Holidays. No internet aess at home. Too Busy. Post soon
Posted by Faith at 01:03 AM | Comments (0)