Sunday, November 3, 2013

New Red Bike









I know it's bad form for a parent to boast. But he really got the gist of his bike straight off, and needed very little encouragement.  Not everything has come this easily and naturally to him, but the instant success of the balance bike was a pleasure to see.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

warm day, cool drink


I'm trying to keep pace with documenting Tim's favourite drinks as we head into summer.  Recently he has most often been requesting a 'pink smoothie' (that's a smoothie made with berries and bananas).


I'm also trying to get myself (and my camera) used to the low light situation in our new home.  I tell myself it's not gloomy, it's shady, cool and dim. And calm.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

down at the pool




nb  it might be a while before I post anything new on this site.  I just really like seeing that photo up the top.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

we're back!

My it's good to be back in the warm, welcoming tropics.
The winter here is like the nicest summer you could imagine.




Monday, July 22, 2013

cold mornings












Although the mornings are still cold, Tim and I have been tracking some new growth and new colours in the garden.  There's not much winter left for us.  Indeed, it's just a couple of weeks before we leave winter behind nearly forever and resume our life in the tropics.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

last lunch




For our last lunch in Italy, we did it right.  Hayden spotted this beautiful cafe on a vine-covered terrace - and it had a view right out over the canal.






Plenty of boats for Tim to watch from the safe spot behind the wall.  Perfect!

While Tim was occupied, Hayden enjoyed his deliciously light and creamy seafood lasagna, and I tucked into something I'd always wanted to try in Italy - polenta with squid served in its own ink.  We were both extremely satisfied.

 For Tim we ordered his usual: Pasta Con Niente.


And I'm trying hard not to end this thing, about a lovely lunch during which we were nostalgically reliving our wonderful holiday even before it had officially ended with... a gripe about Tim's eating habits and the expense (!!) of dining out on plain pasta.  Six euros!!  For plain pasta!!! Tim, really...!!

Venice!

One of the excellent things about when a New Zealander falls for an Italian is that really, bureaucratically speaking, they must get married and they must do it in Venice.  After the beautiful wedding of Matt and Valentina in the Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore, we stayed on for a couple of days' sightseeing at the end of our trip.


Traipsing around Venice with a curious, willful toddler who can't swim is, of course, terrifying.  But Tim's a great sport when it comes to hanging out with Mummy and Daddy, and - for our part - it didn't take long to start appreciating the place through his eyes. He loved going on the ferries and vaporettos.  He loved spotting boats - particularly the really idiomatic ones like boats with excavators on board, or boats with cranes for unloading stock for the supermarket.  One day Tim and I both stood, fascinated, watching as someone moved into a new apartment: all of the furniture and belongings were piled up on a boat which waited in the canal, while a system of ropes and pulleys was installed to carry everything up the outside of the building (it's a pity my gawking stopped short of photographing, or even videoing it).  It did give me a whole new appreciation for the crazy logistics of the place.  Crazy.  But so, so charming and beautiful.


Sunday, June 30, 2013

Hanging out at Lake Como

We rented a house in Colico, near the very top tip of Lake Como, and made a temporary home. It was a lovely spot, and a great place to holiday with a toddler - low key, with all the necessities like supermarkets and playgrounds, but still plenty of dramatic scenery for our eyes to feast on.



The two snaps above were taken from the front porch of our holiday house.  The mountains and snow were amazing to our Western Australian-ised eyes.  Not really what first comes to mind when you think of Italy, is it?


The holiday house interior: not flash, but very comfortable and cosy.  And effortlessly functional.  How do the Italians do it?

Local fruit and veggies:



We shopped well, ate well, rested and played at the "beach" at the edge of the lake.

We probably wouldn't have thought to come and visit by ourselves, without the drawcard of good friends living nearby.  And I wouldn't have imagined it could be so pleasant to stay in one comfy spot rather than zooming all over the countryside trying to see all the tourist sites (for example, we didn't go to Rome.  Who flies all the way from Perth to Italy and doesn't go to Rome? People who want an excuse to come back again, I suppose!)

Back in my younger travelling days, "pleasant" was not a state one aimed for (more "mind-blown!" "amazed!" or "drunk!").  But we're solid mid-thirties with a toddler.  It's different these days.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

From Zurich

Tim loved our holiday to Switzerland and Italy.  There were so many, many forms of transport to observe.




From our hotel room in Zurich he could see trams, colourful tourist buses, a canal with occasional boats, and ongoing road works.  Then the next day we got to go on the big train.

Hayden and I didn't mind looking out the window either.  It was pretty exciting to be back in Europe again, and to be in the land of snow-topped mountains, beautiful green grassy hillsides, and the creamiest milk I've ever tasted.


But I still don't know if the Starbucks staff were having a little joke with Hayden's order.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

speech

So our little chap Timmy has been a bit slow to start talking. It's something which is actually pretty common with boys, and nothing at all to worry about - except if you're a champion worrier like me.  Which is just preamble to explain the complete and utter flooding of joy and relief I feel when, barrelling down a country highway at 110km/hr, I hear the following whole sentence uttered from the back seat: "Timmy sneeze! Nose...booger...fall down." Yep.  He sneezed, and a booger flew out his nose.  And now I know.

Monday, May 6, 2013

morning snail arrangement




These days everything Tim touches gets formed into a line or, as I'm sure he thinks of it, a 'train' (even the snails we find in the front garden in the morning after we wave Daddy off to work).