Tuesday 30 December 2008

The adventures of Nate

Just thought y'all might be interested in what Nate gets up to when he is with me. One of his favourite things to do when in England and of which I, sadly, have no photographic evidence is visiting the local bakery for a BLT.
Spike, me and Seri at Pismo Beach, California (May 2005)


Spike, me and Seri, Yosemite National Park, California (May 2005)



Doing his impersonation of the Hoff, Pismo Beach




Yosemite, looking gorgeous


Yosemite, trying to freak me out



Yosemite, communing with the wildlife




When he was an extra in Lord of the Rings



Standing in front of Tower Bridge, London (July, 2004)




With HMS (Her Majesty's Ship) Belfast, battleship from WWII






Exploring the Arctic, amazingly in London. In July. In shorts.













Monday 29 December 2008

Here's Seri, sincerely unimpressed with her new shower cap. Although she did come to appreciate when she had a shower.



Brandon and James putting together James's tabletop air hockey game. Perfect for a tiny dorm room at Uni!



Michaela's latest hair colour (or colours).


Vicki and Mo





Who is your role model?

Now don't cheat......I liked this one......you will too!

Try it without looking at the answers.

Please don't look down until you do it, you'll enjoy it, I promise.


GET A CALCULATOR, IF NEEDED, (YOUR COMPUTER HAS ONE ON IT)


1) Pick your favorite number between 1-9

2) Multiply by 3 then

3) Add 3, then again Multiply by 3

4) You'll get a 2 or 3 digit number€¦.

5) Add the digits together

Now Scroll down ..............




Now with that number see who your ROLE MODEL is from the list below:



1. Einstein

2. Nelson Mandela

3. Abraham Lincoln

4. Helen Keller

5. Bill Gates

6. Gandhi

7. George Clooney

8. Thomas Edison

9. Tatia

10. Ronald Reagan


I know....I just have that effect on people..one day, you, too, can be like me.... :-) Believe it!


P.S.: Stop picking different numbers. I am your idol, just deal with it!!!!

Christmas

Mom is gonna kill me! I just looked at the photos we had taken from Christmas and there are very, very few. Sorry. We were too busy playing, I think. But in the interest of fairness, lest anyone think upon me as a wicked step-mother, here is a photo of Tony and his two older children, James and Vicki, along with our daughter, Seraphina. This photo doesn't show it but Seri looks a lot of like Vicki. Sometimes. And there are times she looks just like my sister Wendi. She's also been known to remind me of her daddy (which makes sense as Vicki looks just like him as well). But just to be confusing, because she is a Gemini, after all, she also resembles my sister Dez and even upon occasion, my mother. Sometimes. Curious child.





At the beginning of December, Tony and I were filled with Christmas spirit. We had a ball decorating the house, doing some shopping, planning Christmas dinner (he's incredibly un-English, for the record, as he would not even consider goose and figgy pudding). Then, on the 7th of December:



AND



If you don't know, Tony is an avid cyclist (you can read his blog entitled So Tyred if you have insomnia) and like most of them, will cycle in any weather. He slid on black ice, came off his bike, hobbled home with one arm and is now inordinately proud of his cycling injuries and his war story. At the emergency room - and by the way, did you know that Sunday mornings are the busiest time of week for English emergency rooms? Seriously. Football injuries, drunkards from the night before, kids playing unattended whilst parents have a lie in, all recipes for disaster - at the emergency room, Tony was more worried about getting home to check on his bike than he was about himself (which is portentous and unprecendented when it comes to Tony and injury or illness).


So there went a little of our Christmas cheer. And to make matters worse, I came down with a serious case of bronchitis, Seri ended up with a viral infection and Tony contracted bubonic plague. Awww, I'm being mean. He really was ill but I was disinclined to offer much sympathy when I was still nursing Seri feeling the way I did. This lasted right up until the week of Christmas. Have a look at Seri's hair because she was feeling too poorly to put up with grooming and I was feeling to poorly to make her.



Took us 45 minutes and nearly a whole bottle of detangler to get through that.

But at the end of the day, we had a fantastic Christmas. James was home from University and Vicki and her boyfriend Mo joined us, too. It was fantastic to have a full house. And what's even better? They watched 'It's A Wonderful Life' with me and they seemed to enjoy it! I just wish Nate had been there and it would have been perfect.

So here are the measly few photos that were taken.




Seraphina feigning sleep. The one day I really need her to pose and she does not cooperate. Any other time, trying to capture her in a natural state is like trying to get a photo of the elusive blue footed pintail. Anyhoo, that's her new digital camera and around her neck is her first diamond necklace. I couldn't resist! Every girl needs fine jewelry.





Seraphina and the beginning of her Sylvanian Families collection. What have I started? They are gorgeous, though. Wendi reckons she saw one in Japan that is a Japanese-styled house! How cool is that? I sense that birthday shopping will be a breeze from now on!

Well, for some reason, I am not being allowed to upload any more photos. I'll try starting another post but if not, stay tuned.

Sunday 28 December 2008

Beginning

The beginning is the most important part of the work - Plato


And truer words (about me) were never spoken. It's why I rarely get anything finished. To finish something, you must, logically speaking, begin it. I am the world's biggest procrastinator. I have boxes full of photos waiting to become scrapbooks. Well, okay, I've got computer files full of photos waiting to be printed and then made into scrapbooks. I've got birthday cards waiting to be mailed two years ago. I've got Seraphina waiting to bake blueberry muffins. Sometimes it seems I have such a busy life that I never have time for living. And that's what this blog is about. A new-fangled way to freeze those precious moments. You know, the ones that slip by even as you assure yourself you'll never forget? I never appreciated the adage about time slipping by until my children started growing up. Or maybe it's just I'm (finally) gaining some wisdom as I grow up.



Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning

Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile

I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness

And I have to sit down for a while



The feeling that I'm losing her forever


And without really entering her world


I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter


That funny little girl






Slipping through my fingers all the time



I try to capture every minute


The feeling in it


Slipping through my fingers all the time







Do I really see what's in her mind




Each time I think I'm close to knowing




She keeps on growing




Slipping through my fingers all the time



Slipping through my fingers all the time


I try to capture every minute


The feeling in it


Slipping through my fingers all the time




Do I really see what's in her mind



Each time I think I'm close to knowing



She keeps on growing


Slipping through my fingers all the time



Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture



And save it from the funny tricks of time



Slipping through my fingers

Slipping through my fingers all the time





Okay, now I'm off to bake some muffins...