Friday 31 July 2009

Textures

Andrew announced at the beginning of our road trip that he was going to take a series of photos involving me and textures (four photos constitutes a series right?).  Well, here they are...
Logs (roadside stop in France, me dizzy from hand-standing)
Stone Wall I (behind the concert hall in San Sebastian, Spain)
Metal Curves (incredible art installation at the Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spain)
Stone Wall II (Luarca, Spain)

There were some more, but these are the nicest.  And it takes sooo long to upload photos on here so I selected the best for your viewing pleasure.

Today I Ironed my Clothes

Today I ironed my clothes. I often don't.
Today I remembered to deodorise. I sometimes don't.
Today I even brushed and blow dried my hair. I almost never do.
Because today was a special day.
Today I was showing respect.
Today I was sending my condolences.
Today I was saying goodbye.

I first met Dan when he was a bubbly, full-of-beans, energetic and sometimes naughty five year old. He was one of my boys in my first ever Kinder class. I don't think anybody learnt much in that year-I wasn't a great teacher, but we sure had fun.
I remember Dan loved computers. He loved building with construction blocks. He learnt his flashcard words quickly (great parents obviously). I remember he was always very sorry when he did something wrong, but would do it again when he had forgotten! Most of the time though he was good.
He probably did call me Miss Smack - I don't remember.
He probably did call me Mrs Porridge after we got married - I don't recall.
Was he worried when I was taken away by the helicopter?
Did he enjoy Maths?
Did he have a correct pencil grip?
I don't remember a lot of things - but I know this. I know that he was loved. He was loved by his family - abundantly. He was loved by his friends. He was loved by his God.
Dan is in heaven now. He is not hurting. He is not suffering. He is gone - but I will remember him.
That's why today I ironed my clothes.

Belated Birthday

We did call....but you have no voice mail.
We did text....but we are not sure if you got it.
We have no naked pics...it's just to darn cold over here.....and anyway who could beat Calli and Andrew' pic anyway.
And your body Linny...is looking amazing.
So, even though you are a year older, and even though you have only 2 sisters that managed to get messages to you on your actual birthday.....I say Happy Birthday to you....in a small quiet way...no zing or songs or sparkles...just happy birthday to a beautiful sister.

Thursday 30 July 2009

You've Got a Whole Day of Birthday Here

I sure hope this is big enough for you Linny!  We showed our goods to the world just to get you a happy birthday snap, hope you're day was as fun as us trying to get this!!  Love you ooooooodles!  Andrew and Ferry xoxo

Wednesday 29 July 2009

Linny Lovers


Happy Birthday, I think the pict says it all!!!

One, two, three drops

Individually, we are one drop. 
Together, we are an ocean.  
-Ryunosuke Satoro

Here are just a few of the drops from the ocean that we swam in while we were away (including a few of our drops), in no particular order because the ocean isn't like that.  It just isn't.
The husband's feet.  Just before we did some photo-feet dancing on a breakwall in Luarca, Spain.
Me, thinking tall thoughts.
The boy, beside a church, beside an ocean.
My best Mary Poppins.  Although this Mary Poppins landed flat on her back after her flight.  Muddy ground meant I had a kinda-looks-like-poop streak down the back of my jeans for the rest of our holiday.
An old man, in an old city, reading a letter with a pigeon looking on, Porto, Portugal.
This might or might not be part of Dad's Christmas present.  Just don't tell him that we used it first, although does a photo prop count as being 'used'?  Sao Jacinto, Portugal.
We spent a long, long time watching a long, long line of bicycles go past while we were on our way to finding a camping spot.  I think the Dutch may have got the Portuguese share of efficiency as we found out when there was a bike ride, single lane bridge, emergency vehicles and lots of Sunday beach-goers all clogging up this tiny, rural lane.  It was entertaining though, there were a whole lot of big characters cycling by on crazy bikes with radios strapped to their handlebars.
Two old men.  Salamanca, Spain.
And the coolest of all, catching some sun outside the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.

Tuesday 28 July 2009

We are the proud new owners of a .......


Yep Victoria (Super cowgirl Mum!) went dashing about in the bush and popped up with a flamin Emu!!!
It's name is Road Runner!!!
How cool is that hey!

Cause I'm Hungry

I've decided to post our holiday under different themes.  Dinner time is just around the corner and my tummy is rumbling (it's either hungry or protesting the 1/2 a jar of pickled onions I just ate) so I'm starting with food.  Glorious food.
Now, to get the confessions out of the way I have to admit that we ate hot dogs.  Flexing our entrepreneurial muscles on Queen's Day we had bought 96 hot dogs (they come in cans over here) to sell before finding out that you can't sell meat products (although I'm not sure that they really qualify as a 'meat' product).  We've slowly been chugging through them and our first dinner, by the river in Vernon France, was hot dogs, sliced potatoes and onions and a dash of rocket to make it at least appear healthy.  (Linny, this meal reminded me of the Saturday mornings that you used to cook breakfast for the two of us!)  Ok, confessions over, for now.
Growing up hearing Mrs Youldon's stories about stealing oranges on their road trip around Europe in the mini I felt that I had to follow in her illustrious footsteps and join the fruit theives.  We camped under a plum tree the first night in France and we filled our little pot before we left in the morning, me on Andrew's shoulders getting the goods-sneaky, I know.  A little tart in the skin department but they were free!
Andrew also snapped this shot of me stealing figs in Brie.  And these figs, these were GOOD.  There was also some more plum thievery from behind the library.  The only other food we stole was some rosemary from the gardens by the beach in Biarritz, no photos only memories of herby pasta for dinner.
Whilst I'm on the subject of Brie, we ate brie in Brie!
Although this truck is not actually food, I loved the sign on the back 'You say tomato, I say Spanish sunshine on a plate'.  Yup, I loved it.  And still do.
Lunch in the nicest spot found by my wonderful husberando.  There was lots of foot-photo shots, and more hotdogs (I think, that's the only reason I can think of for the sauce bottle being out!).
This is what breakfast looked like most mornings, although the cereal is missing in this shot because we had pain au chocolat.  Oh yeah, I'd become French for them.
We stayed just below where Kati Mac studied in Spain (Valladolid) for a few days.  The girl in the bakery figured that we wanted something typical from the region so we ended up with macaroons.  We ate pretty much the whole packet while we were waiting for dinner.  They eat LATE in Spain.
Then, for dinner, we ordered one of every tapas on the menu.  The girl thought we were bonkers.  But I've always wanted to order one of everything and this was my chance.  To be perfectly honest, it's the worst tapas I've had (especially seeing as Andrew convinced me that one of the dishes contained sliced penis, eeew), but it was fun!
The next night Andrew surprised me and pre-ordered paella at our campsite to celebrate me getting my uni results.  It was soooo good.  Especially seeing as it came at the end of a 10 kilometre hike in the hot Spanish sun.  Mmm, paella, I hope to dream of you tonight.

Bored yet?  I'm not, I'm just more hungry than when I started.
After Spain we had a few days in Portugal.  We ended up in Porto, and we went to the port making cellars (although they're technically not in Porto but across the river in Vila Nova de Gaia but who would buy a drink with such a long name?).  The tour was fantastic, through a beautiful old building filled with giant port barrels.  The tasting wasn't so hot (for me).  Alcohol will forever and always remind me of cough mixture.  Ugh.  It looked pretty though!  Outside this truck was pumping port from the vineyards in to the cellars, it was so bizarre that it was just snaking across the footpath in a big hose.
And then, the reason I wanted to go to Portugal: Portuguese custard tarts (natas in Portuguese).  The lady at the tourist information centre sent us to her favourite place and we bought two which the little old man stapled into a little packet for us.  And then we tasted.  Mmm-mmm-mmmm.  I so have to try and re-invent these little suckers.  So, so good.
We were rained out of our campsite the next morning so to heat our morning up we bought a chocolate and a coffee caliente.  They're portable hot drinks.  You press the bottom and then shake for 40 seconds.  A chemical reaction in the liquid around the drinks heats the drink up and hey presto, hot drinks!
Then there was another drink, this one was in celebration of you Trinny, kind of!
Our last day was full of treats, breakfast bacon sandwiches done in an unusual cooking set up because of the rain.  And for dinner, Andrew's awesome sardines.  Mmmm.

There was other fun food and lots of holiday treats, but these were the ones we remembered to snap.  And now my boy is home and dinner will be on it's way.  Aaaah, how I love to eat!

Monday 27 July 2009

Honey, I'm home!

We arrived home late yesterday afternoon.  We've been unpacking, washing and wishing we were still on holidays ever since.  Here's the map, our trail is highlighted-right from the top all the way to the bottom left and onto another map.  The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, The Netherlands.  Woh.  I'll be filling you in on the details in the next few days, I just have to sort through 897 photos first.  I'll also be having a serious read of the blog, it looks like everyone's had a good (or shaky) two weeks!

Sunday 26 July 2009

Some Famous People Who were Homeschooled

I came across this while I was doing some research. How fun to know that Homeschoolers can turn out famous and wonderful.

1. Agatha Christie. Agatha was a painfully shy girl, so her mom home schooled her even though her two older siblings attended private school.
2. Pearl S. Buck was born in West Virginia, but her family moved to China when she was just three months old. She was homeschooled by a Confucian scholar and learned English as a second language from her mom.
3. Alexander Graham Bell was homeschooled by his mother until he was about 10. It was at this point that she started to go deaf and didn’t feel she could properly educate him any more. Her deafness inspired Bell to study acoustics and sound later in life.

4. If Thomas Edison was around today, he would probably be diagnosed with ADD – he left public school after only three months because his mind wouldn’t stop wandering. His mom homeschooled him after that, and he credited her with the success of his education: “My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint.”

5. Ansel Adams was homeschooled at the age of 12 after his “wild laughter and undisguised contempt for the inept ramblings of his teachers” disrupted the classroom. His father took on his education from that point forward.

6. Robert Frost hated school so much he would get physically ill at the thought of going. He was homeschooled until his high school years.

Woody
7. Woodrow Wilson studied under his dad, one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS). He didn’t learn to read until he was about 12. He took a few classes at a school in Augusta, Georgia, to supplement his father’s teachings, and ended up spending a year at Davidson College before transferring to Princeton.
8. Mozart was educated by his dad as the Mozart family toured Europe from 1763-1766.
9. Laura Ingalls Wilder was homeschooled until her parents finally settled in De Smet in what was then Dakota Territory. She started teaching school herself when she was only 15 years old.

10. Louisa May Alcott
studied mostly with her dad, but had a few lessons from family friends Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Can you imagine?

11. And we mustn't forget Miss Strawberry....famous and delightfully wonderful!

Found on this blog (Minus Miss Strawberry)

Wednesday 22 July 2009

Big Brothers Should Come With A Warning


WARNING : WHEN WE RUMBLE YOU MAY GET HURT.
Had a trip to the hospital last night with a suspected broken finger. Not broken just very swollen and bruised.
Needless to say rumbling is banded for the duration of the holidays!

Grass Sliding and All That Jazz

First we ate.....
Then we rolled.....
Then we rumbled.....
Then we ran......
Then we tried to slide....
Finally we found the perfect grass and we slid.....
We even surfed......
Every one got a ride.....
A day that left us with big smiles all over our faces.