Another day another walk

Thursdays steps =9,484

Tact and diplomacy

'fraid I don't have this problem

chorizo and chickpea or Thai Basil

Well what a conundrum home cooking or restaurant food. This was what I was presented with on arriving home tonight - easily solved by going to Thai Basil. While the review here suggests that there is Italian in this restaurant, I have yet see any Italian (although I am sure that Italians eat here), I have not seen any pasta, pizza or rissotto in here. It is rated at 9.3 by reviewers and I think that is fair enough.

Menu for tonight for us:

• Mixed entree for me and him, as well as Beef Larb and steamed rice,
• Mixed entree and entree satay chicken for MLR
• Vegetarian spring rolls and vegetarian Masuman curry for AJR

행복한 먹기
(Happy eating in Korean on account of how babelfish does not do Thai translations)
Mondo

Camminare

Odierni punti = 14,414

Ciao
Mondo

Worrying trend

Hi Everyone,

I read this article today, as a friend emailed it to me - it made me think. It is important to maintain the art of reading. Or am I showing signs of old age?

Mondo

Walking Walking Walking

Yesterday I was in Port- au-Prince;

After the delights of the Caribbean islands that, although not without some issues, are relatively stable Port-au-Prince is a madhouse of poverty, crime and desperation (you never got to see this on The Love Boat – Episode 36 Captain Stubbing gets into a knife fight). So bad is the situation that the UN deployed troops here in 2004 after a military coup forced the president to flee. As far as walking goes, let’s rest up a bit here - gang massacres, kidnapping, shooting on the streets and large areas of slum neighbourhoods make a pretty compelling argument to stay indoors. The reason – 80% of the population live under the poverty line and 54% are in abject poverty. HIV AIDS infects and kills at incredibly high rates while deforestation from farming is leaving the surrounding region prone to floods and mudslides.

Today things have impoved (no doubt due to strenuous amounts of walking) and I am now in Hinche (nothing to do with Derryne), still in Haiti, but a much safer place to be. The temperature is 29, so it is a bit hot for me.

The local dish sounds interesting:
Rice and Beans… boring? Well not the way the locals make it, cup fresh parsley, 2 green onions chopped, 2 cloves garlic minced, pinch of thyme, tbsp salt, 2 tbsp oil, 1 cup rice, 2 cups cooked beans, 1 cups vegetable broth, 1 cup water. Using a mortar and pestle, mash the parsley, onions, garlic, thyme and salt into a thick paste. Heat this paste and the oil in a large pot, then add the rice. Stir to coat the rice with the oil, then add the broth, water and beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover, cooking until the water has been absorbed. Stir and serve hot. Anyone interested in dinner?

Language: French (official), Creole (official).

This map shows both Port-au-Prince and Hinche

Travel advice:
Malaria, dengue fever and filariasis are all transmitted by mosquitoes and all are common in Haiti throughout the year. Filariasis is a parasitic infectious tropical disease that (rather disturbingly) can find its way into your lymphatic system and cause Elephantiasis (no it doesn't give you a good memory it thickens the skin and underlying tissues in an "I am not an animal" sort of way. Nasty so keep covered, and wear insect repellent at all times.

Some background to Haiti:
Haiti has a historical past that is easy to read or hear but incredible in its courage and importance to grasp. Haiti was the world’s first independent black republic and the only nation to ever successfully form from a slave rebellion. In 1790 the black slaves owned by the French heard about the French Revolution and thought “Ha! Now why didn’t we think of that? Get the boys together we’re going to end this slave business right here, right now... Pete you still got that knife of yours?” (Historical note: I can’t confirm if this is exactly what was said verbatim). By November 1803 the French were defeated, despite Napoleon sending another invasion force, and independence was claimed. Yes, ongoing violence has made Haiti poor and underdeveloped and yes we need to be careful here, but the spirit, the food, the music and the incredible art, particularly painting, really is something to behold.

For more information on Hinche

Today's step count = 12,290

Coffee on Monday

Steps for Monday = 9,296

Fuelled by this coffee from My Cafe

Photo finish to the weekend

Steps for Saturday = 8,425
Steps for Sunday = 9,531

By far the best thing about the weekend is that I finally have a new camera - thanks to all those who gave advice.

I have a Canon IXUS 950 IS

I have photographed last nights dinner

Mondo

Wake up call

On the up

OK so the steps are still not great, but they are going in the right direction - so steps for Friday the 13th were 6,223.

Cook from the Cupboard - Week 1 and 2

My aim with this cook from the cupboard challenge is to reduce the number of packaged/non used food items that seem to have accumulated in the various places around the kitchen, reduce the number of packaged foods that I buy and encourage us all to use what we have. This will make it easier to know what is needed and how much or little to buy.

Due to technical difficulties (read there is too much going on), this report covers week one and two. I will try to report on this weekly from now on.

Things eaten from the cupboard:

• Spices - not so much eaten as thrown out - anything that was out of date (how does that creep up to quickly) - approximately 12 vials of herbs and spices out the door.
• Three of the four cans of tomatos
• Two out of three cans of chickpeas
• Finished pine nuts
• Finished crunchy nut cereal
• Used but did not finish oats, golden syrup and rice bubbles (made a slice and some anzac biscuits)
• 300g white chocolate in a white brownie mix
• Finished dried cranberries in the above brownie mix

Things eaten from the fridge:

• Butter and copha - some odds and ends of butter and some elderly copha (who knows when they were out of date) again not eaten but thrown out of the butter keeper.
  
• Several packages of cheese that were not edible were also disposed of, including some bococcini which I bought from the deli (its cheaper) had not got round to eating and found it had gone horrible (its a technical term), not a great saving in the end as had I bought my usual stuff (more expensive) it would have been happily sitting in brine and very usable.
  
• Finished off the parmesan in a frittata along with the cream and the last three eggs - have replaced eggs and I still have block parmesan.
• Used but did not finish the ghee.
• Finished the bacon
• Two fresh tomatos
• Three fresh carrots
• One and half bunches of corriander
• Milk - replaced
  

Things eaten from the freezer:

• Finished the frozen pies and sausage rolls
• Finished the spinach and cheese triangles
• Used a parcel of mince in a spag bol
  

Paraiso, Dominican Republic

We are now in location 28 of our odyssey across the world and we have arrived in Paraiso, a fishing village in the Dominican Republic. The town of Paraiso has on either side the small towns of San Rafael and Los Patos, two of the most touristy places in the Dominican Republic. "Paraíso" in Spanish means Paradise.

Local food: Ti malice (hot sauce) is made using hot pepper, onion & green onions, garlic, lime juice and olive oil. Sounds delish, I must try some.

Travel tip: Check your travel insurance. Doctors and hospitals will require up-front cash payment before commencing treatment (so don't fall into a coma before you or someone else pays them). In the event of a serious illness or accident, medical evacuation (usually to Miami) would be required, costing in excess of $US 20,000. Reminder to self to check health insurance and try not to get sick regardless.

SS Steps

Work means walking I have decided as today I was able to do 6,033 - not good but going in the right direction.

Raffles Steps courtesy of our trip in 2006

Will do better tomorrow.

Home today

I have been home on Tuesday and Wednesday looking after MLR who has a cold and a cough - hence the walking has not been great.

Steps = 2734

Will have to go to work for the first time this week on Thursday - two day week is my sort of week.

Made Rice Bubble slice and Anzac biscuits (cooking out of the cupboard report soon)

Mondo

San Juan Day 21 GCC

Today I am in San Juan, Peurto Rico and is a hot and humid 29 degrees. Location 26 in our walk across the world. Founded in 1521 makes it the second oldest city in the Americas and the oldest under a US flag so it prefers to eat shortbread and fall asleep in front of the television. San Juan is called 'La Ciudad Amurallada' – 'The Walled City'. During the early 16th century, San Juan was the point of departure for Spanish expeditions to charter or settle unknown parts of the New World. Its fortifications repulsed the English navigator Sir Francis Drake in 1595 (meaning it kept him out, not made him feel sick because of any sort of decorating clash of colours on the walls).

Puerto Rican culture is a mix of four cultures, African (from slaves), Taíno (Amerindians), Spanish (from... well, Spain actually), and more recently, North American (as you may have guessed... from the northern part of the Americas). This mix makes a culture that is all at once athletic, traditional, excitable and keen to make a buck.

Food: Asopao – Arguably Puerto Rico's most widely loved native dish, this hearty rice gumbo is made with chicken or shellfish. Every Puerto Rican family cherishes its own recipe for this classic comfort food.

Population: 343,374.
Photograph by Phil of Ottawa from Flickr

Catherine Tate and David Tennant

I am not the biggest Catherine Tate fan, but this clip is sooo funny. If you click on the title of this, you will see a classroom scene with Catherine Tate and David Tennant.

We have been quoting bits of this all weekend. Quotes are taking over from the usual Little Britain quotes in this house.

Of course Catherine Tate is going to turn up soon in the latest series of Dr Who!!!

Cover courtesy of Kat Clarke from Flickr

Queens Birthday Long Weekend Day 3

After all the efforts this week, between walking and cooking and cleaning I decided that Monday was the day to do nothing. Caught up on my taped tv shows, bought shoes for MLR as she was out at the toes and the heels were gone.

JAW visited with a choice article on camera's, so hopefully soon I will have a new camera. Dinner at Little Instanbul.

Steps today <2000

Bombay Movin' and Shakin'

Steps for Sunday a disappointing 8,991. The main reason I was disappointed was I was on my feet all day in the kitchen, making four different curries, plus rice etc and I felt exhausted. Steps are not the only indicator of activity.

BTW the curries were all nice, a potato, chickpea, chicken and a beef. MR, CR, JR and I had a good time - JR put together some Indian music (mostly George Harrison stuff), we also burned some Indian incense. I am ready to do it all again.

Cunningham Muffins

Queens Birthday Long Weekend Day 1

Steps for Saturday 7,378
JR played golf and got over 15,000 steps - maybe I should take up golf, wait who would look after the children, maybe not!

AJR cleaned up his bedroom and it looks great - his three best friends came over for a couple of hours in the middle of the day, they all dressed up and made gooses of themselves - which was extremely funny, wish I had a camera! Then they all went to another friends house for another couple of hours.

MLR, her friend Micky and I went to Kid City in Mitchell, down the new GDE (Gungahlin Drive Extension) which means it only takes twenty five minutes and there are almost no traffic lights. This road was opened in late April after over a year of traffic disruptions and difficulties, particularly at the Glenloch Interchange. The new road was described by the media as Canberra's first LA style flyover road. Not sure why we were not compared to the ones in Sydney (LA sounds much more exciting I suspect). We met up with my friend CJK and her kids. Later we went to their new house in a new suburb called Forde, named after a Prime Minister not a car. After a tour and a long discussion about hot water heaters we travelled home watching the fireworks in other people's backyards.

Siparia, Trinidad and Tobago

I have now walked to Siparia. Also called the Sand City. This is location 16 in my walk across the world.

Siparia is best known for its annual Easter Sunday pilgimage when hundreds of Hindus, Muslims, Roman Catholics, and other Christian groups gather at the Siparia La Divina Pastora Church to pay homage to Siparee Mai Ke Mala, the statue of La Divina Pastora. The statue, known as Siparee Mai by the Hindus, is believed to be a manifestation of Mother Kali the Hindu Goddess of destruction. Hindus believe that long ago Siparee Mai appeared at the La Divina Church, as a baby, to grant the wishes of East Indian forefathers who were subdued by the colonial regime. Believers say the baby, who appeared close to the altar, aged as the hours of the day trickled by. By evening, she turned into an old woman and disappeared as the sun went down. It is believed the statue bestows fertility to barren women, marital success to couples, healing to the sick, proper husbands for young girls, and blessings to the poor and needy. Children who are unable to walk or speak could be healed if offerings are made to the Goddess.

Population is 49,394
Official language is English, also speak Caribbean Hindi, French, Spanish and Chinese

The local dish is Buljol: Salted codfish shredded and seasoned with peppers, onions, tomatoes, and olive oil, often served in a coconut bake. Not sure I am going to try this dish, depends how much salt is in it.

This Sole Sista Rocks

Nothing like a bit of self promotion, however I have to report that I walked 17,276 steps today - a PB for this challenge. I walked Millie in the morning (could that be a song?) and went a different way off Monash Hill, ended up taking the long way home, so I had completed just on 6,000 steps by breakfast.

At lunch K and I walked all over Civic checking out restaurants suitable for a work lunch. In couple of weeks we have a steering committee meeting for the team and we decided it would be nice to have a meal to wrap up the meeting. We walked for over 45 minutes and K sets a good pace (faster than my normal speed, but probably slower than K's normal speed). Once home I went shopping - that would be more walking!!!

Now to give you some more stats - you know you can't get enough! These are current up to and including Thursday.

• Number of steps I have taken 177307
• Daily Average 11082
• Number of kilometers I have walked 113 (I can feel every one of them)
• Daily Average 7 kilometers

Photograph courtesy of Moriza (Creative Commons, Flikr)

Ainslie on Tuesday

I was asked what I had for lunch after the long walk to the Ainslie shops on Tuesday. We (the Sole Sistaz) dined at Edgars Inn (named after the street it is on). Christine and I shared a vegetarian foccacia with a side salad and no chips - I had a lemon lime and bitters and Christine had a coffee. We had a good turn out for this trip with 6 of the 7 Sole Sistaz making the journey, the missing member of the team had a good excuse, she was on a plane. The team had chicken burgers (x2), fish and chips and octopus salad. The chicken burgers had too much chicken and sauce in them and the fish looked ginormous!

Christine and I had just the right amount of food to fuel us for the hike back to the grindstonework place.


There is a different special each day for the dinner menu - Thursdays special diner menu is vegetarian

Global Corporate Challenge day 14

Steps for today 6,544 - better than nothing I guess!

Today's travels

Tonight finds me in Ahuas.
Here is a little information about where I am, although I have no hotel advice, so I am possibly sleeping one of the locals canoes.

Population 368.

Check your shoes before you put them on. Not for wear and tear or any sort of comfort factor – make sure there are no jungle spiders or snakes snoozing in them.

The local dish is fish sandwiches, boring but nice.

A short canoe trip takes you into Tawahkas' jungle and amongst all the rainforest animals you would ever want to see (and perhaps more). You will see creatures like monkeys, macaws, tapirs and peccaries. Of course, once you have seen all the cute and amazing animals, there is every chance you'll get to eat one. Tawahkas eat all three species of Honduran monkey - the spider, the white-faced and the howler. This ability to hunt and cook monkeys is shared by Amazonian rain forest indians with whom the Tawahkas share many other similarities.

Until tomorrow,
Mondo.

Step update day 13

Having walked to Ainslie for lunch and back, walked the dog in the rain before breakfast and having tried to be a bit more active I managed to clock up 15,404 steps today.

On my travels I am currently in Puerto Lempira in Hondourus - a small place (population 4,856) that is very poor. Hotel advice for this area is to choose a hotel with cinder blocks rather than wooden structures as it keeps the rats out better, also need to check if the hotel has electricity for more than the standard four hours from 5-9pm!

More stats for your edification!

• Sole Sistaz team are currently 797 out of 7051 teams, and leading the LWA teams (there are 5)
  

• There are 1049 companies competing in this years events


• There are 49357 people competing

Step up for tomorrow,
Mondo

Bridgetown Conference Update

My life is full of updates at the moment: In late March I travelled to Bridgetown in Western Australia to attend the WA Natural Resource Management Conference.

The report from the conference in Bridgetown has two pictures of me! Just a hint they are on pages 3 and 4.

That is my 15 minutes of fame dealt with.

Step update

Today not a good day for steps - due to over indulgence in steps on the weekend (is that possible?) combined with hayfever induced by the huge intake of dust since Friday. Anyway tonights total is a meagre 6, 524.

Tomorrow will be better as I will walk the dog, not something I could contemplate today after all the activity over the weekend.

June Challenge

For those of you following yesterday's story, I will report weekly on what I have sorted from what remains of the "stuff" in the garage.

Having been inspired by the feeling of accomplishment from finding the garage floor, I thought I need to continue the challenge. For the whole of June I am going to try to "cook from the cupboard" - that is I will only buy things that are not processed so that I am reducing the amount of food I seem to hoard in the cupboard. The guidelines for this are -

• Allowed to buy fresh fruit, veg, bread and meat, milk, margarine, toilet paper and tampons when current stocks run out.
• Not allowed to buy processed or convenience foods or convenience groceries (have to buy bread as there is no chance of me making it daily or even weekly).
• Each non-food purchase will be evaluated in terms of need versus want as well as environmental effect.
• I can still go out, just not indulge in convenience foods. So I can go to the movies but must take my own drink with me, for example.
  

The biggest challenge is going to be the snacks for the kids lunch boxes - no more instant snacks, so that is going to be tricky. I will need to do a lot of baking on the weekends and even during the week to make this work.

Also not sure how I will manage for wine. Is it cheating if I ask JR to buy it?

Also addicted to pasta, so not sure if we will survive without pasta in June (we only have three packets of pasta in the cupboard) - we will see.

I will report regularly about how I am managing this. Hang on to your hats it is going to be an interesting ride.

If you click on the link in the title you will see that I have "borrowed" this idea from Taph, thanks Taph.

Cheers,
Mondo

A poem

without walking the dog got 14, 499 steps today

by working at cleaning up in the garage

lots of dust, sweat, sky a bit grey

out goes the rubbish, in goes one carriage


7 x 130 litre boxes of toys

3 x 130 litre boxes of paintings

lots of found memories, lots of little joys

3 cubic metres of stuff to the dump

much space in the garage in which to jump


both the skip and trash pack are full to the brim

there is still more to sort, more boxes to trim

but there is space in the garage for both storage and cars

for our next activity the mission is mars

Cleaning up

Steps today = 14,419 - woohoo

Filling up the skip is easier than expected!

All my bits ache!

Dinner at Bronwyn and Andy's - yum

TGIF

Finally Friday - it has been a long week!

Steps for today 10, 780 - so definitely better than yesterday.

Thai take away for tea - yum.

Thursday

Bad day for walking today as I am tired and unmotivated! Just over 7,000 steps for the day, so will do better tomorrow by walking the dog - it also makes her day too. Sole Sistaz are leading the step race at LWA!!!

The restaurant on Tuesday night was Gurkas in Lygon Street.

It is Nepalese and the food is Indian in style without the heat. If you get to Melbourne then it is worth trying it. We tried goat, there was a chick pea dish that was delish. If you check the link we had the Tenzing Special banquet. Everything on it was lovely, and the company was excellent (would have been better if JR was there, but you cannot have everything). It was more than enough food, there was also plenty of red and white wine.

Cordelia and Organ Donation

Here is the daughter of a friend of mine - she is just over one year old and desperately needs a liver transplant. Think of signing up for organ donation next time you renew your drivers licence or visit a medicare office!!!



Meet Cordelia here and here.

Travel

Yesterday I climbed into a gleaming white ute and was driven to drink Yass. I went to visit the Murrumbidgee CMA to talk about information management - always happy to talk to people and to travel to places far and wide. Having said that I am off to Melbourne tonight for dinner and then an all day seminar on Knowledge Management at Melbourne Zoo. Hope I don't end up in the wrong cage!

I have to say, Tuesday is the worst day of the week for me and this week it was even worse than usual. I went walking late and was behind the eight ball for the rest of the morning. I packed and put lunches together for MLR and AJR, packed the ironing for Dale, packed my bag for Melbourne. AJR caught the bus to school on time, then the three of us piled into the car, as I did not want to take my car to work to sit in the carage for two days there. As I was getting into the car I then remembered my handbag, so got out and fetched it out of the house. Back in the car, I trapped my fingers in the closing window, ouch! 50 meters down the road I remembered that I had left my work mobile phone and personal mobile phone at home. As it was more important to get MLR to school on time, we did took her to school first. Returned home for the mobiles, dropped of the ironing at Dale's, off to work arriving just after 9.30am.

Some days I think it would be easier to just stay home.

Sole sistaz statistics

Here are the results of the Sole Sistaz efforts for the first 5 days.

Number of Steps taken by me =62054
Number of Steps taken by the team = 186598

Daily Average Steps by me = 12410
Daily Average Steps by the team = 5331

Distance (KM's) by me = 40
Distance (KM's) by team = 119

Daily Average KM's by me = 8
Daily Average KM's by team = 3

Go team!!!

Day of rest

Have walked approximately 9,700 steps today, which is not bad considering that the only exercise I took today was to buy groceries!!! Still in Lo Campo, LWA has sunk to a new record of 965, which just reflects the fact that most of the world is asleep and have yet to add their steps for today!!!!Really need to stop watching our global position.

Collected CH from the airport with LR and had a girls night out with a lovely meal at Thai Basil in Erindale - highly recommended.

Alpacas and The Wall

The day started with a walk to the top of Monash hill with Millie and MLR. MLR thought it was too long a walk and sat down on the ground a couple of times. After cleaning the kitchen and the lounge room up a little I took MLR and went off to EPIC to see my friends Alpaca's. She runs Indigo Alpacas near Goulburn. My friend CJK and her kids J & J joined us at EPIC. CJK took some photo's and hopefully I will add them shortly. Afterwards CJK, I and the kids had coffee at Macca's.

In the evening JR, MR and CR and I went out to see Pink Floyd's "The Wall" at the Street Theatre in Town, an amateur production. We had tickets to dinner and the show. Dinner was in the Teatro Vivaldi, we had two courses before the show and then returned for desert in the intermission. The show was fantastic and we really enjoyed the acting, the singing and the light show which was spectacular. There were two problems with the seating, one was that it was unallocated and therefore first in best dressed, which is difficult when you are trying to get four seats together! This was further compounded by the fact that they did not open the doors until almost 8pm (rather than 7.45pm), which made for great stampede acts from people who had been waiting in line for 15-20 minutes. The other issue was that MV's seat in the theatre after dinner sank to the floor as she sat down. MV and JR had to move two rows back and sit where the roadies had sat before!!! Obviously the dinner portions were too generous.

Steps today = 1600 +

Arrival in Vina Del Mar

Having entered my steps yesterday I could see that the company I work for was about 95 in the world, checked again at lunch time today we are 198. A little later this afternoon we were at 360 and seconds ago I checked where LWA are and we are going gangbusters to 565th in the world - I should have stopped yesterday:)

A little about Vina Del Mar, it is known as the vineyard by the sea - I hope I get to try some of the wine while I am here!!!! The classic food is Empanadas: pastry filled with meat, cheese or mussels, and its population is 275,982. The city is the birth place of Alberto Hurtado, the second Chilean Catholic saint and founder of the Hogar de Cristo (Home of Christ) foundation, writer Maria Luisa Bombal, the author of La Ultima Niebla (The Last Fog), former Chilean president Patricio Aylwin, tennis player Nicolás Massú and Slayer vocalist Tom Araya - what more could you want. One thing I know is that I knew about none of these people before the GCC, so as my girth recinds my knowledge expands!

Should you want to visit this area, then here is some useful information Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar
Steps today only 8.700 - still good considering I did not walk the Millie dog this morning!!!

Blue Mountains Daily Photo

Bro has gone and got enthusiastic about this blogging thing and now has an additional blog called Blue Mountains Daily Photo - check it out!

Global Corporate Challenge

As you know I love travel, and now I have found a way to travel and see the family every day and maybe get fit at the same time!!!

I and seven of my colleagues at work have formed a team called the "Sole Sistaz" and we have entered the "Global Corporate Challenge". This challenge is to walk 10,000 steps per day for the next 125 days!!! Today was day one and I personally walked approximately 14,000 steps according to my pedometer. The day started with a brisk walk (it is Canberra and cold) with Millie (4,000 steps), followed by a team walk at lunch (another 4,000). The team walk at lunch included all teams at my work, there are about five teams.

Check out the website and see which other companies are competing.

The idea behind this is that we walk across the world and today we started in South America, in Val Paraiso, and at the end of today we have travelled to Vina Del Mar. On the website it gives me information about where I am and what is interesting to see, what the local food is (very important to me) and local customs. I will let you know where and how I go over the next few days.

A photographer in Paris

Hi there,

Having just read Smells like? I thought I should add a Photographer in Paris (if you click on the title you will be linked to her site), however the best part of her site is A photographer in Paris blog. She is a talented photographer who spends her time wandering the streets of Paris taking beautiful photographs of my favourite city. Looking at this is the next best thing to being in Paris.

Here are some of my favourite photo's from Paris 2006

Arriving in Paris June 2006

The courtyard from our apartment in Paris

In the lounge room of our apartment

From the Louvre our first day in Paris

Here is the Monoprix (Woolworths or Tesco of Paris) above and the local street market below,where we bought fresh pasta and sauces, cheese, bread and cherries. At one point I asked the non French speaking indian student in the fruit shop for 300g of cherries in my best school girl french and came home with 1kg! The best thing about it was eating cherries in July as I associate cherries with Christmas in Australia. We had no trouble eating all of them. Note that we went to Paris twice, in early June as part of the bus tour and then again in early July under our own steam.

Welcome home

Here is the card that MLR made me when I returned from Melbourne

This gives you an idea of the size of the card

Birthdays and Berrima

Here is the ice cream cake for MLR at home

April is birthday rama for this family, there is Neisha on the 4th, niece on the 14th, Grandpa on the 21st, MLR on the 25th and nephew on the 29th - what a party!

AC and TC in the park

A small gathering of three of the April birthday people gathered in the southern highlands at Berrima to celebrate with lunch at the oldest continuously licenced pub in NSW, followed by coffee and cake in the park. Lunch was held in the closed in veranda of the pub, on the corner. A light filled area with views to the gaol (we did not see anyone trying to escape). Most of us had fish and chips or chicken and chips, while some started and finished with desert. While the place was incredibly busy, we were all served quickly (apart from a slow delivery on the last fish and chips). The price was reasonable.

The cake is a ginger and cherry cake (two of Grandpa's favourite flavours)

The start of the birthday cake

How the cake finished up

TC brought chocolate cup cakes which were appreciated by all, but especially the children.

After some confusion about parks and playgrounds and who was following whom, we ended up in a nice park near the river.

How many people does it take to light a sparkler on a windy day?

Four cousins (between rounds of survivor)

Cockington Green

Just before the school holidays, Grandma and Grandad Rutherford were down for a visit, and along with MLR and Me we went to Cockington Green for a visit - they had not seen the new international section. Here are some of the photo's that MLR took of the International Section.

Swiss ski resort

Piggies for Grandma Carter

From little things big things grow - reconciliation

Autumn in Monash

Here are some autumn colours from the street trees and flowers in our garden

Autumn is my favourite time of year.

Horton Hears a Who

MLR and her friend Mickey and Myself planned to see Horton Hears a Who on Monday. There were three children in the end as AJR decided to grace us with his presence, although he sat up the back by himself. My friend Sue B also joined us for the movie and lunch afterwards. Sue is excited about moving to the coast this week, plus retiring (again)!

MLR ran into a friend last week who had just seen this movie, Maddie gave MLR the Horton mask, hence this delightful photo. The mask also hides a self hair cut!

For an adult watching a kids movie it was ok. There was not enough rhyming in it for me, not Seuss enough! From what AJR told me of his read of the book in Dymocks he did not think that the movie reflected the book.

I am a member of Hoyts club, which means that they send me offers every now and then. I managed to get tickets to Horton for $8.00 per person (instead of $11 for the kids and $14.50 for me). I bought the food and drinks before hand, popping the corn in the microwave before we left home. It all felt quite frugal.

JSR's Graduation

If you want to see him graduate, with distinction then here is the proof photo, in addition to this I saw both JSR graduate and the certificate, so it must be true!!! More on this later, when we download the stuff off the video. Thanks for your help TC.