Bowie

Not the rocker. But a special place for us. The beach next door..

Summers here

Tia made a batch of muffins for her classmates for her birthday.Mo & I often go to the South Melbourne Market. The produce is like we've never seen anywhere....Here's Helen - who turns me on to some of the most unusual cheeses, and even though she doesn't have my favorite Cantal or Mimolét she has some others I had never tried (or even heard of!).And here's Mo's favorite produce spot - dried apple slices, fig cookies, grissini, olive oil....Tia and Krikka on the rear deck. Yup, summers here, and come autumn, all those leaves will be on the ground (= I will have to pick them up), but for now it's wonderful!

Illawara & tattoos & Thai frogs

No connection really, but we were at the zoo with the Klopfers and the now familiar bush flies.

Mara has decided that she wants the Illawara Flame Tree behind her bedroom, and it was all oh so different from the Singapore zoo.
I ran into this perforated, pinned and pierced and fiercely tattooed chap. He was alarmed that I was stalking him, but I explained that his excruciating walkabout art was just too fascinating. I don't know your name, but this is for you for posterity.
A cherry on the top was this insane frog temple from Thailand!

Musca vetustissima

The bush fly. These little buggers are incredibly annoying and fearless. I'm getting a bee bonnet! I had never really been exposed to quite anything like this - it all starts with cow poo, and if you really want the low-down, go here: http://www.viacorp.com/flybook/fulltext.html

Krikka & Koko & Sushi

A special quiet moment. It rarely happens. And Sushi, atop the fridge with two of her dummies.

Casa

So here are some recent shots of the house. It's definitely getting lived in. I quickly posted these so my saalee Gopi could have a look. See you soon on a visit Gops! And Mara steps up to the plate, and spins together a meal! Tia is inseparable from Koko.

Bentleigh

The Bentleigh Street Festival. I think the whackos are so much more interesting than the regulars...
They also look like they're always having a lot more fun.

Divali

Divali slipped by almost unnoticed. Yoo hoo Lakshmi, did you see our lights?

The Beach at Bowie

Just 5 minutes from us, the Beaumaris beach is one of the 3 top spots in Melbourne for kite surfers. This one's for you Erdem!

10 Minutes By Tractor

We all drove down towards Flinders in the Mornington peninsular. Strawberry picking. The countryside is just spectacularly beautiful and set in the rolling hills and vineyards and wooded trails. The strawberry fields were uninspiring. They aren't very pretty to look at. (That's why I got the shot of the tractor instead). On the way back we stopped for a tasting at 10 Minutes By Tractor (yup, that's the name) a great vineyard, and a very well known label (all you pinot noir aficionados will recognize it) - and ended up with a case of the ruby red magic. We thought it would hold till Christmas, but alas, Mo and myself (along with numerous friends) made sure we'll have to head out to 10X again soon! The other images are of us on that drive.

Tia raw

I suppose I can still post Tia in the raw without getting into trouble. But this won't be for too much longer.... Here she is having fun in the jacuzzi.

Mulberries, spiders and the Brush Wattlebird

The mulberry tree outside the kitchen is just flooded with these tiny sticky mulberries. They're yummy, but a real bitch to pick. Mara & Tia tried picking them by hand, and ended with purple juice running down their faces. So they held a large cloth while I shook the branches. We got just kilos of the stuff along with teeny tiny little spiders running around my bald head and everywhere. A sticky experience that I'm in no rush to repeat. BTW the Brush Wattlebird also loves the stuff and is always flapping about in the tree. This drives Sushi nuts and so she also is up the tree. Is this all weird or what? My daughters,cat, birds, spiders & me up in a tree. Abstract? Anyhow, Mo made some great muffins with the mulberries, and pies and tarts and jam....

Sunday at Luna Park

Tia insisted we go to one of her favourite spots here. Here's a special one of the girls.


I saw this wild goth-ish girl. I often think how brave it is to be able to step out and face the world (and perhaps her parents!) decked out like that!


Tia performed as a bee at her school - some event about the environment. She makes a great bee. When she was small, I'd call her 'ento' for entomologist - for her fascination for insects. I'm probably reading too much into this, but it's still insects.

Koko, Tia's new dog, and as I've mentioned earlier, the only other male in this family. He's a spoodle, a cool new breed. Sharp as a pin, cute and lots of trouble - shoes, slippers and all are no more safe.

Mara working - Gasp!

Here's Mara working hard at staining the timber for our al fresco dining area. My little prima donna angel at work, for real!

Surface so necessary

So the floors got done. Tasmanian Oak, or Tassie as they call it here. It was wonderful getting rid of all that funky carpet! Some more Work In Progress shots.

Mara & Tia at Wesley

Both the girls got fitted out for their new uniforms (oh so Victorian) and we had a fit and a battle over the 'sensible' shoes that they HAD to wear!

Aspendale

While the floors were being sanded down we had to split - so we found a great little beach cottage not far from Beaumaris called Aspendale. It was a teriffic 5 day getaway. Here you can see Mo, Mara & tia with Krikka & Koko off for a walk.