Happy New Year!!

It's already New Year here.. (didn't see it in, I had crashed out by 10pm)
But I got up bright and early and went for a walk with Nicki to the beach (Whale Beach) and took this picture before the morning mist lifted.
Happy New Year everybody wherever you are!!

cupcakes

A favourite among Aussie kids: to make, to decorate and to eat. This is 4 year-old Daisy with her batch.

Boxing Day

In other words the day after Xmas, also a public holiday. We headed down to Whale beach for sun and fun with the kids..
Watch out for a future blog on swimwear and beach etiquette in Oz...

Xmas Day

Mum (Nicki) Dad (David) and kids Harley. Morgan, Hunter, Jordan and Daisy round the table on Xmas day.

Menu: Leg of ham in coca-cola, stuffed rolled turkey (ballantine) roast vegetables, spinach and christmas pudding flavoured ice-cream.

Cracker jokes included:

How do you stop  a rhino from charging?

Take away its credit cards

What do you call a blind dinosaur?

Do you think he saw us?

And of course paper hats were de rigueur

shanghai

The skyline from the Bund on a sunny winter's day, at night some of the buildings become huge TV screens. 

No blogging in China so catching up in Oz

Ironic, isn't it, that the nation to host a bloggers conference is now blocking all attempts to access and write blogs. Anyway, on my arrival in Oz (Australia for the uninitiated) I have to catch up with my postings. I got here yesterday mid morning and the sun was shining, a pleasant 22 degrees centigrade. I cease to be a frump in winter clothes and can wear just one layer and show some flesh. Nicki's kids and family a (noisy) delight. But now it's quiet... It is 1am and I am wide awake, a combination of excitement and jetlag. 

First note where I am right now, it's by the beach about an hour outside Sydney to the north on a beautiful green peninsular

The googleearthplacemark  ....hang on I have to find out how to do this.. 

No joy.

Well. Go to google earth.. look for Sydney Australia, then type in Avalon. We are almost at the top of the peninsular a block from the beach..Spectacular place. Here is a picture I took earlier of my sister Nicki.

Thermal shock

31 to 3 degrees!
It is frigging freezing in London but the sun is shining and at 4pm the Xmas lights come on...

This is Covent Garden.

Reboucas

Just thought the world should know about the work of this Bahian artist and friend of mine Reboucas...






His site is http://www.reboucasarte.multipy.com/

you can also find him on http://www.bahian-art.com/

I call him Peter Pan and he calls me Gisele.

Happy Christmas Peter!

Tea in the tropics

Try as I might, high tea in the tropics remains a hot and sticky affair, the finest teas in the world shunned in favour of a cold beer or a G and T.
But all my friends turned up and made it very special.
It starred: cheese scones, smoked salmon and cream cheese canapes, mince pies, egg and cress sandwiches, blackberry muffins, cocoa biscuits, orange chocolate cake and poppy seed cake...quite a spread.

Corações vagabundos!

Hi
I have been wanting to talk about these, but my keyboard is Greek and I couldn't get a cedilla for my C, never mind a squiggle for the o. Anyway...I have it now.


This post is for Renata and Raquel, two of my students. It involves black spaghetti and putanesca sauce..and then hot gingered mango with ice cream (perini's cream) a few beers..

Food of gods and goddesses and dealers of tough love. And what was that about corações vagabundos?

niche blogs

My sister Fiona has a blog of her own...though the audience is really, well, let's say, restricted..

But perhaps the world does need to know about BLW.
Curious?
www.fourfistsfull.wordpress.com

baby led weaning

mum in a party frock

and this is Mum (Ann) Key and my uncle Robert (dad's brother) on her 70th birthday. She'll also be in Shanghai and Oz on her way to New Zealand..and for a change she's not in her walking gear...(I have edited out Mrs Goldie!) Uncle Robert is the family computer nerd, token muslim and electrician to the rich and famous.

and the nieces and the nephews......

Take a look at the motley bunch I'll be visiting

ng....

Key girls

yes
I am one of three....
My sisters are Nicki and Fiona, Nicki in Oz and Fiona in Shanghai...hence my route..

An English country garden

And now for something completely different..
Just experimenting here...after a class of Slide with Nelson
This is a picture of my aunt's garden in Wiltshire, June 2006. The garden fairy is Tanja

more pictures of SSA

pelo

here goes

Hi
Congratulations on getting here!


But hang on...


shouldn't you be out Xmas shopping?


Hope you enjoy following me on my travels around the globe...

Salvador to London then on to Shanghai and Sydney December 2007 - January 2008.


But starting from Salvador...and take a look at this picture, my uncle took it 5 years ago from the plane flying back from Morro...It's a pretty spectacular place...This is the tip/peninsular that marks the northern edge of the Bahia de Todos os Santos.