jan, 3rd - special people.....

day 324:

two favourite pics from today....Limi with her godparents Jeanne and John.

jan, 2nd - new year, chinese style.....

day 323:

we were looking for a low key new year's eve this year.....my sister rang one of her favourite chinese restaurants in Hong Kong and said: "Are you doing anything for the Western new year's eve". "No!" was the reply. "Fantastic, we'll book a table for 8 people".

we had a brilliant (although fairly early...we may or may not even have made 11pm) night. 

during dinner the chef puts on this incredible handmade noodle display.....

amazing.

jan, 1st - happy new year....

day 322:

happy 2011 everyone!!!

i'm busy working on my goals for this new year......one is to get this blog back into real time!! when i committed to making this a daily account of Limi's first year (after that i'm allowed to skip a day, or weekend or two....hooray) i didn't factor in how hard it is to do while travelling. so, thanks for being patient with this retrospective view......

and thanks for reading. i hope that you have a year filled with belly laughs, fulfilment, creativity and love.

x

dec, 31st - roaming free....

day 321:

one of the things that Limi will miss about Oz.....

the extra long crawling-runway passages.......

dec, 30th - brunch with bill, jack and jill....

day 320:

there are definitely a few things that we miss by living in London.......views of blue water is one of them....yesterday we had the quintessential view of sun, sails and that blue, rippling water....we introduced Limi to her great aunt and uncle, Jill and Jack......

 and caught up with old friends....

(Limi with her new favourite book - That's not my Tiger)

today.....was another reminder of things that London is missing.....first, some good friends (that now live in Sydney) and creamed corn for making sweetcorn fritters...i miss creamed corn (such a part of my varsity years). we woke up to bright sunshine and strolled from our friends' place down some fantastically buzzy streets in Woollahra to Bill Granger's cafe for a catch-up lunch (oh and some delectable sweetcorn fritters).

dec, 29th - sunshine....

day 319:

pretty.....sunlit and festive Sydney. 

reminding us of what Summer is all about.

we're here for one night to catch-up with friends and family before leaving Oz.

dec, 28th - a day at the beach....

day 318:

i lived close to the beach as a child in South Africa. during the holidays, visitors would flock down to coast from places like Johannesburg and Bloemfontein and we would always be amazed that they would go to the beach even if it was raining and the wind was howling the sand into a dust-storm.....

well today....we were those people. it's been raining non-stop and our raft building is coming along nicely, so we decided to take a break and head to the beach. (the only consolation is that it's warm rain and you're going to get wet anyway....oh and Limi doesn't have to discover the love affair between of sunscreen and sand)

sadly for Limi whether she's in England or Oz, her experience of the beach has been a bit drizzly this year (see day 151)

we finished off our day at the beach with fish and chips....Limi's first. 

(love the curling toes.)

dec, 27th - namesake.....

day 317:

Limi's full name is Lissom (see day 6....hmmm, yes it did take us 6 days to name her). It was her great-grandmother's name on A's paternal side. I had never seen a picture of Lissom but had loved the name from the first time I heard it. By all accounts, Lissom was a feisty lady and raised 4 young children on her own after her husband died unexpectedly from pneumonia. So, a great woman to name Limi after.

Today, I caught my first glimpse of Lissom. A's folks have this picture on their wall from her wedding day.

there are many things that i love about this photo.....

the shoes, the veil, the fact that Lissom is carrying Arum lilies (one of my favourite), a full eyebrow, the shoulder bouquets and that delicate watch worn as a cuff.

it's fantastic to be able to put a face to the name.

dec, 26th - noah's ark and indoor activities....

day 316:

boxing day and the rain since we arrived on Wednesday, has been biblical.....unrelenting and torrential....we even suspect that it may be the making of 'noah's ark 2' or 'the return of the ark'. the problem is that if it is, then we have obviously not been selected as the perfect human specimens for saving.....we will need to fend for ourselves (i once did raft building which may come in handy).

the area that we're in is called the sunshine coast.....at this rate we'll be writing to the tourist board and asking for a refund.....even the snow in London is starting to look appealing.

so, even though there is the hugest backyard, we've been stuck indoors....trying to entertain three children and 7 adults.....there's been plenty of indoor gymnastics, block building and

lego construction.

verandah

hoola-hooping.

and cardboard-car-passage-motoring.

dec, 25th - merry christmas....

day 315:

Merry Christmas!

i hope that your day was wonderful and filled with family, good food, delicious wine and brilliant conversation (and for me this year.....the best gift was a long afternoon nap....after weeks of travelling and time changes, i am feeling a little bit shattered)

instead of snow outside our window this morning, we had these guys instead.....