little fish story

(gosh i'm such a Remote and Incredibly Random Blogger, sending today's cyberwaves from The Big Smoke)

this morning saw us splitting up the party as Bulldog, D18 and GD negotiated the bus trip into town where Bulldog pushed D18 off the bus at the right stop. the rest of us popped into one of our fave places, hung out with the cuzzies and had a wee swim at Auntie's beach.

the end of our day saw S10 (who has a spunky new haircut, complete with Rat's Tail down the back) our Local Fisherman "out for a pleasure cruise through eel-infested waters" (sorry, couldn't resist) and GD doing some "manly bonding" (even slightly more obscure and Incredibly Random movie line) over three snapper and the fish smoker on the back lawn.

delish, S10 and D18 even ate a fish head... each!
mmmmm.
bet *that* makes ya wanna tuck into yer dinner.

muttering to myself under my breath

when in trouble
or in doubt,
run in circles
scream and shout!

hahahahahahahahaha
works for me...
actually there's not much screaming and shouting but there's a lot of circular movements, arm flapping, list making, box ticking, stationery picking, internet negotiating...
sheesh,
*In My Day* we used to arrive at university the day before lectures started, fill in a piece of paper, and beat it to the second hand bookshop.
that was it!!!
these days enrolment is all online, which means a million phone calls to the helpcentre cos The Big Smoke Uni website is not a ninja. it's almost like a prerequisite to course entry: you know, if you can jump through eleventy billion hoops you're educated enough to cope with lectures.
at least D18 is well-practiced in telephone etiquette, he'll have no prob's getting a part-time-job at a call centre...
ok, am stalling now, i really need to be sucking everything up the vacuum cleaner... cos we're off to The Big Smoke in little less than half an hour
*guess the movie line*

hibernating, cherishing, reflecting:

On Children
by Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let our bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

hippie happy mond-Hay

well it's raining outside, so we thought we'd make our own *sunshine* inside, creating some sparkly things for some of our fave peeps and (here's the *school* part lol) WRITING LETTERS to accompany the pressies. don't wanna kill the moment though, so a couple of the letters are dictated by the lads and i'm the scribe. cos didn't ya H-A-T-E it when you were a kid and went to the zoo on a school trip and instead of just being able to soak it all in and make *monkey noises* at the monkeys and *giraffe noises* at the giraffes and *hippotamus* noises at the hippos/hippopotamuses/hippopotamii and read the info signs if you wanted to and discuss the eating habits of the Alligator mississippiensis, or not... and the teacher sent you around the zoo clutching a freaking fill-in-the-gaps sheet and it totally spoiled the whole visit?! i'm not sure why teachers think that Writing Stuff Down is *the* way to measure learning, perhaps cos that's the only way to keep track of a classroom full of kids...
*kate gets down off her soap box*

presenting the creators
full of concentration,
listening to Joe:

and (some of) the created:

(those *jokes*... where oh where do my kids get their randomness from?)
and *guess what?*
the love is totally going around the universe, cos i just popped out to the letter box and lookit what i found:

a luffly français card from The Chic Geek

and a gorgy *handmade* pressie.

yes, oh yes, this monday is turning out to be a very bright bright sunshiney day

musical notes

The sound waves have been particularly harmonious here of late. It's the brothers. Up until this summer it's been all about the individuals, each caught up in his own instrumental world, but suddenly creativity is combusting collaboratively and everywhere I look there is a communal muse.
There's scarcely half an hour of the day or night free from channelling Dragon, The Eagles, RCHP, Jack, U2, The Kooks. We are treated to guitar riffs accompanied by piano chords, two guitars simultaneously in motion - one brother playing lead, one plucking bass - three lads cooking up a musical storm: everyone sharing their knowledge with others, resulting in a rhythmic surf of sound.
Fingers are being strengthened, ears and strings tuned, voices rising and falling in melody and harmony - of course the rest of The Gang are magnetically attracted to little ensembles around the house where muso talent gathers.
Em's MP3 batteries are wearing out as songs are recorded and replayed and reaccompanied; redownloaded, rehashed and relished.
Tabs are explained, chords debated, original music jotted on manuscript as souls connect in a composition of notes and poetry, soaking in the metaphor of summer, the last week of brotherhood as we know it.

twirly girly

Ever since R14 could walk she's loved playing *dressing up*. For the first decade of her life her favourite thing was to unload her massive suitcase full of paraphernalia and adorn herself as Buttercup, or Comtesse Nicole du Lancré, or Cinderella, or Belle (which always included shrieking and running away from Gaston aka Daddy as he cajoled in his deepest voice, "Belle, you will marry mee-e-e-e-e?").
Our darling Auntie even made her a "wedding dress" when she was five, complete with a veil.

Today Woozie had a ball, dressing up in wedding/bridesmaid dresses at a Bridal Show... where adoring brother J12 snapped these photos from the front row seats:

Her favourite was
this lil' bridesmaid's

number from 1957:

and even after all that parading
we just couldn't resist
popping outside

for another little twirl:

Oh Woozie, how we love your bubby personality, your zest for life, your beautiful girliness, your delightful curls, your gentleness, your generous spirit. I loved doing your hair today, making you feel extra beautiful, and then observing as you encouraged the little flower girls and made them feel like princesses too.

Gee Whizz

in the short lull between negotiating push'n'shove, picking up my crack freshly ground coffee, taking all our library books back (because it turns out that they are incurring THIRTY CENT FINES PER BOOK PER DAY... guess what we're boycotting this month?), dropping off D18 to work, popping home to unload The Tardis and have a wee chat to the lush Chantelle about whether six year old boys need to write a compulsory story every day or at all (guess my opinion on that one), and zipping back to The House on the Hill for lunch... then picking up D18 from work WHERE HE OPENED HIS MAIL AND DISCOVERED THAT HE HAS WON A SUBSTANTIAL SCHOLARSHIP FOR 2008 yippee zippee!!!
S10 found a moment to create:

Gee McFiggy

and his sister, Gee McSiggy

waving at the world from our friendly webcam...
they're both The Hugest Stuffed Shrek In The World Dressed Up El Capitano Rap Artists, whatever that means...

five. perfect. days.

a handful of time
together
ain't no other like my bruvva
a summer decade half a globe away
this endless week
an elegant sufficiency
kids toppling you over
etching the sounds of laughter
our unbelieveably happy ever afters
together
divulging hearts and dreams
poirate stories in the tent
waves crashing
sunshine splashing
my beautiful sister chorusing
it's weezer!
matchsticks propping our candlelit eyelids
all together in real time
recalling childhood jokes
lump in my throat
wishing for the world to stop turning
a million photos burning
jaffas on beaches
midnight speeches
little words of sage advice
a wink, a smile
another scenic drive
a plane ride
the globe is turning
turning
remembering
choking au revoir
squeezing
wishing
dreaming
clinging to our déjà vu
together

a spot of webcam hilarity

i see how peeps can get into trouble with these thangs, we just had a whole lotta fun:

You love him, don't you?
He's my brother.

*movie line*

sunshine splashin'

Bulldog and I doubled it on the *sunshine slide*



and then all the goers went down
The Black Hole Freaky Deaky Slide together...

yep, that's MY DAD

aka Tail End Charlie!!!!!

what a load of croc...

bwahahahaha
no guesses where we get the silly gene from...
That cursed beast liked the taste of me so well he's followed me ever since,
licking his chops for the rest of me.
*movie line*

At The Top of The Bottom of The World

this morning Bulldog dragged us all out of our beds at the crack of dawn and WE CLIMBED MAUAO, right to the tippy tippy top.

A View From The Top:
two gorgy girls gazing out to sea

climbing to the top of the very tall tower

a luffly little moment

i can't remember what the joke was
but it must've been blimmin' hilarious!!

we are loving every minute with you, reminiscing about the last time we saw yas, catching up on the London goss, reading about the troubles in Solla Sollew, and making a million memories.

and now we're off to eat dinner: turkish kebabs with tomato jam, barbecued flatbreads, beans from GD's garden, accompanied by a glass of Viognier, and for dessert we have katie's chocolate cake with hokey pokey ice cream!!
and then...
it's gotta be The Princess Bride, by S. Morgenstern, chapter one...
*cue video game music*

joyous reunion down under

my dahling bro Greg and lush "sister" Em have finally arrived.
we last saw yas a year and a half ago, but it feels like a fortnight.
yippee zippee!!! we are so flippin' excited that you are here with us.
we had a delish rump steak and a luffly after-dinner-walk to celebrate, complete with Backyard Rugby...

Em and J12...

Greg and S10...

(of course i am taking a billion photos, have only got time to upload a couple and then am getting straight back to our IRL parteeee)

Architectur-hell-y Designed

while the rest of us surfed and sunned, J12 got very busy making this sand sculpture at the beach.
it's inspired by one of his fave book series, and has all sorts of intricate bits'n'pieces.

Hellgrind, which the people of Drasleona worship, is like a big granite clump of spikes dumped close to the banks of Leona Lake. The spikes are so thin and tall that you can only fly up to it with a dragon or a Lethrblaka (giant bat). When Eragon travelled to Drasleona in search of the Ra'zak (a creature that is stronger than a human and is nearly impossible to kill), they ambushed him just outside the city. Now Eragon thinks that the Ra'zak have a lair in Hellgrind.
I really like the Eragon series and I keep wishing that I was in the adventure of it.

story (as dictated) and photos: J12

all the cool kids are doin' it, or not doin' it...

it's *meme* time again.
Me. Me. Meme.
confession: when i hear these words, "Hey, Kate -- you're tagged!" i break out in a sweat. cos i hate being told what to do. i'm the boss you know. for example, i am really hot on spelling and grammar, but refuse to start my sentences with a capital letter, or write "I", unless i'm writing seriously.

so when i got the "Hey, Kate -- you're tagged!" message from the luffly Laura i f.r.e.a.k.e.d. o.u.t.
but of course i left my answers in Laura's comments (i'm nice like that) and then Hay left the Reverse Psychology comment "I knew Kate wouldn't do it, lol (properly). What a rebel."
which has worked, now i'm totally off the hook and not freaking out at all:

so i'll cut-n-paste it from Laura's comments blog it here:
if i was a/an... i'd be...
ice cream: raspberry sorbet (with the seeds, love the seeds)
fried food: am totally off fried food at the mo, but if pushed i'd choose tempura veggies, fresh and the most healthy option if you're going to have fried...
extreme sport: something with snow, or surf
retail store: well, hate retail, i'd be a divine little frrrrench clothing boutique
veggie: asparagus, delish
fruit: fresh pick-your-own strawberry still filled with hot sunshine
building: notre dame, or arc de triomphe, or eiffel tower.
car: VW beetle, yellow or pink... or retro orange

yep, turned out to be rather the Personality Analysis *giggle*
i'm not playing tag, but if ya wanna do it, let me know so as i can trip inside your head too, or do it in the *comments*...
love X

Sporty Spice

The *E* word. Exercise.
It's not my favourite.
I don't get a buzz from
*running around the block: so boring, hurts my legs, or
*exercycles: so boring, no one to talk to, or
*swimming lengths: so boring, can't breathe.
(i think there is a pattern here)

For moi, exercise has to be Pain-Free, preferably Fun and With People. Oh, I do like skiing. Or I did, two decades ago when I last hit the slopes. Probably cos that's Pain-Free (Katie, ski to the *side* of the big rock), Fun, and With People.

So it's a big surprise that I've hit the Gym.
Not being a Sporty Spice an' all.
But yesterday I heard the sweetest words coming from Bulldog's lips:
"You've got abs!"
Say it again.
"I can see your abs. You've got a pack!"
I think his forty year old eyes need glasses!
Just call me Mel C and sign me up for a world tour.
Oh, unsign me.

ooh la la Paris aujourd'hui

i. love. skype.
i can talk to mates all around the world for *free*...
and we can see each other too!!!

late last night i chatted to my friend suz for nearly an hour as she debriefed her last three days in Paris: and we shared our memories of La Tour Eiffel, Notre Dame, Musée D'Orsay, L'Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysées, La Louvre, les escargots, les impressionistes, wandering around the city, a billion little français moments... and i could *see* where she'd been, because we've been there too.

maybe one day we'll go there again... but for now, i'm so glad for a petite vicarious moment.
yep, i'm hyped about skype.
*fromage*
(go on, download... it's the new facebook lol)

"I've made a lot of special modifications myself..."

hmmm, one of my fave movie lines.
it's so *GEEKY* yet so versatile.
little clue: the movie is Star Wars (the one that came out in the cinema when i was nearly eight!) but WHO says it and WHEN?

ok, on with the Garden Update:
we've been living out here all Summer, but *sob* guess what? i have managed to nearly kill the gardenia which sprouted all sorts of fresh green foliage during January and even made these flowers for Heath,

and then promptly got aphids. the advice was to pour soapy water on the leaves and the aphids would fly away in disgust. *blonde* moi got all gung-ho and sprayed the entire bush with disinfectant. oops. it promptly dropped half of its leaves and needed the Big Rinse and Hair Cut. so now it's a third of the size and all twiggy and flowerless *sob*

that modification is *not* so special.

but this one is: Bulldog aka Grand Poo Bah Mason
and D18 have decided to concrete the pond.
and *look* at our Absolutely Divine Passionfruit,
which we're planning to scoop onto the top of a Great NZ Pavlova to celebrate when Greg and Em get here in a week!!!

surf's up

one day you'll look back, and you'll see
where you were held now by this love

while you could stand there
you could move on this moment
follow this feeling
it's alright, it's alright, it's alright. if you want to kiss the sky,
better learn how to kneel.she's the wave, she turns the tide
she sees the man inside the child
it's alright, it's alright, it's alright
she moves in mysterious ways.

photography credits: TGD
perfect lyrics credits: U2