Birthdays weekend

So many good things came together this weekend: Ros and Pete stayed over a few days on their way down to Geelong (they've said goodbye to Sandy Beach), Maxie started to feel better after a horrible week with a cold, and Angus and Jody both had big birthdays to celebrate. It was super special to enjoy the celebrations together, all 14 of us, on Saturday at Josh and Jody's.

 We had to take this shot to record how big these boys are growing!

In between soccer games outside with the boys, Ella gave us a great solo gig on her Tenor Sax..... Is there anything this girl can't do?

 And Claire produced a cheesecake birthday cake (yes, made of cheese) - quite stunning and amazing!

 Angus turned 12 this week. Beautiful boy!

 And this gorgeous girl (Jody) celebrated one of those big birthdays too!!

 Two gorgeous girls in a wonderful decade of their lives ……………..

Canberra was pretty mild by August standards for Ros and Pete's stay. In between family lunches, brunches and birthday celebrations we did lots of walking (mainly to the new Sanoma Bakery in Braddon) and coffee drinking. I thought we'd see the sun today - going by the sunrise ……..

 but it wasn't to last long …..

 .. but that didn't stop us heading for the lake for our morning walk …….

.. and a final coffee (and kimchi jaffle) from our new local, INTRA......

 We're looking forward to seeing Ros and Pete set up in Geelong. That's only one day's drive away for us!! 

Christmas 4

We'd all been looking forward to this Christmas celebration SO much. The London branch flew into Canberra yesterday so we all pretended today was the 25th and celebrated the whole Christmas thing all over again, but this time with ALL of Maxie and Rod's family together - just amazing!

Eddie's been to Australia before of course (in September 2011 when he was just a baby). This time with the benefit of age and experience he's really looking forward to seeing some cockatoos the most. So he was thrilled to find these cockatoo print boardshorts under the Christmas tree, from his cousins Ella and Abi.

Eddie's found two wonderful playmates here - his two big, handsome boy cousins: Ollie and Angus.

This is Ivy's first visit to Australia - and she can't decide who is her favourite big boy cousin just yet.

But she does like the selection of toys Abi left for her, as well as all the new toys under the Christmas tree.

After lunch Eddie shocked us all by voting to join the big boys (in the charge of Jeremy) to head off down the coast for the night. It's such an Australian thing to do that (he'll be ok Mummy and Daddy)!

Ivy was happy to stay behind  and catch up on some quality time with her Nanny (they'll head off to the coast in the morning).............

 .. and wear this beautiful hand made dress (exquisite work by her Nanny).

We'll be catching up with this branch of the family again, and another branch too, over the next two weeks - stay tuned!

Christmas 1

We had our first Christmas celebration here at Saint Germain last Sunday. There were all the traditional elements: the Canberra clan together, a glass of Majella on entry, Christmas carols on rotation (groans from Ella), Secret Santa presents to open (yay says everyone)..........

Abi's present struck the right note: a squeaky toy for her Sniffy dog and a new food bowl for him too (apparently Paddy the dachshund gave it his seal of approval too after quite a fuss!)........

We were so lucky to have Claire and Angus with us - despite Angus's surgery a few days before......

A beautiful late lunch: turkey, ham, prawn salad and creamy potatoes, following on from Josh & Jody's yummy canapes..........

Ella was the star turn at lunch: a 20 minute tour de force of her free form social commentary complete with cockney accent - hilarious!! How does she do it?

A game in the park then icecream dessert and the rare treat of chocs and licorice allsorts: a perfect day, though somewhat tiring by the end! .............................

Golden anniversary

50 years ago today (25th November 1967) this beautiful pair got married, on a sultry afternoon in Brisbane (and I know they did because I was there) - a very happy excuse for a family celebration today at Josh & Jody's.

in 1967 they looked incredibly young to be married - but oh so beautiful! Maxie was a week off turning 21 and Rod was 21 and 4 months (that's how it was done in those days!).

The pic below was taken in Canberra about 15 years later (New Year's Eve 1982-83). In the first decade of their marriage Rod and Maxie had moved to Canberra, built their beautiful architect designed house in Torrens and welcomed Claire (02-07-1975) and Davey (23-09-1977) into the world. They had a lot to celebrate!

 The pic below was taken a year later in January 1984.

The pic below was taken on Christmas day 1988. Rod and Maxie had been married 21 years by now! 

The pic below was taken in August 1995. Maxie and Rod were parents of a 20 year old (Claire) and an almost 18 year old (Davey) by now and they were both approaching their 50th birthdays (and looking good!). Exciting times!

I can't find a date for the pic below - but I think it would be in the early 2000s. It must have been before they sold their house at Torrens after the devastating Canberra bushfires of January 2003. Maxie and Rod became grandparents in 2004, by which time they'd moved into their beautiful new home in Jerra (close to Jeremy and Claire and baby Ollie). They celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary in 2002.

The beautiful pic below was taken in April 2009 at Erin's wedding. They'd been married 42 years by now and had two beautiful grandsons (Ollie and Angus) and had seen Davey happily settled in London with the beautiful Cath. Have you noticed that Rod is nearly always on the left when a picture of he and Maxie is taken?

In amongst all this celebration of a such a magical (and inspiring) partnership Abi's big news today was her newly missing bottom front tooth.

Let's get the big news stories in perspective here!

Father's Day

We had a bit of a get together today - our chance to wish the August birthday boys a happy birthday (finally),

 and give our favourite Dads a shout out for Father's Day!!!!

Is it just me or can you see a strong family resemblance in these pics of the 5 cousins?

More on Art

Thanks to some exceptionally talented people in our family (and who they know) we've had two wonderful Arts experiences this week.

The first was a visit to this most amazing house - still under construction - on a country estate not far out of Canberra (only 10 minutes drive from M & R's). Maxie is standing next to a small bridge to the adjacent wheelhouse on the lake. The waterwheel creates the energy used in powering the spit roaster taking pride of place in the wheelhouse!

 The house is built over a lake! 

 With stunning, north facing lake views from every room in the house.

Claire has been working on a special commission to create large scale landscape paintings behind toughened glass panels that will line the enormous double shower wall in the master bathroom of this amazing house. She's completed the painting now and the first of the glass panels is ready to be placed in position. It's absolutely stunning (although very hard to get a good pic in this intense light and shade)!!

And then, on Friday Claire arranged a lunchtime visit from the Gundaroo based artist John Forrester-Clack, who brought a collection of his drawings for our viewing delight. John is best known for his portraits of the human head - and was a finalist in the prestigious Dobell drawing prize in 2011 and 2012.

We enjoyed lunch with John very much, talking about growing up in Wales, studying in London and life as an artist in the Canberra region. Of course we could not resist purchasing some works (with great generosity by M &R)! 

I think that John's work, like Claire's, is amazing. Like all artists they deserve greater recognition and a much easier pathway in life than they currently have - Artists, writers and musicians give so much richness to our lives but so many don't enjoy a materially rich life in return unfortunately.