Canberra - Feel The Power!

I had to go to Canberra for a course. Jason came up for the weekend. Rrrrarrgh!

Nuts to you, JHo and lackeys!

hee hee hee!

Ah, what a great weekend. Canberra - Where You Go To Make Home Seem More Exciting.

Random winter photos

Voila! Des photos d'hiver australien. Ici - le fameux ballon Re/Max!! C'etait chanceux pour Francesca et Terry - ils ont trouver un appartement tout suite!

Jason et un petit chat du quartier.

Mon petit castor 'huileux' attends le souper...

Et finalement, un cafe chez Ici, Fitzroy...

Et un cafe chez nous!

Grampians

Jason's birthday present was a weekend away to the Grampians, which he can't really claim was a surprise because it was exactly what he asked for. Well, not the Grampians in particular, but the weekend away. And it was lovely.

We stayed in a little two-bedroom house of interesting architecture that I can't show you because we neglected to take a photo of it, but it was great! And quiet, peaceful, there was a wood fire and a well-equipped kitchen. We ate well, and in the morning had a spectacular breakfast involving smoked mackerel, scrambled eggs, fromage frais, grapefruits and possibly other stuff but I don't remember now.

While we ate, a procession of interesting birds pimped themselves for snacks on the deck. Rosellas, crows, magpies and a bunch of unruly cockatoos.


Here they are showing some mafioso attitude. I'm afraid we folded like cards to their threats and tearfully gave them all our french fries and salt and vinegar chips. Swines!

Later we hiked up to the Pinnacle. And ate some chocolate once there.

It's beautiful in the Grampians, I'm sorry we haven't been more often.
The area is still recovering from the terrible fires of January 2006, but there is greenery amongst the charred trunks, and the eucalypts are sprouting new growth from what seems to be nothing. The parks are being rehabilitated and reopened slowly, and there is still much beauty around.

After that very pleasant day, back to the house for roquefort on the deck!

Which was, I think, Jason's favourite part of the whole weekend.

Eurovision 2007

What better way to celebrate the spectacle that is Eurovision than dressing up like idiots and shouting at the television. Here are Lauren and Ross - Lauren with the best flicks you will ever see (and spookily foreshadowing the Serbian winners, who practically won on the flicks alone), and Ross dressed, as he told us, as 'bad taste'. And how!

Jason and I came representing France - I didn't manage a baguette and a string of onions, but I've got a beret on and a saucy show of bra strap.

Jason, meanwhile, decided to go the more specific route of faux 80s French pop cheestrel 'Michel'. Here he is singing his massive 1987 hit 'J'aime les femmes!'

Grace adopted the 'all-white on the night' approach often favoured by the best Eurovision stars - Rrrrowr!!

And Felicity and Andy were deliciously Germanic. You can practically hear the oompah band.

Dan was also channeling l'Allemagne, specifically his authentic German navy trousers. Comfortable!

I thought I had a picture of Mel, smothered in tiger fabulousness, but alas no. Here instead is a photo I promised Lauren & Felicity faithfully I would not put up on the interweb. Oops!

Le petit dejeuner

Here is our delicious Sunday breakfast, which may have taken two and a half hours from Jason saying in the morning "would you like me to make breakfast" and the actual eating, but boy, was it worth it.

Poached eggs, potato rosti, hollandaise sauce, spinach - thanks Nadine Abensur!

Pomegranate - just the beginning of a pink fruit bonanza.

Mmmm, grapes. There was pink grapefruit too, but it didn't photograph nicely.

Quinces poached in botrytis semillon and vanilla, with organic yoghurt.

What the kitchen looked like afterwards (a.k.a. why I usually don't let Jason make breakfast on weekends)

To make up for the kitchen disaster, here is a photo of Jason in nature (Dandenong Ranges).

Flick & Andy get married

Here are just a few photos from Felicity & Andy's lovely, lovely, lovely wedding. The reason there aren't more are due to several reasons: 1) timing, 2) complicated new video camera running out of tape issues, 3) Jason doesn't know how to use a camera. This is also why there are no photos of Andy - I don't want you thinking it was because he looked spectacularly awful or anything. He looked very handsome. For reference as to what Andy doesn't really look like, please see the various unflattering photos on this blog.

Encore l'hiver

Hoo boy, it's been a long time since I used this... so I make no promises about the aesthetic quality of this post. In fact, it will probably be as badly laid out as past posts. Anyway, here are some photos of our recent trip to Montreal...

This was one of the first things we did. No, not stuff our faces (that was just a bonus) - go to the saucissier William J Walter and get a William Suisse, all dressed:

Our third day in Montreal it snowed 35cm! Here is Jason being a good son and shoveling the driveway. Thank goodness I can claim girl-ness and not-knowing-how-ness to get me out of that thankless chore.

It did snow a lot, which was nice, because apparently it hadn't snowed much over the winter, so we were lucky. This is at l'ile de la Visitation in the north of Montreal. We went cross country skiing.

Just in case you don't believe how cold it was, here is a completely non-doctored picture of the temperature (-27 - it got colder) one night up in Entrelacs. Oh boo to you Canadians laughing that this should be of note, but we Australians will kick your ass at world sports of dubious reputation every time!

We also went up to a lovely chalet in Chute St Phillippe for a week, here it is:

Every evening at dusk a group of four deer would cross the frozen lake from the little island to the shore. I worry about what would happen if they were on the wrong side when the thaw came. Can deer swim? (Yes, I realise there are only three deer in the photo, you nit-picking pedant - one of them was too fast for me)

Another lovely shot from our balcony:

After that we went to Ottawa to see Shannon and Phil. This structure stands in front of the National Gallery. There are eggs in the body. It is called 'maman'. It almost makes me proud to have a gallery which has empty drought-afflicted fountains full of litter in front of it instead.

And of course we saw the family. Here are Juju and the godparents. Don't mess with them!

And, erm, here is a plate of local jambon cru from our new favourite stand at the market, les cochons tout ronds, which basically just sells pork products - and how!

And on our final night we got a farewell fluttering of snow, providing Juju ample opportunity to slap Jason up the side of the head with a snowball.

These are all out of order, I realise that now, but anyway... this is our last dinner in Montreal at the brilliant Montee de Lait on Villeneuve. The very gorgeous Sabrina and Natacha.

There is a story behind this picture but it is mostly incomprehensible and ridiculous - funny photo though!

Finally, here is me trying to look miserable while watching television at Albany bus station on the way to New York and then home. A second later a sheepish security guard told us 'no photos' then scampered off, as if worried we would ask why. Well, clearly it is obvious - this photo could be giving vital security information to terror cells intent on bringing down the extensive coach and in-seat television service of the United States. If I go missing next week, you'll know why, but at least we'll know that the safety of the salubrious interior of Albany bus station has been kept pure.

And that's pretty much it. Some photos from Flick & Andy's wedding up soon too! Maybe.