Evan and Aiden

Pics from a Thursday night

Evan got one of those metal springs that walk down stairs from Ange for his birthday. I've always liked these things, and the way you can look down them and they look like reflective pipes. It's big enough to fit around the end of the 50mm I have, so I got the boys to lie on the floor and took these pics through the pipe - which I think look really cool. The other's are Ange catching some down time which I snapped because I thought she looked so peaceful and the light and colour was so nice, and Aiden scoffing the rare treat of an ice-cream cone for pud after dinner.

Thanks so much for Evan's birthday message

Thanks so much for sending Ev a birthday message - that was really thoughtful, and much appreciated. He had such fun at his Dino party, and when, eventually, he got a bit tired of all the people, he headed upstairs with his mate Veer and got stuck into a few puzzles. He's like that Ev, quietly contained. We played some dancing games at the party, musical bums, musical statues, and dino print dancing - musical chairs, but with dino feet - anyway, Ev gets lost in his moves, so he sits when he should freeze, or just forgets to do something when the music stops - so he's not typically in play after the initial round or two. But no worry for Ev, he just carries on participating. Uhm, Ev, you're out. But Ev's not worried, he just grooves on the sidelines, untroubled that there is a whole thing going on just next to him. And then he sort of rejoins bit by bit so that no-one notices. He's really funny. Here he is with one of his prezzies. Not very PC. Fighter jet with rockets and bombs. He really likes it. I like the photo. Cool light on his face. The jet has twin engines; like little nostrils.

Congratulations

I called Anne's number to see if you were there - because I wanted to say congratulations, BIG CONGRATULATIONS, on your report. It is a fabulous achievement Josh - out of the top drawer. I admire you very much young man. Love from all of us.

Mils beach birthday party

Last night we went to a fortieth birthday party on Mils beach. Simon took his RIB, and did a water taxi around the bay picking people up. Here Dylan waits to get a foot out against the Lobster Bay pier as we stop to pick up Pam and Greg, who posed rather nicely I thought. I decided that I'd come back early so that we could take the boys, and it was a sublime evening, cool colours of passing rain, with some earnest dam construction before we hitched a lift back in twilight calm with Giles

Po Lam Park - Saturday morning

It was crisp and post-heavy rain clear yesterday morning. The humidity was astronomical. Above is what the sliding door to our room looked like as a result of the aircon inside. I got Aiden to kneel outside for a mosiac type pic, couldn't get him to smile for it though - so you've got mosaic seriousness instead. We took the boeties down to Po Lam for a zoom on their scooters in the park.

Evan starts nursery school

On Wednesday Ev started nursery school. We decided to put him into the local system, because there was not a morning place for him at the kindergarten that Aiden went to, and also because we think it offers the best possible opportunity to learn Cantonese. He was not especially happy about being off to school - nor about his new, very local school system uniform. The part you can’t see is that the shorts are hoisted extra high by the braces which are hidden under the waistcoat; he drew the line at the bow tie however, so that had to be abandoned (no, not kidding about the bow tie). By the time we got to the school which is in Hang Hau village housing estate, he'd not warmed up a whole lot, despite being on a solo outing and in the "mini" which he really likes. Ange took him into class and I hung with a couple of oldies from the estate in it's "sitting out area". When he could make a break from the table and check out some of the toys he seemed quite a bit happier - I sneaked this pic through the doors of the classroom while Ange was getting a chance to practice her own Cantonese listening. Click on the pic and count the English words you can see. We'll see how it goes - hopefully he'll settle in - I do think the language will be invaluable for him.

New couch - woohooo

It's a bit sad, I'm sure, when you get excited about a new couch - but sad indeed we are, because we got a new couch to replace our faded, a million-spills and half-eaten-drumsticks tucked under the cushion stained (and recently three legged) Nam Shan special, and replaced it with this cool L-shaped number - and everyone is smiling, jumping, and generally pleased about it, so much so that Ev even got a rare hug from Aiden, which he loved despite it being dangerous tackle stuff in every respect.

Shek O, ecstatic, and about the big pic

Here's the pic I said I'd post from Shek O on Sunday. This is what the words "packed beach" mean, though in this instance all the people in the pic are in the water, and at the end of the beach (the downside of 50mm is the narrow field of vision) - so you can just imagine how packed the beach was. If you click on the pic to make it bigger (a good idea) you can also count the smiles though - there was the really happy vibe of people having a great time, lots of people having a great time, and that's a cool thing to be around. Each time a wave came (if you look on the left of the pic you can see one coming through) there was a loud cheer - the bigger the wave the louder the cheer - carnival joy.

I have to add here that I'm feeling pretty chuffed about working out how to edit the html behind this so that I can change the size of the pics - scroll down five or six posts, I changed those ones too - wooohoooo!

Attack of the lens killing mould...

My regular lens stopped working which was considerably frustrating. It's now at Canon getting fixed, which means having the motor inside replaced - it's been trashed by mould - literally ground to a halt under the weight of a nice furry little invader. So while this happens all I have is my cheap and nasty (but it must be said, wholly sharp and reliable) 50mm portrait lens - which has as one of it's features a very wide aperture, allowing you to soften detial on either side of your focal point. It's a portrait lens, so I thought it time for a couple of formal type portraits - so here they are, though you'll have to click on them to see the effects of a f1.8 aperture with sharp eyes and softening in front and behind. Aiden is such a poser it takes a sec to get a couple of sharp pics. Ev's not iterested, and is always on the move - so you have to resort to animal sounds and that sort of thing to get him focused. The 50mm is also slow to focus, so clearly not designed with little kids in mind. You can of course get a lighning fast focusing thing, but it comes at the price of a small second-hand car. The mould thing I'm going to have to make a plan about - the humidity is regularly - perhaps during the rainy season, permanently - out of the recommended operating range of my camera. Some people buy dehumidifying cabinets for their cameras, I think my preferred African version of that is going to be a big plastic box with a pile of old newspapers at the bottom.