New Year's 2010 Plus

ahh, february going on march and i'm just getting to the new year's blog... of course, it doesn't really matter since its been summer all along - i don't feel like i've missed anything. these "usually winter" holidays - new year's, valentine's - just pass by, barely a blip on the screen, because the next day it's 40 degrees and your brain is melting. besides, i'm pregnant. so, my lethargy and lack of brain cells are completely explainable/excuse-able.

BUT, we still had a blast on new year's. and, in fact, it wasn't that hot. actually, it got quite chilly and breezy where we were. team gardner travelled southeast to the coorong (anyone seen "storm boy"?)/kingston area (if have been REALLY paying attention, you might remember that kingston is the home of the giant lobster) to "the block". the block is about 98 acres of land that belong to our friends nikki and glenn harrington (with daughters zara and laila) which abut the southern ocean. a pretty impressive place - their own "bonny dune" (that is my second reference to globally obscure, but nationally (australian national) famous movies - the first was "storm boy" and you'll recognize bonny dune if you've ever seen "the castle"). anyway, glenn and nikki have hoisted a very nice, large shed on their block, part of which they've turned into a room for the family, and the rest of which houses necessary toys and tools... and their friends' tent when it is too windy outside to set one up. yeah, we "camped" in the shed (more like a four-bay warehouse). it was much quieter and the tent wasn't getting flattened by the 20-30 knot winds at night. a sea breeze can be a hell of a thing.

glenn, payton and i were the only ones to make it to midnight, and after the first watch struck twelve, we pretty much high-fived, then high-tailed it to bed. one of the days we were there, we drove down the beach one morning and hung out until it got too windy and cold and the boys did some surf casting (no luck). we also visited the little town of robe, a very cute tourist spot with a great local coffee roaster. and of course, we spent some well-deserved r&r time just hanging out on the block while the girls played on glenn's old spring-horse and boris (the yellow lab) ate our watermelon.

tent in a shed.

nikki feeding laila. glenn and payton willing the coffee to heat up more quickly.

just another view of the shed - nova at her classy "esky" dining table and still in her pj's.

driving down the beach while babies napped...

a seat with a view.

nikki and laila.

lindsey and nova on the beach behind the block.

surf rods without fish attached.

the girls (zara and nova) riding boris. he's too full of our watermelon to move.

The other most exciting event in January was the Tour Down Under, where we were graced by Lance's presence. Payton has been getting more and more into road biking (already his mythical aerobic strength is being recognized by his fellow biking co-workers who, despite being clean-shaven and lycra-clad, cannot keep up with payton's billowing t-shirt, baggy mountain-bike shorts and hairy legs on the uphill). We all flocked to the criterion - the opening event of the tour - where nova's attention was held captive for at least three or four laps - she clapped, she cheered, she waived - before it was time to spend the rest of the event sprinting around the park that served as the holding pen for spectators. Payton and some others caught some of the other stages (all the rides are around adelaide) on long lunchtime bike rides.

the starting lap of the criterion.

lots o' lycra there.

a tour down under inspired nova. hilary and joe, i'll have you know she wore her spider t-shirt, "future cyclist" to the criterion. although, currently she is fully embracing the winter olympics (not quite as popular down here as they are in north america) by jumping of the couch when the ski jumping is on and completing short program interpretive dances with the figure skating (though in lieu of sequined costumes, nova prefers to perform in the buff). so it appears we have some sort of future huckster on our hands - which, i suppose - could ultimately be on a bike as well. yikes.

i'll get back to ya'll after march. mom and dad are coming for a visit and march in adelaide is festival month - fringe festival, adelaide festival, adelaide cup (horse race), womad (world music adelaide) - and the weather is supposed to be (at least has been, historically) a delightful 20 - 30 degrees (70 - 80 deg f).

cheers, all!

Christmas preparation pictures

here are a few pics that prove we decorated and did christmas-y things. i didn't include them in the last post because i just found them...

nova in her lamb towel after a bath helping me tape the christmas lights to the wall with her purple masking tape.

baking gingerbread cookies. that was a first for both of us. instead of molasses, they call it treacle here...

the finished product: mom's beautiful hand-made christmas-tree advent calendar, our wooly bush (a western aus native) "christmas tree", and presents from our loving families sitting on a baby blanket on nova's kiddie table. i hung stockings (who needs stockings in summer?! lauren suggested setting out flip flops...) from our book case, but i guess i didn't take a picture of those...

and a few pics i couldn't resist posting, although they have nothing to do with christmas:

i will always get a kick out of nova in her super lizard hood, and it's even better when she's running...

our little starlet...

sigh. the frikkin' paparazzi...

Christmas in... (feels like) July?

ah, christmas in the southern hemisphere... doesn't really feel like christmas! (a note here to my aussie friends glenn and nikki - welcoming us into your home and surrounding us with your family made christmas christmas. thank you.) don't get me wrong, they know how to celebrate down here. i mean, the christmas pageant, if you recall from a past blog, was in november - mid-november. so they start early and go all out. the city and surrounding townships decorate, replete with flags reading, "happy holidays from (insert name of town)", the light posts are all hung with the usual christmas culprits - deer, stars, bells, and, of course, snowflakes (because there is so much snow here). santa still wears his incredibly warm red suit - boots, beard, hat and all - despite it being (and herein lies the catch) FORTY DEGREES CELSIUS!! families hang lights - the icicle kind - and wreaths and decorate their windows with fake frost. it's there, the effort, the energy, the festivity is all there. but as my friend jessica pointed out, nothing needs decorating. in the bleak grey and white landscape of the northern hemisphere, crowded by long dark nights and short cold days, brightly colored lights and flashes of green, silver and red dress up an otherwise drab picture. here, the foliage is out - trees are green and flowering, grass is growing, people are walking around in floral print shirts and colorful dresses with beers or bits of seafood in their hands... it's bright and beautiful already. barbecues run rampant - but oddly, the company christmas party is not a big hit. rather, that involves the employees knocking off work around lunchtime and drinking and bar-hopping until the wee hours of the morning. this is a land where it is safe to pass out on the sidewalk during the holidays - you will not get frostbite.

but, as usual, i digress! our festivities started off with nova's school party:

who doesn't love getting dressed up for the holidays? (this dress was actually worn by both lauren and me as young'uns) check out those sleeves!

it's hard to believe, but the teachers actually (loosely) organized these kids into a choir (nova preferred to watch rather than perform) and they sang christmas carols!! well, the older kids did. the youngers either cried and ran or just stood there in silent shock. note the protective christmas thongs (they are called thongs here, not flip flops. no word on what we should call the underwear...) mom, i think my bow-tying skills are lacking...

chowing down on the food and treats the kids made in the week running up to the part (parents supplemented). parents can be so strange in this setting. it's like they think you might be infectious if you start talking to them. trying to engage with parents at a school function is like shouting at the camels at the zoo (because camels can give you a really weird look). they may turn and look at you like your crazy then mumble something and move away or they'll just continue eating... or both. crazy camels!

actually, the school party was very cute and it is fun to watch all the kids interact (which you can do a lot of since you're not interacting with the parents). i am so impressed with the teachers!

on christmas eve, we went across the street to our neighbor's - jo and art - house for a bbq. afterwards, we opened a few christmas eve presents before putting nova down - "before santa comes". mom - i hope you've noticed all the christmas dresses i tried to work in! she got a dolly from grandma gardner that was an instant favorite. for grandparents and aunts and uncles, i will send videos of christmas eve and christmas morning - but the rest of you do not have to gag through that. unfortunately, though, all the decorations were only recorded via video, so you just have to take my word that i did decorate. however, one major decoration worth mention was constructed TWICE - with much love - from gran-elf whitehurst. it is a large felt christmas tree advent calendar (with 26 boxes - one for boxing day, right mom?). for those of you who don't know what an advent calendar is, never mind (or you can wiki it), but it is an heirloom piece - very special. thank you, mom.

oh, on to christmas morning. payton and i had said that everything was wonderful, but it just didn't feel like christmas. but when nova walked into the living room in her pajamas with her bed head hair all frizzed and her sleepy (slightly bewildered) grin turned into excitement as she flitted amongst santa's loot... well, that felt like christmas. only this time - we weren't the kids!!! we're on the other side of door now...

we were invited back to jo and art's for a christmas morning coffee - i will say, jo and art, glenn and nikki were so sweet and conscientious about us being far from home and without family over the christmas holidays, and they repeatedly welcomed us into their homes and events. it made this a very special holiday. anyway, after coffee and much skyping with family, we got down to business:

nova having a tea party (lauren - love the skirt!) with her doll and kangaroos.

driving the christmas dump truck.

and making pie crust for our christmas sour cream peach pie. nova is SO helpful in the kitchen!

so, just to show how spoiled payton and i are: we thought that since this was a small family celebration, no one to impress, dinner to cook only for three, that surely we would get time to exercise and relax. turns out when you don't have six lund (payton's extended family) women - aunts/mothers/grandma - that push the kids out the door to go skiing or a hall woman (my extended family) - mom and aunts - who manage to do a lot of pre-cooking and delegating - to do all the work... well, you end up cooking all day - even if it's only for 2 1/2 people. so no exercise, but we had a feast. we'd gone on a big grocery shopping trip to get supplies for the weekend and our big meal (things kind of shut down around here over the holidays) and payton had an epiphany at the fish stall. our christmas dinner consisted of a prawn appetizer, lobster done on the barby, bbq'd yams (a nod to our traditional christmas feasts), and a fresh walnut/craisin/feta/leafy green salad. and sour cream peach pie for dessert. so good! sorry krista and mike - we considered pavlova for the authenticity, but we like pie better!

payton dishing up dinner on our patio table. notice how much we all dressed up. actually payton is wearing his crows jersey (or singlet - all dudes wear singlets around here) and akubra hat. he only would have looked more authentically australian if he had on short shorts.

the proud chef and baby critic (i'm just the baker)

the finished product with a local rose (can't find the accent key) wine to round it out. it was very good.

the 26th of december is boxing day (though no one seems to know what that means or what it celebrates/represents/symbolizes). nikki and glenn harrington invited us to their home to celebrate with their families. the served up this incredible sit-down dinner for 14 on their back patio. ever the most gracious hosts with great families, it was nice to be with glenn and nikki, surrounded by the ruckus of 14 family members, including the kids - nova, zara and leila.

the decked-out table. nikki's sister sally is in the background.

payton wishes he caught this fish. so does glenn. in fact, it is a fresh - and huge - barramundi from up north. this was, hands down, the best fish i've ever had (ok, fresh salmon is just in a different class). but the whole dinner was great. "pudding" (not like jell-o pudding that we're all used to, but more like a cake in a sauce... like rum cake. didn't margaret make a mean rum cake?) is a traditional aussie christmas dessert. very tasty.

nova playing with zara's tricycle...

glenn dancing with nova and zara. very cute! the proof that nova doesn't just wander around in colorful diapers is in the above pictures.

all in all, this was a great christmas - and one to be remembered! we wish we could have shared the experience with all of our family and friends - but i guess someone has to have the real white christmas... we hope everyone had a very merry christmas season.

love

lindsey, payton and nova

Morree Sampling Trip, December 2009

so we travelled to perth for a week to explore and for payton to attend a hydrology conference, and as soon as we get home, boom, payton's gone again! two days after we returned from perth, payton left for a week to morree, nsw for a sampling trip. nova and i tried to figure out if i can actually function as a single parent (turns out i can't - not for long anyway) but managed to stay busy (work and school, what could be busier?) and fed (payton tried to make as many meals as possible before he left).

boarding the "duck" to narrabri, nsw

the gwydir river, where payton and crew sampled.

sorry payton, you're adventures only get two pictures, the rest are of nova, coping with your absence! ever the models of domesticity, nova and i made sun bread - thanks to the story and recipe from aunt erica-la. nice spiral, nova.

that helpful arm belongs to jessica, but nova was actually pretty handy - when not trying to sample each ingredient.

bubble head. one must get all the butter and flour off somehow...

ahhh, bubaccino, you go so fast....

satisfied. (saturday am central market with brian and jessica)

Perth in Pictures

it's hard to take enough pictures, and we certainly didn't do margaret river or perth any justice, but you do what you can...

View of Perth from King's Park

we landed in perth, then drove directly south to margaret river with brian and jessica. we visited the cape leeuwin lighthouse - the tallest functioning lighthouse on the Australia mainland - planted right where the southern and indian oceans meet.

nova sizing up the lighthouse

our little sophisticate grabbing at yet another olive. wheatley (the penguin) supervises.

mmmm, olives. who could resist such good food?!

nova flies in front of the perth bell tower.

while payton was at his conference, nova and i visited king's park - a beautiful, open space atop a bluff that overlooks all of perth. nova loved the freedom of running wild and had a blast getting soaked while playing in this sprinkler.