Little critter

Little critter
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

It's ground zero of a seven-year cicada cycle this year, which would explain the abundance of creepy looking dried-up chrysalises (is that chrysali), the ear-splitting chorus that starts the moment the sun comes up, and the presence of this colourful critter trying to hide under a leaf in our back garden until his wings harden.

TechnoBoy Goes Wild

TechnoBoy Goes Wild
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Phil is in the process of setting up his home office, which seems to consist of him spending large amounts of money on incomprehensible gadgets that subsequently have to be screwed, welded or daisy-chained together to provide computing firepower the likes of which the Blue Mountains has never seen. If anyone in the vicinity experiences any power loss over the next few days, now you know why.
I'm safely hiding upstairs (wearing rubber shoes) listening to the occasional whoops of delight - signifying something working - followed by long periods of silence as TechnoBoy grapples with the next challenge sans instruction booklet.
He only emerges for coffee and to babble TechnoSpeak at me, during which I nod, then back away slowly without breaking eye contact.

Family

Weddings are a unique opportunity to bring family together (in more than just the geographical sense), so here are some photos of our family from the Big Day - Robinson, Nogrady, Brazier and Hilder.

Ceremony detail

The wedding ceremony was held on the shores of the duck pond at Collit's Inn. It would have true to form if I had fallen backwards into the pond (and no doubt many people thought I might) but I hung onto Phil and thus neatly avoided providing fodder for Australia's Funniest Home Videos.
A huge thanks to our friend Stephen for his beautiful contribution to the ceremony, to my gorgeous sis Lucy for her calm reading despite considerable nerves, to Nicholas Alias for his atmospheric music and once again, to Maureen for being the perfect celebrant.
Thanks also our photographers Dave, Chris and Pete, and Dean and Lisa.

Go Kate, and Kev!

kevin07 at the taj mahal in agra india (actual photo)
Originally uploaded by bondurbia

Kudos to Andy and Kate for their innovative Seven Wonders challenge - getting other Kevin Rudd supporters to fly the flag for Kevin07 in front of the Seven Wonders of the World.
And big raspberries to the mean-spirited bloggers who have picked up this photo and decided, in the absence of having any political defence, to descend to the level of personal attacks against Kate. It's a telling sign of desperation when the best these conservative bloggers can come up with in terms of political ripostes is to comment on appearance. Where's the comeback with policy on worker's rights, the environment, healthcare and education?
I thought so.

Spring is sprung, bird is riz

Waratah
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

We're baaaaack! Again.
In the immortal words of She Of The Red Sparkly Shoes, "there's no place like home". We're back in the Love Nest, and loving it. Spring is in full swing, and as we haven't experienced spring at Treetops yet, it's a wonderful discovery. Everything is sprouting, blooming, fragrant, lush and just damn gorgeous. We've got our first waratah, and also the first flowers in the crop of natives we planted. Which also means the weeds are having a big hooray as well, but little do they know, their doom awaits ...
We had a fantastic honeymoon, visiting Dubbo, Broken Hill, Port Augusta, Port Lincoln, Elliston, Streaky Bay, Clare, Adelaide, Mt Gambier, the Grampians and Canberra. Covered a lot of turf, read a lot of books, drank a lot of wine and did our best to unwind after six months of full-throttle life and planning. I keep thinking it's all going to quieten down now, but who am I kidding. Within half an hour of returning home yesterday, Phil was sanding window frames and I was weeding. Unpacking is for pussies.

A grand entrance

8_Walk_3
Originally uploaded by Ecky Thump

I know, we're really drawing out the wedding blogs here, but there was so much going on during the day that we want to do it all justice - for our memories as well as yours!
Given my fondness for Peugeots, it was appropriate that my chariot taking me to Phil was my brother's Chick Magnet Peugeot 505 (gold) with sunroof.... phwoarrrr! It was a packed car, with my brother Matty driving, me in the passenger seat, and my sister Lucy, her partner Dave, and Matty's fiancee Kate crammed into the back seat.
Arriving was an amazing feeling - seeing all these people that I love all gathered into one place, all for Phil and me. There ain't nothing like it.
And having my wonderful parents escort me to Phil felt so incredibly right ... especially when they both started skipping along.
And thanks to Dean and Lisa for this photo, and for many others like it.

ARRRGH...it's behind you!

You can see that I am still smiling and totally unaware of the GIANT Mutant Lobster that is just about to open up the camper van like a ring pull can of baked beans...I escaped...luckily.

On the road again...

For anyone that has been on a big outback trip these pictures will feel very familiar. I always have fun reading the signs targeting sleepy drivers. I’m sure it gets confusing for some people when to ‘powernap’ and when to ‘micro-sleep’... Drowsy Drivers Die, reminds me of a piece of graffiti I read on a train once which read “if you read this you will die!” which I really wanted to add “...at some point”. I thought it was very zen even without my addition.

Bianca and I thought that “Powernaps save lives” would make a great office poster. I suggest that you have a powernap today...you never know who you might save but please don’t powernap while you are driving.

Wedding at Collit's

We are still sorting through pics (please send us yours) but here are a few from Dean & Lisa. I have selected some that show the venue off.

Contented, sated, slightly drunk Phil

It's a tough job being on a honeymoon in South Australia.
First, there's the wineries - in this case, the gorgeous, eucalypt-dotted Clare Valley. As I was the designated driver, Phil had to do the dirty job of testing wines from such illustrious vineyards as Tim Adams and Grosset, so was pleasantly inebriated by the time we decided to have lunch. Despite the fact we've got about 5 cases of wine leftover from the wedding, I still managed to convince Phil we needed to buy more. After all, can't come to SA and not buy wine!
Then, there's the food. We picked up some incredible fresh ciabatta from a Barra Bakery, fresh fetta from the Neagles Glen winery, jam from somehwere on the road, fresh ripe tomatoes, a jar of olives, and settled down to the job of eating ourselves silly.
Phil was literally groaning with pleasure after each mouthful and in the warm spring sun, it was very hard to stay awake after a feast like that.
It just keeps getting better too. We're spending a couple of nights in Adelaide, and thanks to a recommendation from Bex Jenkins, had the most incredible meal at Chianti Classico on Hutt St last night, followed by obscenely naughty breakfast at Citrus, also on Hutt St.
Tonight, we're planning organic pizzas with local, seasonal produce.
I always seem to blog about food ... hmm.

Ya Big Galah

It took 3 days to get here but we finally got to see the highlight of our trip...a giant galah!
Luckily Bianca didn't have to get out of the van as I could show her the picture when I got back inside.
Oh you can see our trusty steed here too.

Windy

We have had some serious winds (and I am not talking about the vegi diet here).
This was on the road to Port Lincoln. The steering wheel was constantly pulled over to the right.