Hairy Mountain Folk

'Gamma and Gamma' come to visit

2011-11-26T17:59:00.001+11:00

Grandma and Nina in the garden, a photo by Mistress B on Flickr.

Last time Pam and Keith Robinson saw Nina in the flesh, she was just six months old, while Pascal wasn't even a twinkle in his daddy's eye.
So there was plenty of catching up to do when they visited this time, and all parties made the most of it!
We've had a lovely nearly-four weeks with Pam and Keith staying at Casa Noginson, spoiling Nina and Pascal to within an inch of their lives, and generally making themselves incredibly useful around the house by tackling all those jobs that Phil and I just can't seem to find time to do. The bathroom has finally had the finishing paint touches put on, the lounge room has been repainted, the garden is looking better than ever, and now that they've departed back to the UK, we face the unwelcome prospect of doing the washing up ourselves for the first time in weeks.
Nina loved having her 'gamma and gamma' around, and had them jumping through all sorts of hoops. I'm not sure Keith's legs will ever be the same after running up and down a strip of bubble wrap for Nina's amusement ("Again, Grandad! Again!).
And Pascal was never short of someone to cuddle or feed him, so he was happy as a pig in mud.

Don't get between Pascal and a sandwich

2011-11-26T15:02:00.001+11:00

megalong valley picnic, a photo by nospuds on Flickr.

Some of you may recall that we went through all sorts of grief over Nina's weight, or lack of it, when she was younger. She was always just hanging on to the bottom of the so-called 'healthy weight curve', barely eating enough to keep a sparrow alive yet somehow still having the energy to run rings around us on an hourly basis.
We don't have that problem with Pascal. In fact, Pascal is never happier than when seated in his high chair or on the floor with some kind of food in his hand. Sandwiches, bread crusts, fruit, cheese, vegetables, rice cakes, egg ... it all goes down without touching the sides, with great lip-smackings of approval.
Despite this consumption (which is currently about twice the volume that Nina consumes, and she's 3 times his age), he's right on average weight. Go figure. He does have those gorgeous little rolls of chub on his legs though, which I just adore.
Meanwhile, Nina still barely eats enough to fill a sparrow but still has the energy of a roomful of grasshoppers.

Gumnut baby

2011-05-20T15:24:00.001+10:00

Gumnut baby, a photo by Mistress B on Flickr.

Pascal is growing so fast... one minute, he's a little wriggly newborn, the next he's a barrel with legs who's already outgrowing clothes his big sister was wearing not so long ago!
He's a better sleeper, and eater, than Nina ever was, although we're still getting nights where the longest stretch of sleep I get is one hour. But even in the wee hours, when I'm cross-eyed with tiredness, he just throws me one of his chubby-cheeked smiles and I melt all over the place.
Pascal's gorgeous babyness and Nina's wonderful exuberance are the perfect balance for the third baby occupying my time - my new book project. In contrast to The Sixth Wave, this book is about death - a bit of a change of subject matter.
I'm exploring the human experience of death from a range of perspectives, and to do that, I'm interviewing people from all over the world to talk about their personal experiences of death. It's inspiring, challenging, rewarding, exhausting and emotionally intense, but I'm incredibly excited about the project and can't wait to share some of the amazing stories and insights I've come across in my research so far.
The book has a publisher (hooray!) so all I have to do is find time in between nappy changes and cuddles to write it. Wish me luck!

Pack horse

2011-03-02T12:47:00.001+11:00

Pack horse
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

There are advantages to having broad shoulders and being a solidly-built Yorkshireman, as Phil has discovered now that he's the daddy to not one, but two little kiddies. Nina, despite weighing well over 10kgs, still loves riding on Daddy's shoulders (and why wouldn't you, when the view is so good!), and now Pascal is discovering the benefits of a broad warm chest, courtesy of our hug-a-bub sling.

Pascal Oliver Robinson

2011-03-02T12:37:00.001+11:00

Pascal Oliver Robinson
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

... born at 11.15am on Wednesday 9 February, 2011, weighing 3.6 kgs, displaying a healthy vocal ability and already looking as cute as his sister.
And so the Robinson/Nogrady family expands to a happy foursome with the arrival of Pascal. So far, he has proven a champion eater, sleeper and pooper, as most newborns do, but already seems to be showing signs of being a fairly calm little character.
Nina is being a gorgeous big sister, bestowing lots of gentle little kisses on Pascal's sleeping head, and is adjusting really well to having a little baby in the house.
Lots more pics and video to come!

Choccy chops

2011-01-19T18:38:00.001+11:00

Choccy chops
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

So it has been a very VERY long time since we've added to this blog, and yes, we're very slack, but in our defence, it has been rather a busy time!
Phil has been burning the cerebral candle at both ends, working very hard as a consultant on HotFrog and also working hard on his own project nospuds (www.nospuds.com.au), which is coming along in leaps and bounds.
Bianca has been mothering, baking and travelling around the country talking about The Sixth Wave, and in the meantime, also brewing up another little person (aka Bob the Bump, due around February 13).
And Nina has been gorgeous, which takes a lot of effort. She is growing into a very affectionate, strong-willed, fun-loving, funny and absolutely delightful little individual who continues to charm the pants off both of us.
Anyway, that's about it for the time being but I thought I should probably update this blog before it became totally obsolete.

The baby who walks

2010-05-10T11:42:00.000+10:00

Finally, after making very certain she was going to be good at it, Nina has decided to walk by herself. It's a momentous occasion for Phil and me, as it means we no longer have to walk around hunched over like Quasimodo as Nina clings to our hands (Phil more hunched than me, obviously).

She seems a lot happier now that she's able to reach out with both hands and pull things off shelves, benches and out of cupboards. The house is a bombsite, but we've given up on maintaining any semblance of order during the day, and just wait until she's in bed before we put back the DVDs, put away her toys, put the cookware back in the cupboards, put all my carefully ordered paperwork back in my in-tray and retrieve my credit cards from the bin, where she's posted them.

The book is here!

2010-03-10T14:24:00.002+11:00

The book is here!
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

It's hard to believe, but after nearly 2 years of work, The Sixth Wave is finally published! It isn't due to be released in bookstores until the beginning of April, but I have in my hot little hands one of the first copies off the press. The website is also up at www.sixthwave.org.

Nina pumpkinhead

2010-02-25T07:49:00.001+11:00

Nina pumpkinhead
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Nina's nickname of Nina Pumpkinhead (one of many terms of endearment we have for this little munchkin) is particularly appropriate since she absolutely loves pumpkin. It's like catnip for her - add it to any meal and you can guarantee most of it will go down, although she inevitably gets it all over her face and ends up with orange eyebrows.
These pumpkins are from our garden - first time I've grown them - so I'm pretty stoked. The garden has done magnificently this year thanks to good amounts of sun and rain. We got masses of snow peas, beans, broad beans, spinach, rhubarb, quite a few zucchini (courgettes), a few asparagus, quite a few raspberries and masses of blackberry (although these aren't technically in our garden but on the strip of council land next door)
We haven't blogged in ages but it's been a manic few months, especially with Nina waking up every 1-3 hours at night. But we've just finished 5 days at a residential sleep school and she now sleeps through the night ... hurrah!

Why Bianca has been a bit quiet on the blogging front...

2010-01-23T18:46:00.002+11:00

... apart from the fact that the delightful Nina fills our every waking hour (and there are plenty of those) with smiles, giggles, crawling, the occasional tantrum and plenty of general babyness, I have also been occupied with writing a book. Call it insanity, call it overly ambitious, call it an exercise in time-management and dedication, but somehow I managed to co-author The Sixth Wave with my equally busy friend James Bradfield-Moody, scientist, engineer, ABC celebrity and whizz kid whose ideas form the foundation of the book.
And finally, it's nearly here! The Sixth Wave is due to be published by Random House Australia on 1 April this year (click here for a sneak peek at the cover and contents).

Nina Mobbed

2009-09-21T14:52:00.003+10:00

We have just been out to Katoomba for lunch with Nina in tow. Bianca and I have decided that we can't go travelling to Asian countries for a few years as we will never get out of the hotel lobby with locals going crazy over Nina. We have been out and about with Nina a couple of times around the Blue Mountains and been mobbed with enamoured Asian tourists. This lunchtime I got it on camera. Also got a short video of Nina eating a straw while we wait for food.

Bianca: What this photo doesn't show is me flapping in the background like a nervous mother hen as all these complete strangers pass Nina around like the latest accessory!

Food wrangling

2009-08-28T09:40:00.002+10:00

Food wrangling

Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Despite her parents' fondness for their tucker, Nina is far more interested in the world around her than she is in eating. We've been getting all sorts of grief from the childhood health nurses over her weight - she sits right on the bottom of the healthy weight curve and this week has actually dropped off the healthy weight curve. We've tried every trick in the book to cram more milk into her but we've come to the conclusion that she's such an active little thing that she just burns up way more calories than she eats.
So the latest solution is to start her on solids, seeing as she's nearly 6 months old. We're trying some baby cereal to try to get some more calories into her (but still breastfeeding as well), but it's easier said than done ... as these photos show. I think more of the cereal ended up on her face than in her mouth, and it was helped by the fact that she kept trying to grab the spoon and do it herself!

First girlie outfit

2009-07-21T15:20:00.001+10:00

First girlie outfit
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Poor Nina spent the first couple of months of her life largely in her pyjamas while we tried to get the hang of juggling it all, but we have become a little bit more adventurous with her outfits and she has acquired some rather stylish little numbers, including this cute knit dress. It's a long way from the 'funky goth chick' look that Phil is hoping for, but they don't really make baby clothes in black.

Mothers' group

2009-07-07T21:11:00.001+10:00

Mums and bubs yoga
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

I haven't blogged about my fabulous mothers' group yet, and I don't know why because as Phil will attest, I never stop talking about it!
All new mums are put in touch with other new mums and bubs in the area (of the same bub age), via the childhood health nurses up here, and it's a fantastic program. It started with four get-togethers organised by the nurses, but now we organise our own get-togethers, and it's a non-stop social whirl.
We have a regular Friday get-together at someone's house, which is always a fabulous frenzy of babies and women (and some men) chattering, but then there's also mums and bubs yoga, bushwalks, gallery visit, movie excursions, endless excuses for lunches and home visits ... there's barely time for Nina to get her daily naps in!
It's exactly what we both hoped would happen when Nina came along - that we would meet other parents and finally start to establish our own social network in the mountains.
And it's lovely to think that these are the kids Nina will grow up with, go to school with, get into trouble with ... no, of course she won't be getting into trouble. With her innocent angel expression, she'll be the one standing in the middle of it all saying "moi?"

Moved to the Arctic?

2009-07-03T12:02:00.001+10:00

Moved to the arctic?
Originally uploaded by nospuds

Its cold in the mountains. By the look of Bianca and Nina we could be in the Arctic!
We have a big pile of wood that I need to carry up the stairs but really its too cold to carry wood. Please, I don't need to hear that if I carry it up it will warm me twice ;)

My Morning Ride

2009-06-12T20:31:00.003+10:00

It's officially cold. In fact it is freezing...literally. It was zero which with a wind chill at 90kph makes it -10°C for a trip to Sydney at 7:30am. Luckily I have new motorbike gear and my beema has heated hand grips. I was missing a heated seat though as the frosted seat meant that I slid backwards and forwards on the seat for the first 3 mins of the trip until my butt thawed the seat. At home we have the log fire going 24/7 which is really nice for Bianca when she gets up at 3am to feed Nina milky chops.

Nina falling asleep...

2009-06-11T19:28:00.002+10:00

... on arm at a time.

Baby earmuffs

2009-05-25T17:28:00.001+10:00

Baby earmuffs
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Just been for our first trip to the movies with poor poor Nina. Bianca was worried about her hearing so made her wear socks on her ears!!
She slept through Star Trek except for a good feed somewhere in the middle.

Multi-tasking

2009-05-13T20:36:00.002+10:00

Multi-tasking
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

I know there's this thing called maternity leave (and paternity leave), whereby a couple produce a baby and then they both get a period of time where they don't work... but we seemed to have missed that memo.
With Phil going great guns on NoSpuds, and me working on a special big project (soon to be revealed) plus doing a story for Scientific American, I'm not sure we even had a week where we both truly stopped working.
But little Nina has been very accommodating of our foolishness, and as you can see from this photo, happily takes her afternoon siesta tucked up on Phil's chest, or in the sling on my chest. We're both learning to snatch time to work in between feeds, nappies, walks and screams, and so far are doing OK.
Mind you, I've decided when bub number 2 comes along, I am actually going to STOP work for at least 3 months... at least that's the plan.

Monkey face!

2009-04-23T14:15:00.001+10:00

got it!
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Who'd have thought that breast milk was such good stuff, but the faces Nina pulls after a good feed look positively blissful! (and that's my arm, not my bosom, on the left of this pic, in case you're wondering).
Nina has just passed the one month mark, and it has been a pretty amazing month. As well as being just impossibly gorgeous, it feels like we've been blessed with a pretty easy-going bub as well. She's feeding well, sleeping pretty well and even her 2-3 screaming sessions each day are pretty tolerable at this stage. Mind you, have had visits from friends with slightly older babies and toddlers, we're realising that the screams are only going to get louder, so we're bracing ourselves for that!
But she's taken well to being walked around in the sling and pram, and has already become an accomplished bushwalker. The big test is an overnight trip to Sydney next week - mum is a little nervous about how the car trip will go, but there's a first time for everything.

Two babies get their outings

2009-04-10T14:23:00.003+10:00

Baby one - Nina, 3 weeks old today, enjoying her second pram outing. A good hike for her parents too, as we walked to this spot all the way from home and back, a 2hr hour walk.
Baby two - Phil's NoSpuds bag, or more precisely, NoSpuds. This baby was delivered just before Nina, and can be viewed online at www.nospuds.com.au. Feedback welcome!

New season mushrooms

2009-04-10T14:17:00.003+10:00

Bianca picked our first wild mushrooms of the season...yum. Just had some with egg and goats cheese on sour dough bread. The rest will go on mushroom pizza tonight.

Sock for gloves

2009-04-04T11:53:00.002+11:00

It's enough to confuse any little girl. No wonder she has a frown. Bianca has taken to putting socks on Nina's hands to stop her scratching herself...when they wake up I need to tell Bianca about new fangled inventions like gloves and nail clippers...poor poor Nina.

Breakfast & Coffee

2009-04-04T11:28:00.005+11:00

I’ve been meaning to write about my breakfast for ages and my coffee machine. I love my modded coffee machine! I added a temperature controller to my Rancillo machine to take out the faffage of ‘temperature surfing’ to get my machine to the right temperature for coffee (apparently 109.0°C). I’ve been drinking Campos Obama Blend which was a gift from some friends and it makes a really nice cup. Yum.

There are only 2 things that can help improve the start to the day...need I say more?

Obviously you need to check out NoSpuds for coffee courses and barista training ;)

First day at home

2009-03-26T19:32:00.003+11:00

... and already little Nina is fitting right in! Seen here in her sling while Dad enjoys his morning toast.
What an incredible feeling to be able to bring Nina, aka Sprout, into the family. She and I came home from hospital on Monday, and every day has been an adventure, a learning experience, and a total cornucopia of delight.
There aren't really the right words to describe the emotions of all this. There's so much wonder in every little detail, from her long legs and big feet (go Phil's tall genes!), to the silky hair on her head, her blue-grey eyes, which will no doubt change colour, to her tiny little fingernails. There's also wonder in how such a small creature can consume so much milk. I'd wonder where it all went if it weren't for the fact that I see the end products in her nappies.
And yep, she cries, lots, and sleeps lots except when we want her to but usually we work it out in the end.
Ooops, I hear a cry that says "where's my milk!!!" so this is a shortened blog post, but we're loving it, even the mucky freaky bits.

The Girls

2009-03-20T21:04:00.004+11:00

Well here you go! Please welcome Nina to the world.
She is lovely. A bit of crying and lots of sleeping :)
Bianca is recovering well but is very tired.
Stats: time of birth:10:13am; weight:3.37kg; poo:yes; cute:absolutely; date of birth: well...today
We are looking forward to sharing our new life with you!
Mobile network is crap at the hospital but you can phone the hospital to have a chat...maybe tomorrow afternoon onwards.
Dad is now tired and is going to bed after holding my new girl for hours and hours =)
Very happy

Sofa gets a makeover

2009-03-19T10:35:00.002+11:00

Phil's incredible sofa is one of the things that people really remember about our house. It's huge (Phil can stretch out fully on it), it's as welcoming and comfortable as a grandma's hug and a bowl of warm porridge, and it moulds itself to your body like a glove. So many of our friends when they come to our house go straight to the sofa, settle in and don't move for the rest of the day. Some even fall asleep there (miss g!!).
After a very good life, the sofa was starting to get a bit dog-eared, stained and was shedding feathers like a sick rooster, so the time had come for it to get a new lease on life.
A trip to Warwick fabrics later, and thanks to the fine efforts of Springwood Upholstery Services, we now have a new look sofa that is even comfier than the old one. It's replumped and lights up the room like a sunset.
p.s this will probably be the last non-baby-related post for a while as we're off to hospital tomorrow, so enjoy it! We will try not to overwhelm this blog with baby stuff, but can't promise anything!

Rant of impotent fury

2009-03-17T14:03:00.000+11:00

(Be warned: this is the cumulation of several months worth of frustration and rage, so it's going to be somewhat incoherent and indiscriminate!)

I must write all this down or I swear by the hormonal powers-that-be that the top of my head will burst open and this fury will vent forth with a power that will put Vesuvius to shame. In no particular order, here are the causes of my current state of impotent rage, along with a description of the sin that has earned them a position on this distinguished list of Companies That Bianca Now Has A Vendetta Against.

1. Integral Energy. It's a bright sunny day, and yet I have the overwhelming urge to kick Integral Energy in the balls. Why? Because they are currently cutting down the pine trees on the block of land up the hill from us (good because they block the sun) but while cutting down the tree closest to the top of our block, have decided it's perfectly acceptable to dump the branches and lengths of heavy pine log on the top of our block, RIGHT on top of my precious vege patch. RIP one blackcurrant bush and several raspberry canes. And to add insult to injury, when I strode up there fired with righteous anger and attempted to communicate with the neaderthal wielding the chainsaw and ask him if he was aware that there was in fact a vegetable patch under his pile of dumpings, he simply shrugged at me.

2. Katoomba Post Office and Australia Post. Went in there yesterday to use their Justice of the Peace service to certify 10 copies of our marriage certificate so I can change my name on important things like health insurance. Post office is empty but for one person in a queue. I join the queue, wait to be called (about 5 minutes later), go to the desk and nicely ask if they could certify the copies. Unbeknownst to me, in the time I was waiting, about 10 people had come into the post office after me, so there was a queue behind me. Sour-faced cow behind the desk rolls her eyes and sotto voce, mutters "you could have picked a better time". BAD move. I ask when would be a better time... no response. So she starts stamping and signing the copies. "Why do you need so many", she says grumpily. I think: "none of your f@#%ing business" but restrain myself and explain calmly I am changing my name. So she labours through 3 copies, taking a grand total of about 1 minute, then tells me I should go and get the rest done at the NRMA because there's a big queue. I point out that I am extremely pregnant and due to give birth this week, hoping she'll realise that this may be one of my last excursions in public for several weeks and really am not in any state to be traipsing around Katoomba, but she refuses to look at me or look me in the eye and adopts the pose most commonly seen by small cringing things in the wild - bow head, keep still and hope the problem goes away. Unfortunately, I did and have been stewing about it ever since. It would have taken a grand total of 5 minutes to do the job - about the same amount of time your average little old lady would take to count out enough coins to pay for her weekly stamp allowance, so I can only presume that as my request would make no money for Australia Post, that whole smiley "we're here to serve you" charade got flushed well and truly down the toilet.

3. Computershare. Computershare owes me $1300 from the sale of some shares that happened more than a YEAR ago. Since October last year, I have been trying to get them to reissue the cheque to my new address. Sounds like a simple procedure? WRONG! To cut a long and painful saga short, it has taken at least 8 phone calls, numerous documents being sent, faxed, certified, sent again, faxed again, lost, rediscovered, request for documents made then retracted, and still no sign of my moolah. Every single person I have spoken to each time has assured me this is definitely the last thing I need to do before they can reissue me with the cheque, and each time, no cheque arrives, or I get another letter requesting yet another piece of documentation that they already have on file but have somehow overlooked. Last phone call was this morning, and now I have to get certified copies of three different documents sent to them. Which will be great fun after Rant 2 above. Might get to deal with po-face again.

4. Netgear. Working from home means internet connection is rather important. So when a router dies, panic ensues. In this case, the VoIP component of our netgear router gave up the ghost. Thankfully, Netgear said they would replace it (big tick) so we send off the broken router and await arrival of the replacement. Replacement arrives very swiftly, we connect it up only to discover that this particular router is locked to a particular VoIP service provider (not the one we use) so we can't adjust the VoIP settings. Ring Netear, explain the problem, they are apologetic and say they will send out another replacement, no need for us to send back the first replacement first. How nice of them, as it means we at least have internet access, just no internet telephone. Second replacement router arrives a few days later and lo, it is also locked to another VoIP provider. So, we now have two replacement routers, both unusable for VoIP. Ring Netgear again, this time somewhat pissed off, and explain they have made the same mistake twice. Refrain from adding "you blithering idiots" to the end of every sentence. Technician again apologetic and says a third replacement router will be sent out. I ask about what the heck I'm supposed to do with all these bloody routers clogging up my office. Turns out I'm supposed to send them back at my own expense. I suggest this is the shittiest thing since Fat Bob fell in the pit loo, only to be warned that should I refuse to send back the replacement routers I will go on some dire blacklist that will no doubt see Netgear heavies knocking at the door and attempting to repossess our first born. I demand to talk to managers, but it seems they're all on smoko, so I'm reassured they will ring me back to discuss the matter further. No response, oh well. Must be a big spliff they're working on.
In due course, third replacement router arrives and GUESS WHAT!! It's another locked router. To quote my lovely sister "where's my surprised face?". By this stage I have gone out the other side of rage and into mild hysteria, so I ring again, and finally get a technician who obviously graduated from primary school who realises that none of the previous technicians actually recorded the request for a non-locked router. Thankfully, he now sends a corrected request to their warehouse, and we are now waiting for our fourth replacement router, which is apparently delayed due to lack of stock. Watch this space (well, actually, that's not going to be much fun for you so maybe don't).

5. Water tank people. Who shall for the moment remain nameless as there is a chance they may yet redeem themselves. After 2 years of effort, we recently finally got our water tank installed and plumbed into the house. The water tank went in before Christmas, so had plenty of time to fill up, and was finally plumbed into the whole house about 3 weeks ago. The munchkins who plumbed it in obviously didn't read the instructions because initially, they set up the system so the switch that decides between mains and water tank would never actually pick the water tank because the entire system was driven by the mains. Phil, god bless his clever cranium, spotted the error, so they had to come back a week later and completely replumb the system. After that, pump makes satisfyingly busy noises when turned on and we rejoice in the knowledge we are now completely independent of mains water (until the drought really bites). Cue guilt-free baths, wanton watering of the vege patch, stoking of green egos etc. Until I start to wonder why the level of the water tank isn't going down at all. Yesterday, as a little experiment, we check the counter on our water mains box and it turns out that we are still drawing from the mains. What the?!? We examine the layout of the plumbing and can't work out why the pump, which draws directly from the water tank, is going on if we're still drawing mains water. Sleep on the problem, Phil wakes up having solved it in his sleep (he does this a lot!) - the outlet valve from the water tank to the pump is actually shut. So the rainbank switch which controls the flow of water from mains or tank has been switching the pump on whenever we turn the tap on, but no water has been coming from the tank (because the valve is closed) so it then draws from the mains (while keeping the pump running). So our new pump has been running dry for nearly 2 weeks, which I'm sure, even with my limited plumbing knowledge, qualifies as a bad thing. We have now turned on the tank valve (hearing much gurgling as water starts flowing through pipes) but we're still drawing from the mains, which leads us to believe that either the pump is stuffed, the pump wasn't primed by the plumbers (you blithering idiots), or there's another problem we haven't thought of (given track record so far, highly likely).

Phew ... I think that's it. I don't know if it's just bad timing that this crap is raining down on my hormonal, pregnant head now, or if I'm just noticing because I'm hormonal and pregnant, but either way, I've got Warpath Exhaustion.

Sprout at 37 weeks

2009-03-09T17:06:00.003+11:00

"Here's lookin' at you, kid"
Yep, this is the face of Sprout, snapped just a week ago, looking quite comfortable.
Typical of a child of mine, it's facing 180 degrees in the wrong direction (head up instead of head down), which has given us a few headaches in terms of deciding what to do about birth choices. Breech deliveries aren't very common these days because they're a bit more complex than the usual delivery, so we're currently staring down the barrel of a caesarean section. It's a bit disconcerting to contemplate surgery, especially given my enthusiasm for a 'natural labour' (I wrote about this recently for The Weekend Australian newspaper, which you can read here).
Sprout has so far resisted all efforts to turn it the right way around, which have included regular swims, spending 20 mins a day on all fours with my backside in the air, and even a medical procedure in which the doctor tries to turn it around from the outside.
This last procedure was done last week and our obstetrician seemed a little put out that Sprout just refused to budge an inch! While we were disappointed that it didn't work, there was a small twinge of pride in our stubborn little offspring!
And the good news is Sprout is otherwise very healthy, normal size and weight, and wriggling like an octopus most hours of the day.

Got my motorbike fixed!!

2009-03-04T22:05:00.002+11:00

Yippeeee...

Along with a couple of trips down to Sydney I also managed to get in an off road trip for a walk and a look at a local glow worm tunnel that I hadn’t been to for years.

I’d forgotten how tiring dirt roads are on a motorbike. Your hands go numb with the corrugation of the dirt road and you have to really focus on the road surface for holes and slippery stuff. Lots of the time you are kinda half standing as you use your legs as a shock absorber. The next day my muscles ached. It was only 70km and I had big memories of doing over 500km of the Birdsville track in just one day...I was sooooo tired...lol.

The glow worm tunnel was brill, just as I remembered it. Luckily I remembered to take a torch as the middle of the tunnel is pitch black. The glow worms have a small blue’ish light and cluster like star constellations. The tree ferns outside were lush with the recent rains and I love the very big eucalypts around there.

Our Pizza Oven

2009-02-28T21:49:00.005+11:00

I do love my pizza oven. The oven goes up to 320°C which is great for pizza. We have made Indian Naan bread, lots of pizza and calzone so far.

This calzone worked a treat with a ratatouille with mozzarella and fontina cheese. The oven is gas fired but comes with a smoke box which was great for pizza.

Rain, rain, rain

2009-02-17T17:04:00.003+11:00

Within one week we have gone from 38°C heat to solid days of rain, central heating and 10°C. I had predicted that once the tank was plumbed in that we would have a 5 year drought but gladly I was wrong :) I think we have had 5 days of rain now and we have small streams running by our house down the garden.

On the news we currently have fires and floods in Australia. The weather is very strange...

Check out the red level indicator on the side of the tank though!! Yippee.

Blooming marvellous

2009-02-05T07:39:00.002+11:00

Nearly there
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Warm from the sun, plump and bursting with tangy, acid sweetness ... is there anything better than a home-grown tomato? I think not, hence all the sweat, toil and money than has been ploughed into our vegetable patch.
But it has all been worthwhile. We have an enormous crop of (green) tomatoes just waiting for another week or two of sunshine to turn red and flood us with more tomatoes than we know what to do with. Plus the rhubarb is going mental, although also yet to turn red, the zucchini (that's courgette for you Poms) has lots of flowers but no fruit just yet, the leeks are growing tall and the herb garden on the balcony is lush with basil, parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary, marjoram and even lemongrass.
I love having a garden again!

You know you're a local when ...

2009-01-30T09:54:00.002+11:00

...the woman at the local bakery knows what loaf you always buy.
... the guy at the fruit and veg shop feels comfortable enough commenting on your expanding pregnant belly even when it's still small enough to just be a beer gut.
...you get a wave when you walk past the hardware store.
...courier and parcel services don't bother trying to drive up the Driveway From Hell anymore, they just park at the bottom and walk up.

So you're going to be a Dad

2009-01-19T15:05:00.002+11:00

My forward-thinking parents bought Phil this book for Christmas (So You're Going To Be A Dad, by Peter Downey), and much to my surprise, he read it cover to cover in just a few days.
I say 'surprise' because, unlike me, Phil is a more practical, logical hands-on guy who, rather than dither, research extensively, read widely, dither some more, procrastinate and finally act on a random whim, has an instinct for the right thing to do and just does it.
At last count I had about five books to do with getting pregnant, pregnancy, childbirth and child-raising by my bedside. In my defence, most are donations from friends and family, but I have read most of them at least in part, and in the case of the childbirth book, have even been taking notes. Despite this, I suspect all that rationalisation and logic is going to go completely pear-shaped once reality kicks in/the first contractions hit.
Anyway, this book by Downey is actually a very enjoyable read, and written with great wit, humour and wry observation (yes, I read it through too), so I can see why Phil is enjoying it so much. It's very non-prescriptive, non-judgemental and pleasantly honest.

Love in the mountain air

2009-01-12T18:29:00.002+11:00

Our good friends Em and Dan - Bianca's former housemates, now of London - exchanged vows, rings and numerous loving glances last weekend at a stunning wedding in Leura and Katoomba.
I got to play bridesmaid for the first time in my life, which was so much fun. I managed to find a dress that succeed in making me look elegant while covering the Sprout's ever-expanding domain, and Phil got to play chauffeur to the married couple after the ceremony.
It was the most beautiful day - the sun even came out during the ceremony in a fruitless attempt to outshine the gorgeous couple.

Christmas at Treetops

2009-01-05T12:56:00.002+11:00

Treetops hosted its first Christmas this/last year, featuring Mum, Dad and Matty and a visit from Mary and Dave Keeling.
We had the usual features of a Nogrady Christmas - huge numbers of presents, copious quantities of wine and bubbly, more food than we could possibly eat in a year and lots of afternoon naps.
But unlike previous Christmases, we actually got a bit of exercise on this one - three good solid mountain walks in the heat. Of course, we then had to eat extra to make up for all that calorie burning.
And we enjoyed quite a few excellent vegetarian meals cooked by Phil, so slightly fewer beasties than usual were sacrificed to the Christmas gods this year.
Lucy, Dave and of course Nan were sorely missed but what's Christmas without a few tugs on the heart strings.
And special mention to Matty's inflatable moose head, and Dad's steak t-shirt - displayed here with great pride alongside Phil's "I love tofu" t-shirt!

The tank!

2008-12-17T17:24:00.006+11:00

Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Finally, after two years of trying to get quotes or even passing interest from tradesmen, we have managed to get our water tank installed. It's a 12,000L tank - the smallest we could get that could also be installed on the site rather than trying to get a prefabricated tank up the drive and up the stairs.
Plumbing is yet to go in but fingers crossed that's happening in Jan. Phil then predicts we'll see another 5 year drought in the mountains.
Special mention goes to Phil's herculanean efforts in first digging and levelling out the area for the tank, which as anyone who has seen the steepness of our block will know, was quite a task. Secondly, he had to lug two tonnes of sand up the steps to lay the base for the tank, and thirdly, had to lug half a tonne of crushed rock to lay around the edge to stop the sand being eroded.
And he still managed to get out of bed each morning, albeit with some serious groaning.

What's a girl home alone to do?

2008-12-11T10:02:00.002+11:00

I'm normally fine to deal with small spiders and rescue them with the tried and true glass-and-cardboard method, but this hairy monster is a little outside my weight category - about 10cms wide.
And of course, spider-wrangling hubby is away until tonight, so it's a bit of a Mexican stand-off between me and Harry (the hairy one). He's on the far wall of my office, which is fine as long as he remains there. I don't fancy doing my live-to-air radio interviews with him creeping towards me.
Could make for interesting radio though...

Bianca and Sprout in Nikko

2008-12-02T10:02:00.003+11:00

Check out the sprout bump!

Ernest Cafe - Best coffee in Nikko

2008-12-02T09:52:00.003+11:00

At the end of a big walk around temples you need a good coffee and like an oasis in a coffee desert we saw Ernest’s mobile cafe alongside the road. The van was immaculate with a beautiful chromed front. He converted it to a cafe himself.

‘Twas very good coffee and Ernest was a lovely gentleman. He took our picture and put it on his blog (did I mention he is a marketing guru) and then took our picture outside his van AND THEN gave us free homemade caramel on a stick. BTW you should have a look at his latte art as it's cool. Go Ernest!

Train ride from Nikko

2008-12-01T22:35:00.003+11:00

We are just back from a great day in Nikko. It's 2 hours from Tokyo on the slow train but it was a lovely journey through rural Japan.

I tried to get the whole journey captured on my little camera taking shots every 5 seconds but my camera only lasted 1 hour after a week of use =( so 700 shots later here is a 45 second video of the first half of the trip. I was hoping to get more people on the train but it didn't get busy until the battey ran out (typical). You get the sunset anyway so stop complaining and watch the video.

Temple town

2008-11-30T12:00:00.002+11:00

After three days of riding Tokyo's modern metropolis buzz, it was time for a little change of pace, so we took an hour-long train ride to the seaside retreat of Kamakura, famed for its Zen Buddhist temples. The train ride was interesting enough - the train seats are heated, and almost uncomfortably so. After having read about the damage heated car seats can do to a man's fertility, it did prompt us to wonder about the potential effects on Japan's population growth.
Despite the hoards of tourists, the temples were surprisingly peaceful, contemplative places, full of beautiful trees and lovely, simple wooden buildings.
(and here's the food bit ...) And we managed to get a meal at a traditional Zen Buddhist eatery -called shojin ryori. We had another incredible culinary adventure - multiple courses of tiny, beautifully-arranged dishes including a spinachy green flavoured with wasabi, a rich stew and a sort of tofu burger that tastes far better than it sounds!

Kamakura - most photographed place on earth...

2008-11-29T20:00:00.004+11:00

Today we went to Kamakura which is beautiful zen temples meets blackpool highstreet (yes including blackpool rock).

The first temple that we went to was Engakuji which I think is the most photographed place on the earth. Lots of people had tripods and VERY big lens. The tiniest detail was photographed all over the temple. I think I may have got something unique due to my different taller perspective ;) The photograph above was my fave of the day taken with my little Ricoh :D

Tokyo Tofu Restaurant

2008-11-28T23:15:00.003+11:00

This was vegetarian heaven ... in fact, it was non-vegetarian heaven too. We have just returned, groaning and several kilos heavier, from the most amazing eight-course tofu-based banquet at the Kyo Tofu Fujino restaurant in Tokyo's Marunochi building.

We ordered a set banquet but unfortunately didn't hang on to the menu, so the following description is from memory, and therefore a fair amount of guesswork going on!

We started with a three-dish sampler that I couldn't even begin to describe, then chargrilled tofu, a glutinous mushroom and tofu concoction, a delicious salad of lotus root and tofu chips with a fabulous sesame oil-based dressing, a tofu steak and three veg, a selection of rice, soup and pickled veg, then the dessert - soy ice-cream with petits fours. The whole thing ended with a gustatorial bang - a green tea concoction that was intensely powerful and practically napalmed the palate clean. It was just amazing food ... a vegetarian Tetsuya-style experience and definitely one of the best meals I've had in a long time, both vego AND non-vego (GASP! What an admission!)

Tokyo fish market

2008-11-28T19:35:00.006+11:00

I thought I was a seafood-eating fiend, but the Japanese put me to shame. Anything even remotely edible and marine-dwelling seemed to be on sale at the famous Tokyo fish markets, aka Tsukiji. I was really cursing my pregnancy (for the first time, I should point out), as I jealously eyed the busy counters of sushi and sashimi bars, some with large, patient queues outside them.

There were so many things I couldn't even begin to identify, yet still wanted to eat. It was probably a good thing that Phil stayed at the hotel, as even for a fish-coveting vegetarian, I think all that fishy death would have been a bit much.

Would you like a jet of water up the arse with that?

2008-11-26T20:29:00.003+11:00

I had heard so much about Japanese toilets - the heated seats, the electronically-generated flushing noises for those who suffer from shy bladders, the water jet - but didn't believe it until I sat on one.
I was freaked enough by the perpetually-warm seat, which makes you feel like you've sat down just after someone has been spending some serious 'quality time' on the same seat. It's also a bit disturbing to have all these industrious electronic noises coming from the general direction of your bottom.
But I defiantly drew the line at the water jet. Frankly, I'd be happy to go through the rest of my life without having a machine blast a jet of water at my nether regions.
That was, until I was sabotaged by my 'dear husband', who ambushed me as I sat, peacefully enjoying a quiet wee, by pushing the water jet button. Unfortunately, I wasn't even in the right position, so the water missed its target by a couple of inches and shot up my buttock cleavage. Probably didn't help that I clenched up like a reluctant clam.
But to add insult to injury, Phil failed to tell me that you need to push the 'stop' button to make it stop, so I sat there, paralysed with laughter, clenched like I have never clenched before, and powerless to do a thing about it.
I'm forever traumatised...

Sprouting my Japanese pillow?

2008-11-26T12:58:00.002+11:00

Does anyone know what Marco Beans are? I can’t find out. I am worried about sprouting my hotel pillow...

Anyone that knows me well knows that I dribble when I sleep. That has been ok ‘till now as long as you don’t have long hair. Thing is the pillow in the hotel has a layer of Marco Beans in it and I am worried about my pillow sprouting. I have read the pillow instructions that I have included but they don’t answer my concerns. If anyone knows what they are and whether I am in danger of pillow growth please let me know.

Japan - Got here

2008-11-26T09:50:00.004+11:00

Well we got to Tokyo safe and sound although very tired. We have a good view of the city from the hotel room and woke up to the sun rising. Now Bianca gets to try a buffet breakfast in a new country!

Trimmed new beard

2008-11-23T17:16:00.003+11:00

Had a haircut the other day because as the hairdresser said "you look like a bear"...my hair was VERY long and my beard was unruly.
She even trimmed/styled my beard.
Dont know if I am gonna keep the beard but it will be fun for our trip to Tokyo.

Sprout at 19 weeks

2008-11-07T10:35:00.003+11:00

Sprout has had its second photoshoot, and is looking good. The obstetrician pointed all the important bits (except the REALLY important bits, as we've decided to leave that as a surprise), such as kidneys, heart, brain, eyes, legs, feet and hands.
We also got some of the measurements, and I'm relieved to discover that despite its dad's rather impressively-sized cranium, Sprout has a slightly below-average head circumference. However it does have slightly longer than average legs and arms ... we may yet strike it lucky with the tall genes!
It is also a very active little thing and is really making its presence felt with regular kicks. It might have got Phil's tall genes, but I'm starting to suspect a bit of my hyperactivity might have snuck in there. As long as it gets Phil's sleeping genes as well, that's just fine by us!

A flower for Debbie

2008-10-31T10:15:00.002+11:00

This beautiful waratah - the only one that flowers in our garden but has done so every year - is for Debbie, even though she's on the other side of the planet.
She has lost someone so precious to her that there are no words or wails that can express the grief and pain of it.
I can't imagine what she's going through, and I don't want to. But it's enough to send that jolt through you to remind you that nothing is forever, everything changes, and every single minute with those you love is precious.

Weird weather

2008-10-22T10:37:00.003+11:00

I know it's the height of ordinariness to blog about the weather, but the last two days have delivered firstly some seriously whopping hailstones (thankfully only a few and the car wasn't here to get dented) yesterday, and then this morning, we had a good hour of snow. And not the wet hail that I normally get excited about and Phil dismisses as not being real snow, but big fat flakes that actually stuck around for a bit.
These were delivered by a thunderstorm, which is a combination I don't think I have ever encountered before and just added to the excitement of it all.
Some of my pics of the snow even made it onto the Sydney Morning Herald online photo gallery (not that that's much of a claim to fame, but I'll take it).
And of course, now it's bright and sunny outside and temperatures are forecast to get back into the 20s on the weekend.
Weird.

New vegipatch...waiting...

2008-10-05T15:52:00.003+11:00

Bianca and I keep watching the new vegi patch...
Currently it has rhubarb, raspberries, gooseberries and black currents planted (my choice) which a friend pointed out sounded like bear food...Bianca thought that was apt.
There is some asparagus (bears don’t like asparagus) but we won’t be able to harvest that until we leave it for a year.
Bianca has LOTS of seedlings waiting to be bedded in a couple of weeks. Lots of multicoloured heritage varieties from Diggers Club like five colour silver beet and ten colour tomatoes. Call me old fashioned but I like my silver beet green and my tomatoes red!! We will have purple, yellow, black, green, pink, striped etc...
Included a picture of the newly grown rhubarb

New garden wall in progress

2008-10-05T15:36:00.003+11:00

When it rains it really rains up here in the Blue Mountains. The hill that the house is sat on is mainly sandstone with shelves of ironstone so it seems that weeks after the rains the back of the house is a quagmire.
Solution: build a wall with an agricultural drain behind it!
We had to move the large tree fern that Bianca looks at from her office window and we were worried about it not surviving the move but as you can see it is growing back with lush new growth.
It will be good to have a play area at the back of the house.

Meet The Sprout

2008-09-19T12:28:00.001+10:00

It's an alien!
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

It's finally official - Hairy Mountain Folk are brewing up a tiny pair of hairy mountain feet! After having our first ultrasound this Tuesday, we got our first glimpse of The Sprout, who kindly gave us a little wriggle on the screen just so we knew it was alive and kicking.
It's all rather exciting/surreal/freaky/wonderful ... I'm sure like all new parents, we're not going to know what's hit us, but for the moment we're enjoying blissful ignorance!
Phil has very nobly suffered through two months of me whingeing on a daily basis about how sick I feel and how I simply MUST have Indian food today and 'don't you dare come near me with those porcini mushrooms'. Yep, all-day hangover is about the kindest description I can come up with. Even more upsetting is I have gone off porridge and oranges - my previous desert-island-foods.
Haven't gone off chocolate though ... heh heh heh.
As a woman who likes to keep herself looking presentable (and that covers spending all day in a dressing gown and ugg boots), I was relieved to discover that 'maternity wear' does not mean 'muu-muu', and have actually managed to deck myself out in some decent stretch-waisted outfits. In fact, they're so comfortable I could quite happily see myself spending the rest of my life wearing stretch-waisted outfits.

Spring cleaning

2008-09-10T13:13:00.003+10:00

A combination of warm weather, sunshine and a fervent desire to put off doing any serious work has led to The Spring Clean - long overdue and both fascinating and painful.
I have discovered old personal diaries from school days, whose contents have led me to believe I was psychotic for a large part of my teenage years.
I have discovered a collection of poems I wrote when I was an earnest, nerdy primary school student (and what's changed except age, I wonder?).
I also thoroughly enjoyed re-reading my impressive collection of job rejection letters, which reads like a Who's Who of science, medicine and publishing: The Age, the ABC (twice), New Scientist (twice), The Lancet, Australian Geographic, the CRC for Genes and Human Diseases, Current Medical Literature, Nature (twice), the World Health Organisation and Australian Doctor (for a job I subsequently got four years later).
It's the jobs Bianca gets rejected from that make Bianca the best (apologies to John West for mangling their tag line).

Why I love working from home

2008-08-21T17:53:00.002+10:00

Here's what I love about working from home:
- I can get up at 8am, have tea (or get it in bed if I play my cards right) and breakfast, then go back to bed for a digestive nap until I'm ready to start my brain up.
- I can spend the entire day in ugg boots and a warm, snuggly dressing gown if the mood takes me.
- I can talk live to air on radio stations around the country while wearing ugg boots and a dressing gown.
- I can cook chicken soup from scratch for lunch and eat it sitting in a bean bag while watching an episode of The West Wing.
- I can take the time to go for a walk to the shops while it's still light to get fresh stuff for dinner each day.
- I can watch fairy wrens playing chasies in the tree fern outside my office window.
- I can listen to Carmina Burana at bone-shattering volume while I work and no one complains.
- and I can do all this and still earn as much money as I used to make working 8 hours a day in an office.
Don't hate me...

Nerd Alert: RAID array

2008-07-24T15:39:00.002+10:00

OK you dont have to read this...
BUT I have just finished setting up my RAID array for my desktop at home!
It's been sat around for 6 months and because I took the cheap route with the backplane (the box on the top) it took a lot of messing around.
It has 5 SCSI hard drives in it but acts like 1 drive for your computer so it is very fast and if one of the hard drives fizzle it just carries on, you just replace the dead drive. So I have got ½ terabyte of fast disk.
'So what am I going to use it for?' I hear you ask...
Well the first database I have loaded is the whole of the english wikipedia which I have loaded into SQL Server. In a raw version it is 25 gigabytes.
Next I need to get my spider crawling =)
Well I did warn you and it was up to you to carry on reading! :P

Who needs a gym membership...

2008-07-24T15:17:00.003+10:00

I have had many doubters about getting this stump out of the ground. It has taken a lot of digging, sawing and gritting of teeth but I've got it out!!
Its an old hardwood tree stump that has been there since the house was built I guess but it was in the way of the water tank we want fitted.
So before you say (I have had many commentators):

a stump grinder is a very big bit of machinery and we would not have been able to get it up to the stump
the little chainsaw I have got cuts in 2cms and then just smokes
burn it out? nah after 1 day of hot coals I reduced it by 1mm on one side =(
chain around car/motorbike? After hearing 'Darwin awards' stories of various deaths by 'car and chain...' i didn't think it was worth it.
how are you going to get it out of the hole? Luckily we had two strapping lads staying with us who needed to test their manhood and help out an old fella.

So next thing is to prepare the ground for the 12000 litre water tank :D

They're baaaaack!

2008-07-17T10:42:00.002+10:00

Bush rat?
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Having been so rudely evicted from their comfy home in the basement, our rodent house guests are back - this time they've taken up residence in the roof and have been making regular, brazen forays around the house.
But I'm revising my first claim that these are bush rats - I now think they're antechinus, which is kinda cute except for the whole 'eating electrical cable' thing.
However, as cute, native and precious as these little critters are, their eating habits do not lend themselves to happy coexistence in our house, so I'm looking into trapping and releasing them elsewhere.

Meet the family

2008-07-14T15:21:00.001+10:00

Meet the family
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

These are my newly-discovered third (or fourth?) cousins from Hungary - Mate and Balazs, who are visiting Australia. Lucy met these guys when she visited Hungary years ago but she was the first to make contact. It's quite amazing to meet an entirely new branch of The Family ... just when you thought it was safe to come out of hiding, there are MORE Nogradys! Except, they spell it Nogradi - just to confuse you.

Vege garden-to-be

2008-07-10T11:10:00.001+10:00

Vege garden-to-be
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

It might not look like much, but this mess of mud, wood and shredded plant bits is the product of some serious labour on Phil and my part over the past few weeks.We've weeded, hacked out tree stumps, dug out weeds, dug out more weeds, chopped down weeds and basically done nothing much more than weed. I have developed a profound and passionate loathing for the following plants: cotoneaster, montbretia, holly, honeysuckle, radiata pine and English ivy.
With the help of some bush rock and major earthmoving, this scene of carnage will soon be a nicely terraced vegetable garden.
For those who've ventured up the back garden, this photo was taken standing behind the compost bins looking back up the hill.

Nan and Pa

2008-07-10T11:05:00.001+10:00

Nan and Pa
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Nan always loved the Blue Mountains, and she and Pa had their honeymoon up here more than half a century ago. So we, their descendants, felt it was very appropriate that their final resting place be in the mountains, and even more so that it be surrounded by ferns, grevilleas and banksias in one of their grandkid's gardens (namely ours).
It's quite comforting pottering around the garden knowing they're there - I say hello occasionally and maybe it's just my imagination, but I feel them there. And with Nan's incredible green thumb, I can't help but think the plants in the area are going to flourish!

Boring betties

2008-05-31T15:39:00.002+10:00

Yes, haven't we been a bit dull of late. Not a single exciting blog post in one month! Possibly because we haven't been at Treetops much, and instead have been spending more time in the Big Smoke, which has its ups and downs.
Phil is burning his brain at both ends, which is exciting and exhausting, both for him and me. Bianca swings randomly between periods of intense creativity, frustrating boredom, interspersed with a nagging feeling she should be working harder.
That's all folks. Just thought I'd better break the blog monotony a tad.

Nan

2008-04-22T10:44:00.001+10:00

Nan and Bianca
Originally uploaded by sideboarddave

A truly wonderful, beautiful, spirited and dignified woman died last night - my Nan. Some of you hopefully met her at the wedding, but for those of you who weren't lucky enough to meet this amazing person, here's a snapshot:
She was cheeky, brave, strong, funny, warm, understanding, compassionate, stoic, self-sacrificing, wise, honest and just the best grandmother a girl could hope to have, and the best role model a woman could hope to have.
She could play the clown, be a carer, accept change, offer an ear, shoulder and hanky, and cope with anything life threw at her. Fate didn't deliver her the kindest ending of life, but even as she fought against it, she kept her dignity, spirit and humour throughout her journey.
I will miss you so much Nan, but I'm glad you're free.

Podcasting, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Sound Of My Own Voice

2008-04-20T15:35:00.003+10:00

After faffing for more than a year, I have finally worked out how to podcast. I'm afraid all I have loaded up for the moment is a test but it is the start of a new era. Not content merely with dominating the radio waves of Australia and NZ, I am now spreading my tentacles across the internet ... MWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!

Mushroom feast

2008-04-18T11:48:00.002+10:00

After having enjoyed some of these mushrooms around this time last year, courtesy of our favourite vege cafe Niche Nosh, we decided to venture into the mysterious state forests near Oberon/Jenolan Caves to pick some for ourselves.
The area is famous for these mushrooms - called Saffron Milk Caps, or Pine Mushrooms - which look disturbingly toxic but are in fact safe and delicious. After some very helpful advice from Oberon's tourist info centre, we set off armed with wellies and lots of enthusiasm.
It hadn't rained for a while so it took a bit of time to collect enough for lunch, and in our intial enthusiasm we nearly got lost. Note to file: when ploughing determinedly into a dark forest in search of mushies, be sure to remember where you parked the car.
But all was well and these beauties delivered a fabulous fry-up lunch, which tasted all the better for the fact that it was a working day and we both really should have been doing something productive.

How d'ya like them apples?

2008-04-07T15:31:00.002+10:00

Loganbrae Orchard is a Blackheath institution, so I'm not quite sure why it has taken us so long to visit, but I'm very glad we did. Those at the wedding might remember the apple juice, but now we've graduated to some of their incredible apples.
Buying these was a real mountain experience. A chat about cooking, the weather, the merits of different apples ... a sample apple given ... conversation veers to the apparent lack of good baking apples in Australia, at which point the owner charges out into his orchard and comes back with a handful of HUGE cooking apples which he dumps on us for free!
soooo yummy.

Tyrannosaurus Phil

2008-03-29T21:24:00.003+11:00

It may seem that this photo has little in common with birds, but was in fact taken at Singapore's Jurong Bird Park shop, after Phil had patiently lasted an entire day being dragged around Bird Nerd Central. So many incredible birds ... so few recipes.

Unrepentant carnivore in Singapore

2008-03-26T19:44:00.001+11:00

Unrepentant
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

In typical style, the first blog of our one week holiday in Singapore is about food. It's appropriate, as Singaporeans really do love their nosh, and appear to eat anything that crawls, trots, scuttles, swims and even hops. Having said that, so far we have found plenty of vegetarian restaurants, both Indian and Chinese, so Phil has eaten very well so far. I'm mentally drooling over the prospect of Hainanese chicken rice and Singaporean chilli crab, which I'll hopefully get to enjoy sometime in our remaining few days here.
Singapore reminds me of the town of Duloc in the movie Shrek, especially the Singaporean leisure island of Sentosa. Everything is clean, artificial and delightfully tacky, even down to the chirpy "Singapore, Singapore!" song that plays at the monorail stations.
Government health, safety, anti-terrorism, anti-anti-social behaviour etc etc ads far outweigh any other advertising. It feels like Singaporeans can't even scratch their own behinds without government sanction.
The shopping is mental. Talk about a temple to consumerism - only Hong Kong beats it on the luxury front. Needless to say, Phil has already got a new toy - his buyer's guilt lasted a good half an hour after he bought it, so that should give you some indication as to its price.
We are staying in an incredible hotel. Each room is decorated by a different artist and the lobby is full of designer chairs. The swimming pool is directly above the restaurant and there are glass portholes in the floor of the pool so restaurant patrons can get an eyeful of tog-clad bodies. I have already tried blowing blowfish on the glass while in the pool, but couldn't see if there was anyone in the restaurant, so I think my efforts may have been wasted.
Anywway, we are having a very relaxing time with lots of walking and eating, and enjoying not thinking about work (or in Phil's case, thinking about work a lot less!) for a while.

Bianca Makes Fetta!!

2008-02-10T21:14:00.001+11:00

Bianca has been planning this for a couple of weeks now but she has finally done it. She has made cheese! No not between toes but real life cheese! Fetta to be exact.
I just had some on some crackers and it was divine. It was achieved with great help from James...thanks James!
Halloumi next...yum.

Sydney View from our apartment

2008-02-10T21:03:00.001+11:00

Here is sunset from our rented apartment in Sydney. Best thing about the apartment is the view. We prefer our Blackheath home though ;)

Heaven is ...

2008-01-03T17:34:00.001+11:00

Heaven is ...
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

... a new Xbox and a man-sized bean bag.
I know I'm a glutton for punishment, given Phil's fondness for computer games, but I just couldn't resist shocking the pants off him by getting him an Xbox for Christmas. After he recovered, he said it was like giving an alcoholic a bottle of rum, but I figure he'll be so ridiculously busy with work this year he'll hardly have time to scratch, let alone play on it.
The bean bag was a Woodford purchase, and it is soooo comfy.

Dancing in the Woodford mud

2008-01-03T17:31:00.001+11:00

Dancing in the mud
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Woodford ... rainy one day, quagmire the next, but a bloody good time nonetheless!
After my first Woodford experience in 05/06 being one of scorching temperatures and stifling humidity, this year's Woodford Folk Festival was almost washed off the side of the mountain courtesy of a low pressure system sulking off the Queensland coast for much of the time. It rained, and rained, then rained some more, turning the festival grounds into an active river system interspersed with mud pits.
But it was still an unbelievably awesome time, with great music, incredible food, intoxicating atmosphere and challenging talks. Highlights for us were Wild Marmalade, Pejvaak, Kate Fagan, S Sorensen, the Byron Bay Organic Doughnuts (again!), Common Ground and of course, the company of Dean and Lisa.
Lots more photos on my Flickr site although due to the weather, I focused on pictures of muddy feet and shoes... strange, but it tickled my fancy. This particular photo was taken INSIDE a music tent, where dancing feet like these had squelched everything into a sodden mess. But it was so much fun.

Smokin'

2007-12-06T08:56:00.000+11:00

Sorry for the lack of bloggage, but we're currently living between Treetops and the Big Smoke, and working damn hard to boot, so unfortunately not enough time for leisurely photographing and blogging about the weather/garden/state of the planet.
But life's good!

New dawn, new day, new leadership

2007-11-25T11:27:00.001+11:00

Finally, after 11.5 painful, depressing and infuriating years of the Liberal party and John Howard trying to turn this country into a mean, fearful, tightfisted and selfish nation, Australia has had ENOUGH!
Yesterday's Federal election delivered a staggering defeat for Howard and his party's policies. What a swing! What relief to see even former blue-ribbon Liberal seats turn their back on the Liberal party and vote instead for a vision of a future where our children receive the best education the government can buy them, where even the poorest Australian has access to excellent healthcare and where the future of our planet is placed above greed and consumerism.
And to all the Liberal hacks saying we should respect John Howard's achievements as being our second-longest serving prime minister, I say quantity does not equal quality. Our wise friend Andy said people use their vote to punish and by god I did that yesterday and it felt GOOD!
Right, enough ranting. Big big congratulations to Rudd, Gillard and the Labour Party for finally giving us something to vote for. Now live up to the expectations.

Is there any point in going green?

2007-11-19T09:56:00.000+11:00

New Scientist has just published the most comprehensive, detailed and inspiring feature article on how much difference an individual can make to global warming. So many of us wonder, as we unplug our appliances each night, buy energy-efficient light bulbs and recycle our newspapers, how much impact we can actually have when China and India are pumping out ever-increasing volumes of CO2 at unchecked rates.
The answer is that you can make a massive difference, reducing your carbon footprint by as much as 75% without having any significant impact on your lifestyle. New Scientist writer Fred Pearce has done the hard work of number crunching to demonstrate exactly how much CO2 output is reduced when you do such small things as replacing light bulbs, taking public transport, recycling and turning off appliances at the power point.
For example, each year:
- converting 25 light bulbs to energy-efficient saves 0.25 tonnes CO2
- switching all appliances off at the plug can save the average household 0.1 tonnes CO2
- with every 1500kms of public transport commuting instead of driving, you save 0.5 tonnes CO2
- recycle all your aluminium cans (av 120) will save 0.2 tonnes CO2
Implementing such small steps as these could reduce the average European's CO2 output by 8 tonnes (from average annual output of 12 tonnes). Australians have a much bigger carbon footprint, mainly due to our love of gas-buzzling cars - we produce around 19 tonnes per capita per year - but can still reduce our output by as much as 75% if we try hard enough.
Unfortunately this article isn't free online, but it's in news stands now (and no I'm not being paid to plug this story - I just think it's incredibly useful information)

Kushudebu Public Health Mission Nepal

2007-11-13T16:38:00.000+11:00

I can't really come up with a creative way to start this blog entry, so I'm just going to launch straight into it.
Our amazing Nepali guide leader, Ang Tsering Sherpa, who so skillfully and wonderfully shepherded us all through Tibet last year, has established a public health mission in his home town of Junbesi in Nepal.
The area is extremely remote - accessible only walking - and until recently had no medical facilities at all for its villagers. Ang worked very hard to set up the Kushudebu Public Health Mission, and has succeeded. As well as helping to restore the medical center, the organisation is also helping to pay for a doctor and nurse for the village.
Anyway, my long-winded point is that Ang has done something extraordinary, and if you're wondering what to give someone for Christmas, deciding what charity to donate to or just feeling flush with cash and contemplating a spending spree, why not donate to the Kushudebu Public Health Mission Nepal.
Details are on the website at www.kushudebu.org.np

The Bestest siblings

2007-11-02T09:43:00.001+11:00

Lucy, Bianca, Matthew
Originally uploaded by sideboarddave

OK, so I'm listening to Simon and Garfunkel and feeling the love, but just wanted to tell the world that I have the best brother and sister on the planet. Having them with me the morning of Phil and my wedding was so wonderful and special that I smile every time I remember the goings-on.
Thank you both so much for being you. Love yas.

Favourite quote of the day

2007-11-01T11:11:00.000+11:00

Thank god for Gordon Ramsay. Not that I have ever watched any of his shows, but I just loved this quote from him, taken from today's Sydney Morning Herald, in which he claimed a prerequisite for becoming a food critic was to be "so far tucked up your backside you can't eat or breathe properly."

Little critter

2007-10-22T16:17:00.001+10:00

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

2007-10-19T11:28:00.001+10:00

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

2007-10-17T13:22:00.001+10:00

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

2007-10-17T08:56:00.000+10:00

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!

2007-10-15T13:50:00.001+10:00

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

2007-10-12T10:04:00.001+10:00

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

2007-10-09T20:01:00.001+10:00

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!

2007-10-09T17:34:00.001+10:00

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...

2007-10-09T17:25:00.001+10:00

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

2007-10-09T12:01:00.001+10:00

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

2007-10-04T14:28:00.001+10:00

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

2007-10-04T14:27:00.001+10:00

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

2007-10-04T14:23:00.001+10:00

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.

Dave's Pics - The Preparation

2007-09-26T09:59:00.001+10:00

Many thanks to Dave and Lucy for providing these pictures of the preparation for the main event...

Here's to you Mrs (and Mr) Robinson

2007-09-25T17:12:00.000+10:00

Yup, it's official - Mrs and Mrs Robinson (The Couple Formerly Known As Bianca And Phil) are wedded, and what an incredible event it was! Amongst the many amazing things was the feeling of looking out at the crowd and seeing so many faces of people we love and who love us. There's really no other ceremony like it in life, where everyone special to you, minus those outrageous jet-setters, gets together in one place.
We didn't have a formal photographer at the wedding and would love to see any and all photos and video taken, so please email or post your shots to us!
It was such a beautiful, wonderful, loving day and we're both still on a high from it, thanks to yous all.
Currently, we're in hot, dry Broken Hill after a long day driving from Dubbo through some amazing desert. Had an lovely day pootling around the zoo, but mostly we're just enjoying relaxing, reading, snuggling and being a nauseating newly-married pair. Now that I don't have to fit into a wedding dress anymore, I'm also really enjoying the leftover cupcakes, wine and chocolate.
Our vague travel plan is to aim for Ceduna as a turn-around point, which will take us around the Eyre Peninsula and along the Bight, then back through Adelaide and as many wine-growing regions as the liver will permit, before meandering back through Victoria and NSW. We will start taking photos soon, but we're still coming back to Terra Firma.
Big thanks to everyone who came to the wedding for making it special, to our families for being our families, to Niche Nosh for such fabulous food and staff, to our celebrant Maureen Williams for her beautiful ceremony, to Collit's Inn for providing such a stunning venue, to Wentworth Falls CupCakery for their cup cakes, to Madjestic Mini Bus Tours for getting guests safely home ... I'm sure there are others but that's it from us for now ... it's beer o'clock.

Pam and Keith at Govett's Leap

2007-09-13T14:12:00.001+10:00

Pam and Keith at Govett's Leap
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Finally, the Blue Mountains turned on the kind of weather that makes my heart sing when I get up in the morning, and I was able to coax Pam and Keith away from painting our downstairs doors, and out into the bush. Now if only we could get this kind of weather for next Saturday ... everybody, start praying/begging/sacrificing chickens/crossing fingers.

Stuck

2007-09-09T21:57:00.000+10:00

I have been stuck in Bangkok. Sounds like fun eh? Well it started with over 4 hours on a dud plane on the tarmac. The AC was crook so the plane was hot. I got no food or water. Then there was the mixed up transfer to a hotel an hour away. And then a wait in the hotel till the same time the next day.
I thought this photo from the hotel tv at 01:40am was apt. It summed up the last 30 hours.
Oh and the entertainment system was broke again. Well now I am at the gate. Fingers crossed everyone.
Hope to cya soon.
Oh just had an announcement the plane is delayed for ANOTHER 3 hours =(

Seat for bored husbands of eager shoppers

2007-09-09T15:12:00.001+10:00

Thoughtfully provided by one of the local businesses in Leura, this seat came in very handy for Keith as Pam and I poked through Leura's many tempting shops ... although we were very restrained and didn't buy anything.

Work it!

2007-09-08T15:53:00.001+10:00

I'm a terrible daughter-in-law (well, daughter-in-law to-be). Pam and Keith, Phil's parents, have travelled all the way from Yorkshire for our wedding in two weeks, and what have I got them doing? Painting the bathroom! They've also stacked our messy woodpile, cleared up the building materials from downstairs, and washed up numerous times. I have actually been trying to get them to rest and relax, but they're unstoppable.