Summer breezes

As we sit here on the patio, side by side in lawn chairs, looking at the lake and the boats, the sunlight falling on the mountains and the late day's breeze, she says 'It's been two weeks since we posted a blog post - or is it three?' He says: 'Mmm'.

Patio lounging. Pass the wine!

Relaxing in Canada, chez Parents Laing, enjoying summer hot weather and swimming every day in the lake. (Or should that be lakes? Today's sample included a new one.) Clear blue water and hot sun.

Yes, there are bushfires here, and yes they are serious, but they are on the other side of the lake, a couple of miles as the crow flies (and there's a large, long lake between us and them). We watch and hope that the damage is minimal to those over there.

In the last week, we've been out and about, and there's so much to show! A friend christened this the 'Bev and James frolic' across North America. There will be pictures of planes, I promise. And crafty things, too.

Taking pictures of the flowers at the botanical gardens and sculpture park in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
(Photo by Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood.)

In the meantime, there are flowers and sunshine, planes and people, cricket and crafting. And watermelon. Don't forget the watermelon.

Plenty of cuddles available for free. Smiles, too. (Shame the giraffe copped it).

Having a great Northern summer, catching up with the family, meeting our new nephew, and generally being spoiled. More soon.

Bev

Cupcakes!

Bev's friends came round. They brought cakes. One selection shown.

I reckon they can come again.

Mum, Dad & the cat

Three faces on a local house.

What's in the Box?

So what's in the box?
On the other side it says 'Business Cards'. Could be a clue.

Yup, it's cards! Moo do good stock business cards in full colour on both sides. They're not cheap, but they are good. (And who wants business cards that look cheap?)

You can use their designs, or your own - for my work, pictures of aircraft that I've taken aren't hard to come by, and with a bit of careful selection, we can make a wall of cards...

LOTS of cards! Only problem is I don't want to give them out. Oh, and the other only problem I know from previous experience is people find it hard to choose which card they want...

We've now used Moo several times, and are very happy with the service, as are our friends who have also used them. It seems a bit odd buying cards at a US dollar price from the UK to ship to Australia, but it works. The small business cards (MiniCards) are fun things too. The turnaround was very quick.

A fun parcel to open.

James

(Moo is at www.moo.com - no we aren't getting anything for recommending them, we just reckon they're worth passing on.)

4:20AM, Monday

Day 21 - Empty Beds
Originally uploaded by Ciaran McGuiggan

I wake up and my husband isn't there.

In fact, his side of the bed hasn't been slept in at all. My heavens, what has happened to him?!

>faint sound of Test Match Special floats in from the livingroom<

Ah, cricket season. England must be holding out for a draw.

ZzzZzzzzz.

Now everyone, back to sleep until Thursday, when we do it all over again...

Alphabet stew

Because of the AFL, the ABC isn't relaying TMS from the BBC, and the BBC's WWW broadcast has presumably gone US as a result of all of AUS logging on.

So we fall back on the TV commentary which is on SBS and frankly like listening to paint dry.

Having to listen to three ex-England captains is like waiting for the Shakespeare from the monkeys with typewriters except less insightful, less amusing and less intelligent.




Ah, TMS is back. That's the closest I want to get to Cold Turkey.

Let's start with one Pom down

The Ashes are back, a small ray of (currently Welsh) sunshine in a particularly cold Melbourne winter, and the inimitable Blowers of TMS on the radio.

Another lovely gift is a Pommie wicket (lovely take, Husseyyy....) after the bad news of the loss of Brett Lee to injury for at least the first two Tests and and England winning the toss.

And the English batsmen aren't looking comfortable, which is as it should be.

The tough question is, as ever, whether I can find someone to venture five quid on England.

While an Aussie series win is what's wanted, with luck we should also see a good contest with England giving the impression of being together facing Australia, and the apparently endless juggernaut of the Australian cricket machine needing a good rebuild and new workers in the engine-room and steering. There are some missing faces.

As well as incredible cricketers Gilchrist and Warne no longer being in the team, there must be a nod to the loss of one of humanities greatest statisticians, (the entirely humourless) Bearded Wonder, absent for the first time from a TMS Ashes team due to an untimely death in January 2009.

We have five Tests of five days in Wales and England to look forward to. And in the fine tradition of the game, anything might happen, and much of it probably will. It is certain that it will, however, finish in my old home ground of Surrey's Oval. Among other games I recall seeing Australia give away the last Test to England after a victorious series, and being there as Black Sarf London demonstrated the stupidity of Tebbet's Cricket Test as they celebrated the Windies' Blackwash - one of the nosiest and most intense days I can remember, including fast-jet time...

The Windies in their pomp were something to see, a machine which still echoes to today, but impressive as Big Bird was, there's nothing like the Ashes, right down to one of the most quixotic trophies - that actually isn't.

James

This post might not make sense if you don't speak cricket. A more comprehensible intro here from the BBC.