Christmas is coming...

Starting the build up

The amazing John Lewis Christmas ad aside, I am starting to feel very excited about the next few weeks as we have a lot on. Officially I don't get too worked up until December 1st, when the tree goes up, advent calenders start being emptied of small pieces of chocolate and our house twinkles with the zillion or so fairy lights I can't resist buying more of each year. We had a taste of what's to come this week at Maria and Lol's Thanksgiving dinner. Channeling Jack's Amertican birthright, Maria put on an amazing dinner of roast turkey with all the traditional thanksgiving trimmings. Maria greeted her 14 guests dressed as Pocahontas, while Lol was hilarious as a pilgrim father. Neighbours arrived dressed as hillbillies and Michelle Obamo, while Rob and I were cowboys, Rob sporting his original Texan Stetson.

Here is a great photo Kath took last week of Scarlett and Flo on one of the rides at the funfair. Flo's face was a picture, switching back and forth between joy and horror as the ride went up and down, whereas Scarlett's was fixed in a scream.

Happy birthday Rob

Rob turned, cough, ahem, this week and we managed the usual drawn out celebrations. We spent Wednesday, his actual birthday, pottering about the house watching back to back episodes of Entourage. We were supposed to spend the day at Chartwell, looking around Churchill's house, with Rob's sister Helen providing the surprise element by turning up for lunch. Unfortunately all National Trust houses close for the winter at the end of October. Rob was very good and waited until the girls came home from school to open his gifts and blow out the candle on the pile of cupcakes, made and iced by moi. At 6pm the doorbell rang and surprise number 2, Rick, was standing on the doorstop, having trained it all the way from Bedfordshire for the night. Once our babysitter Natalie arrived, we walked into the Old Town for drinks with a bunch of Hastings mates. Great fun but sore head for me the next day after too much Battle cider.

The following night the Hastings Christmas lights were turned on and we were treated to a huge fireworks display, right outside our window. I thought it was churlish to correct Rob, who assumed the display was in honour of him.

 Jump ahead to Saturday and while Rob was at the pool with the girls, I set to prepping for the next birthday celebration, dinner for 8, with special guests Richard Hand and his lovely girlfriend Cath who drove down from Reading. Maria and Lol and Tina and Dick arrived at 7.30, Champagne corks were popped, raw tuna canapés were nibbled and we sat down to 5 hour roast lamb, more cupcakes and a mountain of cheese. 

In other news I have become slightly obsessed with our new favorite iPad app, the photo booth. Will the novelty ever end?

Thank God for Michael Idato

We were very disappointed this weekend when the fireworks display we were hoping to attend, in nearby Winchelsea,  was cancelled due to expected rain, that never fell. After phone calls to the other two families we were going with, we all adjourned to the various armchairs and fireplaces in our own homes. What joy, then to greet Michael Idato at Hastings train station on Sunday morning, fresh from Sydney via LA and Cannon Street station. Michael and I worked together for years at the Herald, where for a period I was actually Michael's boss, a term I use in the loosest possible sense. We spent a very happy afternoon at Dragon, being treated to lunch by Michael, followed by a side trip to the gelato shop before heading home to the fire.

Also, here's a photo of Flo, taken by Scarlett, which I love. It's very rare to see Flo smile so naturally and I think she looks gorgeous.

An American Halloween and more

We arrived back yesterday from 10 brilliant days in the US, staying with my bridesmaid Sarah, her husband Scott and their 8-year-old twins Ruby and Jacob at their gorgeous New Jersey home. We had a ball. They live in a beautiful part of the state, with an amazing show of Autumn colour and much more Wall Street than Bada Bing. Scott and Sarah are very generous hosts, we were made so welcome and we ate and drank very well, both at home and at a few events they organised for us. The kids played really well together and we taught them our favourite card game, Rat-A-Tat Cat. The close proximity to New York meant we were in Manhattan most days. We had been to New York many times before we had the kids, but this was our first trip as a family and I was interested to see if it would work. When we were childless, we would walk around Manhattan and Brooklyn at our own speed, stopping to rummage through shops and drink in bars and restaurants. This time we needed a little more structure, so it was as much fun for the girls too, but still they amazed us with their stamina as we still put in the miles and did a lot of walking. I'll let these photos do most of the talking.

On our second day, we met up with our wonderful friend Luke, who was visiting from Sydney and we were lucky enough to have one crossover day.  Here he is with the girls on the High Line, a very cool new park built on an elevated section of abandoned railway track, stretching from the west village to the Meatpackers district.

 The girls check out some Halloween decorations in Greenwich Village.

 A great view of Lady Liberty from the Circle Line boat

 More Halloween larks in Tribeca.

 The beautiful and moving World Trader Centre Memorial, created as two waterfalls in the footprint of each of the towers. The names of everyone killed from the 4 planes, in the towers and the police and fire department are engraved on the walls surrounding the waterfalls.

 Under construction, the new so-called Freedom Tower that will replace the buildings that fell.

A great afternoon spent strolling over the Brooklyn Bridge to the newly developed Dumbo 

district in Brooklyn.

 A walk to Midtown to see the Flatiron Building

On Friday night the grown ups got dressed up and had hair and make up done by Scott's sister Jackie, so we could attend a charity fundraising Halloween ball with 500 others. It was like no other event I have ever been to. The costumes everyone wore were amazing (there were 4 other sets of Alice in Wonderland groups), silent auction items included trips to the Caribbean and Europe, and the bidding was done via iPhones we were all given when we arrived. There was great food, an incredible band and during the live auction guests bid on a dinner for 10 ($10,000), 3 nights in Rome ($9,000) and a puppy! ($5,000). There was a lot of money in the room, as well as a lot of booze, and the night ended with Sarah and I literally helping one of her very drunk (and very lovely) friends into her house and half carrying and pushing her up the stairs to her bed.

We awoke on Saturday morning to very heavy and thick snowfall. The TV stations were going nuts with live shots from all over New York, New Jersey and Connecticut as the unseasonal weather (it was the only the third time there had been snow in October in the region since the Civil War!) caused havoc.

 While we thought this was great (here's a lovely shot of Sarah and Scott's house in the snow), it created a huge problem. As the trees were still full of leaves, the extra weight of snow was bringing down trees and branches all over the place. With power lines also falling, there were roads blocks all over the area and several of Sarah and Scott's friends and family lost power in their homes. We had to keep the kids in the house on Saturday as branches crashed down in the garden and on the house.

 On Saturday night we headed out on a wild goose chase of backroads and u-turns to get to this Japanese teppanyaki restaurant for dinner. The kids loved seeing the chef throw food and cook in front of us.  Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the other dinner Sarah and Scott organised on Tuesday night at the esteemed James Beard Foundation in New York. This world renowned culinary institute promotes good food from sustainable sources and regularly hosts chefs from all over the world at special dinners. I was thrilled when Sarah told us she had booked a dinner there. She knows what we like. On the night we went, it was an 8-course, wine-matched degustation dinner, cooked by twin brothers Tom and Rob Aiken, who run a Michelin-starred restaurant each - one in London, the other in Philadelphia. We were in a private dining room with a view of the kitchen. A very special night. 

 We spent our last day enjoying Halloween. First in the city, where we surprised the girls by meeting up with Laura, another lovely friend from Sydney who came to visit us in Hastings in the summer. She was also in New York by coincidence and we spent a great morning toy shopping at FAO Swartz where we had a laugh dancing and playing on the giant piano keyboard made famous by 

Tom Hanks in the movie Big.

We drove back to New Jersey in time to brave the snow and power lines to go trick or treating with Ruby and Jacob. All the houses on the route were brilliantly decorated, everyone dressed up and the kids collected enough lollies to last them until next Halloween.

Brrrr

It got down to just above zero last night. This morning, when I set off for work at 6.45am, I could do that thing we did as kids, when we were pretending to smoke, and see my breath. We've had the fire lit every night this week and Ugg boots are firmly back on feet. 

Thank goodness then for Flo's class invitation to spend an hour eating hot soup and bread made by the kids. Once I checked my immunisations were up to date, I was right in there tucking into a surprisingly good vegetable soup with a crusty white roll, all served by my favourite waitress, Flo.

After our mini harvest feast, all the parents were invited into the playground to listen to the class sing a couple of special harvest songs. As you can see from the below shot, I ignored the deputy headmistress's instruction to only photograph my own child. Good grief.

P.S. There will be a short pause to blog proceedings for a week or so, as we fly to New York on Saturday to see how they do Halloween stateside. We will be flying back on the red eye late on Halloween, still in our trick or treating costumes.

1066

This weekend, Hastings celebrated the anniversary of its famous battle. Thousands of extra visitors arrived in town to see the firecracker parade through town and for the MASSIVE bonfire that is lit on the beach and is so big we can see it from our house, even though we can't see the beach. Among those extra migrants were Liz and Charlie who arrived on Saturday night in time for a play and dinner. Once Charlie and Flo were packed off to bed - tummies full of strawberries dipped in chocolate - we settled in for another night of X Factor, interrupted at 9pm by a huge fireworks display we could see from the comfort of our living room.  This morning we hit the funfair before a great pub lunch.  Also this weekend, the All Blacks wiped their feet on the Wallabies that brought smiles to all in the Duthie household. Rob's brother was at the game in Auckland. I can only imagine the partying that went on in the city after the game.

First walk of Autumn

This afternoon, after a cracking roast chicken lunch,  Flo and I left Rob and Scarlett at home to enjoy our first walk of the season. We popped up to nearby St Helen's Woods to look for interesting leaves for a collage and for Flo to hunt for fairies. In this little glen she gave a pretty thorough examination of the tree and fungi, before declaring "there is a little fairy asleep in that leaf so we must be quiet." Other gems included "I love all the beautiful things in the world, Mummy, like trees and leaves. How do you make colours? Why it is called a tree?" We waved to the horses and ducks, picked some flowers and were home in time to catch the afternoon movie - Charlotte's Web. Wow that spider sure can spin.

12 degrees of separation

The temperature dropped a massive 12 degrees between this weekend and last, so we are now in proper Autumnal weather, for real this time. Our fire is lit in the living room and ASDA has now added bags of salt to its display of snow shovels. Seems a bit early for snow, but after last week's heatwave, who knows.

Two proud parents in the Duthie home this week as we went to the girls' parent's evenings. Scarlett is doing very well at school with her teacher, Miss Lockwood, telling us she is at the top of her mixed Year 3/4 class. Not bad considering 15 months ago, she left her school in Sydney only half way through Year 1. Flo's (Melissa-impersonating) teacher Miss Wood was also very happy with her progress so far, how well she has settled in and her keenness to grass on any naughty children.

With England crashing out of the Rugby World Cup this weekend, my loyalty now switches to Wales. We just watched the All Blacks have their way with Argentina so there will be an Australia v New Zealand semi next weekend. The girls have declared they will be backing 'our country', while Rob will no doubt be waving his giant New Zealand flag (aka the Bill Keane dance mat) in the relatively small surrounds of our living room.
Knowing the final is near reminds me of two events in our lives. Our wedding day in 1995 was also the day of the Rugby World Cup final, the famous South Africa v New Zealand match that was the subject of the Matt Damon film Invictus. As many of our guests were New Zealanders, the butler at our wedding venue was overloaded with videotapes (remember them?) given to him by guests eager to watch the game but who were unable to because of the small matter of our nuptials (Note to self: investigate whether that was the real reason the Salmons couldn't make our wedding). The kiwis lost and no-one came back for their tapes. Fast forward to 2003 and Rob's 40th birthday, which we spent walking the Milford Track in NZ. We awoke on the morning of his big day to learn that the All Blacks had been knocked out. This sad event for Rob meant a happy one for me, as in the other semi, England won. Their eventual win in the final over the Wallabies in Sydney was one to remember, not least because my next door neighbour Dave (then the editor of Australia's England-hating Daily Telegraph) was forced to hand over his 'Stop Jonny Wilkinson' t-shirt. For purposes of nostalgia, here is the moment Rob and I reached the top of the Mcakinnon Pass on the Milford Track, a 6 month baby Scarlett tucked away in my tum. Happy days.

A great Saturday spent napping on the sofa in front of the fire and then an early dinner at Janice and Roger's followed by a rousing viewing of X Factor, during which we provided loud commentary and occasional dance moves.

Hot stuff

Another hot one yesterday. We spent it over a long lunch on Maria and Lol's terrace with Dad and Alexandra and the kids, before popping next door to Tina and Dick's for an hour to use their pool. Whenever I see the girls in the water I realise how much they miss our very regular swims in Australia. Scarlett was a strong swimmer by 3., but I can see how far behind Flo is, as much as she loves jumping in. Rather than 'swimming', she just sort of 'not drowns' as she makes her way from one end to the other. Here are a few photos of the day taken by Scarlett on my camera moments before the battery packed up. One of the lunch (before and after!) and I like this one of me as for once my head doesn't look like a giant pumpkin.