China in a "What do you call a group of Eight?" Pictorial Homage

30 January 2008, 19:51

I was tidying up my photo folders today and came across some hidden gems from our trip to China years ago. When I first chose photos to post publicly, they didn’t stand out to me but there is something about them still.

This was taken in one of the Beijing Markets - Mao memorabilia was crammed onto many a stall. We even bought Mao’s Little Red Book purely out of curiosity and it still sits on our shelf though we haven’t read it (we probably haven’t even opened it!) I just liked it ‘cos it was red…

A typical Beijing Hutong. These places fascinated me and I’m ever so sorry to hear they’re being torn down in time for the Olympics. A unique piece of Beijing’s architectural and cultural history gone forever…

I love Peking Duck. The reality behind the sensation was quite readily on display. In this one, a Duck is channeling the spirit of a long-gone Chinaman. Can’t you tell?

Did I feel guilty taking photos of people who didn’t give their consent (not that I would have been able to ask them in Mandarin)? Um, yes, but I got some damn good photos out of it…

The Summer Palace. To be honest I didn’t get the most out of the Palace, but then I was hocking up half a lung at the time and really shouldn’t have been sightseeing in the first place.

The feted porn machine, porn DVDs and mags snuggled in by innocuous cancer sticks! The cornerstone of Chinese and Japanese street life in Qindao!

Alot of Beijing seemed to be in a state of disrepair, which added to its charm and grittiness I think - I love Grit. After living in the pristine environment of Tokyo for nearly 3 years, where things always ran on time, China had a welcome sense of chaos and roughness.

Chinese character on a wall of the Forbidden City.

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Sorta Sisters

28 January 2008, 08:13

When you see your daughter and their friends every day or week, you just don’t notice how much they’re growing. Until you look at old photos. It’s almost sad to think that Scout now has such a thing as “old photos”.

Scout’s First Birthday Party

Scout’s Second Birthday Party

This is Scout with her “sorta-sister” Georgia - Little Scout doesn’t have a sister and Georgia has one (Looby-Lou), so Georgia and Looby seem to have adopted Scout as one of their sister-peeps. Their mummy is one of my best friends and we try to see them every week.

Their mummy Roz and I have had our ups and downs - we’ve lived together twice (with varying success) and we used to be unhinged (note the word “used to” though Husbands may beg to differ) and crazy mixed-up party girls (A bit like our daughters, really). We will always be in each other’s lives, even if one of us manages to piss the other off for whatever reason and friends like that are hard to come by. I have a couple of close chick-friends who I consider in this league and I treasure them every day, even though we don’t get to see them that often.

Golly, this post was meant to be about my little girl growing up and I seem to have waxed lyrical about friendship. Pardon moi.

Spot the Difference: Kinki and Roz in ‘99 Pissed to the Hilt!

Kinki and Roz in ‘05 - Pregnant to the hilt!

We might all get older, greyer, cut an admirably wrinkly jib, but we will always, ALWAYS love a good party.

[I won’t recap Scout’s Second Birthday Party in any detail - you can read all about it at Wrigglepot ]

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One Wedding and a Hangover

7 January 2008, 07:27

Contrary to popular belief, we did not, in fact, come to Adelaide to enjoy the leisure of live-in babysitters (grandma and grandpa), hell no, we came over for our friend’s Simon and Christina’s wedding although spending some time with the outlaws was a festivity in itself (no, I am serious).

We did have a small hiccup re. babysitters for the night - Scott and Jude were out for dinner, grandpa was in hospital with nasty foot infection and grandma was playing at a wedding in McLaren Vale. Thank God for McG’s Nanna Joyce - over 80, and an absolute gem who Scout took to instantly. Grandpa was back home so the two of them looked after our girl.

Simon and Chris wed in sweltering 39degree heat on the lawns of one of the boathouses along the river, just north of Adelaide University. A beautiful setting and lovely ceremony - they had some idiosyncratic and touching readings (McG even rendered a tear at the corner of his eye) and Simon looked bemused the entire time (no reflection on the event, he always looks like that…)

After the ceremony we guzzled water and champagne (and my current fave - sparkling shiraz), then we all took the scenic route on the Popeye up to the Convention Centre for the reception, quaffing sparkling the whole way.

The reception was at Regattas which overlooks the Torrens - I don’t think I’ve ever been to a wedding that’s had a live band - I’ve always seen DJs or the miser’s way - what we did for our wedding - a pre-mixed music compilation. I have to say a live wedding band is not really my thing, but they were terrific.

Amongst the more unorthodox pieces of entertainment (apart from McG’s crazy hair, that is) was “Granny Annie” (an actual relative, not mine you understand) who popped a pillow up her front and danced solo to “A Bun in the Oven” much to the surprise of bride and groom who, I understand, were not informed of the wee ditty. To his credit, Simon did not change his expression once.

Once bemused, always bemused.

Since becoming parents, our social lives have pretty much revolved around other young families - not by any particular design, it’s just how it is - other parents seem to have an empathy for how difficult social events can be with a child in tow. But I tell ya, it felt so good to reconnect with some of our close friends who we don’t see so much of anymore because they don’t have kids - Nick and Rin, Jeremy and Danielle (who I didn’t really get to know until the wedding where her top-chickness was revealed) and Simon and Natasha. They brought out the “Go Hard or Go Home” in us and we were there ‘til stumps.

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Apron Strings... Broken!!!

5 January 2008, 07:19

Scout spent her first night away from me in nearly 2 years last night.

McG’s brother and his wife had her overnight in their home and she was apparently an “angel” - went to bed at 7.30 like a dream and slept soundly until 6.45am. Mummy on the other hand had a wee bit of separation anxiety for the first hour or two.

After we dropped her off, we took the tram down to Glenelg to have a spot of fish and chips, an institution that McG and I haven’t had a chance to indulge since Scout was born. It was a balmy eve - but the mood was spoilt by some infernal idiot abusing a female “friend” of his - not physically, just “f^{&%$ this, f}&*#$’in that, don’t f’in ^{&*#$ lie to me, f}&*#$, f^{&*#$, f}&*#$, f^&*#$”. So I felt a bit melancholy. I had me an ice cream to soothe the pain.

The mum in me took the worst case scenario road - what if a car runs into Blake’s room (where she was sleeping - they live on a main road), what if she screams for her mummy and daddy (OK, a part of me kinda wanted her to, for none other than selfish reasons), but no, she didn’t miss us at all.

That is so going on her resume for potential babysitters.

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