HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Seriously belated, I know.
I'm not much one for New Years resolutions, but birthdays.................... and I just had one of those. So here I am, sitting in the window seat looking out at the lights of our pretty city, and writing. About nothing.
Really this is just a lets-see-more-of-each-other post, I want to give this a whirl, and somewhere in a notebook I even have a few things already half written down, I'll endeavour to dig them out.
See you soon!

BOO!

This little discarded ghost is about as Halloween-y as it got around here.......  (though Halloween is increasingly a 'thing' in this country, and while the thought of all that sugar freaks me out I'm all for neighbourhoods getting dressed up and getting to know each other a little.)


I did however listen to a lot of Dead Man's Bones this last week.
Thanks Ryan Gosling.
For the tears and the laughter, the swoons, the 'makes-me-feel-funny-in-the-pants' moments (and thanks R.F.Lees for the line), for "hey girl" and for this -

Okay, and this -

 aaaaand this.....

Who am I kidding, listen to it all. You're welcome.

And lastly, it's already everywhere, but well played Liv Tyler.
And she looked gorgeous, don't you think?  Those shoes!

Wellington Lux

At the end of August we rugged up warm and took the boys out after dark to see Wellington Lux, a series of light installations around the waterfront and down Opera House Lane.

Son Son was seriously excited. His light show began as soon as we got out the front door, all the regular city lights had a new shine for him (shine! see what I did there? te he), and it was beautiful and still.

In my book it was Wellington-not-quite-as-Lux-as-last-year, but what I really did love was being out walking in the dark together, moving through the cold air in the warmth of our little family, talking about what we were experiencing, maybe getting a little giddy on the excitement in the air, and seeing other families out doing the same.

I only took a few photos (I was a ninny and left my camera battery really low after filming Spike dancing at the zoo....), but you can see some by far better photographers than me here and on their FB page.

There was also a brightly lit (not part of Lux) fishing boat at Queens Wharf that we stopped to look at -highlight of Son Son's night (highlight! I'm unstoppable), he got it in his head it was a squid boat and it was all he wanted to talk about on our walk home, "Pop, I just really want to talk about squid boats some more" ( x 10)
It's also where I took this, by far my favourite image of the night...

Here are a few more photos if you're interested....

August.

So August bit me hard.
It was a long while before I found the energy to fight back, but fight back I did, aided and abetted by the change in season and a timely reminder that happiness is an inside job.
There were some shining days in August too though, the boys and I went to the zoo (and had fun taking photos with inanimate things)....

Son Son's posing face. Te he

Cloud Man

So apparently there's a Cloud Man in the sky who's job it is to repair clouds after planes fly through them.

three-and-a-half is pretty ace.

August Blues

The last few days have not been easy ones for me, but I've been finding hope in little signs that spring is not too far away.  And - cliche` as it is to say -  spring always holds so much promise, don't you think?

Anyway, my signs....

1/

These pretties outside the corner dairy.

2/

Playing outside with no hat and (briefly) bare feet.

 3/

The afternoon sun hitting this disco ball a little later every day .

Brothers

I melt into a little puddle of Mama watching these two hang out.