Georges On My Mind

At Play In The Garden Of England

Grandma Jan came over to visit us this autumn and brought with her the desire to see some English history.

We made trips to Leeds Castle and to Winchester and Chichester along with Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, which we visited during their Autumn Countryside Celebration.

Catriona at Winchester City Mill

Dan with Gran Jan at Chichester Cathedral

Scotland Again

Lesley and the kids were in Scotland again in August, making a round of visits with friends and family before Steve joined them in Edinburgh for a weekend with Mo and Mal at the Festival.

Helping with the washing at Granny's house

Dan gets a lift from Grandad

The kids at play on the beach at Aberdeen:

Italy - July 2005

We spent two lovely weeks in Italy this summer. We figured if we were all going to decamp, we ought to make the most of it, so we had a two-centre holiday in Tuscany and on the Amalfi Coast.

The farm where we stayed grew vines and olives as well as holidaymakers by the pool.
The honour system let you pick chianti classico and extra virgin olive oil from the farm's shop.

In Tuscany, we based ourselves on a farm near Greve-in-Chianti. This was the ideal launching point for day trips to Florence and San Gimignano as well as some more rural turismo and some plain ol' relaxing (see swimming pool).

On the streets of San Gimignano

We've been to Panzano several times, but this was the first we've actually made it to their famous butcher, Da Cecchini. It's easy to go crazy in a place like that. We took away his wonderful bistecca and some porchetta, along with tummies full of samples of his wares.

The church steps in Panzano (there's a wonderful little cafe nearby).

Week Two, after a long day's drive, was spent in Ravello.

View from our flat in Ravello

Oh, there's something I ought to mention. Our travelling companion...

...chicken pox.

When we left, there was a strong likelihood that Catriona had been infected at school. She was. But she got a very mild case. You would hardly know.

Never mind. Daniel made up for it.

He had them everywhere. He had them in places you would rather not know. He had pox on pox. He had plenty of energy, but he was clearly uncomfortable.

You toy with the ethics of this... we were already there. We kept to ourselves. We let others know that he was infected. Some people were way too helpful. Others gave us a bit of space. Others were "nevermind" about it. Been there already, I guess. What we really insisted upon was not letting it ruin our holiday and trying not to ruin anyone else's.

Fortunately, most people were understanding, and we continued to have a great time.

When we were planning the trip, we had told Catriona and Daniel that Italy was the land of pasta and that they could eat it every day if they wanted to. They did...at least once every day.

">
The kids' dream - a pasta shop - Naples

From Ravello, we had a day trip to Capri and another to Naples, but one thing you learn on the Amalfi Coast is that it's good to go slow. It's good to leave your car behind.

A car trip means hassles. Narrow roads. Traffic. Exorbitant parking charges.

There's a bus. It's a good deal. It always worked for us.

And then, there's, well, your feet.

Our flat was up 40 steps, or down 140, depending on your point of view. Up 40 from some of the only free parking in Ravello (park car, do not move). Down 140 from the town square in Ravello. We braved that journey with the kids nearly every day (Daniel: "step, step, big step"), and most journeys commenced there.

One day we decided to do the opposite and go down. Our hosts had told us that the only way to really see the Amalfi Coast was to walk, because the roads missed out on so much. So we did.

We set out from Ravello for the shortish walk to Minori, on the coast below (if you look at the view from our flat, it's the town you see in the hills below, at sea level).

At first, this seemed like a bad idea. Lots and lots of steps and it didn't take long for the kids to want to be carried. We wondered how long it might take to get down to the beach, and if we would ever get home. We took lots of rest breaks. We drank our water.

But it all worked out really well. We walked past lemon 'groves', lots of fresh food, farmers in their hillside fields, spectacular views. And then we came to town; the cemetery at the highest point, and then down through the market, down the high street and all the way to the beach, where we had a great pasta lunch (see above) and spent the afternoon in the sun (see below) before catching two buses on home.

Our last night in Ravello proved really special. We took in the Wagner concert at the Ravello festival. We lucked out in so many ways, finding tickets, finding a babysitter, catching a beatiful full moonrise and then walking home, just the grown-ups, down our 140 steps home to drink a toast of the last of the Tuscan wine and put the finishing touches on our suitcases before our early start the next morning and our long journey home.

Scotland - April 2005

We got together with a big family group up in the Galloway countryside this April for a family holiday at a lovely old farmhouse.

Catriona had her first-ever outing on a pony - a "weenie ride" on Half Pint. We think she's hooked!

Daniel also had a sporting outing, chasing a football around in his "doddling" style.

Despite the changeable spring weather (it snowed on us while we were attempting Knockendoch), we managed a good number of outings, including a visit to Whithorn, one of Britain's earliest Christian sites.

Keeping Busy

Las Vegas

From Pittsburgh, we flew out west to spend some time with Gran Jan.

We went for a Wild West day trip to Old Nevada

then made a side trip to Zion and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. There was snow above the rim and fog below, so this is about as much canyon as we saw.

Driving down I-15 toward Las Vegas that night, we were greeted by an amazing sunset.

We celebrated Gran's birthday before leaving Las Vegas.

Pittsburgh

We went to Pittsburgh in October to visit with Granpa Steve and Miss Marjorie.

We visited with the O'Brien kids, including a visit to Matt and Amy's farm.

The kids enjoyed their visit to the Pittsburgh zoo.

While we were based in Pittsburgh, we took a side trip over to Pennsylvania Dutch country.

Catriona also had a turn at the wheel at a farm market near Pittsburgh

Holiday in Portugal

In September we spent 18 days in Portugal enjoying a family holiday. After two years in Brazil, we thought our language would help us - and it did, to an extent.

We stayed in five different places in the Alentejo and Algarve, having a good look at the countryside and the beaches.

The kids had lots of opportunities to play...

...and also to swim

We took a boat cruise in the Algarve

And enjoyed the hill towns, especially Marvão

We relaxed in the sun on some warm late-summer evenings

Tomorrow's just a dream away...

Playing in Paris

We all went over to Paris on Eurostar to meet up with Uncle Jon, Auntie Lotta and Cousin Oscar, who were passing through on their way back home. Catriona became an expert at spotting the Eiffel Tower, and we even got to go up to the top.

We didn't have much time together with the Hong Kong Georges, but we enjoyed dinner at a jazz cafe and really nice picnic on the banks of the Seine. It was the first time all of the cousins were together.

Caithness

We spent a week in a cottage in Caithness, the far north of mainland Scotland. Granddad Jim came up for a couple of days and toured around with us.

Lesley and Catriona walking on Duncansby Head

Catriona in the thistles

The weather up north was pretty rough most of the time. We had the coal fire burning most every evening, but we did have a few fine hours outside at the cottage.

Catriona in a field of standing stones

We had an enjoyable outing to the Falls of Shin,
although Catriona liked the play park better than the waterfall

Snaps from Scotland

We went to Scotland in August to visit with lots of friends and family.

After stopping in Harrogate on the way up to visit with Cathy and Jon and their children Alexander and Hope, we drove up to Edinburgh to catch up with Morag and Mal and take in some of the Festival Fringe atmosphere. We also got to meet baby Rosalind and visit with her parents Louise and Stuart, as well as catch up with Sarah and Jonathan and their little boy Archie.

While the kids were keeping each other busy...

...Mum had a chance at a 'gassawine'

From Edinburgh we went on up to Broughty Ferry to visit with Granny Moira and Grandpa Nin. We also got to see Uncle Davey and Uncle Frank.

Daniel dining al fresco in Granny's garden

We made a flying visit to Auntie Linda and Auntie Gina before visiting with Lesley and Dik and their girls Kirsten and Ciara in Aberdeen, where Daniel learned the joys of "peekaboo!", the naughty little girls cut their own hair with scissors and the naughty big boys sampled some of Scotland's finer whiskies.

All dressed up for the ball

From Aberdeen we made a side trip to see Auntie Margaret and Uncle Willie, and then visit Sara, Sean and Catherine on their holidays at Pennan (where the film Local Hero was in part filmed).

On the beach at Pennan

And from Aberdeen, we carried on up to Caithness (see next entry). On the way back down, we stopped in to see Cousin Janice and her husband Donald, spent the night in Lockerbie, and finally we were able to call in on Auntie Jill and Uncle Mike for lunch and a break from the motorway on our way back home through England.

We had a most enjoyable time on our Scotland round and thank all our hosts for their gracious hospitality!

Visit to Bahia

We're just back from a long weekend in Bahia state. We started off spending a couple of days with our friends Lyndsay and Ralph at their house near Salvador.

From there, we carried on to Ilheus, the "capital" of the "cocoa coast", famous for its association with the writer Jorge Amado.

Catriona with a cacau pod

We paid a visit to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Supply's cacau research station, CEPLAC, near Itabuna. They showed us all aspects of raw cacau production through to the sale of dry cacau "peanuts". They also showed us their research facilities for attempting to help Brazil's farmers refine the cacau further themselves, thus capturing some more of the value-addition in the production process.

Daniel's first swim

We managed a little relaxation at our hotel. It's "winter" in Rio, but even in the low season, Bahia is pleasantly tropical.

We also went to the Ecoparque de Una, an attempt at bringing sustainable ecotourism on the African model to Brazil.

Catriona was hoping to see monkeys, but we didn't see any. She did get to see a big snake in the road. We took a canopy walk, way up in the trees like in one of Catriona's favourite books.

Before we left, we had time for lunch at a barraca on the beach. Probably the highlight of the trip from Catriona's point of view.

Weekend in Curitiba

We spent this past weekend in Curitiba catching up with some friends from our year spent living there. A reminder of winter - it was about 10C at night, and a great opportunity to introduce Daniel to everyone who only knew him as "the bump!". He's now 7.1kg - about 16 lbs, weighing at three months what Catriona weighed at six.

This photo was taken at Bocaiuva do Sul at the convent of the Sisters Daughters of the Cross (Irmãs Filhas da Cruz), where we were visiting with our friend Sister Mary Finbar. She noted that we had been there the same weekend last year and that we were expected to make it an annual visit - perhaps a bit difficult once we've gone back to Inglaterra!

Weekend at Paraty

We spent an enjoyable weekend at Paraty, about four hours by car south of Rio. Paraty is a colonial-era port town that time pretty well forgot until it was rediscovered and preserved. The centre is now car-free and it's a very relaxing alternative to the bustle of Rio.

Lesley preparing fish in banana leaf

The grown-ups went to a demonstrative cooking school where we worked with recipes from the Amazonia region.

We all enjoyed a cruise to some of the beaches and islands around Paraty. The water was clear, full of tropical fish and still warm enough for swimming.

Stealing a Kiss

Club Hípico, Santiago, Chile