Waste some time online - but for a good cause

Test your vocabulary and dontate rice to the worlds' hungary through the United Nations World Food Program (WFP).... Cliick here for details...

You Know You'll Want One...

As seen at the recent Paris Week Chanel fashion show...ankle bags....the new "must have" accessory. An evolution perhaps of the Lindsay Lohan ankle bracelet accessory trend...for more see:

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/chanel-ankle-purses

Ann, you know you want one...! :)

Going to the dogs...

Sunday night - watching video night.

Seen Eight Below? It's a Disney film based on a true story about a team of Huskies and Malamutes (like Miles) that were part of an Antarctic expedition. The dogs ended up getting left behind at the start of a very tough Winter.

It's a great story - a 2 tissue tale - with a mostly happy ending.

Miles couldn't have given a damn but did sit up and take notice a couple of times when the dogs were all barking....

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the National Malamute show, which just so happened to be held just out of Milwaukee at a place called Oconomowoc.

Gena was judging so she spent the day pointing out all the good features of a champion dog. We still thought Miles was one of the more handsome, but sadly he had to spend most of the afternoon in the car - with plenty of breaks for walks and sniffing.

Today was a gorgeous fall day - early 20s and perhaps the last great day of the season before the Winter hits.

It's a dog's life...

A guy goes into a bar...

This 'll be Robbie and Miles....

http://veryfunnyads.com/ads/25553.html

He's Here!

Miles the malamute, the new addition to the family, arrived from Texas this afternoon.

Our adopted baby belonged to Robbie's Dad's new wife - Gena, who used to breed and show champion malamutes. Miles and his sister Shula both grew up in Houston, Texas.

There is a big national malamute show this week just outside Milwaukee, so one of Gena's friends was driving up three of her dogs to compete, so Miles tagged along for the ride. Gena is judging this week, so she and OJ arrive Tuesday and will be inspecting their baby's new home.

He's nearly 4 and weighs about 45kg!

After a long 13 hour drive he was ready for a long walk - and to check out the neighborhood. While outside the local hardware store we quickly found out that they are dog friendly - two owners stopped with dogs while we were there - with the guys feeding biscuits and fussed over the dogs.Miles on the cow - great colour match!

Getting to know Reece Perfect Ikea colouring - worthy of a Simply You Living photo shoot!

Halloween Frights and Candy Overload

It's not Halloween yet, but since the beginning of October the decorations have been on sale in all the stores, the cobwebs and inflatable pumpkins are up outside the neighborhood and people's offices throughout Miller have been decorated and the candy bowls on the reception counters are rapidly getting depleted.

Fall colours are abundant - reds, golds and oranges leaves on all the oak trees, chrysanthemums (or "mums" as they're called here) in all the same fall colours for sale everywhere, as are the pumpkins and gourds.

When at the Madison Farmers Market a few weeks back we met a couple who raise venison, who were promoting their pumpkin patch throughout October, so last weekend we drove out to hand pick our selection for our very own Halloween decorations and jack-o-lanterns.

It was all on an honesty box system and you could pick your own or select from a wide range - from .50c perfectly formed babies, to $8 grand daddy giants. Great margins to be had there!

Our stash...

With pumpkins in hand our next stop was the pop-up Halloween store, at the county fairgrounds. Complete with two 40ft containers to keep the store stocked with all sorts of ghoulish displays, costume makeup, and fancy dress outfits (or as I've learned they're called here, "costumes" - say fancy dress and people think you're talking about black tie!) the place was packed!

We were after a pumpkin carving kit - essential for the jack-o-lantern carver extraordinaire.

We did just one of the pumpkins and the kids will do the rest with Robbie this week before they leave.

Then it was out to the BBQ - likely our last of the season - for some s'mores for dessert.

This weekend we headed to our nearest roller coaster park Six Flags Great America, which is on the Wisconsin-Illinois border about 45 minutes south as an outing for the kids. It's the end of the season so now they are only open at weekends until the end of October, then close for the entire Winter.

They were promoting Frightfest - with the park transformed into a Halloween themed .

The giant roller coasters were covered with massive 200ft spiders, there was a giant ape hanging from the tower, and around every corner was a group of actors dressed up a zombies, axe murderers or just plain creepy horror show freaks. The gardens had been cleaned out and replaced with tomb stones and body parts were strewn everywhere. It was a clever way to ease the park into close-down mode while still attracting a whole new bunch of guests interested in being freaked out.

The highlight for me was a live hypnosis show - where a woman put 20 volunteers (and a number of unwitting members of the audience) out for the count for the hour of the show. It was pretty amazing to see live - just like you see on TV but so much more compelling.

We stopped on the way to one of the other local world headquarters in Wisconsin (along with Harken, Harley, Miller, Kohler, SC Johnson, Manpower, and OshKosh) - the Jelly Belly factory.

The small, 49 flavored beans, have taken the candy world by storm - so we thought it only fitting to take the kids on a free factory tour - with of course free sampling.

Cool hats huh!

Somehow we managed to leave with 3kgs!Some of the Harry Potter flavors - rotten eggs, ear wax, grass, soap, earthworm, dirt, as well as bacon, sausages, and booger.

After the candy coma I suffered from earlier in the day it was a treat to end our outing with a visit to Joe's Crab Shack - a fun styled restaurant franchise near the park where we had finger lickin bucket of steamed crab - snow and dungeness - with corn on the cob and garlic parsley potatoes.

I'll take a crab coma over a candy coma any day...

The day I nearly met a king

The TP52 class has a high percentage of owner drivers and the Worlds was an owner-driver regatta (Coutts might have been on the winning Artemis, but his owner was driving).

Another owner in the fleet was the King of Norway, Harald V. Or Harry to the boys.
(Above - the King's boat in Porto Cervo).

A small side story. Doug, the owner of the Windquest, told us a story of when he met the King at an earlier regatta. Not knowing who he was at the time, Doug went up to him and introduced himself as "Doug deVos, from Michigan"....the King replied "Harry, from Norway"...as you would.

Anyway, one day in Sardinia, the Windquest got into a little incident with the Fram (Harry's boat) during which a small amount of damage was incurred to both boats - a little more to the Fram. In the interests of good sportsmanship the Windquest team helped work all night to fix both boats, and the next day after the race, a few of us aboard the tender traveled across the marina with Doug to deliver some rum, beers and to check that all was ok.

Pulling alongside the Indy to collect the beverages.

So we headed over to the Norge - the King's boat - pulled alongside. One of the lackies appeared and Doug headed onboard with the bag of goodies. One minute later he pops his head out the door and waves us all up to meet the King.

Now this is where the antipodean, colony-minded, class-structured Kiwi's internal voice goes "King, King...I grew up in Weedons and the closest I got to royalty was watching the Queen's message on tele each Christmas...I'm not worthy to meet Kings". So I begged..."no, no I'm fine" - while the 2-3 other Americans on the tender (other than my husband) bounded off the boat, quick as look at your, beer in hand "off to meet the King".

So Robbie and I sat on the tender going "that was sooooo dumb, why did we do that"....

The reports were he was very cool and very funny.

It was the last day of racing, so we headed back to the Indy for copious quantities of rum and coke and lots more stories...

The next morning it was up early and off to the airport for the "trip" home. The lack of security line was pretty fab - and I got to sit up front for take off...

A Letter from Sardinia

(Earlier post from our trip Sardinia is below - scroll down if you haven't read)

...The only problem with going on a holiday during a sailing regatta when you're on an island and don't have a rental car is that your travel options are a little limited.

Thankfully one day in Sardinia during the TP52 Worlds, the dogs were blowing off their leads (called a Mistral) so after copious coffees drunk while the race committee waited on the weather, racing was also blown off for the day. With good foresight they made their call in enough time for us to get to the rental car place before lunch...in Italy it's all about the lunch, the dinner, the siesta...

We headed off with some friends, Kurt and Margaret (familiar to those who came to New Orleans), with a very basic map, a 6-pack of beers, and instructions from those in the know to head to the beach "where all the windsurfer hang out".
Sardinia, the second largest island in Italy after Sicily, is awash with rocky outcrops, unspoilt (and often undeveloped) typography, with small two-laned roads, dry stoney vineyards, and many cone-shaped stone towers - leftover from a Bronze Age civilisation that flourished 3000 years ago. Although known as a playground for the rich and famous, this is mainly the area called the Costa Smeralda (where the Aga Khan was involved in the development the now famous luxury playground around the Porto Cervo area - where we were!). Much of the rest of the island is unspoilt and certainly at this, low-season time of the year, tourist free.

Less than 30 minutes north, towards the northern most tip of the island, after many winding turns I spotted a sign for Harry's Bar. By now it was lunchtime - so that was a good sign. We turned down the unmarked road (I always say the best beaches are at the end of the worst roads) and came across a small group of houses and a walkway down to the beach. Porto Rafael.

It was the end of the season so the 3-4 small boutiques that surrounded the terrace were closed but we happened upon a small bar where we stopped for simple nicoise salads, and where I had another plate of prosciutto. By the way, the Harry's Bar didn't look so hot - but it helped us find a little piece of paradise.

The view of the beach from the terraceThe buildings surrounding the terrace

A shot from the hillside overlooking Porto Rafael...the tiled roofed, borgonvillia-covered building overlooks the terrace where we had lunch.Taken on the walkway down to the terrace..this house was built into the side of the cliff surrounded by large smooth rock boulders.

After lunch we headed to the northernmost tip of the island, to Capo Testa. The still working lighthouse overlooks the straits of Bonifacio where the massive Mobyline car ferries owned by Mascalzone Latino America's Cup backer Vincenzo Onorato travel across to Corsica. The windswept point is surrounded by rocks smoothed by the waves which rush up onto the shoreline. You can still see the remains of a rock quarry - once used by the Romans as a source of stone for the Pantheon in Rome.

The cliffs of Corsica, France in the far distanceThe following week, Kurt and Margaret were to do the delivery of the Windquest back to Palma, back through the straits.

The beach with the crazed windsurfers making the most of the Mistral.

Back in Porto Cervo the wind had eased by the time we got back from our excursion. The megayacht marina was kind of quiet, but this Kiwi was grateful for the end-of-season peace and quiet. Another gorgeous day, and another fabulous place - been there, done that.

Be ever grateful for the wonderful experiences in life, the places you go, and the great people you meet.