A Winter Wonderland

A dog, two kids, and a LOT of snow!

On the road again...

"...I just can't wait to get on the road again...."

The kids arrived in from Australia the Thursday before Christmas and early Monday morning we hit the road for our long road trip south to New Orleans for Christmas.

The truck was packed to the roof with all our gear - and poor Miles had to sit on the back seat all the way to the kennel. Originally we were going to take him with us, but his coat is so thick right now because of the cold weather - and with it being in the late 20sC in the south we realized it would just be miserable for him - so, off to the kennel for two weeks for him!

The trip took us almost directly south - through Chicago, then into Missouri, on Interstate 55 to Memphis then New Orleans. It was a beautifully clear day but there had been freezing rain the night before so almost all the way through southern Illinois the roadside looked like this - trees with icicles on all the branches, turning the countryside into a scene straight out of some macabre horror movie.

With the help of the iPhone, and the good folks who post reviews and recommendations on the great food website Chowhound, I spent most of the trip searching for gourmet adventures along the way. We have a rule that we never stop at fast food joints - especially when on a road trip - and always like getting off the interstate to find a local diner or
hangout. First stop for lunch was Blue's Cafe in Kankakee, IL.
The famous pies, as mentioned on all the websites, were great - at least from the cherry one we shared!...super flakey and buttery crust with just the right amount of sugar.

Mid December in Okauchee

Some pics from mid December as we deal with the snow and get ready for Christmas!
Robbie and a couple of our neighbors in the background, grooming the snow in preparation for establishing our ice skating rink in front of the houses...there is already between 6-8 inches of ice on the lake in front and every winter the neighbors set up a rink for the kids.

I'm in there somewhere!...this was one of our last walks - it was about -25C windchill!!!!

How the roads look (driving isn't a lot of fun when it's like this)

Our street...

And the same view in the spring!
The last morning snow blowing before our roadtrip south
Post-walk...and he couldn't give a damn!
And on the nights before Christmas....I was baking up a storm to take south - profiteroles for Christmas Day dessert, pralined almond crisps (dozens of them!) for gifts, cranberry relish, and BBQ spice rub for gifts.

Lovin life...

This dog is in his element - the colder it gets, the friskier he gets. -25C - no worries! And his coat is now equivalent of 3 cashmere sweaters, with rabbit trim, and a merino spencer underneath - he is TOASTY!

The bottom shot is his usual position when we get home from a walk - lies in the snow and buries his face and nose in the snow - some kind of snow facial I think!

Men won't give up sex for their internet connection...

...but stick a giant plasma screen in front of them and it's a whole new story!

Interesting snippet of new research out today from Harris Interactive saying that close to half of women surveyed said that they would choose to abandon sex for two weeks rather than give up their internet access. 

Although nearly 46% of women respondents showed their willingness to give up their sex life over web access only 30% of men surveyed would do the same.

However according to Reuters, an earlier survey said that nearly half of men would forgo sex for six months if they could have a 50-inch plasma TV. Only just over a third of women said they'd do the same...

Wonder what Kevin Roberts will have to say on this one relative to his thoughts on sisomo...!

No words - the picture will do!

Whopper Virgins

Oh dear...a sad and disturbing example of Americans trying to dominate other cultures - this time with a hamburger. This is sickening but delightful at the same time - not least of which is the look of disgust on the Romanian mens' faces when offered a burger to try...

From the Hartford Courant:

"While (Burger King) spent millions of dollars happily tracking down people with no 'hamburger awareness' the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has to go begging because they can only get one-thirtieth of the money they need to rebuild the developing world's shattered food systems," said Food First, an advocacy group that fights hunger.

Barbara Lippert, a columnist for Adweek, called the ads "culturally tone-deaf." But Russ Klein, Burger King's president of global marketing strategy, defended the campaign in a news release: "During a time when consumers are craving it most, honesty and transparency are the heart and soul of this campaign. By embarking on a voyage of this magnitude that held no guarantees and left us open to vulnerabilities, we took a leap of faith that our signature product would win people over at first bite."

We are told that the burger virgins preferred — surprise, surprise — Whoppers to Big Macs, but we are only left to wonder how American-style junk food, laden with hormones, steroids and saturated fats, was received by their pristine digestive systems.

What's all the white stuff...?

We had our first decent snow of the season today. After just a few days of minimal "flurries" we woke this morning to a soft glow out the window in the darkness...a good couple of inches to snow on the ground - and it was still snowing.

My industrious husband spent the day yesterday reorganizing the garage in anticipation - the snow blower near the door (his new proud purchase! - not going to be much call for that back in Pompallier Tce in Ponsonby...), the salt bin and shovels at the ready, and the 2m high reflective plastic stakes to line the driveway on either side - so we know where to plow!

Mr Miles was totally in his element - tearing around the backyard at 6am after his run like he used to last winter when we used to take him into the fenced tennis courts near our old house.

Here's the same view - just 3 weeks ago!

Ah, the joys of midwestern winter living...roll on April.

The Halloween pumpkin display looking a little "white"...

I LOVE this...can't believe I've only just seen it

Ok, you guys in NZ...you need to be filling me in on all the cool campaigns out of NZ - this was sent to me this morning, but I think it's been out a while.

LOVE IT!

Fun timewaster!

Click here to find out what your name means - married chicks, use your maiden name

She can pick 'em!

My Mum picks a winner....

What a night, what a result, what an incredible opportunity for the USA - now Obama, harness all that emotion and passion from the people and go make history.

Happy Halloween

Halloween was last night - Friday 31st - and fancy dress parties are customary in this neck of the woods to celebrate.

There's a huge trade in fancy dress shops which open temporarily for the month leading up to Halloween - and it seems no one wears the same costume two years running.

One of my colleagues from work, Chris and her partner Rick, hosted us and a bunch of their friends for a fun night in.

After several weeks of growing his sideburns Robbie and I went as Mia (great name!) Wallace (Uma Thurman) and Vince Vaughan (John Travolta) from Pulp Fiction...Rick (from Revenge of the Nerds) and Chris (from China)

"Mike McCarthy" coach of the Green Bay Packers

(and the real thing)...and his wife and new baby

Kim from Japan and the Frito Bandito

Frito Bandito won first place in the costume competition and we got 3rd!

Welcome to November everyone...brings back memories of Christchurch Show Week (always the occasion for a new summer dress when I was little), my birthday, warm norwest days in Weedons, strawberries and early raspberries...

It really isn't my fault...

Don't they know I CAN'T vote?...!

Bromhead 2

After sending fellow Parnellian, and Simply You Living contributor, Peter Bromhead my shot from NYC of the imitation Bromhead...
....he sent me the real thing
Much snappier sneakers Peter! "There's nothing like the real thing baby....there's nothing like the re...al thing"

Great show!

We recently took in a great concert - David Byrne playing some of the music from his legendary Talking Heads career, as well as some more recent of his collaborations with Brian Eno.

The show was held at the very beautiful Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, a smaller more intimate venue. He came on stage very simply, leading his band and backup singers without fanfare or opening act - all of them dressed head to toe in white.

The show was electric. The simple act of having 3 contemporary dancers out on stage for some of the songs made it so much more entertaining and infectious. And it was pure David Byrne...

(Looks from the photos like we were miles back - in fact we were only about 12 rows back)



A friend from San Francisco said he even had a marching band on stage at that venue...and later turned up on his bicycle at a nearby bar where he and some friends were drinking post-show. Apparently he was extremely gracious and very cool...

Check out his new single Every Thing that Happens Happens Today - and Strange Overtones - great. (Strange overtones is available as a free download off his album website here)


Thanks to okeastron and zippy1969 for the YouTube videos!

Long distance Wearable Art Awards entry

Spotted in the Downtown window of Anthropologie, a national womenswear chain, at the weekend was this great merchandising display - a skirt of plywood with accompanying plywood cutout sheep (complete with accessories) - tres cute. Although not sure sheep farmer Dad, Pat, would have approved of the hat and scarf get-up.
Double click the shot for a better view.

Busy fall weekend

While New Zealand celebrated the long Labour Weekend those of us at Lake Okauchee labored most of the weekend (you don't labor with a "u" in the US - they can't spell proper)...

We are in fall (or should that be "full") leaf season...our glorious trees are shedding their coat about as fast as Miles the Malamute is gaining his.

And to be honest, it's a challenge to keep up...we're now the proud owner of a leaf blower vac which is put to good use for 3-4 hours every weekend.

Here's a shot of Robbie in the back yard on Memorial Day weekend back in May, the first weekend that we got the lawn mower....
...and here's a shot - post vacuum - a week ago...(since then about half these leaves have fallen too...).
Being close to Halloween we have had some visitors in the backyard...more on that later.Some of us have worked harder than others....

The colors have been truly spectacular.
This next shot was taken a couple of weekends ago in a nearby state park...And it was also the weekend of the big lift...when the neighbors all get together and pull the piers.
It was something of a military operation...a couple of the guys in wet suits in the water, while the others oversee the lift. They use an ATV and pull the docks up onto the front lawns (where they live for winter).
Not the prettiest of sights...but we have to make room for the ice skating rink...
Back indoors I was busy making spider poos...Saturday night our neighborhood celebrated Halloween - for some reason, some neighborhoods do trick or treating a week early - and Saturday was our night.
Although Robbie warned me that kids are usually told not to accept homemade treats (for fear bad adults poison the treats - which used to happen) I couldn't resist. None of the neighborhood kids (who all know us) said no - and in fact some of the kids the next day said "your rice crispies are the best"...prompting a second helping of leftovers (no cook can turn down flattery!).

And of course, the candy got taken too.

We downloaded some spooky sound effects off iTunes and played them on the outdoor speakers for the kids. I think they were a hit...at least according to the Moms we saw the next day.