Amelie's 2nd Birthday

What a pretty little fairy. And those cupcakes like quite delicious. Can't believe how she has grown. Her birthday was last Thursday.

This reminds me of when Wendy interviewed a sumo wrestler when she started as a journalist.

Phantonyms

When one word looks as if it will mean one thing, but actually means something different. Interesting article from NY Times yesterday - part of their regular 'On Language' column. Worth a read. Have to admit, i misuse a few of these myself.

Article here

Unbeliavable

I can't believe the dust storm. Craziest thing ever.

Pot Holder

I quite like a bit of macrame. When done well, it doesn't look all '70's horrible. This is from the Urban Outfitters' catalogue and I think it looks very modern and lovely and would work with the apt. Lots of interesting things available at the moment, including some cute clothes.

Chocolate Fudge Slice

Couldn't be easier. Not terribly sophisticated, but an easy slice that takes about 5 minutes to make. I found it on taste.com.au and the only thing i did differently was add some craisins (cranberry raisins). I would maybe add some coconut too, but it's pretty packed as is. And pretty delicious. Makes a lot too.

Recipe here

Quinoa with Mango and Curried Yoghurt

Haven't added a recipe for a while. From Gourmet. Love Quinoa, love mango, love curry. Super simple to make. Will definitely be making this one.

Recipe here

Travel Resource

Pretty gorgeous day here today. It's a holiday for Labor Day and Nick has gone off to play golf with the boys. So, i'm still in bed having a look around the internet. Found this site on DesireToInspire - looks new, but potential as a good resource for beach houses to stay in when we come back to Oz.

Site here, and worth bookmarking - I have.

The Baby Larters

The Hills

Does anyone else watch The Hills? I didn't even recognize her in the second picture. Thought it was a different girl.

Our New House Guest

Our friends Marcie and Dirk are off on a very glamorous vacation - Capri, London, Paris. So jealous. They were kind enough to let us borrow their irobot Roomba - this little thing is a super duper vacuum cleaner. You can program it to do it at a specific time, or just press go and it will clean every inch of your house and then go back to its dock when it's done. And, it really works on both carpets and hard floors. I like to think we keep a tidy house, but this things' holder was full after one outing. I think we will have to get one for ourselves. Another benefit is its dinky size. Takes up hardly any space, which is very important with apt living.

Tubular Clouds

Nick found this in Wired magazine. They are natural clouds that are found in Burketown, Queensland. Pretty Spectacular.

From Wired:

These long, crazy-looking clouds can grow to be 600 miles long and can move at up to 35 miles per hour, causing problems for aircraft even on windless days.

Known as Morning Glory clouds, they appear every fall over Burketown, Queensland, Australia, a remote town with fewer than 200 residents. A small number of pilots and tourists travel there each year in hopes of “cloud surfing” with the mysterious phenomenon.

Similar tubular shaped clouds called roll clouds appear in various places around the globe. But nobody has yet figured out what causes the Morning Glory clouds.

This shot was captured by photographer Mick Petroff from his plane near Australia’s Gulf of Carpenteria.

And More Rhinebeck

More Rhinebeck

Rhinebeck

As most of you know, we were very lucky to be invited to Deuce (dog) sit and house sit up in Rhinebeck recently.  The house belongs to the absolute nicest person ever and it's their weekend house.  It was just great and the dog, was terrific, very easy to look after, just hung with us, not feisty or too excitable. it was great.  anyway, finally some pictures.  More to follow,