I'm back...

Sorry all to have been absent for so long...

I recently had a reader ask what had happened since October and I was coming home.  Well... quite a bit actually:

• I was home on my own (without SO) for 5-ish weeks looking for apartments and getting settled into the my new role back in Melbourne...
• SO came home and (of course) the first apartment on the first day he came out looking with me was the one for us (and now we're living there)
• We had a weekend trip up to see SO's parents the weekend after we moved into the new apartment, during which something blocking the drain on the balcony on the level above us got blocked and caused a leak through the ceiling in our living room (which, by the way is still not fixed since the second weekend in December) :(
• We finished up work mid December and had a 6 week break (kind of pay back from so much time overseas) during which we had Christmas in Melbourne for the first time in 3 years, had 3.5 weeks in the Cook Islands and a little time around the new apartment for unpacking...
• A couple of days after we arrived on the Cook Islands we had a phone call from the Property Manager who looks after our apartment to say that the vanity (the thing around the sink) in the bathroom had fallen off the wall and caused a flood through the apartment...
  Lucky for us, my mum had the keys to the apartment and came and not only checked things out for us, saved some of our belongings (including my macbook - part of the reason I've been absent for so long - the water damage had to be sorted out) and tidied up some for us before we arrived home
  The whole apartment has floating floorboards - which, I guess were literally floating for some time there - which are now all warped and buckled and we're having to high-step over the remaining waves in them :(  Oh, and the vanity is still not back on the wall...
• Apart from being frustrated by the lack of action by the real estate agent and landlord we're settled back in Melbourne, enjoying catching up with friends and family, and back at work waiting to see what the new year holds there...

I'll be back over the next - I'd like to say days, but it'll probably be a bit more like a couple of weeks at least - and expand on some of the points here and pop in links as I go so if you come to this update later you can find them easily enough...

Thanks for dropping back in for a read!

Heading home...

I'm sorry all - I'm not sure why the post has all run together, I had to type it in the notes app on my iPad on the plane, and now it doesn't seem to matter what I do I can't get any line separation in there.. Although it looks fine in the editing screen :( And so, that's it - I've finished my time in Stockholm and am heading home... Happy in a lot of ways to have the freedom to see friends and family on a more regular basis, to be going home to look for a new apartment for SO and myself, to be heading into a different role at work. And sad in a lot of ways, friendships have developed - between the people from my company on the team, and from the client company.  It has been an intense work environment - for a fairly extended period of time, and intense environments fuel things in ways that they wouldn't be if things weren't so intense... I look forward to SO's return to Melbourne, we don't yet have a date for that beyond - about a month... And to my colleagues in the team from within my business.  It's sad to have left them behind (for clearly different reasons) but I know they are people that I will always have in my life. I'm sad that for the most part I may never see some of the people I met on the client side again. Over such a long period of time, working so closely with people it's impossible not to have formed some bond with them and they are people I'll happily call my friends... But, they will be friends from afar- and as I say, many of them I won't see again in person... That's quite sad - I hope that some of them (at least) will keep in contact over email, skype and Facebook- even more I hope that we eventually get to see some of them head to Oz for a visit. There are lots of things I'll miss about living in Europe - the ability to decide at the last minute to head off somewhere cool for the weekend - not exactly an easy thing to do from Melbourne.. The suburb where we lived - colorful and comfortable and always lively, the sights on the way to and from work in the morning - crossing the bridge from our island to the next on the way into town. Seems very strange that after living in a country where English is not the first language to be heading back to a place where I'll understand most of the conversations going on around me - without having to know the context and concentrate so hard! Sirens will sound different - strange but true, ambulances and police cars sound different!  And obviously I'll miss SO - until he heads home.  It's strange for us to be apart for any length of time - the last two years or so we spent almost 6 months traveling in South America, together all but one night of that time, some time not working and setting up the apartment in Melbourne, then about 2 months working for separate companies, before heading off traveling for another month... Of course, that changed a litle and it has ended up being 15 odd months - all of that time working together, some of it sitting next to each other, and all but about 2 weeks (when I went back to Melbourne to pack up the apartment) together... Some time apart certainly won't do us any harm, and it might actually do us some good - but it's strange not have him by my side, especially at times like now - in a plane on my way somewhere.. So much of our time together we've been traveling it feel very weird to head through security and out the other side without the camaraderie and surprise of what this security detail in this country feels is important, sitting waiting at the gate people watching or reading something, airport food and the actual being on the plane - especially for such a long flight, it just feels weird.. I guess it's a feeling that I'll just have to live with for a while - while I console myself with the warmth of friends and family and hopefully finding us a new home..

What a day...

...and not in a good way...

Today I woke up to the news that one of my close friends lost his mum today.  I have known him (and her) for for the last 16 or so years.  Up until the last few years when she has been unwell, she was a very welcome feature in my life often when I was around him.

She had married the love of her life, a beautiful man who my heart goes out to today on the loss of quite literally his other half.  They are truly the absolute epitome of the 'two halves of the same heart' cliche - they are probably closer and more in love (even in their dotage) than any other couple I know.

She has bought up a wonderful son, who has an amazing sense of self and as a gay man, has grown up with more love and understanding and acceptance than most people I know.

She managed to be always there for not only him, but his friends.  She had a generous heart and was a quietly glamorous and elegant woman.

In recent years she was in full time care after some bad turns with her health.  I mentioned a few times my desire to go visit her to my friend - who discouraged it, given the state her health and that she was really not herself any more.  On those days I always found it hard to accept - today I am very grateful for that.

It meant that today, while I was running through all my memories of her - they were true to the beautiful woman I knew.  Of her smiling, soft conversation, her quiet elegance, her unconditional support for her son and everyone he bought into her life as part of his.

One of my favourite memories was her standing in the kitchen (cooking for others as always) large chef knife in hand saying in her stunning greek accent 'Petter, I am in the kitchen and I have a large knife' in response to him trying to score his Christmas present early from her.

RIP beautiful Mary P, you will be sadly missed by many - not least your gorgeous boys.  Much love and hugs P (& M) and E - I'm sending you long distance hugs, and the strength to get through the next little while. xxx

Summer break

So, I've been absent for a while again, I'm a bit slack at this blog thing!

We've been away on Summer Break - having been away from home for essentially a year (except for the couple of weeks I went home to pack up our apartment) we decided that we should head back to Oz for a visit...  Stupid really at this time of year, because it's winter there!!  We've had the longest winter of our lives - left just as spring was starting in 2009 to head to South America, where we spent 3 of our 5.5 months in Cusco (at altitude in the Andes) not exactly warm!  Then headed back to Oz in March 2010 - just in time for winter to start...  Heading off for Europe July 2010 - and up to Sweden where summer is not exactly what we're used to and was very short lived before a REALLY loooonnnnggggg winter - and so, of course why would we not keep up the trend and avoid summer yet again..?

Crazy - but we needed to see friends and family and have a taste of home for a minute or two...  

So we fly in - have a day in Melbourne before flying up to Mildura for 5 days.  Chill there for the week, I play in the scrapping room a bit with my step-mum and SO plays in the back room on his computer (with dad across the room doing the same thing)...  Did some shopping for essentials, a couple of lunches/dinners out, and a couple of visits from step-siblings and kids and a quick catch up with an Aunty and the 5 days was all over...

Heading back to Melbourne we had dinner with a friend, before I headed for an all day scrapping day with girlfriends.  Gee I miss that - the camaraderie and laughs and inspiration and friendship in a room full of scrapping women - here my crafting is very isolated, and it was a real boost for me to be able to fit in a day full of those girls this trip.  A day of running errands and visiting my grandparents and then we were off again for 5 days in Northern NSW with SO's parents. 

Trips into the nearest towns around them a few times, breakfasts and lunches out, a visit to SO's grandparents to take them out for lunch and again in the blink of an eye another week of our visit was gone...  Back to Melbourne for a weekend of catch ups with friends and our week in Melbourne - kicked off with some family time, some more errands, doctors and dentists visits and a couple of days in the Melbourne office.  Friday night drinks with friends and some weekend family time and suddenly our time in Oz was up...

Three weeks seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, too little time to catch up with people and everyone caught up with in groups, so very little of the meaningful individual catch up time that allows you to actually know what's going on in people's lives and what has actually changed in the time we've been gone...  But at least a taste of home and the people we love...

Flying back 'home' to Sweden we stopped in Bangkok for 5 days to have a bit of a holiday - and some much needed sunshine.  I did some (quite little) shopping, some swimming (or at least splashing around) and some sun bathing (I never do that!!).  And the one touristy thing that we did was go to visit the 'Tiger Temple'.  Such an amazing experience for us both:

Some scrapping has been going on...

Here's my scrapping efforts for the last two weeks.  Sorry about the bad photos, I'd already packed most of the layouts away into an album and didn't pull them out of their sleeves:

Aunty love:

 

The girls:

 

True beauty:

 

Family:

 

All together now:

 

Sisterly love:

 

Old friends:

 

Family reunion:

 

Thanks for stopping by...

A lot has happened...

In the few weeks since I last blogged...

SO's parents came for a visit - it was wonderful to see them (the last time was about 14 months ago) and even though it was only for a long weekend (they're travelling around and Stockholm was a late and somewhat unexpected addition) it was wonderful to have a touch of home right here with us.  We did some sightseeing, and SO and his dad played handymen to stop the new toilet from leaking all over the floor.  We drank a lot of tea (they're English - they drink a LOT of tea!) and had a lovely, if far too short catch up.

And yes, you heard right - the new toilet was installed - badly, but the landlord...  He seems to be the absolute king of "near enough is good enough".  The toilet was installed and this time attached to both the water and the floor (although it's still a little unstable) but the seat and the lid were not attached to the toilet...  I'm sorry - what the..?  So, SO called the landlord back and pleaded "elderly mother coming to visit" and the landlord came back and attached them while we went off to the airport to pick up the parents - again, badly!  The greater problem came from the fact that something wasn't attached to the water pipes properly and so the floor was soaking wet for 2 days.

Now, I love SO and can't imagine life without him - but he is (even he will admit) about the least 'handy' man you could meet.  His dad on the other hand is very handy - and so they spent some 'boy' time together fixing the leaking, then balanced the washing machine, and replaced the tube connecting the shower head to the taps as that was splurting water all over the show...  Fantastic for me - I now have a bathroom that's working much better than it was before - and for both of them I think, being able to just grab some 'boy' time together.

I had another 'interesting' experience with a Swedish hairdresser...  But that's probably a whole post on it's own...

We had a lovely day yesterday at an 'Aussie' bbq (well with a bunch of Aussies as well as a Canadian, a Spaniard and a couple of Swedes - at the Swedish home of an Aussie)...  A beautiful day out on the balcony of his apartment - with a lovely view, marred only by the fact that the wind was up and it was ABSOLUTELY FREEZING!!  Still, it was a brilliant day and we were there from lunch time until 11pm.

Oh, and there's been some scrapping going on - again, probably another post...

And now, we're counting down the days until we have a trip home to Oz...  Already by this time next month we'll be there - we've been trying to schedule in all the catch ups with people we need, as well as the appointments for the things we need - doc and dentist appointments (bleh)...  But, I'm so looking forward to having a good dose of family and friends for a few weeks.  A fabulous girlfriend of mine is even hosting an all day scrapping day - I can't wait to be back in the company of a room full of women, talking, laughing and catching up while sharing ideas and crafting together - it's one of the things I really miss about home, about once a month or so - getting together and scrapping.  In a country where you don't speak the language, even if there was a scrapping shop to compare to the ones at home (there isn't by the way - the best shop I've found is fabulous for shopping in, but the scrapping room is literally carved out of the bedrock and looks like a cave - a very small cave!) then I would feel like an invader (as I often do in conversations involving only Swedes) which is not really the point of scrapping with others...  So - all in all, I simply can't wait...

Amazing Days

For our 2nd prompt Shimelle asked us to think about the amazing days of our lives, and prompt 3 talks about lists (I'm sorry but there are many more than 5!)...

I have had so very many in the last 18 months or so that it's difficult to choose:

The day at Iguazu Falls in Argentina:

The day at Perito Merino Glacier in Argentina:

The days of trekking the Inca Trail in Peru and arriving at Machu Picchu:

 

The day we went parasailing over the Sacred Valley (very amazing for 2 so scared of heights!):

The day we went white water rafting - no photos from this day!!

The days on our cruise around the Galapagos Islands and being so close to the wildlife:

Our night out in Paris for my birthday:

Getting to see London and Stonehenge:

Having the opportunity to live an work in a foreign city (with snow!):

More recently though my amazing days were spent doing things like:

Meeting a girlfriend's (not so) new baby and spending time with her and her other son:

Dinner with family and friends:

  

Catching up with friends and family in Mildura:

A concert with mum:

Playing in the sunshine in the park after a haircut:

Coming home to SO:

Hmmm, I guess there'll have to be more on all of the above sometime (soon-ish!).

More scrapping...

I was worried it was too many photos to all go into one post, so here's the second one...

Some layouts for an 8 x 8 album I'm doing:

 

 

 

 

  

 

There are some pages to go in the middle that aren't yet done - I didn't have the photos printed, so they may happen tomorrow...