Between Christmas and New year we went to the Hunter Valley with Sasha and his family.

We stayed overnight in a cabin in Lovedale.




During the day we tasted wines at the various wineries (found some good ones).






















The kids also loved playing at the cabin in the evenings.

This year we decided not to celebrate on the eve of the 24 and just stick with the 25th at KC's place (too much cooking otherwise). I was responsible for the Christmas ham (with limited success).

It was a relaxing day and the kids were very exited about their presents.

Sometimes when I am setting up for a photo especially Aiden likes to jump in a get silly.

It is a good way to test the lighting and sometimes I managed to get a 'keeper' such as this one from a few weeks back.

It is almost Christmas and I've just completed our annual family Christmas photo and this is the final version.



It was an interesting process getting to this photo this year. Last year we did a photo in the kitchen of us baking a cake, but this years photo has so many more elements to it.

The idea came from a combination of Kim and my ideas. Kim wanted to do a photo of the boys through a crystal ball. I actually bought the crystal ball right after Christmas last year with this year in mind.

We did a test in front of the tree in early December which was reasonably okay, but Kim didn't like the feel to it. She wanted more snow (pretty ambitious on a summers day here in Sydney Australia).



My idea for our family photo was based on me wanting to do a story of us as a family out in a snow storm 'Looking for Santa'. I had purchased a bag of artificial snow and a Christmas cape a few months back and we had some lanterns downstairs so I pretty much had all the components in place for the shoot.

I knew I had to do it as a composite with the boys as there was no way that I would be able to get the photo with all four of us at once. We did the photo over a couple of days, on the first evening (after the kids had gone to bed) I took the one of Kim and myself holding the lantern. Once I had this photo I could show it to Aiden and Lucas so that they knew what we needed them to do (Lucas just had to copy Aiden).



I had Gaffa taped markers on the floor so everyone would know where they were supposed to stand. Inside the lantern I had hidden a speedlight gelled with CTO to make it look light the lantern was lit. We are actually lit by a large Einstein strobe also with CTO, grid and barn doors to control the spill of the light.
At the back left and right were another two speedlights providing a bit of rim light to emulate moon light.

Because of the first 'failed' attempt of the crystal ball I got the idea to extend my 'Looking for Santa' photo into Santa's shed where he would have a crystal ball where he could look at us looking for him.
This would require three components - The crystal ball, the lights from the Christmas tree to create atmosphere and then Santa himself. I created Santa by hanging a hat on a chair which was easy to light and then I had another light which I used to balance the ambient with the lights from the tree.

The final photo all combined looks like the following, but in the end we decided to just use the tighter crop in the first and final photo.

It was time again for the annual Christmas concert with Aiden and Lucas' daycare.

Aiden is starting 'big' school after Christmas, so this was also his graduation.



Kim and Aiden had both practiced some dancing and songs for the concert and were both dressed up, Aiden as a doctor and Lucas as a pumpkin.





Although Aiden was very excited leading up to the concert and was telling everyone how he was going to sing and dance, he absolutely broke down once we got there overwhelmed by all the people and the noise.

It was heartbreaking to see him like that on an evening where he should be enjoying himself. He was crying and didn't want to get on the stage. Eventually we managed to get him up and he did try and participate.





Lucas on the other hand had a great time, unfortunately I didn't get a lot of photos of that because I had to try and comfort Aiden.





After the show Santa turned up wit presents for the kids and he was a lot happier again.







After that the graduates had their photos taken and had cake.

This month Kim and I had our anniversary.

I cant believe we have been married for 7 years...still love her to bits.

Saturday Kim and I went to the Sydney Opera house to watch the Sleeping Beauty performed by the Australian Ballet.



It was one of the better ballets we have seen. The story was great and the dancing (lots of it) was of a really high quality.

The even managed to weave in some of the Red riding hood story, Puss in boots, Cinderella and other stories.

It was beautiful to watch.

Last night Kim and I went to the show Velvet at the Sydney Opera House.

It was a combination of circus, burlesque and boogie nights (70's music) in one show.




The show had great music with Marcia Hines and Brendan Maclean and the performers were great. I think everyones favourite was the guy with the hula hoops.

I don't know for sure which ones are Claus and which ones are Rene.

This post is mostly about Claus when he was at his top as one of Denmarks top tennis players.

I have kept scans of all the newspaper clippings from when he was winning a lot of tournaments.





























































In the mid 90's he started to get pretty sick and although he still tried to play tennis it was never at the same level again. Eventually he more or less gave up. His illness took to great a hold of him. These are some of the 'darkest' photos I have of him while he was struggling with his schizophrenia and were taken shortly before I moved to Australia.





He lost contact with most of his friends and was very dependent on my mum and dad as well as other support programs in place.







I prefer to remember him as he was before he passed away.


















This poem reminds me of him.

The morning after I killed myself, I woke up.

I made myself breakfast in bed. I added salt and pepper to my eggs and used my toast for a cheese and bacon sandwich. I squeezed a grapefruit into a juice glass. I scraped the ashes from the frying pan and rinsed the butter off the counter. I washed the dishes and folded the towels.
The morning after I killed myself, I fell in love. Not with the boy down the street or the middle school principal. Not with the everyday jogger or the grocer who always left the avocados out of the bag. I fell in love with my mother and the way she sat on the floor of my room holding each rock from my collection in her palms until they grew dark with sweat. I fell in love with my father down at the river as he placed my note into a bottle and sent it into the current. With my brother who once believed in unicorns but who now sat in his desk at school trying desperately to believe I still existed.

The morning after I killed myself, I walked the dog. I watched the way her tail twitched when a bird flew by or how her pace quickened at the sight of a cat. I saw the empty space in her eyes when she reached a stick and turned around to greet me so we could play catch but saw nothing but sky in my place. I stood by as strangers stroked her muzzle and she wilted beneath their touch like she did once for mine.

The morning after I killed myself, I went back to the neighbors’ yard where I left my footprints in concrete as a two year old and examined how they were already fading. I picked a few daylilies and pulled a few weeds and watched the elderly woman through her window as she read the paper with the news of my death. I saw her husband spit tobacco into the kitchen sink and bring her her daily medication.

The morning after I killed myself, I watched the sun come up. Each orange tree opened like a hand and the kid down the street pointed out a single red cloud to his mother.

The morning after I killed myself, I went back to that body in the morgue and tried to talk some sense into her. I told her about the avocados and the stepping stones, the river and her parents. I told her about the sunsets and the dog and the beach.

The morning after I killed myself, I tried to unkill myself, but couldn’t finish what I started.

—Meggie Royer

Last year I received a gift voucher through work and decided to use it for a canyoning trip in the blue mountains before it expired.



one of the companies were doing intermediate canyons and it happens that the canyon they were doing this Sunday was the serendipity canyon at mount Wilson. We (two guides and 6 other clients) parked at mount Wilson fire station and headed down the trail 30 minutes downhill.

After a quick briefing about the canyon and a change to wetsuits we absailed into the canyon itself.




There were lots of yabbies...really big ones everywhere.



It was a fun canyon with a couple of a absails and lots of jumps into water pools and swim-throughs. It was raining a lot the day before so there was a lot of water in the canyon and the water was relatively warm.














Once we were out of the canyon we had some lunch and headed back to the car a 45 minute uphill walk later. We returned back to Katoomba at around 3pm in thick fog. After a quick turnaround I headed back towards sydney as a snail pace until I was below the clouds where visibility improved. I made it back just in time for having dinner with the family.

A lot of the canyons in the mountains are still closed due to the bushfire a couple of months ago.

For the past 9 days is has been a small project of mine to try and bake an authentic sourdough bread.

By sourdough I mean by using the old techniques of not adding yeast and let the bread ferment using the natural yeast from the air.

As such it is not a lot of work, but there is a lot of waiting time and there are a lot of places that things can go wrong.

I finally managed to bake an actual bread last night and brought it for the family to taste.



They liked it and asked if I could bake them some more. Fortunately I still had some ferment left over for an additional two breads...photo above is one of them.

Although it was interesting to do, I think it will take a while before I attempt it again...the whole process is just too long.

Emma was baptised this weekend at the local church. Fastest ever...the priest was speed reading!

The other day it was Chinese new year. It is now the year of the horse.



Again it was celebrated with vegan food and money was put on Aidens rocking horse for good luck.

Aiden has finally learned how to ride his little tricycle (the one his grandma gave him just before she passed away) by using the pedals.

He is very proud...hopefully he is able to soon using his new skills on the bike he got for christmas.



Even Lucas was proud and gave Aiden the victory jump.

At the moment I am going through a phase where I Loooveee baking bread.

There is something really satisfying about working with something that is so diverse and alive. And there is nothing like eating a freshly baked bread with a nice crust.


So far I have found a couple of recipes I really like...one of them is this walnut and fig bread.



On the weekend I made it for the family dinner and they wanted the recipe.

- 400g white flour into a bowl
- Add 100g of wholemeal flour
- Add 10g of sea salt flakes
- Add 5g of dry yeast into the bowl
- Add 335ml of water
- Mix it all together using your hand
- Kneed it by stretching it out on a table and then roll it up...do this 3-6 times
- flatten the bread to a thickness of about 15mm and then place walnuts and chopped figs on top. Roll up the bread with the walnuts and figs inside.
- Stretch the bread another couple of time and roll it up until the walnuts and figs are mixed into the bread.
- Put the bread in a bowl and cover it with glad wrap (or better yet, just leave it on the table and cover it with the bowl) for one hour...knock back the bread every 20 minutes (3 times in total).
- Leave the bread for another one hour (without knocking it back). After 30 minutes (30 minutes prior to baking) start preheating the oven with a baking/pizza stone at 250 degrees. Also put a small metal tray in the oven (for the ice cubes)
- Add a bit of semolina (or flour) to the baking stone and to the top of the bread to avoid it sticking.
- Place the bread on the baking stone and make a couple of cuts to the top of the dough.
- Add 3-4 ice cubes to the metal tray
- Close the oven and turn down the temperature to 200 degrees immediately.
- Bake for 30 minutes and remove from the oven.

Every year hunter valley garden put up a light show where they decorate part of the garden in christmas lights.

They leave this open until end of January, so this year we headed up there to have a look....enjoy.

Last weekend we made an overnight trip to the Hunter Valley a couple of hours drive north of Sydney.

The main reason was to see the lights in the Hunter Valley Garden (see separate post), but also to go and taste some wine and generally have a good time.

Pretty soon after we arrived the girls were distracted by the chocolate and cheese places.






We did however go to a couple of places for wine tasting.







We also had some really nice food up there. I was especially impressed by a really nice gnocchi salad I had....it was yummi.


Outside it was really hot...like 39 degrees in the shade. There were a couple of horses relaxing under a couple of trees.



We decided an alternative approach of checking into our hotel and jump in the pool to cool off.

In the evening we went to the light show and on the following day we just did a number of wineries before heading back to Sydney.

On the weekend we did some ten pin bowling with the family.



Kim had managed to secure some cheap tickets so it was great to play against the family.

We had one lane for the kids (with rails) and one lane for the adults.






I had a bad start and was behind much of the game, but my luck eventually caught up and I started playing a good game.




Afterwards we had a bit of a play in the games arcade





Aiden was absolutely terrified of the big scary bear (I can see why).



The kids also tried to figure out what this machine was for:



I love some of the old 50's style decor.

It is summer and Lucas and Aiden is enjoying a bit of water play in the back yard on warm days.

Every year I do a family photo. This year we decided to use the gingerbread village and the tree as a backdrop.

Merry Christmas.

Over the Christmas period Aiden and I have been building a Gingerbread village.



It has been good fun for me to put the houses together and for Aiden to help with sticking on the kandy.

Tonight I did some more photos...



The plan was to get a photo of Lucas and Aiden together wrapped in christmas lights. It turned out to be impossible to get especially Lucas to sit still, so we eventually gave up and tried to do some individual shots...the photos below are the best of the lot...not great but will have to do. To be honest the best shot of the evening is the one above of Aiden which I took after we gave up with the chain.

Lucas is growing up really fast and him and Aiden are now best mates doing almost everything together (including fighting).

The other day I found this in our garage.



I had to look it up...but it turned up to be a blue tongue lizard but without the stumpy tail we normally see.

I asked Kim if the kids could keep it...but she screamed and said no, so I released it into our garden.

You can tell that Christmas is approaching when Banana's in Pyjamas is wearing a Christmas hat...oh and then there is the cute Santa's helper.

Yesterday it was Kims dads Birthday and we celebrated with a big lunch party with cake and good food.








And Kim was beautiful as ever and Lucas was very handsome...

Christmas is approaching fast. The Christmas tree is up and Kim is busy shopping for presents for the various people.

The other night I managed to slot in 10 minutes for the first set of Christmas photos of Aiden and Lucas.




I was shooting these with a 50mm f1.4 lens to get the nice blurry Christmas tree lights. This also meant that I didn't have much room to play with when it came to focus...almost impossible with two moving kids whily trying to get the right mood with facial expressions, tantrums etc. Aiden couldn't sit still and Lucas refused to wear his hat. What do they say...never photograph wild animals and children!

The other day it was Aiden and Lucas Christmas concert with their daycare centre.

This year they were supposed to dress up in some country's national clothes.

We borrowed some Chinese clothes from KC and they looked very cute in it.






The concert went very well. We were especially impressed how well Aiden was able to follow the instructions and the moves to the various dances.








It was especially funny when they were singing this song with Konitchiwa...Namaste....BULA!!!!




Lucas was also in the first part of the concert sitting down the front with one of the carers.

Aiden is still playing soccer once a week. Last week he insisted on wearing my shoes instead of his own.



Maybe he was hinting that his old shoes are getting too small.