Wedding reminder

The time is approaching! Our Australian wedding is coming up soon, and we're getting very excited about seeing everyone in Wickliffe.

Don't forget to book your accommodation soon. Options are kind of limited in the area and they are filling up. Get in soon!

You can also camp at River Bend (Ayesha's parents' farm). I know a few people have already elected that option. Please let us know if you're thinking about that so we can be prepared.

Finally, if you're staying the night in or around Wickliffe, come back the next day for breakfast at the footy ground! We will have bacon and eggs on the barbie and a game of kick-to-kick on the footy field. Will somebody volunteer to teach Howard how to kick a real football?

Happy new year!

I know that it is almost Australia Day, but this is the first post of the year. We celebrated the new year at home with with good friends (George, Leslie, Aaron) and ate and drank until the wee small hours.

And then we headed off to Percha Creek, for a couple of nights of camping and a day of hiking around... Here are a few photos to let you see what it was like.

Our new car!

We have a new car! After the demise of the Cucaracha, we were planning on waiting a while before we got a replacement. We figured we could wait until we got back from Australia... But, then we saw this little beauty and we couldn't resist!



We love the RocketBox on top - incredible how much we can squeeze in there. And Semilla loves being in the boot/trunk and looking out at the world. I think it's much better than laying down on the back seat of the Cucaracha.

We don't have a name for it yet (other than 'The Subaru' or 'The Forester'). Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Lots of events in the past couple of months

I know it is nearly the end of the year, but we have been busy. Now I'm trying to catch up...

Halloween
Our Halloween was really quiet - we didn't have many kids knocking on the door and we still had candy left at the end of the evening. I tried to fob it off on my students at work the next week, but I think we still have some left in the pantry.

Howard made a pretty scary jack o'lantern though!



Thanksgiving
Another beautiful Thanksgiving in Taos. This is my third Thanksgiving with the wonderful Brandenburgs - how fortunate that I get to celebrate this American holiday with such a lovely bunch of people! George (Mitchell) joined us (he's part of the family too!).








Of course, we ate until we were stuffed and had a lovely time. Howard and I raced back to Albuquerque before the dishes were done so that he could go elk-hunting the next day. On the way back, there was a dusting of snow around Santa Fe and the sky was beautiful!

[And, yes, Howard and Mike got an elk and our freezer is full again.]

Halleck came to stay
Halleck is Semillas BFF (best friend forever). Aaron and Leslie were out of town for a few weeks, so Halleck came to stay with us. Semilla was in heaven. They played and wrestled and played all day. By the evening, the two of them were all tuckered out and had lots of naps.

I think Semilla learned a few manners while Halleck was here - hopefully she now knows not to chew everything in site and now knows it's ok to nap. Hopefully.

Christmas
Hooray! Christmas! We finally got to cook the turkey that we raised last year. Yep, Butterball went into the oven. We smothered her with butter, sprinkled her with roasted sunflower seeds and then wrapped her in chard leaves. Delicious! (Apparently, I still can't get my mouth/head around eating poultry - but I did have some other delicious vege dishes...)

It was a beautiful, truly white Christmas - a far cry from the summer Christmas last year.



Semilla, of course, loves the snow. She could chase snowballs all day and all night. We would love to throw snowballs all day and all night, if not for the 20F temperatures...






Happy new year everyone!

farewell Cucaracha

A week after the stupendous event that was our wedding, we crashed our car (the Cucaracha). The Cucaracha was a black Honda Civic, that was indestructible (just like a cockroach).

Basically, it was dark and rainy and the lights were out at an intersection so we drove straight into it and another car smashed into the front of the car (and then hit two more cars and drove off). The airbags went off and we leapt out of the car and stood around in the rain for a couple of hours while the police did their thing. We were very, very fortunate that we had some very kind witnesses who followed Mr Hit-&-run so the police were able to catch up with him too.

We were all a bit bruised and battered, but very grateful to be able to walk away (isn't that what people always say?). As it happens, we had replaced one of the seatbelts in the car a couple of weeks earlier. It wasn't until the next day when Howard and I went back to see the car that I realised how close we had all been to getting squished.

We have been nervously waiting for the police report to find out more details. Finally, three weeks later, we received the police report. Happily, we found out that we were not at fault! Mr Hit-&-run was at fault, plus he had been drinking and was uninsured (bummer). We're waiting to hear from the insurance company before we start shopping for a new car...

Moral of the story: wear your seatbelts and make sure your car has airbags!

Thank you all!

Thank you everybody for being part of our wedding day. We had a beautiful time - it was amazing to see so many friends there with us! We both wish we could have kept the party going for days... it's true that it all goes by so fast and it feels like we didn't get to talk to everyone.

In case you didn't realise, it wasn't just me and Howard who managed to pull this shin-dig together. We had a whole host of people helping us with big and little jobs in the months/weeks/days/hours before the big day.

We would like to send out a few special thank yous to some people who helped enormously with our preparations and celebrations:

Preparations in the months before:

• Howard's Uncle Bill and Aunt Shari, for generously donating the apple orchard and fastidiously tending to it in the months leading up to the wedding;
• Claire, who knows so much about Taos;
  
• Aaron, who hosted Howard's buck's night (and Leslie, for getting out of there for the night - wise move Leslie);
• Shifty, who hosted my bridal shower (much more sophisticated than the buck's night, I think);
• Aimee and Cathy, who organised the bridal shower;
• Paige and Bridg, who spent three days with my trying on wedding dresses in New York;
• Vashti, who helped me make my tiara and continues to give me inspiration to do more fun stuff;
  
• Mum and Dad, who sent stones from Wickliffe to go in our rings;
• Aimee, who kept reminding me to stay sane.
  

Preparations in the days before:

• Aunt Susan, who helped me arrange the flowers for the reception. What a trooper!
• Grandmommy/Frances Joy, Uncle Teddy and Uncle Jon, who organised the candles for the reception;
• Brian and Sarah, who managed transport for Reverend Susan;
• Brian and Greg, who walked our mothers down the aisle;
• Ben, who helped Howard get all the chairs from the fireshed;
• Kristin and Dad, who mowed the orchard and helped to set up the arch;
• Mum and Auntie Hel, who kept me and Susan stocked with wildflowers;
  
• Claire and Jim, who hosted and hosted and hosted.
  

On the day:

• Paige and Matt, who were the amazing DJ combo who kept everyone dancing;
• Bridg, the improptu MC for the evening, who kept everyone organised;
• Cathy, who did everything - picked up flowers, kept Howard sane, managed the liaison between bride an groom when we weren't meant to talk to one another...
• Leslie and Aaron, who made the cake and the figurines (actually, this took months of preparation - we're a bit sad that there won't be any more cakes to 'test');
• Helen and Megan, who decorated the inside of the van;
• Teala, Cathy and Clare, who provided all the vases for the reception;
  
• Auntie Helen and George, who took a million wonderful photos;
• Lee, who left with the best story of the night.
  

At the ceremony:

• The amazing Mr Balistreri and his upright bass, who kept you entertained until the bride and her entourage turned up;
• The fabulous Steve, who was my driver on the day (and so many other times in the past!);
  
• Claire and Bridgid, who chose their own readings and delivered them so beautifully.
  

The day after:

• Oh, you know who you are - thank you to everyone who hung around the San Geronimo and helped us to clean up and/or just chatted with us and made us feel happy!

Always:

• Our parents, who did so much to get the two of us here.
  

Is that everyone? Probably not. Every one of our guests deserves to be thanked - for coming, for writing in the guest book, for having a good time and just for being part of it.

Constructed Images

Earlier, we mentioned that George and Helen are going to be taking lots of photos (and it would be wonderful if everyone did).

George has just told us that he has set up a new business called CONSTRUCTED IMAGES as an outlet for his art. You can go to this website where you can see photos from the wedding and have them printed (for a small fee).

Go and check it out!