I’m in India this week as part of FCB’s global conference in Mumbai, but myself and a few co-workers decided it would be more pleasant to acclimatize to the time zone in Goa rather than Mumbai, so we’re spending a couple of days there before the conference starts on Monday. Our hotel is right up on the Indian Ocean and is really nice, a perfect place to relax for a few days and enjoy the sights of this part of India, that was actually part of Portugal until the 1960s. This is the view from the hotel lobby This is…

Thought I’d post with a news roundup. First, today was one of those rare days when the tilt of the earth is just so and our dining room becomes like Newgrange or Stonehenge on the solstice and a ray of light makes its way to the inner chamber. Always exciting! It was a really nice day here, very bright and 40F / 5C. I took a walk and passed by this sign on Western that is really so cool. Look at all the shapes it’s made of! We got a new fence in front of our house. It’s really an…

I thought I’d do a post to share some photos I took recently and also show our visit from Maddie last weekend. Jeff dropped Maddie over Saturday afternoon and we had a lot of fun playing some new (to Maddie! Nice to rediscover for us!) games. There’s a photo from years ago of Colette and Colman playing this one, rivers, roads and rails, that I need to dig up as a callback. debbie got off work that evening and came over too. she treated us to breakfast at flying saucer the next morning, then we went to the art institute.…

Quick post to announce that Miles was selected to advance to the citywide Chicago Park District Junior Citizen city finals! This is quite an honor – the junior citizen program is 66 years old and recognizes young people who are active in the parks and their community. We went to a lovely banquet last night where the 23 regional junior citizens were honored and 8 were selected for the next round. Congratulations, Miles, we’re very proud of you! The kids also got these highly coveted shirts – which can be worn as part of the rec leader uniform! Hands off,…

I had to go out for some groceries this afternoon, but between the temps rising up to zero F and this bunch of outer wear I put on, it wasn’t too bad!

Due to the polar vortex (hey, we kinda had enough of you 5 years ago!) miles had today and tomorrow off school, and I am working from home. John was on a business trip to Atlanta but should be back soon, in time to experience more than enough of the cold! From this headline in this mornings paper, there does seem to be a connection between Cindy and the Kennymen and extreme weather! Sometimes one of our plants stands out as particulary charming. This little guy living in a tea cup deserves an extra bit of attention! Shadows from our…

John and I set the alarm because we’ve gotten used to sleeping through the wake up call of sunrise before 6am, so that we’d be sure to fit in a swim and run before our flight. Here’s John before his run to tamarama. We then got cleaned up and packed and all went to maroubra beach for breakfast. Liam has an açaí bowl. We have been pronouncing it with a ‘k’ sound which I now see is only one reason the waiter didn’t understand! Then off to the airport for us and Colman to return Shona’s car that she so…

On Friday, our last full day in Sydney, we had some different things to do. Colette, Rory and granny and grandad went to the beach at clovelly and had the usual great time I headed to Barangaroo in the CBD / downtown area to meet the Australia office of SW. they were all super nice and we had a lovely lunch at Zushi. Then I walked to Wooloomooloo to swim in the large Sydney public pool, the Andrew (Boy) Charlton pool. Really nice pool! It’s saltwater but a pool, which was an unusual combination for me! Miles and John has…