Mum's visit to Toronto

These are some pictures of Mum's visit from a while ago because I misplaced some data when my Windows machine died.

This is our 'flatiron' building: 25 The Esplanade.


It was the first day of Summer on a week Sunday. It seems like the winter was a very long time ago now that it's very hot and sunny most days. In fact the current crisis is that all city workers in Toronto have gone on strike so there's been no rubbish collection for days: public bins are sealed with plastic wrapping and a sign saying "no littering". Some cold weather would actually be useful with all the rubbish buiding up! The Liquor Control Board of Ontario threatened a strike last week, which would have made the entire province practically dry as even restaurants and pubs buy alcohol from the LCBO. There was city wide panic buying on Friday, with hours of queueing for half empty shelves, but fortunately this disaster was averted at the last minute.

First video footage of the twins

When we got a new camera before the girls were born we chose one that shot HD video. We haven't got round to using it as much as we'd wanted to yet, but here's some footage of Mia and Ella from the first few months.



Dylan and Chil

Johanna visits

As it's been a long time since we've posted anything here (turns out it's busy having twins!) I thought I'd show some springtime pictures of us. Chil loves here B.O.B. stroller, you can't see the girls behind the sunscreen in the picture, but they can see out and it keeps the insects out and the UV off.

Chil's friend Johanna, the proud godmother, came to visit: her third trip to Toronto in 2 years. Winter has finally left us now so we took the ferry to Ward Island in Lake Ontario and had a walk in the sunshine.


Here's one of the twins, I have to admit from this angle it's hard to say which, looking at her favourite: Lionel the lion.

Happy Birthday to Dylan!

Many happy birthdays to young dilano.

Wishing you a very happy (albeit slightly older) day today from your slightly younger brother and from Claudia.

bb x

Video for Sunjo

I saw this video and it made me think of Sunjo, I thought it might provide inspiration!



I hear there was an earthquake in Melbourne, 4.7 in the Richter scale? Hope you were OK Mwamba!

Dylan

Update from Toronto

This is our stroller out in action for the first time. The girls looked very snug inside as we braved the Toronto winter to go out to the distillery district. Also pictured are Lyndon and Wendy, friends of ours who have just left Toronto to go back to the 45 degree heat of Melbourne. Perhaps Mwamba will see them there.

This is Wamaka in her little vibrating musical chair which she's usually really happy in during those increasingly lengthy active times in between sleeping and feeding. For some reason her sister doesn't like it at all and will not sit in it!

This is Namwezi in her electric swingy chair, which she sometimes seems to really like although it's fairly unpredictable.




It's was fantastic having Mum stay for all this time, we were really sorry to see her go back to Lusaka. Thanks so much for all your help!

Bye!

Ontario socialism

What do you think that this is a picture of? Why would all these people be patiently queueing in a -20c and windy day? What could possibly be at the end of such a queue?

Welcome to the Liquor Liscencing Board of Ontario, basically your only option if you want a drop of the strong stuff to take home. When I got inside half the shelves were empty because it was Superbowl Sunday. It's a strange form of socialism they have here, you pay full price for prescription drugs but can only buy a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from a bonded government establishment.

...no business like snow business

I agree!

I still get excited about snow but didn't think to take any pictures as it snows 15cm in a day quite frequently here...



So while BB processes his film I've taken the liberty of reproducing this excellent snowman from a gallery on the Guardian website.

Here's one from T.O. that shows one of our downtown streetcars


Here's a photo of Mwamba's flat north of Morden that I liberated from Facebook


And one of Changala...

I am particularly looking forward to seeing some Zambian or Australian snow.

Dylan

There's No Business Like Snow Business

woo hoo!
we have snow.

for those of you like me that still get excited by this kind of thing, this i reckon is the place for snowy pictures...i've not yet developed the bunch of films i shot yesterday but when i do they'll make it on here i promise.














ok, i finally developed some of my films and here are a few of the snowy shots...

Google Maps Street View

I love google earth. You can get some amazing pictures, even of the farm in Lusaka, as you can see from earlier posts on this blog.

If you haven't seen it, and you can get a really good broadband internet connection, check out Google Maps Street View, and incredible way to explore the world from your armchair. It hasn't come to Toronto yet, or the UK but covers a lot of mainland Europe, Australia (including Melbourne, Mwamba) and the US.

I can't wait for sea floor views from Google Ocean, yes it really is coming!

Dylan