miluki-piluki: January 2009

Welsh wanders

As Your Faithful Blogger has alluded, part of our overseas jaunt at Xmas entailed spending a delightfully dense three days in Wales - with a welcome reinforcement of troops in the form of our favourite Swedish meatballs, S & J. It was truly amazing: only a short 2.5 hours from homebase, but an entire world away. As we drove out of England into Wales, the air seemed crispier, the countryside quainter, the scenery grander. We all fell in love with it, and at least this blogger wants to return sometime soon: even though we did so much and saw a ton, there is still a lot left to see and do. The Weather goddesses smiled on us and we had dazzling white sun, sparkling frost and dramatic fog - just right for winter. And, despite the appeal that hiking under a hotter, warmer summer sun might hold (without worrying about slipping on some ice and crashing the side of your face into the ground with startling velocity, thanks to the 33 pounds of Vecais you're carrying in a backpack on your back, thus leaving a blue-then-yellow bruise and an aching cheekbone, still 4 weeks later, for random example...), we'd probably miss the relatively empty roads, the tourist-free serenity and the sight of our own wintery breath blending into the silhouettes of the hundreds of sheep on the hillsides before us...

Here we are, setting out in the rental vehicle:

And here she be, our destination! This was our front yard (literally)...

...this was our side yard...

...and this, the abandoned slate quarry, was quite literally our backyard, just an (ahem) 'invigorating' 'short' hike up behind the cottage we were staying in.

And of course the hike was strenuous enough that it called for a prompt visit to the local pub!

New Year's Eve revellers - braving the midnight cold to check out a truly formidable starry Welsh sky:

Fog rolling down the hills en route to our New Year's day hike:

And this here's the start of the (aptly named) "Precipice walk" -

- and our subsequent ups, downs and round and rounds ...

followed by a drive up-coast the next day to check out Harlech castle (the oldest in the UK, i believe?) perched atop the rolling dunes and gentle tides of Cardigan Bay:

We'll be back!

The Visiting

A brief documentation of some overnight fun with the K6, seeing what English village life is all about (gourmet meals, drinking til 5 am, and hangover-helper tramps through field and fallow of mucky mucky mud, apparently.) We like it! We'll come again!

Sad Fairy

On December 26, 2008, in a sleepy village in the East Midlands, a select and elite audience had the privilege of attending the world premiere of "Bediga Laumina" -- an instant classic.

Of course, none of it could have taken place without the dedicated efforts of the sound/lighting/film crew (or so the Oscar acceptance speech will go):

And it certainly was a stellar performance from a strong ensemble cast - despite their varied levels of stage experience. While the fairy herself was a veteran thespian, and the Snowy Owl has already been seen on international stages, the Snowman and the Snowflake both burst onto the dramatic scene with these, their debut performances.

Here's the Snowman enjoying some post-performance kudos from the box seats:

And according to B.L. herself, the only surefire way to avoid wardrobe malfunction is to be your own costume designer and creator. Snowflake takes note:

Brava!

Christmas portraits

Beginning with some warm-up portraits of our holiday cheer on the night before the Night Before (take note of what 4 years of architecture school can do to you: hint - its perched atop our heads):

The Outlaws (a.k.a "Moules et Frites" - avec les petits patates, i suppose!)

(Mudzuks decided this last family portrait of the Outlaws needed a little "glamming up")

Moving on to portraits of the the worker bees on the day of the Big Feast (although the Queen Bee was obviously too busy to bother with the papparazzi):