Easter Holidays!

Hello All!

Great to hear from you and to chat with you all over the hols, felt like I was there with you :) so lovely to see the pictures too :) Stellatron just gets cuter, non? And the blossom on the pear tree :) Springtime is delish! I love the pics of F & J in spain too, sunny days!

Being in Melbourne with all the family (19 of us at the table, plus 5 little ones too!) was such a lovely time. It was great to be around family over here, when all of you are a fair hop, skip and a (kangaroo) jump away. As ever, the gang all made me feel very welcome and loved and there was lots of laughter to be shared! You'd all get on v.well with the cousins, they have a similar sense of humour to us - in fact, a few of them will be over in the UK in the coming months, so you'll be able to meet them too I hope, I'll email their contact details soon. I didn't do so well on the pics, but I'll double check with them to see if I can pop a few of them up. IDID however get a pic of the SUSHI MONSTER (dun dun DUUUUUN!) that Matty and I made last week.

I'm really enjoying learning new things (much like Stella learning to say choc choc or grandad...which is very impressive btw!). Geddars! You will appreciate this too, check out your blogging skills! Great to hear from you, I look forward to hearing where your magical mystery tour went! Cameras: a few of us were introduced to (by Karolin) the Sony Cybershot, it's a great camera, affordable and easy to use too.

So, new things: My pal Nat taught me how to make veggie sushi rolls. Winner! Aaaand I am having swimming lessons at the pool so that I am better equipped for when in the sea. My guise for class is a sight to behold: flippers, goggles, neon hat. An olympiad in the making!Hmm other news...Matty's all good, happy and as lovely as ever. He's just performed in a meditation/theatre experience through his Yoga group, so it was lovely to be able to go along and share in that with him. He's creating an office in the room next to our lounge, he's studying one eve a week at uni in addition to work, so he's pretty busy, but we're off to the beach for the day on sunday so that'll be lovely -it's still v.hot up here, despite it being autumn, it's a humid heat so we often have rainstorms. In melbourne the weather was more like a Bourney early summer's day. Fond memories!

Jools and G, glad to hear you are relaxing and have enjoyed le park and chocs and the chat (that is cat eh? not sure of plural). I've just watched Running With Scissors, where the cat plays an interesting role in the family. It's a great, poignant, amusing, quirky film if you get a chance to see it. I think I prefer theatre to film tho' as it's a bit more authentic, but simultaneously unreal too. Films seem too real, in that I tend to get rather affected by them (which is fine for a comedy, but not so hot for anything else!), whereas in a theatre, whilst still touched by the action, I also know it's a performance. Hmmm. Some other films I've recently seen The Kite Runner (excellent story, v.sad, but necessarily alerts us to tells us more about the horrors of war and personal and territorial invasion) and Breaking The Waves (brilliant acting, a simple but rather harrowing tale, very interestingly shot -lots of technique, worth checking out the director's commentary). For all you film buffs in the fam, what are your thoughts on any recent films, or on your film/theatre preference?

Well, bloggers and blogettes, until next time. Sending you all biiiig hugs and much love as always, have a wonderful week. I think of you all lots xxxx huggage!xxxx Alface xxxxxxxxx