skate jam from Oliver Seeley on Vimeo.

Boomtown/hometown from Oliver Seeley on Vimeo.

An exchange

Angela: That lightbulb in the ceiling is messed up.
Oli: Oh yeah, that was me.
Angela: Of course it was. What was it? Kicking a ball? Playing Star Wars dad with the broom stick? Swatting flies with the electric tennis racket?
Oli: I stood up abruptly.

Insult or compliment?

Last weekend it was rainy so we went to the maritime museum, which has a really nice cafe and courtyard. We draw and play with play dough there on rainy days. I pulled a line from my diary of funny things that I hear or see in the day, and turned it into this... It's a Lili quote. The scene depicted is a frequent reality in my life.

Lili was insulted. 

10 years

At the weekend we celebrated 10 years of marriage in a group of 15 people for 3 days at a country house in the Montseny national park. Takeaways:

• We have made it. Weren't always sure we would. But foundation laid. Job done. Petty things mostly no longer matter. We can mostly get through day-to-day mood challenges (ours and kids) while avoiding major disaster. This means the next 10 years we can focus on becoming awesome individuals with the support of one another and said kids....and planning more fun stuff like this weekend.

• We have fantastic friends. A few different friend groups were brought together this weekend and on no less than 5 occasions, someone commented at length to me and/or Oli on what all-around easy-to-get along with, interesting to chat with, and fun people they had met.

• People - whether they have kids or not - need BBQs, games, the outdoors, music, dancing, and smiling faces.

 

 

Palabrotas

Today, Josie told us in Spanglish about a bad word she never says.

A hamster named Tissue Packet

Green

We went to a picnic and barbecue place at the weekend for a friend's birthday party. There's a little river and along the edge grows a plant that Oliver calls "green" but most other English people seem to called "sticky". If you throw pieces of this plant at clothing it sticks. Oli and the kids had fun throwing it at people who crossed the river's bridge so that it stuck to their backs. They taught a little boy how to do it and his family watched and laughed as they got each passerby. Oli was in stitches and said at one point, "I love green. It's like nature's sense of humor."

[Note the green stuck just under Oli's chin.]

Cheese, poo, and smash apple

Attempting to get back into the habit of blogging...

I have a notebook I write humorous phrases in that I hear people say during the day - mostly my family.

My latest entry is from yesterday morning:
Josie had just staggered out of her room first thing in the morning and was looking all angelic in that soft sweaty still sleepy kid way. I said, "Good morning, baby!" We had a great big hug. She paused and said, "You smell like cheese and poo."

I asked Lili (who now prefers her name be spelled this way, despite previously preferring it be spelled 'Lily') to draw up this scene in her comic book way.

Here is her interpretation:

The third, additional scene is me remembering I had bought cheese and poo scented perfume the day before.

In other news, Lili wrote up this story today. I love the turn of phrase and understated ending.