Grand Fairy God Father

My God Daughter Amy MacDonald has had her first child, a healthy blue eyed boy weighing something like 7lbs 7oz (what is that in grams?). She and the bub are going home today. Alex, the Welsh father, is acknowledged in the beautiful quilt I had commissioned, made by a friend for the birth as a most suitable gift. The dragon in the middle was carefully recreated from the actual design on the Welsh flag. We should see her Thursday afternoon after having given them some space (they've already had proud grand parents and friends visiting - I can wait). You can click on the picture to see the detail - it even has various fish patterns sewn into the quilting.
On Wednesday afternoon distant relatives of Rene's came to visit us. Matt and Nellie are connected via Nellie's grandmother and Rene's grandmother being sisters (I think - it gets very messy in these huge Dutch families). Anyway, a year ago they saw Rene's name in an article in the national Dutch Courier newspaper and rang up from Victoria to make an initial contact. A year later, whilst holidaying at Noosa, they dropped by for a coffee and chat. They emigrated here in 1952, twelve years before I did. A very charming and lovely couple.

Last night Rene and I darted up to Coolum Beach on the Sunshine Coast for dinner and cards. We came home at 12:45am and then I turned around and did a 0700-1100 shift at International this morning. I'm having a short snooze after lunch - I'm very tired.

Edwina and Frank Crowther, friends of ours, were at the airport heading off to New Zealand. Edwina saw me first and grabbed my attention. She's there for a fortnight, Frank for a week (working I guess). They are the first people whom I have recognised at the airport during one of my shifts. It'll be terrific next year when all the NZ flights are treated as borderless-domestic flights, with a saving of around $60 each way in fees.

Also today I met a charming man heading off to LA on V Australia - his first trip overseas. He'd have been around late 20's I guess. He mentioned that he was going for three months and that he'd already sent over his two cars ahead of him. That was too interesting a detail to mention without finding out more. It appears he's sent a drag car and some other sort over already. I said he was the first person connected to drag racing I'd ever met; I also mentioned that usually the folk connected to drag I meet have waaayyy too much make up on plus a wig of preposterous proportions. I thought he was going to convulse on the spot with laughter. There's an anecdote to tell the friendly cabin crew on V Australia as he flies to what will be a wonderful American experience.

Yesterday morning Pete, a friend who will be in the US next month, rang and told me they had booked three nights in Chicago the day after I arrive in Lafayette. It's a penthouse apartment overlooking the river. So of my 19 days away, the first four are in Vegas, the following one in Lafayette, IND, then three in Chicago. That's eight taken care of already. I am looking forward to this sojourn immensely now as it draws close.

I nearly forgot; other social news is that we came second last Tuesday at trivia and our new neighbours came for drinks last Thursday evening. They are a delightful young couple (33, 34) with Denise being of Chinese Vietnamese origins - she arrived on a boat at 18 months of age - and Nathan of Italian Sicilian origins. Both work in alternative Chinese medicine and both are the most fascinating people to chat with. They are the epitome of what Australia is in the 21st century - a cultural melting pot. We are, after all, a nation made up mainly of immigrants. Of the four of us on the deck last Thursday, one was second generation from Italy and the other three were all born overseas.

My brother Stephen and his wife Adele head off for London tomorrow evening. They popped in yesterday to pick up my Tom Tom, the Dutch GPS device I received from Rene for my birthday this year. They are borrowing it for their British leg of their tour since it comes complete with not only Australian maps but also Britain and Ireland. Bon voyage guys!