diary

Sculptures by the sea

End of November is when the Sculptures by the Sea event happens (see photos to the right). Several of sculptures, over a hundred, are displayed along the Bondi to Bronte coastal walk, pretty spectacular back drop. The sculptures set with the ocean in the background come to life, you can look at them in many different ways, it is truly inspiring.  How brilliant is the paint brush! This was one of Lucia's first outings and she enjoyed it a lot, I am starting to think that she will become an art lover.

Lucia del Re

The most incredible, emotional and unforgettable experience of our life happened on Tuesday morning after 3 days of labour, Lucia came to the world with all her 3.93 Kilos and 52 cm. of beauty. Annie was absolutely amazing after such a hard and long effort. Free time has now completely evaporated so please forgive me for not making this post more detailed. To the right in the photo album section you will be able to see some photos of her. More to come.

Calm before the storm

I know it is not nice to compare the arrival of your first child to a natural disaster but in a way this is how it feels. We are surreally calm and excited, evening and week ends are spent relaxing without any major social events but rather sleeping a lot (Annie) and reading the papers (Tommaso). Last week end was a typical example.

On Sunday we decided to go to the botanical gardens for a walk through the blossoming.

It was absolutely beautyful. We came across quite an interesting event, here is the story. A few months ago a botanist was canoeing in the Blue Mountains and came across a variety of pines that were thought to be extinguished 60 million years ago. These pines are called Wollemi and they developed 100 million years ago; they are basically the plants of the dinasours!!! Here is a link to find out more from a story on the ABC or here on the botanical gardens web site. Here is a picture.

So what they did is they managed to get saplings out of these few 38 only remaining trees. Now these saplings have grown and they will be actioned by Sotheby's!!! How clever is that! There are already people enquiring from all over the world.

We then dropped to say hello to Micaela, a good friend of our's who grew up in Lesmurdie near Perth. We went for a coffee on Darlinghurts in King's Cross before going back home to organise our Tasmanian trip with the family.

Ciao

MacMaster

Last week end, actually two week ends ago, Sallee, Annie's mother, was in town so I took the opportunity to go on surf trip with Suzy, Elton, Marco, Gwen and Xav and Lina. Surf was ok ish but because there was plenty of wind we had a great time flying my newly purchased kyte. Did'nt take long for it to break but I actually managed to fix it. When I got back to Sydney Sallee gave us a knitting lesson which, as you can see from the photos in the album (see to the right) was a source of lots of laughter.

Great Barrier Reef

Annie and I decided to take what has been described to us as the swan song of holidays. Apparently once you become parents they are no longer holidays but trips. So we decided to go to the Hamilton Island, two hours flight north of Sydney. The place is described in various brochures as the quintessential tropical island with amaving weather and white beaches. Well it was not exactly like that. There were 30 knots wind and most of the days there it was raining. Not much hanging around on the beach or on the side of the pool sipping drinks. We nevertheless had some fun time, if anything, laughing about the situation. Hamilton Island has a couple of plusses. First it is part of the Whitsunday Islands, an archipalago of christal clear calm water. Absolutely fantastic to go sailing there (that will be next time) and snorkelling. The second great aspect and one of the main reasons for going there is its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. Annie and I looove snorkelling and going there was one of the most amazing Australian experiences we both had. On top of that my dream came true: while I was snorkelling this beautiful turtle swam right next to me and we swam together for twenty metres, abolutely unforgettable.

Les Cominazzinis

Precise come un orologio svizzero sabato sera sono arrivate le sorelle Cominazzini: Mara ed Anna. Devo dire che sono arrivate in grandissima forma considerando le oltre 20 ore di volo (non in business Fleshy!). Non avete idea di quanto mi abbia fatto piacere vederle, e' come avere vicini un po' di tutti i miei amici. Domenica, mentre io mi sparavo la "City to Surf" (equivalente Sydneyano di una Stramilanina), le sorelline se la ronfavano. Buttate giu' dal letto, o meglio dal fouton, siamo poi andati a casa di Fran per un BBQ in giardino, quale modo migliore per battezzare il viaggio in Australia? Prima del aperitivo all'Icebergs abbiamo fatto la classica passeggiata lungo la costa da Bondi a Bronte: spettacolo! La cena e' stata accompagnata da moltissimi regali dall'Italia, grazie a tutti per i consigli che avete dato a Mara per la scelta sui libri, non vedo l'ora di leggerli. Abbiamo anche ricevuto una carinissima Bialetti per fare i capuccini che diventera' sicuramente Il Gadget per questa primavera. Lunedi a Martedi mentre noi comuni mortali ce la passavamo in ufficio le due donzelle si sono girate Sydney e stasera adranno all prima del Don Giovanni alla Opera House (senza pelliccia a quanto pare). E' tutto per il momento, vi terro' aggiornati e spero che questa sia solo la prima di moltissime visite milanesi. Abbracci!

Moving

We rencently moved, not once but twice. Due to the arrival of the new Del Re we had to leave our little corner of paradise and find somewhere with a extra room. Winter is a good time to move in Bondi, or rather it is a less worse time then summer with everyone moving closer to the beach. Anyway, we found an appartment on Francis street but it was simply too noise so we decided to move again. Thankfully our friends Pascal and Sabina were moving out of their place, literally two doors up the road from where we originally were. Our old address was 6/64 Lamrock Ave., now it's 6/68 Lamrock Ave.!!! A big massive thanks goes to Micaela and Tom who helped us on the first move and to Stefano and Superman Michael who helped us on the second. We love the new place and Annie is much much happier. It is indeed friendlier although in need of a bit of looking after. Please come visit us!

July 19 2005

After a very long quiet period we are back. Sorry for the lack of updates. Thruth is we have been quite busy. The big news is we are expecting. Yep, come end of October (yes another Scorpio) we are hoping to have a new addition to the Del Re. It is all very exciting. We have had to move from our little corner in paradise and in a couple of weeks we should be settling just two doors up the road. We will be in an appartment though with no garden. At least we will have a little balcony (that looks onto our former garden) and an extra room, so please come visit us.
Annie is doing very well. The morning sickness lingered for a bit longer then 3 months and every now and then she enlights our morning b'fasts by rejecting half chewed toasts back on the plate but a part from that she is in great form.
We are now in the middle of winter and the temperature is pretty cold. No more swims at the beach unless there is no wind. Also the surfing has suffered by I am promising myself to make a bit more of an effort, especially as it may become more difficult once we are three.
Anyway, here are just a couple of photos of Annie: do you think it's a boy or sheila? Comment!

Italy

After nearly two years away we finally made our way back to the most beautiful country in the world. We spent a few days in Savona for the christening of Tommaso Jr. then went for a late honey moon in Sicily. We toured around the island visiting tamples, phenician escavations and splendid baroque towns. Please let me know if you want any advice on where to go.

Tommaso jr.

Without any doubt the best thing that happened after our wedding was the birth of Tommaso. Yes Tommaso is the son of my best friend Gabriele and his beautiful wife Orla. The fact that my best friend has become a father is absolutely great and that he has decided to call him Tommaso nearly had me in tears. Gabriele says the choice of the name had nothing to do with me but I do not believe him as he has asked me to be his godfather. I am absolutely overwhelmed, very touched and honoured. I think this is part of a plan by Gabriele and Orla get me in a more responsible mood so I can quickly catch with them. Who knows, it may work. So yes, the Christening will be the 18th of September in Savona, as a godfather what presents do you think I should give Tommaso? Please make suggestions in the comment section. To see more photos of Tommaso Jr. click here, hopefully Gabriele has had some time to update with more recent ones between a nappy and a bath.