Sparrow Lorelei photo gallery

Sparrow's first Christmas, Yanchep, 2009
Various adventures

We decided that Sparrow should experience the spa bath.

"Oh hey, bubbles".

"I think I like this". What you can't see is that these three photos were taken over about twenty seconds - and about one second after I took this one the BIG noisy spa jet kicked in. At that point, it was No Longer Fun and Sparrow began howling. I pulled her out of the bath very shortly afterwards.

This seems so peaceful. However, like the spa bath, water is about to give us a fair bit of grief. It was a very hot afternoon, and Sparrow and I had walked from JayD's house down to this park on our way to rendevous with James and were having a rest in the shade. Then... the sprinklers came on. Those huge big arching noisy ones. Right where we were sitting, and only that section. Sparrow started howling with surprise and the noise. I grabbed her, my just-opened laptop, my shoes, her shirt, her change bag, my bag, all the things we'd just spread out, and ran for it. It took a couple of trips to get everything, Sparrow crying the whole way because I wasn't carrying her back and forth for all of it. Then I discovered that one of the sprinklers still reached our new location and we moved again in a hurry. More crying. I'd just grabbed the last handful of stuff, plus Sparrow, got to the NEW new spot and realised it was covered in ants and ant nests. And we were right at the edge of the park. So there was nowhere further to retreat - we had to run right back through the sprinklers to the other half of the park where the sprinklers weren't. That meant carrying Sparrow that far, then leaving her on the grass crying while I vanished to get everything else. It was a bit of a stressful moment. But eventually we got ourselves and everything in one place where there was no water and no ants. Phew. She had nightmares that night, and I think it was the noise of the sprinklers she was remembering.

Out for a walk on the new boardwalk over the dunes. It was nice to go enjoy the sunshine and breeze, though we had to time it so that it wasn't too warm or bright and manage sun carefully. Sparrow was quite cute in her borrowed hat.

Visiting Jai, who is around Sparrow's age, with his mum Eunice. I know Jai's dad Richard from my radio days a very long time ago. We had a fun chat and Sparrow was intrigued by this new place. The pet rabbit casually wandering the house was quite exciting, and this musical bouncer she thought was even more awesome. She was working on trying to press the buttons deliberately but it was a bit hit and miss. Literally.

James said when we got together that he'd teach me to fish. So we managed to get an evening when it was vaguely feasible to get out his old rods and go down and try it, while Sparrow was entertained by her grandparents back at the house. Just some quiet peaceful time for us two.

Quiet and peaceful apart from the furious wind, that is. There was quite a stiff breeze. Mostly James caught seaweed, which managed to eat a surprising amount of his bait for something with no teeth.

Out shopping at Whitfords a couple of days before Christmas. That's quite a large adventure in and of itself. The Christmas Fairy dresses were marked down to half or one-third price, something like that, so this little dress cost less than five dollars. I was sufficiently amused to think it was worth it. Pleased with myself for getting a photo with front and back view, too.

One last hello and goodbye with Oma and Grandad at the airport, after driving back from Albany. James and I had picked blackberries just before we left the farm, and Sparrow'd fallen asleep in that time despite her Grandma's best efforts to keep her awake. (That had us laughing, as she'd been so difficult about going to sleep for naps the whole trip and then when we wanted her awake it just wasn't happening!) So she's getting to have some fresh blackberries now, in the airport at the cafe, and making a marvellous mess. I think this photo is just before the first blackberry gets to her, which is why she seems so clean.