Happy Snappy

Finally! We made it! Trying for weeks to find a day to join Caroline and Richard on their fantastic catamaran, it actually happened! And what a day! This is the true reason to live in Malta: sun, sea, swim, great company, some wine, perfect way to relax!

We met C&R through this super girl: Alexandra. She is the one on the left. Maja is in the middle and Linni to the right.



Alexandra is Linni's BFF (Best Friend Forever) and C&R's daughter. This is their fantastic catamaran:



Well a part of it at least... the impressive Mast. It's called Tiluk (the boat, not the mast - as far as i know the mast has no name)

This is the guy who runs the boat, Mr Skipper Richard:



He sure does a great job skippering this beauty! We went to Salina, threw the ankar, and kids couldn't wait to get in (neither could I - water was amazing!)



At first they were a bit apprehensive, but it wasn't long before they did this:




... and this:



Kynan jumped with Milla from the roof too, but that scared me so didn't focus on taking pictures, but instead on whether Milla resurfaced... But got a photo of Kynan swimming with Linni instead:



The cat had rescue hatches inside, which were cool swimming destinations for the girls - they swam between the two hulls and looked like they were stuck in an aquarium.



On the way back, Richard had the patience to go back and forth around the breakwaters of Valletta harbour for me to create some stunning photos. Will show at later stage!
It was a great afternoon. Malta at its best! Hurra for my kids having such nice friends!

Soo hot at the moment... Me, Liz, Amanda - all with kids - went down to Golden Sands to swim. Was brave and took camera and zoom with me. Am struggling with my zoom - it's very very good but so heavy, i just cant hold it steady. Got Amanda and Serena to model, light was fab at 7 in the evening and all looked fantastic in the view finder. But going through pics back home, all but this one were out of focus. This one was super tho... Added my latest obsession action to it - vintage 60's - and think outcome great! But have to start doing pushups every day to build up enough musclepower to hold that zoom...

Me and Linni decided to take the dogs out for one of our long walks:



We usually go up on the hill behind our house, up on the very top, were noone goes and we can let the dogs go, run free without any grumpy farmers getting upset by dogs running over their qarabali/tomato/lettuce or whatever they are growing field. Now that spring hunting is bannned in Malta this has been a really nice walk lately. But surprise, surprise: we forget the rabbit hunting season. Ergo we forgot about these guys:



I was completelly unaware that the Rabbit Hunting season existed... I guess the obsession of Maltese hunters to hunt has just made the whole spring look like one happy shooting bonanza, when you just have to take cover as soon as you come out in the countryside. But now, the hunters are clinging onto straws. To keep hunting the birdies, they put on their camouflage gear and take their huge guns and pretend to shoot bunnies. Bunnies are best shot at night, but that's just technicalities... Anyways: Tramp and Trisha went MAD! Dogs everywhere, invading THEIR territory! How dare they! All of a sudden we were surrounded by some 6 rabbit dogs, and to their great disgrace, T&T had to retreat... Luckily, we were just near a bird hunting outpost, were we decided to set up the frontier before no man land. Me and Linni went on to focus on doing what we both do best: me taking photos and Linni posing.



These hunting lodges are quite fascinating. The hunters are there to stay, and so make themselves comfortable. This one has some kind of control tower swivel chair firmly fixed to the ground. Like a small little merry-go-round...



The other chair, a standard Maltese government office admin chair, we used to tie up the dogs, so that they could still feel that if only given their freedom, they would go for the rabbit dog intruders....



All in all, a great outing! Dogs ran away on our way home, as they usually do. Linni tried to catch them, as she usually does...

I have found my dreamhouse. I live next to it. It's a cluster of old houses that a crafty businessman has structurally converted togetether to a lovely house, perfect for my family. Unfortunatelly the businessman is a true capitalist and is asking fantasy money for the house: 1.2 million euro... So we keep on dreaming... And go there to play in the ghost house, as the girls call it. Cause it's just open, empty, as it seems noone is agreeing with the price tag set by the businessman. As long as noone does, we pretend the house is ours...

We have a new kitten... The idea was to balance out the ratio dogs/cats: I felt that Missa was outnumbered and needed some re-inforcement by getting her a sister-in-arms... Obviously Missa HATES the new kitten while Trisha and Tramp are going bonkers over her... So is Milla: she is obsessed with Leila and I sometimes wonder if the poor thing will survive to see her third month birthday... She is a very sweet cat, especially after the kids have gone to bed and she can stop running for her life and just cuddle up in my knee (like she is at this very moment!)

E-mails like this make my day...

The farmers in Ghajn Tuffieha have had enough... Yesterday a delegation of four farmers spoke their mind to Kynan about the local destruction caused by Trisha and Tramp. They didn't mince their words, and the message was clear: the dogs are not welcome anymore. Their joyride, digging up plants and catching wild rabbits, have come to an abrupt end. So now they are kept indoors or locked up in the yard. Poor things, I feel for them. And I feel for myself! It's a bit of a nightmare to have two quite big dogs pacing up and down, quickly getting bored. And I am back at nagging at kids and husband to take the poor creatures out for walks. Unfortunatelly the rest of the family is not as taken by the scenery around our house as I am...

Today the family came over to wish Maja happy birthday - she is now 9! It's been a fantastic day - we were sitting out for the first time this year. And we had to have a strawberry cake of course - the strawberries are amazing at the moment.

Happy birthday my beautiful sunshine!

Me and Charmaine went to Stockholm last weekend. We walked and walked and walked - it was so nice to have all that time in a town I have lived in without the kids to think about! Found these beautiful flowers, covered in snow, in Gamla Stan.

Moving into the wilderness (well as wild as it can get in Malta) has brought a lot of changes for us. Two are called Trisha and Tramp, our dogs. They were abandoned, just a few months old, and of course Maja and Linni had to save them. Here is Linni with 'her' dog, Tramp.

Linni turned 7 on the 12th of December. We had a great party, up at Palma. Her old PE teacher, Mr Johann came and took all the kids out to fly kites, play softball, hide and seek and just have fun OUTDOORS! Very rare in Malta! It is amazing to live in a place where cars are not an issue.  It was a great party, we all had really fun!

This is our new home. A bit different from the penthouse... It's so tranquil out here, it is almost surreal. I love it. Can't believe it took me ten years to move out into the countryside.

Seems like I am a magnet for shooting four kids... This time they were much younger though, so doing a group photo was a massive challenge as their focus was everywhere but on me... So i quickly went for individual shots of Martina and Fransesca, 10 years, Edward 4 and Thomas 10 months.

We are in Sweden, on our annual visit. We went in August, a bit later this year, thinking we would get away from the worst summer heat in Malta. And we sure did, it's so cold here! One morning it was 12 degrees when I got up... Most days it's been cloudy and quite some rain - we had one day when it in one day rained as much as it usually does for the whole month of August. It was quite impressive. Even on a sunny day, there is still that tinge of coldness in the air, a sure sign that autumn is indeed on its way.

But this weekend, the sun decided to join us and we had an lovely day. We went to a market, held at a lovely place in the countryside, with stables and small red wooden houses. The place was on a small island on the middle of a river. We found a small hut with a wooden pier, with amazing light for photography. Took some of my niece, Isabella, and Linni.