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This photo was taken by little Sam Binnington - aged 3 and a bit (we had lunch with him and the rest of the Binnington Clan on Ssaturday, and I let Sam take a few photos with my camera): .
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He did a pretty good job, huh?
Also, looking at the sheer awesomeness of my afro, I'm guessing my next haircut isn't too far away - although I could probably blame this one on the wide angle lens.
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Just a few photos from the last few days - the weather has been a bit rotten, so we haven't really ventured outside at all. I did end up buying myself a cheap softbox and lightstand yesterday, so I might start being a little bit more adventurous with lighting (I might have to get poor little George some sunglasses). .
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Someone rather famous once said that any idiot could get up Mount Everest - but it took real skill to get back down again. George can now pull himself to standing, as you can see in the photo sequence below. Unfortunately, getting back down to his backside is the real challenge. At the moment he just pulls himself up and then wails until someone helps him back onto his bum.
Unsurprisingly, this approach does seem to be working for the little tyrant...
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Not much else going on really - here are a few shots I took this morning of the little man playing on his birthday car from Suki and Queenie. He's not quite self-powered yet; he can go backwards with no problem, but moving forward is a bit of a challenge at the moment. He does love riding it though:
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George's latest bathtime game is taking whatever he's playing with and helpfully passing throwing it over the edge to me or Rachel (it gets a bit messy when the plaything is a half full plastic cup of water...) .
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Ben simply can't work out why George isn't afraid of him. Perhaps it's because George would quite like to eat Ben. This is from Rachel's phone this morning:
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A few that I forgot about - this was just before we left Shanti's house to head to the airport (we were heading up to Hawkes Bay that day):
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I've been to a few weddings in Hong Kong, but last night was the first time that I had charged on and actually attended to formal banquet. One of our group's secretaries (Queenie) got married yesterday (well, technically they had a wedding sans the legal wedding ceremony - it's a long story), and she very kindly invited me along. Wedding banquets are relaxed affairs, but the order of events and the food served is pretty much set in stone. I was lucky enough to be sitting with my workmates, who were all very eager to talk me through the whole thing.
The whole shaboodle kicked off at around 5pm, when the mahjong and cards begin. This is called the "reception", and if it wasn't for Philip letting me know that it wasn't the Western "reception" (i.e. drinks and nibbles), I might have ended up relearning to play mahjong and losing all of the money in my wallet (oh yes, they play for cash...)
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Ok, so the shot of the fish head probably wasn't necessary, but I couldn't resist.
During the games component of the reception, the bride and groom are pretty much a fixture at the front of the room, and as people enter the venue, they get shuttled to where the bride and groom are so that they can get formal photos with them (every guest has at least one formal photo with the bride and groom - it's pretty cool). I got my photo taken with them, then Philip and I had one with them (Philip and I both work with Queenie), and then the entire table from my work joined in for a group shot.
After that, there's a little bit of milling about before the banquet begins - videos and slideshows were played, and Queenie and Calvin left the room and then reentered it for the dinner. Here's a fairly random assortment of photos from that time:
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Top left is mother of the bride, bottom left is the rose petal holders that were used for Queenie's entrance into the banquet room, and bottom right is a pack of cards from one of the card playing tables.
After the brief speeches and whatnot, the banquet formally began with a suckling pig served at each table. Bloody delicious. This was followed by shark fin soup (which I passed on), and then a trainload of other dishes - but the suckling pig really was the standout.
Once dinner was over, the bridal party circulated around the tables for toasts and photos, and then dessert was served up (along with a plate of oranges - I think there is some traditional reason for this, but I'll have to check). To end proceedings, Queenie, Calvin and their families lined up by the door to say goodbye and thank you to all the guests on the way out - a nice way to end the evening.
Here are a few more photos from the night, in no particular order:
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The girl with the wine glass and in that last photo is Suki - Queenie's sister and the other group secretary.
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Finally - and this was actually taken before the wedding - here's one of my partner in crime last night, Philip. I took this one of him in his new studio in Causeway Bay. How cool are those purple walls?
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Oh Shane Warne. Wha' happened? I hope you're getting paid a truckload for this (taken outside the lifts at my doctor's surgery): .
Put your hand up if you're a complete wally
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This one was from an hour ago, just after G's bath. He's giving me the "Am I about to get a Hairy Maclary story soon?" look (yes - he got one about 5 minutes later) .
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And here's a photo (for posterity) of the Chateauneuf Du Pape before we demolished it. Richard B gave it (with two gorgeous red wine glasses) to us on our wedding day in 2007, and we were saving it for a special occasion. I decanted it yesterday afternoon, and at 7pm last night - exactly one year after George was born - we toasted the little man. Yup - that's Ben in the background.
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And here's a sequence taken this afternoon, as George flirted with one of his Hong Kong girlfriends, Sophia:
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One year old today! The little man has had a ball playing with his new toys this morning: .
Playing with the trolley and blocks from Godparents Ross and Ang
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Playing on the toolman's truck (from Aunty Suki and Aunty Queenie at Daddy's work)
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Mummy insisted on a family photo. Yes, we're in pyjamas.
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Cruisin' in his new wheels
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Sorry, no George in here. .
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The poor little fellow is still a bit sick at the moment, but when he's awake he's still pretty much his happy old self (well, a snottier, raspier version of himself). He's started to crawl with purpose now, and has discovered that by plonking himself on his knees, there is a whole new world of stuff to play with. This particular cabinet is full of our good wine glasses, and has now been secured with a rather ugly set of plastic cable ties: .
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On Saturday, Jacq and Tristan came through for a day's stopover en route to London - George had a lovely day with his new friends. Here's one of Jacq reading George one of his favourite Hairy MacLary books:
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Here's one that was sitting on the memory card - Granny B and George playing on the grass. Granny B was plucking little flowers and blowing them through the air at George (look just in front of his nose):
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And finally this one - we had a game of Chase around the lounge yesterday. When he's at full speed, it's pretty much impossible to focus the camera on him. So here's his slightly blurry manic face:
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The first was taken yesterday when Bunky came to visit me at work, and the rest are randoms from New Zealand: .
Playing on the grass outside my work
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A random church that we walked past (in Havelock North)
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In the plane from Napier to Auckland (that's George's hair on the left...)
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Aunty Momo and Rachel talking in the kitchen while G busies himself with Lego
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Reading time with Paddy
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This year I'm trying to take more photos on my phone - the image quality is pretty crappy, but there are plenty of programs available that allow me to do a bit of creative editing on the camera (I have to confess that I have a soft spot for the fake polaroid, having owned a real one once upon a time). Anyway, it's forcing me to think a bit more about getting a photo right first time, rather than trying to salvage something on the computer afterwards. I just pulled a bunch of photos off the phone from our New Zealand trip, so here you go:
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Paddy and George enjoying story time
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Playing a George-created game (play with the speaker base, sit up, get tickled, then start again) with Granny B
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Pulling himself up to standing, cheered on by Aunty Jane
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Paddy pouring bubbly for the Keane ladies
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Swing time at the park
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Sneaking out from under a chair
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And finally, one for his London-based godparents:
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How's the weather out there this week?
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Bunky had a pretty rough flight last night, and I'm too knackered to pretty-ify any of these photos from the weekend (I just dragged them off my memory card). Normal service will resume soon. Oh, and I took a crapload of photos on my phone too - I quite like going through photos on there. The camera on the phone is a bit crap, but that does lead to some cool (inadvertent) effects. Anyway, here are some from the big camera:
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Aunty Momo trying to distract George from important tasks on the grass with Paddy and Rachel
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George with his Aunty Jane, who is definitely in his top two favourite aunties list
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Granny B, Rachel and Jane enjoying some bubbly on our last night in Auckland
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Just before George's mini-party on Sunday afternoon. L to R: Aunty Momo, Aunty Jane, Uncle Eugene, George and Granny B
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He wanted the sunglasses but ended up with a kiss on the forehead. He was unimpressed.
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Explaining the nuances of squeaky hammers to Paddy
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Defying gravity in the back yard with Aunty Jane
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Although Bunky doesn't turn one for another nine days, we decided to have a few early birthday drinks (and cake) for him today in Auckland. The little piglet managed to scoff cake, part of a sausage roll, some rice cracker, more cake (with cream) and he washed that all down with some delicious leaves from the back yard. Here are a few from the day - once again without the benefit of any Photoshop magic...
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As much as I miss using Photoshop, I couldn't resist uploading a few photos from our last few weeks of touring. We hit both Wellington and Hawkes Bay (both very briefly) and we're now back in Auckland, dreading our return to Hong Kong on Monday night. Eeeek. iPhoto has seemed to have done a pretty decent job of tweaking the RAW images and exporting them to jpeg - I may have another go when back in Hong Kong, but for the time being... here you go:
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Taken from the Koru Lounge at Auckland Airport, waiting for our Wellington flight
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A (fairly rotten quality) photo of George being stalked by his grandmother
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A dog named "Dog"
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George in a pool with (one of) his Godfather(s) and Lucy
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Enjoying a swing push from his mate Ella
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Uncle Godfather Ross
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Dinnertime with Lucy
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Jump time with Ella
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Watching an outdoor movie at the Blackbarn Vineyard Amphitheatre
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Lucy braving the sprinkler
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Ella taking on the sprinkler
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