How are you today?

[RobB]

EHEH Robbiero, wearing linnen trousers at the moment, but I will take pix next time I wear a skirt ok? I hope to be back in shape in a year or so [rolling]

I'm sure you're just being modest and are in perfectly good shape now? A year or two? I'll be so old by then that the excitement at seeing your bare legs will probably give me a heart attack and finish me off?

But I can put in recent photo on, taken during my holidays in Rome.

Thats a lovely photo.....you're very photogenic. Is your hair naturally that colour?
Funny really,up until I saw your MBV gig photo I had always imagined you with long blonde hair for some reason.

How old is Connor? He's so tall!

Connor is sixteen months old,his birthday is in mid-January, just a couple of days before mine.
His dad is tall (six foot) so I suspect he'll end up the same.

[witchy]

O my, I certainly don't want to have your death on my conscience, I will work out harder, or better, I will work out! [angel]
Thanks Rob, I actually took that pic with my mobile in the car with my dad. I'm not gonna show you the ones with dirty hair or stained shirt or panda eyes, what do you think?
OF COURSE is my hair that colour, doesn't it look NATURAL? [rolling] Blonde, moi? Really doesn't suit me, I tried when I was a kid.
And speaking of kids, here are mine barbarians

[RobB]

What a lovely photograph?
I'm feeling quite hungry now.
They have your eyes don't they? Not in colour but in shape.
They're gorgeous looking kids,you must be very proud of them?
.....how old are they now?

[witchy]

I feel hungry too every time I watch it! It's reassuring to see they love pizza, some Italian genes made it into the pool About the eyes I'm not really sure, Iker is my copy as a child but they have a loooooot of their father as well, I can't make up my mind yet an here lots of people just say they're all and only his dad, bah.
I am proud of them but the looks can change in the years, I can't fixate on that. I am amazed of the little people they are becoming, and that despite all my shortcomings they seem to be trully happy...Iker is 3 years and 5 months while Ryuu is 1 and 7 months...I'm gonna need a new baby sooner or later!

[RobB]

...I'm gonna need a new baby sooner or later!

yeah....well....now you know whats causing them there's no stopping you?

Today is Sunday.....the day of rest which is just as well as its so warm outside already i think i'm just going to have a lazy day indoors, out of the sun. The work needed in the garden can wait.

[blue]

Hi folks, good to see this thread is still going!

Sara, lovely to see pics of you and the boys - they're so big now! And you are as beautiful and unique as ever. No soccer mom transformation.

Rob, I never noticed before how startlingly blue your eyes are - they're Steve McQueen eyes.

I've decided to actually leave the house today, which is becoming a rarity on days off since I've been on my lonesome. Mostly I've been reading incessantly, I mean the way I used to when I was a kid, before I had a baby. Currently I'm re-reading 'Sybil', a fascinating book I first read as a 14 year old after seeing the amazing film with Sally Field and Joanna Woodward; 'Beautiful Shadow', a biography of Patricia Highsmith, author of the Tom Ripley novels and many brilliant short stories; 'Catherine the Great', one of the best biographies of the - um - characterful Russian empress; 'War Paint', a double biography of Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein, which also serves as a history of the beauty industry from the end of the 19th century; and a memoir by Isabel Allende, a writer whose style I really love.

I'm also trying to work on my current story, but more reading than writing is getting done by far.

[RobB]

Rob, I never noticed before how startlingly blue your eyes are - they're Steve McQueen eyes.

No,they're mine,both of them...honest!
Anyway,Steve McQueen is dead,isn't he?

I think you'll have to write a story about a lady who can't stop reading books.......you've certainly got a head start with the research.

[blue]

I probably should, actually. Good idea Rob.

I'm highly amused by the way I've just reverted back to the way I used to read when I was a kid. It's like the past 26 years were a mere diversion.

Actually I recall telling someone once that I got very annoyed by life because it kept interrupting my reading. They thought I was a bit strange.

Oh well. Some live; others read about it.

[RobB]

Life can be stressful even to the point of being stressed and not realising it. I think reading and getting into a good story is a simple form of escapism and very therapuetic.
For me, its watching a film.

[witchy]

Hey all, plans for the week-end? For me the usual nothing, my partner dj-ed yesterday and tomorrow has something else, so mommy stays home. IT's not great weather either to be honest, cold-windy. Using the bike to go to work may have its pro's, but so far I am just so tired I don't want to do anything anymore!

Beth, I actually envy you a bit, keep it up, I miss that total immersion in books I used to have...but not the life I had (or didn't have) then. [b)] About the soccer mom transformation, ehum, I don't look like the photo at all when I am home, believe me! And that's why I didn't post a shitty pic, ahah

[blue]

Good morning people, I am with internet once more.

Sara, I've decided to just embrace my inner book nerd for the duration, and not worry that my life consists at the moment of working, reading and sleeping. I've decided to think of it as a kind of psychological cocooning during this weird time as I'm getting used to being a person again, not just a mom.

Well I have to work today, but after that I shall be continuing with the frankly hilarious 'God Is Not Great' by Christopher Hitchens, a wonderful counterpoint to all the reading I've been doing about spiritual stuff lately.

[RobB]

Good to see you connected again,Beth.

I havn't been about much of late as i spent last week up in the Lake District.
As you can see from the photo below (taken last Wednesday), it was a typical summers day in England.
At least i found out whats causing the lakes.

[sound world]

Yes,nice to see you back,Beth. I too am without child this week-he's been on a German exchange since last Tuesday,back late this Tue. It feels a bit like preparation for the day when he finally does leave home for real; but partner and I have been having a nice time,so that bodes well.
Today being Father's Day,I feel a bit bereft,especially since he hasn't rung (yet).
Oh so you were away,RobB.It's been deathly quiet around here and I haven't felt like posting at all,so it's nice that you're all back.

[RobB]

Things will liven up when Stina releases her new triple album and announces the 100 date world tour, followed by the double live cd/dvd and tv special.

[blue]

See, Rob, that's my very favourite kind of English summer day in your picture, there. I can't be doing with all this sunshine and wasps in your martini and the flowers all stinking to high heaven and everyone sweating. It's not even 8.30am and already it's too warm outside, here.

Ah well, Wimbledon commences today, yay! And with a realistic chance of a SCOT getting to the final!