Spring picnics FTW!

I’m not a fan of summer picnics, but spring picnics are most excellent – especially post-lockdown ones! And Newport Lakes Reserve is a great place for a picnic.

Selfie of a man and a woman in a large park on an overcast day. The man is sitting in a low picnic chair. The woman is sitting on the ground and is leaning back on to the man. Both have been caught mid-laugh.

(Don’t worry, Nadia and I only took our masks off while eating lunch, which was immediately before we took this selfie.)

And, since it was such a lovely day, here’s another selfie :)

Selfie of a man sitting in the share of a tree in a large park. The man is balk, bespectacled, and has a salt-and-pepper beard. He is wearing a black t-shirt that’s the original cover of the book ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ by Douglas Adams.

Life, the universe, and everything

Emerging as the meaning of life, the universe, and everything on her 42nd birthday, I present to you Dr Nadia Niaz!

(Maggie is suitably impressed.)

Photo of a woman with long black hair. The woman is wearing a maroon and black sweater, black jeans, and black boots. With a big grin on her face, she is striking a post in front of the the door to a house. Standing at her feet and looking up to her is a red dog.

Checking out a lunar eclipse

When you’re not a regular stargazer you forget just how quickly Earth rotates!

Fortunately our telescope has an equatorial mount so we just had to keep turning one knob to have the moon stay in our sights during tonight’s lunar eclipse.

Photo of a woman standing outside at night looking through the eyepiece of a medium-sized home telescope. Her hand is on an adjustment knob at the side of the telescope.

Flowers!

I wasn’t feeling well last week so Nadia bought me a big bunch of flowers when she went down to the shops.

Cheered me right up too!

Selfie of a man – bald, bespectacled, with a salt-and-pepper beard, and smiling at the camera – standing on a deck outside a house holding up a large bunch of bright yellow daisies in front of his face.

Nadia at BBB lifting party 11

Today was awesome! I got to watch Nadia lift her personal best powerlifting weights at the Barbell Babes Brigade lifting party :)

Photo of a woman wearing a brightly coloured singlet beams at the camera while holding her hands up towards the photographer to show her palms coated in white chalk. Behind her is a weight lifting rack with a weighted barbell across it.

Photo of a woman in shorts, a singlet, and socks with her hair tied back in a ponytail. The woman is leaning forward and gripping a barbell with heavy weights on it. Her expression is serious and her muscles are tight because she is about to start deadlifting this barbell. In the background is a weight lifting rack bolted into the floor and hooks bolted onto the wall with assorted weight on them. You can deduce from her environment that she's in a gym.

Photo of a woman in shorts, a singlet, and socks with her hair tied back in a ponytail. The woman is standing up, having successfully lifted a heavily weighted barbell. Her expression is one of joy and bewilderment as if she can't believe she just successfully lifted that much weight. She is looking at another woman, also in gym attire, who is clapping and cheering as she walks towards the powerlifter as if to give her a celebratory hug.

This is BBB’s eleventh lifting party and the third I’ve attended. It’s such a joy and rush to watch so many fantastic powerlifters achieve so much and have that much fun while doing it!

Also, happy fourth birthday to Barbell Babes Brigade!

Photo of about four dozen women in powerlifting gear gather for a group photo in a warehouse gym with the worlds 'Barbell Babes Brigade' painted on the wall behind them. The women and smiling, cheering, and shouting. There is a balloon in the shape of the number four behind them.

2021 annual Australian Open selfie

Given the year we’ve all had, our annual Australian Open (tennis) selfie is a little different this time.

Our round 3 tickets got cancelled because of the snap five-day lockdown in Melbourne, so we just went to the women's singles final instead :)

Selfie of a man and woman, both wearing face masks. They have their backs to the Rod Laver Arena tennis court, which is about half full of spectators. On the tennis court itself is Naomi Osaka, winner of the 2021 Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup – which is awarded to the winner of the women’s singles tournament. Osaka is holding that cup and is getting her photo taken by a large group of photographers gathered at one end of the court.

Rod Laver Arena is such a gorgeous venue to watch matches in. And even at 50% capacity we managed to make plenty of noise.

Wide angle photo of Rod Laver Arena, a tennis arena with a rich blue playing surface. The seats, which are also in shades of blue, are about half full with spectators. The sun is setting behind the photographer so there is a golden glow on the seats on the far side of the arena.

Speaking of venue capacity, it was super strange seeing Grand Slam Oval so empty! But with only two matches tonight, and the whole place strictly divided into zones anyway, it makes sense.

Selfie of a man and a woman, both wearing masks, with a mostly empty food and retail sports tournament space behind them. In the background is a building a smaller tennis arena.

Give this was a finals match we got to watch a short musical pre-show, complete with bisexual lighting.

Photo of a large tennis arena with its roof closed. The arena is bathed in blue and purple lighting while a trio of singers perform from one end of the court.

As for the match itself, well here’s Naomi Osaka’s serve in slow motion.

Of course at any modern sports venue the Spidercam is da real MVP.

Photo of a Spidercam camera mounted on a 360-degree gimball that’s attached to the ceiling by wires. This lets the camera zip around above the heads of the players, capturing the action from lots of different angles.

And even though we didn’t need these this year, Nadia is still a big fan!

Photo of a woman hugging a large metal fan that’s mounted on a wide cylindrical pedestal. Combined, the pedestal and fan are 50% taller than she is. On hot days these fans spray a fine spray of cold water over people passing by.

17 years

17 years of having our weirds in alignment.

A man with glasses and and a salt and pepper beard in three-quarter profile looks quizzically at the middle distance. A woman with long dark hair sits behind him making a silly face at the camera. (Selfie by Nadia Niaz.)

Happy anniversary Nadia!

Selfie of a woman and man with exaggerated expressions of surprise and wonderment on their faces.

Anniversary week!

Kicking of our anniversary week with brunch at our local café. Of the seventeen years Nadia and I have been married this last one has been the strangest, but also the best.

Selfie of a man and a women in front of a tall wooden fence. The two are wearing almost identical straw hats and are smiling at the camera.

Nadia's tomatoes

The blackbird that keeps trying to steal Nadia’s cherry tomatoes can only get at the fruit lower down on the plant so the tomatoes in the upper branches are coming alone nicely!

Close-up photo of a tomato plant branch laden with cherry tomatoes at various stages of ripeness.

Close-up photo of a backyard cherry tomato plant with three bright red cherry tomatoes on it, along with a couple of smaller, greener ones.

Thinking tomato-ey thoughts

Thinking tomato-ey thoughts and planning her plant potting process is Nadia.

A woman, with her back to the photographer, is standing in front of several medium and large sized potted plants in a residential garden. One of her hands is on her hips, the other is holding a large plastic watering can.

Power lifter

Guess who’s the power lifter in the family?

A woman smiles at the camera as she shows off her arms, on which the muscle definition is very clear. She is wearing a sleeveless tank top and has her arms raised by her side as she flexes her biceps.

Poet at work, with dog

Poet at work, with dog.

In a suburban garden a woman sits on cane chair with her feet are up on a plastic table in front of her. A bottle of water and phone are also on the table. The woman has a notebook in her lap. A red dog sits in the lawn next to the table, its attention on the front gate of the property. The grass in the lawn is thick and green and there if a flower acacia (with bright yellow flowers) in the background.

Happy birthday to me!

Hello. I am 44 years old today. Importantly, Nadia got us Oodies for my birthday!

Selfie of a man and a woman each wearing an oodie, which is an oversized blanked hoodie.

Sadly I haven’t gotten around to wearing mine for too long because this has been a lovely, sunny week in Melbourne.

Selfie of a man and a woman on a sunny day. The man is bald, with a salt and pepper beard, and is wearing glasses. The woman has long hair and has put her head on the man's should from behind him. They both have big goofy grins on their faces.

Happy birthday Nadia!

Happy birthday Nadia!

I’m glad we could celebrate the day with flourless orange cake…

Two-thirds of a flourless orange cake that’s decorated with almonds, orange rinds, and creamy frosting.

And with your very first drive-in cinema experience!

Nighttime selfie of me and Nadia, dressed warmly, sitting in the front seats of a parked car.

That too by watching E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which was fun trip down memory lane to the early 1980s :)

The outdoor cinema screen as seen from the front seat of a car that’s parked in a drive-in cinema. The 1980s version of the Universal logo is showing on the screen.

Lifting party 10 at Barbell Babes Brigade

Last year Nadia joined the fantastic Barbell Babes Brigade: a powerlifting training centre run for women, by women.

Not every member joins BBB to compete, of course, so every few months they organise their own ‘lifting party’. This is an event that gives all members an opportunity to come together in front of a hugely supportive audience of trainers, peers, and invited friends and family while they attempt personal-best lifts.

The assembled crowd cheers and celebrates a successful deadlift. Those are Nadia’s upraised arms in the foreground :)

This is the second lifting party that Nadia has participated in (and that I have, therefore, attended) and they’re always so much fun.

Nadia watches someone off camera attempt a deadlift. Nadia is wearing her BBB top with their ‘just strong’ tagline written in large, bold capital letters across the back.

Also, it turns out pigtails are super handy when you’re a strong badass who is lifting heavy weights in her shoulders :)

Nadia warms-up before her squat attempts.

This year Nadia managed a 75kg squat (up from 55kg last year!), 47.5kg bench press, and 65kg deadlift. Click those links (to Nadia’s Instagram account) to watch videos of her doing to those lifts.

If you’re a woman who is interesting in powerlifting and wants to be trained by (and train with) a fantastic bunch of women, I cannot recommend Barbell Babes Brigade enough.

Group photo of the participants at the March 2020 lifting party.

Levels of snuggles with Maggie

Calm morning snuggles with Ameel.

A red dog leans her head on the stomach of a man lying in bed. The man has one of his hands on the dog and is scritching her.

Warm, cozy snuggles on a chilly evening with Ameel.

A red dog is snuggled up next to a man on a sofa. The man has placed a towel on the dog to keep her warm and cozy.

Nadia, when she’s feeling particularly fond of Maggie: “I will kiss her and love her and squeeze her and call her George.”

A woman and a dog are on a sofa. The woman is hugging the dog and the dog has a resigned expression on its face.

To be fair, Maggie is actually okay with Nadia hugging her all the time. It’s having a camera pointed in her face that Maggie isn’t overly fond of. Though she’s kinda used to that now too because she knows nothing bad will come from it :)