Wow,
Today Ravi turned one. A whole year old. He is currently fast asleep
after a fun and busy day as I write this blog at almost 10 o'clock at
night. Its been a year of learning for us all, as all new parents
know. Last night at this time he was still scuttling around our feet
laughing hysterically. The most recent lesson being 'don't give your
soon to be one year old the cake mix bowl to lick too close to bed
time.
Chocolate
brownies the cake in question. Just over a year ago we sailed past
and then later briefly met the Del Viento family. Ruth was on the
verge of giving birth. Before they left the anchorage they kindly
made us some chocolate brownies. They left them in the cockpit of
Impetuous as we were out at the time. Infact we were out at the
hospital embarking on what turned out to be the quite lengthy process
of having a baby. So when I got back to the boat it was dark. Indeed
it was still dark when I left the following morning.
I'm
not entirely sure how long they had been there when I finally
discovered them. They had clearly been through a few melt cycles but
they were gooey, crunchy and delicious and it was quite an effort for
me to save some to take in for Ruth; for whom i'm sure they were
really intended, still languishing, knackered in hospital trying to
persuade the doctors and nurses that they were ready to come home. So
when it came to making some sort of cakey thing to celebrate Ravi
turning one the chocolate brownie came to mind.
We
are currently in Cairns having just spent the last few days stocking
up and organising before we head up towards the remote Thursday
island on the North East tip of Australia. Of course as well as
provision we've been keeping an eye out for a suitable one year old
present. Suitable for a sailor.
We
stumbled on an environmentally conscious toy shop in Cairns thinking
a little wooden trinket or nice little book may be the thing. There
we were blown away by all the beautiful wooden toys, books, recycled
plastic toys but one thing after a perusal leapt out. 'Hugg a Planet'. We turned it over marvelling at the detail particularly of
obscure islands; some we've been to, most we'd like to one day and
the lovely huggable squishiness of it. In our standard style we
resolved it was very lovely but a bit pricy, perhaps we'll have a
bash at making one ourselves and paid for the little dancing dinosaur
we'd chosen.
On
our way about town we discussed how we'd never manage the level of
detail and accuracy on the globe and it would take ages... hey what
about the money for Ravis birthday your parents sent. They'd love us
to splash out on something nice for him, so back we went and here it
is. Ravi's globe.
Last
night after we'd all finally gone to bed, Ruth sewed on his route
thus far; from Fiji, to New Caladonia and the east coast of Austraila
and Tasmania. We will keep updating it as we sail from country to
country. Lets face it, it's quicker and more fun than a traditional
log. Our next stop will be Indonesia so there will be a little more
sewing on passage as well as our new courtesy flag needed.
Birthday splashes whilst his parents felt apprehensive about crocodiles...
Wrapping paper Impetuous style...
