Matthew's News and Gossip

The Bounty Hunter leaps for the line

And what could be more American and better than Monster Trucks in the rain and the mud at my local neighborhood baseball stadium. What a laugh!! There were three tip overs including a spectacular vertical leap and crash down backwards....


She fell over (Women drivers, I ask you!)

All the photos are here ( I have some movies too, but you'll have to ask for a private viewing!)

One of my best friends from Cambridge, Paula is taking a year off to sail around the Caribbean (or the West Indies if you're a Brit). I went over there to join them for a few days. On the good boat Yellowbird we did a teeny amount of sailing between the very pleasant shores of the various US and British Virgin Islands. It was really great to hang out with Paula and John.


Matthew & Paula relaxing after heavy sailing effort


More heavy "sailing"


Yellowbird from the business end


The tree was straight before I got on the tire!

They claim that they are real hard core sailors, but my understanding of that is a little different to the "get out of bed at 11, turn the motor on--wonder over to the next island, find the next bar conveniently located on the beach, drink all afternoon and hope that you can find the boat when you wonder back in the dinghy around midnight" experience that I had! No question that the Bushwackers and Pina Coladas went down a treat...


Typically tropical


This is called "Goose-winging" (but we gave up & turned the engine on a few minutes later!)


These guys do it on a slightly bigger scale

Many thanks to Paula and John for putting up with me. What a wonderful way to kill a few days.....although quite how they justify doing it for a whole year is beyond me. Shocking!!

All the photos in a somewhat Stalinized version are here

OK. Lots of catching up to do in this photo bloggery mania. First up is the lovely and wild Maya Capur, who is taking me to Duran Duran next month, after her own trip to New Zealand

Maya had a birthday party for an indeterminate age at her parents house on the last day of January -- just to prove that you are never too old to go home. Or in her case to force her parents to move nearer her...(from Kenya!)


Maya ruining her family's chance for a peaceful life

Far too much fun and good curry for a Monday night. And she was bloody rude about the very cool presents I bought her....

All the photos are here