Tikhtak

Madonna with Child

My CMS Colleague and friend Jonny Baker took this picture of Zara and Irfana at Greenbelt and emailed it to me yesterday with the title "Madonna with child"  I think it is great as you an see Irfana's motherly love and fascination as she gazes down at Zara and Zara's mix of curiosity and vulnerability.

Strange sights at Greenbelt 07 Festival

Having arrived back from Canada a day before Greenbelt I was expecting to see some strange sights so I wasn't let down. Zara and a Gorilla! It is of course a man in a Gorilla suit but I couldn't help feeling a bit on edge. This year Free For All was part of the main programme and so it was a strange sight to see us performing on one of the main stages. We worked hard all weekend and although only 35 children took part they  put on a quality performance. Check out the Free For All blog for more news on that. We tried to see one thing a day and in between rehearsing we often found ourselves relaxing and chatting in the contributers area. Irfana managed to take some pictures from around the grounds so check out my flickr pics and I have uploaded all our Free For All pics onto the CMS flickr site. Also check out the Greenbelt website for feedbacks from the festival and Monday's photostream have pics up there too.

Returning home from Canada

Tomorrow we head to Toronto from Winnipeg and then back to England. After four days in Niagra falls, we spent just over a week in Winnipeg with family. We decided to get a hire car to be able to roam around and with 4 children between our family and Azhar's we needed a bit of flexibility. Irfana took this picture of the sky on the way to Thunder Bay , It was taken from the car not a plane! We had a action packed four days with Irfana's Uncles and Cousin's in Thunder Bay and with a new PS3 to keep us amused into the early hours I was in my element. It was also great to spend time and eat great Pakistani food with family there. On Sunday we drove 8 hours back to Winnipeg and started to think about the prospect of returning home. We get back on Thursday morning  and then we are off to Greenbelt on Friday to perform Free For All. I will upload pictures to flikr when I get back.

Niagra Falls

Here is a picture of Zara flanked by Niagra Falls while she takes it all in her stride. We have spent an exhilarating four days here and are still goggle eyed by the sheer force and size of these falls. Perhaps the highlight was taking a boat ride right to the foot of the falls on the maid of the mist. For the rest of our pics check out my flickr.