The unaired 1994 pilot for 24

Remember 1994...back in the days with no mobile phones, dial up and 16ppm inkjets

Miniature Earth

World Vision - Miniature Earth vid

Thanksgiving pics as promised

We had a Thanksgiving dinner a week or so ago - it was brilliant to experience this kind of American tradition for real. 2 years ago I took part in a dinner that was a thanksgiving/christmas combined style. A friend who had lived in the States for a few years helped it get underway, but it was nothing like last week. One of the best parts was inviting others into our space and enjoying the food and time together. We had 14 Americans, 3 Aussies & 3 Brits at our place to celebrate the American Thanksgiving holiday (and apparently the homecoming of prodigal sons from the far flung islands. It's ok, we were all graciously forgiven by the Brits ;)

We even talked about the history of thanksgiving and sang a song.

Here are a few more pics from the evening. You can check out a few more on the link to the right - and also here: http://picasaweb.google.com/oselle

Serving up the Thanksgiving buffet!

Caramelized Sweet Potatoes (or Candied Yams/Brown Sugar covered Kumera - whatever you'd like to call them!)

Mmmmmm dessert time! Pumpkin Pie and Baked Lemon Cheesecake with great icecream & raspberries.

Great conversation, coffee, food - delightful!

I love the giggle on Janae's face here! Joe is pictured here entertaining the kids as they waited for dessert, with Sam silently smiling on the sidelines.

Wanderings in an enchanted christmas lit city.

While my current housemates have guests over this weekend, I'm staying at a friend's place down in Putney. (which is south and on the other side of the Thames) It's great having a reason to look around different areas of London and I've spent some wonderful bus hours looking at new-for-me Christmas decorations/lights/shop displays!

The bus route takes different amounts of time depending on which end of the day you're travelling. It took me over an hour to get to work the other day, which is different than what I've been used to (and the bus timetable said 35mins...) I head back to North London - Kilburn on Sunday.

Today I met up with a gal who is also looking for a new place to live next year. She's friends of my current housemates and on staff at CRM. JJ turned out to be exactly the same personality style as me. We even both sit on the border between I/E! Very interesting indeed. We're considering living together in the new year, from around February. Need to look out for a few people as well - will wait and see what comes up in the next few weeks. It may well be difficult to try and find people around this time of the year, but nothing is impossible. Just keeping my ears to the ground and letting those around me know where I'm at.

After catching up with JJ, I spent a luscious afternoon walking around Picadilly Circus and hanging out in St. James Market. The market was perfect. Just small and selective enough to keep me entertained for the better part of 2 hours. I had to contain myself from buying so many wonderful things, a kaliedescope, doll that turned into 2 other characters, draw your own jigsaw puzzle, jewish oven proof bowls, amber jewellery and tibetan project bags & rings.

I did come out with a christmas present for someone - who will remain nameless, a couple of bags of scented tea(red rooibos chai & dried apple/green tea called wanderlust), a new scarf and a tree stamp.

I had already had a wander around St. James' church which was just on the otherside of the market, but before I nipped into the nearest 'Nero' cafe to pick up a toasted ham and Mozorella wrap and hot chocolate - milano style, I went past the church again. I found a choir who were practicing for a performance in the church tonight. They were singing songs in Latin, songs for a Mass I gathered. It was incredible - and the sound in the church sent chills down my spine and all throughout my being. I remember the moments when I was in a choir back home, the Renae Singers - we used to sing songs that sometimes took you to another place when you hit just the right notes together, and it felt just like that. I missed being in a choir tonight and wanted above all else to share the moment with my mother and two sisters.

You would have loved it. Remember the church we used to sing sacred songs in with Renaes - during the Deloraine Art Fair? So much more incredible than that scenario.

Such a wonderful day. And suprisingly, I don't mind not having anyone else with me to share it with. It's enough just to be in these moments, hours.

I've suprised myself how long I've stayed out till, on my own during the last few Saturdays/Sundays. Only mean to be gone for a couple of hours and come home 4-5 hrs later...

On the bus home today, it started to snow! It didn't last for very long and it was possibly only because I was on a double dekker bus and the girls behind me pointed it out that I chanced to see it. It may have melted before it touched the grimy street. London's loss. Our gain for the sight we saw and excitement we felt.

I've just finished reading Philip Pullman's series - His Dark Materials. The Golden Compass starts in cinemas on the 5th December, which I'm desperate to see. I'll begin looking for a friend this week to enjoy it with so we can hang out and chat about it afterwards. I'm not giving in to the controversy about the film, book series or Philip Pullman's athiesm. There's light and faintness in his writing but above all else, I felt a closer connection with the Holy Spirit during this reading. It sure was a beautiful perspective on life that has opened my eyes in a different way during the last few weeks.

The worlds that his characters travel to remind me that I'm in a new country and there is much to see, learn and appreciate about others that share this part of the world. I feel like one of his characters wandering through unfamiliar streets, letting every day be a new experience filled with the strain, tension, delight and adventure that London leads me to. It's fun reading references to Oxford, as I can imagine that I'm in the places that they may also have walked - even though I'm not actually in Oxford myself. I feel close by.

It will be novel to travel there at some stage - I'm sure it's not that far away. I will remember his characters and their experiences there.

Too long it is since I have written here and have enjoyed it alot. I'll try and write again soon - I've meant to fill you all in on my thanksgiving experiencees over here. It's been a pain just messing around with the photos though, since I've had some difficulties in uploading. I may change the photo site that I've linked to on the right, since Flickr will only allow you to have 200 photos up before they ask you to pay for a subscription. Picassa is a much better site for photos but mainly because they also have an uploader and it links in well with gmail and iphoto.

Tarrah!