Roff Baby Trumps Royal Baby

Harry and Vicky, Duke and Duchess of Brisbane are thrilled to announce the arrival of Joshua Stuart Lee Roff. Joshua was born at 2am on Tuesday 30 July 2013. Mum, dad and baby are exhausted but all doing well. 

Well done Haz and Vic! 

Happy 21st Dom

Dom turns 21 today.  Amanda arrived back from Europe today and suffered an epic stacks on. Dad has some sweet test bikes at the moment. We skyped annika during the stacks on. Nick arranged for a Korg Synth for doms birthday, you can see how excited he was. Very chill. It is dinner time and Milly just arrived. Dad and Julia got him a down jacket and I haven't taken it off yet.

Not to be outdone...

Zac and Liz might visit extinct volcanoes, but I will soon be living at the base of this: 

Fortunately (don't worry mum), it usually looks more like this:

As my current project comes to an end, I have just signed a contract for a second assignment here in the Philippines, and will soon be moving to Legazpi City, at the foot of Mt Mayon, the most beautiful - and active - volcano in the country. 

Don't let this turn you off! 

The Bicol Region in which Legazpi is situated is the most beautiful part of the country - best food (lots of chilli and coconut), best beaches and friendliest locals around. There are whale sharks in the region between February and April; the reality series "Survivor" is filmed in one of the island chains just off the coast; and there are countless other "secret" islands and deserted beaches for exploring in the area.

I'll be based in the region until May next year, so if you've got some leave up your sleeve, come and visit!

x Annika 

Hi!! Just thought about posting a quick update of recent events. The big ones were the Kongsberg Jazz Festival, Copenhagen with Liz, Iceland with Liz and then a music festival in the mountains here in Norway. The Jazz festival was great, although while i write this i realise that the big acts were all Norwegian, so maybe not so interesting for everyone else. Diana Krall was there but we didnt see her, but it was a fun festival!

Liz and I at an extinct volcano

Iceland is really stunning, we visited volcanos, walked on glaciers, drove over lava fields and of course the more toursity things like the Geysir, Gullfoss and Blue Lagoon. It was an awesome trip and i would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who gets a chance to go!!

The music festival i went to was up in the Joutenheimen mountains of Noway which is in the middle, its really lovely up there and we got good weather!! Top bands of the weekend were 2 Door Cinema Club and then a bunch of other Norwegian bands as well. It was a really unique festival in that the music was only a small part, and that everyone hikes and kayaks during the day, and they run knitting courses, book lectures and wine tasting. Its a pretty chill, small set up, only 4000 people, and was very enjoyable! Photo below shows the festival area on the left of the lake.

Just to make sure that Ads doesnt steal the credit, as he did for "spawning harry's child", this is Zac.....

Wolverine update

Kimi was allowed an extra ticket to a cast & crew invite-only screening at Fox Studios yesterday of a much anticipated Wolverine 2. That's 1500 in 5 cinemas. Fortunately I qualified for Kimi's ticket (I can drive). What else would you be doing at 10am on a Sundee morning, eating free popcorn and spotting the big screen. Maybe join Hillsong in Cinema 2. But spotted she is. Serious spotting. Watch out for the bath scene. Forget Scarface. Wolverine 2 is your new stocking filler. Official release on Thursday 25th. No sign of a red carpet invite (yet) but Kimi gets listed in the credits, as Kimi (like a Bono, or a Cher), and given that the list itself is limited it's quite a credit.

In between movies, as she is, Kimi has been broadening her talent pool and taken up the ukelele. And K-pop dancing (pre-gangnam style). I bought her a ukelele for my early birthday present, and she taught me how to pronounce ookelaylay. The early celebrations continued in Cairns early July at a Ookelaylay Festival. Where were the Ukeladies? I borrowed Adam's Makholo but I doubt he'll get it back as it got signed by the Sweet Hollywaians, the headline act for the Festival, from Japan. Check them out on You Tube, they are good.....

....As are things in Kimi world. Having no interest in cricket helps a lot too. She thinks Jackson Bird should have been in Test 1 or 2, the ookulele was tuned, and she was singing…it was Jackson Bird in mid-July, just hit town and my throat was dry…
Brendan

Ken's 90th

Sorry for delay in this posting. Busy busy. Thanks to Grant for his description of Dad's birthday party. Sterling effort to fly up for his Uncle Ken, revealing the scars of his Viking heritage. All pre-event messages were relayed, the John photo raw and photo-shopped image waved under his nose, and appreciated, and a gathering of as few as Dad would concede to have. Not one for flying his own flag - nobody in the village was invited. Runs in the family. Martin turned 50 on Saturday and flew to Tasmania so nobody would notice. Catered for 25 at Dad's – it's hard to find friends when you are 90 - so Grant might have had some double vision tucking into Martin's cellar offerings. Mum tucked into her roast lamb, quite remarkable. I floated some pictures I have now inherited of early Dad years, Dad war years, Mum and Dad years, sometimes with children, and later Dad years usually with Mum and grandchildren, sometimes even with Neil and Eileen. He was an impressive figure in his day. Joining the historical dots is a difficult process though. Here is a sample.

 

         
You can work out who's who. You're all invited to his 100^th. There is a book open on who issues the telegram.

Brendan

SAVE THE DATE...23/11/13

Hi Everyone
I haven't been on the blog for quite some time as I defected to the dark side of facebook whilst in Canada to keep in touch, but now realise that it leaves out many of the older family members who can't get their heads around modern technology... Damian included!
Anyway...just had a lovely visit form Glenn and Sue who came to see Amy perform in the Wedding Singer musical last night which was fantastic! Amy has actually been accepted into the Hunter School of Performing Arts in Newcastle from next year for years 11 and 12. She would live with my sister Kathy, so we are in the process of deciding what to do...a wonderful opportunity but still a bit unsure!
Now the real reason I decided to blog was to remind all of you to save the date of Saturday November 23 to celebrate Damian's 50th birthday at our house in Armidale. John has already booked tickets so hope you are able to make it too, and I will send out a more official invitation sometime soon. We will set up a stage on the back verandah, so be prepared to share your talents with the guests.

It will be great fun and a good chance to catch up, so put the date in your diary now.

Take care
Love Jenny xxx

Half an Update

Harry and Vicki is old news. We all know that, to quote Stuart Roff, "where it is at" ismy life because I will very shortly become an uncle. Which is obviously hugeand new news. (Stuart, I don't care what Milly says, you are definitely "with it".)

I'm actually writing this from work instead of, you know, doing work largely because I can. I should also say I am writing this at work instead of, you know, doing work largely because I canand I have just been handed a glass of wine. (It turns out that when I delegated to some of my existing staff the responsibility of hiring new staff they very sensibly chose as a new staff member a person whose father owns a winery.)

At the moment my work consists of turning up to a building every weekday, looking at cats and cat-related things on the internet until I get hungry, going to get some food, going back to the same building when I am no longer hungry because I have eaten some food, researching on the internet whether or not penguin would taste like chicken, fish or a combination of both, and then walking home in the afternoon. I also have to make sure that my staff pretends to be busy when I stop looking at cats and cat-related things on the internet. Sometimes I mix things up by stopping off at a pub on the walk home. Variety is the spice of life after all. On very rare occasions I will completely shake up the routine by doing stuff.

One example of the stuff I occasionally do includes going to Jake's 40^th with Alaine, Nick and Rowan. We started from Marianne and Stuart's house because we know Marianne owns a car and while Alaine distracted Marianne by performing a jig Nick stole the car keys. At one point during the trip Rowan took off his headphones and referred to our group as "The Awesome Gang" and then said, "Wow! How good is this? The Awesome Gang go on a road trip!" At which point Nick suggested Rowan should put his headphones back on and then when Rowan put his headphones back on Nick said, "We should stop for petrol, let Rowan go inside and pay for it and while he is doing that we should drive off. Without him. Just to be clear, we should drive off without Rowan." Alaine and I agreed. But who knew Rowan was resourceful enough to actually make his own way to Lismore from the service station one kilometre from Marianne and Stuart's house where we had stopped to get petrol in order to get to Lismore? Once in Lismore, and after apologising to Rowan for the misunderstanding, we had a great time. There is some footage floating around somewhere on my mobile phone of a dance competition between Glenn & Sue and Rod & Sharon, as well as some stellar footage of Band 6. We (Damian and Joe included) also drank beers made by KISS. That's right, the KISS. I can't be sure how much involvement Gene Simmons has in the brewing process but the beer makes you want to "rock and roll all night and party every day."

Another example of the stuff I occasionally do is go down to Melbourne where I get treated to lunch by Grant and Julia, drink all of Nick's beers, have Dom give up his bed for me and then not sleep in Dom's bed and then get into an argument with the woman at the Tiger counter when I am told I missed the 45 minute cut off point for checking in because I have been waiting in the line to check in for 45 minutes before the 45 minute cut off point.

My suggestion for the name of the spawn produced Harry and Vicki depends upon whether or not it is a boy or a girl. If it is a boy my suggestion is Rudy. If it is a girl my suggestion is Rudy.

(Aunty Sue, I got the article from The Australian about hipsters. I'm even more of a hipster now because I have a beardand thick-rimmed glasses. How was the Larapinta Trail?)

Halfie update...

Vic has been waiting patiently for nine months now and as the build up came to her due date today, I had not really prepared for nothing to happen.

We have been busily painting, decorating and cleaning our house for the arrival of the little one and are enjoying our last few moments of relatively little responsibility.

We will keep you all informed with updates.

The DSR

The media keep blaming the DSR for the Ashes loss. I refuse to let them badmouth my charismatic cousin. We need more of his kind.

Uncle Ken's 90th, among other things

I've declined from posting on this because I thought Brendan or Martin or any of the others who took hundreds of photos would eventually get around to it but, without pictures, I should tell you what happened.

It was a great day for all concerned. The advance advice was that Aunty Betty might make a guest appearance but she was there for the entire three hours and thoroughly enjoyed the company. The party was held in the kitchen/reception area of the village and the area was decorated by balloons and streamers. All the hard work was done by Brendan, Kimi, Martin, Jenny and Martin's kids.

Guests arriving early (me) had access to the bar and the beautiful snacks only Kimi can produce. Martin had plundered his cellar and we enjoyed the best South Australia has to offer.

Uncle Ken and Aunty Betty arrived early but the room filled quickly with around 30 - 35 guests including old friends from Orchard Street, Pymble, where the Seages spent most of their lives. The Roff boys were remembered by many as all of the older ones spent considerable time in our younger years as guests of the Seages.

There was a smattering of relatives as well, including in-laws and at least one Newton. It was a sit-down dinner and the food was excellent - who doesn't like a roast?

Neil Seage was overseas but his son was there along with the Tony Seages, including the legendary music producer, Mick.

The Roffs were represented by myself and Adam.

Brendan delivered the main speech which was largely a summary of Uncle Ken's life. Brendan - any chance of you posting it for those who weren't able to attend? It was fascinating although regularly punctuated by Brendan saying he wasn't sure if some things he claimed actually happened - despite Uncle Ken sitting there neither agreeing nor disagreeing with what was said.

Uncle Ken responded with the grace only he possesses. Not bad for a man of his years. He enjoyed Martin's red wine as much as me and I'm guessing his afternoon sleep was unusually deep.

The Seages, as we all know, are an exceptional family and a blessing to the family tree.

Long live Uncle Ken.

Grant xx

Annika and Amanda, you've got nothing on this wild Roff party...

Another Melbourne Roff promoting tourism in the Philippines...

Just farewelled Amanda who is off on the European leg of her overseas adventure after spending a week here in the Philippines. We had a wild weekend in Manila, enjoying everything from luxury spa treatments and dentistry on a budget, to an unplanned stroll through the red light district, four hours of karaoke power, and a 4am drag show at Home Depot. We also found time to hit (or swing at) a few balls in an old Spanish Fort converted into a driving range, and tasted some of the local delicacies at the weekend markets. Despite the stormy onslaught of "Tropical Depression Emong" (official name), we made it to and from Puerto Galera on a rickety old boat and managed some quality beach time. It must have been hard to leave, but I guess the Greek Islands are not too shabby either. Only six weeks to go for me here. My how time flies!

Cheers from us too Ken

Hi Ken. Happy Birthday. I have no idea why John photoshopped us out of the original photo..? He may not be proud of us, but we want you to know that we are proud of you and we are thinking of you.

Cheers to Uncle Ken

Perth Roffs in Paris

What a great city this is!!!! Lots of history, lots of the grand in their buildings, lots of eating, chocolating, coffee-ing, touring and artworks. It is such a great language too ! We are bunkered down in a small Parisian studio flat...think arms outstretched by Zac and you have the width...
but in a great location, nearby St Germain ( haven't run into Becks and Posh yet ) and Notre Dame and have done lots of walking around the place checking the sites. The typical sites in fact pale into insignificance compared to the Abercrombie and Fitch store on the Champs Élysées which is an experience in itself.
Will try to get to Roland Garros tomorrow weather permitting-we have had a few days of rain-but it will be risky as I don't have tickets so it would be a wing and a prayer job but you never know.
Next week it is Norway to see Zac in Kongsberg where he works and maybe Liz in Oslo, where she is staying.
TtUncle Ken 90...who would believe that. We'll still be in Euro land but big hugs from all of us over here. Want to see him get a bit of spark ? Ask him about Doug Walters! Or get him to name his all time test team.


Rock and Jan

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Europe 3

Hi All,

Just a quick note of update from the European experience.We are lounging by the pool at the flash resort in Santorini taking in a bit of R and R before the next leg in Italy.Since our last note we hired a car in Santiago and Zac drove via Salamanca to Madrid only putting the windscreen wipers on twice and taking in the rich countryside.Salamanca has a great university and trading tradition and have maintained their old section ( from the 1200's ) really well.Liz and Zac played up with the students whilst the old guys were still resting their feet from the big walk and retired early.
Madrid was terrific. Liz took in the royal palace ( we had already done that) whist Jan and I went to a huge mass in the cathedral next door, presided over by the Cardinal and 8 bishops.The singing was divine and the lead girl could have been Sarah Brightman for all we knew.
Zac flew back to Norway leaving me the driver to Barcelona.In hindsight we may not have done that again,but we survived and the changing landscape was terrific.
Barcelona was alive in many ways.Our airbnb unit was very central,great for transport,shopping etc but "by central" read loud,alive and noisy until the wee hours of the morning,each morning.
The Spanish never seem to sleep,except for the school aged girl pickpocket who tried to fleece me on the train.Thankfully she got nothing but unnerved me.
The Gaudi works are magnificent,crazy, and imaginative and all of the above.
Liz then flew to Norway leaving Jan and I to head to our Greek Island paradise.Great Greek history and archeology here mixed with many touristy aspects.All enjoyable.
Health wise fine and enjoying the break
Cheers
Jan and John

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Europe w

Hi guys

Quick report from Santiago. We made it in today after 6 days on the trail. Zac and Liz managed the full 115km, and Jan and I went close. My dodgy left foot finally collapsed at the 10km mark on day 5, and I had to get a taxi over the last 6 to our hotel. We strapped and bandaged it it for the last day, for the 14km walk into the cathedral but again to no avail as it was a limp and pain and shuffle show all the way, and I finally called it at the edge of town, missing the last 4 km,and left the kids to do the final stage. Jan and I taxied to the hotel , changed and met them at the front of the big church as they came in. Not the finish I was hoping for, and it smacks of Moses stuff, but in the big picture end we all did 'the last hundred' as the walk was called and prayed at the tomb of St James happy but weary. We did the pilgrim's mass which was packed and moving and a fitting end to a long walk in the woods ( apologies to Bill Bryson)

In the washup, it was a great walk....challenging because of its distance, but well supported and well signposted and lots of local business based along it. People do it for all sorts of reasons and there is a certain spiritual growth in everyone on the journey. On a personal level it was great to spend time with Jan and the kids. I've got lots of admiration for people who walk the lot (800kms) or who carry all their gear with them. I'm happy we opted for the hotel / luggage transfer option

It is a terrific day here in Santiago. It is of course Ascension Thursday , and in Spain that means ' party time ' . There are street parades, masses, bands on massive stages in front of the Cathedral, street performers, side show Ferris wheels and lots of people and a real carnival atmosphere. We were out and about earlier but the walk has taken its toll and we are all now in the land of nod 

Off tomorrow towards Madrid for the start of the' real holiday'. We drop Zac at the airport for him to fly home to Norway, then Liz Jan and I drive on to Bathelona ( that's how the locals say it) where Liz flies on to Norway herself and Jan and I head to Santorini for a bit of R and R.

Hope all is well with you all . We didn't take a camera as Zac and Liz had theirs. When they send through a couple of photo's I'll pass them on.

Cheers

John, Jan, Kate and Liz.

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Europe

Hi

Greetings from the middle of Spain. The tour has been great so far and we are enjoying the Euro hospitality and scenery...and the exchange rate!! Started at Lyon and just south of that at the spiritual home of the Marist Brothers at ' the Hermitage'. It was a terrific experience. The place normally has room for between 100-150 and for those 4 days the only guests were us. So we dined with the brothers, did prayers with them and they drove us all around the area on the 'Marcellin trail'. It sure is a place we should take a school excursion to if we can juggle the expenses. 
We are now on the Santiago Camino walk (tautology?),into day 4 tomorrow and the walking has been great, through forests, fields, villages, along horse tracks, paths and roads. It is really well signposted and at this time of year there are plenty of people doing it. We have picked up a few blisters and aching feet stuff but if St James can do, so can we. It has been terrific walking with Zac and Liz and they nicely have slowed down for their parents. Weather wise it has been mixed but no shockers yet though tomorrow's forecast is not looking flash. Jan picked up a leg rash and medical advice was treatment plus rest,so she is having tomorrow off ( taxi or bus to the next place) but will be fine after that. We are due in Santiago on Friday arvo. It has a cute little 'old town' section and a magnificent cathedral which we have already done but will do again as it is the official end of the walk.

Hope all is well with you. I'll try to send photo's next time.Feel free to forward this on to whoever you think may be interested.

Regards

John,Jan,Zac and Liz

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Fwd: Ken Seage turning novogenerical

Subject: Ken Seage turning nonagenerical

June 5th marks Dad / Ken / uncle Ken' s 90th birthday. Whilst he is unimpressed at the prospect he has agreed to allow a gathering to acknowledge the significance  of the milestone. That will be a lunch at the Lourdes Administration centre on June 16th (Sunday) from 12-3pm to which you are of course invited. It could match the festival of Jakestock, but a limited edition in 3 daylight hours unless it kicks on. Dad will probably nod off at times.
Can you advise if any of you might wish to attend so we can organize catering. Send to brenzo@yahoo.com
You may not be aware that Dad has moved to a new section of Lourdes, and off-loaded 60 years of hoardings in the process. Zen minimalist, the Grasshopper, but with a beer in his mini fridge. He is looking well with catered meals. Space restrictions means strictly no presents. New address is Apartment 57B, 95 Stanhope Road Killara. Same phone number.
Mum is unchanged, still happy to see you but struggling to know who you are. She may attend briefly. Dad too might struggle with a few names, but at 90 cut him some slack.
Brendan
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