The Wevel-Pyatt Virtual Photo Gallery

Tim visited Las Vegas one time on the way to San Diego. A weekend in gambling paradise at government expense. Ah, what a perk!

He spent the first evening driving around in his little red Mustang and getting lost. Two photos of the same thing?

When he finally found the hotel he was staying in, Circus Circus - he then managed to walk into the wrong room.

After he finally found the room he was supposed to be in, he went for a walk and took photos of the sights.

Including a small scale version of the Statue of Liberty. This casino complex also had a roller coaster, but the line was far too long.

On the first evening, Tim didn't gamble or drink at all (therefore it is hard to understand why this lion is so out of focus).

Lights. lights and more lights.

The big M&Ms. Everything is bigger in the United States!

Eventually Tim found his way back to the hotel, just across from the drive in chapel.

This was the hotel where Tim stayed one night, near LAX. He had all manner of problems getting milk for coffee here.

The great hole in the ground, also known as the Grand Canyon.

Tim had driven from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon. Arrived to find it very very very cold with no jumper or jacket.

So he leapt out of the car, ran around taking photos, trying to get some idea of the scale of the place on film.

It was close to the end of the day. Tim had started driving out at about 10 in the morning, now he had to drive back to Las Vegas.

All in all, he drove for about 12 hours in order to spend in the order of fifteen minutes at the Grand Canyon.

It would be nice then if you could appreciate the photos ...

... which he took in those 15 minutes ...

... even if there are really quite a lot of them.

See the snow. It was really, really cold. Has that been mentioned?

More evidence of snow. From memory it wasn't even close to winter at the time.

Note nice warm jackets worn by other, more sensible tourists.

We hope you are still enjoying these photos.

Not that many to go now.

Almost the last one.

Finally, it is over. This is the last photo of the Grand Canyon on this site.

We promise.

Kalle and our next door neighbour's son, Patrick.

Taltarni in one of another generation of Batman outfits.

Julia and an ex.

A congregation on our neighbour's lawn - Dave and Jill Hainline.

Occasionally turtles would wander up from the creek. Although you can't really see it, this is what the centre of interest is.

Here you can see it though!

So much fuss for one small turtle.

Tasha was well behaved, or relatively well behaved and we could let her run free if we were out and about.

Michelle, a friend of Kajsa's from work in Australia, with Kajsa in the kitchen.

Ben and Kalle in the basement.

Kalle and Ben in the basement, actually playing together.

Same again.

Tasha in the enormous back yard.

Looking from the balcony towards our back door neighbours, there was a gate in the back fence from which we could walk down to the creek.

Tasha again.

Michelle's husband the Tax Man.

Kalle in the kitchen, to the right is the lounge. A window looks out over to Jill and David's house.

Taltarni in the kitchen, on the other side of the table where Kalle was in the previous photo.

Someone's birthday it would seem.

A rare photo of Kajsa with her glasses on.

Probably Kalle's birthday, turning five.

"Where's my cake?"

Blowing the candles out.

Checking the damage.

Another rare photo of Kajsa with her glasses on, with Julia in the background. Behind Julia is the lounge room where there was a fireplace and plants.

Kalle's classroom at Vienna Town and Country. Preparations for the huge Halloween Parade are in progress.

One of Kalle's favorite teachers can be seen dressed up as an M&M. Must be fun to be a Primary Teacher.

Last words before the big event.

Encouragement from the coach.

Finally here it is, the Parade. It consisted of walking (twice) around the admin block.

Kalle went against tradition this year, due to a problem with a massive undersupply of suitable Batman outfits.

Poor Kalle was forced to undergo the indignity of turning up to the Halloween Parade in a Zorro outfit (minus rapier).

Kalle's class on the hill, watching the performance. There a sort of concert as well, with lots of scary songs and so forth.

Kalle and Taltarni with the Jack o' Lanterns which were set on our front steps.

Tim had gone to a lot of trouble to select only the finest pumpkins, with sizes appropriate to the owner and proceeded to scrape them all out.

Then there is the nauseating process of carving a face. A simple face is pretty easy, but that isn't allowed. You have to use a stencil.

A stencil is of some horribly complicated face drawn on paper. You adhere that to the pumpkin and then stick holes through it into the pumpkin.

Then you carve a face in accordance with your lines. It never works.

It was also quite warm that year so the lanterns started to rot pretty quickly. And Kalle wanted his in his room, of course.

One of these photos was our Christmas card for that year.

Can't remember which one though.

Thanksgiving dinner, held in Maryland, if we remember correctly.

Bill Hemschrodt invited to his family get together, a real piece of America - including apple pie!

Kalle and Taltarni made a fort.

Kajsa drinking a beer for Thanksgiving while the lads watched "the game".

Bill Hemschrodt's grandson.

Bill is in red.

Eventually Kalle had the TV all to himself. That was after he and Tim went out to play a bit of Aussie rules.

One of the Hemschrodt clan.

Kalle, meanwhile is still enjoying whatever was on TV.

Taltarni just liked having her photo taken, also at Thanksgiving.

And she insisted on getting her head in the way!

Can you call this a self-portrait when only one of the people in the photo is holding the camera? Makes for a strange perspective.

Another one.

Taltarni is still not tired of having her photo taken.

Young Hemschrodts.

Bill and Glenna.

Kalle and Taltarni outside our house very proud of our lights.

Kalle insisted on giving a nightly concert - the lights are flashing, the bells are ringing, snow is everywhere and Santa is coming with his sack.

We wondered if he would be terribly disappointed if there was no snow. There was the first year - a little bit anyway.

Now even pappa is there.

Again.

This, although it seems completely black in the thumbnail, was our Christmas light arrangement. Poor show really.

Taltarni and her Christmassy dress.

Kajsa and Taltarni, we were probably out doing some Christmas thing.

Looks like it might have been Lucia with the Swedish crowd.

Tim, Kajsa and Taltarni - still waiting for Kalle to arrive with the Lucia train.

Here she is!

There she goes.

They all file past, still no Kalle because the little ones come last.

After the girls come the boys, tallest first.

Finally there is Kalle, dresses as a stjarngosse, or Starboy - coming in last with Tomten.

Kalle at the front, singing a series of traditional Swedish Lucia songs.

My, what a big star you have.

And then they go out again.

Looks like Kalle jumped the queue in this one.

When we got home, we did our own little Lucia train because Taltarni felt left out.

For some reason Kajsa did not want to try to arrange someway of sticking candles in her hair.

Tasha wondering what the heck is going on. Crazy Swedes. (Crazy humans, perhaps.)

Still, whatever it is, Tasha is thinking, it might be tasty. Worth a sniff.

About this time, Tim is hoping the neighbours aren't watching. It's been going on for a while.

Like many ceremonies you don't quite understand, it seems to go on forever.

... and ever.

... and ever.

... and ever.

Finally Taltarni is starting to think she has had enough.

A nice little fire in the background as Taltarni starts to take off her crown of lights.

Doesn't she look like a little angel. Looks can be sooooo deceptive.

It's still not over though.

It just keeps going on.

... and on.

... and on.

Taltarni, at this stage, is starting to beg. Please, make it stop.

Here it would seem that Taltarni is holding her head in her hands and is screaming in anguish.

But it is to no avail. The torment continues. Does this constitute child abuse? Not in Sweden it would seem.

And then, they leave.

Remember the promise of no more Grand Canyon photos. It seems we lied. Here are some more.

During the short visit, Tim did have enough time to buy another roll of film.

Given that he had endured a six hour journey, by himself, in the car the get there - Tim was damn sure he was going to get a good photo.

Best way to ensure a good photo is to take lots.

Which is what he did.

Lots.

And lots.

A plethora of Grand Canyon photos.

Each one a testament to the huge effort he made and, in some, a reminder just how cold it was.

And very very rocky.

Palm trees in LA

More palm trees in LA

Taltarni ready to go out, in her very nice dress.

Kajsa also ready to go out. Here they stand on our sweeping staircase.

This was on the way to a wedding of one of Kajsa's work colleagues.

So Kalle wore a tie, very swish.

The wedding was a little unorthodox, they basically held it in a ballroom, where the reception was held. That wasn't clear at first.

We thought we might only be invited to the reception, but no, here you see the kids sitting on the floor watching the wedding vows.

Taltarni was especially impressed with the wedding gown. Sadly, because Tim had the camera and didn't know the bride, he didn't bother taking a photo

Aren't they cute?

This might have been the point where Tim was trying to convince Taltarni to go ask the bride if she was a princess.

Kalle is surprised by something.

Taltarni and her pappa take part in the bridal waltz while Kalle does the hokey-pokey in the background.