One year in Ithaca

It is amazing how one (long) airplane ride can bring about so much change. It has been one year since Oliver and I came home to Ithaca to stay. Shami and I have never once second-guessed our decision to move back. It was the right thing to do for many reasons. It has been a long year, with many good times and many heartbreaking lows and frustrations. Although we miss our friends and many other things back in Sydney, there is no substitute for being close to family when times are hard, and Oliver is receiving amazing therapy here.

I keep thinking I'd like to post more to the blog, but then life can be so indescribably hard. It is one thing to write and read "every day is a struggle," and another to live it day after day, night after long, long night.

Hopefully we'll have some pictures of our recent adventures on here soon to share with you! And so we start our second year back in the US.

Oliver playing with his cousin Mariah

Merry Christmas!

Here's wishing everyone a very merry Christmas, and a happy holiday season!

Thank you

Shami and I are extremely touched by the incredibly thoughtful and sincere responses to our previous post. I know that every one of us has our own unique set of challenges and difficult situations that we must face. We appreciate your concern and caring for ours. By reaching out to us, each of you has helped to uplift our spirits. Thank you.

Happy New Year!

Well, 2007 was an interesting year which ended on a rather harrowing note for us. There will be lots of challenges in 2008 and beyond, but lets hope for a brighter year ahead... A very happy new year to all our readers, and thanks for all your support and good wishes.

Snoozing

Merry Christmas! The blog has been snoozing while we've been trying to catch our breath over the last three months. It's a long, complicated story, and we'll fill in the back story over time. For now, here's little Oliver Akash Kennedy Chatterjee, snoozing with his giraffe on Christmas eve. We hope you all have a very merry Christmas, and a wonderful holiday season!

A year of passionfruit

The pictures below were taken exactly a year apart. Can you spot the similarities and the differences? We still have a nice deck, there's still a bridge in the background, and the passionfruit tastes just as good as it did last August.

In the meantime, we've acquired furniture, bought a car, traveled a bit, seen some of the local flora and fauna, even held a baby wombat, and much more - all documented for you right here on this blog. As you can see, our life promises to be quite different starting very soon, so here's to a brand new adventure ahead!

Travel hiatus

We're off to India for my brother Tuku's wedding, and a joint reception afterwards. Hop-skip-boing will probably have light posting or take a break altogether while we're on the road, although there should be pictures afterwards.

Meanwhile, here's one of our older photographs of the Sydney harbour bridge at sunset, just to keep our loyal readers happy!


Update on 26 Feb 2007: We're back, and almost over jet lag. Posts about the India trip will appear chronologically.

Jody Says:

(You can also read more about Jody the baby wombat.)

Pardon the mess

Regular readers will notice some changes in our look and feel as we move from the old version of Blogger to Google's new, improved version (no longer in beta). Please pardon the mess, and do let us know if you notice any problems...

Congratulations, Tuku!

Congratulations to my little brother, who just joined the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, as an Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering!



It is a big move, and we're all very excited. On the plus side, this was a long term goal of his, and it's a fantastic opportunity. On the minus side, he apparently needs official permission if he wants to "contract plural marriage"... What will the paperwork czars think of next?

China

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for this short public service announcement:

Photographs from Shami's trip to China in July are finally online. Enjoy!


We now return to our regular program.

My first post...

Hello no one. Here is a picture of me and Shami.

Hello, World...

Welcome to Hop, Skip, Boing...