We're BAAAAAack!

Oh man, has it been a looooong time since we last updated TDW! Here's some of the highlights since our last episode:

• My mother had ANOTHER bout with "The Big C" and whooped it's malignant ass! She'd got a few battle scars but she is the victor! WOOT!



• My father had a stroke (minds out of the gutter, please) but is doing very well. His short term memory is effected a bit but it's not a "Groundhog Day" situation.



• Kai: Doing very well at school. Still taking the scuba diving classes and will prpbably sprout gills by next Spring!



• Jack: Judo is his thang. Parkour is still there whenever we are walking anywhere (climbing walls and jumping off them, occasionally worrying the neighbour lady by clambering up onto our garage roof. The kid's a nut!



• Kasper is growing like a sprout!

Hannah's keeping books as a Bookkeeper ( http://www.kjk-book-keeping.com/ ) and is doing well. She's still working at the childrens home but will be going off on maternity leave sometime in December/January.

After a complete OS re-install; Vista will not recognise the video from my Sony handycam correctly. It may or may not get both the video and audio. DAMN YOU VISTA ! It'll be a while until I get video back on the blog. I've got loads to edit and format and post so it will be worth it but you'll have to wait!

PS. Be sure to check out my pro-tography site. Toodle pip! http://www.clematisimages.com/

Flatford Mill

We took a trip to Flatford Mill; the place where the famed East Anglian artist John Constable spent a good part of his life honing his mad skillz as a landscape painter. To learn more about John Constable; consult your local library!

Our neighbour describes him as "...a bit of a mountain goat!"

Ladieeeeeeeees and gentlemen ! Chilluns of aaaall ages ! ! !

You know the old saying "It's not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog", right? Well, Circus Ricardo is a small traditional* circus. It's an itty-bitty circus with the biggest heart on the circuit!

So there we were at the 6pm show in Southwold. Lovely little seaside town where we saw Justo and crew two years ago. Among the 50+ audience members were Hannah, Kai, Jack, Kasper, me and our friends John and Tracey and their kids Rafe (2) and Ethan (4).

The show was going great; Daredevil Deville's little brother juggled a set of cricket balls (dropped 2x), bigger sofe foam balls (dropped 3x). 3 flat rings (dropped 2x), 5 flat rings (dropped 3x) and 3 juggling pins (no drops!)! Human error, duff CD player and music miscues and a magic trick where the magician gets locked in a trunk and his assisstant stands atop the trunk and lifts a surrounding curtain over her head and FLASH the magician has somehow escaped the trunk and switched places with the assisstant! Thats how it was supposed to go. When the assisstant lifted the curtain around herself to make the switcheroo, after nearly an uncomfortable (read AGONISING) 90 seconds we kinda got the feeling that this gag wasn't going according to plan! But when they finaly did get thetrick figured out; the curtain dropped and...the magician was outside the box and lo and behold the assisstant ended up where he was. In the box. Wow. No animals are involved in the recent tour and Larry the Laughing Mule was sorely missed at todays show.

Cut to Kai getting picked by Justo the Clown (Justo owns Circus Ricardo with his brother Rupert, true names I kid you not) as a Trainee Clown Premiere Classe. He deftly fabricates a balloon hat and balloon clown nose out of, well, balloons of course and gets her to spin two plastic plates on sticks one held in heach hand. She's in her element!

Justo then asks Kai to face the audience and spread 'em; he bends over and kneels down and without so much as a "UNGH, MY SPINE!" he hoists her up in the traditional sit-on-my-shoulders attitude! Then, the dozy bozo goes and grabs his UNICYCLE!

"No way!" Hannah and I say in unison as Tracey looks over at Hannah in amazement.

Yes way.




*I find that the word "traditional" gets bandied around quite a bit over here; Traditional Fish n' Chips, Traditional Pub Fayre, Traditional Sunday Roast Dinner. 9/10 times it has to do with food and the two traditional forms of English cuisine; boiled and roasted. Traditional English Breakfasts (aka The Full Monty) and the aforementioned Fish n' Chips fall outside these preparation modes and form their own sub-cookagory called "Fried till it hurts". The greasier the food the less chewing there is involved.

OMW 2

OMW 1

This appears to make sense. What about the longer term benefits? Are the lower BSL's sustainable in the insulin dependant?

We went to the beach today.

Jack went to Cheryl's (Childminder/Babysitter) because he likes the lunch there. Usually it is fish fingers, beans, fruit and assorted kids beverages. Plus he gets to horse around with his friends. Hannah, Kai, Kasper and I, on the other hand, went to Old Felixstowe beach with Tracey and her kids Ethan and Rafe. That's Ethan in the pic behind Kai. Nice shingle (stony) beach with massive tidal pools. Good for the kids to mess around in and splash about.

Home at last!

The very first batch of KasperBoy Bum Brownies! - A photoGRAPHIC essay.

World, allow me to introduce to you; Kasper Wrona! 6lb 8oz's of Ooh-la-la !

The Wrona/Varnals world was rocked today by the emergence of the most reclusive of the UK based familys members. The provisionally named Kasper Wrona was welcomed by closest friends and family at 9:09 this morning in what Ipswich Hospital officials are calling "a textbook Ceasarian Section". "There was some internal adhesion of the previous two C-Sections scars to the interior wall of the abdomen" says the Consultant Doctor who performed the operation and also coordinated the team of Midwives, Surgical Assistants and an Anesthaesiologist who were involved in the procedure. "Hannah appears to be doing well with her dependance on chocolate remaining relatively unaffected". Kasper's arrival brings a harrowing 9 month ordeal to a close which began quite enjoyably for the boys parents but, over the subsequent 39 weeks, hormonal imbalance, swollen ankles and factional in-fighting took their toll on the stability of the parents wellbeing. "There weren't the usual gastronomical cravings you'd expect with a common pregnancy but, oh man, there was alot of chocolate being consumed" says Steve Wrona, Kasper's Co-Producer. He goes on to say "I was half expecting the Doctor to pull a giant M'n'M out of that womb." When asked for any further comments, Kasper's mother Hannah stated "I'm so clever, I can make people. Ph€aR my b4bi 5k1ll2!"

July 23rd - Baby gon' be here!

Only a few days to go til' the baby gets here! Don't know the gender of the mite but as long as it is healthy we don't give a baboons red a$$ if it's a boy or girl.

We are looking to upgrade from the car we have. (LOOK LOWER DOWN THE PAGE TO SEE THE CHARIOT WE CURRENTLY RIDE IN.)
A woman I work with, Jill, is selling a 1999 Ford Galaxy. We are very interested in it as;
1. It is a 7 passenger MPV. Hannah, me, Kai, Jack, "Sprout" makes five but with the addition of a pushchair and other associated ISE (Infant Support Equipment) the extra space will come in dang usefull.
2. The seat level is higher than our present ride. It would be as if Hannah were simply sliding into the car we want instead of plop-dropping into the car we gots.
2a. The front passenger seat rotates 180 degrees to either face backwards or 90 degrees to face the passenger door thus allowing easier ingress/egress for those with difficulty with the old automotive "in-n-out".
3. It's 4 years younger than the car we have.
4. It is the same band of Road Tax as our current car and the insurance is only £25 ($50) more. It could be worse.

Anyway, thats the news from Whitey from Ol' Blighty. More news soon as events warrant.

"Lifted" - Pixar

Nature Calls the Ring of Bright Water.

Le Monde d'Aquatique du Kai.

Can I have this pair? Can I have this pair? Can I have this pair? Can I have this pair? Can I have this pair? Can I have thi...

The Undersea World of Kai Cousteau

Napping in the park.

Jack Parkour Practice, Part 2!

Jack Parkour Practice, Part1!

Kai and Jack ready for School, 5th September 2006!

Mighty Zulu Nation, August 29th 2006

Another nice day at the beach!

We talkin' for free, suckas! (To Fellow Skype users. Certain conditions apply.)

We got Skype !

(It's free. That's why we got it.)

Go get Skype and we can talk for free all day and night. I did a test call to a guy in Boca and it was (eerily) like he was in the same room as me! The quality of the audio is phenomenal! All things are good so far and so far Skype is good.

Now we need for you good people to get Skype as well! (You also need a microphone with either a USB or jack-type plug)

GO HERE TO GET SKYPE FOR FREE

For those who get Skype and want to add us to their contacts list; our Skype name is "WronaUK".

Give us a bell!

We hit the slopes again! Cheap fun that knackers the kids!

Fun on a slide, June 2006

Martlesham Brass, June 2006

A day at the beach! Late Feb or early March 2006 - Delray Beach

It's one of the necessary evil spends: In order to maintain a space for Jack with his Childminder (the made of gold, Cheryl) we have to maintain his going to her even when it is not needed. She can only have a certain number of children in her care and if Jack don;t go, there's an empty space that WILL get filled with another kid because trusted and capable childminders are a rarety and Cheryl is tops.

Sooooo, today was one of those days. Even though I am not working, Jack had to go to Cheryls from 12:30 to 5:30. £10. Done.

While he was at Cheryls having a fun filled afternoon with his friends Will, Beffanee (Bethany) and Nathan, Kai and I went to a pretty little spot under the Orwell Bridge. We went there because I had to drop off a document to The LEA (Local Education Authority) in the hopes that they will expediently conclude the approval of my tuition grant request and the spot under the Orwell Bridge is nearby where I had to go.

ANYWAY...Here's a pic of Kai looking for treasure that washes up and also of a ship that steamed past us.

Pssssst! Hey, Mack. Just a reminder...

You can STILL click here to DONATE NOW please!

Thank you for your support!

We went to the park today!

What does it look like to you?

What does the tree in the centre of the image look like to you? Highlight the text between the asterisks to find out what Kai thinks this tree looks like! * Kai thinks the tree looks like a Chinese Dragon! She calls it "The Dragon Tree"! *

On yer sled/sledge !

Where we went.

She's loving it, really.

The grandest time!

Stack #1

Stack #2

Stack #3

Speed Queen!

Apres toboggan, in the lodge!

The Little Girl Giant

Expect to see many more "non-Wrona" items here.

• SFW and a few NSFW videos and pics!
• News items!
• Political items!
• Human interest pieces!
• Ugly pets!
• Cute babies!
• Fast cars!
• Tall women!
• Short thumbs!
• Long toes!
• Chimichangas!
• Yakov!

Satan writes HTML code..

There are a few aesthetic qualities of this blog that have been lost over time, the main thing being all the ancillary "supporting" information usually found on the right. Oh, it IS there. Only it's way the heck down at the bottom when it should be all the way up here at the top!

So, off to the FAQ and "Help" info archives I go.

Of all the technically demanding suggestions like altering the HTML code of the site template or manually adjusting the text area parameters, I chose a mode basic suggstion to follow; Reduce the size of large pictures.

Last night I reduced the size of the large pictures.

As you can see, that fixed nothing.

I then removed the video posts (there were four - "Treasure Island", the singing animals one, GWB singing Sunday Bloody Sunday and the lovely Wafa Sultan).

And, lo! SNAFU!

Oh well.

This means, to me in my limited underatanding of HTML coding, that:
1. I may not have caused the disappearance of the info that should be on the right.
2. It is not the inclusion of videos on the site that caused the problems with the site because the removal of those videos did not fix the problem! Make sense?

I think the Amish have the right idea about technology.

A day out at High Woods Country Park near Colchester..