Welcome, Vayden Shane

The newest addition to the Bayross and Klein clans was born on Monday, June 18th in New York, when Vayden Shane arrived, a week earlier than expected.

Naturally, your roving reporter was on the scene as quickly as possible to look at the latest small child to add general cuteness to our family tree, with a bottle of champagne to toast his arrival. Bravely, the new parents were willing to risk passing their son to the one member of the family least equipped to deal with small children, i.e. me, to hold, and I must say that it was quite a buzz.

Mother, father and child are doing splendidly, and with visits from Lorraine and Marco (with their lively children Rohan and Asha), Chris and Bina already complete, young Vayden is already deep in the heart of family.

New grandparents Ken and Marge are in town to tend to all, and I'm led to understand that Fay and Ainsley won't be too far behind...

Wedding Bells Are Ringing

As my plane made its slow descent into the Dabolim Airport at Goa; I knew that the next few days, would be a essay; with paragraphs of excitement and joyous celebration puncuated, with moments of chaos, nervous discomposure and a few conflagrant tempers.

I was here from London, in this relaxed part of the world for just a few days. There was a singluar purpose to my trip and that was my cousin Clyne's wedding.

I am the product of the age old tradition of the joint family system in India. So, having lived a large portion of my life with my cousins, meant that there would be no pardoning of any absence on my part, for an occassion as grand and important as a family wedding. Family ties are very important in India, a fact that was clearly endorsed by the global representation of our family at the wedding in Goa. But, I was not here, merely out of a sense of duty or tradition; I was here, because Clyne (the bridegroom) and I are especially close, and so I wanted to be a part of his big day.

There were a series of pre-wedding events and I got to meet the bride Nisha's family. They were all, as animated as the rest of us , which made working together quite an easy undertaking. The nuptials, were held in a quaint chapel on a hill in South Goa, and the reception at the Cidade de Goa in Dona Paula.

As both Clyne and Nisha and the rest of our families (me being the exception) are all musically gifted, this wedding had just that extra special personal touch. The choir was splendid, the band at the reception were impressive and there was songs galore being sung by family and friends. I met up with a few of my friends who I had not seen in ages.

I normally find family weddings a bit of a onerous endeavor, but this one was just so enjoyable that it was more like a rather large family gathering and a very happy one at that. The newlyweds are on their honeymoon, and the rest of us, are slowly returning back to the rest of our not so exciting lives.

To Clyne and Nisha if you are reading this:

I wish you JOY and LAUGHTER

The LOVE of TREASURED FRIENDS and

most importantly I wish you PEACE when each day ends.

God Bless You and May you have a long and happy married life.

Before i get any more gaalis from Kim....

Hi everyone. Im Dylan and I think Im considered to be the black sheep of the family. I love to travel like my cousins Mark, Julian and Kim (Jeetu from next year) and lucky for me my profession demands just that. Im in the merchant navy and presently studying in South Shields doing my Shipmasters (thats an H.N.D in Nautical Sciences). Ive been in the United Kingdom since September 2005 and enjoying every bit of it. Since Im here in the U.K , Ive descided to make the most of my stay here and travel around a bit. Ok nothing more from me right now. But I will post snippets from time to time ..so Watch This Space.....

Patti and Leon got married

And so, the deed is done, in front of witnesses, so it's official.

I must say that it was a remarkably fun affair and, for those of you who weren't there, I'm sorry that you were able to join us. There will be pictures but, in the meantime, this eye-witness report will have to suffice.

Clint, Kalina and I turned up to meet a sea of faces, some familiar, most not so. I was almost immediately kidnapped by Beena (apparently I was being searched for) and brought to join the wedding party. Once all were present, we went into the legal stuff, licences signed by Patti, Leon and both sets of parents, followed by the signing of the ketubah (a Jewish wedding contract) - yours truly being honoured by being one of the witnesses. It was really rather special and Leon and Patti looked tremendously happy to sign all of the paperwork.

Once that was done, we moved on to the ceremony. With both a rabbi and a priest present, there was plenty of potential for tension but it went very smoothly with some wonderful thoughts from both of them, plus two really meaningful readings from their friend Kim and, in a non-singing role, Chris. It is fair to say that a few tears were shed and the whole affair was incredibly life-affirming.

The reception afterwards was hugely enjoyable. As you might all realise, dancing and I are as familar as penguins and the Sahara but I felt it only right to take a full part in the festivities. I may be aged but I can still move. Besides, how often do the disparate parts of our family get together? Everyone had a great time, with good food, good wine and a marvellous atmosphere.

Hopefully, there will be pictures for you all to see shortly but in the meantime, I need some sleep so I'm signing off...

I'm leaving, on a jet plane...

Yes indeed, it's time to pack the old suitcase, and go and visit more family. So, coming to an airport near you soon, it gives me great pleasure to announce the itinerary...

Friday, March 10th - London to New York - yes, the wedding of the year... Leon and Patti

Monday, March 13th - New York to Cincinnati via Chicago - zoos, chile and a really good museum complex

Thursday, March 16th - Cincinnati to Boston via Chicago - quality time with my style guru

Sunday, March 19th - Boston to London via Washington - home, and back to the chaos that is my life!

Now here's a cute Kiwi bird

Hello everyone

My name is Tamara Valladares.

I'm 2 years old and I live with my daddy Warren and my mummy Tanya in New Zealand. I'm going to be a big sister very soon.

Here are some pictures of me. These were taken at my birthday in September. I'm a lot taller and prettier these days and I talk a lot too. I'm daddy's little girl.

California dreaming

Given that Walter and his family don't have e-mail, I thought that I might post this on their behalf.

For those of you that don't know, from left to right, Emmanuel, Felba, Mary-Jepsy, Walter, Maria and Hazel (Walter's mother and my father's cousin, thus my aunt, once removed). Walter, Thelba and the kids live in the San Francisco suburbs and this picture was (again) taken in "Eagle's Nest".

I had the pleasure of visiting them last summer on one of my 'get on a plane, travel a long way away and visit family' trips (coming to an airport near you sooner than you think...).