Maya's First Comet!

We've had the amazing luck of witnessing the passing of Comet McNaught. Because we live rurally, the comet was particularly bright against the dark sky for a couple of nights earlier this week - before the clouds came over. They are saying that this comet is 100 times brighter than Halley's, and 200 times brighter than astronomers originally thought it would be! No binoculars needed, as the comet, along with its spectacular spraying tail, took up about half of the sky.
I guess Maya will be about 70 the next time a comet like this passes by...

See picture attached (courtesy of ABC news - we couldn't get our pictures to work - but this is definitely what it looked like).

Nielsen Family Get-together

Another group family photo - this time the Nielsens. All 3 of Noah's siblings were home for Christmas, so Maya had the rare opportunity to have all her Nielsen relatives with her in a photograph! From left to right - Uncle Jason (Fuzz), Uncle Seth, me and Maya, Noah, Auntie Zoe, Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Randy.

Life has resumed to 'normal' after all the family fun and holiday activities. People have gone home and the New Year is well under way. I start back to work on Tuesday 16th Jan. I had deferred my approved sabbatical (study leave) to first semester this year, due to having Maya, so will mostly be undertaking research for 6 months - and can do a lot of this from my laptop at home. However, I will be a visiting scholar at Auckland University of Technology and Waikato University in New Zealand for 2 weeks in February, and then at the Consortium for Women's Research at University of California (Davis) for about a month during April, so it will be a busy travelling time. Of course, Noah and Maya will be coming along! It will be an interesting time to work out how to balance baby and academic work...but I am excited by this opportunity to work on some projects of interest to me, post PhD.

Maya's First Christmas

Thomson - Kurosawa gathering at my cousin Melissa's house in Brisbane, Christmas Day, 2006. Four generations of Thomson here...

Maya loved eating the wrapping paper and playing with her cousin Kai (who is 2).