Little Wandering Wren …. chats!

I can't think of a better way of bowing out of Melbourne life, than waving goodbye to Roger Federer at Rod Laver arena at the Australian Open Men's final. Mr. Wren is now on a flight to Bangkok and I will join him in a couple of weeks. It was an amazing evening of tennis. My initial disappointment not to be cheering on Andy Murray having seen him lose in two previous finals was soon forgotten .  Melbourne knew it had a dream final with Federer and Nadal, and the players did not disappoint. I was going to say the eyes of the world were on  Melbourne, however, I know from the text messages that our friends and family in the UK had to make do with listening to the match live on the radio! Which was absolutely useless when we were saying look out for us in the crowd, our seats are brilliant! Melbournians, of course, in the self-proclaimed sporting capital of the world assume the whole world is watching and cram into the aptly named Fed Square to watc...

My Sunday Photo: Sunday 22 January 2017 The Crazy Poodle has had a big week. Firstly he had a pampering session at the groomers so he would be looking gorgeous and smelling sweetly  for our international guests. Hmmm best laid plans of mice and men and all that... The groomer points out a slight eye infection which appears once he's had his facial and combines with water in the ears to give him the itches.    Big time! He is none too pleased with my bucket on the head solution but thankfully it does solve the problem and he is right (ok exhausted),  for his media appearances later in the week... He's a laid back dog at the best of time and can't believe his luck to be invited onto the sofa to watch the tennis. Of course he soon made himself comfortable on his favourite tennis player! Once there and fast asleep, he had no idea that he was just about to be Instafamous. You can read the full story here Linking with thanks to Darren at My Sun...

For the past nine years, we have been privileged to be a player guest at the Australian Open. Together with a number of friends we share our homes with visiting tennis players and through their generosity we have an opportunity to experience the Australian Open in a unique way.  My player guest accreditation gives me access to travel in the Australian Open cars, to eat in the player cafe and to relax between matches in the Player Lounge. On Tuesday it was 38 degrees celsius, if it was tough for the spectators watching in that heat, it was even harder for the players. I don't know how they do it. I have the utmost respect for the players, this is a tough life.  Here are some of my favourite photos from the week... 1. The Australian Open has a new logo, and we are greeted on arrival with this huge sign made of tennis balls. It is impossible to take a photo without someone in it as you can see! Having a ball at the AO 2017 2. The Australian Open is not called...

Irina - Housing a Tennis Player... Hello it's Crazy Tennis Mum here! Yes, I know you know me as Crazy Soccer Mum, but for two weeks a year we ditch the muddy soccer boots, in favour of our favourite ASICS tennis shoes, and I take up the role as 'chief cook and bottle washer'* when we host a professional Tennis Player.  The crazy poodle - wanna play doubles with me? For the past seven years we have been an Australian Open Host Family. Originally this was a scheme offered by Tennis Australia, offering overseas  players the opportunity to stay with Australian families. We were inspected, and before we knew it, we had two  Eastern European players  knocking at the front door. One competing in the qualifying tournament, the other a doubles player. We had such an incredible summer of tennis. Not only watching them play but accompanying them behind the scenes as a player guest at Melbourne Park. We also gained an huge appreciation of their life on the r...