Five Birds with One Entry

She's significant because of her origins actually... you'll notice the blue and yellow thread that's hanging her from the tree. It's a nod to the colors of Sweden I think you'll find.

Sweden a country that owes much to a certain annual prize given to people who have done work of note over the years in various scientific, economic and humanitarian efforts.

I had moved from Auckland to Whangarei to take up a temporary post while a new order was established in our organisation. Of course it turned out to be a longer term post than anyone planned... Anyway that's another story.

As it happened I was working for a Pay TV company and as was customary we had the tv on constantly in the office [bonus!]. For some reason one afternoon we had it set to CNN... very unusual behaviour for a bunch of sport and movie freaks... but still, it happened occasionally just to give the office some variety.

I was cashing up at the counter that afternoon and an article about the Nobel Prize winners for the year was on, for some peculiar reason it piqued my interest so I turned to watch it.

Well, I'm not going to draw this story out any longer than necessary... it just so happened that the winner in one of the scientific disciplines that year was none other than Nobill and a colleage of his who had been working on similar stuff across the Atlantic.

I had to look twice, he'd grown a beard I'd never seen and it had been a good 10 years since I'd seen him in the flesh! It was such a short article I wasn't even sure if it was him so I jumped on line at the library on the way home to find out more and to make sure it was indeed the Nobill I knew! (It was)

And funnily enough, again one night, I came home very late from some event, turned on the tv for company and there again was a tv special on the laureates for the year... This time I actually got to hear him speak and had it confirmed once again that it was indeed the Nobill I knew, I couldn't mistake the voice!!!

Well, knock me over with a feather.... I was the 'adopted' daughter of a Nobel laureate.

This has been a very cool thing, because the prize means he gets to travel a lot and that travel has meant he and the Chairman have been to see me in Sydney twice in recent years! Yay!!!

So, we still keep in touch, they still send the odd Christmas decoration for the tree/house. Actually, the next two are from them too... I've put them in because they don't have their own stories...