A quick hack for lazy-loaded nodes and relationships using neo4jrestclient (as of 12/2012).

lazy_neorest_primitives.py

class LazyBase(object):
    """
    A mixin to make elements of the REST client lazy.
    """
    def __init__(self, url, dic):       
        self._dont_update = True
        super(LazyBase, self).__init__(url, create=False)
        self._dic = dic.copy()
        self._dont_update = False

    def update(self, *args, **kwargs):
        if not self._dont_update:
            super(LazyBase, self).update(*args,**kwargs)

    @classmethod
    def from_dict(cls, dic):
        return cls(dic['self'], dic)

class LazyNode(LazyBase, neo4j.Node):
    id_url_template = 'node/%d'

class LazyRelationship(LazyBase, neo4j.Relationship):   
    id_url_template = 'relationship/%d'