Hugh's Blog. Had to put this link in, just in case you want to check his version of events. This is normally a much more technical diary. When we double up on things remember we are individuals really! :-)
Its been SO busy. Apologies to my friends who want to know what has been happening. The quick dot point summary is this; Rach is now in her boots with orthotics and working on a physio program, its hard work but going ok, toes still are the habit. Hugh went on a world tour for work for four and a half weeks, Rachael and I visited Brisbane for a week in the school holidays and had some fantastic family time with Uncle Mark and Auntie Andrea (with the bonus of cousin time for me as Rowena and Ben were there too). Term 3 has just started and we are now into week 2 of second semester. Qbyan Council still have not approved our development application, but they have sent out a surveyer and asked us lots of questions..
Tonight we got quite a shock, we were on the way home from R's check up at the podiatrist (toe walking still happening but all ok) and decided to go to the Palace of Saigon for Vietnamese dinner. Now we have a long association with this restaurant, going back some 11 years to when Hugh and I were first married and lived right next to the Hawker shops. This was our first "local" we ate there fairly often. One night we didnt have enough cash and they just let us come pay them the difference the next day. Then we moved to Lyneham for a few years, we missed the place and would occasionally go there. When we moved to Melba we rang for take away, naming a dish they didnt have on the menu, they made it for us anyway because they remembered us. It got so we could just ring, say Blemings and they could write down our usual dinner. When Rachael was quite little it was the first place we took her to. The Do family were quite ok with a toddler being there. When asked where Rachael wanted to go to dinner she would say the Pink Restaurant. So we all took to calling it the Pink Restaurant. Over the years we have had many a family dinner, celebration, birthday etc. We took friends it was easy to go there. In 2004 it was the last place we went before going on our overseas posting and the first place we ate when we got home. They missed us - we missed them. Now I think about it this place has got quite a history for us.
So tonight we rock up and the first thing I notice was this flashing sign on the window "Open". Hummm thats a bit tacky. Then I realise there is new signage "Beijing House". Wierd. Then beacuse we are meeting Debs there we go in, realising that life is about to change. The pink place how has green painted bits and new menus. No no no. Hugh is shocked. Rachael starts to get upset. Debs arrives and joins us. We get menus. We then ask if they use MSG. Yes is the answer. Ok we are sorry but we cant eat here. We leave unsettled.
What to do next. All hungry we actually go to Rocksalt which serves much more expensive but fantastic food. Order. Rachael bursts into tears. Hugh consoles her, they go out for a walk and ask some of the other shop owners if they can get a contact for the Do family, no answers, but we are determined to track them down just to say thanks for everything. Rach then has an upset tummy. After some discussion, Rach and I go home. She sobs all the way. Its just too much this week, getting Dad back home, going back to school and now just when you want some pink chips, spring rolls, penut butter meat and rice you are told its never going to happen again. "I feel very sad mummy, and i loved the pink restaurant". You know what. I did too. We all did. So this goes out to the Do family, who faithfully cooked the best chicken and sweet corn soup, spring rolls and all the rest. We loved the food, we loved the service, we will find some way of letting you know how much....
Today we picked up Rachael's orthotics from the Podiatrist. Tomorrow we go back to the Physio. The whole casting process has produced good results in increasing Rachaels range of movement. Now with the help of boots/orthotics and daily physio we are all set to break the habit of toe walking. Rach is a little fragile about the whole deal but she did well (the last casts were red/white stripes on one leg, blue the other, she looked like where's wally or a half sydney swans supporter). The first bath after two weeks without one was pretty good, I left her to soak and heard singing for the first time in ages. The singing and good mood only kept increasing in volume. Its only after kids have been out of sorts or sick that you realise how great they are when they are well. She's back!
Rachael completed her first MS Readathon. Total of 62 books, bonus points go to Cameron and Mark for extra motivation in sponsership - Mark starting at 10 cents for the first book, 20 the next and so on. I had to get Hugh to write a program to work out his total. Cam promised Rach a bonus $10 if she got to 50 books and then $10 extra for each ten after. R very pleased with her result, Im pleased shes so hooked on reading and all the sponsors have a tax deductable donation, right at the end of financial year, not to mention the MS Society raises money. Ahh its a win win win win.
Great service at Canberra Baptist today. Loved Jim's childrens talk, he told the kids he was going to wrap up air, then proceded to blow bubbles for them. Now thats a cool idea for talking about the Spirit - it really captured the fact that glimpses of God can be fleeting and hard to pin down!
Tomorrow Rachael goes to get her third and final lot of casts done on her legs. She has done really well but its been pretty tough both for her and us. Its been hard for her to get comfortable to sleep and she has had some terrible broken nights. Im very impressed by her attitude. Im also impressed by how much work the physio's have to do to get her through this process, its quite a lot of hard yakka to get the casts on and off! R is keeping this lot of casts as she has got the whole class to sign them and most of the family (of course this lot are hot pink too). Tomorrow she says she will have one leg one colour and the other another.
Finally found some new SF to watch - Toby loaned me his DVD's of Firefly. I am a convert. We are rationing watching episodes at the moment (mainly because Im watching it with Hugh and he is meant to be STUDYING, so its a reward and Im trying not to stop him working). I love the humor and that even though I was not convinced you could do a Space cross Western at first have been drawn into the series. If I have missed any other interesting new SF can you please email me suggestions!
I got two of my fellow chaplains to look over my notes to make sure there was no drastic theological problems with my exegsis! I must say it is a little intimidating preaching when you know there are at least 10 other clergy sitting in the congregation. However, people still laughed at my jokes and nodded in agreement so I think I did alright. I had some good feedback after the service and saw some friends I had not seen in a long time. The whole service had a great feel. The liturgy was adapted from the World Council of Churches and saw involvement from each of the churches in the local area. The singing and prayers led me into a reflective and close time with God. I came away inspired and sort of missing being involved with planning and leading services like this one more often.
It feels like someone hit the fast forward button in May. Since my appointment to coordinate the Spiritual Meeting Place I have been quite busy at UC. Its not all been that settling into the job thing, although we have done a major clean up and office reshuffle, my favourite joke being that I got to move in with a Catholic Priest, how many women can state that in public eh! Seriously Father A is coping ok with my humor and me tidying up the office and we get along well. It feels like there have been a lot more meetings this month. I guess that some of the work has been just working out how things are done. I spent a long time updating the contact lists but on the whole I have enjoyed a lot of the new work. I have also been doing more tutoring hours.
On 4 May, my newest second cousin Luca Westaway Drury was born. I spent from 5am to 10:30pm with Kirsty, John and another friend Nicole providing moral support while Luca was working out if he wanted to arrive. Kirsty did so well but in the end they had to deliver via C Section. Its a great privilage to be alongside your family as they grow! Had a hilarious taxi ride home with the driver telling me we should call the baby after him! Very excellent birth date too 04/05/06.
Rachael and I have managed to attend several important appointments around helping her on her way to normal walking. We found new foot people to get her organised for orthotics, special boots etc. We even managed to visit the osteopath and Dentist as well, its felt like we are always going to one appointment or another.
In the midst of all this the Grandma's took off for a couple of weeks birdwatching/nature touring far north Queensland. Hugh also had a week in Japan. Kay was out doing CIT nursing prac. As a result we have spent a bit of time doing girl things. Good family bonding time.
At one stage I was the multi tasking homework tutor. I managed to have my uni student that I tutor working on her essay at my dining table, Deb working on her TAFE stuff on the kitchen bench, and Rachael doing Year 1 homework at her desk. I was moving from one to the other while cooking in the kitchen! Fantastic, and everyone completed their work and handed it in (love it when a plan comes together).
Conducted a wedding in Young for a graduate of UC, drove up the day before for the rehursal. Perfect day, ceremony went well. Official paperwork all done. Afterwards I drove to Bathurst to visit the Ovenstones, ended up at Royal Bathurst Showgirl Gala dinner dance, broke quite a few stereotypes. It was an excellent weekend.
Good Morning! Im so much better. I dare not try draw comparisons but I find myself looking around at the people I love, and the day with greater appreciation. Today we celebrate that Christ rose again, and I am sure enjoying what that means.
Yesterday we spent all day at the Folk Festival. Saw the Spooky Men, listened to a good Australian band Junior, ate lots of amazing tasting food and ran into lots of agreeable and wonderful company (The Woodland clan were a special highlight). I was able to spend some time by myself working out who I would see in the afternoon which was bliss, Kath seemed to be on the same wavelength as I was and eventually Mum turned up as well. Listened to Cloudstreet, Martin Peterson, while Hugh, Roger and Rachael had fun at the kids festival & circus. Rach was having a night with Rosie, so Hugh ferried her home and Deb joined us. We went and saw my best act for the day The Wailin Jennys from Canada. Wow. They were fantastic. Every time their alto spoke I thought of my friend Andrea. I had pangs just listening to the accent and they way she said things. After they played Colum Sands entertained us for a set, lots of typical Irish talking between songs, but lots of laughter as well. It was a good mix of the funny and serious. One of the reasons we wanted to see him was because he had written songs for another favourite of ours Enda Kenny (not performing this year). Afterwards we spent some time introducing Deb to more pleasures of the folk festival, people watching to see the best costumes, beards and odd hats. We visited the stalls, found strange musical instruments, garments from every part of the globe (the warm things were selling fast) and finally discovered a perfect hat for Deb which she wore to blend in as soon as it was purchased. All in all a fantastic day.
Today I am finally starting to come back to life. This week I got knocked out of action by a gastro bug that is apparently going around Canberra. I got sick on Sunday afternoon, visited the Doctor Monday afternoon for an anti nausea shot, spoke to the Dr again yesterday to find that it can "run" for up to 5 days. Ive lost 5 kilograms, feel weak as a kitten, have slept for hours and hours and have almost exhausted my store of Compass, the Bill, and other Tivo suggestions. I also realise how much I miss people. Im bored, but too tired to even phone anyone (now thats sick). Im also mighty dissapointed because the Folk Festival starts tonight and Im going to have to take it easy for the first two days. Oh well, at least its just a temporary thing. I dont really have much to complain about...
Our Tivo remote has been missing for several months. Very annoying. We have been coping with an all in one remote but could never find the keys that had Thumbs up/down. I had noticed some strange things appearing on Tivos suggestions and blamed the fact I could not scorn them with a big three thumbs down. Today I found the Tivo remote. Spent a long time with the power of the thumb!
Ok, BOM are on the ball. (see yesterdays note). Today they announced that they are moving to a 7 day advanced forecast, rather than their previous three. How come? Their data and models are more accurate and finally they can predict within 4 degrees accuracy 88% of the time that far ahead. Excellent!
I am a great reader of the Bureau of Meterological website. I even have a favourite forecaster. I can tell when they are on, they add some different terms into the situation report, that just gives it a bit more flare than the usual.
The latest satellite photo shows areas of largely disorganised cloud cover across the region. We can expect some of this to move across the ACT during the day, and whilst there might be a light shower or two associated with it, nothing of any significance can be expected. The other feature worth noting is the cloud mass well to the south of the Bight. All computer guidance is intensifying this system over the next couple of days whilst moving it northeast. It is likely to evolve into a deep low to the south of the region overnight Wednesday into Thursday and will generate some very windy conditions during the second half of this week. In addition to this it is also expected to produce a significantly colder airstream, far colder than anything so far this year. We can expect Thursday to be more like a winter's day with some snowfalls about the ranges to the west and unseasonal amounts in the Alpine region.
Debbie turned 20 today! We no longer have a teenager in the house. We had a great breakfast out to celebrate, had to laugh because she told me about going out ice skating when she was a teenager - refering to last night.
We then got dressed up (got to wear my Veronica Maine silver dress again) and celebrated with Lyndal and Nick who got married today at Canberra Baptist Church! (For those with access its under big events on our photo site). Rachael said "I wanted to cry because Lyndal looked so beautiful when she came in, so I just took a big breath and hung onto it". Ive got to say I was teary too, she was stunning, I am so very proud of her and Nick. They are wonderful people. The reception was one of the best I have been to, the Press Club put on an amazing function, complete with many wheat free items. Afternoon tea was fantastic, lots of finger food and a range of desert things, who needs to eat a meal! It was really relaxed, with loads of interesting people to talk with, informal and a good time out. Lovely lovely lovely.
On Friday I got my hair coloured, darker chocolate at the bottom, copper and blonde foils at the top. While this was happening I had a call on my mobile from an older friend. She mentioned that I was obviously not going to "slide into middle age gracefully". This sort of bothered me. When did 35 start to be middle aged? Crap. I havent thought much about being "middle aged" before. Is it bad? Will it hurt?
Then I went to a seminar yesterday, I was sitting next to Deb who is enjoying her last few weeks of being a teenager and freaking mildly about turning twenty. The guy speaking made a comment about those in the "35 and above age group who fit the traditional church scene and listen to pipe organ music". Hello? Deb starts laughing. I hit her.
Im now left wondering if Im deluding myself, perhaps I had better consider it a bit before I go for the mid life crisis (I sometimes teased Hugh about his MR2, WRX as his pre mid life crisis cars, I had better decide what mine will be). I will not slide. I accept and love being in my third decade, the beginnings of some wisdom, freedom from some things that hold you back in your twenties, still full of ideas for the future and energy to put plans into place. If middle aged means knowing your limitations then I think I am starting to be more real about myself. Bring it on, another stereotype to break down.
Rachael has lost her first baby tooth. Its been starting to wobble, but I had no idea it was almost ready. I came home from an evening pastoral visit at 9:30 to hear Rachael was still awake. Oh yes she was buzzing. "Look Mummy my tooth fell out, it was just like the cat flap opening and then it just came out". We had to write a note to the tooth fairy to ask her to not take the tooth till daddy came home from the USA. Very cool, and this makes it both Grandchildren who have lost their first tooth while being minded by Grandma Rosie. Its sort of strange, Rachaels so proud but Im reflecting on all the pain there was remembering the baby teething and how cute she looked when it first came through. Now she has this gap on the top and is a little lispy. Wow, she is growing up. Oh and the great news is she can still whistle....
Rachael back at school today. Happy happy everyone is happy.
I was sorting the washing today, most people have darks, colours and whites. At our house we also have a special load. Pink. Yup, thats my big domestic observation for today. I wonder how many other houses have that one? Time to get back to uni and do some work!
Pretty easy travel home today. Drove 2 hours to Christchurch then caught our flight to Sydney.It was a baby jumbo, so Rachael got to watch Wallace and Gromet and the Were Rabbit on the way home - not a peep out of her till it finished. Bored in Qantas club Sydney so decided to write this. Its going to get busy next week and the holiday is over so thought I would put pen to paper or keys to keyboard so to speak.
Mainly hung out at the conference today. There were a lot of conference fatigued geeks. At lunchtime the guys who committed to shaving hair off went under the clippers, this proved to be major entertainment. For an outsider perhaps it looked like some bizarre ritual.
Rachael and I played Pac Man on my laptop then found other people to play with us. Chris managed to top the ladder, beating Anton, Mikey, Tim and Kelly. Rachael cheered them all on. I just keep on hearing the music in my head and think we have had too much Pac Man (munch those dots). Oh and I must say the conference afternoon teas were pretty high quality, but they saved the best till last. Individual tubs of ice cream, and chocolate coated strawberrys. Now I should not say that Mikey ate 4 tubs no no, but Jo will find out anyway, Im sure he will tell her!
We finally left Dunedin and drove 2.5 hours up to Timaru. Im ready to cook dinner again, have some time at home.
Went on the Taleri Gorge Railway today. Very interesting train trip over some amazing engineering, viaducts, tunnels. Apparently this train rates highly so it was pretty popular.
We also all attended the Conference Dinner, which was held at Town Hall. They even had a red carpet out just to make us feel special. IBM and HP had special reserved tables at the front, it was quite amazing. Table service for some 450 people was handled well. Rachael had a great night playing with Daniella, Patricia and Celeste, between eating they found a hall to one side and a kindly function manager found some markers and butchers paper (conference style) to keep them further entertained.
Hugh and Bdale did the sponsers talk at the start of the evening. It was very cute Rachael got a pen from my bag and wrote GO DADDY on her napkin and held it up to the stage. The auction was a little slow, but ended up raising quite a lot of money $10K for a special signed text book and various members of the community promised to loose their hair, beards and in Rusty's case his trademark tash.
Not surprisingly after yesterdays schedule Rachael had a melt down this morning so we ditched the partners program for the day. Instead we downloaded some computer games for R to play on my laptop (found Pac Man) and then visited Mike Wright, who I also met at the TCMA conference. Mike is Chaplain to the Polytechnic and Teachers College here in Dunedin. It was very interesting to visit where he works and hear about current issues in chaplaincy here. Excellent also just spend some time with a local over a cup of tea!
Had a few hours rest back at the apartment over lunchtime. I have hurt my lower back, Im sure this has happened because of the cumulative nights on the crappy bed, as well as travel. Ive spent a big chunk of today doing Alexander technique to try support it as best as possible. Bloody sore though.
We went to Hugh and Bdale's presentation about Ham Radio to the Conference. It was fairly well attended 60ish people. Rachael managed to sit through the whole thing - she was very interested in Bdale's satelite information as well as looking at the pictures of her with her dad and antenne.
We left Hugh to it and came home for tea, managed to bump into Andrea (who had a great day out at the peninsula, saw lots of wildlife) and we all had fish and chips outside in the playground before an early to bed night!
Our first item for the day was moving out of the Hotel which shall remain nameless, that did not do anything about our repeated requests to change the sunken mattress. It was also pretty rotton as they have been doing repairs (lots of drilling noises over the last few days) and hot as our room had no a/c. We have moved to an apartment motel for $5 a night less which has a) a decent bed and b) a room for Rachael with the bonus of a kitchen, sitting room and a playground outside oh and c) is only two blocks away from the uni link where the conference is based. Much happier even though it is the first time we have ever had to leave a hotel because we were unhappy with the service and facilities.
Move undertaken Rachael and I joined with the Partners program. They supplied a bus which took us to Olveston House - a home donated to the city of Dunedin which is kept in its condition of 100 years ago. Some interesting things but too stuffy and boring for small people! From here we were taken up to the steepest street in the world (yup its made the record books). It was pretty hard work to walk it. Rachael of course ran up! We then went to the Botanic Gardens which were extremely good to visit. They had free food to feed the ducks and an amazing aviary at the top of the hill. They also had a great playground and we had lunch there while the kids let off some steam.
From there we went to the Cadbury Factory. Ive got to admit, it didnt seem to have as much at the Tassie tour, but watching one tonne of liquid chocolate fall just for the sake of it was pretty amazing. I just couldnt get over the fact they did this just for the tour. The chocolate in the shop was not that heavily discounted and I was so very proud of Rachael that she only wanted to get a drink bottle and not lots of chocolate as some kids were demanding. We have experienced some chocolates that are not for sale in Australia. The chocolate fish - strawberry marshmallow fish shaped coated chocolate. The other thing we learnt was they do not need to cool the warehouse at all - its cool enough here in Dunedin without any artificial cooling!
The bus was then heading to a local brewery but we had had enough, so took the opportunity to bail out. Rach was pretty pleased to find Hugh and we were able to have a quiet meal with Linus and his family - of course Rachael was delighted to have 3 small girls to eat dinner with and in her words "not a bunch of geeks" (I thought it was pretty funny, considering there wouldnt be a conference about Linux without the girls dad...)
Managed to blend in with the geeks by taking my laptop down to the uni where the conference is being held. All for internet access! Rachael was delighted to find some other kids and played hide and seek for half an hour around the array of laptop wielding folk while I caught up on my UC email and home mail.
Then we found Andrea and went to the Moana Pool. Fantastic place to visit, there is a wave pool, a whirl pool and slides. Rachael only managed one slide (too fast) but proceeded to spend the rest of the time in the whirlpool and wave pool, think we will try get back again before the week is out because she had so much fun and it tired her out!
For lunch we went to the cafe at Glenfalloch garden out on the peninsula. The Gardens were beautiful, with many troll bridges for Rachael to play on crossing a stream. Andrea got to visit the potters cottage. It was worth the visit, peaceful and refreshing.
Quieter morning, did laundry at the hotel and then looked round some shops in town with Andrea. I felt a little unwell so had a big rest back at the hotel, which btw has a terrible mattress.
Arrived after a somewhat boring drive down to Dunedin. The first two hours were very flat and straight. We stopped in Timaru for lunch at a place called South of the Boarder which served Tex-Mex food (Rachael and I went for the more traditional $10 roasts).
Met up with Chris, Kelly, Jimi and Andrea and decided to go watch the blue penguins arriving at dusk, there were quite a few others interested in going so we filled up 3 cars. This required driving out to the end of the peninsula and waiting for the sun to go down, so we are on daylight savings and pretty far south. The time the penguins arrived was 10:15 at night. It was well worth the wait, they were rather cute (1kg average weight). There were a couple of Department of Conservation volunteers supervising the tourists (several who did not listen to the "no flash" part of the advice). They were happy to talk more about the penguins (who are coming in to feed chicks in their burrows).
I like Christchurch. We are staying a short walk into the city at the Crowne Plaza. Had dinner last night at a place which had live Jazz, which was really excellent. Walked along the river back to the hotel. Collected the next car from Hertz and took a scenic drive up the nearby hills. We also took the Gondola ride which was quite steep. It was interesting watching the port of Lyttelton on the other side of the mountain. I was a little tired in the afternoon so Hugh took Rachael out for an explore. They went on the tram and found a trampoline variation of Bunjy out in Victoria Park. She LOVED it. Photos well worth looking at, think Hugh took a video (the giggling oh she loved it). Had an early dinner tonight at a Japanese place then caught the tram again.
Train was great. We saw seals on the beach, fantastic mountains rivers etc. But the best thing was we got a HUGE surprise at the end. Got off to find Jimi and Andrea were waiting to hug us at the station! They were enroute to swim with dolphins tomorrow morning and just popped by, well waited as the train was late to say a quick hello. Im still all happy. Way cool.
Ok, so its a bit geeky, but it seemed the best time to sit and update this very overdue blog. We are on the ferry, on route to Picton, where we are catching the train down to Christchurch. No driving today! Excellent opportunities for all that scenic sightseeing, but also a lot of sitting around.
Loving New Zealand, it is beautiful, clear, clean and full of amazing things. Having to laugh at some of the accent issues, sitting here now they keep announcing various activities on various decks, which seems to be pronounced dick. When they check something it is chick. Shopping trollys are also known as trundlers. Gumboots and jandles are not to be worn in the pub. On the people have been very friendly and relaxed, when we have needed help its been offered this from the customs guys at 2am when we had a wobbly trolly and the taxi drivers offering their must see/must eat at ideas.
We have travelled down the North Island over the past few days. We flew into Auckland and after what seemed a comedy of errors (lost bag, a jaunt round the carpark looking for the rental car, rental car boot too small for luggage, new rental car) we got into our hotel at 3am. Rachael was awake enought to exclaim "That is the biggest bed I have seen in my entire life", king size, three pillows across. Hope to upload the photos sometime soon for those of you who visit our albums.
Sunday morning we started our drive south by heading to Hamilton. Here I delivered promised chocolate gluten free biscuits to my friend and fellow university chaplain Jemma (they apparently dont sell the good ones in NZ). I met Jemma at the TCMA conference in Sydney and we have stayed in email contact ever since. It was very cool to meet her husband Andrew and have lunch with them.
We headed to Otorohanga, staying at a motel which had a two bedroom unit. Rachael loved having her own space and promptly closed her door. We managed to get to the Waitomo Caves, did the glowworm cave tour. The cave was a little disappointing but not the main aim, but the glowworms were pretty magic (Oh they look like constellations - RKB). We were all fairly tired so found the local woolworths and somewhere to eat before crashing out.
The next morning we visited the Otorohanga Kiwi house, which rates as one of the better bird places on the North Island. We saw our first Kiwis, but I was very taken with the Kea's. I think I found a bit of a kindred spirit. They hopped up and down and along and were very interested in us. One had a coconut and managed to carry it all over the enclosure, playing with it as much as eating. They were also pretty talkative (another reason to like them) and active the whole time.
Enjoyed the drive to Rotorua, watching the corn and dairy farms as we drove along. Checked into our hotel and visited Te Puia, which had the Maori carving and weaving schools, as well as the geothermal displays. Spent some time waiting for the geyser to errupt (whoo hoo it sure did) and looked at the smelly bubbling mud (reminded me of the Bog of Eternal Stench from the movie Labyrinth). I sort of remembered this from when I came as a teenager. When I spoke with the guide, she did say that things had got a lot more commercialised. The town is fully touristy with everything you could ever want, it has been nicknamed RotoVegas.
We decided to try the package deal dinner Hangi and Maori cultural concert. I was very glad we did this. Ok so it was a staged production, but we got to enjoy a great deal of different food for dinner and we had fun at the concert. Rachael and I were able to have a go at poi dancing and Hugh represented our table for the Haka (war dance). It was interesting watching Hugh try to look fierce and ugly as he was instructed. Overall we had a great night.
Tuesday was the day I had left a little more play by ear. We skipped the commercial geothermal activity and took a look at the Wairiki Geothermal Power Station. Then we walked around the Department of Conservation run "Craters of the Moon" basically national park with geothermal activity. Walking on the boardwalks prompted some troll references from Rachael and it was good to streach our legs. We headed back up the road to the Ariata dam, but the planned boat trip to see the Huka falls, didnt work out so we drove on to Lake Taupo. We kept going down to Turangi and found a very cool relief map at the visitors centre. We decided to try find a place to stay in the alpine area. We managed to get into a cabin at Whakapapa village at the base of Mt Ruopehu - a still active volcano. The scenery as we drove up was fantastic. Mt Ngouruhue right next door was Mr Doom in the Lord of the Rings. There was still snow.
Wed morning saw us on the chairlift up Mt Ruapehu, we found that the big ski carpark had been used for the battle scene with the elves and orcs in LOTR, and the whole area had been used in filming much of Frodo and Sams journey into the land of Suaron, and Gandalfs journey. Very funky. We managed to get to 2100mtres and had a little time on some snow. The clouds came accross, which meant no good for photos, but Rachael was happy because she got to be in a cloud and eat the mist (she claimed it was like chocolate). Loved the time out on the mountain. It was way cool to walk on a sleepy yet active volcano.
Wed afternoon was driving to Wellington, it rained and we were all fairly had it by the time we got into town. We experienced the amazing famous Wellington wind, Rachael almost taking off with the power of the wind.
Thursday we had a slower day in Wellington. We rode up the Cable Car and visited the Carter Observetory and had our own hour show at Planetarium. I learned how to find south using the stars and it was just wonderful having the constellations shown to us. Hugh did a catch up at the IBM office and Rachael had a big rest, making a cubby house in the hotel and watching cable - her hit of Nickelodian. We went out for dinner and had a great Italian meal. Rachael started to feel unwell so we took her and her upset tummy back to the hotel. She had a rotton evening but finally got to sleep. We did a major repack and had an early night as well.
Friday morning. Rachael seems better, tired but ok. We travel on. Ended up getting on board the ferry, missed out on a window seat beacuse we were not early enough. Still able to see the amazing scenery of the Cook Strait. Rachael got to see a magician in the kids lounge. Its quite a lovely way to travel. Next up the train..
Took R, Kay and Daniella to the IBM Kids Christmas Party at Big Splash starting lunchtime. All went well, R had a swim but wasn't very interested in the slides. I have not been back to that pool since being a teenager so had to deal with scarey flashbacks of pool party discos (insert shiver down spine here). Went home early afternoon for some quiet time before the Canberra Baptist Christmas Party in the evening. The church party was great, good food and a concert which allowed those creative drama types to show their skill. It finished off pretty late, and as I had overtired R anyway we took a sidetrack on the way home to look at Christmas lights. Found one spectacular one on Flory Drive Macgregor, then went out to Dunlop where we found a full size singing santa, and a whole street of very keen houses. Im quite taken with the blue led star lights. Decided that our twinkling coloured lights on the front railings are just a token effort. Must get some LED's....
Rachael is tired out. At school for the last two weeks her class have been going for swimming lessons. We have had other social things on in the afternoons. The weather has warmed up. All of this has compounded. So she had the day off today - with the execption of an hour and a half in the morning. I had promised to go help out and R's teacher had made me special wheat free morning tea. So while I went and assembled packs for next years kindy kids and cleaned toys with the other mums, Rach had to go to class. She was pretty happy to just come home after tho - spent the rest of the day playing scrabble, watching Cinderella over and over and generally mellowing out.
I did have some tasks to do in the afternoon, so she came with me. We went to the mall to get the promised shoes for her Christmas outfit. This is where I start to wonder if aliens have abducted her or someone elses genes are coming through. We go to the normal shoe shop. Nothing looks flashy enough. I cave in and go to Betts Jnr and there are the BLING shoes. My daughter now has a pair of strapy, gold sandles with heels. Then the assistant looks at her and says, you can get a second pair half price or a bag. I cannot cope with the bag thing so she has a pair of beaded, white sequined thongs (flip flop for non .au readers). She insisted on wearing them from the shop. Here comes my special moment of motherly advice. "Ow they are rubbing" "Yes dear, if they look good they are not comfortable and if they are comfortable they do not look good" any female who can prove otherwise please email me.
My boss hurt her back and is very unwell. I have been filling in on a few things for her. Today I presented a workshop for her (with some assistance from my coworkers) at an International conference. As I had been involved in the planning it was not too difficult to take this task on, I was pretty pleased at how well the workshop went. Small numbers but quality turn out. This is the second conference workshop I have presented at this year, and I am beginning to realise that the formula is remarkably similar. As long as there is practical input and people can talk a bit they appear to go away happy.
Rachael's First brush with a Rock God. Concert last night was fantastic, dare I say Dynamite! The choice moment was when Rachael was up on Hugh's shoulders and we were dancing, JK waved to us. Yup I checked that there were no naked women in close proximity, just us. There were many people taking many mood altering substances, but I am pretty sure that we had more fun than all of them, and sang along to every song louder!
I swear that bloody cat can read my blog. Arrived home from school to discover a tail and leg and bloodstains on my clean tiles! Somewhere in the garden there is a population of very stupid mice. Im getting annoyed now. I was only out for perhaps 45 minutes, maybe my tiles needed to have the latest kill....
I have just cleaned the floor, again. Duck has realised that the weather is warm outside and there are wonderful things to be caught. We have been treated to a mouse head under the table, a skink (small lizard), a large cockroach etc. all in the last week. I even had a terrible experience where she hurled up a mouse in front of me. I thought I had a pretty strong stomach but cleaning that one up put me over the edge. Thank goodness for tiles. I wish she would find somewhere else to play with the critters, or someone she loves more to bring them home to.
Rachael woke up at 5am this morning. Could you tell she was excited? Managed to fob her off till 8am, then there were presents, big cooked breakfast (all the more lovely because Daniella was there) and off to church. We managed to fit in a quick visit to our block of land to see if the culverts worked on the new driveway (they did). Then it was home to prepare for the feast. Rachael had a special phone call from Jimi and Andrea, visits from family, and we put on a big BBQ dinner. The cake wore thick chocolate frosting with every sprinkle she could get on it. Happy happy happy birthday. Only one more sleep till the big concert tomorrow night.
Went to the Warehouse Circus end of year performance. Mainly to watch our boarder Debbie's first public show. Daniella joined us (Kay was on the moonlight bus celebrating her DISTINCTION for Phys & At this semester). The girls were transfixed by acrobats, stilt walkers, jugglers, tumblers etc. We had a great time out - all for a $5 donation.
I have worked at the Uni flat out for the past few days. The Giving Tree morning tea went well - had a car load of gifts for the Salvo's Christmas appeal. Ive made some new connections with staff at the uni, been to buildings I never knew existed and done a lot of productive work. Life is good. Now to gear up for the big birthday celebrations.
Baptists Today conference committee meeting in Sydney. Drove up and back with Jeanette. It has to have been one of the most fun, most productive and interesting meetings I have been to in a long time. We set a topic and all have jobs to do. The road trip itself to Sydney and back seemed to fly, its very easy to be with Jeanette, she always has good things to do on car trips - I got a one on one preview of her sermon and had fun working on questions for the Old Fashioned Bible game night. They had some curly questions in there, for example "the most Grizzly way to die in the bible" and believe it or not mauled by bears is the best answer. If you want to know where you will just have to read it!
Howzat! Ah the cricket season is well underway. The screams to the umpire are audible and there are whites on the oval across the road from us. I can sense summer.
I can also tell it is spring because The Annoying Bird is back too. It makes a horrible noise starting at 4:20am. Now we have the windows open at night we can hear it start. The cat threw up at 4am this morning, Hugh cleaned up, I was in that terrible deep sleep you cant wake up quickly from.. We were just settling back to sleep when the bird kicked in. It is an evil conspiricy to deprive us of rest.
Little Athletics. Hmmm. Rachael has taken up Little A's. I think she is enjoying it quite a lot. However it does require a parent to assist with the events. The first week I went I had not a clue about what was needed. Neither did anyone else and then an experienced father came along. He basically turned into a dictator and bossed everyone around and took ages getting our 18 under 6 girls from event to event. I realise that I am going to have to deal with the same people all season so want to find out the fastest and more efficent way of getting through all the events. Small girls get bored waiting. The last two weeks have been much better. Most of the parents are on side and with everyone helping we get through more easily. I now have a pretty good handle on organising things and hopefully it is done in a better team way. I wish that someone warned me that your kids sport etc will require as much team effort from you as it does from them. Apart from ranting about all that, good sunscreen, a hat and water are also standard requirements, as is something to eat for a small person who gets hungry half way through long jump, turbo jav and sprints.
Hugh and Rachael have upgraded her computer. It is of course a Linux machine and has a suite of cool new games. Rachael is loving frozen bubble. She had managed to get to level 31 and had the game on pause while at school. Hugh was looking at what she had and unpaused it and restarted it. "No way, she is going to be so upset" says I. Panic strikes. Parents trying to google the shortcut to get back to the correct level. I say "you go to school and collect her and I will get it back to the correct level" this is at 2:45. I didnt have time to look properly and figured it was the best way to cover up the mistake. So I sit and play Frozen Bubble under pressure and at 3:08 Rachael walks in the door. I have got it to level 28. My hand is sore from playing. Hugh and I exchange looks. She gets to the computer and does not realise. Phew. Sighs of relief all round. Now we have time we find out how to get it back to the level without playing all the way there. Will have to save this story for later years about how to be good parents.
Went out for what seems to have become an annual playgroup mums catchup. It was inspired because Sue is back from Burma, but a bloody good excuse to get together at Tilleys and eat cake in good company. We hear and tell the stories of the year, what the kids have been doing, recent new challenges to us as parents (school discos won this year). I was glad Janelle was there to keep us on track with her comments from the teachers point of view - balanced the issues and made us laugh more. I reflect always on how far we have come and what stories stick in our minds. Had to laugh when Sue recounted that Lil loves her craft, the blowing up the microwave drying out leaves for playgroup craft story came out again. It was a happy night for me, enjoyed greatly seeing everyone.
Im back again. Been away near Gosford for a Pastors Renewal Group. This is not the quiet picture of refreshment that people seem to imagine when I say it was time away. Not a retreat. More like intense group therapy for 4 days. And I can say that Im very glad that the time helps other Ministers but it was extremely difficult for me. I am committed to ongoing spiritual and professional development but this "process" (3 year committment to the group meeting once a year for 4 days) exhausts me. Having others listen while you tell your story is powerful stuff. Listening to others stories takes focus. Helping them work through issues in a group is not easy. I come away each year with a sense of appreciation that my family of origin, the one I now create with Hugh and Rach, and most of my work experiences have been pretty good. I have been affirmed by both friends and family and have a strong network of support.
Ok so I hated the group process thing (Im sure I will be using phrases like"lets name that", "lets visualise this" and individuation, mutuality, "I statements" etc for a few weeks). I also hated being away from my family again. I am so over airports, taxis and travel. I used to love looking out the window and the feeling on take off. Now I have been reading my book and not bothering. I used to love the airport as a place of anticipation, the possibility of the journey. Now its a place that gets me home fast and the anticipation is more of being held by Hugh and Rach. I even didnt care when the cat bit me last night when I got home. I was happy that she missed me and I had been rebuked. I think Deb even missed me a little too - she came out to the airport to collect me at 9:45 at night, it was very very cool to hear all the positive things that had happened for her while I had been away.
Tonight, I feel more grounded and back to normality. Ive had a full on day at uni, walked home with R from school, the washing is caught up, dinner was made and eaten and appreciated. I let Rachael read to me for longer than usual and she fell asleep in my arms. The cat came in and curled up with us as well. Life is good again.
Yesterday in thinking about ending up the renewal group I was quite relieved. I am glad the processing the process is over. I know now I need to find some other form of spiritual growth to fill the gap, but I will try another method.Hopefully one which will fit my personality and style better. What has been done has been done and finally I will let it be (thats a quote from one of my most loved prayers from my days at St Marks, in full below).
Collect : Night Prayer
Lord,
It is night.
The night is for stillness
Let us be still in the presence of God.
It is night after a long day.
What has been done has been done;
what has not been done has not been done;
let it be.
The night is dark.
Let our fears of the darkness of the world
and of our own lives
rest in you
The night is quiet.
Let the quietness of your peace enfold us
all dear to us,
and all who have no peace,
The night heralds the dawn.
Let us look expectantly to the new day,
new joys,
new possibilities.
In your name we pray. Amen
Spent the week in Sydney at the TCMA Conference. It was excellent to spend time with University Chaplains from all over Australia and there were even a few from NZ as well. I met and learned a lot from so many people. I also presented my first workshop, joined by my Jewish co worker Liz to talk about some of our multifaith team experiences and events UC has run, highlighting the use of the Harmony Project. I really got into a workshop on Media as Spirituality run by Rob Whalley where I met Darren Wright who shares Robs interest in media. Darren manages Digital Orthodoxy which is a pretty handy site if you are doing any sort of Christian work with young people or interested in film, theology and multimedia.
There was a circus theme through the conference and I learned to poi (thanks Miss Sally). I found a kindred sister who loves labyrinths (yay Karen). Too many others to mention gave me their time and wisdom. I stayed up late talking with Dave, Danny, Darren and Lisa, then did it again the following evening with Karen, Sal, Jemma, and Danny. Note to self for next time - you are too old to stay up to 1.30am and not feel the pain on the following days. I come away from the conference energised and with a network of people to call on who are all doing great work around the country.
I also found time to catch up with the Darlings (Belinda, Aron, Miz & Grace), Row and Ben and got to the Ginseng bathhouse for a spa & skin scrub/korean massage/facial with Fran, who happened to be in Sydney.
Today I am recovering and returning to reality via household routine - washing never goes away. My attention is also in demand from the household. I have been missed - this has been shown by a) being bitten by the cat (my punishment for leaving her with the family, she purred after the bite), b) being in close proximity to Rachael at all times (play with me my mummy, cuddle me) and c) Hugh (who prolly also wants time but has to wait in line for cat and child to have their share). I am feeling very loved.
I am exhausted. I am elated. My football team won in one of the most amazing games I have ever seen in my life. My body is still recovering from the rush. Ok I will admit it, I cried when the final siren went. To see Paul Kelly pass the cup over to Roos was choice. Cheer cheer the red and the white, I will drive my household insane with my stupid smile and constant humming of the song, our noble sons are marching onwards to VICTORY.
Today the University celebrated World Peace day, a United Nations day. We got together at lunchtime for readings, entertainment and speaches relating to Peace. It was a good community time to celebrate. We had a stall earlier in the day and students/staff were able to make origami cranes or write on a peace dove which we attached to a blue banner. The result was pretty stunning. They are now going on display at the Uni for a little while. When the pictures are up on the UC newspaper site I will link to it.
My other major achievement was riding to/from the uni after an extended period off the bike. I still managed big gears and made it up one of the hills I thought I would end up walking up! Whoo hoo. As Debbie (current occupant of our spare room) says "Victory". I even gave Rachael a dink home - very carefully and slowly. The only other thing I noticed was there were a LOT of caterpillers on the bike path. I tried not to squish them (it being peace day).
Ive been published in the Uni online newspaper this week. Thats a first for me. If you want read about my trip to the Mosque and see how I look with a Muslim headscarf on you can check it out.
Its Grandma Rosies Birthday today. We all sang to her on the speaker phone. Yesterday morning we celebrated by having breakfast together at Kays. I managed to poach eggs perfectly, using my brother Marks tips! The pressure was on let me tell you because I normally stuff them up. We had a great meal, the girls had fun, K cooked pancakes for the girls. We had eggs, bacon, tomato, mushrooms. Fresh fruit and yoghert. Yummmo. No need to go out.
Its sunny, spring has sprung. Im still sick with the remains of a cold and had a terrible food intolerance reaction on Sunday morning so I am officially having a day off. Rach is still getting over the cold and has been missing me so I have kept her home from school too. Im pacing myself through the housework but taking time to play cards, sit in the garden and generally "love on" my girl and care for both of us. When she was little one of her first weather observations was "sometimes it rains", well sometimes the sun shines with perfect spring glory and today we are enjoying it. "Sometimes you just need to sit in the sun".
I have been attending this conference for several years.
On Thursday I shared a car down to Melbourne with Jeanette and John from church. Both are very clever people, with well ordered minds. Apart from just enjoing their company in general, we proved that they are both much much better at trivia, crossword solutions and general knowledge than I ever aspire to be. Ive done some long road trips before but the time flew.
The first session of the conference had Norman Habel speaking. For me this was the stand out session, not just because of Norms energetic and engaging manner. Challenging to read the bible from the perspective of creation. I sometimes wonder how I can continue to read it in new ways but this sure added to my methods, no longer just feminist, social justice, but now eco green. I was leading a small group which turned out to be fairly quiet the first day, and more animated on the second when we were able to go on a reflective walk. The workshops I attended were opportunities to look at practical applications. I immensly enjoyed Margie and Andrew East's "In Him we live and move and have our being" - experiencing God in our selves. We were guided in moving our bodies changing our posture. As an Alexander Technique student already it appealed to me (Andrew is a musician and AT Teacher). It was also very cool to have this session towards the end of the conference, the input prior was massive so having time to reflect and just do and be was balancing.
Ive accepted a position on the committee to help organise the next conference. Three of the Canberra people had been involved for a long time and were standing down, so I join with Jeanette and Paul F to take their places. This way there are 3 reps from Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. Im hopeful that I will be able to give back in some way. The conference community have been a valuable and important part of my life for some years now. It was just wonderful to reconnect with so many interesting, diverse and passionate people after missing out last year (we were in the USA). Best personal moments were those times spent with dear friends (Agent Cgull, feeling Belinda's baby move, sitting in the sun outside with Janelle, Roz & Colin). I also felt immensly encouraged during interactions in the break times, such as meals sitting chatting with too many people to list, time on the terrace with new folk and a precious half hour sharing my story and being encouraged by Gwyn - National President Baptist Union of Australia.
My only down of the whole time was a terrible food intolerance reaction at 3am on Sunday morning. I felt pretty bad for my room mate Robyn as I woke her up as my body betrayed itself at both ends in the ensuite. Its bad enough that I end up suffering, but to inflict all that on a friend who has only had a couple of hours sleep felt very unfair. Robyn is very gracious and caring. Part of what makes her such a wonderful Pastor. I travelled home via a lift with Rainer to the airport at 6:30am (thanks) flying out at 8:25 back to Canberra with Merilyn and David. They were equally good company, it was fun to sit together in the exit row even if we were all a little weary. Happy to land and see Rachael's head jumping up and down as we came into the terminal, very good to be embraced by Hugh and my poss.
Soweto Gospel Choir. Oh my goodness this was a vibrant feast of voices and energy. Impressed is not enough to start to put it into words. I rejoiced in the sound. I found myself smiling and happy. These are beautiful people making an impact on others. Wow. My mum got me the best birthday present in this night out. Good good mummy.
Attended the recognised ministers course at Morling College (Baptist Theological College of NSW). I think I have finally started to get a grasp of NSW Baptist history and doctrine now. I was the only woman attending, so no blending into the crowd (17 other men). Some useful leadership information, some good speakers, finally have the official line about performing weddings (have to attend another course before getting my licence). My interview seemed positive. I have to wait about a fortnight before hearing if I have finished the process and will be officaly a recognised minister. Dot the i's, cross the t's.
Highlights were staying with my friends Belinda, Aron and their girls. Dinner out with some of the secret sisterhood of women in Ministry (the cafe had to encourage us to leave we were talking so late). Using Numbers 27 as one of my inspiring stories in scripture and having blokes come up the next day because they had looked it up (YES there is a woman Noah, one of 5 daughters who stood up for her rights and changed the law). Spending time with my cousin and going to her lucky dress shop to find a dress for the IBM Winter Ball - it was the first one I tried on! Imagine that. Also got to go to an auction my cous was bidding at, they didnt get the terrace, it went for $640K so they are still looking.
I am 35. It didnt hurt a bit. No KKD this year.
Physio reveals I have damaged ankle joint face and torn two ligaments this time. I now officially QUIT netball because its costing me way too much in a) medical bills and b) time recovering. Email me any suggestions for social excercise that wont get me hurt. Suggestions so far are a) team yoga, b) syncronised swimming and c) lawn bowls. All options seem incorrect. Hugh jokingly suggested it was time for a new horse. I don't remember getting this damaged in all my years of horse ownership and riding (now I chuckle to myself because I only ever got concussion so cant remember it anyway- oh dear).
Tamagochi has finally arrived at our house. Rachael earns $1 per week pocket money. She has faithfully saved up using a graph to let her know her progress towards the $25 item. I hoped the fad would be over before she had enough money to buy one, I even thought she might get bored of saving. Nah now we have Bleep bip bip (noise game makes not me swearing). Worst of all I am going to have to learn how to use it too. So far the pause key is my best option.
New netball injury. Rolled ankle, couldnt drive home again. We lost. I hate that. Frustrated because its only my second week back and Im out again. GRRRR.
I visited a new GP for second opinion regarding HRT, he ran some blood tests which not surprisingly revealed I was way out of wack on the female hormone side of things. Now I am trying Bioidentical compounded HRT. Its made up to my needs. Happy happy happy. Hopefully no more hot flushes and I will stop forgetting things and being cranky. Pickup my script on Wed - they require 48 hours to mix the stuff up. I am worse than those people going in for their methadone. 2pm I will be there waiting.
Rachael and I flew up to Brisbane for this time to stay with my brother Mark and his parnter Andrea. We finally got to meet their cat Chicken (yes they got Chicken before we got Duck).
Some highlights. Saturday 9th will have to stay in my mind for a long time. It was one of those perfect days, just the right temperature, not too hot or cold. We went for a picnic/bbq at a nature park area and Mark showed Rachael how to build a fire. Andrea and I got to read the paper in peace while this was happening. We had a huge salad, kebabs and sausages it tasted fanastic and we finished up sharing some gormet yoghert that we had picked up on the way out. Well fed wWe went for a little bushwalk up to a waterfall. There were a couple of bridges so we played billy goats gruff and trolls. Everyone was happy, there was no hurry and it all felt so good. Amazingly we had time in the afternoon to go see Madagascar at the movies (Rachaels choice but I loved the Penguins).
We hired a car the following day and drove up the coast to do some touristy things - the BIG Pineapple (open even tho rumored to close soon), the Buderim Ginger Factory, a Macadamia Nut factory and best of all a visit to our friend Woolly and his wife Jack. Woolly co builds Mark's race car.
As a result of over doing all this we then had a few "sloth" days where we stayed home and helped Mark in the garden. We managed to help get rid of one tree (ute load) plant a hedge, plant some flowers in the garden bed, rake leaves and move the letterbox. All of which kept R occupied well. We also visited local parks and found one of the best flying foxes I have played on. Did I say me? I knoe it was really meant for kids but I loved it too.
The one down to the holiday was discovering Rachael had picked up head lice (a note had come home in the last week of school saying they had cases in her class). Of course at Marks there was only a double bed so I had been sharing with Rachael. Fantastic. We both had lice! Mark was his usual practical self and told me to go get poison and deal with it. We spent an afternoon being monkeys and picking the lice and eggs out of our hair. Charming! It was one of those fun bonding family experiences. I have now become a true believer in the cheap white conditioner and comb method of removing and detecting lice. From now on Rachael will be checked each week. I guess its one of those things that belonging to school brings.
On Friday 15th we drove down to Seaworld. R surprised me by being pretty brave and wanting to go on some of the rides I thought she might have doubts about. She loved the flume ride and even went on the Pirate ship. All in all we had a great day with Mark and Andrea.
Hugh got his uni results, a distinction for each unit. Sounds like the Blemings academics are on a bit of a roll. Im thinking now that all the extra hours he put in were worth it, Im proud of him.
Todays holiday entertainment was visiting local parks by bike (R & I) and scooter (Daniella). We managed to find 4 parks on the way to Grandma Jo's place where we had booked in for lunch and a rest stop before heading out for another couple of parks on the way home. I have park fatigue, no I will not be the cop and chase them for cops and robbers anymore. I had a bit of a moment where I was chanelling Bernard from Black Books - all that came out of my mouth was "NO more park, home, we must go home". On the plus side the new equipment at one of the nearer parks had twister dots and a indestructable spinner. So maybe Im positive after all just plain tired out.
Had problems with our internet connection from some time yesterday to this evening. Called Hugh for tech support in NY this morning. After rebooting we still couldnt fix it, had to call for reinforcements because it was too hard for Hugh to do blind and in a different timezone. Ben Elliston has redefined a modern knight in shining armor. Yep he arrived on his bike with high vis jacket and ankle reflectors. And made the email work once more. I have communication with the outside world and my jitters can subside. Thanks Ben :-)
You know you are old when ... you visit friends and get kitchen splash back envy. Rachael and I went for a short bike ride and popped in to see the Lorrimers. They have been in their home for 12 years and decided it was time to repaint and modernise some things. They have changed some handles in the kitchen and removed the tiles, replacing them with sheet of glass with a greeny silver backing. It looks fantastic. Add this to the list of things for my next kitchen. No more grotty grout, easy to look after with the enjo. What more could you want!
Took a drive over to Woden today. Went to Clints in search of cheap craft supplies to top up our box (always go through more in the holidays). $35 later came out with a swag of trashy glittery things that girls just love. There are sequins, ribbon, feathers, googly eyes etc. Picked up a couple of craftwood treasure chests to decorate. Now hopefully this will keep Rachael, Sophie and Daniella quiet for a little while in the holidays. I had to laugh because there were three other grandparents with grandchildren also purchasing craft things and activity books. You can tell who was thinking the same thing because it is the school holidays.
Rode our bikes up to school today. (This was my test of how repaired my leg is and it was fine). Had my first ride in the rain this afternoon to collect Rachael. It was pretty cold but sort of exhilarating because the air was so "fresh". By the time R was out of school it had mainly stopped so the ride home was no troubles. No complaints from her either.
Got some excellent news today. Kay thought she had done very poorly in her exam but found out she had got 70%. So that gives her a distinction for her first unit at uni! Im pretty proud of her, we all knew she would do well, but its nice to have the results to back it up. Gave me something to smile about today.And as toddler Rachael used to say "Wooohooo Auntie Kay".
Thinking of things that make me smile. I got a funky card depicting Ganesh (a Hindu god) last week from one of my playgroup friends Sue. (If you think play group is just for the kids you are way wrong. I met some amazing other mums who had fantastic life stories and talents.) It was very cool to hear about their adventures over on her posting in Burma and have news about her daughter Lilli. Geesh I cant believe you is still reading my blog! Anyway Suze you can now have a glimmer of fame here as a bit of a highlight to my domestic life. (ha ha ha) I admire you for taking on the work you do and Im sure you are making a postive impact assisting the development programs. It's interesting how we live vicariously through others sometimes!
Book binged again last night (up till midnight just reading). Finished Angelica by Sharon Shinn. I think she has got to be one of my new comfort SF/Fantasy writers. Im still reading my way through Robyn Hobb's fantasy series. To balance this out I will admit Im also starting to do some theological reading about religious prejudice and working in a multi faith environment. Im thinking of writing a paper about retaining distinctiveness and being inclusive from a Christian point of view. Still at the research stage but Im feeling the need to streach out the academic side of my brain a bit now.
Have called my cousins to wish them happy birthday. Rachael called her cousin this morning too. 3 cousins, much birthday celebrations. Rachael said we had to have pancakes for breakfast because of this. A total scam, but I cooked them anyway. Used corn cornflour and have had no adverse reactions.
Yesterday Rachael learnt how to break eggs. We had 4 mashed ones and then the last one she broke perfectly. Our omlette was one of the best she had eaten because she made it. I have a sneaking suspicion that the other reason she wanted pancakes this morning was to crack more eggs. This theme was repeated in her journal writing at school this morning.
I went to an Enjo party yesterday afternoon, mainly because it was one of the other mums from school that I liked. It was pretty funny because I came home and was inspired to mop the floor. This morning I cleaned the shower. Perhaps this is the trick to lax housekeeping - you just need some other people getting excited about it to remind you how easy it all is. Enjo enjo enjo a cleaning we will go. Subliminal? I dont know.
My calf seems to be getting better, it was itching like crazy yesterday. I keep forgetting to do my excercises, but have resolved to work a little harder this week. It was pretty stiff after a big walk and all the housework yesterday. Im feeling pretty well. Dave on the other hand sounds terrible. Has picked up a cough and cold thing so has stopped his training schedule. His angel (girlfriend in Melb named angel by R) suggested herbal medicine and he is taking it, even though it tastes and smells gross. I think he must like her or something...
Yesterday afternoon we were given some tickets to see Circus Quirkus. As Hugh was collecting Rachael we decided to go. Nothing like being spontaneous. The tickets are paid for by local businesses and then given away by the Rotary Club, all we are asked to do is send a thank you to the person who paid for your ticket. We will do this with pictures. Hugh, Rachael and I were treated to amazing entertainment, acrobats, juggling, a plate spinning clown and this very strange guy who blew up a person sized ballon with a blower vac and dissapeared into it. It was a great show and gave us conversation opportunities for all of our dinner.
We ended up eating out and I was very very impressed with the waitor Gus at Belluchi's in Manuka. Rachael wanted to get pasta, and I wasnt understanding what she wanted. Gus quickly resolved things by getting the chef to put a piece of each pasta in the offering on a small plate. She pointed out the penne. Which meant she got exactly what she wanted, pesto penne. Excellent. Got to love an extablishment that caters to your whims at 5 years old
Hugh departs for his world tour today. Normally I wouldn't blog that but Im feeling safe because I have my own special police man living with us at the moment and he has close protection experience (yay Dave). Hugh departs with a suitcase full of Australian chocolate products and vegemite for various ex pat friends. Im just looking forward to the return replacement of my Amazon book order... Seriously we will be missing him. Rachael and I are also sad to miss out on time with our US friends and that summertime Jamba Juice experience.
After a visit to my osteopath on Friday who confirmed that my muscle is torn I was told to go seek a good physiotherapist. So I went to see Cassie our team physio today. I figure as she has now treated a few of us Blue Penguins she deserves this title, apparently she is the one who has sorted out injuries for the BCG, Mel and Mikey. This woman is amazing. She hurts you and makes you hurt yourself to feel better. I have streaching homework, written down. Im not allowed to play sport for 3-6 weeks. Apparently the calf is your strongest muscle and takes a long time to heal, do something stupid and you have to start all over again. Grrrrr. I go back to see her on Thursday. I will be rebuilt. I will also be much more careful about warming up before netball from now on. Stupid me.
I tore my calf muscle at netball tonight. It really hurt a lot. I swore more than I have in years. I was transformed into a filthy mouthed ouch ing horrible thing. Martin drove me home and Mel drove the Liberty back for me. Ice helped. Unhappy. Mutter mutter mutter. On the plus side Hugh looked after me well. He came home from purchasing the magic Voltarin anti inflam cream with a copy of Who magazine (I read this when on holidays or sick) and a couple of Turkish Delights. I know Im loved and cared for.
Well here I am, now 16 days into a wheat free diet. I had a total meltdown about a fortnight ago and ended back at my natropath/herbalist general all round wise woman. Apparently cutting out my HRT had put my adrenal system into wobbly mode. I got myself upset and it hit full on panic stations. So with an upset tummy and reduced mental capacity due to stress I sought help. Thank goodness. I am starting to feel so much better. I have been taking some funky herbal tonic which smells like something between compost and Sambucca. It had all sorts of strange things in which a) coated and settled my tum, b) calmed me down and c) reminded me that I could still scull a drink when I had to.
Adjusting my diet was really tough the first week, easier the second week and I think Im finally starting to get the hang of it now. I am missing bread, crumpets, and pasta something chronic. But I am starting to get my energy back, I have lost 3 kgs already and my eyes look lots whiter. All good. I have discovered a group of people who all went off wheat and havent looked back - just think of your friends and its amazing how many have food intolerences. Im finding that the easy option is to look for glutin free on lables and menus. I actually can eat other grains containing glutin but its sort of the easy way out.
Dave come back from Timor last weekend, the AFP cannot post him to the Solomons and they are organising a term transfer for him to Canberra. Its very easy to spend time with him, I guess after being enforced friends since we were 3 years old gives you that history. He has brother status. I had the hiccups the other day and suddenly he was in my face yelling at me. "What was that for?" says I "I was surprising you to cure them". I sure got a "surprise" but I think it was just a big excuse to yell at me. I was laughing about that for hours afterwards, cheeky bloody boy.
Oh and Duck is a traitor cat. Dave says he does not like cats. Duck keeps on going and sitting on his lap. At every opportunity. She purrs. So I just feed her, take her to the vet, clean up after her. I am an unloved cat owner who only gets attention when everyone else is out of the house. Next cat will be oriental and display more loyalty!
Pelligrino's at Fyshwick make the best peppermint tea I have had in ages. It comes with fresh leaves in a special tea pot. Impressed. They get 10/10. Much better than the peppermint tea incident at the place that forgot Hugh's cake the other week.
Ten years of being married. Wow, Hugh has put up with me a long time now. He's MINE! I'm his. He left for work this morning with a comment along the lines of "Im leaving you a kitchen full of dirty dishes for our anniversary" but we both laughed because it doesnt matter. We are not big on all that mushy stuff anymore and we are both pretty secure knowing that we still care as much, if not more than that day ten years ago when we made it all official. Im proud that we have made it into the 52% of people that stay married (average Australian divorce rate has officially hit 48% in the first 7 years).
So what did we do on the day? Both Grandmas had lives (as they are entitled too) and were not free to babysit so we had a special romantic dinner for three at home, Rachael, Hugh and I. Rachael decided that we needed candles on the table. After our meal we got out the offical wedding album and Rachael asked all sorts of questions about the day. It was sort of corny and sort of cool. I do love my family, they are just wonderful.
Today I attended an exclusive event. Mel had been given 2 tickets, and knowing that Im not always working and up for someting different invited me to join her. KYLIE (note that its in capitals) is opening at the National Portrait Gallery on 14 May
The local ABC radio station 666, ran a competition to win a sneak preview with special tour and inside information on the collection. There were perhaps 25 people there. Some very keen fans. I was just pretending to be the guest of James of Flory, a friend of my friend Mel. Let me state that he was the one that won the tickets! I couldnt answer most of the questions that were being mentioned at the nibbles and wine start of the event. The radio presenters Ross and Andrea were doing the usual schmoozing, I felt like a bit of a fraud for a) not being a KYLIE fan and b) not being a listener. They did well but after my time at CASA Public Relations, once a journalist always one - i.e. Hi whats your name? Next sentance they insert name, so X where are you from. Forced skills. Grrr.
The curator told us that "Kylie affected everybody's life and has touched everybody in some way. The collection is vital to Australia's cultural history because K is a major performer on the international stage, she is an icon." The costumes were quite interesting, that woman is extremely tiny. They even had custom made mannequins to show the costumes off. Amazing. And I learnt that she has her own mould and special toe pads to keep those Manolo heels on while dancing. Icon. Diva. I could only manage an hour of being interested, endured the group photo of us doing the locomotion and was happy to leave it at that. Fun, frivolous. We got a cute show bag to take back to James. Im sure he will just love it....
We now have inhabitants in the purple fish tank. Last week we visited our local pet shop and found in the fish room a helpful and enthusiastic bloke called Andrew. He knew we were new to the game but ready to move on from the standard goldfish. So to start our tank we purchased a bristlenosed catfish, some zebra, leopard danio's. There was one pink pearl danio and this spent all of last week chasing the others round. We went back today and found Andrew again, he remembered exactly what we had purchased last week and also what other fish would go well with them. I told him about the bossy pink striped danio so we found it a couple of friends, a male and a female to keep it company! Now it is not bothering the others anymore, there is peace in the community. We also purchased four gold medaka and four white cloud mountain minnows.
Having been thrown into the deep end with maintaining the fish tank at the uni and now one at home, I decided I need to get more educated in the area. Ive spent a bit of time looking for more information, but you know that Andrew was pretty spot on when it comes to selecting peaceful, community, cold water fish. He made the selections well. Im happy, the fish are happy and Im enjoying them a lot (so is Rachael). Im also learning more about how to care for them and be a responsible fish owner. I had no idea that my catfish would like blanched peas, zucchini or pumpkin! I have not tried this yet but I did get it some bottom feeder food because the tank doesnt have enough algae.
Ive been blogworthy. Do not complain when you appear in anothers blog because it will only get worse. I wish I was mentioned over something smart, interesting. But I got what I deserved. I wish I could blame our Tivo. It recorded Blokesworld in the first place. Perhaps I should just say I am doing undercover research about the new generation of males. My mate Dave when asked what the opposite to a feminist was instantly stated "a realist". Im left thinking I might just need to go practice my ute trailer reversing with a cold beer. Right...
Just over three years ago, due to severe endometriosis, I had a hysterectomy with my ovaries out. I was quite glad to see them go. Ive recovered pretty well but I am in the process of trying to get my stupid hormones balanced. After the operation I went into surgical menopause which is not fun to cope with. I got hot flushes which are very annoying, one minute you are fine, the next minute you are bright red, hot and people cant understand why you are suddenly taking clothes off or going outside. You experience mood swings, I got really irritable. I spaced out and forgot things. All quite revolting but better than being as sick as I had been. I put up with this for 7 weeks after the operation and then went onto HRT.
Fast forward to now. I have been taking HRT for almost 3 years now and at my last check up the GP suggested I try not taking them and see what happened. There are risks with taking HRT long term, but not many studies have been done on people in their thirties. Im pretty healthy at the moment, in a good frame of mind, not under too much stress. I forgot to take my HRT to the coast. Bit annoying I think but possibly good as I can have a break. Two weeks after stopping taking HRT I am full on back into the land of hormonal vauge ness. I have been putting things down and not remembering where I did. I get side tracked more easily than ever. I keep forgetting to do things I said I would do. I am living by my diary, to do sticky note on my computer and my book of routines. Friends please forgive me if Ive been wierded out. Im cranky but there is a reason. Im having hot flushes again. When Im red its not embarrasment or shyness - its because Im bloody hot. Im going to bed early to try compensate for waking up a couple of times a night because I need to fling the doona off because Im boiling. Its not as bad as last time but its still pretty revolting to experience it. If things get too bad Im meant to just start taking it again but I want to give my liver a break from processing synthetic hormones. Im trying really hard to be proactive about my health. I have an appointment booked for a second opinion at the end of June. I just hope I havent killed anybody by then! I would probably forget where I put the body and that I did it anyway....
Had a quiet day. Rachael went to the school holiday program at the Botanic Gardens with Grandma Rosie and Daniella. I walked over in the evening and we all had dinner. Dave showed me some pics of Timor, it has improved since the images the media showed us but still is a place much in need of pulling together.
Woke up to find that one of Rachael's fish had died. Its the first pet death we have had to deal with. I thought she would be alright but she sobbed. We had a little fish burial in my herb garden. Hugh making a cross from paddle pop sticks because R wanted it marked.
I had been thinking of getting a new fishtank for some time so we all went to the petshop and got a new tank and will get a variety of smaller fish when we get it all set up. I thought I had conned her into a silver tank, but no we ended up with a purple one. Fantastic.
My life long friend David is home from peace keeping in Timor. Really glad to see him.
Why is it that when you want to see a kangaroo they are never around? Drove Jimi and Andrea out to the airport via near ADFA where there are normally mobs of roos eating the grass on the ovals but not one in sight.
Jimi had news his father had passed away. Im sad for him and Andrea and the grief that their family must now process. I am confused because I want to look after them but know Im not going to be able to do much. They face the reality of coping with being double jet lagged, exhausted and emotional all at the same time. All I can do is let them know I love them and pray. Sometimes I am left clutching at the good things. We spent a little time, we ate a few meals at the same table again, we laughed, we shared Rachaels excitement and being silly. I hold even these moments close to my heart because moments - however short or long they may be - with good friends are very precious.
A surreal day. Jimi had news his dad is in a coma. They organised to go home but the flights got stuffed up. Sorted out in the end, they fly home tomorrow morning first thing. In the midst of this I had friends coming from Cairns for lunch, which was good but sort of strange because we are all sad and a bit distracted. We went for a walk in the afternoon with R on her bike. Andrea remains true to form, we were alongside the creek and she found people with buckets and critters in them, some tiny yabbies. I wish I could have taken her to the botanic gardens and out to our block. But I keep them for next time knowing that she will still love discovering Australian creatures
In the evening we had an open house - various people turn up for pre conference pizza. It was an interesting mix of overseas visitors, friends and strangers who just turned up at the door and said they worked for IBM... Rachael was ticking off the groups as they arrived, it was only the next day I realised we had about 35 people come and go. Crazy but I think people were happy to have a place to hang out.
Jimi and Andrea arrived! Yay, very jet lagged we surprised Rach by having them with us to pick her up from a birthday party. We were all happy! Andrea picked up some new lilac keens for me and some very cute dresses which Rachael had to immediately wear. Cool things aside we were all just excited and pleased and there was lots of jumping up and down. The summer romance has turned into a lifetime affair!
Went down to the South Coast to mums beach house. Ate at Braidwood bakery and purchased a half and half loaf - half brown/half white. Perfect compromise for making zebra sandwhiches. Went and looked for shells, dug sandcastles and moats, caught a crab and relocated it in a new rock pool, walked, ate fish and chips, played the old records, danced with Rachael, talked to mum a lot, and visited Mogo zoo. Yay for us, it was good.
Visited my fab cousin Rowena in Glebe. Went for a Sydney waterfront walk, adventure playground topped off by learning how to use a Webber BBQ (Ive never done this and as a technical note, the vent needs to be open or it goes out). Rachael was blissed out because she got to try on new fashion shoes and weed Ro and Ben's balcony. Had Sunday breakfast in Glebe cafe, hour late for church at Seaforth Baptist but got there in time to hear Dave preach. R is convinced its a great place because we have so far gone when there are large celebrations taking place and lots of food. Very friendly church, had to laugh at Hugh quoting Adrian Plass while assisting with their morning tea washing up. Some people think he is serious when he makes these comments. We went from church to the Darlings house(they say they are the Downey-Groves family but we have renamed them darlings). Belinda and Aron cooked us up a great lunch, while Rach and Miriam built mud castles in the garden (Grace going to sleep like a good girl). The afternoon passed way too quickly. I can spend hours in their good company.
Went to see Through the Wire with some friends. It was a thought provoking night. We spent some time after the play in discussion about the refugee issue and political landscape. I was left wondering why I am in a minority who didnt want this government and their policies yet surrounded by intelligent people who have good ideas. I felt frustrated. I sent a post card to John Howard the next day. Small action but I had to do something.
Listening to lots of Jack Johnson after going to see him in concert. Any man that can play a ukelele and a) make it look sexy and b) sound good is a winner in my books.
We have been having great fun at the festival, enjoying the music, watching dances. Joined my mum today to listen to Brian Peters. I liked one of his songs quite a lot (Waltzing's for Dreamers) so decided to buy the CD. He was doing a signing at the Folk Festival Shop. Chatting to him was Mike Jackson, Rachael's number one Folk Artist. His kids songs traveled all around the USA with us. I had to speak to him "Hello Mike, I dont know if I love you or hate you, because our daughter played last years CD over and over again in the car". He was very gracious and understanding of how tolerence for "Im a nut, in a rut" can diminish when you are a parent. It was so wonderful to talk with him this year, we explained how important his music was to Rachael and us as we traveled. He had a new CD which he signed for Rachael and now we begin again!
The last fortnight felt like someone hit the fast forward button. I had a lot to do and so did Rachael and Hugh. We have managed to fit in school, work, haircuts, new shoes for R, swimming lessons, osteopath visits, the Canberra Show (racing pigs, marching displays etc). I managed to juggle it all but ended up extremely sick with a horrible gastro bug last weekend. This was frustrating and dissapointing because we were going on church camp. I ended up missing out on the whole thing.
Edited highlights
I was asked if I would speak at Sunday at Seven (our church evening service, more informal) and share some of my teenage experiences. This set me into a bit of a spin because I had a very mixed time. My dad was diagnosed with brain cancer in this time and I went off the rails a bit while at high school. My dad died when I was 19. I became a Christian and found a very real sense of peace and strength about 6 months after. So how to share these experiences and then finding my Christian faith caused a lot of soul searching. I ended up bouncing things of my friend Mel, my mum and to some extent the rest of my family. 20 years ago was some of the best times and worse times of my life. People laughed at my passion for 80's music and cried as I shared the pain of living with a terminally ill parent. It left me fragile afterwards but I was glad in a way to be forced to revisit some of what made me the person I am.
Ive been planning my mums 60th birthday celebrations. She was pretty sure she wanted to go out for a meal so I went to the Green Herring to check it out with Mel. A three course lunch settled the decision. It was as good as ever, I wont rave on because there is a better summary here in Mel's review. The party takes place on Friday 11th, we have a good mix of family and friends coming - a cosy 25 people and a room to ourselves for the evening. Unfortunatly my brother Mark is out on field trials, testing equipment somewhere out the back of Qld so cant make it. We have plotted and decided to contribute to upgrade the ancient TV (pre remote days) so mum doesnt have to watch the DVD's she has been hiring on her computer anymore. Hugh and mum had a good look and have reduced the field and found prices.
This week, one of the guys from IBM (Jeremy) gave Hugh a t shirt. It was too small so I inherited it, thanks mate. Normally I will not wear white t shirts EVER. This one has a purple logo of a person riding a bike, under is written "No Iraqes died to fuel this bicycle". Since I was riding to the uni on Thursday I decided to wear it. It SURE been a long time since people have stared at my chest like that. Interesting seeing the responses, some smiled, some waved and some looked dissaproving. Very cool, but only to be worn when travel is by bike (never when driving car).
Someone should warn new parents to the ACT Eduction system that you are required to read, process and sign large amounts of paperwork. So far I have signed off on 1) Permission to use video, photographs, or film footage for students 2005, 2) Permission for personal information to be given to the school P&C, 3) Permission for Personal information to be given to the canteen, 4)Volunteers registration form, 5)The IT Code of Practice (I did NOT get R to counter sign to say she would abide by 3 pages of policy because she would not understand and it was completely stupid to get a 5 year old to sign it) and 6) Student Welfare and Management forms - again I did not get Rach to counter sign it due to the above. I have also written a cheque for school photos, stated my days to help on the roster and provided an explaination why R will not be attending the School Athletics Carnival next friday (Im taking her to the Canberra Show instead then we are going to the beach, not that I told them that). Im looking for the positive from all this paperwork and can only find one - we now have a LOT of colourful paper in the recycling to use up.
I went to the Kindergarten information morning this week. They are expecting that she does 15 minutes revision each night on the literacy program. Fine I think, but she is not at all interested in this so I have to find ways to sneak this in. Combine this with the 15 minutes of excercises for Extra Lesson program (helping with her toe walking) and I now have 30 minutes of things she does not want to do. Every day. YAY! Im really ranting now. Its not all bad. Week 3 and at least Im doing ok filling her lunch box with healthy things and getting her dressed in uniform every day. We also rode to school 4 days this week and have not been late once.
This week Hugh won an award, yay! IBM said he is doing a good job at a corporate event held at the war memorial. He tended to stand back even on the day beacuse two of his team won international recognition for their research work. Modesty aside, he works pretty hard and tries to look after everyone else so Im proud that he was recognised for his efforts. It was all mighty good because we were all taken out for dinner on Tuesday as a result. Hugh's boss Ralph even flew in from Austin TX, there were also other IBM management represented but basically it was another ozlabs dinner, just more swanky with excellent food in a private dining room.
Today my work place (Spiritual meeting place) also won an award "The Vice Chancellor's Distinction Award" for enhancing and contributing to the University as a community. It was a nice bit of recognition for the involvement the various chaplains have in the uni community, we had a lot of exposure last year through the Harmony and Faith project. I feel my supervisor Leonie-Ruth deserved some individual recognition because without her it just would not have happened. We got a free lunch so thats two free meals this week.
Now the only way I can tie Rachael into the Award theme is to talk Award Wages. On the domestic front, we provide Rachael with her first ever pocket money tomorrow. She has made her bed each morning and followed her routines faithfully each day, and even fed the cat - all part of the deal. So its awards all round this week (hope she doesnt call the union because she has to work so hard for her dollar a week, mmm the minority workers union??).
Rachael started school on Tuesday. There were no tears from any member of the family. She is in a class with two of the other girls from preschool and there are only 18 kids in the class at the moment. So far the biggest challenge is does she wear the uniform dress or the netball skirt and t shirt? Ahh decisions. I was a little dissapointed when she told me that "two big boys spat on my uniform because I was in Kindergarten". There was that sinking feeling that something horrible had happened to my child and I couldnt protect her. I was also struck with the whole reality of life thing. Its not a nice world out there and she is going to have to manage. Mixed feelings there, now handed over to her teacher to follow up. Overall its been a good week, Rach is interested and engaged and settling in.
I think the biggest change with R at school is our cat Duck is lonely. As I write she is sitting on my lap - this was a rare occurrance but I seem to get more attention if I am at home without Rachael now.
Ive spent a lot of time at the Uni of Canberra gearing up for orientation week this week, next two weeks are going to be busy. Its sometimes challenging working on a multi faith team. I sometimes feel that Christanity seems to come away second best to the other religions in terms of exposure and be discounted because it is seen as the most common one in Australia. I also find it hard to cope with the extreme evangelical groups who often "turn off" or offend. Striking the right balance between not speaking out at all and not yelling an extreme message is the hard part. My goal for the year is to try and build up the Christian community and not let the message of Jesus go unheard. I prefer the saying of the Saint who said "Go into all the world and preach the gospel, where necessary use words."
Thinking of evangelism, Hugh has converted to bike riding in a huge way. He is very excited about the positive effects on his physical and mental health of riding three times a week to work and back. Combined with some interesting technical things he has found a good way to stay fit and have fun. (he has attached a tracking unit to his bike - see his blog for more details). Im left wondering if he will actually keep getting up early on winter mornings to ride with the other recumbent people. Ive not known him to EVER get up early because its optional. Im the early bird normally, having seen so many sunrises feeding horses before work. It was sort of cool to hear him share his early morning experiences of sunrise, kangaroos etc in a positive way.
Another few weeks have flown, we are well bonded with our land now. The whole house planning business is getting to be hard work, but we have been warned about the stages it goes through. Discussions with the local Rural Fire Captain and then the Council Fire Mitigation Officer have meant that we now will have to clear quite a way from the proposed house site. We apparently have the worst slope on the worst side for prevailing winds with the worst fuel load (stringybarks and tea trees) so a clearing of 75m needs to be incorporated into our house plans on that side. The big positive that has come out of it is we will have better views to the Namaji Ranges. We have also given the fire people permission to mark our dam (sign on the gate) as a water supply in case of bushfire. This way out of area tankers know they can access it. We are also making new contacts, meeting the neighbours etc.
The painting project continues - our gutters and eves are looking much better for the repair and paint that Dom has done. Im happy to recomend him, not expensive, takes care and has good attention to detail. And the cat likes him a lot, she has taken to keeping an eye on what he is doing. Rachael also spends a bit of time chatting at him.
Hugh has fixed up my bike and with new tyres we managed to go for our first family ride with all of us on wheels - Rachael 4 (training wheels still on), Hugh 3 (trike) and me back on my 2 wheels for the first time in 5 years. Rach wanted to know if I would need training wheels! Arrghh. Since then R and I have been out and Im sure I get bonus points for pushing my bike and her on her bike up hills! We have also practised going home from school, learning how to go slowly down the hills with the brakes on gently etc.
Im leading worship for the first time at Canberra Baptist this weekend. Had lots of fun thinking about it all and selecting prayers, music and thinking about a childrens talk. Its been over a year since Ive done this sort of thing and I enjoyed the preparation so much. Im quite excited about Sunday morning. Hopefully it will be as easy as remembering to ride the bike! Next week Im helping at the School Holiday program at church, its going to be a blast. Ive been preparing for that as well with a lovely lady called Jan from Scripture Union. Lots of fun things to do, good music, stories, games and craft. The best bit is that other people will be in charge of doing the craft!
Christmas proved to be a good time of relaxing with family and friends. Had the immediate family here for a BBQ on Christmas Eve. Relaxed with the highlight of Daniella and Rachael putting on a show of singing and dancing. Whoever thought of "Who let the dogs out" is evil. Missed Andrea being here, but ate, drank and were merry.
Christmas Day was spent with friends from church down at Lake Ginninderra, low key, R followed the other kids round and loved it. Boxing day stayed to our extended family tradition at the Drury's. Love that cousin reunion time. More eating, lots of deep and meaningful conversation, lots of conversations about nothing.
Put the tent up on our block of land on Tuesday afternoon. Sort of cheated and got Pizza that night for tea. Excellent though. Night was very bloody cold, it was down to 5 degrees at the airport so take a couple off and you get woken up because its still too cold. We have conferred with the locals and the consensus is that Carwoola is always a few degrees cooler than in town. The wind also drops the temp quite a lot.
A few people have expressed skeptical opinions about us camping. Ok, so we have not done a lot of it, but we are quite enjoying being out at the block and so far no one is traumatised by using the dug out trench for the loo (cant dig a hole the land is all rock!) We are managing ok without a camp stove at the moment, eating cold things but its been fine. The thermos provided us with enough hot water for milo, tea and washing up.
A major achievement has been that we constructed and finished making the Labyrinth. Some people dont understand why I wanted one. Its a meditative device for me, I dont expect everyone to use it or like it but I also love the designs and unfolding of the circles and path to the centre. When we first purchased the block I was so happy because finally I have room to make one. Gav and Tarns helped Hugh with the initial mark out. Jen, Belinda, Dave, Rachael and I finished it by collecting buckets of the shale rocks which scatter the hillside and putting these on the paint lines. The end result is fantastic. The path is clear, the circle is 18m wide and it works well. Photos on the website.
Mark and I decided to have some special brother sister time to aquire last minute presents for each other, mum and Rach that we all liked. We just wanted to go to the mall very late at night. Arriving at 9:30pm there was traffic chaos so we parked up near the bus interchange and walked over (old times sake, how many hours did we waste sitting there going to high school). Once at the mall we were amazed by what state it was in, jam packed, full of stressed people. We carried out our missions in a relaxed manner. Once we had aquired our items we went to the juice bar for a quick boost for the trip out. The people on parking duty had been issued with light sabres but no brains in how to direct traffic. There were special lights set up on the parking paddock. Some idiots were walking around in their pj's. Westfield had paid performers to busk in quiet corners, all for the Christmas spirit. Perhaps? Nah just to draw us in to shop and be entertained. Now I have experienced the 32 hour non stop shop I dont think I need to repeat it, but it was good for a laugh and good for those shop assistants working past midnight on penalty rates.
Im so ready for Christmas now. Have been cooking and cooking and today delivered various foody things to friends and relatives. Its the best thing. And I even cooked enough so the freezer has extra meals so I can have some more time off! Got everything organised for tomorrow - having the whole immediate family here, so thats 10 for tea. Not being traditional at all, relaxed BBQ and then some presents is the order of the night.
Cooked Mel's Choc Chip Cookie Pie for the first time yesterday and it worked perfectly. Gotta love friends who cook you interesting things and happily share the "how to" with you. Easy to make but looks very posh, tastes divine too.
Christmas lights were wonderful, best ones in Callabonna St Kaleen. We went back a second time - Hugh was in Sydney so I'd taken mum and Rach down to my cousins for tea and couldnt resist driving by "on the way home". Santa was even handing out lollies this time! There is a whole street behind mums place - Rohan Rivett Cres in Mckellar and most houses on the street have something up. Lights are so much fun. We even put some out on our railing on Saturday after being inspired by everyone elses efforts ahhhh colourful twinklys. I can feel us being sucked in. I want to put the BIG penguin up on the carport but it requires some engineering on the base before it can go outside. Hmmmm Hugh has tomorrow off, he might want to ride his new trike bike but I think he might have some work to do on the penguin....
Christmas letters. I cant work out if I like them or hate them. Sometimes I am reminded of reading annual reports, other times I read them and think doesnt anyone have anything bad happen in the year? I love to be updated but sometimes I just wish people would give me a call every now and then.
Tonight, in a now traditional experience for our family and the Wishart family, we go out looking at Christmas Light displays. The tradition stems from pre kids time when Teresa, Paul, Hugh and I drove down to Tuggaranong to look at a street which was fully decked out. So far we have stuck to Belconnen with the kids because they have been too little, but each year we can stay out a bit later. Ive been searching for clues on the internet about places to go and it looks like Dunlop will have to be added to our route this year.
Rachael is finished preschool! Yay, her introduction to the formal education system has been a positive experience. Nicole and Meg should get accolades for the gentle way they have taught this year and built up R's confidence and encouraged her to learn. Next question will be how many sleeps till I start big school...
Just read "Archangel" by Sharon Shinn. The story has stuck with me for 3 days after finishing it. It is a fantasy novel, based about a society of the future where angels & mortals reside in harmony. However if there is no harmony on the planet of Samaria then the armed starship Jehovah which brought the generations of original settlers will destroy the society. The angels and mortals have been there so long that the starship is treated as God. Cleverly the traditions needed to keep peace and harmony are done in a play on Christian scriptural stories, especially as they bring about harmony literally by worship through song of angels and all tribes of mortals.
The characters are so alive, the world order is so clever. The story was rather classical "generations forget technology" mode but the character development and the way the plot unfolded were just wonderful. Yes it had tones of Anne McCaffrey similar type of story but I felt it was fresher. I found it on a reading list and was very happy that I took the risk in buying it. There were times I became entirely engrossed in the world and characters. I love it when I get that immersed. It struck chords (ha ha) with Anne McCaffrey The Crystal Singer, in terms of describing music and society, the forgotten technology fits the Dragons of Pern stories. A new "must read" for my book page that is also on the To Do list for the website.
Flagh! I have not updated this for some time. Three people have mentioned this to me in the last three days, so working on the "rule of threes" I decided to write some of the more profound things that have happened lately. I have had to look up how the hell I wrote this in the first place, and remembered that i was going to try get this onto something more simple to edit. Havent got time at the moment so its still on the TO DO list.
I got a new laptop computer, its an iBook G4 and quiet and white. My office has no background hum. Within days of getting it set up my darling cousin sent me a new Nokia 7260 fashion phone, which is also white and silver and has lots of extra features. So add these two gadgets to my iPod and I am now completely coordinated with white gadgets. One of my friends also noted that these match my fridge and washing machine... so I was brought back from my Chic Geek fantasy to realise that its all just fitting in with the Domestic Goddess side of my life.
Finished major multching on the front garden. No more mowing out there again. The new native plants seem happy and its all tidy. Hugh assisted me by program the new automatic watering system with a crappy non intuitive interface that runs off the watertanks, which has been running well. Garden is all good.
House is in a bit of chaos at the moment. Had the carpets cleaned last week involving much furniture moving to non carpet areas. Tomorrow the painter arrives to start work on the lounge/dining/stairwell. The paint sample patches have been on the walls for 2 years. Nothing like making hasty decisions about it. Should be finished by the end of the week. Delphinium was the colour winner - pale cornflower blue. Am hoping that it is the right colour after all this.
MMMMmmmm preschool routine has been good. Ive been joining in by being on the roster a lot, which means that I have done a lot of cleaning up after kids, done laundry, washed toys for end of year but also had a lot of fun listening to the kids rehurse the concert and heard wonderful secrets and the things they have been proud of.
So we are at this friends Christmas party and someone says that wonderful line "So what area do you work in?" Being used to people not understanding what a Chaplain is I sometimes reply "A Minister" its just easier because most people get this. No you can tell you are in government driven Canberra when the conversation goes "So what do you do?" "I'm a minister" "Oh What Department?".
Performed my first wedding ceremony today, the local Jindabyne minister did all the legal paperwork but I got to run the service. It was very cool to be the one to announce them "Mr & Mrs Krahnen" at the end. It was even more wonderful because it was all a big surprise. The guests were told they were coming to Tracy's 40th Birthday party, there were several indrawn breaths as she came out after a short dissapearance in her wedding dress. Fantastic. Loved being a part of it. Met some interesting people there. Exhausted because of all the hoo har of Rachaels party and the stress preparing for this one but very satisfied.
Celebrated Rachaels 5th Birthday Party today - its her real birthday tomorrow. Hugh and I survived first party at home with 8 other 5 year olds. Overprepared but it went well. Family came round for Pizza in the evening. Rach overexcited but loved every part of the day.
The plumber rang. ACTEW are prepared to pay for the sewer work. YAY! it was going to be expensive. Sometimes its the little things in life that make you feel better.
Voted electronically in the ACT election yesterday. Only problem is you have to start numbering at 1, I wanted to go backwards from 23 - from the most stupid policies back. Cant wait to move out to Carwoola so we are out of this electorate and over in Eden-Monaro. Out there is a real local council and a mayor, fantastic.
Ok so the whole Election topic sucks. I must be out of touch with half of Australia because I just cannot get excited about the fact that the Liberals have won and now there is no balance because its both Rep's and Senate. I dont know too many people who voted for them. A friend told me today that Canberra is a bubble, but surely a majority of Australians didnt want the decision to go to war in Iraq and are unhappy with how the Government treats the assylum seekers and refugees. Why did the vote go this way? Stupid fear I think, or perhaps people just dont think. I must be strange reading various policy papers online, trying to weigh up the positives of each, seeking more knowledge so I could make an informed decision. I got very mad when a friend said to me "why do you bother, they (the libs) are going to win anyway and it does not matter". Does not matter - it does and I am cranky.
To try and restore some calm to my fustration I spent this morning listening to Midnight Oil - 10-1. In 1982 they sang "Its the summer of another year, A little world weary a little more to fear" Outside World... "When Im locked in my room, I just want to scream, Now I know what they mean, one more day of eating and sleeping... Speak to me, speak to me, Im not spoken for, Im ready to talk. Look at me, look at me, Ive been broken up and shaken down, Speak to me, speak to me Im at the edge of myself, im dying to talk. Look at me, wont you look at me, back once more at the point of no return. (Only the Strong). Of course this track is followed by "Short Memory, must have a short memory". Then to top it all off Read About It "The rich get richer, the poor get the picture, the bombs never hit you when you're down so low. Some get pollution, some revolution, There must some solution, but I just dont know ... Bombers keep a coming, engines softly humming, the stars and stripes are running for their own big show.. you wouldn't read about it". A majority of the lyrics of that album are still valid to express current feelings for me some twenty something years after they were written.
One of my friends is talking about either leaving the country or going into politics himself, others have a longstanding joke that we are going to move to NZ (who at least told the US to shove the war). Fesh and Cheps anyone?
Rachael went back to preschool today to a very warm welcome. It was cool, but I was a bit lonely without the constant chatter and her company. I phoned mum and Belinda which filled the gap. Walked to drop off and pick up - great excercise my pedometer hit 17455 steps by the end of today.
Made soup tonight - Creme of Asparagus from the updated Margaret Fulton cookbook. Most excellent for a first effort. Told R it was chicken and she managed to eat some. I now know why I didnt like the canned stuff, you can never capture the flavour and colour of fresh.
I am going on my annual renewal retreat group on Friday. 4 days with 7 other women in ministry. Im still torn between wanting to go to see everyone and not wanting to leave home and family. I am relaxed and can cope with whatever "issues" it will be my turn to discuss, but after the time in the USA just dont want to be bothered to relive some of the more unpleasant ones. Cant work out if it is just being lazy or if Im over the pain that was caused. Im hoping its the latter. Its tough because I know that time with this group is good but it can be draining as well.
A week of challenges, firstly the plumbing backed up. It took till yesterday for the plumber to get it working again because it involved digging up quite a bit of our driveway to get to the mains. It might actually be something that ACTEW (local water/sewer company) will pay for because it was right near the main sewer tie in. I live in hope. Im now catching up with the washing again, able to run the dishwasher and getting rid of the cleaning backlog which I couldnt do because everything was going onto our front garden. Shit happens literally.
On Wed night Westpac Bank called us because there had been a couple of suspicious transations on our credit card in Melbourne, result was that someone has a copy of our card (they think) so we have our mastercard cancelled. New one should arrive next week. Pleased that the fraud people were so perceptive so early, better still the bank is taking the liability for the large transactions. We were careful with the cards in the USA (warned by several friends to double check statements/receipts). Seems even this is not enough. Oh, well now it means I have to go back to all the organisations that direct credit and give them a new number. Only did that three months ago which is a pain.
On a more positive note, we have slowly adjusted back to being in this timezone. Rachael still goes to sleep before 8 most nights, and is waking between 5-6am. Its only three weeks to daylight savings so this will help to resolve things. We have been able to catch up with most of the family and some friends.
Has North America spoilt my child's gastronomic selections? We sat down to pancakes one morning. "Mummy - this is not real maple syrup! It tastes too sweet." I agree with her, not the same. After the real deal in Ottawa and elsewhere we are hooked. So we are probably doomed to paying 5 times the amount for the imported real stuff from now on. Oh well it probably is better for us than the artificial maples.
As Rachael had shown so much interest with the computer, Hugh set up an old IMac he had lurking in the treasure pile down stairs. We moved the desk from the spare room, got it all happening. Thinking we were so kind to Rachael to let her have her own computer. When she sits down for the first time she realises it is not as fast as my laptop, and you need to remember that internet in the USA was on average much faster than Australia. "Why do I have to have the slowest computer in the house." Woe woe is me! She is starting to realise that the slow computer is better than no computer, but it was one of those moments I had to go laugh in the kitchen cupboard - technology queen. Im sure that she will start hacking it to go faster given the appropriate tuition from her dad.
Election day today. We go to cast our vote. Im praying that there will be a change in Government, its going to be close. There have been people here complaining about the 6 week barrage of advertising. Having our letterbox stolen was probably a blessing in disguise, not watching TV has helped as well. We have had to search the internet for information about the local options. Its not easy to find out where people stand on the refugee/assylum seeker issue. It was pointed out at church that this campaign has not mentioned much about those people on the margins, focusing on individualised issues. All in all its been interesting to compare to the stupid issues that were focused on in the USA. Cant recall anyone asking about war records here. We enjoyed going to the End the Lies Rally in town last Sunday. A few different speakers, not all anti liberal, but more about the lack of ethics - Kerrie Tucker spoke well, there was also a minister from the Uniting Church who was applauded by all about his ideas of a fair go and speaking the truth - interesting to see the mix of Greens, Democrats, Labor, Socialists, End the War, Peacemakers all gathered together. Felt like a bit of a piker as we ended up going to one of the outside cafe's for lunch with Martin/Mel and Ivan - we were able to eat lunch and listen.
What do you do when everyone is awake at 5am? get up and go watch the sun rise over the block of land! It was great, we missed the actual sunrise but had a good stomp round, finding the survey pegs that now mark out the building area. Our dam has more water in than when we left too, there is a small amount of green spring growth.
Thought we would go to Tilly's at Lyneham for breakfast. I could really go proper eggs benedict. Bastards were not open till 9am. So we did a big bakery binge and took it to our cousins place in Oconnor instead. The twins were out cycling (they missed out on our company but we left things to eat) but we were happily entertained and amazed with Imogen's crawling and had a good chat at Kirsty who kindly made us hot drinks.
Purchased a replacement letter box because we came home to find ours had been stolen. Finished the mamoth washing task today. Ironed lots of shirts. See I told you it would get mundane when we got home, why are you still reading this!!! The homeshop driver complained lots about the delivery, it was only $525 worth so I dont know what he was groaning about. I have a healthy pantry again so looking forward to cooking. I had to think real hard tonight even though it was just a mundane stir fry noodles, but thats just because Im not capable of multitasking while my brain is still fuzzy. Im currently writing to keep awake so I can watch the Bill. Have rung to catch up with some friends/family too. Hugh is out at his 20 year high school reunion.
And I cant believe it, Rachael actually asked to go to bed. Please mummy I am tired I need to sleep. Who is this child and where is mine? She lasted till 7:30 so I bet we are up at 5am tomorrow. Pancake mix is already made and waiting in the fridge. Mmmmm.
Ahhhhh a good nights sleep in our own bed. I wondered if I would come home and find the bed wasnt as good as I remembered it. It was better. The cat is currently sleeping next to Hugh and appears to be very happy to see us. She jumped out and bit my leg this morning, so life is back to normal. Rachael is just so happy, she yelled out at 4am, Duck is cuddling me and purrring.
4am was the time Rachael decided it was morning. Not too bad I thought, she had gone to sleep at 7pm last night so had her usual amount of sleep. Besides there are all these toys she hasnt played with. She kept herself occupied with a tea party for the soft toys till 6am where she announced she was too hungry to wait any longer. I also gave up and decided to tackle a bit more of the unpacking and mail reading.
Canberra is such a clean place to live. The air here is so wonderful and I used to take it for granted - no longer! The street we live on, I used to think of as busy and sometimes noisy. New sense of perspective there as well. Melba is quiet. I cant wait to get out and see our block of land and check out the water level of the dam. Its green here, the bulbs are flowering. I havent missed Floriade.
Uncle Tobys OT's are the best breakfast cereal after not having it for 14 weeks. Everything tastes so much better at home. Turkish delight mmmmm very very good too.
Cat - I rang the vet an they had free time so I just put Duck in the carrier and drove her up the road. She is inspected and injected for the next 12 months. In very good form apparently 5.2kg now!
Drove to LA - smog is the understatement. Had a shower at Qantas club, R watched old cartoons in the Kids" Klub" - a room setup so the business people can have some peace. Flight was uneventful. I still cant sleep much on a plane. H & R did though.
Arrived in Sydney on time, R only had 6.5 hrs sleep on the plane so was tired but excited, so teary thru customs/dutyfree/domestic transfer. We managed to get put on an earlier flight home, greeted by Kay and Brian at the airport. Luggage loaded, they drove us home. Kays new car - the B4 is comfortable and fast. Luggage unloaded, K had to go back to work, Brian went to get the mail and there was a knock at the door. Teresa and the kids had missed us so had come to welcome us home. R was more excited. They headed off and Grandma Jo arrived with groceries. What a woman, very pleased to not have to think about that for a few more days. Then Rosie arrived. Rachael is now operating in tired but reunited with family mode. We also caught up with our neighbours both sides - it was amazing to me how much we were missed!
Unpacking - gush. There appeared to be a LOT of books. Managed to find most of the things for other people and distribute them, or get organsied into piles. The washing is going to take a while to catch up. Ah well.
Our house is so BIG! Lyndal and Nick had done a good job at caring for it and the cat. Lyndal came by to drop off the keys and was greeted by Rachael in full dress up mode. We went for a short walk with R riding her bike to get some sunshine and fresh air and then cooked tea before collapsing into bed.
Better nights sleep last night. Heading back to the Goletas beach this morning before we leave. Need to get some excercise and fresh air before the travel home. Yesterday the fog lifted and the sun came out while we were at the beach. We walked the pier and a nice fisherman let Rachael pull in his bait line. She then was able to throw the fish to the big seagulls (Im sure they have a proper name). We got fish scales on our hands but it was fun. Very kind of the young guy to let her play with the fish I thought. My other bonus was watching a seal just out a little to where we were building sandcastles.
Went to downtown Santa Barbara in the afternoon, browsed the shops and Hugh and Rachael found a jazz CD they both liked. Had Thai for dinner - black pepper and garlic beef that was stunning flavour. Found a Jamba Juice - perhaps I will be like that guy whose ambition was to drink coffee at every Starbucks. I will Jamba all over the place. Nah, but the Peach smoothie was divine.
I had terrible nightmares last night, one after the other, all about people or things hurting Rachael. I hate those dreams, cant work out if it is my stupid subconsious being overprotective. Im left a bit out of sorts this morning, because I woke each time, 2, 4, 5am. So Im having a slower day today. Hugh managed to get the internet working here so Ive been updating this so I can capture some of the positive memories (counter the junk of last night) we have seen some amazing countryside and natural features in the past couple of days.
We have decided to stay here for tonight as well. Take R to the beach. Explore the downtown area. Its apparently an hour and a half drive to the LA airport from here so we will do that tomorrow after lunch.
The drive from Monterey to Santa Barbara was fantastic. The ocean meets the mountains and there are some scarey but stunning views. I tried to get my stupid instinctual reactions to heights to stop but I was unable to contain the occasional sharp intake of breath and had to ask Hugh to slow down. The cliffs were just amazing and the views fine - except for the places where the sea fog crept up. In a way a blessing for me because I couldnt see the drop offs. There are lots of places to stop along the road, many people driving RV's and moterbikes. I think that it is like the Great Ocean Road in terms of scenery.
We found one sunny spot and had lunch, only to drive a little further and be back in the fog. Our bonus was finding a colony of Northern Elephant Seals (unmarked on our map). They were HUGE it was so interesting to watch them flipping the sand up onto their bodies, there were a couple of males fighting on the shore and we got a couple of good photographs.
Stopped in San Louis Obisbo for Jamba Juice and a walk around. We considered stopping but decided to move on after taking R for a play on the beach. Again it was foggy and cold, but R made some castles and H paddled anyway.
42 km out of Santa Barbara the sun was beginning to set. We stopped because Rachael had wriggled and her seatbelt had become loose, one of those moments where we were glad for the stop. The place we stopped was perfect for watching the sunset, the fog had cleared a bit and the colours painted the ocean and the sky. Rachael sat on my lap and Hugh took some pics. It was a magic moment.
Cleaned up the house and packed up our bags once more, this time having the joy of working out clothes for only 4 days! Wow. Drove to Big Basin Park to visit the Redwoods (quieter than the touristy ones closer in to SF).
The Redwoods were stunning. Sat down and stared up at them. Serene and ancient. The park was busy but we were able to have some time alone, just us and the trees. It was a calm and peaceful experience. The trees averaged between 1000-2000 years old. Rachael offered to take a picture of Hugh and I and it worked out really well - its now up on the website in the California folder. She was very pleased with herself. It marked a step of independance for us - suddenly its not just Rachael and a parent in the pictures. She is amazing.
Driving in the mountains was interesting. The trees are so tall our car automatically put its lights on because the daylight is dimmed. There were lots of little communities, thriving on the alternative artsy feel of the place and visitors.
Got to Monterey and it was foggy. Where is the stereotypical California sunshine? On the way passed farmland which produces Artichokes! Had to take pics of that. What do you do for a living? "Im an Artichoke Rancher" yee ha. When we get into the hotel the blurb talks of Agritourism (new one for me Ecotourism is so passe) and how the mild temps here make it one of the best producing areasin the USA. So the fog is good for some people.
Went to the Fishermans Wharf for dinner and to purchase a jacket for Hugh as its so cold. There was a man in period costume with a dancing monkey - very odd, I thought that sort of thing was banned these days. Saw sea lions again, under the wharf and on the breakwater. Took a drive up to the lighthouse and watched the light spin round in the fog. Its the longest continuiously running one on the west coast, famous for having several female keepers.
Relaxed morning then out to explore some of the second hand computer and component shops in silicon valley. Imagine a huge warehouse full of shelves of "treasure" computers, cables, old components. I have suddenly discovered that Hugh's office and garage are not really a mess - he is just practising to be a franchise of one of these shops!
Dinner was back in town, in the Castro district with Hugh's friends Tonia and Amy. This was the place the USA Gay Pride movement grew up. The area gets shut off twice a year for huge street parties similar to Mardi Gras in Oxford St in Sydney. It was a vibrant atmosphere and felt quite safe. We had a great meal and walked back the couple of blocks to their home, Rachael oblivious to the surroundings as she was eating ice cream and chatting to the girls. Their golden retriever puppy Henry was a big hit (like Frans boys back in Bathurst).
Smoggy day today and the traffic was terrible. I have confirmed my previous conclusion that big cities are not attractive to me as places to live for any long period of time. Visiting is fine but I need space and fresh air.
Caught BART into town, then caught a cable car, up and down hills. Caught a bus or two to get us to Fishermans Wharf. The view of the harbour was different today as there was fog under the Golden Gate Bridge. Ate most excellent fish and chips. Got Ben and Jerry's icecream and ate that as we watched the Sealions - I was utterly entranced, so was Rachael. It was excellent listening to her laugh as they pushed each other off the floats. Share the experience watching with a pier 39 webcam I found. There was a huge wait for a trolly back to town so we caught another bus to the BART to come home.
The sheer amount of tourists at the Wharf waiting for harbour cruises was scary. In fact they are everywhere, from all over the world. Im glad we are here while the US domestic market are at school. In a way, Im glad we spent the last two days out at nature park like places, we seem to have just as good a day looking at amazing and differnt natural features and walking as we did in the city.
Jamba Juice was dinner, not a normal dinner but fine when you have been hot and thirsty and healthy after the fish and chips.
Off to explore Point Reyes National Seashore. On the way there drove through downtown, over the Golden Gate Bridge which offered clear views back over town. Warm and sunny today.
Went to the Bear Valley Visitors centre. Walked up to a replica native american indian village. Found a snake on the path on the walk back, identified later as a Gopher snake. Ate our lunch watching kids on camp playing a game where they had to run while screaming and stop when they ran out of scream - mental note remember this one for youth group activities.
Ode to Dead Skunks on the road. (couldnt help my self on that one). If you are driving in America and see one of these creatures coming up as roadkill - shut your windows/recycle airconditioning. Alive they have the capacity to spray up to 6 feet. Dead they stink for quite a way. They stink badly, worse than kangaroos gone ripe in the sun. The couple of times we have driven past dead skunks they win hands down for noxious oder. The tip for removing the smell if you ever get hit by one is to wash with tomato juice, then soap and water. Apparently tomato juice neutralises it.
Drove out to the lighthouse at Point Reyes, it was closed but we still enjoyed the views out over the Pacific Ocean. Our drive home took awhile as we hit the commuter traffic. Found out about commuter lanes, and enjoyed driving much faster as there were three of us in the car, watching the folks alone in their cars crawling along.
Hugh and Rachael have just left to take the Rasmus, Christine and Carl to the airport. Im left in peace, and its very strange to be alone. Ive started to think about things that will need doing for when we get back, which is bad I suppose. I want to try enjoy this last week of holiday as much as possible. Ive started to write a few things in my to do list on the laptop, in an attempt to brain dump and have them there as reminders. I had all these ideas about getting my calender and address book updated from my planner to the laptop but it has not happened as yet. I have become totally hooked on the apple though and will seriously consider getting a new one. Rachael has also started using the computer a lot more - playing on the web etc, so we will also have to consider what we do about setting up an area for her to use the computer that can be supervised and is comfortable for her at home.
Later: We went to the Coyote Hills Park today, the visitor centre had some cultural information about the Native American Indians in the area, some hands on things and then we went for a "hike". This involved some steep hills and being creative about getting RKB to keep walking (the slope caused her to use the opposite muscles to toe walking and really did hurt her, but good physio I felt). When we finally arrived at the top the view of the Bay was just fantastic. The wind was wonderful and we watched birds soaring and just staying still on the gusts. We found lizards and insects on the path.
Came home and amazingly found Alli and Mel on #ozlabs and was able to have a good chat with both of them. H & R thought I was crazy because I was sitting typeing and chuckling away. I was very very happy to "chat", made my day.
Walked round the corner to a local Thai place for dinner. It was excellent, Rachael loved the chicken satay sticks (just like Josies at home). Hugh and I had fish cakes & a green curry which was perfect. Overall a 10 out of 10 day.
.Apparently there was a micro earthquake last night. R & I slept through it. I love it that we arrive in California and there is a little earthquake.
Good night sleep but woke way too early because we are on NY time still. Tried to go back to sleep but then Rachael woke up. Then she wanted us to wake up Carl so they could play, but we managed to convince her not to. She was so happy when he did get up.
Christine has a great book and whole file of tourist info for the area. My mission today is to pick some of the activities to do this week, and start to work out a travel plan down to LA.
Caught the shuttle bus from the hotel to the airport. The driver was just fantastic, his banter with the passengers and comments about other vehicles was entertaining. Cracked me up. "You think you can drive, Im the driver oh yeah" sips coffee, raised coffee up as going over bump, "You think you want to go to that terminal - I dont have time, you is getting off at 7 and gettin that air train yeah, you will be ok" "American Airlines, the best park outside Ive got it". Its hard to get the accent happening but he was used to organising people and keeping on his schedule.
R was great on the flight over to San Fran. 6 hours, she completed one whole activity book, listened to the iPod, played our new Uno (Shrek 2). I will have to find some new things later this week but think we are pretty ok for the big flight home. The in flight movie was extremely violent in places, so Hugh and I spent a bit of time distracting R from the screens.
I would like to say that we had it perfect picking up the car, but Hertz had given us a Corolla so one glance at the boot space sent Hugh back to the desk, tried luggage in another car, didnt work, tried a Subaru outback, gave up and have got a Buick Rendezvous small SUV. 4th time lucky eh? Anyway, car v's luggage issue over, we managed to get ourselves (without neverlost) to the Lerdorf's place. Greeted by Rasmus and pleased to just have a sit down and let Rachael play in a childsafe back yard.
Rachael and Carl spent some time sussing each other out, but have seemed to have settled into a happy understanding. Especially when it comes to playing a game with a big ball bouncing it down and up the stairs. Enjoyed a big family dinner with Christine's parents who were traveling through. Rasmus makes great home made ice cream.
Packed again, leaving the sanctuary and new embasssy of Australia (Jimi & Andrea's). It poured with rain overnight, the remains of Hurricane Ivan. The waterfall became a loud roar, the water rose up over the pond walls. Most excellent to watch. I hope the muskrat sought higher ground.
Drove up to New London to visit Dave, Erica and their new baby Seryen (she was cute). Played with their cats - Monk and Dart. Rachael loved Dart - he can fetch, just amazing intellegent and trained cat. Drove down to New York. Tired by the time we got to the airpprt hotel, drove into local area to find some cheap and quick dinner. This ended up being at the Burger King in Queens - reminded of "Coming to America". Hugh returned the truck to Hertz.
Everyone else is at work again. Rachael and I have been playing with the Eye Toy, she loves the special effects in the playroom section. My fav game is the fireworks one. The rain from what was Hurricane Ivan is due today. We have been watching the leaves falling from the trees and checking out the waterfall, pond etc while the weather is still clear. Spotted a muskrat munching in the pond as well, that was very cool, I even managed to sneak up on it and get a photo.
Dinner tonight is at Greg and Gina Rodgers place, will be interesting to see how grown up the girls are after not seeing them for a year or so.
I discovered that I washed my watch in the pocket of my jeans. Then I dried it in the dryer. Fantastic. I have adjusted the time and date and it actually is still working. Yay Citizen, it was not even water resistant, being tumble dried hasnt scratched the face or anything.
The peace of the country has been disturbed. Jimi has started to teach Rachael how to play Eye Toy virtual reality games. At least you have to move your body to play. Fireworks are the fave. Rusty took a very embarrasing video of me playing it grrr, I bet Alli will be laughing at that one at home.
Rusty has been convinced to check out of his hotel and move in at Jimi & Andreas home for lost Australians for the next two nights. So Rachael is very very happy because she has someone else to play with, not that she was unhappy before its just an added bonus.
Its so quiet here. Everyone is gone to work, Andrea is doing some glazing (she is a potter) over at a friends house. Rachael and I have done our washing, mended the clothes we had put aside till we got here (I dont know why but this trip I have had to sew buttons back and darn a lot of little holes, perhaps its the dryers?). I didn't realise how noisy and fast Austin was till now. Im enjoying this place a lot.
Rusty (who is also jetlagged) forgot his computer last night so we offered to drop it to him in Mt Kisco. We didnt get there till 11am, and managed to convince him to be kidnapped by us for lunch and some exploring. We drove to Garrison to look at the Hudson river. Were harassed by some people about not having our dog on its lead, it took them 4 times before they understood the words "it is not our dog". Then Andrea took us to Cool Spring on the Hudson river (serious river so wide). The area reminded me of the Southern Highlands, mainly because of the antique shops and cafes. Apparently the New York city people pack it out on the weekends as it is only 1.5 hrs drive away.
Lunch was good, apart from being harassed by a local wasp that wanted to eat my chicken. Andrea told us to stay still, let it have the chicken and it would go away. It did. Apparently they are carnivores. When it came back for dessert Rusty managed to trap it in a drink bottle and Andrea removed it from the scene of the crime, they emit some smell that calls the other wasps to help them if you kill them. The other cute thing was finding a squirrrrrill eating a nut up a tree.
Andrea took us to Chuang Yen Monastery. We visited the great Buddha hall, a three story building which was constructed around and over the 37 foot statue of the Buddha. The design style is Tang and interesting because the hall has no internal pillars supporting the ceiling. There were 10,000 small buddhas around the big one. Rachael was delighted to find that Andrea still had her frog hunting abilities and came up with the goods, finding several in the ponds nearby.
We then went to feed the monastery turtles at the Seven Jewel Lake. By the lake side were a couple of snakes (the non scarey kind here) and I also got to see a chipmunk up close for the first time. In the lake there were many carp who were competing for the food. In the end Rusty developed a technique of putting the food in a shallow part and encouraged the turtles into the area, some of his shots hit the turtles on the head. So he is a Taoist temple turtle terrorist as well as turtle tamer and tutor. Question for today was this "what is the word to describe a group of turtles - we thought of a school, a slow but the answer is a "bale".
Drove back to Mt Kisco, browsed at Borders books and ate dinner at a very tasty italian place then we dropped Rusty back at the hotel and came home, lots of driving as its all quite spread out, Andrea was very kind to do all that today.
Hugh had a major win on our luggage lugging practices today, managed to get one suitcase hooked up to another and we can transport the whole lot slowly together. It was tricky before managing the extra one and carry on and Rachael. She is pretty good with her new wheely carry on Samsonite case now.
Managed to drive thru 4 states today, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Conneticut, New York. Stopped at Plainsville for lunch, boring name for a plain small town off the highway. Scenery, well trees were the feature. Trees, trees, trees - all just about to turn, with the odd forerunner already changing from that bright lush green which seems so odd to us. New England is famous for its fall displays of colour, even though its not in full display it is stunning country.
Andrea and Jimi's home is in a semi rural area. The house is light filled, airy and so welcoming. We love its setup and it is magic as they have their own stream, pond and waterfall running just near our window. It is very peaceful here in the woods. Its so wonderful to finally get here and spend some time with them.
A&J made us a fantastic BBQ'd meal for dinner and we were joined by Rusty and Paulus who are both working at IBM sites about 40 minutes away in different directions. Its wierd sitting down at the dinner table with our friends in another country, last time we saw them was Canada, now New York, it will be good to see them back in Canberra!
Here we are in quiet downtown Nashua, had the best nights sleep in ages. Went out to breakfast, Jock's apartment is only 5 minutes away from the middle of town. Nashua is little, quiet well except for when the Harley riders go past. There are many stupid people who do not wear helmets here, there is no law enforcing it - Hughs cousin David (a paramedic) pointed out that it is all good for the organ donation program as many hit their heads and go on to become doners. What price coolness?
The evening.. So what do you do here when you need a Jock tourist attraction. LAGER, yes we went for a tour of the Budweiser brewery. We were shown thru the plant and then were offered hospitality - 2 free beers in the charming airconditioned room complete with atmospheric fake wood fire gas. The legal age is 21 and they card you up to 35. Hugh and Jock were deeply disappointed not to be asked to show id. Rachael and I enjoyed the free sprite and pretzels. The room overlooked where the bottles were on the belts being labled and put into cases. Between us fantastically witty grown ups, there were obligitory Laverne and Shirley jokes and of course singing of one million bottles of beer on the wall. Hugh tried to calculate how many beers you would need to drink to empty one of their vats. The answer was a six pack a night for 180 years, so we all need to hurry up. After the beer drinking experience we visited the stables and Clydesdales - quite the PR area.
We went for a drive and Jock went to sleep, let me explain he only got back from Oz/NZ on Thursday so is jetlagged. Rachael also fell asleep. So here are Hugh and I with the sleeping kids in the back of the truck driving through the New Hampshire countryside. AND then they woke up. Oh my goodness Im so glad that we never had a second child. Two grumpy individuals, Rachael saying Jock will not shut up mummy. Then they start singing together. Jock starts making car noises. In the end I just had to laugh at the pair of them because any attempt at discipline or bribery failed. My face is still sore from laughing.
Late afternoon lunch was at the Timeless Diner. We were driving along and saw this crome and red building and couldnt work out what it was. Turns out it is a refitted 50's Diner. The place is a concept between nostalgia and eating. It is decked out in red and white booths, the serving staff in 50's costume clothes and the food all American. Far out very very wierd place, there are pics on the photo site.
Driving home we saw a paddock full of pumpkins, beautiful forests, lots of lakes. This place is going to be stunning in a few weeks, the leaves are just starting to turn. One of the things that is odd is that every time we saw building work it was all wood - you would think here where it snows they would be more sensible about insulation.
Came home after a quick visit to a cool comic/dvd/tv merchandise store and yes Jock fell asleep on the couch again. Wake up and play lego Uncle Jot. Poor long suffering bloke is now reading R a chapter of Winnie the Pooh in which Eyeore cannot find his tail. A good day all in all.
Oh and Vapid is the word of the day, picked up from watching a terrible series about what we loved in 1995/6/7. Try using it in one conversation today. Email me your winning entry and I will compile the results.
Debarcle travel day. I dont think I can be bothered repeating all the events, the quick summary was, little late to Austin airport, computer down on kerbside check in so had to drag all bags inside, Hugh selected for special security search, R wanted ham roll which took the deli ages to make, meaning we were the last people to board the flight to Dallas. I was shaking by the time we got on the plane. Flight from Dallas to Boston uneventful.
Hertz $#%^*&*(@!ed up the booking again so after they found a car seat for Rach, we spent some time trying to get our luggage, which fit in the boot of the Camry to get into the Taurus. It wasnt happening, so we asked for another car, couldnt get one with Neverlost, so after a bit of negotiating (at one point in the proceedings I said to Hugh "Act like an American, be more agressive and get upset"). We ended up with a Ford Expidition, that happened to be sitting next to the Taurus, that fits the luggage, child seat and has Neverlost. Its way too huge but the managers were pleased to get rid of the difficult customers who ranted about Hertz consistantly stuffing up their bookings (for the record there has been once in the last 5 pickups that they have got it correct). Hugh at one point in the proceedings said "I have one word for this - AVIS". I still think we should write them a letter, because the service has been so terrible even though we book in advance, and specifically outline our needs. GRRRRRR
Went to Orran's place and had fun at his daughter Maya's 4th birthday party. It was excellent to meet his wife Ellen and kids. The other major excitement was being reunited with Jimi and Andrea, you should have seen Rachaels face! This summer fling has turned into a truer love than that. We ate, we played, R had a bath with the kids and we set off to drive to Jocks.
About an hour drive up to Nashua, we found Jock's place which is an apartment in a refurbished wood mill factory building. Its a very Jock set up apartment, big L shaped couch! Hug's delivered from overseas girlys, we stayed up late. Rach watching Jocks home video's of trout in NZ and other fishing adventures. It was so good to have an argument about AFL! Who are we going to support for the finals when our teams are out. Jock is going for Port for the record, where I think the Lions will win again. Mind you I think that it would be cool for Port to win also. I havent been keeping up with the teams enough this season.. Rowena, email me your thoughts on this!
Quiet day, one last swim, one last dinner at Koreana to eat those dumplings.
Packing. Oh I can but try to discribe the chaos that surrounds me. Rachael is "helping" Hugh who is amazingly calm as she pesters him. I am consolidating containers of shampoo, chucking boxes for things, putting zinc tablets with the multivitamins. Will it all fit? at 8pm it looks like we might just make it and have distributed the weight so we dont go over the domestic limit of 50 pounds.
Later on 9pm. Ok so we are taking the "spare" suitcase. That makes 5 plus our carry on. Geesh and I thought we were under control. Lucky for us we are actually allowed 2 suitcases each. Rachael is now refusing to go to bed because the packing game is fun. First you go to the gym and weigh the case. If there is too much daddy takes things out. Then you take it to the car and then you come get the next one. Yay. I think I will update this and pack up my computer. Then quietly take the rubbish out.
Quiet day. Lunch at Wholefoods, made sure we enjoyed Jamba juice, who knows where we will find the next one. Enjoyed swimming with R this afternoon. Had a good chat with a Kiwi lady called Shelly who is here for a week, she was happy to hear our accents.
Dinner was meant to be out with the IBM people at a nice upmarket place, turns out that they dont let kids into their bar area so the venue got changed to "Sam's Boat" which was much more downmarket. I was happy to spend time tonight with Nancy and Andrea, just dont want to say goodbye to them. R was a bit overwhelmed with all the people but settled down after awhile and talked to Kathy's son Sean. I think she is OVER going out at the moment, I dont blame her. She is doing so well but really wants to come home now. Im hoping that this weekend with Jock will be a good thing - to be with a familiar person and knowing that we dont have much longer to go. We have started counting sleeps officially now. 19 to go.
AFL surprise for me, Go Swannies.
Oh and if you are annoyed with the lies that the Liberal Government has been making, there is a rally on in Civic on 3 October. More info here.
The headlines in the papers are all about "1000 US War deaths" in Iraq. Pages follow outlining where the people have come from and their average age. Its like only now the some of the human cost is mentioned and questioned. No mention of the civilian Iraq casulties/deaths.
On better news Jo andMikey got engaged back at home. Im very pleased for them. Gave me something to smile about yesterday.
Dinner tonight with Andrea and Nancy, going back to Mothers Cafe. I could not leave without another taste of the lasagne there.
Had lunch with Arlene and Mackenzie today. The girls had a big play in the airconditioned Chic-Fil-a (think Macdonalds play area) play room. Then we went to the Container Store and for a Jamba Juice. We are going to miss them! Rachael has enjoyed her time with Mackenzie, hopefully we can stay in email contact.
Did the suitcase weigh in. Now have the first one packed "things that we dont need till we get home" and closed up right on the 50 pound limit. Hugh pretty much managed to get the second one done 'things we dont think we will need but can get at in an emergency". Rachael assisted in the measuring process - Hugh managed to measure her, she is now 110cm tall (43") and 17kg or 37.5lb. I knew she had grown taller!
David and Ellen came into town and we walked along the Riverwalk and past the Alamo. R went home with Ellen while David, Hugh and I explored some of the Spanish Missions. It was interesting to get a feel for what the Spanish Colonists were aiming at and the impact they had on the Native Indian population (wipedthree quarters of it out mainly via disease). I enjoyed walking around the ruins and we were able to look at the churches which are still in use by the Catholic community today. Had to look at the irony of the place when there is a sign on the door saying "Blessed are the Peacemakers, Please no weapons permitted on these premises" - and this is for an active church.
We got home to David's late afternoon and Ellen had put together the best meal I have had since I arrived. Fresh tomato & basil on pasta, salad, garlic bread - all the tastes of summer. Rachael was reluctant to leave, and I think we were too. We enjoyed their company very much and it was nice to have found family only an hours drive away. Sort of wish we had been earlier in the trip as they were fun to spend time with, but at least we know where they are if we are ever back in Austin.
Rachael fell asleep in the car at 6:15, so Hugh and I were able to chat in peace all the way home. She didnt really wake up when we arrived back, sort of enough to grumble, drink a milo and settle back to sleep again. Hugh packed up one of our new suitcases with books & things we have collected here but wont need. Three more to go. Stayed up late watching 1997 Seinfeld.
Went to church and were farewelled by the community there. Had lots of encoraging affirmations. At the end of the service I felt a strong sense of peace and reassurance that all would be well. It was a very real sensation. It was a similar feeling to when I have been away on retreat/or have been praying about a serious issue. In a sense I feel released into whatever ministry is awaiting me back at home, with a more grounded place to work from.
Traveled to San Marcos, went to the Samsonite Factory outlet to purchase new suitcases. We got a very good deal on a hard cover carry on case as well, so we each had a suitcase to wheel out to the car. Its odd having empty suitcases as you travel!
We drove on to San Antonio and went to visit David Blemings and his family, its a blended family with teenage kids from both sides (Suzy, Sam, Abby). I got on very well with his wife Ellen and Rachael was so happy with the girls, and of course the cats. The girls had baked all morning and there were even cookies spelling out R's name. We spent a relaxed afternoon chatting while Rachael blissed out on girl company (they painted her nails with sparkly polish) and cat patting.
After checking into the Crown Plaza and R's quick excitment about the view from the 20th floor and seeing a Texas flag, we went to the Mexican market for dinner. There were festivities happening for the long weekend, bands playing, stalls set up. The place we went was amazing - a riot of decorations and mexican cultural icons. Food was more Tex/Mex but we had a fun night out. Rachael was dancing on the street corner at 10pm and quite happy.
Took a run on the Bertram Flyer, one of the historic tours that is run by the Austin Steam Train Association.. Milton joined us and we all had a pretty good time. The train is voluntarily run by blokes with similar level of passion as the ones who run the Canberra Train events (yes complete with caps and overalls). Our carriage attendant was Don who was just a wealth of information about the train, history and good at pointing out quirky things such as the Llama who lived alongside the track. Don was a young 82 year old man who knew how to tell a clean joke and keep his passengers entertained and happy. One of the amazing sights was a 1,900 foot communications mast tower.
We stopped in Bertram which was just in full parade for the annual Oatmeal festival. We elected to get off the train while it turned around and have a quick look at the town. The streets were blocked off and we only managed to see the tail end (ha ha ha) of the horses and cars that had been involved. I liked seeing the smaller community enjoying themselves and was able to get a bit of a taste of hill country atmosphere.
On our return to Ceder Park we went to a more traditional american style diner and had burgers for lunch. Rachael has renamed Milton the "strong, hairy man" because he was showing her how he could pick her up if she held her fists and arms straight.
Its big sale weekend as there is a public holiday on monday. Hugh went over to Frys to look at electronic gear and surprisingly came back empty handed. I went to Ross (dress for less) and spent up big on a couple of pairs of Tommy Hilfiger jeans reduced to $19 each. I picked up a pair of cute jeans for R, and a denim dress, complete with top and matching hat. It was one of the first times I have been alone alone for ages. I quite liked being able to go slow and just wonder around the shop. As a special treat I went to Office Max, but was very restrained and spent time aimlessly browsing the long aisles of stationary, just got some dry erase markers that I can never find at home. Soothed with the shopping I came home to find Rachael making a huge party with decorations for Winnie the Pooh's birthday. So we all played, sang and danced and were merry.
Dinner last night was out at Hugh's managers home. Ralph and Joan are Corvette lovers to the core. We were shown their 5 special cars and Rachael took a dip in the car shaped pool. It was very odd eating venison meatloaf, knowing that Ralph had shot the deer in his back garden (and K he did offer to show us the antlers which were still in the garage). Rachaels highlights were rolling on the cow hide mats and making friends with their wild cat Ally (it had extra wide paws, with two extra pads). I was disappointed that the Armadillo trap was empty, but you get that, at least they tried.
Hugh has organised a big farewell dinner tonight at NXNW down the street. There are lots of people coming mainly IBM folks, it should be fun.
Had a huge phone date with Jackie Saxon today. We swapped stories and shared experiences. God certainly has a sense of humor, here is a woman who is insightful, intellegent and very funny, who seems as energetic and crazy as I can be and I wasnt able to meet her till now! Perhaps God just saves the best till last. Actually Im pretty sure that he wanted us both to be focusing on "time out"this summer. (Short sidetrack - I have a theory that if too many energetic, clever, funny women ministers get together in one place for too long chaos would occur because the world could not take the pace.) Jackie has lived in the corporate world (IBM), has strong administrative gifts and moved into ministry after going to a non baptist seminary. Sound familiar? I loved learning more about her and have a feeling that our paths were meant to cross. Hearing about her experience of taking 3 months away to reflect on her ministy was extremely useful to me. I realised that there are so many ministry related things that I could have been involved with or explored in Austin but Im ok that I havent pushed this side - Ive been content with attending worship and doing family things and reading.
Its only now towards the end of the time away that I realise how much I needed to leave everything. I have been very fragile here at times. My confidence has dipped to the lowest ebbs I have felt for a long time. Yet I have grown through the experience. I have felt displaced. I have experienced what it is like to keep meeting only new people when longing to be in the familiarity of those who really know you well. I have had precious time to not do. Its odd for me not to have the tasks, the big goals and picture.
I realise how important it is to allow time and space to rest. This time is healing what I realise was a bit of a case of ministy burn out for me. Its healing the pain I felt being in conflict with a colleague - why now when I thought it was resolved? Its letting me be angry and letting me find ways to relate to people who have different views in a positive way.
Im starting to understand that our property can become a very valuable ministry. If we create a safe, relaxing space where people can either recharge or reconnect (alone or with our hospitality) then we are going to be doing an important part of creating wholeness for people. Im sure that God wants us to maintain a healthy balance in life. I want to be active in creative ways, helping people to stay whole and well in all aspects of their lives.
Thats it for deep reflection today but watch out Im sure there is more brewing.
Be Fit and Sit. Ha ha ha oh my goodness, this is one of the most funny american television shows I have ever seen. Rachael, Mel and I first caught it when we were in a cafe. So at mid morning KLRU (local station) finishes the kids TV shows and puts on this program. There are women sitting in chairs doing excercises. Move your hand, and up. Do not leave that chair. You can do it anywhere. I have visions of people in their cars having accidents because they are BE FIT and SITting. Or next time you are in flight and are bored you could fit a quick workout in. Or a marathon on the way to Australia - hours of SIT FIT. I mentioned this program to a local and its been on for years! Tragic.
This evening we went to the family dinner at UBC. They eat and catchup over a meal (always good in my books), then spend some time in prayer/study/discussion for an hour after. It was very relaxed and we all enjoyed the time. Met Jackie Saxon in person, after exchanging emails and phone calls this week, she is just back from a 3 month sabbatical. It was a special evening for Richard Moore, who was having his final discussions before the church voted to ordain him - which passed at the end of the meeting. We feel very at home at UBC with the people.
Rachael painted a LOT this morning. I started to clean out her craft draws. It was the day the suite gets cleaned so I managed to sneak some of the older craft creations into the bin. I will have to photograph some of the artwork before it gets chucked next week.
Arlene and Mackensie came and picked us up and we spent the afternoon at their pool again. The girls get on well and I love chatting with Arlene. She has found a counter to my go on say "Caufee" (coffee new york style). I told her about how we pronounce aluminium and that got her laughing. Arlene is good value and I hope we can stay in touch in the future.
Ive been meaning to write Rachaels new song for awhile. This is progress from that great hit "All the cats sing miow". It goes like this "Miow Wow Johnstons Cow, Miow Wow Johnstons Cow, Miow Wow Johnstons Cow, miow wow johnstons Cow" subsequent verses you change the cow to whatever animal you like, current popular choices are Zebra, giraffe, cat etc. Aunty Kay needs to hear this one, as R's number one fan she will want a copy straight away. When we went to South Carolina even Gina started singing it.
Went to our second last Service at UBC. The church and community continues to be a place of deep refreshment and respite for me. Today in the middle of a hymn, the organ stopped and the choir sang with the congregation for one verse unaccompanied. The sound was so beautiful. There were more people as University has recommenced this week. The song the choir sung later in the service has a chorus "I will arise and go to Jesus, he will embrace me in his arms" was enough to bring tears to my eyes. Simple word pictures and glorious sound. Larry continues to preach in his easy to listen to manner, hitting the points, illustrating bible pictures in modern language. I liked one way he expressed the way the world influences us (my summary of his words) "we are marinated in isms, racism, classism, hetrosexualism, all of these things that seep into our lives" we need to strive to realise equality, mutual respect to get away from isms - materialism etc.
We enjoyed the company and hospitality of Roger and Wilma Griffin, who have been members at the church for over 20 years. They invited us for lunch and we had a pleasent time getting to know them better (they call it "visiting", you just sit and visit for awhile). They are both ex college teachers and we enjoyed the conversation and meal greatly. It turns out that Roger had written the history of University Baptist Church which I had read on the website, as well as other interesting information on the History of Baptists in the USA. Since retiring, they have been traveling and had visited Australia, so we shared stories of our impressions of Austin, Texas and differences with Australian life. We learned more about some of the local Baptist churches in the area and the changes to the University Church. Rachael made us all name tags and was pretty comfortable in their apartment, she decided that Roger was ok at lunchtime when he had icecream and chocolate syrup as well!
Later in the afternoon Rachael and Hugh had their weekend swim time while I rang Gina in S Carolina. The Tropical Storm Gaston had hit them hard and they were without power. There was big areas of flooding because the storm hit at high tide. They are having a bad season for storms/hurricanes this year. It was good to know that they are all ok. Also got a chat with Jeri.
Then because I was on a phone binge, I rang Janelle "that Lamont woman" and caught up on some news from Canberra. Oh and mum emailed me about the election, typical that the time I get busy and dont skim the ABC news website Howard finally announces the election, and its on Hugh's birthday! What a gift. We can have a voting party party. There has been speculation about interest rates rising to high levels - looks like I might have to go get a paying job!.
Slept in today. Bliss. H & R went out and came back with Krispy Kreme.
Went out to Lake Travis and met Shiela and Monty at the marina. They took us out on their boat - built by them. It was hot, so we all jumped in for a swim. I had wondered how R would manage, but we put her in the bubble and she was confident and happy out in the lake. All the adults found something to hang onto and floated around. It was very relaxing. Once cooled down we went to another cove and had a bit of a fish, R loved this even though we caught nothing. Another swim then we went to a cafe/bar that you can park your boat at. Food was simple but tasted great (remember that expression from the Famous Five - food always tastes better when you have been out in the open air). I was also reminded of the books I used to love as a child - Swallows and Amazons I think by A Ransome? That were all about kids that sailed boats.
Stayed up late with Hugh channel flicking between the Olympics and whatever was on - watched the aussie bloke get silver in diving. One of the hidden secrets of local station KLRU is late night British Comedy on Saturday evenings. Watched "Are you being served" - which had guest spot by a very young Joanna Lumley as the perfume sales girl. The date of the episode was 1973. Fantastic
Kay and Daniella called us in the afternoon. Kay has managed in the last week to sell our WRX for us and then decide after months of anguish to purchase a B4 for herself (no not with our money, its now in the bank waiting to be turned into the garage/workshop). Daniella is talking to R "Its a blue Subaru" quick as a flash R responds "You didnt buy the old one again?" hopefully the B4 will be a bit quicker!
The Container Store. Ahhh after weeks of anticipation we finally go on an after dinner jaunt and walk around the shop full of things to put things in. It was an organisers heaven. Ive never seen a shop like it. The range of gift wrapping, boxes and containers was just amazing. There was one sight that made me laugh. There was a small boy who had snuck away from his parents, happily popping the bubble wrap sold on rolls at the end of the aisle. Undiscovered he kept occupied for a few minutes till his parents (embarrased) arrived and chastised him. Bubble wrap that low is just a temptation.
Spent some time today catching up with long unanswered emails. If I havent written personally it is because I got out of the loop while away in S Carolina. I was a bit naughty yesterday and rang my dear friend Belinda in Sydney. It was so good to talk to her. I had a bit of an unload and got of the phone feeling renewed.
Rachael and I have been doing more "school work" today. She is starting to sound out simple words in the readers we got her. She managed to get through the whole of "Rat Naps" reading out loud by herself this morning. She looks so sweet as she thinks hard, she still gets frustrated but it was cool for her to do it herself! Today she also copied out numbers from 1-20 and we did some "sum writing" where I get counters and she writes the numbers and totals down. Its all been a game (I try to trick her by changing the counters each time so she doesnt learn by rote) but she is loving it.
Quiet day today. Spent time thinking about James Allridge, the poor guy who is going to be executed tomorrow. Ok so he was found guilty of murder, but it seems so hypocritical. The crime happened in 1985. Texas is scarey as it still has the death sentance. Im cranky because it all seems so wrong. This guy has been on death row for 17 years. I can hardly write about how I feel because I am so angry about it. Where is the peace, compassion and mercy? Govener Rick Perry has the final say, but he has only granted this once. Clemency granted once out of 120 cases since 1999. The Texas Justice System is horrific. The local paper summary here if you want to read more.
Took our washing down before breakfast. Decided I would be the instigator of laundry rage today and used all 4 machines Na Ha hahahah (evil laughter). But I was very responsible and was there the instant they finished to load the dryers. I also emptied on time. Chores done. R and I went for a walk.
I decided that the ends of my hair were splitting, oh &*^%$ I was hoping I could last till I got home. So I braved the Just Cuts down the road - Hugh had been there while we were away and it was ok. I to suffer from stress at getting someone who is not Mark to cut my hair, so I was very specific. "I am growing my hair. This is just a trim to get rid of the split ends, no only 1/8 of an inch, not half." Well it could have been worse, the hairdressers name was Candy and she chewed gum and she had lived in Texas all her life. You get what you pay for, $15 covered the trim. Its mainly straight - thank goodness for a blunt cut. I dont think too much damage was done but I will be emailing Mark for an appointment for the week I get back home.
We walked over to Wholefoods for Jamba Juice and lunch. Ahhhh that was good. Picked up a few groceries and walked home.
Hugh and I are having a planning meeting tonight. Working out all the people we said we would see here, activities we want to do, places we want to go etc. We are also working out what we want to do in our final two weeks, we think we will now be going to New York, visiting Jock in Boston, Andrea and Jimi and the Rogers family. Then we hope to go to San Fran and LA but havent quite sorted what to do there.
Bumpy Flight to Dallas (a few prayers were said, it was the worst flight yet), deplaned & walked into terminal then immediately called to board flight to Austin, phew I knew it would be tight time wise. It was an odd feeling landing - it actually felt like coming home. I hope that is a reflection on the saying that home is where the heart is - being with Hugh. Rachael was just so happy to have her Daddy! Ate pizza to celebrate homecoming.
Rachael and I were dropped off downtown this morning. We walked around the stable areas and Rachael really wanted to go on a tour with a horse wearing roses. Having found the appropriate horse (attached to carriage) I procured tickets at at discount rate even though it was a competitor (the discount voucher was for the mule drawn ones).
We had a very enthusiastic young guy as our driver and guide. The drafthorse was called Chief. The city of Charleston only allows a certain number of carriages out on the roads and requires that tours check in with the city authorities. So there is carriage central control, the tour you get is drawn by lottery, there are 4 options but dont get a choice, the authorities hand it out when you get to the control. It seems to work. Each tour is an hour. We went along Rainbow Row and down the front of the Battery where Gina had driven us yesterday. The guide told us stories about the early owners and I found out that the first shot of the civil war was fired out at the bay.
When the horse had to pee, the driver has to call in a "Code Yellow" to the stables and they send out the horse sanitation unit to the location. Apparently within 15 minutes the area will be soaked down with soap and water so the historical district doesnt get all stinky. The horses also have a catcher bag for manure too. So you get the historic feel without the historic smell. The horses are also heat tested every time they come back in after a tour. There seem to be many rules to ensure their health. The stables procure their teams from logging camps and interestingly Amish breeders. Some of the horses even came from Disney world as they are used to crowds.
Anyway enough horse things, the tour past homes and buildings was also pretty interesting. The historic houses are all one room wide, but at least three stories high. Entertaining was done on the second floor porches (all at the side of the house) built south west to catch the wind from the sea. There was a mix of greek/roman columns and even some mini plantation style homes. Small red bricks were common at one period. The shutters at street level are all solid, but the upper floors had louvers, the sensible thing to keep the street dust out. There were also examples of earthquake rods on all the post 186somthing buildings, these operated like braces to tighten the walls.
Tour finished we had icecreams and then checked out the market which was much quieter. I found a few little things and then we decided to get brave and try a soul food cafe. I have discovered that Rachael and I both dislike catfish! Oh well at least we tried it, ate all our fries though. Live and learn.
We were collected by the family but as they were running late decided to not go to the waterpark. Both Sariah and Lexi were tired and grumpy so I figured that Rachael would cope with missing it. She has been very understanding about the other kids needs, sometimes she gets upset but overall Im pretty pleased with the way she has managed fitting into the family here. Instead they are all watching Peter Pan on DVD. R keeps on laughing out loud so it must be a winner. There is another storm building up, its rumbling around outside. Jeri and John are coming over after tea for a final chance to chat I hope they dont get too wet.
A thingy to remember - Celing fans. Everywhere here has them - even outside. I think that its something to consider into the design of our new house (this is a note to myself). They are good, I remember Marks one now and they are a good way to cope with the heat.
Oh yeah, and Ive had a few emails saying Ive been missed. It was the Baptists Today conference and Im so sad I wasnt there to take part this year. Thanks friends for your well wishes. And Alli - I miss cake with you too! I think it is only 5 weeks till we get back. Wow! It had better warm up at home soon!
Jeri came over (with Hannah who had been dropped off without warning by her mother again which seems to happen a lot). We all went downtown, Gina did a great tour guide thing and we played at the park on the headland. There were many horse drawn tours and they looked like fun. We went to the markets and had lunch. The tours leave from here and a guy gave me a discount voucher. Decided to ditch church tomorrow (leave Gina/Chet in peace) and go on an hours historical horse drawn tour. This also will give Rachael and I the opportunity for some time to explore the market and downtown area at more of our pace.
I picked up a few gifts at the market. We also found a Sth Carolina State flag, and a Confederate Flag to add to our growing collection of these. Gina got me a t shirt that some enterprising person had made up quickly - "I survived Hurricane Charley 13 August 2004".
We were going to go to splash zone but were pretty late getting back and the littlest ones went to sleep in the car, so this is also on hold till Sunday afternoon. I hope the weather holds out. Sariah went over the road for a sleepover and the place felt very quiet with one less child. Gina and I sat up after the kids had gone to sleep, checking email and chatting in Chets office. We then went through a lot of their photos which was cool.
This afternoon we went to the beach. The first thing we saw was a pod of Dolphins. Rachael and I put our feet in the Atlantic, these were soon followed by the rest of us (once I'd put the camera away). The sand was not that soft and sort of muddy, but we managed to build castles and dig for pippis and play in the water for a couple of hours. The water was very warm, but more brown than at home. I presume this was because we are close to the Port and the rivers. We watched some huge ships going in and out, and the return of the shrimp trawlers.There were people further down the beach parasailing. Their sails looked like huge oversized kites. The wind blew off the water, which made it much cooler. Once you hit the path from the beach and the stillness provided by the shrubs, the humidity assulted you with some force.
Driving over the big river bridges here is pretty amazing. They are very high and in the middle of constructing a new higher one (due to open next year) to accommodate the large amount of container ships that use the Port of Charleston. You look down at the port and it holds a huge amount of containers. The place always seems busy with lots of water traffic moving along. Its not all big ships, there seem to be a variety of pleasure craft and fishing boats mixed in.
Inspired by fresh ocean air and lots of digging/swimming, Gina stopped at a seafood place and purchased fresh things for dinner. She got home and put on the oven, stove and microwave to cook everything up in record time. There was Sea Bass (OH my goodness it was fantastic), salmon and Rachael got her first try of crab legs (disliked this). It was a huge messy meal but we ate it all up and went on to bath/showers and headed off to bed extremely content people.
Home day today. My other cousin Debi came over to visit this afternoon, spent time chatting with her and Uncle John.
Explored Magnolia Plantation. We went with Jeri. Gina and I got in as "homeschool teachers" for free and so did the kids (bonus). We took the nature tour which was pretty good, driven around the plantation in a train pulled by a tractor. There was fantastic bird life, those bright dragonflys and we actually saw some Alligators in the swamp (ex rice fields from plantation).
There were plenty of things to learn about alligators. We were also given some historical details about the original settlers to the plantation, it has been in the same family now for nine generations. The owner although he kept slaves, treated them well and built a school house for the children under the guise of "religious instruction". It turns out that when the civil war came, the slaves stayed and kept working the plantation when the owners fled - found the owners later and handed it all back over. I gather this was a pretty rare thing in the south that there was this sort of relationship. The other interesting thing was that after the civil war, the plantation had been strip mined for phosphates, the land has never really recovered, its still scarred although the trees and former rice fields have reverted to swamp.
I really enjoyed the gardens, they were amazing in summer and I imagine so beautiful in spring when all the blooms are out. There were many ponds, and it was odd to watch an alligator cruising through one. (I would be careful where I was weeding at that place for sure). There was a fair sized bible garden, which I have taken some photos of - inspiration for me for planning out landscaping back home.
The gift shop and art gallery in the downstairs of the house were filled with lots of really different items. I spent quite a while browsing. The kids went outside and played on a traditional joggle board with Jeri - it was said that if you had one outside your home the daughters of the house would not go unmarried. Sort of cool to hear about old traditions.
Went with Jeri to get John and Jeremy for dinner, some quality alone time with my aunt. Rachael wants me to go away and leave her with Gina and Chet again (ha if only). I was given the tour of the park where Jeri's mobile home is parked. Because she works in the office, everyone knows her and we got many waves as we went round. I got to see their goats that are kept near the lake and the fence (my waist high) that the alligators can climb!
We had a fun family dinner at the Tasty Wok, buffet asian food and the kids stuffed themselves. Jeremy insisted on me sitting next to him, its sort of like being with my brother when he is round.
School in the mornings, went to the library here in the afternoon. Had to laugh at the "no weapons" sign on the door there. What sort of country is this that you bring your gun into the library?
Stormy night last night, big thunderstorm with lots of impressive lightning.
Whoo hoo, with some help from my written instructions I have managed to upload pictures off the camera, get them "home" to ozlabs and Hugh has put them on our site. For those of you who look at them, I have started to tidy up our large amount of pics by putting them in folders in the US/Canada trip one - the most recent ones from R and I are in "South Carolina".
Went to Aunti Jeri's church today and watched her do the music directing thing and play the organ. Uncle John who is normally orphaned as Jeri plays the organ was surrounded by 5 female relatives, which I think he sort of enjoyed. The service at the latter day saints takes a different form, but the hymns were the same. We only went to the first hour, they then break into sunday school for all ages for the couple of hours, we decided in advance this was going to be too much for R and came home early.
Gina also got a baby break as Lexi wanted to stay with Granma Jeri when we came home. I cleaned up the kitchen (party remnants) and chatted to the girls while Gina snuck a sleep! It was quite soothing pottering about tidying up - I think sometimes you just miss the mundane things, like lots of dishes and kids toys all over. Chet got back and Lexi was returned (also asleep). We had a lovely afternoon, watched a video about a mustang based on a true story in the 1890s who raced a long distance race against the arabian horses in Africa (yay a horse movie) and then some olympics. Heated up leftovers for tea and it all added up to a very relaxed time.
Forgot to say we let the girls up late to watch the opening ceremony in Athens. Rachael cheered when she saw the Australian flag. Today she watched the USA win in some event and yelled "we won" - she seems to have claimed duel nations. This and a very accented "OH Man" seem to be the only obvious forms of assimilation thus far. I am working hard on my southern belle accent, but have only started to infect my family members with Australian phrases like "thats heaps".
Charley has just passed us and you could hardly tell. Rachael had been anxious this morning, very worried about the circle thing coming to get her. She did calm down when the whole family spent some time explaining that all would be fine and they know that the house can handle a big storm. When we checked the radar and Chet reasured her the storm had passed and she said PHEW! Life was made much better by Chet finding Shrek 2 for her and Sariah to watch on the computer.
6:30pm. There are still some close areas which are without power, but the crews pretty much go out straight after the storm moves on up the coast. The TV showed the area we went to the other day and it had a lot of debris, the flooding is subsiding. Its quite amazing to see the unpredictible nature of what happens first hand. All we had was heavy rain and wind, it just depends where you are and where the weather hits land from the coast.
Once the storm had passed, the rest of the family arrived. I was able to share a birthday cake with Chet, Uncle John and Hannah. We cooked out and the girls played. My second cousin Jeremy has two daughters, Jasmine and Hannah, both are normally with there mom's but he had custody this weekend so it was excellent to be able to meet both of them. Small girls took over the house. I will attempt to upload some photos for Hugh to put up later tonight.
We watched the big C17 (?) cargo planes fly over - landing back into the Charlston Airforce Base in the afternoon, they have two wings there so it was pretty busy. They are impressive aircraft - it was comforting to see them come back because with them arriving we know we were all clear after the storms.
OK so Hurricane Charley has hit Florada at H4 - highest rating is H5. I got an email from our friend Raoul saying he has just moved to Orlando Florida this week - what a welcome for him and his family. Anyway the update is that Charley is it is coming to visit us, but should be downgraded to a category 2 by the time it arrives at noon tomorrow. YAY my very first Hurricane!
There is a family party planned here tomorrow which was going to be a cook out but is now going to be a cook in. We are going to put the things that are outside into the garage tonight. My family keep reassuring me that all will be well, lots of wind and to expect debris around the yard with the rain. I just wonder what happens to the poor squirrils up in their nests. There are lots of them in the back yard. Are there homes for displaced squirrils who get flown a long way?
I had such a good sleep last night and Im feeling a lot better today. I give thanks for prayers answered! Rachael also slept well which bodes for a better day. The kids were a bit ratty during school time this morning but I can blame the barometric pressure and the rain a bit.
It is hurricane season here, and we found that Hurricane Charley is due to hit Florada and we are next. Great, it SHOULD become a ONLY a tropical storm tomorrow. There are some people in the low areas doing a voluntary evacuation. Gina and Chet are quite relaxed about it, we are heading out to stock up on some basic supplies, but as this is a normal phenomena from July to November they are not worried. So I wont be. Hummmm, we have checked the local weather more often though. They are very good on advanced warnings and keeping everyone well informed.
As a weather watching lover, this is a whole new experience for me. The rain is meant to be very heavy and extreme strong gusts of winds. We will be spending some quality indoors home time for the next few days by the sounds of things.
I would love to report that all is well, but I had another severe reaction to something I ate last night (?processed chicken?salad dressing) and ended up throwing up and up and down to the loo all night. Thankfully I didnt wake the rest of the household. So I fasted today, having a bit of juice and slippery elm and other good things to get my stupid digestive system back on track. Gina also adjusted my neck and shoulders which I think has helped a great deal, prior to this I was feeling quite tense. Much better tonight and kept down my toast for dinner. Gina drove me to the nearest Whole Foods some 40 minutes away and I have stocked up on non toxic to Lucy bread, cereal etc.
Rachael is still enjoying the interactions here with Sariah. We joined in a little of Sariah's homeschooling lesson, which motivated Rachael to do some of her activity books. Then we went out and the girls played. Rachael is learning what it would be like to have a little sister as well, Lexi is adorable but still has her fussy moments and R is unsure how to deal with it. In a way its good for her. She was very tired and homesick tonight. I must admit to a touch of homesickness myself but Im sure this is increased because we are away from Hugh.
It was Chet's birthday today, the kids made some words with the Welcome Home Banners that had been hung up yesterday. They came up with WOW CHET COOL and hung them on the bushes outside. Very creative and cute.
Oh and there was a tornedo only a 45 minute drive away. I totally forgot that we were in the Hurricane warning area of the USA. Gina is on the phone to one of her friends and was quite matter a fact about the potential for bad weather. Its meant to be stormy over the next few days... watch this space.
Travel here was fine. Rachael was great. We were met at the airport with ballons flying and when we got to Gina & Chets there were "Welcome Home" signs up. Its fantastic to be made feel such a part of normal family life here. We sat and talked and talked, Auntie Jeri had to go home and Gina and I kept on talking. Rachael is so happy to be with other kids. She has just played nonstop with Sariah (7) and Lexi (16 months) and is very relaxed. I have heard her laugh so much and its wonderful. Im sitting in Chet's office surrounded by computers and repair equipment and Im feeling right at home.
Said goodbye to Mel and Martin this morning. Sort of sad but we have had a fantastic time with them, enjoyed their company. Mel has been a perfect princess butterfly, mermaid blue tail etc. She has taught Rachael how to do signs underwater, make cut out snowflakes (you should see our windows) and answered all those tricky 4 year old questions. I have appreciated another grown up to have a winge to and bounce ideas about why the culture here is so different. I dont think we have many answers, but came to one conclusion that the American idea of Freedom is very different to the Australian one.
Doing a bit of a tidy up and chuck out of craft today. R is mainly having a TV watching and making craft things day. Im packing up our suitcase and working out what we activities need to take on the planes tomorrow. Flight out of Austin is at 7am, so we will need to be on the road at 5:30am. Hugh's plane leaves at 7:30 so he can get us organised before heading off for his weekend with Jock and the Rush concert. I must remember to take breakfast and snacks! As Rachael and I are traveling on a cheap fare, no lounges for us this trip.
Talked to Gina today and it sounds like they are all very excited about our arrival. Its going to be so different to be in a home, with space! Sariah tryed to talk to Rachael today, R went shy but Im sure this will wear off when they meet each other tomorrow. We are due into Charleston at 12:40pm.
In Austin, they dont have clotheslines. You wash then use the dryer. Ok, So I am adapting to drying Australian clothes that say "Do not tumble dry" on low and not killing them. I was prewarned before coming about this. I thought I was prepared to be able to manage our washing here. BUT noone told me about the goings on that I would encounter with a shared and free laundry (Im sure the rules are different at a paying place).
The hotel laundry here has 4 washing machines and 4 dryers. There is one woman who haunts the laundry now to be known as the laundry nazi, after the soup one on Seinfeld (NO Laundry for you). I try to do our laundry in the quiet of the early morning to avoid this woman, also because the business people tend to use the machines on the weekends and evenings. It has taken careful observation to observe the peak times and when to do or not to do the laundry. But if you get the wrong time your path might cross the woman who uses all four machines and gets very frustrated if you want to use one.
The first time I encountered Laundry RAGE was before going to Ottawa. All I wanted to do was get one last load done before we left and of course the woman was in there using all the machines. It takes longer to dry than wash so you get a backup effect. A traffic jam of laundry and frustrated people who just want clean clothes without having to stay up all night waiting for their turn for the dryer. I simply asked if I could use one of the machines, and copped it because she wasnt finished. Normal people would just share but Ive decided that common sense does not apply to shared laundry facilities.
Mel also encountered laundry rage. Sometimes if you don't time it right someone else may finish a load of washing and pop it into a dryer that was freshly emptied. Then the other person who has been waiting for a machine comes down and bad words are spouted because they have missed the dryer. I wish someone would write down the etiquette of washing in a shared facility because Im getting sick of not understanding it.
Since we arrived there are new signs down in the laundry. "Please do not touch other people's clothes or empty the machines. If a machine has not been in use for longer than 45 minutes contact the desk to empty the machine. If your washing has been removed the front desk will have it." "Overloading the machine can cause damage to clothes" etc. Super disclaimers so you dont sue the hotel.
Oh and I used to leave my basket down there while the washing was in the machine or the dryer, but someone nicked the basket last night so I have learnt. Lucky for me I had taken the soap powder upstairs or it might be gone too. I had to go ask the front desk staff for another basket. The guilty person will get found out though, when they check out there will be two baskets in their suite and they shall be found out for the basket stealing after all! There should be an extra charge for that.
You might think this is all very trite, but its symptomatic of living in a communal place which is not a community. The only thing we have in common is a selfish desire to get clean clothes, we are a transient population, some shorter term than others. I give up being stressed or offended by the grumps in the laundry and just let people in the line, knowing I have all the time in the world now. I think fondly of my home and look forward to the day where the only laundry rage is when I step on the cat.
Went to San Marcos today, about a 30 minute drive out of Austin. There is a big shopping area of factory retail outlets. It was my first retail therapy day and we were pretty restrained. Mel and I tryed on some clothes, Rachael giving opinions "Thats Lovely". I was pleased to find a cheap pair of slightly imperfect Levis 505's for $25US, bargain. The highlight of our day was the year round Christmas shop. There were many kitchy decorations, but the Texas ones were incredible. "Merry Christmas from our ranch to your ranch, on a cowboy hat and boot", I lost the plot laughing at some of the other ones. My face hurt from laughing at some of them. Rachael was great, bribed by saying we would find her a fairy wand, which we did at a bargain $1.36. We lasted for 4 hours, not bad I thought. Mel's favourite shop was "Big Dog" and she did well there. R and I found matching PJ's there.
Finally managed to get my Optus Calling Card working on US state to US state. Spent ages getting thru their service people but its fixed up so I can now make calls.
This is one of those days where Rachael would be talking saying "And then, also we did" packed full.
Church was positive as per ususal, we were a little late but got in just before the "Chiming of the hour". They sound a bell at 11am (it may be just after) when the announcements are over to mark the beginning of worship. I quite like this. It was communion today and the pastor spoke about the importance of worship and what it really meant to give ourselves fully to this act. The Pastor is very talented at painting pictures with words and drawing you into his sermon with very real stories of people and events. He is a positive man and I am glad we have had the opportunity to sit with his teaching and be part of the community at UBC.
And then... we drove over to 12th St (I cant remember if I told you how sensible the grid system is in the middle of town) and had lunch at the West Lynn Cafe, another highly rated vege place with Mel, Martin, Andrea, Nancy and Anton. Rachael seemed a little pale and was not her usual self, pretty quiet so I started to get worried. Nothing eventuated so we headed out to the visitors center on 6th St to be collected by the Duck Tour.
The Duck vehicle was pretty noisy, bumpy and hot. Our guide/driver/captain was one of the off duty firefighters called Jay. We were all issued with orange duck bill quackers and instructed to "quack three times" when we found suitable victims (other tourists, the golf club etc) He pointed out some of the buildings, gave us some little known trivia about the capital and its history. I was interested to find out more about the "moonlight towers" one of the first forms of city lighting that are still operating. There is one of these towers near church and we had been wondering about why it was so big and what it did. Apparently when the lightbulbs were first in use they did not last long and had to be changed every 2-3 days. These towers were not short so there was a bloke employed full time just to change the globes.
Rach continued to look pale and was very hot. She was sitting right up the front with Andrea, Nancy and Anton. The Duck finally got to the lake and R decided she wanted to get wet as it splashed in. It wasn't that much of a splash but it did look cool as the water came up over the windscreen. The Duck travels quite slowly in the water. Out on the lake Andrea asked Jay if Rachael could have a drive. It was amazing, this very little person got to move us left and right and suddenly she was very very happy. It was amazing (the photos are up on the website now). We did not realise it beforehand but R was extremely anxious about the Duck tour and once she had driven the "boat" all her fears seemed to evaporate. She told us in the car on the way home she had been afraid but was ok now. So by the end of it she was quacking with the rest of us.
We went back to Andrea & Nancy's home in Round Rock for the afternoon. Had a great time in their neighbourhood pool (you pay your Home Owners Association fees - like a body corporate and you get a key to the pool as one of the perks). There was a splash park section and R had fun standing under buckets of water that filled and dumped on your head. All the girls got to be mermaids and Hugh, Anton and Martin became Rupert the Shark. You can imagine the chaos there is when 7 adults are being directed in an imagining game in a pool by the almost 5 yr old.
AND THEN, (yes the day is still filled with more) we went home for a cook out. Ate, drank & were merry. And then R decided we needed to "Rock this house". She managed to con Andrea into finding instruments and out they came and suddenly there was enough for all of us to play something and a chaotic noise ensued. We had bongos, maracas, the spoons and a cheeze grater... It was hilarious. At one stage it managed to sound ok. The hard part was dragging R away to go home to get some sleep! But we did AND THEN it was THE END of the day and that is why I have not checked my email for 24 hours.
Oh and after R got to sleep I rang my friend Teresa at home in Canberra, who I had been missing a lot as she is not on email. It was good to catch up on their family news. Its Isaac's 5th birthday on Wed and it was very lovely to hear his voice as well "Are you home Aunty Lucy?" "Not yet darling, when it is school holidays and the springtime comes" - very sweet to be missed and loved.
Another home day. Hugh at the HAM summerfest. Rachael and I took it very easy. It was much cooler today thanks to some thunderstorms last night. Its so nice when it is in the high 20's! Went swimming and then out to dinner at NXNW down the road again with Mel, Martin and Milton.
Home day. Hid in the cold hotel room. Only ventured out to swim at 3:45. How slack was that, but R and I both had some time to ourselves just doing our own thing, me reading, her creating. Cooked scrambled eggs for tea. Hugh went and signed up for a radio summerfest thingy. He will be doing that all tomorrow. Rachael and I had a phone date with Andrea and Jimi. R made Jimi do maths and talked to Andrea, and talked and wrote and talked, it was quite amusing to listen to.
My dear cousin Rowena described the best birthdays as being teflon coated, the day is enjoyable and everything sort of slides right over you. Today has been a beautiful birthday, small simple celebrations, fun, contact from those I care about. I woke at 5:30 because Rachael needed snuggling. I held her close and she slept for a while more, its a wonderful feeling as she relaxes back and the predawn world is peaceful.
We had breakfast with Mel and Martin downstairs, they had imported Tim Tams and Lindt chocolate and a new book. Perfect gifts for me! The boys went to work and we girls decided to stick to a cool activity for the morning. We drove out on the interstate I35 to visit a cave system. It being my teflon coated day, I was amused by signs on the way. Little things made me laugh out loud. The name Pflugerville (say that fast with a Texas accent) and then the best one - a pest control company with a red rolling highway signboard, that told the time, temp and then in big letters ROACHES, WASPS, we kill them all. I managed to get a photo of it on the way back from the cave. Might not be as funny as it was in real life, its just a whole different world here.
We had a interesting time on the cave tour. Inner Space Cavern. Advertised as Texas' newest cave. The caves were only found in 1963, as they were putting the foundations in for the road. They drilled 11 samples down and lost their drill bits each time, eventually they drilled a big hole and sent a guy down with a torch to discover the caves. Our tour guide was about 55 and "was gonna come to work in Australia in the 80's" which he told us numerous times. I guess we were a bit of a novelty. He was kind, gave Rachael some popcorn for free when we were sitting having late morning tea afterwards. Mel ended up taking pictures for me as I had to carry R some of the way - there are some great shots on our photo gallery now, but they cant capture the sense of the place. Some caverns large, other small details just beautiful with the water dripping over the crystals. The guide told us early on that if a water drop falls on you it is called a "cave kiss" and its considered lucky to have more than 4 in a visit. R was quite taken with this and described it back to Rosie on the phone later on.
Due to my food intolerances, no kitchen and generally not wanting to have Rachael hyper before bed I had elected for no cake in the evening. Here is my substitute: afternoon tea at Krispy Kreme. Hugh, Martin, Anton, Andrea and Nancy all wagged work at IBM for an hour and we ate donuts. Ahhh it was good.
Dinner was simple, but a feast in itself. Mel and Martin came to "our house". Rachael performed some dances for our entertainment (she had planned this for a few days). We ate baked spud, salad. Very relaxed. Listened to my new k.d. lang CD "hymns of the 49th parallel" on the iPod - my gift from H&R complete with home made paper. Hugh had sneakily ripped the CD and snuck it on last night and I love it love it love it, must be a part of my continuing love affair with all people/things Canadian. This CD she sings songs written by Canadian born songwriters and quite a few are from the 70's. Its also got the Leonard Cohen "Hallelujah" (best known at our house from Shrek, and loved 'specially for the memories it evokes for me - Roz played it once for me at NBBC in the offering without people really knowing). I love k.d's voice and if you get a chance listen to her second track "Simple", its a beautiful song.
I had some lovely cards and emails, and the added bonus of phone calls from Rosie (who woke at 5am and called), Kay and Daniella singing and finally Rowena. Lyndal sent me birthday greetings and some pix of Duck, which was very very very cool. Miow!
Brian also emailed and Rachael has been offered a place at Miles Franklin Primary next year. Do we accept? Of course, excellent news. Very pleased with that.
Went out to the Wildflower Centre this morning with Mel. M drove I naviagated and we didnt turn on the "neverlost fairy". Another shocker of a hot day. The place has some great gardens but it was the giftshop that we liked the most. Picked up some Christmas gifts early. Came home to get out of the heat. Took Mel to the mecca of Whole Foods and introduced her to Jamba Juice.
Rachael had some special mail this afternoon. A package of Shrek goodies from Andrea and Jimi. I dont know what was more exciting, getting the package or having new things to do. Thanks A&JX, you are the masters of kindness and distractions.
Had fun drawing with chalk outside this morning. Played on the sports court again and managed another good fast walk in the gym. Trying really hard to find positives for Rachael as we are working on calming her down and improving her behaviour which has got a bit out of kilter lately. Its been a lot to ask and she has done well but needs to realise that she is not "in charge" all the time.
Our other major effort was hand washing a very travel worn Winnie the Pooh. Thank goodness for Sard wonder soap! He is a much cleaner looking bear and I was able to put him in the dryer for a while (I supervised him closely) to get the majority of the water out. Rachael was not traumatised by this as long as I stayed right next to the dryer. We put him on our windowsill to finish toasting, thankfully he is not melted or falling apart. Life is good.
Mel and Martin arrived safely tonight. It was cool to be able to greet them with good Texas hospitality and yes share leftovers from our fridge (remember we are in the land of "you want that boxed to go"). Mel is not impressed with the heat and humidity already. Mind you, they have inherited Chris Yeoh's room which has had a week to cool down as he had the air conditioning set as low as it could actually go, so they should have an advantage.
New routine today. R did some more "school" work in the morning and then we played outside with the ball and on the sports court. By 10am we came in and she watched Blues Clues next to me while I took a 25 minute fast walk on the treadmill in the gym downstairs.
Its going to be hot all week, thunderstorms predicted on Friday, I hope they come earlier. We will have to plan early morning outside activities and then hide in the air conditioning.
Have booked the Austin "Duck" tour for next Sunday afternoon.
Good to be back at University Baptist Church today. The Sermon centred on reminding us that greed is a strong temptation, and our sense of worth should not be measured by finances, property or status. One of my favourite lines was that "greed is the energy that runs the engine of the economy". The Pastor talked about the pressure of society to draw value from our looks, what we do, our status. He countered with the fact that we are children of God - beloved and worth the life of Jesus. We need to know the meaning of enough and become rich in the things that matter. We need to love people and use things and not the other way round. I heard strongly the words "Let God define your worth, not the world" and that was empowering.
The church also has a library that anyone can use. I have picked up a copy of "God and the Excluded" - visions and blindspots in contemporary theology by Joerg Rieger. Im ready for some serious reflection to counter my novels.
We explored downtown a bit by car after church. Found the original Whole foods market and after lunch we went next door to Book People, Austin's largest independant bookseller. Lots of Anti Bush propoganda, you can tell its not a mainstream book store. It had some interesting toys and other odd gifts. R was taken with a real life sized german shepherd soft toy but we managed not to bring it home. Purchased R some Clifford learn to read phonics books, she is determined to read all of them right away.
Mellow day. Went Roomba hunting with Stephen (thats a robotic vac cleaner). Good swim, R has graduated with her goggles to being brave enough to swim down under the water and pick up a rock on the bottom of the pool.
Another at home day, another craft mess. Rachael was taken by the hotel manager to see one of the staff's chihuahua puppies. R was not greatly impressed, "we have a much bigger dog at home" (reference to Yetta the German Shepherd). I refrained from saying "and she would eat these in one gulp" as the manager was just trying to be kind.
Dinner at North By North West with Chris, Stephen, Anton & Andrea. Best mashed spud since we got here. Rachael refused to go to sleep till 10:30pm. Hugh is improving, but very still very tired.
At home day. I now catch up with email and banking etc. R makes huge mess with craft things. Dinner with Chris, Paulus and Milton at the Korean Place.
First thing for today, thanks to you people who are actually emailing me to say you are enjoying reading this. I appreciate the messages. Ahh absence makes the heart grow fonder. Mum I am trying to concentrate, consentraite oh bother get better at proofreading this. I found out another version of the program has a spell checker too, but I havent had time to find it. So Im going to continue to go with my terrible spelling and keep you all laughing at my attempts. Perhaps if I have a great day and get it all correct you can send me gold stars! That or if I get it correct for a week someone could promise to send me Frys Turkish Delight, you know the one in the purple funky packet.
I realise that we have been away for a month now. How time flys, yet drags, then flys. I think Im finally understanding American currency. Why they still have dollar bills and 1 cents is still beyond me but Im coping. Austin felt a little like coming home. I know I am adjusting as the water didnt taste as bad. Perhaps its just that Chicago water was worse tasting.
Quiet day. Went to our craft shop, got another dollar pot of beads. R content to make things for people this afternoon. She sits and carefully threads, makes patterns. A breakthrough today - we played "teachers" I am relieved, I am her assistant, still Kate, she is Hannah but we teach the soft toys. I rejoice in a break from princesses and fairys. Not a spell or witch in sight - for now. Stuck things into her scrapbook, I put my Chris ticket in with a footnote saying that Chicago was really for the grown ups.
Hugh is sick, a Cold plus the Sinus thing probably made worse by flying as per usual. He managed to find a good Doctor and drugs. Hopefully he will improve fast as he saw the Dr early.
Slept in as much as you can with R. H took her out to get breakfast. Came back with plain KK donut for me. Happy. Caught flight back to Austin with no hassles. Idiots at Hertz have given us a BLACK car, who does that in Texas? Oh well its got air cond and it is brand new - it only had 4 miles on the clock. Win some, loose some. Wholefoods, I so love that shop. Stocked up again now. Greeted happily by our friendly front desk staff at the staybridge. Moved to room 316. Same phone number for those that need to know that. Did much washing. Looking forward to boring day tomorrow.
Never again if we can help it will we catch a flight at 6.20am that is far away from the airport. We woke at 4am. I was right in the middle of a dream about removing wisteria from my garden and being visited by Judy Henson and her family (I have no idea what my subconsious was working on there, Im missing my friends and clearing out my garden??). Caught a taxi and it sort of felt like we were doing a runner leaving under cover of darkness. The check in counter didn't open till 4:45 and then the security screening didn't open till 5am. Oh well, we are getting very good experience in airport procedure and standing in lines. R just waits till the laptops are out now and dumps Winnie the Pooh in on top, to go thru the X ray - not phased at all.
Fortunately we got a very early check in at the Hilton, arriving in Chicago round 8am. Had some breakfast - there was a nun in line which I thought was a good sign for someone in Chicago who loves the Blues Brothers. We then got some tourist brochures and made a plan.
We caught the train into the centre of town (with only one small error, corrected by getting on the next train armed with map procured from helpful train person). It was $5 for a full day pass that you can use as much as you like on public transport. The trip only took 45 minutes and of course R went to sleep on Hugh. Trains were very similar to Sydney, just as dirty but you could understand the PA. "You are on the blue line" I was almost back home heading for the 'Gong! The houses do back right onto the train line. The stations and the subway underpasses smell of well, that classic urine, trains and dirty city smell. O'Hare station was pretty clean though.
Arrived downtown and found the tallest building "John Hancock Tower" and "rode the elevator" 94 floors, fast lift only took 40 seconds. I dislike heights, but managed to enjoy the panorama, freaking only slightly when H & R pressed their noses to the window. Still Im glad we did it, very excellent experience.
Feeling like we were in Chicago now and into the whole tourist thing, we took the subway to the Daley Centre, where the climax to the Blues Brothers was filmed. There were flags flying, the stars and stripes, the Illinois State flag and yes even the Cook County flag. There was nothing there that mentioned the movie (sad) but we were in the mood, so Hugh made sure we took some photos in the lifts and round the building. SMS'd a few people from home because we were excited and wanted to share the joy of the whole Blues Brothers experience.
Had a late lunch, caught the train home (R fell asleep again poor tired mite) and spent some quality time in our hotel room mellowing out. In the midst of this Mel and Martin's flight in was cancelled, so they were due in later. I had to call the "House of Blues" to find out how late we could pick up our tickets and the recorded message was just amazing. Ordered room service for the very first time (R very impressed).
M&M finally arrived and I was able to leave my family sleeping as I snuck out to play.. We caught the train into town, it was raining and we were sort of lost by a few blocks so we hailed a cab to get us to the House of Blues. Arrived in time for Mel to produce her credit card, booking confirmation, photo id and get the tickets. Then we were sent outside again to go thru security (its cool to be asked for ID even though they dont think its real till they read Australia). Finally we were in.
The House of Blues has very strange decor, the up above the stage has religious icons and symbols, lots of painted gold columns, and every surface seemed to be painted with strange pictures. It was also very packed out, smokey and hot. I felt a little overwhelmed but after a water and some time out in the loo (they had a scary big lady attendant who was handing out lollipops, at least I thought they were - I declined) felt better. Sophie B Hawkins was the support and we got to hear the last few songs. Her ripped jeans were the highlight. There was nowhere to sit so we found a good place where we could see the stage and Martin wasn't going to get beaten up for being in people's way (its tough being a big cool guy).
Chris Isaac was still ever the showman. Had to laugh when he said we were having one big Hootin'annie. (Thanks Mel for reminding me to put that in). I think his voice was amazing. There was a good mix of the old classics and some new songs. His band make the act great. For the encore he donned the mirror suit. Very excellent. I was also amused by the crowd and watching the people. There was even the lady going round "in a skimpy top calling out "Cigars for sale" wow. I haven't passive smoked like that in ages. Loved the show but not standing that long.
I was way overtired by now and we decided to get a cab rather than train. Saw a terrible accident on the way back to the hotel. An 18 wheeler truck had smashed into a bridge, concrete had then broken off and hit cars on the other side of the freeway. We went past it but it brought home how fickle life is. Finally got to sleep around 1:30am.
Went out to breakfast at the Famous Diner again. Came back to the hotel andI napped to make up for only 5 hours sleep after book binge. Hugh took R for a swim in the hotel pool, it was "freezing" so this was kept short.
Decided to go on the Hacker Bike Ride, yep we hired bikes and joined up with the locals. It was so much fun. We cleverly elected to do the short ride. Rachael was hooked up on a trailer bike to Hugh's bike. She got to coast whenever she wanted, and even backpedal when she wanted. Life was good. We went past the parli hill/ city centre buildings in a big pack (bikes must be on the road, illegal to ride on the pavement) the longer rides split off and a small group of us were guided over the river past the Museam of Civ. It was gentle, lots of stops to take pictures of Ottawa. We dropped off a few people and headed to the gelato shop. Very good. Then we rode up along the Rideau Canal for a few k's. R was tired so we did a turn round to return the bikes. We spent 3 hours out and I must say as R did "My bottom is saddle sore". I know some muscles are going to ache tomorrow but it was a lovely way to finish our visit here and spend time as a family.
Had Starbucks mega frappacino to recover, thought of our friend Cam back in Oz. Took a pic just for him.
We have packed up and ready to leave first thing. We need to get up at 4am, flight out of here is at 6am, and it takes about an hour to clear security/customs, even at that time of day.
Will get back to this to expand sometime and add the links.. Spent the morning at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Spent time in the Childrens Museum and R made lots of craft, plenty of hands on things to do. Managed to see some of the grown up exhibits, totum poles, canoes, beaded garments. Found our first feather head dress. Loved the carvings, some stunning soapstone fertility women with children. Spent the afternoon back at the hotel room, playing imagining games with R, Mel made us the most beautiful tiara's.
Felt tired and had a headache so Hugh took R out to dinner and the after conference party with him. She thrived of course. They watched the sound and light show on the way home and arrived back at the hotel after a rickshaw ride. Photos are up.
Mel loaned me her latest novel purchase. So I stayed up reading "The Girl in Times Square" by Paulina Simons, it said on the front cover a story of love and lies, life and death. The story sucked me in and I just couldnt put it down. 2:18am I finished (600 pages). I really enjoyed it. Great to book binge, I feel like I am on holiday now.
Spent the whole day out exploring!
Out for breakfast to the cafe with the quirky guy again. Today he put whipped cream on R's hot chocolate, then snuck out to top it up later. He is almost scary but funny taken the right way.
Met Mel and caught the bus to the Rideau centre. Its cold today so we had a quick stop to purchase a jacket for me. Went to Roots - the suppliers of Canadas athletics clothes and the establishment most Aussies laugh at due to its name. Ive now got a Roots red Canada Olympic team 04 Jacket, flipping expensive momento but well worth it. Found a jacket for R in kids Gap and managed to get down to the river for the 11.00 cruise - just made it in time. The river tour highlighted lots of the important buildings and some minor trivia about Ottowa. Some of the waterfront homes were just so beautiful, I love the style of the buildings. It was also a relaxed way to enjoy the city.
Lunchtime saw us hunting our boys at the conference. They were just heading back in. We also found Rusty who needed a break from geeks so was happy to come and chat with us while we had our lunch. He has had a busy time here and had some funny hotel stories to share with us.
Walking again we briefly visited the Notre-Dame Cathederal. In some ways it was over the top ornate but it came together so it was not tacky - unlike the bottles of holy water for sale on the way out. The stained glass was just incredible, colours and designs so deep and so much everywhere. I'm not sure if the pics will work out. The postcards dont do it justice either. It is booked up for weddings 3 years in advance, now thats some wait. Notre-Dame Cathederal Basilica
Mel went to the Canadian War Museam and Rachael and I did a quick tour of the Royal Canadian Mint (its handy they are next door to each other). They were not in production mode but we were able to see the machines and watch videos of how the processes work. At the end of the tour we were able to pick up a gold bar and press a momento. All of the tickets, postcards, pamphlets and other bits about today are now in her scrap book, being completed as a procrastination excercise before bed.
Dinner was a big catchup with the ex Linuxcare people plus some IBM ring ins, R most happy as she had Jimi's attention all dinner.
Walked up to Parliament House for the 3pm tour. Spent half an hour getting through security, very very slow. The tour itself was quite interesting, I distracted Rachael by playing "can you find a ..." there were lots of grotesques, stained glass windows, carvings, art works etc. The building is limestone and the details were quite charming. What a place to work!
After we finished our tour we headed in the direction of the Congress Centre, but were delayed by the sight of several boats climbing up the locks at the canal. R was so interested that we stopped for quite a while. We took pics so you can share the experience.
Went out to a deli for breakfast with Jimi. Were joined later by Martin, Mel, Chris. Ate pancakes with real maple syrup of course. Tasty.
Walked up to watch the changing of the guard at Parliament Hill. They looked very hot with big bear hats on. Didn't last long there. Thought we would take a tour but R was too ratty. Decided to abort the mission till this afternoon - booked for 3pm. Mel went to explore some less child friendly places. R and I walked back to have some "home" time. We also returned the hire car as we can catch the bus most places here. R is now having a rest watching Canadian public kids TV - its content is very good. She should have a sleep but wont, so this is the next best quiet thing.
Had breakfast in a little cafe down the street. Owner was very quirky, quite a character. Cooked a great omlette. We watched the office workers coming in for their coffee and were entertained by the banter. He chatted to us when it was quiet and then gave R free cookies for later in the day. We plan on going back again.
Went for a wonder around the Sparks St Mall, found a few postcards. Had lunch and met Mel. We drove out to visit the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Stables. The tour was great, Ive taken pics for the horse people in our life. It was the most clean stable I have ever seen, they used a ride on street sweeping machine to clean the place. The tack room was tiles and just beautiful. The horses are between 16-17 hands, all 'black" and just lovely. I enjoyed the experience a lot. The musical ride was on tour, so it was the trainers working with the younger horses and the new recruits learning to ride. They prefer to take people with no riding experience and train them intensively for 7 months. Riders are only able to have 3 years doing this assignment and can never do it again, it is a once in a life time experience for them. When they tour they take 4 trucks, to go overseas they lease their own planes.
As we had the car and had driven past on the way out, we stopped at "Canada and the World Pavillian" a smallish exhibition centre outlining some of Canada's contributions to global community. This was a pretty varied exhibit and enabled R to do some imagining as we scanned over the items on display. If anyone asked why we were hiding in the mock UN bunker it was because the witch was coming to put a spell on us princesses. Mel was princess Flower, R princess Butterfly and because she saw one while I was being named I became princess Truck. Great, always wanted that sort of name. Upstairs they had a "peace dress" which was made up of hundreds of flags from around the world. R had fun matching up flags to ones on the dress. We educated the guide by showing him the Australian flag (pics should be in gallery soon).
Outside, we had a look at the Rideau falls and found a memorial to the Air Force. Drove back to the convention centre carpark and managed to make it to hear Hugh's talk. This was well attended and Hugh managed to get a contact with a fellow in NZ using the internet IRLP mode (if I have this wrong forgive me). It was cool that he managed to get signal at the bottom of the conference centreunder a lot of building.
A big group of people went to dinner at a thai place. It turned out the whole room we were in was full of conference people. Another later night, R pretty tired, grumped on me at the hotel. Hugh found vanilla yoghert on his way home that saved the evening for her.
Ahhh reunions are so sweet. We dumped our bags at the hotel, got the car parked and went straight to see Martin and Mel at their room. I dont know who was more happy, Rachael or I, both of us were hanging out for our friends!
Then we went to hunt some late lunch and some Canadian money. Walking, walking. In the process of hunting an ATM we were almost at the conference centre so Hugh registered. We even went down to the kernal summit and managed to get Anton's attention. Rachael just wanted to give him a hug and for him to spin her round. Asked why Anton is special "because he spins me round and listens to me". We also saw Martin Pool (spun him out because he wasn't expecting the whole Blemings family) and Ben H as well. Then walked back past what Rachael thinks are castles but are really the Houses of Parliament. "I think the Queen might be in there".
Some initial observations. People SMILE here, it feels much more friendly - a guy stopped his truck to let R & I cross the road. There are recycling bins everywhere. I saw more people riding bikes and walking than I have in weeks! Austin everyone drives and here seems much more accessable to public transport. The bus interchange is not far away. Its even nice to see the Queen on the coinsand have coloured notes - R's observation.
Dinner was out with the other Ozlabs people (Chris, Stephen, Paulus) and some other IBM folks. R couldn't decide who was she going to sit next to, Anton, Mel, Martin, Chris? It was all so wonderful. She just kept on running between all her friends. She was so HAPPY. We walked back to the hotel and she held Chris's hand and chatted with him the whole way back. Mel and I were distracted by many beautiful glassworks in shop windows.
Plotted with Mel for tomorrow. Once she finishes work we are going to go out to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Stables and see the horses. Then will meet our boys at the conference dinner break.
Mental note must call Shania to tell her that Australia needs to be included in future world tours for K&K.
Oh dear Hugh is taking photos of me using my laptop in flight. Yep Im actually taking the time on this trip to update this. Perhaps its happening, perhaps its just because Im on my way to a super geek conference... I havent really morphed its just R is happy with him and I am bored with my book so wanted to jot down some thoughts.
Last night was a bit of a shocker, we packed up to find that the storage allocated by the hotel to us had been given to someone else. Not very impressed, especially after I had written a nice thank you card to the general manager saying how great the staff had been. They managed to fix it by 11:30pm but it was frustrating.
We got to the airport on time this morning, Hugh was selected for a special search (lucky him). We purchased a couple of ham and cheese rolls for breakfast and some drinks and were charged the rip off price of $18. Next trip we get organised and go to Wholefoods and pack breakfast. The airlines here dont provide food like at home, just a drink and a little snack. I need to remember to pack more food for Rachael to counter the low blood suger thing.
The airport terminal at Chicago is huge, we had a good walk to get the next flight. R has been occupied with my ipod this flight, singing loudly away to herself - thank goodness we are at the very back of the plane and no one can really hear over the jets.
We drove Hugh to work today and I did my first solo driving. I had success all round, managed to navigate without the neverlost GPS and not get lost or take a wrong freeway exit. Rachael was my little life coach in the back. When we swapped the car back at lunchtime - "Daddy, mummy did great, I knew she would be ok". We spent this morning out at a community pool with Arlene and Mackensie. Rachael finally found someone to play princesses with! YAY. Rachael had a great time, I got to know Arlene better and we are going to catchup again when we get back from Canada, as the four of us have hit it off well.
R's choice comment today was "I think we should come back here again next winter. That would be good we could just swim, then go home when its warm." Ah she is four with a dream of endless summer already.
For dinner last night we were joined by Nancy and Andrea. Its nice to finally put faces to names, Hugh has been friends with them for a while and they are the ones that actually drag Anton away from his computer when he is here. We enjoyed their company and found another place to eat out close to us. They have been on the Austin Duck tour and when they told us about their experience I am more determined to go do it. You get the highlights of downtown and then go into the lake in the amphibious vehicle. (Certain readers of this blog will also be excited to know that the majority of the tour drivers happen to be firefighters. Im sending the paper article to Kay, apparently they employ them because they have experience driving this type of truck, have good driving records etc.)
Updated photos online, there are now albums from Daniella's birthday party,Gav & John's Party @ Drurys, Preschool. Ive added some family pics in the general family album too.
I drove us to the Visitors Information Centre this morning. Of course it had moved from where the lonely planet guide said it was, but we found it on 6th Street fine. Because it was 9:45 on Sunday morning I could park out front with no worries. Have picked up some extra information and can now read this while we are away to plan out any further activities and plot some things to do with Mel/Martin.
Picked up the Chronicle and there are so many good bands coming to Austin. Tim and Neil Finn are playing on August 4, Sting and Anne Lennox on Sep 17. I think Hugh's keen on Deep Purple, Joe Satriani and Thin Lizzy on August 27. This place is amazing when it comes to live music - its everywhere.
Church was great as per ususal. I really like the pastor's preaching style, moves from life experiences, to biblical facts, reflections and renarrative. He is very easy to listen to and Im really appreciating being there. The Bell choir did a couple of items today. Its very different to listen to but when you close your eyes and just focus it is quite beautiful. I think I appreciated it because it is such 'pure' sound as the notes are struck, that and I had not heard much like it before.
The sermon was about "time" and being busy today. I was reminded that it is important to take time out to pray and be with God and that service without spirituality is pretty hopeless. I also started to reflect about exactly what I am meant to be doing with my gift of time "off" here. Its interesting because I am so cut off from my networks, I can't actually do much "work". I am forced to stop in a way I have never been forced to stop before. Im not used to slowing down and perhaps thats what Im meant to learn. I am happy. I have Hugh and Rachael and Im learning to care for us as a family in a totally different way, without the normal framework. I really push myself hard most of the time. I dont want to be slack but perhaps I need to learn to be more peaceful. This enforced change might just teach me that. Who knows? (There endith the reflection for the moment, back to your normal holiday program).
Austin is great for bumper stickers. "People are more opposed to fur than leather because it's easier to harass rich women than motercycle gangs."
I didnt have to get in the pool today. Hugh did and Rachael swam across the width without her bubble! Typical. The cool thing was that she showed me how she could swim when I came to get them out to go to dinner. Its sort of an extended dog paddle at the moment, we figure we will work on the style later. At least she can now tread water and keep herself moving to the edge of the pool.
Curious about the messages we had been getting from home about the cold snap, we called Rosie (surprise Mema) and also Hugh spoke with our soon to neighbours near the block. Chris reported that it had been snowing there, but not settling on the ground. Brrr we are happy to just eat ice cream here as a gesture to stay in touch with our winter Australian selves.
For the record ate Pizza for the first time tonight, found a wood fired place just up the road. Mmmmm. Tasty (this is an expression from my Canadian friends, not yummy - its tasty).
Hugh passed his next level up radio exam today, should get a groovier call sign too. Kay will be impressed to hear her niece has been sitting speaking into the computer mouse "This is Rachael Kay Blemings, VK1YYZ, we are in America, yes we are in America. I can see lots of people in the pool." :-)
Quieter day today. Spent this morning outside playing at the pool with Andrea and did the boring old washing. R & I went out for farewell lunch with Jimi and Andrea. They had presents for us but I must say we have been totally spoilt with their generosity of spirit and love of life. It was a little sad to say goodbye as we have had such a fun week. Rachael has fallen quite in love with both of them, almost her first summer romance. As a family we have decided that we want to adopt them forever. Good thing is that we get to see Jimi again next week at the conference. Hopefully we have convinced them to come to Australia next year.
Drove up to Mt Bonnell today. Checked out the views of Austin, saw many expensive homes on the heights and down on the Colorado River - these people had boat jettys etc. (Will load pics asap)
Went to Mayfield House and Gardens, which wasn't so inspiring. We had a walk on some trails, Rachael finding a lizard, feathers and generally making Andrea and I play princesses (Yes we are still Hannah, Kate, Amy in the game).
For those of you who know my dislike of all things crafty, I think I have surprised myself in finding something I don't mind doing. Yesterday we picked up a dollar container of beads and some streachy string. Rachael has been making bracelets with the larger beads. There were lots of tiny ones at the bottom so I had a go too. Its quite soothing threading them and making patterns. If sanity returns you will not be getting any for Christmas, but until it comes back you had better email us your favourite colours!
Rachael has gone to "IBM bring your child to work day" for a while this afternoon (Hugh had presentations to give this morning). I have been enjoying the peace, might just go thread a few more beads....
Later on...
Dinner was at Koreana Grill and Sushi Bar, a place J&A discovered. The food was fantastic. We tried steamed Mandoo - homemade dumplings filled with beef tenderloin and vegetables. We all loved it, R had thirds! We then went to the ice cream place close to the hotel. The bloke behind the counter laughed when I said "thats heaps thanks" when refering to the scoop of icecream for R. Its strange the things that people pick up on. Sometimes I feel like laying it on thickin sheer retaliation for the smiles and smart comments. Crikey mate, no worries.
Continued our exploration of Zilker Park. We went to Austin Nature & Science Center and the Zilker Botanical Garden.
Andrea has a love of finding water it seems, we found almost all the pools in the Botanic Garden. They were feeding the carp in the oriental garden and we were able to see some huge ones. We had fun with the mist in the prehistoric garden - there is a cool place you can sit and watch the mist rise over the pools. While sitting there we saw a hummingbird and a cardinal.
We walked down to the nature centre, which wasn't much to write home about. There were lots of animals who cannot be released back into the wild. The hawks were stunning, but I think the owls were the winners - I felt the cages were too small. The highlight was that there was a stream that ran from a pond through the nature preserve and Rachael and Andrea went paddling. This progressed to Rachael sitting in the waterfall in just her undies, with Andrea and I sitting on rocks with our feet in. It felt so good to be in the running water - it was 36 again today. Walked back to the car and went to a picnic area in Zilker park - they are quite fussy about where you can and can't eat in these places.
Andrea drove us out to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower center. As it was so hot we explored in stages. They provide a backpack on loan at the information desk, which had binoculars, a magnifying glass, butterfly identification wheel, flower identification book etc. We went down to the butterfly area first and met a lady who's job it was to find caterpillers! She showed us the special areas they have for the butterfly's to emerge in safety. There was a huge monarch who had just come out - not ready to fly as wings were still drying. We had our picnic lunch early as R was HUNGRY (seems to be most of the time at the moment). We climbed up the tower and Went for a short walk round the meadow. Scattered in the gardens, there were quite a few water features. We watched dragonflys of many colours dancing round the lilly pads - my favourite one was bright red although there were many traditional blue ones. There were even a couple of turtles munching away. I figure that was R's science lesson for the week.
Ive collected some information for Rosemary as this place spreads the same message - grow native plants! Watching the video in the air conditioned centre was bliss. The shop was full of many lovely handcrafted items, but had some very "quaint" things that made me laugh too. We will go back again, as the gardens will change and it was a good place to play/run round.
Dinner was mexican tonight at Mama Ninfa's, with Andrea, Jimi, Julie and Hollis from IBM. R spent lots of time doing maths with Jimi on the back of the place mats. They provide crayons and placemats to draw on. Im not convinced that I like enchaladas, but fajitas are good.
"Mummy please can we have an at home day?" "Yes" We are a bit tired out after the big weekend. Craft on the agenda, imagining games and perhaps a swim in the afternoon (just for a change).
Wow, another busy but excellent Sunday. We started out with a phone call from Kay in the morning, with Rachael telling her "why are you awake you are meant to be asleep" fair enough comment as it was close to midnight in Canberra. It was good to catch up on news from the family in person.
We setout for church, me driving and ended up going a completly different way to last week as I took a wrong entry on the freeway. Oh well, we got there just in time for the service. Their litergy is very well planned out, this weeks theme being based around loving your neighbour - Luke 10:25-37. It's also a church were a lot of different people are involved, prayers are planned but heartfelt. There was a singing group on this week, who did some 'traditional" American Baptist music - "Church in the wildwood and I saw the light". Apparently the choir is having their summer break but they will be back in August. There might even be their bell ringers next week, it's a place with bit of variety in the worship.
We rang Jimi and Andrea and met them at Barton Springs Pool . We saw our first squirrels (everyone else ignored them but R and I were enchanted by them). J & A provided a picnic from Whole Foods which was delicious and much appreciated. As this is a natural spring, the water was COLD - its around 19/20 degrees. Brrrrrr, but with the air temp outside about 34 it wasn't too bad. It did give me flashbacks of cold sitz baths and took my breath away a bit but it was invigorating. Rachael stayed in till she was shivering, we got out and warmed up and then went to the shallow end for a paddle. There were some tiny fish and after a while she got the nack of staying still while Andrea and I herded the fish towards her.
Dinner saw us back at the FireBowl Cafe and Andrea decided that we needed something sweet. KRISPY KREME time. I had been so good, not one donut since we arrived. We found the closest one (4 miles away for your interest Mel and Im sure I can remember the way.) No camera, but we were saved by Jimi's phone. Hopefuly he will email us the pics soon. It was the first time I had walked into a KKstore, and just for walking in they give you a free, hot plain donut. It disappeared fast! The selection was a bit more varied than we have had before, but we all tucked into one each. Dang the sugar hit fast! It was amazing to watch the donuts being made and there were a couple of trucks being loaded up (there was a suggestion that 2 Canadians and 3 Australians could hijack one, it would have made great Texas news headlines but sense prevailed). We had a short walk round the hotel when we got back - R playing tag with Jimi to run off the sugar.
Hugh sat his HAM exam today and passed enough to grant his an operating license here. While he was out we had a quiet morning.
Lunchtime saw us back at Rudy's BBQ and then Borders cafe with Jimi and Andrea. (Jimi is another IBM friend, Andrea's mum adopted and fed Hugh once in Canada). They are here all week so hopefully we can hang out with them a bit, Rachael loved chatting to her cool Canadian friends. I have decided that the cafe at Borders is our new home away from the hotel. Only problem is that the bookshop is way too tempting.
We were invited out for dinner at Kathy's place, this was great for Rachael as there were kids, toys, a tree house, slide etc. We met some of Kathy's friends - it turned out that they were all originally from New York. I was greatly amused by the pronunciation of "couffee" - it was straight out of NYPD Blue. I loved the accents, the company and some home made food! They started on a comparison of NY v's Texas/South accents, it was pretty funny listening to an enclave of NY bagging out the drawl, and the expression "fixing" as in Im fixing to get some lunch - all y'all. One of the ladies Arlene, has a 3 yr old daughter Mckensie & they live quite close to our hotel. Arlene is home in the day at the moment and they have invited us for a swim during the week.
Oh and I also got to see my first armadillo, pity it was squashed on the road :-( A live one is still on the to do list.
Managed to convince R to come for a walk this morning. We are very close to Borders (Bookshop) so we went for a look round. She took me to the cafe where H had taken her previously. Its such a huge store, very relaxed. We went to Michaels Craft and Art store on the way back and again once you get over the size you just can't believe the range of things all in one place. Rach convinced me she needed some foam brushes, craft card and paper, so we are set for things to do for the next few days entertainment. People think we are strange to have walked those 2-3 blocks, its not really set up for pedestrians - everybody drives everywhere here.
Tonight was our night to go and watch the bats wake up and leave Congress Ave Bridge. We went downtown earlier than the bats were due out to have some dinner. I thought there would be a lot of food places in walking distance but was proved wrong, the Hyatt was just next door so we decided to just eat there. This was a reminder for me that serves of food here are stupidly large, my chicken caeser salad was huge. Rachael elected to have a small cheese pizza declaring it the best thing she has eaten ever. We decided to go the "bathroom" in the hotel (it being one of those luxury places and clean), Rach was not going to go till I told her the loos flushed automatically - this was enough to get her interested. It was pretty darn funny hearing her talking to me as it all happened (sorry for those of you who cant cope with loo humor but it cracked me up). Then she wanted to tell daddy all about it but I told her it was a secret so she would have to whisper to him what happened when we went outside, which she did, thank goodness!
About 8:45 and much "When are the bats coming out?" later the small performers decided to make their appearance. We watched them streaming out from under the bridge, an amazing flight of hundreds then thousands of these little creatures. As R was tired we decided to leave, but as we walked to the car we continued to see the bats as they made their way out to feed following the Colorado River. Hopefully there will be some pics that worked out on the gallery soon. Austin Bat Information has some extras about the colony if you would like to know more.
My cousin Gina rang me this morning, first time we have really had a good chance to talk with each other. Although we should be strangers it doesnt feel like that at all. We have emailed each other over the years but it was so natural to talk and feel close. As we shared stories and the kids came and joined in, we laughed a bit as we spoke - perhaps it is Granny Em's influence in our lives that causes some of the parallels. Our mothers have a lot to answer for - both left England for new lives in different countries when they were young. Its going to be interesting to look at each other and find the family similarity. Rowena and I have matching little toes from the Gledhill side, so its going to be fun finding the Hull things.
Hit the pool this morning, Rachael with another float out of the swimming vest. She is still leaving me amazed at her progress in the water. Hugh has posted the latest pool pics up on our gallery, including the view out of our window. If you look closely at these, you can see some guys out in the carpark. They are re-carpeting the corridors at the hotel and they were rolling the carpet out on the car park to measure it out. Nothing like watching tradespeople at work for a four year old.
Hugh has put the photo gallery up on my screen saver, its been cool looking at pictures of you guys! I like the random pattern and its been bringing back some memories of other trips away and fun times. It was also soothing to look at some pictures of our land (still Jaralah/Yaralah because we cant agree on thename) and know that we are going to be coming home to start that project.
The iPod is still winning my time on the new gadget stakes. Ive been organising my music and still enjoying revisiting past favourites. Im currently listening to an eclectic mix from DC Talk's Jesus Freak to some U2, and Pet Shop Boys. My best lyric for today is from DC Talk "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today, is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieveing world simply finds unbelievable." Amen is all I can say to that.
Feeling a bit better today. My darling cousin Rowena rang last night, great timing, very good to hear her voice - even if she was procrastinating doing her MBA assignments.
The internet is broken, I'm writing this offline. R wanted to play on the computer but alas with no internet its no good (yay I say she was getting a bit hooked). So today we have made the biggest cubby with the bedspreads, played a game where I get called Kate and Rachael is Hannah and we are princesses. Now we are listening to Mike Jackson, Peter Combe and Playschool - songs for little kids but all in Australian accents, nothing like some subliminal conditioning mate! We have found another channel in the afternoons that has Clifford the Big Red Dog and the Berenstain Bears (sp). I think a lot of the things on Nikelodian are rubbish. Oh we are so far from ABC Educational programs, Im missing Richard Morecroft's voice on the science program mid morning...
I was going to put in a brief reflection about Advertising on the 4th of July but forgot till now. It was interesting to observe how many traditional methods were used to hit the crowd of people who attended the celebrations. Perhaps it was just too good an opportunity to miss, given the numbers gathered toghether. Before we even got on the shuttle bus we were given some "prism" glasses to watch the fireworks with to make them more groovy. On the side of the glasses was a coupon for cheaper games/admission for the place they were advertising. When we got down to the park there was another lot "selling" the same glasses for fifty cents. As we walked over the bridge to the park there was a community group handing out cardboard fans with big paddle pop handles (my best description). They were making the most of the opportunity, knowing that people would appreciate them later as they tried to leave with the heat of the crowd. Then there were the planes - towing banners, just one for starters but then there were more (oh and the police helicopter). The Symphony are even sponsored by one of the large grocery chains. Advertising, subtle, in your face, there is was all around us.
The other thing that I was thinking about last night was the excessive use of chemicals. As you know, I have some pretty adverse reactions to some food preservatives, but another reason I think Im feeling so rotton is all the other chemicals that we are hit with here. The cleaners came in today and the amount of spray, perfume etc was just incredible. At home in Melba, I have used Enjo and water for the last couple of years, occasionally using bicarb soda and vineger and the odd spot of domestos when things are dire. I remain convinced that we dont need all these extra chemicals and they are only destroying the environment and increasing our potential to become unwell. (I am not having a big go at the hotel cleaners - they are just doing their jobs. Today's housekeeping lady managed to sculpt a pig out of a towel and left it on the lounge - much to R's amusement).
Great news is Hugh has his results in from ANU, two High Distinctions! We are very proud of him, all his hard work paid off.
The unhappy news is Blah, Im sick. Nothing worse than being unwell and not at home. My back is sore (I am doing my excercises again to try fix it) and I have a very upset tummy - a bug this time I think not just food intolerances. Hugh is collecting clog up drugs at the chemist at lunchtime. Rachael has been great at entertaining herself this morning letting me lie in bed between trips to the loo. Feel a bit better now but I havent eaten anything, just sticking to water and peppermint tea.
For those non technical people the above comment means that I have swapped to using a different way of updating this blog, so Im not using the cushy script editor to a more technical one. Cant use a mouse. Have to think harder but its a better discipline in the long run.
Last night was an interesting mix of fun and discomfort. Milton arrived at our hotel and directed us out and about. We had Texan BBQ for dinner to get into the spirit of things. The place had a train that ran round a line near the top of the roof, so combine this with TVs R was very distracted from her food. We then went downtown to a "parking garage" and caught the shuttle bus to Zilker Park. Milton was great - knew where to go etc and was able to describe to Rachael exactly what we would be doing. After a 10 minute bus ride we then had about a 1.5k walk to the park which was setup in a festival atmosphere. The attendance was 100,000.
We decided to have a traditional lemonade which was a BIG mistake for me. I have an intolerance to some sulpher dioxide preservatives and some yellow/orange food colourings. The drink set off an attack and I found myself in super hayfever mode, running eyes/nose and feeling sick. I ended up having to go and throw up, couldn't wait in line for the loos so found a quiet bush near the river, quite embarrasing.. I have learnt my lesson now and Im going to stick to water like I normally do. At home I know what things set me off and avoid them. Im just going to have to be more careful. Thank goodness for Whole Foods is all I can say. Our local Whole Foods is great.
Back to the party. The Austin Symphony was fantastic. Rachael and Hugh went close up and she was impressed. The fireworks started at 9:30, just after the 1812 overture, complete with cannons. Rachael was not afraid of the fireworks, loved all the pretty colours and wants to do it again.
Milton had warned us that getting out of the park was slow so we left a little early. It turned out that thousands of other people had the same idea. The walk back was slow and we were in a huge crowd, shuffling along in line with everyone else. Human sheep herd. Hugh carried R on his shoulders and we managed not to get lost. I was waiting in the crowd and dreading the bus ride, I had Canberra summer bus experiences on my mind. Then Bliss - the bus was air conditioned what a surprise. R went to sleep on H. Unfortunately she woke in the car, but we were still able to see lots of fireworks going off around town on the freeway home. We finally got back at 11:30.
We found a wonderful welcoming Baptist Church today. Before we left Canberra I did a lot of research on the Austin area Churches, I had a short list that met certain criteria - it had to be Baptist, but I wanted to find us somewhere that inclusive, ecumenical, kids needed to be welcomed, it had to be affirming of women in ministry etc. Basically I was looking for something that held similar ideals and theology to Canberra Baptist but I knew it would be hard to find here. The top of the list was University Baptist Church, it was only a 20 minute drive from the hotel. So many people chatted to us, they showed us round and made us feel very very at home. There was a big sign saying "UBC welcomes children" with bags of colouring in and activities to be taken into the church for the kids. The service was an hour long (there was adult/kids bible study beforehand). The worship style was similar to home. The childrens talk was short and simple - interestingly the Pastor used a Globe as a focus to say that God loves all the people in the world. There were some kids from Itlay visiting and Rach was able to join in pointing out Australia.
Pastor Larry Bethune had a tough job of preaching on Independence Day. I was expecting some patriotic theme, but his focus was on God rather than Nation, remembering that we are all united in Christ. Listening to the sermon made me realise we had found the right place and we will be going back next week. I had been feeling a bit fragile and it was very good to find a place to be in community, sharing in worship and listening to God's word. More info here
After church we drove to .... a Mall. Now I know where all the people go in the heat. We had lunch and found the Apple store, looked at mini iPods and suchlike gadgets. I drove us home, braving a smallish highway for the first time - its still odd. I even managed to park in the lines today, a small victory but something I was relieved about.
The patriotic plan now is to go and watch the Firework display in town with the Austin Symphony Orchestra playing. We have the assistance of a trusty native guide - Milton (works with the guys at IBM) who has offered to come to the hotel and get us to the right place to see things and park etc.
I finally drove the car. It was sort of like learning all over again. I kept on checking the wrong side of the road but it got better. I now know the way to IBM and back to the Hotel, good start, really easy to do. Its just the freeways that freak me out at the moment. The IBM carpark was empty so I did a few laps there. Im not feeling very confident at all but I managed the small amount of traffic back to the hotel and round the carpark at the cinema where we went to see Shrek 2.
Shrek 2 made us all laugh. Rachael loved Puss in Boots and has decided that he can marry our cat Duck. We came home and spent a good hour down in the pool.
Pasta for tea tonight. Here is the challenge, if anyone back home is reading this and feeling inspired, you can send me your ideas for things I can cook! (Now is where I find out that its only my mum reading this) My limiting factors are basically our bedsit kitchen which is small - microwave, 1 big saucepan (with steamer) and one fry pan, no grill or oven. We have aircond but its pretty hot outside so we don't feel like eating the same wintery food you lot are tucking into back home. So far we have had scrambled eggs, toast with various toppings and pasta. I was going to go thru my recipies before I left and put down some ideas but ran out of time. All contributions and ideas accepted and appreciated.
Swam lots yesterday. Hot here now and Ive even got a touch of sunburn on my shoulders (despite cream on and watching the time). Hugh came home early yesterday at 4pm and that was cool as he took R for a walk to the local bookshop where they got a smoothie (now thats the sort of bookshop you like). We then went for a drive to Fry's Electronics, a place which appears each time on our credit card bills when Hugh is here. Out the front above the doors was a huge grand piano, this was the drawcard in getting Rachael out there. She thinks a giant comes to play it in the middle of the night. We located a fire wire card so I can now connect my iPod to the laptop and "The Missing Manual", so I can learn how to drive my iPod more efficiently. Again the shop was the size of an aircraft hanger & stocked full of everything you could possibly imagine that could remotely be electronic or an accessory. Not a wonder H is so fond of the place and did not need the neverlost on to drive there.
My other small win was dinner. Hugh had been to the FireBowlCafe for lunch and said it was good food. I managed to order us noodles, spring vegies and chicken and it was fantastic, mainly because they make it up to fresh to order rather than in bulk sitting there. One dish fed the three of us, it was fresh, healthy and the guy was quite happy to explain their system of customising your meal (you pick meat/tofu, then decide which of the 6 types of noodle or rice, which vegies, then you get your sauce) without treating me like I was an idiot. You get a "free" drink while you sit and wait for "take out". They dont expect a tip, just want you to become a regular customer, and as they are close thats a strong possibility (I now have the menu on our fridge). Rachael ate a normal amount and declared it just like Australian noodles! Everyone is happy.
Rachael slept thru, only stirred once and Hugh dealt with it! YAY I'm starting to feel more human again.
Spoke to my Auntie Jeri today, it was just so cool to hear a friendly family voice. They are only one hour ahead of us and she promised to call me to see how we are going. It was sort of like having mum to chat to in a way - that's a good thing.
The sun came out, we spent a fair amount of time outside and went swimming in the pool for an hour. Rachael seems to be improving. We did some word work, painting and played cards a lot today. A perfect day for her, my full attention and lots of learning time.
Our search for a coffee plunger has been fruitful. We finally found a specialty kitchen shop and described what we wanted - its called a "French Press" here. The language barrier has been broken, the guy that found it for us was most helpful and had a bit of a laugh with our accent/language issues with us. And then we return to the hotel and realise they don't have kettles here only coffee makers. So we have boiled water in the microwave and I am going to enjoy my first dandelion coffee in days. Ahhhh.
Jock (David Girvan) rang us from Boston. Lovely to hear his voice and he is experiencing similar cultural transition issues as well. We are hoping to catch up with him either here or there sometime soon, when I work out the best places to find cheap flights. This is also something I need to get onto as I want to sort out goint to see my cousin Gina and Aunti Jeri in North Carolina. Mission for the next week or so days will be working this out. That and getting brave enough to get behind the wheel of a car. Having Hugh drive has been great but for us to get places here we really need to be able to drive. OH and they even have drive thru banks another interesting thing to add to my list. My ATM cards didn't work with Bank of America as they are meant to so this is yet another issue to deal with.
Jet lag.
I read in a fictional William Gibson novel once that Jet lag should actually be called soul lag, and it was because your soul was trying to catch up to your body. Its not that you dont have one, its still sort of there. Your body can function but there is something missing about you that comes back to you slowly as the body reels in the soul which is streached back to where you were.
Why am I musing about this today? Because after 5 hours sleep Rach woke up at 2am and couldnt get back to sleep till just after 4am. Hugh and I took it in turns trying to help her sleep, we did the snack and drink straight away but she was still unsettled. Going back to good baby principles, it was time to take her to the loo, pat her back and then we tried pretending to be really boring and asleep. She complained that her legs were sore, so panadol was issued at 3:30. I think I will be searching the internet for more assistance.
Whoo hoo just got back from gym, managed a good 25 min faster program, covered 1.48 miles whatever thats worth. There was one of those excercise junkies jogging fast on the machine next to me. I continued to walk (fast) and ignore him turning the iPod up as he watched the baseball on the TV. The laundry seems much more busy in the evenings, must remember to do ours in the mornings when its quieter.
I caved in today durning a brief break in the clouds and we went in the pool - R discovered she cannot really swim alone. After H finished work we went to get R a kickboard and float bubble. We went to a sports store which was about 6 times bigger than the Belconnen Rebel sport. The Hunting section just was incredible, we decided to not walk R past the guns and knives but I did have a bit of a laugh at some of the accessories. I wanted to ring my brother Mark when I spotted the "Wild Beast Bait" to draw your wild beasts into range and then the "mount your own antler" kits. I wonder when the whole unreal ness of this place is going to wear off and Im just going to start taking it for granted. Who needs tourist activities when you can go to the store! Its just as interesting as a comment on the culture.
Here it is mid morning and we have only just had breakfast and Hugh's gone into work. We had a pretty good nights sleep until Rachael woke at 3am and couldnt get back to sleep, despite threats, bribes etc. The three of us had a snack and a chat and then finally went back to bed at 4:30am. It was tough getting up again at 9.20.
For meals yesterday we were joined by Hugh's colleague Ben H (the french accent also draws interest - "you folks aint from around here"). Lunch was at a traditional BBQ place (saw our first sheriff on his lunch break) then for dinner last night we went next door to the Iron Cactus. People watching is my new latest interest.
Last night I went and did 40 minutes on the treadmill. Its a pretty stupid machine but I am determined to keep healthy and moving, it also feels safer than getting lost out on the streets of Austin. We are also walking the stairs as much as possible, our room is on the 3rd floor (which equates to the second floor back in oz as the ground floor is the first floor here).
We were given some lovely welcoming gifts from Louise at IBM, Rachael found it just like Christmas. We now have a set of cups, plates and a jug with american red, white and blue stars on. There are american t shirts we can wear this weekend (celebrating independence day) and some sparklers to join in the fireworks. There were books and toys for R - her soft turtle has been named Mertle, and she has been patting her (a duck substitute?). I think the turtle will be loved. There are the makings of a toy class now, with Winnie, Angela and the little bath frogs (the ones mum got her in Adelaide).
Other small but important observations - light switches go the opposite way, there is more water in the loo, styrofoam is still being used here and Bob the Builder has a voice over with an american accent.
Have had first breakfast downstairs, its complementary so we are giving it a try. Finding food that Rachael likes is tricky. Cereal is all out because she doesnt like the taste of cows milk on it. We compromised by bringing rice bubble substitute back up to our room without milk. Apparently the soy milk we purchased yesterday was no good in her opinion. So it was fruit juice and yogurt. I thought my cornflakes tasted exactly the same but Rach is on a "I dont like american food campaign". Mind you she is happy at the moment, munching through some blueberrys and grapes - dang its nice to have summer fruit again.
Hugh went off to work to get setup. Rachael and I did some reading/writing, she played on Starfall then cut out her sentance making words. She looked at the sentance I made "mum said look you cat", took it to the laptop - typed the words into my password screen and then finally wrote them into the excercise book because we didnt have a printer.... not quite what I intended but she thought it was a good game and I figure she was still learning.
We then decided to explore the hotel laundry facility and gym, so have done two loads of washing and worked out how the treadmill works. We have left our washing drying in the dryers, one on warm with the other on cold - so its going to be interesting to see how it goes with the no tumble dry clothes. There are no clothes lines here and we dont have a balcony (mind you it wouldnt be much good at the moment as its raining). We have also done a few laps of the sports court, walked round the very soggy garden and Rachael has winged a lot about wanting to go for a swim but Ive avoided it so far.
Here we are in Austin. But let me backtrack about our travel to get here.
Woke up on time, got to Canberra airport and made perfect time for the flight straight to Melbourne. For the record it was 6:15am before the first "Im bored what can we do now". Melbourne was fine, a bit of a blur really. It took us 6 zig zags to get to the customs counter and this was just the start of our lining up. We spent lots of time in lines waiting in Airports. Once through the official paperwork we took it in turns taking Rachael for walks around while the other one minded our carry on bags. We hopped, skipped and ran round as much as possible before we got on the flight to LA.
The flight, humm one of the more depressing things was at 11:30am being told we were flying over Canberra, looking down and realising that even though we had been up since 4:30 we had only got so far. The moving map on the in flight entertainment system was interesting too. I must be one of those people who like things like that, how long to the destination, how far we traveled etc. It was hard at first looking at 13 hours but pleasing when the hours ticked down to 3 to go. The seats we had were right at the edge of economy, they were fine for us but if someone can tell me how you actually sleep in those things I would be pleased to find out. I think it was harder as I had Rachael streached out on me for a couple of hours. Hugh and I got to watch "Starsky and Hutch", while Rach was otherwise occupied. I also finished half of a Katherine Kerr novel while the others slept - so glad my brother told me to take a book for myself, would have been out of my head bored.
Rachael was so very wonderful. We all watched Mr Bean together, played uno, she spent ages drawing and cutting out paper. Ordering childrens meals was a big help - she got hers before ours and there was a bigger selection. Instinctively she ended up eating the fruit each time as a preference, then bread and not much of the hot food at all. By the time she was finished it was our turn. We encouraged her to drink heaps of water and she was fine. She only slept a few hours, woke up about 5 hours before we landed, fortunately Bananas in Pajamas was on so she had some mellow time watching familiar friends. Then more did more craft, drawing a special picture for our flight attendant - which was well recieved.
Landing in LA was no worries, but there was no space to park so we were on the runway grid waiting for a while. We were given some qantas playing cards towards the end of the flight by Rachael's favourite flight attendant Leisle so had a few games of crazy eights while we waited. We had packed up an hour before landing and were ready to go asap. Hugh was keen for us to try hurry on disembarking so we could be at the start of the line to clear immigration/customs. This strategy worked well as Rachael was pretty tired and fed up of lines. It wasn't a long wait and we were finger scanned and digital photo'd and let in. Collected bags - all there and went thru to the domestic flight.
Qantas club was a real blessing. It was the BEST feeling to have a shower. Rachael was so tired she was almost drunk in her actions, but she managed to have a play with all the soap dispensers and washer etc and stayed in for ages. Clean clothes helped us all to feel more human too. They had a kids "klub" which was a room with cartoons on. Hugh sat with her there for a while and I actually fell asleep in the lounge when they went for a walk to watch planes (I didnt sleep on the plane whereas they both did).
The flight to Austin was 3 hours and one minute I was talking to Rachael as the plane prepared for take off and suddenly she was just asleep. I crashed out soon after and so did Hugh. I woke up about an hour before landing, Rach just before so we could look at Austin as we came in.
Then it was collecting luggage time, it all arrived ok, with one of the bags having a strap missing. It turned out it had been opened at immigration and the strap was inside. We then went onto hunt the car. Its a "compact" and once on the road you realise that the cars here are terribly big. Rach likes her booster seat. Hugh did so well getting us to the hotel with the help of the neverlost navigation gps/computer. I couldnt get my head around the other side of the road transfer - very strange sensation. The traffic was busy but bumper stickers held my interest, so many US flags and Texas lone star ones - all very patriotic. I almost cried when I saw one with "the rest of my heart is in Iraq" and proud soldiers wife etc. Poor people that didn't have a choice about it. Im trying to not be too political but its amazing to me to see the level of national pride (or was that propoganda) that just doesnt exist at home.
You might think that we would have just crashed out once we arrived at the hotel, but no as it was early evening we kept going. We unpacked our bags and wrote a shopping list. Then being insane we drove to check out the local grocery store - it was huge and we just got a few things. On advice and previous experience we then went to Wholefoods organic supermarket to get fruit, bread etc. Rach wanted to eat at home, so we took our supplies back and managed to make a decent scrambled egg on toast. Then finally to sleep round 9.30 local time. Rach was unsettled so I spent the night with her, but at least the bed was big enough....
Arrrghh just about to try packing my carry on bag and I need to pack the laptop. So Im trying to make this quick - impossible for me at the moment. Skipped church today as we had to go to get those few last minute things that always seem to crop up. Rachael was grumpy this morning, when questioned it was "because Im going to miss my cat" so we backed off and tried to go more her pace. I found this pretty frustrating but we got through with bribes of cousin time. Went and dropped the last of the paperwork off to Brian. Then visited Kirsty, John and Imogen so Hugh could discuss those important project management things with John about the block survey and putting up our garage etc. That was almost all of the jobs off the list. Then finally the fun part of the day - it was Daniella's party at Wests - a disco. Rachael enjoyed it greatly and spent most of the time with Kelly whom she has struck up a real friendship with. All the dancing and games tired R out, part of our master plan to get her to bed on time tonight. We went on to dinner at Zefferellis meeting Jo there. So our fond farewells to Jo, Rosie, Kay, Daniella (+Lauchie & Josh) ended up being delightful in the cold car park. No one cried and that was a good thing as I didnt want R to get upset. It will hit home soon enough. Must get this bag packed once the last of the washing is out of the dryer. I knew it would end up being a later night tonight...
Whoo hoo, had a great night last night, duck pancakes at Chef House followed by live music at the Pot Belly. The band were pretty darn good, nerves seemed to evaporate and they looked like they were having fun too. It was good to catch up with my friends from netball and some of the other Ozlabs folks. The band on after Martin's was extrememly out of tune, with some sad stage moves and we all voted with our feet and left. Even the drunk guy in the white hat (who seemed to dig Martins band) gave up.
The extended Gledhill family party at the Drurys worked well as a big distraction from preparing to leave. The meal was fantastic and it was cool to catch up with everyone all together in the same city. Rachael made everyone name tags, then checked to make sure we were all wearing them. Rowena suggested she might go into conference management, a lot kinder than my current thought of her being a dictator of a small nation. Tania has issued me the challenge of finding some equivalent Kath and Kim phrases in Texas, I'm up for the sociological experiment. I must also find the equal of a Chicken Crimpy biscuit in the entertainment food line...
Hugh has actually managed to pack our suitcases tonight. I've deferred to him for this task, as he has done it so often. Have got many surprises to entertain Rachael in my hand luggage. Hopefully I am overprepared on this one.
Think I will go read the Penguin Book of Etiquette again about tipping, who gets how much of a percent and hopefully I wont be considered a rude Australian. The only positive I can see so far about tipping is that my maths is going to improve.
Rachael and I had a great morning with the girls from preschool hosted by Sophie's mum Suzanne. Then it was of to the funky salon, Mest to find Hugh having his haircut by Mark. Rachael had her second ever salon haircut today, Mark should get a bonus for his entertaining ability as she wasnt cooperative at times. Rachael then went to Rosies for quality Grandma time before picking up her beloved cousin Daniella from school for a big girly sleepover. (Hopefully they still love each other in the morning).
I've spent the afternoon doing the last of the administrative domestic tasks, cleaning up the house, paying bills, getting documents together to give Brian. I've crossed the last of the important jobs off the To Do list. Lyndal and Nick are all sorted with codes and passwords to commence their mission of living in our house next Monday. They didn't freak out at the 2 pages of instructions I'd written either.
Hugh and I are looking forward to seeing the BCG Martin and friends playing some good music at the Pot Belly tonight. Kay is joining us and Im just happy to be going out for some fun. Tomorrow is my big cousin catchup time, Row, Ben, Gav, Tania, Kirsty, John all in one place. Its going to be like Christmas/Boxing Day at the Drurys. Uncle Chris has apparently peeled vegies for 2 hours this afternoon, so Im sure we will be right for potatoes.
Oh and I must mention my iPod and my journey through our music collection. It is the best feeling to be able to organise our CD's and today I have rediscovered some true classics. I had to email my brother Mark today with a copy of UB40's 1986 "Rat in my kitchen". True reggae sound. "Theres a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do? Theres a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do? Im gonna fix that rat thats what Im gonna do, Im gonna fix that rat. Oh yeah."
Hugh and I have finally updated our wills and enduring power of attorney's in preparation to leave. Tick the Solicitor off the to do list - Im feeling relieved that we are now up to date with legal issues for the worst case events. Arrived at Jo's to find her and Rachael wearing newspaper pirate hats, these have now been decorated at home with lots of mess and paint. Its freezing outside, with the snow falling up on the Brindabellas. We are enjoying the distraction of painting because its way too cold to play outside today. Lyndal and Nick are coming over tonight to go through our instructions for managing the house and pets. Only four more sleeps till we take off!
Dinner at the Lamonts, great chicken dish! No packing done but cleaned out the carport so Lyndal can park without mess. Finished mulching the front garden with Rosie's help. Did my preschool roster.
Well here I am, I never thought I would put one of these up, but with the big trip to the USA about to happen I needed a way of staying in touch with lots of people. This is much easier than emailing everyone and I wont get in trouble for leaving anyone out or not writing for weeks. Also this is a good place for me to collect my thoughts because I know Im going to end up reflecting on this trip in the future. It is going to be interesting as Ive never seen the USA and I havent left my extended networks at home for this long ever. This will also be the first time Rachael will be away from her extended family also. It is going to be very wierd just being the three of us without our family, friends, church family etc.
Protocol seems to have a brief bio at the start, which makes sense. When I work it out I will probably put this onto another page - a project for while we are overseas. I am married to Hugh, we have one daughter Rachael and a cat called Duck. We live in Canberra and have just purchased a block of land in Carwoola, about a 40 minute drive from where we currently live. The big plan is to build our dream sustainable, eco friendly home out there in the next few years, with a cottage for our friends and colleagues to come and use as a retreat. This is going to take up a lot of my time in the future - or so I hope.
I am not a computer person greatly, although I have worked in the industry in the past (a long time ago in a universe far far away). Through Hugh I have contact with the Linux community and I can say that I relate to its ideals, I try to be a good Linux user but must say Im really enjoying the Apple Im using at the moment. My first degree was a Bachelor of Arts in Administration at the University of Canberra. My first career type job was for a small computer company where I did everything from running the office administration, software training, quality and project managment. I moved to the Australian Government Public Service in administrative positions for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority over several years 94-99 (finance, administrative, public relations and policy). For a variety of reasons I started my Theology degree through St Marks National Theological College and Charles Sturt University in 1997. In 1999 I left on maternity leave to have Rachael and never went back to the public service. I became Associate Pastor at North Belconnen Baptist Church about the same time Rachael arrived, and stayed there in pastoral ministry until late November 2003. I commenced voluntary work at the University of Canberra Spiritual Meeting Place as the Baptist Chaplain in October 2003.
My family (much to their amusement) joke that I am the domestic godess. I am fairly content being home with Rachael more this year as she attends preschool. I do like cooking and gardening but both seem to come in bursts of creative energy. I am very much a people person and thrive on contact with my networks of friends and family. I am quite passionate about my family, I really love them all very much and I know that they are one of the best parts of my life. I also love reading, this now moves across the spectrum from theology to total escape into science fiction and fantasy. I used to have a horse (for 16 years) and I still love these beautiful animals but have resigned myself to being sensible for the moment and not owning one (hope you are reading this bit mum!). Im trying to take better care of myself so I practise the Alexander Technique and see an Osteopath regularly, which has helped me to recover from an operation two years ago. Friends tell me I am organised, but I got slack there for a while while I was sick and juggling parenting, study and work - I think I've started to find my feet again, Flylady.net helped too. Taking time to slow down is very hard for me but Im starting to see the rewards from being kind to my body and soul.
I will also note here Im slack about using ' (Im v's I'm) and my spelling is not my strongest point. I am also learning how to use HTML as I go.