Yee har! Rain!

Little did I think that a day and night of rain would bring so much happiness. It has soaked everything. We didn't have to get up this morning (Sunday) at six a.m. to water the garden. And we won't be watering during the allowed evening hours tonight. The rain has also brought cooler temperatures - very refreshing.

The lake at the Wilson Botanic Garden, Berwick.



Yesterday we went to a wedding held in a beautiful park in an outer Melbourne suburb. The Wilson Botanic Park reminded us a bit of the park the MWC and I got married in 35 years ago. Even though it rained gently throughout the ceremony yesterday, I think most people there were happy to stand under their umbrellas to watch the couple take their vows of commitment to each other and would have felt that the ceremony had been blessed by the rain.

Techie Son has been reporting back fairly regularly from California, and is surviving the cold snap they're having there. Meanwhile I have rearranged his room to accommodate a couple of house guests, and in a couple of weeks Dad will stay there on his annual visit. Then I will see about fitting it out as a craft room. I think it's got great possibilities! (Don't worry, Ben, you'll have a room when you get back!)

I have been creating a book incorporating all the little bits and pieces of things you bring back from a trip: maps, brochures, tickets, labels etc, and have sewn them together with hemp, using a stitch I taught myself. Each of the folded pieces of construction paper has a brochure, such as the one from the Buena Vista, sewn inside it, which allows you to open it out to read. I still have to decorate the cover, probably with a map of San Francisco.

The Buena Vista is an important San Francisco institution, as it's the home of the Irish Coffee. You can read about it here. When Dad and I were leaving for Hawaii last November, we discovered that there was a Buena Vista right in the airport. Unfortunately we didn't have time to have an Irish Coffee before boarding, and they don't sell any to take away. So when the plane we were sitting in waiting to depart was declared "not ready", we were only too delighted to deplane and head straight for - you guessed it - the Buena Vista. Dad's not much of a photographer, but here's me drinking an Irish Coffee. This is how I would look if you had drunk too many Irish Coffees.

Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and fat.
Alex Levine

Trying to catch up!

I've been reading some blogs and commenting here and there, and figured it's time for an update from me. Plenty has been happening, and that's the thing, where does one start?

First I should report that Techie Son is having the time of his life, meeting all sorts of people from all over the world (he IS living in International House, after all), and one of his goals is to learn a few words of each language he comes into contact with. A very admirable goal! And thanks to those of you who have left comments and sent emails sharing their experiences with children who have left home.

Last week at this time I was on the first of my planned train/tram journeys, as one of my retirement goals. I will be keeping a journal of these travels, and the Man Who Cooks helped me think of an unusual name for it, The Flanged Wheel Journeys.



A definition of a flanged wheel can be found in Wikipedia, with photo here and I can use it for both trains and trams.









Those who know me would not be surprised that I chose Castlemaine, in Central Victoria, as my first destination. I arrived about 11 a.m. and spent 5 hours just enjoying the daily midweek life of my favorite country town. I spent nearly 2 hours in the library (of course!), and borrowed some origami books I hadn't seen before.





The 19th century Mechanics Institute which houses the Castlemaine Library.









Had a lovely lunch and spent some time in a public meditation garden that a local church has provided. It is on a hill near the railway station, and caught a gentle breeze.



The Castlemaine Railway Station, a panorama shot taken with my new camera. I can't even see where the stitching is, the camera would have done that!



And the best part of the day? Sitting in the train, looking out the window and gawking.

Techie Son leaves for overseas today...

I can't remember whether I posted about this last year, but Techie Son applied for and was accepted to do a semester as an exchange student at the University of California at Berkeley. The whole process from first finding out about the program until today, when he leaves, has been a long one. And now here's the day of reckoning, when my "baby" leaves home for six months. Oh, yes, now I remember that I did post about this, and was thinking about turning his room into a craft room for me. (heh heh, that's still on the cards)

But today I think about other things. Will I worry? Will I cry? Will he make the most of this opportunity? Will he find an American girlfriend, like his dad, but maybe that girlfriend will not want to come to Australia? Am I jumping too far ahead? Calm down, Val, let's just get him to the airport first.

Alice and Kerri have emailed me about their experiences of sending off their own children, and it is comforting to know that this is something many people do and survive. A while back I wrote about what my mother had to go through in the 60s when I went overseas for the first time:

... she was at home, doing the Mom-thing, which was worrying about me when I was traveling around Europe by myself. But the best thing she did was NOT to lay a trip on me about going to Europe as a 19 year old on her own, even though it must have been dreadful to see me fly off to the unknown. And those were the days of no internet, no emails or mobile phones, and normal phone calls were prohibitively expensive. Communication was infrequent; how she must have suffered, and there I was, having the time of my life, working and traveling, not realising until I was a parent many years later, what she must have gone through.

Now it is my turn to be the one at home, waiting. But now there's the email, cheap international phone rates, my family and friends are near the university, and we even know, quite well, where Techie Son will be living: International House is where the Man Who Cooks and I met nearly 40 years ago. So I certainly have it easier than my mother did. I will try to remember this over the next few months.

New year, new profile photo

Although I might have had one of the more eye-catching profile photos in Blogger, I've decided that it's time for a change. So I took myself off to Edit-Profile-Land but (re)discovered that you need to have your photo already on the web somewhere. That old horror photo I've been using had been uploaded to a post soon after my 60th birthday (here's the link for those of you who just can't get enough of the old photo or just want to have a laugh) so I used that URL for my profile. So why not do the same thing this time?

Why not indeed, meaning I could kill two birds with one stone, change my profile photo AND get a post out of it too. So here it is:

Meanwhile, as I wait for Blogger to upload the photo, I will mention that, no, I haven't "upgraded" to the new Blogger. From what I've read on a number of your blogs, there is a fair amount of frustration associated with the swapover. And that seems to include uploading photos. So am I right in just ignoring the whole new Blogger thing, especially given that I'm not blogging too often these days? The comments box is now open for voting!

So, five minutes later, there's the photo. It was taken in September just before we left for the U.S. I'm in our front garden, with my mug of tea and a tin of bikkies (short for biscuits, which is what Aussies call cookies). The wisteria is happily flowering in the background. We are now in stage 3 water restrictions and can water only 8 hours per week, either by drippers or by hand - no sprinklers - at given times. The wisteria, like much else, is under threat. Pray for rain!

Happy New Year!

We're off to country Victoria to celebrate New Year's, like we did last year. Bendigo is large enough to provide a party atmosphere but without the crushing crowds of Melbourne. The best thing is that our motel, the restaurant and the fireworks are all within a couple of streets of each other, so no need to drive anywhere. There's also the Wine Bank (a converted 19th century bank) where you can get a mean martini. Fortunately the restaurant is only a few doors downhill from there.

Cheers! And see you in 2007!

A summing up of 2006, holiday greetings etc

Yes, I know, some of you thought I was lost to blogging forever, and it is very possible that I will not return to the level of commitment I had before I left for my 6 week holiday in the U.S. But I do not want to cut my ties totally with the wonderful world of blogging, and especially not lose contact with my blogger buddies. I have been checking up on your blogs and note that I am not the only one who is losing momentum at this time of year.

But what a year it's been! From the time I decided to retire in March, then finishing work in June to start taking 6 months of accumulated leave, to now when I am only days away from official retirement (have already received my final pay cheque - gulp!), it has been a steady diet of exhilaration. I just love being retired, and couldn't have chosen a better time to do it. I was SO ready for a life with fewer demands on my time, and a comparison of my 2006 and 2007 diaries illustrates this well.

The one on the left is your heavy duty A4 size diary, with every workday divided up into half hour timeslots, one week per view. On the right is my handmade diary for next year, small, light and soft to the touch, with lovely beads as decoration, and it's 2 months per view. Click to enlarge and see the lovely texture on the handmade paper.












If you look carefully you can see the footy games already pencilled in for June and July.











My U.S. holiday was one highlight of my new life this year, but another, totally unexpected highlight was that I was recently awarded the Chancellor's Medal for my "outstanding contributions to the University"! I had to read the letter a number of times before I could comprehend. A formal presentation will be made next year, and there will be photos (promises, promises). What a way to finish a career, doing something I loved doing, and then being so honoured by the academics who were such a joy to work with.

So a summing up of my 2006 would have to be a very positive one, without forgetting that I have been extremely fortunate in many ways: good health, a wonderful husband and family, and a network of friends around blogger world. And also not forgetting that there are many who have not been so fortunate, for whom I wish a 1000% better 2007. And to everyone, I wish you a very happy holiday season and a fulfilling new year.

Now where was I??

Yes, I've returned from the U.S. and I am 110% OK. Sincere thanks to all for sending greetings via comments and email, despite my shameful neglect of you all. It is indeed wonderful to be missed.

After a fabulous 6 weeks away I have found it difficult to get back into blogging. I have been lurking in blogs occasionally and leaving comments only rarely. I am not yet ready to resume blogging but thought it was high time that I let people know I'm still around and that I haven't forgotten you. I have replied to individual commenters if I had their email addresses. In one of those emails I wrote:

I have got my bookbinding-related purchases sorted out and put away. I bought some nice papers, a number of stamps and stickers, etc. Have made my own diary for next year, small enough to put in my bag, unlike the official A4 size I needed to buy every year with a timeslot for each half hour to schedule all my appointments. Ha! Don’t need that any more. Exult! Exult!

So that might tell you something about my current emotional state: even 4 months after retiring I am still appreciating my new freedom.

I will try to post again soon.

Disaster narrowly averted!

Yesterday I rang Qantas to check on my baggage allowance, and prefaced my question with "I'm flying on Qantas flight 4 tomorrow night..." at which the passenger agent said "But QF4 leaves in the morning! That flight always used to leave around that time at night but it was changed a few years ago." Gulp! Imagine turning up in the evening, only to find that the flight left 12 hours before.

I'm now packed, ready to go out for my breakfast, and will be picked up by the shuttle at 7.45. All's well, but it could have gone so horribly wrong!

Tip to self: read tickets carefully, remember 24 hour clock and don't jump to conclusions!

Aloha!

This holiday just keeps keeping on! Things were looking grim for standby to Australia tomorrow, so I started to think about Plan B. What about flying to Oz from Hawaii?? What about it indeed? So now Dad and I are flying to Hawaii tomorrow (standby, but the prospects are better), and I have a frequent flyer ticket on Qantas to Melbourne on Tuesday the 14th (***).

BTW, when searching for alternatives, I searched Hawaiian Airlines, which fairly recently started flights from Hawaii to Sydney. Next week on Tuesday and Thursday the tickets (one way) are going for only $316, when normally they are listed as $1200 (for one way?). Go figure! There really does seem to be some bargains out there if you're flexible. But if I hadn't had frequent flyer points to fall back on, I certainly would have gone with that.

So all up I will have been away for just over 6 weeks. Not bad! And the weather throughout that time has been so absolutely beautiful (mentioned in Sue's comment yesterday). It's been unbelievably warm and clear. Yesterday my brother and I went into San Francisco to see the Titanic artifacts exhibition, and it was so warm that we were able to sit outside when having lunch.

The exhibition btw was really interesting, if a bit pricey. I'd forget paying extra for the audio set, if you're thinking of going, there's enough information on the signs throughout the exhibition.

***This is a big birthday for the Man Who Cooks, which I will miss.

Time marches on

I have been here for 5 weeks now, and am due to start back home on Wednesday. It has been a wonderful trip. I have kept a travel diary and will gradually post snippets and of course photos when I get home and over the jet lag. The last time I looked at the stats on my digital camera I had 233 photos but I will be very selective about what I upload.

One of the main highlights of my trip was the chance to catch up with people I have known from decades ago. In addition to my wonderful friend Connie from university days, who I see on every trip, this time I managed to see a high school friend, and students from the high school where I taught in the early 70s in California. Through Robert, I re-established contact with Annette and John, who were unaware that they were living within a half hour of each other. I flew up to Portland, Oregon to see them, and spent wonderful days together. Annette has given me the address of another former student who is living up in Alaska, and on my next trip we hope to all get together. That will be fun!

Portland and Vancouver (just over the Columbia River in Washington) are lovely places to visit, and there's much more to see than I could manage in 5 days. Annette drove me to see the spectacular Mt St. Helens, which blew its top in 1980. On the day we went it was very clear, and we could see a thin plume of steam coming from the volcano. John took me to the famous Japanese Garden in Portland, as well as the Classical Chinese Garden, both different from each other and beautiful in their own ways.

Instead of flying back I took the overnight train, about 16 hours, had my own roomette, and at night I was lulled to sleep by the sound of the train whistle up ahead and the gentle clickety clack of the wheels on the tracks. I have always wanted to do a train trip like that - it was a dream come true. Such a civilised way of traveling, much different from the chaos of airports these days. I plan to do more train trips on my next visit here.

In addition to visits with people from the past, including Pat, another student who happened to be in the area last weekend, I also caught up with some blogger buddies by phone: Sue, Kerri and Ann. I am thinking it might be a good idea to post a sound file of our voices just to let people know what we sound like. What do you think?

But first I will have a big job of catching up with all your blogs. I appreciate the comments that have come in despite my meagre postings over the last month, and hope to re-establish contact with you in the not too distant future! Hope you've all been well!!