Dam's birthday

Indian food by sunset, what a life!

Damian can't stop eating to smile. We ordered great Indian takeaway from one of Damian's childhood friends' restaurant

I thought this was a perfect occasion to put up a picture of my Aussie family

Rosetta (Dam's mum in the middle) makes a really yummy apricot & chocolate chip cake!!

Look how tall I am!!!

Here is Damian's sister, Marisa and her lovely canine mate, Bushi. She is outside Rosetta's apartment on the beach. This is not an illusion, her car is really this small and Marisa is a very small woman, so is Bushi!! My niece and nephews wanted to see some things you may not see in the U.S. and think this car is one of them. Marisa is doing her part for the environment, she says she spends $10 a week on petrol!!!

P.S. I used to work in the restaurant that you can see under the enormous pine tree, I think this type of pine is unique to Australia as well. They are all along the coast and are extremely tall (I'll have to get a better picture of them).

Flinders Ranges, South Australia

Laura

Laura and me

Here is the scenery...

...and here is us!

This is a real road sign, they exist in koala areas as well

I think this is as close as I've come to a wild kangaroo. He or she didn't seem to care that Laura and I were there!

the baby is hiding its head under mommy!





And here is what we found in the Pound

Wilpena Pound

Laura in Australia!!

My lovely friend Laura (whom I met working in a restaurant in Chicago) recently travelled to Australia and we had a wonderful time. I share some of our moments, particularly there are photographs of the Flinders Ranges. This is a mountainous area about 6 hour drive north of Adelaide, just on the cusp of the Outback. We went in winter (July), so it was very green and cool (about 70 F during the day and 50 F at night). In summer it would be unbearably hot and dry, at least for me. We hiked by day and saw many kangaroos and a couple of emus and at night we drank wine by a campfire (though we stayed in a cabin). There is a place called Wilpena Pound within the Flinders ranges that looks like an crater filled with trees, it is an enormous circular shape that takes hours to cross the floor and even more hours to climb to its peaks. We did a measly 3 hour hike to one of the peaks to see the whole Pound. It was really special for me to spend this time with Laura. Damian had to stay home and earn the bacon.

Here the emus requested by Caleb, Elijah & Micaiah ...and my sis.

Our couch in the garden

My sister asked for silly, well this picture of a couch outside in our garden/courtyard seemed to be a 'normal' occurrence when all of Damian's boys came over. I guess they didn't think our outdoor furniture was comfortable enough. Too bad we now live on the second floor!

Wayne, Craig, Damian, Ben & Michael at the back (the guys have known each other since they were teenagers).

Innes National Park, South Australia

A national park on the bottom of the Yorke Peninsula where Damian and I spread some of my dad's ashes last year. As this is one of our favorite South Australian destinations, we have spent a few weekends here over the past 5 years and it is only a 3 hour drive from Adelaide. It is surrounded by ocean and has many unique beaches, several that are hidden and need to be hiked to. I have seen a kangaroo or two but more often I have seen emus. For my lovely niece and nephew I will find one or two of the million I took of these strange ostrich-like animals. I think that may be Kangaroo Island in the distance, a beautiful place I hope to visit again.

My shiny new blog, oh! Our Shiny New Blog!!

Here I go. I look forward to my sister's blogs so much, I thought I'd give it a try. I will start with some recent photos, and not so recent. This photo was taken in the New York City subway on our short trip to this magnificent city during our last time in America in December/January 2007. I think this also may be 'my' blog as I don't think I can convince Damian to post. We'll see. I'll keep his name on here for awhile and maybe I will inspire him! He has a recent UTube obsession, so maybe he'll share some of the videos. We have three Adelaide friends moving overseas very soon and many other friends and family so far away, so I thought it was about time we shared some photos and a thought or two. I am also trying to inspire these close friends who are leaving us, to also start one of these blog thingys so we can enjoy their experiences through this lovely machine. Hint, hint Mark from Adelaide and Mark from Chicago, as well as John and Michelle from Adelaide. I have discovered that if you use last names on your blog you are making it much too easy to invite unsolicited people to your blog, including students of Damian's. Well that is all for now. This is a little like journaling, weird. I have to remember my audience, all 5 of you :)