Excellent New Year's Eve

We had a lovely New Year's Eve BBQ with our friends Virgnia and Ted, who live in Anstead, near where we are looking for a house. They are from the States, and I made a bundt cake with Jello Devil's Food pudding, which went over very well....

Cats Get Their Own Presents

One of Nancy's students sent the cats a whole box of treats and toys!

A Big Sniffing Festival!

The cats especially liked the wind-up mice!

Zamboni Too Cute!

Zamboni has named his wind-up mousie "Fluffy."

New Ring

An unfortunate bad experience at the end of the year (me losing the 10th anniversary ring Tim had given me) has turned into a good event after we found this terrific ring on sale after Christmas. It is really neat, and Tim is very sweet!

Gromit masquerades as a present!

Gromit is here hoping nobody shakes him to find out what is inside....

Ornaments from far away

This year we decorated our tree with ornaments from the Pacific Northwest (courtesy of Arlene) and from New Zealand (courtesy of Nancy's trip there in September).

Pacific Northwest Ornament

Here is a lovely Pacific Northwest ornament depicting an owl.

New Zealand Ornaments

Here is Tim's albatross on top of our tree!

Christmas Day Birding

On Christmas Day we went birding up to Lake Manchester. We had a picnic of fresh bread and marinated feta that we'd bought that morning at a local farmer's market. Then we took a short hike along the lake. Although birds were scarce, it was a lovely hike.

All our ducks in a row

After our hike we were a bit tired and settled in to do some chores and catch up on reading. Here Nancy reads while waiting for the sheets to dry - reading, with a little assistance from her three helpers.

Christmas Eve Dinner with Friends

We had a terrific time on Christmas Eve with our friends Justin and Elissa. They served a wonderful meal, with the lovely fresh shrimp, smoked salmon, and cous cous salad as stand-outs. They just moved into a lovely rambling Queenslander.

Kids having fun

Their kids Isabelle and Alexander had fun showing us all of their favorite rooms in their new home.

Ella's Revenge!

Ella, Justin & Elissa's older cat, does not like new interloper Mingus. This photo illustrated the justice Ella would like to mete out on her nemesis!

Zamboni back home!

Zamboni came home from the hospital today and is looking MUCH better!

A Terrific Wedding!

Today our friends Debbie Terry and Ottmar Lipp got married on their front verandah. It was a beautiful ceremony with their three kids. Before they exchanged their vows, Ottmar read a lovely poem by e.e. cummings:

[somewhere i have never travelled]

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me,i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain, has such small hands

A meaningful setting

Debbie and Ottmar have hosted a lot of great gatherings on their front verandah, and it was a perfect place to have their wedding. Lots of Debbie's family and their friends were able to attend; they will have another ceremony next year in Germany with Ottmar's family.

Paparazzi!

As with all celebrity weddings, some paparazzi manage to infiltrate the ceremony (here the culprit is Debbie and Ottmar's daughter Sophie).

Queenslander

Debbie's house is a lovely old restored Queenslander.

A lovely day

We had a terrific time at the wedding. The dinner afterwards was at Two Small Rooms in Milton - a lovely meal, with chocolate cheesecake for dessert.

Zamboni goes to the hospital!

Zamboni had to go to the hospital today -- he was feeling sick, not eating and losing weight and we were not sure what was wrong. Our vet admitted him and put him on a drip. Turms out he has an upper respiratory infection, so antibiotics should do the trick. He will continue the medication for his thyroid condition for another two weeks, then they will check his progress.

Friendly Possum!

Our neighbors Ann and Paul had a friendly little brush-tailed possum camp out on their porch for a few nights. Very cute!

Suzuki Sold Today!

Today we finally sold the old Suzuki Grand Vitara to a couple who wanted a 4 wheel drive for Christmas. Nice to get that finally accomplished!

Angel has tooth extracted

Angel had her front right canine tooth extracted today. She is happy to be back home!

Cats to Vet

Today we took the cats to the vet for their annual check-up and vaccinations. Angel needs to have a tooth removed, and Zamboni has hyper-thyroidism. That will require medication in the first instance, then possibly radioactive iodine to kill the (non-malignant) tumor in the thyroid gland.

Car Hit in Parking Lot!

After Tim's great news yesterday, our car was hit in a downtown Brisbane parking lot. Luckily, the guy left a note on the car.

Estimated 3 days to repair

The body shop says it will take 3 days to replace the back bumper and tail light, and repaint the side panel.

Excellent and Exciting News!

Today at 1:30pm Tim interviewed for an Assistant Professor job in the UQ Business School, and at 2:20pm he was officially offered the position, which starts February 1st, 2007. He plans to hand his thesis in at the end of January.... It is a big day and I'm so proud of Tim!

Talk at Conference

Here is the skirt I wore to give my series of talks at the conference - it was a great find on my last trip to Melbourne...

New Purse!

All was not lost in jerky Manly - got this great fish purse there!

More unfortunate incidents at the hotel....

This hotel in Manly was certainly nothing to write home about (except as funny blog entries...). My favorite hotel story from this trip, though, was when Annette went to iron her clothes, and pulled out the iron in her hotel room, which had a big red tag which read "THIS IRON DID NOT PASS ELECTRICAL INSPECTION." Nice...

A funny thing happened to me on the way to the hotel....

Went down to Sydney (Manyly Beach, specifically) for a neuropsychology conference with my friend Annette. It was a series of misadventures. First, the entertainment program on the plane was broken. Then, our shuttle cancelled on us, leaving us stranded in the airport. We paid for another shuttle, but this one was driven by an incompetent driver who kept going in circles. We abandoned the shuttle in the middle of Sydney and hailed a cab to drive us to Manly. When we finally arrived at the hotel, they had lost my reservation, and I had to sleep on a fold-out bed in Annette's room, which she kindly agreed to share with me. Unfortunately, she fell ill in the night and had to vomit - very unfortunate, as it turned out, as the water for the whole of the waterfront in Manly had been turned off, and she could not flush. Things could only get better....

Tim's Cast is Off!

Tim got his cast off today and was greatly releaved. This photo is from the emergency room after they used a bone saw to cut off the cast.

Physiotherapy

The skin around the toe was a little raw, and his heel and sole were also a bit raw. Hopefully it will heal further - it is very stiff though and he is going for physiotherapy to make sure he is walking OK.

New Haircut!

Nancy got a new haircut today - a bit more layered....

Hailstorm!

Today we had a brief hail storm in Brisbane - the size of the hail was quite variable.

Branches Down Everywhere

We had one big branch come down off our Jacaranda tree (the pretty purple flowering tree in front of our home) but no damage at all to the house.

Zamboni also supervises

Here is Zamboni supervising TV watching in the living room.

Angel sitting pretty!

The Angel of Death, seated in her favorite spot - atop a bar stool with her fluffy green blanket. From here she supervises Tim and I as we work on the computer.

Melbourne Cup Week

This week the Melbourne Cup horse race is run, and the entire country seems to take the week (or at least the day) off. Women dressed in very elaborate hats were everywhere. I took advantage of everyone being at the races to do some fine shopping in Melbourne...

Coogee Bay Beautiful!

While in Sydney doing my workshop I stayed in Coogee Bay, just outside the center of town. It is amazing how many lovely beaches there are in Sydney, just a few minutes away from downtown. I stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Coogee.

Series of Workshops

This week I am doing a series of workshops called "The Ageing Brain" in the cities of Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne, with Brisbane happening next week. The talks have gone really well so far.

Tim's Second Bigger, Surprise Birthday Party!

Tim was surprised to find 16 of his friends waiting to yell "Surprise" at his favorite restaurant, Royal Thai Orchid, on his birthday! There were a mixture of his friends from the MBA program, his friends from the business school and our friends from the psychology department. We had a great evening - Tim said he hadn't had a party like that since high school!

Tim's Birthday Cake!

This is the sort of chocolate cake we had at the end of our Thai dinner - the Thai restaurant gave us candles and they put on a wacky version of "Happy Birthday" sung in a Thai accent. Very funny!!!

University of Tasmania

The University of Tasmania is the only university in Tasmania, and has three campuses (one in Hobart, where I was). The university is one of the four original 'sandstone' universities in Australia, and has been established for over a century. The university has about 16,000 students, and offers a full range of degrees. It is most well-known for its marine sciences and geology departments. I was there to help review the School of Psychology over two days.

Snow in Tasmania

Today flew to Hobart for a review panel meeting at the University of Tasmania. Was picked up from the airport and taken on a great tour of Hobart, the capital of Tasmania. We went up to Mount Wellington, which overlooks the city, and there was SNOW! I haven't seen snow in a long time, and promptly made a snowball (but resisted the urge to throw it at my guide...)

Tim's First (small) Birthday Dinner

We went to dinner a week early for Tim's birthday (he is 43) with our friends John & Kelly (John is a senior lecturer in the business school at UQ). We went to Tukka, which serves Native Australian Cuisine. For example, for an entree we had:

strawberry eucalypt infused north QLD crocodile, green asparagus, QLD strawberries and pepperleaf essence

For dessert we had:

milk chocolate and finger lime tart, strawberry crisps, honeydew melon and strawberry sand sorbet

We had a great evening!

Spring is here!

Now the lilies have started blooming in our garden - they always look great this time of year!

Our Neighbor Ann

Our neighbor Ann shares a lot of her gardening knowledge (and her wonderful plants!) with us, so here she is taking some of our lilies to her Mom (who is in a nursing home).

Good News and Bad News

The BAD news is that Tim's toe is shattered, and that he definitely needs to be in a foot cast for 6 weeks. The GOOD news is that the toe is healing nicely and should also be quite straight once it's healed.