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.

Designer Colored Cast

Tim chose a masculine blue color for his cast, and he was also fitted with a very fashionable walking boot!

Zamboni helpful as always

Zamboni has been very helpful in helping unpack my suitcases...

What is wrong in this picture?

Finally home and can assess the damage. Toe looks pretty off-centre to me, and our GP agrees. So Tim heads back to the hospital for an appointment at the fracture clinic.

Winging back to Brisbane

ZOOM!

Tim as an Amish Man

Sigh....

Tim and his new "chops"

...Tim was busy at home SHAVING HIS BEARD INTO WEIRD SHAPES. I think I'd better get home soon...

Nancy & Ephra

On Monday I gave two talks at Massey University - one on positive aging and one on dementia. I was happy to see my friend Ephra Garrett at both lectures. It was nice to see people in the department too. BUT while I was busy lecturing overseas...

Palmerston North

They have changed a few things in Palmerston North, like revitalising the central square of town.

New Wind Farms in Palmerston North

These are the new wind farms in Palmerston North - they were very impressive. The big towers and propellors did not seem to bother the sheep at all.

Small Lambs!

These lambs were really tiny! Chris estimated that some of them were only a few hours old... too cute!

Chris' Oceanside Bach

A bach is a New Zealand house by the sea shore, and the one pictured here is Chris'... It is by Himatangi Beach, where Tim and I would often go birdwatching.

Dinner at Helen and Alan's Home

Helen Pennington and Alan Hart hosted a dinner for me with lots of our friends from New Zealand, which was terrific fun! Here I am with Helen (L) and Fiona (R).

Bees and Royal Jelly

Chris' husband Robin is a bee keeper - on the day I way visiting he was putting these queen bees into new hives. The queen bees get fed royal jelly while they are grwoing and developing - that's what turns them into queens!