Retreat at St. Lucia Golf Club

This Friday was at an all-day retreat at work for the Clinical Program staff. Luckily it was at the St. Lucia Golf Club, always a nice place to spend a day (even such a LONG day...).... 

A "birdy" course...

The course itself is very pretty - Tim plays on it a lot. There are lots of birds on the course - the cockatoos like to perch on the flags... 

A Good Book

Just finished reading a really cool book, "The Adventure of English" by Melvyn Bragg. Traces the development of the English language from 500AD to the present, and explores how the language has changed and grown. The chapters on American English and Australian English were really interesting... 

Darwin Doing Well!

Darwin is doing just TERRIFIC after two months of chemotherapy! Today he was bouncing around and he's been eating well.  

Furs growing slowly...

Cats don't lose their hair during chemotherapy like people do - their hair just grows really slowly. Darwin's stomach is still bare from when he had his ultrasound in early June - if his hair was growing normally this would be all filled in by now. 

A Cold Snap Here in Brisbane

It has been FREEZING here and the kittens have been huddling together at night for warmth... 

Pile o' Kittens

The weird thing is that they always sleep in this order: Grommit (L), then Audubon (C), then Zamboni (R). Maybe that's the position they were in in the womb? Maybe it is a weird hierarchy thing... 

Dry Steam Cleaning

Today we had all of the carpets "dry steam cleaned." Really a quick and amazing process. The rugs all look terrific - bright and no sign of cat hair (for now...) 

Living Room Furniture

These photos are of our living room. We've gotten some cool early 60's furniture by an Australian designer called Parker (all the chairs in the photos are by him). The cool room divider is from our favorite used/ antique furniture store in Brisbane, Relic.  

A Weekend of Gardening

Yesterday and today we worked on the garden, taking advantage of a perfect weekend, weather-wise. I bought a new grevillea, "Strawberry Blond," to add to our large collection. 

Our "Grevillea banksii"

The flowers on these native plants are spectacular. They require very little water, and produce flowers year-round. 

"Coconut Ice"

This is one of my favorite grevilleas, called "Cocunut Ice."  

Dwarf Grevilleas

We have several drawf varieties, too, along the driveway and in front of our house. We have a lot of pink and white varieties - our next one will have to be one of the yellow bush varieties. 

Grevilleas attract native wildlife

Our Grevilleas have already attracted a lot of native birds - if we plant enough we may even start seeing Flying Foxes in them! (We already have these large nectar-eating fruitbats occasionally coming to out coconut trees when they're in bloom...) 

Michael Eats at the Waffle House

Here is a retrospective of Michael William Somerville eating at several fine dining establishments in the Charlotte area. In this photo we see Michael questioning the less-than-stellar service at the infamous Waffle House... 

Michael Samples Japanese

Here Michael gets some tips on handling his chopsticks from his dad Bryan... 

Michael Dines Italian Style

Here Michael happily peruses the menu of the fine Italian restaurant his Mom and Aunt Nancy have chosen... 

Michael and Nancy Try to Walk it all Off!

After all those big meals, Michael and I had to take a long walk! 

Friday Morning Blues

Today was one of those days - forgot to put my lecture on my memory stick, and had to drive all the way back to work to retrieve it! Stopped and made a cup of coffee quickly while I was home, and who should be sitting outside the kitchen window but a kookaburra! What a great bird! 

Zamboni Computes!

Here Zamboni demonstrates computing the way it's meant to be done, on the snazzy new VAIO laptop he shares with me. 

Goodbye, Gracie

We have had some sad news - a very dear friend of ours, Dave Becker, recently lost his beloved cat Gracie to an acute cardiac condition. She was a gracious hostess when we stayed with Dave in NYC several years ago, allowing me to comb her and pet her, which made me miss our cats less!
Here is a quote for Dave in honor of Gracie:

No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat, and no amount of masking tape ca ever totally remove his fur from your couch. -Leo Dworken  

New Cat Trees for Cats

We bought the cats some new cat trees, since we came home from the States and only managed to bring them back one small cat toy (which went, of course, to the invalid Darwin). Here Newton (top), Angel (exploring cat house) have fun with Cat Tree #1 while Audubon looks on. 

Dueling Scratchers

Here Zamboni (left) and Audubon (right) engage in the time-honored game of "dueling scratchers at the post." 

Kill That Cat Tree!

Here Newton looks on while Gromit attempts to kill Cat Tree #2. 

Newton Triumphant...

Here Newton is triumphant because he has eaten all the other smaller cats (just kidding...)