Gardening Weekend

Today we spent the day putting in plants in the garden, including the Blackthorn and Australian Fuschia plants pictured above. Very relaxing for Nancy, but Tim was trying out his new chemical weedkiller sprayer - less relaxing...

Peking Duck for Tim

After a nice weekend of shopping, good food, some lazing about and visits with friends, we ended the weekend having a fantastic dinner of Peking Duck...

Birthday Weekend

Today was the first day of a two day "Tim's birthday" weekend. We started by going to our friend Corinne's house. She rehabilitates various species of bats, particularly those that get caught in barbed wire fences like this character (named Freddie). It was terrific to see the bat recovering so well.

Good News!

While pictures from my recent trip to Portugal slowly get posted, we interrupt this blog for an important update! Went to see Kirk my wonderful oncologist today, where he pronounced me in COMPLETE REMISSION from my bout last year with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Basically as the PET scans since last year show no active signs of cancer, and since the tumor has shrunk more than 90%, the doc says I am in complete remission. This does not mean that the cancer cannot come back - chances of that (on a population level) range from 10-20% in cases similar to mine, but the doctor is confident that my chances are closer to 10% if not a bit better given the excellent treatment response to date. So of course we are all quite pleased...

Tim gets a major grant!

Today Tim and his colleagues in the business school John Steen and Mark Dodgson received an Australian Research Council national grant award of $170,000 to do innovation research!

Red in Tooth and Claw

Today we had a bit of drama at our house - a brown goshawk caught and ate a crested pigeon literally on our doorstep. The footage is a nod to Alfred Hitchcock...

Broken Finger!

Yes, you may have noticed I had my finger wrapped in gauze in many of these last photos from Portugal. Turns out that I DID break my finger in Portugal! Today I landed at 6:30am, went to the GP at 10am, got x-rayed at 10:30am, picked up the scans and report at 11:30am, and the GP gave me the news at noon. (Australia truly does have an excellent health care system...remember we do not have private insurance...) I just have to keep my finger wrapped for a week, as I've already had it wrapped for a week, then I start physiotherapy to make sure I get back 100% movement.

Farewell to Portugal

On my last day in Porto my host Oscar Ribeiro took me to a fantastic restaurant by the sea before dropping me off at the airport. Luckily before I left I had time to buy some port wine in duty free!

I had such an amazing time in Portugal! I can't wait to visit again next year with Tim!

Talk at Aveiro University

Today we took a train to the town of Aveiro so I could give a lecture at Aveiro University. The university is very modern with an impressive library. The town is quite charming, with lots of canals. We had a lovely lunch of fish before returning to Porto. That evening after dinner I saw an architectural exhibit, making the most of my last hours in Porto.

Serralves Museum and Ice Cream by the Sea

Today I went to the beautiful Serralves Museum, a lovely spot in Porto. My excellent tourguide Maria Joao explained lots about the museum and Porto in general. We talked about music, politics and life - a terrific day which ended with ice cream by the sea.

A fine day in Porto

Today I had the most lovely meal in the Majestic Cafe in Porto, after a satisfying morning of shopping. The desserts in Portugal are particularly great - there is no such thing as too much sugar in a Portuguese dessert!

Then I had a stroll around Porto, eventually ending up in Gaia, the port wine centre. Here I took a tour of the Sandeman port wine house, then sampled some 20 year old tawny port - terrific!