The Deck

The deck is really wide - to me it is a perfect entertaining area. In the center photo you can see a sulfur-crested cockatoo on the railing.

Back and Front Gardens

The back garden (top photo) and front garden (bottom photo) both have plenty of places to plant native flowering shrubs and trees to attract native honeyeaters such as the blue-faced honeyeater below.

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!