Thursday, December 16 - AHHHHHHHH!

I was hanging around in my house the other day, painting a bit here and there, de-cluttering - getting the house ready to sell. I was also preparing for a meeting later in the afternoon which was fated not to occur. My sister, Sandy, was coming to Socorro to have lunch and celebrate her UNM graduation - 55 years in coming was certainly deserving of celebration. Tim saw a vehicle drive in and told me that Sandy had people with her. People? Here? With Sandy? What the......? Sandy arrived first at the door and before I could offer a hug, one more person came around the corner, then another, and then another. Who were these attractive strangers? Stranger no. 1 was my sister, Nancy, 2nd was my sister, Karen, and 3rd was my sister, Wendy. A breeze could have knocked me against the wall. Surprise? That is the understatement of the century - it's been TEN years at least since I've seen these three characters. Unlike Sandy who lives in nearby Albuquerque, Nancy, Karen and Wendy were visiting from New England, USA!



Apparently, the scheming threesome had been planning their surprise since last summer: to attend Sandy's graduation and then to visit Tim and I prior to our expatriation to Oz. Long story short, five of us women talking and complaining about our weight, new wrinkles, etc. became too much for Tim and Gavin. Both quietly escaped after our EXTENSIVE photo taking session. Please view this slideshow to catch some of the excitement (and five beautiful women!).

A house we like

More R.E.M.

No, it's not the sixties in London, it's 2004 in Albuquerque

Our toilet is now so clean that....

The Explorers

Books can really bring a place alive. Following a six month self-indugence in Patrick O'Brien's wonderful Aubrey-Maturin books, some of which are set in the South Pacific, I read Caroline Alexander's account of the mutiny on "The Bounty". That brought especial interest to our visit to Fiji. On his magnificent voyage back from the mutiny, Bligh sailed through the "Cannibal Islands", as Fiji was then known, but did not dare to stop. There was also a certain Conradian aspect to sitting on the veranda of our hotel just north of Nadi. See what you think:

Just now, I'm reading a collection of excerpts from the diaries of early explorers of Australia: The Explorers by Tim Flannery. It starts with Jansz in 1606 and Carstensz in 1623 exploring the northern most tip of Australia, continues with Cook and Banks in 1770, Flinders circumnavigation in 1802, and ends (I'm not there yet...) in 1977 with Peasley (I have no idea!).

Someone mentions black swans with the same sense of wonder that we had when we saw them:

The droppings of "Whom-batts" form a topic of some discussion. Here's a picture of Judi finding wombat droppings in the woods:

I guess the point is that you can still find the unexpected.

Tim

R.E.M.

Another good thing about leaving the country is that you get to (have to) do things you might otherwise put off indefinitely, such as seeing R.E.M. live from the front row last night in Albuquerque. This was the last performance of their US tour. I've loved R.E.M. from the first time I saw the video for "Fall on me" back in the early eighties. If you ask me and my kids what the best song ever recorded is, we would probably choose "Nightswimming".

The concert was about everything I'd expected - loud, good feelings, great songs and great showmanship. At the end, I took some pics with my phone. Here's the best one:



Tim

CASA - Court Appointed Special Advocates

Nobody likes to talk or hear about child abuse or any type of domestic violence, but those damaging actions affect us all. Children raised in an abusive environment often grow up to abuse others as well as themselves with drugs and/or alcohol. These children also grow up to cause other societal havoc such as: domestic violence, robbery, murder... Abused children learn adaptive and defensive strategies to survive the abuse. Some survival techniques are more positive than others.

Fortunately, there are abused children who grow up to help families caught up in a cycle of abuse. One group (not all abuse "survivors") is comprised of CASA volunteers. People who volunteer their time to advocate for abused and neglected children.

In my small world here in central New Mexico, I had the good fortune to volunteer as a CASA. Through my volunteer work, I came to know gifted and giving advocates; even the pleasure of a good friend in Cody, Wyoming who is just completing her CASA training (Sarah, "You go girl!").

One friend I would like to introduce is Robyn.

Robyn was part of the first group of volunteers here in the 7th Judicial District. How do I describe Robyn?.... funny, charming, extremely intelligent, well read, good hearted, generous and sensitive. She and her husband, Tom, are even building their own straw bale home.

Another warm and wonderful friend is Lynnette. Lynnette just took the administrative lead for our CASA group besides continuing as a foster mom. Lynnette and her husband, Brian, provide a loving and supportive home for kids while they are in the foster care system. They are also adoptive parents. The photo below is of Lynnette during a recent swearing-in ceremony.

I have more friends who deserve to be mentioned, but due to painting and planting and cleaning and and and... Time does not currently permit.

Child abuse is an important issue. My hope is to continue my volunteer work in the great OZ and to never lose contact with the fun, kind and wonderful people at Rio Grande Valley CASA.

Our last Thanksgiving for a while

We had our Thanksgiving meal with Zoe and Gavin on Friday. I made five Indian dishes, served some of my apple chutney from the summer, and we drank champagne to start. Since we had sold our dining room table some time ago, we picnicked on a tablecloth on the floor.

Here are some pictures:

And an attempt to recreate a classic photo...

Tim

If you're not jealous enough yet, see....

... this great site on Australia.

And another thing about this bunch of idiots running the country

The value of the dollar is getting to be a big issue for us since we plan to move a lot of $$$ to Australia to buy a house. That the dollar is likely to tumble soon is very worrying (and irritating - I didn't vote for this faith-based economics in 2000 or 2004).

Tim

Politics and the three brains

I feel guilty about planning to leaving the country when things look so bad. On election day, I went for a run after hearing that the exit polls were favoring Kerry, and It Was Good. I remember thinking that democracy was self-correcting, the US knew which way was up, and that all the horrors of the last four years could start to be undone, one by one. Then I came back... Our very good friends, Tom and Robyn, came over and we watched the election results together. It was a gloomy night, probably accurately portending the next four years.

I've read a lot of excellent commentary on the election since. Even though he is a conservative, I particularly like Andrew Sullivan. He's no fan of Dubya.

As a secular, scientific Buddhist/Darwinist, I think that many of our problems in life come from the hack job that evolution made of the human brain (which is a good argument against Intelligent Design, by the way). Learning to meditate taught me a lot about my own monkey mind. It's an eye opener to sit quietly for 10 - 15 minutes and just attend to the gibberish that flows around the brain (I'm told that my brain isn't alone in this respect).

Politics is where the failings of the brain are exploited to their utmost. The best piece of political commentary in this regard is "Cheney speaks to the reptile brain". Recommended!

Clearly evolution isn't going to help us sufficiently quickly - we have to vote again in four years and I fear a similar virtuoso tickling of the three brains by the successor to Karl Rove.

So anyway, good luck to the US. We'll be watching you, and, yes, we will be back here again. Please, please make it easy for us to come back home.

Tim

Why I do seemingly crazy things...

Simply put from someone else's heart and wisdom

Allow Your Own Inner Light to Guide You

There comes a time when you must stand alone.
You must feel confident enough within yourself to follow your own dreams.
You must be willing to make sacrifices.
You must be capable of changing and rearranging your priorities so that your final goal can be achieved.
Sometimes, familiarity and comfort need to be challenged.
There are times when you must take a few extra chances and create your own realities.
Be strong enough to at least try to make your life better.
Be confident enough that you won't settle for a compromise just to get by.
Appreciate yourself by allowing yourself the opportunities to grow, develop, and find your true sense of purpose in this life.
Don't stand in someone else's shadow when it's your sunlight that should lead the way.

--Posted by Judi

4 wheeling

Gavin and Zoe are both here for Thanksgiving. As vegetarians, Judi and I don't really do Thanksgiving so they always spend Thanksgiving Day with their mother. On Friday, we'll get together and eat Indian food, a favorite of all of us and something that I like to cook (my favorite cookbook at the moment is "Lord Krishna's Kitchen".)

Today Gavin and I went 4 wheeling in the Rodeo. We drove south from Escondida on the Quebradas Highway, west on US380, and then back north to Escondida via Bosquecito. It's great country - wide open, scrubby desert with rolling hills and long, long views to the mountains around. We took the dogs with us and stopped a couple of times to let them run (and run they truly did). Lunch was pistachios, cheese, and some mineral water, eaten somewhere off the road when we were reasonably lost.

The only camera we took was the one in my cell phone. Here's the one picture we took, on the side road back to Escondida. The photo has three archetypal New Mexico elements, cows, flying saucers, and bullet holes:



Tim

Ernie Gerzabek

Our new friend, Ernie Gerzabek, is an artist who lives in the Sydney area. I was introduced to him via the WWW by a mutual friend (Read: It's a small small world!). Check out Ernie's home page:

http://www.ernie-gerzabek.com

One of my personal favorites:

011 Since time began ...

36x36 in / 91x91 cm, archival giclee on canvas, self-framed

---

Timeless red hills burning in the summer sun; the ancient desert with million year old wrinkles and warts etched all over the landscape.

Vast mountain ranges and deep valleys, enormous cliffs and rock-peppered flat s, hidden caves and secret waterholes.

You can sense the Spirit of the land: it is all encompassing and overwhelming.

Price

His art is happy, fun, nature-driven, wonderful. Ernie invited us to visit his studio once we get settled in Sydney - I can't wait. What a treat to have a new friend who is talented as well as hospitable. This move is looking more and more positive each day.

No worries!
-Judi

Ernie says corrections are in order....

... As for glancing at your forthcoming OZ adventure, a few corrections:

Venomous snakes: yes we have them in Australia but in my 46 years in Sydney, I did not see any other than in the zoo. As for venomous spiders, dying from a bite is virtually unheard of, except for small children in remote areas. There is anti-venom available in hospitals, and the poison is not fast acting at all. We are talking about successful treatment always possible within a few hours of the bite. In Sydney, only the funnel-web and the red-back spiders are an issue. They are not easily found, unless you garden barefoot or without gloves or reach into cavities in certain known hiding places without looking.

Where I lived a few decades ago, we had a few funnel-web spiders in the bush, I used to look for their distinctive round entry holes in the ground, teased out the "beasts" and collected in a jar and took them to a place where they milked them for their poison for research. No worries!

Please do not worry about any venomous creatures in Sydney or in the oceans here. Sharks or Queensland box jellyfish or seasnakes there is another matter. But knowing a few simple rules avoids any trouble.

I'm ready to go NOW

I have to say that I'm excited at the prospect of being in another country. I've enjoyed being here in the States for the last twenty four years. Coming here was one of the best choices I've made in my life. It opened up life in so many ways, ways that weren't apparent to me when I lived in England.

When I was first here in New Mexico, everything was strange and new. It was like being woken up to be able to see the world clearly. That feeling hasn't actually gone away too much. I'm still amazed to be here in the brilliant sunshine of the Southwest when I could be in the gray winters of Manchester. However, some things have become old and a change is welcomed.

Australia is a beautiful place. Here's a photo from space that I particularly like:



(This came from the great NASA site Blue Marble)

Zooming in on the Southeast:



On our trip, we stayed in the green areas - those were beautiful and I want to go back. I also want to go to the barren parts without any green. I should get a chance at work. We're building a "New Technology Demonstrator" (NTD) for the Square Kilometre Array. The xNTD will probably be sited somewhere out in Western Australia, perhaps at Mileura:




Mileura is in the neighborhood of some of the oldest geology around - follow the link, it has some interesting material on the Cool Early Earth model for the state of the Earth 4.4 billion years ago.

So, anyway, I'm ready to go :)

Tim

Doggies - A labor of love

Oh my, the dogs. Besides the trauma of moving the dogs (flying, crating, quarantining, etc.), there is an incredible expense involved. Six months prior to a move to OZ, you must have them tested for Rabies exposure (even though they have been vaccinated yearly), micro-chipped (between the shoulders) and retested 30 days prior to the move. Then there is the minimum 30 day quarantine.

Cost:

• Micro-chipping and required tests 6 mos. prior: $900
• Application to allow import to Oz: approximately $200/animal
• Retest prior to move: Guestimate: $400
• Crates and flight ABQ to OZ: A lot. Haven't received estimates yet, but I'm still preparing myself for the sticker shock. Seems like the new company ought to pick up this tab - to move family members that is.
  
• The good news? It's tax deductible.

See photos of cute and much loved doggies below:



This is Karma. No great depth of thought here, Karma lives to herd. Unfortunately, poor 15 year old Mica (who happens to be all white and hence, sheeplike) receives the brunt of Karma's energy.

This little black guy is Sammy. Sammy is part human - no question about it. He's very difficult to take a decent photo of because the only part of him that shows up is usually his little pink tongue. I found him by the ditch at about 8 wks old because someone didn't want him anymore. What a fool. This is Sammy with a summer haircut.



The last photo is of Mica, my doggie soulmate. I've had her for most of her 15 years - since I found her at the Animal Humane Society in Albuquerque. She's been a great and true friend for all these years. I truly hope she makes it to Australia to frolic in the ocean at least once. I know she will love it!

Houses we like

Having done all the sums, assuming we sell both our houses here in New Mexico, we can afford to buy a house up to about A$600,000. If possible, I'd like to live nearby to the office (in Marsfield) so we're looking for houses within walking or biking distance. We've looked at a large number of houses online, mostly in the "Northern Districts" area of Sydney. Here's a few that we liked:

• North Epping
• Marsfield
• Epping
• North Rocks
• Mount Kuring-Gai
  

The Sydney housing market is evidently in a slight decline at the moment so it's a good time to buy. In fact, buying in the autumn (which is what it'll be when we arrive in April) will also be helpful.

Update (Nov 27) : Our friend, Ron Heald, says that the market is "holding steady" rather than being in slight decline. He also encouraged us to look up at the Central Coast, where he lives now. It would be nice to live close to water.

Photograph albums

Our trip to Fiji and Australia, and places we'll miss in the southwest.

Judi

Well, it’s official. We’re moving to Australia (affectionately called “Oz”) in April. Tim’s offer from the Australian Telescope has been finalized (benefits, visa requirements, etc.) and he gave his letter of resignation to NRAO. He decided to take 2 years Leave of Absence since NRAO offers it, but it is unlikely that he will want to return to NRAO – certainly not within 2 years (however, it’s always nice to have a safety plan).

Our timeline is mostly determined by the dogs. They have to be tested 6 months prior to the move and micro chipped (we did that last week) and then once arriving in Oz, they must withstand quarantine for a minimum of 30 days – hence, I have to withstand their quarantine for 30 days! They are not used to being in jail – I’m not sure who will be more miserable, me or them. At least the Australian Gov't allows visitation. Australia doesn’t have rabies, so that’s one reason they are so careful about testing. Can’t blame them for that – rabies is a nasty thing, to say nothing of the fact that is usually fatal. Which brings me to a fact that Oz has 15 of the 20 most lethal snakes in the whole world. That’s 3/4 of the slimy long things that want to bite and kill you all centered in one part of the world. And let me tell you about the spiders! Yuk – lots of killer spiders that if bitten you have about one second to get antivenom in your bloodstream – or you get to visit the great spider web in the sky. Sheesh, I finally get used to black widows (once even crawling across my chest!) and now I have to move on to spiders that can really kill you. Oh well, millions of people can’t be wrong about living in Oz – everyone seems to love it.

Currently, we are preparing our home for sale. We are planning on selling it ourselves, but if that doesn’t work, we’ll give a realtor a try. I’m a bit nervous at the prospect, but Tim thinks we can do it. Of course we are moving right after I finished painting our living room and bedroom –somewhat unusual colors. I know that it is a no-no to paint a “for sale” house anything than a version of white, but I refuse after all that work – and besides, I LIKE colors. If a buyer doesn’t, well, it’s obvious this house isn’t meant for them.

Here are photos of our living room, entry way and house façade so that you can see what I’m talking about. The front door is now a bright blue since this photo was taken.

We are looking at housing in the northern suburb area of Sydney where a “starter” home for a “young family” is about $500K Au, which at today’s rates is $386,750!! That is a lottttt of money, especially when you come from an area where the housing is considerably cheaper (E.g., we hope to sell ours at $180Kish) and many homes here go for under $100K. Fortunately, one of Tim’s “perks” is a “free, leased” car, so that is one expense we don’t have to worry about. The public transit system in Sydney is actually pretty good, so getting around isn’t difficult – even for public transit phobic me. They have a web site that actually tells you when, where, how, how much, etc. It will be difficult to have trouble with traveling on public transit.

How it started

In September and October we visited Australia. I was visiting the SKA simulation group at Swinburne Uni in Melbourne and the ATNF in Sydney. I've been to ATNF many times and have old friends there. I'd never been to Melbourne before but really liked the people there as well. Judi and I had a blast in Victoria and New South Wales. We always have fun traveling together.

When we got to Sydney, I was offered a job at ATNF and found myself thinking hard about it. I'd always enjoyed visiting the AT and loved Sydney. One of my favorite things in the world is to ride the Manly Ferry.

The main question in my mind was how my kids, Zoe and Gavin, would react. They are 21 and 19 respectively and just wonderful children and people. Here are some of my favorite pictures:

When we got back, I talked to both of them. I can't say that they were thrilled to have me on the other side of the world. Somehow they came to terms with it (maybe). We're going to pay for each of them to visit twice a year - that'll help a bit. Also phone calls are cheap, and we'll work on getting a video connection set up. And I'll be back in the US fairly often.

To help us decide whether to go or not, we made up a spreadsheet of pluses and minuses. Here's the final version. It's a good way to focus the mind. Most of these ratings changed over time as we found out more. It'll be interesting to look back on this spreadsheet in a year or so and decide what we got right and what we got wrong.