Ben and Katie and a possum

My nephew Ben and his girlfriend Katie are travelling around NSW and Queensland on what seems to be an idyllic trip. They sent some great pictures recently and I thought we'd rip off a couple to show here. They say that one night a possum got into a bag of flour.

Japanese Death Poems

Zoe is working in home care at the moment, and one of her clients was slowly dying from cancer. So Zoe and I had some conversations about dying via Skype. I didn't and don't have anything particularly helpful to say. Death, like life, sucks.

What I did tell her about (and send her via Amazon) was a book, "Japanese Death Poems", of poems written by Zen monks and haiku poets on the verge of death.

Autumn breeze:
driftwood
landing lightly on the bank

Kanna (1744)

On a journey: ill,
my dream goes wandering
over withered fields

Basho (1694)

A parting gift to my body:
just when it wishes
I'll breathe my last

Ensei (1725)

The foam on the last water
has dissolved
my mind is clear

Mitoku (1669)

And my favorite:

Now it reveals its hidden side
and now the other - thus it falls,
an autumn leaf

Ryokan (1831)

Tim

Leura - Australia's Blue Mountains

This week, Tim and I drove to the town of Leura in the Blue Mountains - a short 1 1/2 hour trip. Tim was attending a conference at the Leura Garden Resort Wednesday through Friday. We decided to stay over Friday night so that he could enjoy some down time. The resort didn't look like a very interesting place to stay, so we booked a room in a B&B called Megalong Manor. The B&B was charming and our suite was truly comfortable and self contained. I missed the communal breakfast, because you can meet some of the most interesting people at B&B breakfasts, but the privacy was nice. The only thing I found uncomfortable about the Megalong was the fake cat lying on the chair in our corridor. I had to pass the cat to get to our room. For some reason, the cat, which looked very realistic, gave me the creeps. I felt like covering it or hiding it until we left. Being a good guest, I left the cat alone... but if I ever stay there again it's the cat or me!

I guess the only other bother were the little spiders who were abseiling from high up on the wood trim and down the drapes. The spider's energy in this pursuit provided some interesting observation for a while, but there's just so long you can watch without doing. (Forget it - I don't do heights!)

On a walk out to Sublime Point (think a not so Grand Canyon mixed with the Blue Ridge Mountains) a young Eastern Brown Snake crossed the path just in front of us. I read later on the internet that this brown snake is the second most venomous in Australia. Yikes! ... and he looked so cute.

Here are photos of Tim and I at Sublime Point. I have a hard time taking a straight photo, so bear with me - I'm showing off my tattoo.

Bush, The Patriot Act, Bugging Devices

As I sit here in my home in Thornleigh, NSW Australia, I am all too keenly aware that we are not exempt from being "watched" by "The Bush" government. I know that Tim and I are open in our thoughts about the Bush government, and we don't mind putting our ideas into writing in this blog, but bugging us all the way over here - in the world of "down under"? Come on! Isn't this going just a bit too far?



Did they REALLY think we weren't going to notice the BUG in our home? And aren't they lacking just a tad in creativity? You can almost hear the little shutter click from the camera. As Americans, can't we expect better than this?



This is the last straw! First it was Cheney the snake, then it was the leechy lobbyists, and now this. All I can say is the best bugging device is the bugging device that you know EXACTLY where it is.

Cheers, Judi

PS: This really is a photo of the Huntsman Spider that is on our wall. I'd say he's about 4 inches across. I put the heart graphic around him because I thought it would make me see these large spiders in a more loving way - embracing nature and all that. Why am kidding myself?!! They say these spiders will eat cockroaches - that's a good thing. It is said they can give you a nasty bite when provoked - that's not so nice. Catch and release? Yuck. At least they don't kill you like some things here - that's a very good thing.

Side view of this cute little guy below: