A WALK IN THE FALL IN THE DESERT WITH A PRINCESS

It's strange enough coming from the northern hemisphere where winter is December, January, etc. Here in Oz, winter is June, July, etc. Consider our Xmas. It's bloody hot! Many people have their holiday dinners midday and then a later picnic at the beach. Tim and I barely even noticed it was Xmas. If we hadn't visited friends and had an outstanding Paella (Turkey? Boooooring!), December 25 would have been just like any other day. And despite Spring being our "old" Autumn... Oh my, I'm sooooo confused.

But getting back to FALL. At our house, it is Fall all year round. During winter, leaves fall. Spring and Summer?... more leaves and bark. That's right. The gum trees shed their bark each year and grow it anew - sounds like a dermatologist's fantasy (or nightmare depending upon your perspective). Then in the Fall/Autumn... yes, more leaves... and so on. Now I'm not big on raking (and don't even ask Tim), but here in Thornleigh Bush Country, I MUST rake. If you don't keep up with the tree shed here you could A) Be in serious trouble during a bushfire, and B) Get covered and never seen again.

Now let's talk about "walks." Since I came from the US, I call a traipse around on a mountain or by a river, a "hike." If you come from England or Australia, however, those same activities are considered a "walk." To me, a walk is the two blocks to the local convenience store. For example, "Hey honey, I'm going out for a walk. Can I get you anything?" That's a walk. So when Tim invites me to go on a "walk," I think, "How pleasant... a little stroll." WRONG. A "walk" here, particularly a "bushwalk," could take several hours and take you through five towns and two shires before you even get close to your home base. Catch me once.

Tim wants me to talk about our recent musical experience - Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It was outrageous and excellent and incredible. I bought front row seat tickets since Tim and I often like that "close range" approach to viewing. The seats happen to be at the end of the front row - which was fine - great seats. I have had two "15 minutes of fame" in my life. I know, you're only entitled one. Actually, neither added up to 15 minutes, so it's ok. During the song, Thank God I'm a Country Boy, the cast came down and dragged certain people up on stage to dance - notice that "drag" is the operative word here (and I don't mean as in "drag queen.") So, with the help of Tim's firm shove, I found myself on stage in front of a gazillion people (at least!) learning how to do some line dancing thing that I never could learn - even after living in cowboy land USA for the last 35 years. After the little line dancing number, the cast had us all hold hands and dance around in a big circle - wow, that was fun! Since I was oblivious to anything else besides my two feet, I didn't even notice that the music stopped and the entire cast had left us alone on stage. Hah!! They think they are sooooo funny - the audience laughed. Afterwards, we did a little hand raise and bow thing.... and returned to our seats. That was too bad, because I was just warming up! I highly recommend the musical. They follow the movie quite closely, and the singing and dancing were high energy and wonderful. Go. (Oh, the other 15 minutes of fame was dancing with the cast of Hair - in Boston no less - it was banned at first.)

I will stop now or you'll never read our blog again. Since our hiatus, I have all kinds of things to tell you. Ah. Later.

Hugs, Judi




Photo: A baby lorikeet and his (her?) parents are regular visitors to our balcony lately. Besides making the most obnoxious noise while begging nonstop for food from birdie mom and dad and me.... baby gets so excited he jumps onto my arm to get the yummy grape I veritably have (yes, a bribe).