...Able to carry off small children....

The gigantic spider, that is. The one on my bathroom wall yesterday morning. The spider who now resides in my vacuum (with very strong suction). The vacuum that is now residing in my bathtub with the hose hanging out the bathroom window (just in case!). I was comfortable thinking that the creepy crawlies were not going to emerge for at least another month or so, until I was informed otherwise at the dog park yesterday. The dog park (the place from where all knowledge comes). One woman said she almost stepped on the female funnelweb that was lounging on her kitchen floor. I understand they will appear to "lounge" only to rear up and expose their fangs when threatened (I'm not making this up folks!). Her spider now resides under a large vase.

The kitchen wreck crew are coming on Sept. 5th to take our old kitchen. The new kitchen arrives on the 7th and is installed on the 8th until.... well, a few days until it's completely finished. The last of our appliances have arrived; i.e., the rangehood and the dishwasher I found on eBay (that only uses 12 - 17 liters of water per wash!) arrived recently. I forgot to mention that I sold my first item on eBay. Our futon that we would have paid someone to take, captured 33 big ones.

I heard that Don Giovanni, the opera we went to, got rave reviews in the media. Special focus was on Mr. Don G, himself, a tall, sinewy man who appears almost naked as the curtain opens. I guess I wasn't the only one who noticed. Oh yes, he had an outstanding voice as well. The opera was incredible and too bad it was Zoë's first. Future operas are likely to pale in comparison.

Cheers, Judi

Book recommendation

Cormac McCarthy writes beautifully but his world is not for everyone. "No country for old men" is probably the best of his that I've read. It's a contemporary crime story set in the border country of west Texas, tremendously exciting and involving but also finally quite haunting. Quite unlike anything I've read for a long while. Recommended.

Tim

Missing New Mexico

It's the end of summer in New Mexico - beginning to be my favorite time of the year there. Labor Day (the traditional end of summer) is approaching. There's always lots of interesting stuff to do on Labor Day weekend - the Socorro County Fair and the Hillsboro Apple Festival being a couple of favorites. Actually now I think about it, that's two events in about 10,000 square miles but it is New Mexico after all.

The Hatch Chile Festival is an experience, though we've only been once. It seemed a cross between New Mexico and Old Mexico (about 100 miles away). Dust, pickups, loud music, lots of spicy food, strange religious items, hot sun...

Here's a picture of Judi and me at Lake Valley on a trip with our friends Sanjay and Urvashi:



Lake Valley is a ghost town near Hillsboro. In the early eighties I used to go dancing there with some friends. Once a month on a Saturday night, the local ranch families used to gather in the old school house for an old fashioned dance - guitar, fiddle, western two-step, pies and coffee at midnight. I can still hear the strains of "Faded Love".

Later in the fall, the smoke from the wood fires greets you in the morning, roasting green chile scents the air, and the nights are cold and crisp. Then at the end of October, the cottonwood leaves turn color. Here's an old photo from the Bosque del Apache
widelife refuge.





Tim

Zoë's Visit From Colorado USA

Hey all, Zoë here. I’ve been in Australia for a week now, and I leave on Saturday. It’s been a lot of fun.

Let’s see. On Saturday we went to Manly via the Manly Ferry. I didn’t get a postcard, which I’m still kicking myself for. I mean, a postcard from Manly? How cool is that? Anyway, despite the fact that I was jetlagged to hell, we still had fun. The harbor was beautiful, the Opera House even more amazing than its pictures, and the ocean itself was tres cool. On the way back from Manly, we sat with this Ozzie and his Kiwi friend. The Ozzie was drunk and extremely friendly, and his friend took some glorious pictures of the three of us in front of the bridge.

On Tuesday we saw Don Giovanni at the Opera House. It was my first opera, and it was glorious! The singing was wonderful, the music just perfect, and the singer playing Don Giovanni looked like a total cad. It was a perfect evening.

Then today, Judi-san and I went shopping. My god, Australian grocery stores are frigging amazing. The fruit! The cheese! The veggies! The fish counters! The sweets! The crappy bread is a minor annoyance, but one I could live with. Seriously, glorious stores.

And tomorrow it looks like I’ll be braving Sydney by myself to go to a museum. I’m quite looking forward to it, to tell the truth. I’m going by train, so I can spend as much time as I want. Yay!

Werewolf at the beach

London town was too hot for this werewolf so he hit the beach. It's true that his hair was perfect.

LIVING ON THE EDGE...

Have you ever seen a Spur-Winged Plover? Until this morning, I had seen these birds but didn't know much about them. Plovers are shore/wading birds, but for some reason you see them all around NSW - specifically our local dog park. The other day, one of the plovers swooped down at a dog and a dog buddy mentioned the name of the bird and the fact that they lay their eggs in the open grass. I've heard of women having babies in strange places (e.g., taxis, elevators), but on the lawn? It gets worse.

Well, this morning there were two plovers swooping down around one entrance to the park. A nice man and his dalmation, Julia, were unquestionably the object of the birds' fury. Once inside the park, "Julia's Dad" (I forget "his" name!) told us there was a plover nest right next to the gutter on the road -- on the pavement! He said that one of the chicks had already been killed by a passing car. At this point I was imagining a tiny, just-hatched chick in a nest. There was another man coming towards the park with his dog, so I warned him and mentioned why the birds were swooping and screeching. My information was not needed, because he told me about the black spurs on the wings that can hurt you if the plover feels you are too threatening. I think I was talking to a "plover expert". Anyway, while standing there watching the plovers swooping and walking around on the street, a plover chick starting running out into the street! Talk about cute .... and funny - all legs! It was clear now what happened to the dead chick, and it looked like it was going to be a likely ending to this little guy as well. The street isn't busy, but one car went directly over the chick - fortunately straddling the little guy. I couldn't watch anymore!!! You can't help without wearing anti-plover mother protective gear! And if you rescued the chick... then what?

And so it is... another example of "Life on the Edge."

--Judi

Possum comes calling

Our possum showed up early tonight. Sammy did some highly commendable growling to let us know something was going on so we looked out in the tree just by the balcony and saw this:

I managed to get within a couple of feet to get these pictures.

Tim

The Iliad

I finished the audio version of the Iliad a few weeks ago. The end came as rather a shock - Hector dies and is buried and then the story stops before the final battle in which the Greeks take Troy.

It's a curious story. Wonderfully entertaining in a way close to movies. Lots of blood and gore that must have excited and engaged listeners down the years but with elements of a comedy.

The strangest aspect about the Iliad is the lack of an interior voice - there's only one scene when a protagonist reflects on his actions. That's when Agamemnon reconsiders the bad way that he treated Achilles. Apart from that, stuff happens because the gods will it that way. There's a wonderful book call "The Origin of Conciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" by a Harvard psychologist called Julian Jaynes putting forth the notion that the Greeks actually thought differently that we in the modern world do - that their actions were at the prompting of an internal voice which could be taken to be a god. Jaynes argues that the origin of language and metaphor in particular led to a breakdown of this bicameral mind. It's an interesting read even if you don't accept the thesis.

Leaving that aside, the reason to read or listen to the Iliad is that it's a great story - perhaps the first great story in the Western world. Recommended.

Tim

Possums and other cute critters

I forgot to tell you about our possum. Wellllll, she/he isn't necessarily "our" possum, but he visits us so that counts for something! "Our" possum, "Paul", realized that the "paw paws" that I put out for the lorikeets are much to his liking. Usually ten minutes after Tim and I go to bed, we will hear noises on the balcony. Of course, Sammy hears them too, which tends to make the possum's visit brief.

These guys are really cute -- sort of like a cat with a longer, bushy tail and pointy nose. I think this is a brushtail possum, which are the most common in NSW, but I'm not totally sure. If one of these cute guys takes residence in your attic, you are not allowed to "relocate him/her." It is actually against the law, since the little guys will die if moved elsewhere. You can find instructions on how to build your very own possum house as well as how to get the little guys to move out of your attic for good.

I'm amazed at how neat our little friend is. I don't think he would make any mess at all if Sammy didn't scare him off. Usually, the paw paw will stay right on the plate and have lots of claw/teeth marks in it. The seeds will be scattered - it seems no one likes the seeds. The little guy even got into the garbage bag in our carport. You would hardly know, except for the two items that had been licked clean and laid neatly aside.

Female possums usually bear their young in May - June each year. The young develop in the mother's pouch until they are robust enough to rough it on the outside - at their mother's tit. They will ride around with Mom for about 6 months before setting out on their own. I didn't see any "attached" baby, so I suspect our Paul is a male -- but you never know - it could be "Paula"!

Hugs, Judi

Catching Up...

Is it proper for a woman to fall in love with a bread machine? Welllll, I don't care - it happened. We told you about our frustration with the boring and unhealthy selection of bread here in Oz. Thanks to good ol' eBay (more about eBay later) we purchased a Breville Breadmaker. What a great machine. What a great invention. I've never been a "kneady" person, so a machine that will do it for me is a gift from above. All we do is add the ingredients - of which there are endless varieties - press a button - and voila!.... three hours later the bread that dreams are made of. Unhealthy bread problem solved.

You want to know how we are settling in? We have discovered the house has timber (read "wood") floors under all the "stuff." Slowly but surely things are getting put away wherever there might be an extra inch of space. However, it is becoming increasingly obvious that we still have way too much "stuff." After four yard sales you might think we had whittled down to the bare necessities. Well, think again, my friends. It is embarrassing - I knew I had trouble getting rid of things, but this is ridiculous! Anyway - we are filling more boxes with unwanted and unneeded items. An interesting practice the Ozzie's have is to leave things on the street curbs in front of their homes. One person's junk is another person's treasure.

Freedom Kitchens is doing our kitchen renovation. Jelena, our designer, came up with the best price and the best plan so it's all systems go. She came up with a great and affordable appliance package for us, but I am having fun finding my own on the Ozzy eBay. So far I have found a high end wall oven and ceramic cooktop, a stainless steel sink and a tap/mixer that has a pull-out spray. Now if I can only find a great (read "cheap") dishwasher, we'll be all set. Collecting our eBay treasures allows us to visit areas in NSW that we might not otherwise get to. Yesterday we drove an hour to Caringbah (south of Sydney) for the cooktop. The oven is in another direction. I only used eBay once in the States, but Oz has very poor and limited on-line shopping, so eBay Oz is a great alternative - and the deals - let me tell you about the deals!! Just kidding - well, you really do get great deals. :)

Hugs, Judi

Dark night

I woke up at 4am the other night and looked out from the balcony. It was still dark but there was mist in between the trees. I tried to capture the scene with the camera but only ended up with this slightly spooky picture:



Tim

Judi and Tim at the Black Dog

I found this wonderful picture that I mentioned before - our wedding day at Martha's Black Dog.



Tim

Wow!

.... My word just now when a huge black crow or raven landed on the railing outside our living room window. I'm used to the Lorikeets and Starlings - but this was a bird of a different color. I still think that the cry of the Australian Raven proves that God (whatever that term means to you) has a sense of humor. The sound is a lot like someone yelling loudly - OH NOOOOOOO! ... in a whiny voice. How would you describe it?

Yesterday, in order to escape our still disorganized house, Tim and I drove up to Berowra Waters and took the Ferry. This ferry has to be the world's fastest. How fast is it you ask? It was so fast that I didn't even know we had crossed when we started unloading on the other side. It's a winch pulled ferry and obviously the crossing is not very wide. We stopped for fish n' chips on the other side and picnicked by the water. It was a beautiful day boasting the bluest of skies.

Last evening, we dined out with visiting friends, Juan and Rosa, at the Royal Oak Hotel in Balmain. The company was excellent, but the restaurant was definitely forgettable. Tim and I are "fishing-eating vegetarians" and the menu had a limited selection of entrees/mains we could eat. Tim selected the Salmon and my choice was the Barramundi - neither outstanding in any way. The antipasto appetizer and BBQ'd baby octopus (yes, I said "baby" :( ) were both delicious, and we should have made our meal of those items. The service was marginal at best and the staff lacked "personality." Furthermore, noone explained to us that a salad bar was included with our meal. For dessert, Tim and Juan had the Creme Brulee, which was tasteless and forgettable. My sticky fig pudding with vanilla ice cream and butterscotch sauce, however, was hhhhmmmmmmmmmm good - definitely memorable! All in all, I wouldn't recommend the Royal Oak Hotel Restaurant and give it a C+.

Cheers, Judi

Martha's Black Dog is closing

The first coffee shop in Socorro is evidently closing, according to my old friend Brian. It's too bad. Martha's cafe was a big advance in the liveability of Socorro - somewhere to go for a capuccino. The coffee was of variable quality (her staff changed a fair amount) but just being there was good enough. And her desserts were usually excellent.

Before I knew Judi, I used to go there in the evening for a late night coffee and dessert (I was running a lot in those days and could afford the calories). I remember sitting there with Paul Harden discussing Comet Hale-Bopp. We cruelly told a nearby eavesdropper that we couldn'd discuss what we knew.

The day Judi and I got married we went there for our reception (the four of us). Gavin had a great vanilla shake, I remember. The photo of Judi and me is still on the wall - she looks just gorgeous.

Thanks Martha.

Tim

Mermaid Avenue

I just noticed that we don't write about music. Strange because we both listen all the time to various stuff. So... currently we're really enjoying Billy Bragg and Wilco, Mermaid Avenue. The lyrics were evidently written by Woody Guthrie and music provided by BB and Wilco (separately and together). So the sensibility of Woody with the beautiful music of Wilco.

A shoutout to my new friend Joel who introduced me to this great music.

Tim

One more thing....

Judi forgot to say that the beaches in Australia are really great. A few too many sunbathers, though.

Tim

The Good, The Bad, The OK

At the risk of incurring the wrath of our Australia friends, I would like to comment on some of our findings in this new home...

For example.... Like what's the deal with the bread here? The fanciest and healthiest bread we've found is white bread with some seeds on it. When I've been to the bakery and ask the worker what each kind is, the response is:

That's white bread in a round form. Oh, that one is white bread that is baked in a square pan. That one is white bread with a crispy top, and so on....and each shape has a different name (e.g., Tiger Bread, Farmer Bread, etc.). Even the whole grain bread here looks white.

Haven't they heard about bread that you can eat three bites from and the resulting nutrition will last you for the next three months? Actually, we found the same thing in France - sort of tasteless, white bread. Can someone tell me where we can find bread that'll put hair on your chest? One friend suggested a bakery near the CBD, but what about us folks in "Suburbia?"

Australia offers some wonderful things, but I miss The Great Harvest Bread Co. in Albuquerque, NM (and real robust bread!).

Speaking of eating, the restaurants here in OZ are wonderful - and we've been eating out mostly in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney. The restaurants tend to be intimate with excellent service. Very often you will find yourself being served by a member of the owner's family. And you want to talk about variety??? If you want to eat Gado Gado that might be the main dish from some obscure Indonesian Island, you could probably find it here. We have eaten Sri Lankan, Singapore food, Japanese, various types of Chinese - you name it - OH, and the gourmet pizzas! What they lack in bread here, they make up in varieties of pizza.

And on the road.... that is, roads that are narrow and not particularly efficient for a city the size of Sydney, are the drivers. Growing up in Boston, I remember that driving can be stressful - dangerous in fact. I thought Boston drivers were the meanest until I drove in New Jersey. New Jersey drivers aren't just mean - they actually try to kill you. I was almost run off a busy freeway by a crazed semi-truck driver. Then, if you drive in New Mexico you can witness another type of bad driver - NM drivers aren't mean - they're just dumb! They have no sense.

So far, I have found Australian drivers to be mostly proficient and polite drivers, unless you hesitate for a moment prior to entering a round-a-bout or making a turn - then you get the proverbial "BEEP!" Australian drivers like to use their car horns, so if you're new in the area or trying to learn how to drive on "the other" side of the road, you can expect to get beeped at a lot. I have beep marks all over!

I have probably bored you enough with my remarks, so I'll sign off for now. I will continue the pros and cons list in a later posting.

Judi
(PS: Tim and I really like it here - honest! An amazing experience we have had here is the deliveries are made on time by professional, efficient and polite workers who take pride in their jobs. It's great and something we weren't used to in NM! Oops, here I go again.... )

See the comet

As you probably know, NASA is going to crash a spacecraft into a comet tonight (July 4). You can see it live on the Charles Sturt University (Bathhurst, NSW) remote telescope:

http://black-hole-net.mit.csu.edu.au/telescope/resources/deepimpact.asp

Note also the archive of images of the comet taken on previous nights.

Tim

Evening in the northern woods

I was in the northern Netherlands last week for a scientific meeting. Our hotel and the meeting place were in the Dwingerveld - an old forest. We were fortunate to be able ride bicycles to and from the meeting. The cycle paths there are superb, of course. The ride in the morning was a good way to wake up, and that in the evening was a preparation for sleep - very peaceful with extraordinary dusk lighting even at 9 and 10 o'clock.

Compared to Australia, the woods in the Netherlands are quite boring - no strange trees losing their skin and no shrieking brightly coloured birds. But there were big mosquitos, quick to converge from all around.

I got back here on Sunday. The next day I went for a (mountain) bike ride along the fire trail. I couldn't find my helmet so I went without it - strictly illegal here. It wasn't a good idea, either, because I fell off my bike at the end of a steep ride down to a stream, falling most satisfyingly onto the ground and then down across a big slab of rock and into the stream. A nice welcome back to Australia :)

Tim

Goodbye to a Special Lady

Claire Hughes was in her late 80's I think and still very sharp. She died recently after a lengthy and painful illness. She had told me several times that she wanted to die - that it was time to die - that she was tired of living with pain.

I met Claire when I lived in Phoenix, Arizona (USA). She lived with her friend Marcy, another wonderful woman. Claire and Marcy were nuns for many years until they decided it was time to start a different kind of life. They started their new life with few belongings and little money because the Catholic church requires that you donate all of your personal belongings to the church. Claire had an MS in Library Science and Marcy was a teacher (mostly English as a second language). As nuns, they traveled and lived in interesting places that included Hawaii and Bolivia. They moved to Globe, Arizona and worked there, then moved to the Phoenix area and then up to Prescott, Arizona.

I met Claire at a vulnerable time in my life. I had just separated from my "ex-husband" and moved to Mesa, Arizona to start my new life. I met Claire because she was my second cousin (my mother's cousin). I loved her because she was warm, and caring, intelligent and wise. Despite her connection to the church, she was open to all kinds of ideas and beliefs. It truly surprised me; I didn't expect such openness. It was a comfort to me just to know that she and Marcy lived nearby.

I only lived in Phoenix for 2 1/2 years, so I didn't get to spend a lot of time with Claire and Marcy, and subsequent visits were from a long distance and brief. When Tim and I were getting ready for our move to Oz, I would liked to have driven over to Prescott to say goodbye. I talked to her by phone on several occasions in those last months, so at least we had some contact. However, my car was in the shop for hail damage for two months and the last couple of weeks were frantic to prepare for our move. I didn't say goodbye to Claire, even though I knew she was dying. I wish I had. I wish I had taken the time and the effort to go to Prescott.

I feel blessed that I got to know Claire. She was a cool old lady. I'm not sorry she died - I hate to think of her living with such pain and she said she was ready to go. I will miss her though. Even though I didn't see or talk to her very often, it felt good just to know she was there.

So goodbye Claire - I know you will keep them in line up there! My love to you.

Judi