A little bit of America

Dear all,

A belated Happy Easter to everyone.  Easter here in Australia was incredibly nice.  It was a day spent with friends outside enjoying the amazing weather.  If you wonder why I keep talking about the weather it is because the weather is truly stunning.  Take one of those gorgeous late August / early September Maine days and repeat for about two months.

We have had a few experiences over the last few weeks that have reminded us of our home in Maine.

First, we had visitors!  The first since we arrived in Australia.  Margaret's Mother's cousin, Martha, came to visit.  She lives in Maine and New Zealand and came to visit Yarra Junction along with her friend Donna.  It was great to see them both and have them experience a bit of "the bush."  Martha even brought some Starbucks coffee to make us really feel back in the States.

Then on Easter Sunday we had a baseball game with a very sporting Australian family.  It was great fun.  We fortunately brought our uniforms from the States.  Lincoln would like to tell everyone that we won 14 to 6.

We also spent a few days this past week at Philip Island.  It is an island just outside of Melbourne.  It is famous for its Grand Prix races and for its penguins.  It was quite a treat to see penguins in the wild.  The coastline looked surprisingly like Maine and even had the cold water to go along with it.

 Be well,

Nord

 

Opening Day

Dear all,

How funny it is to be speaking about Autumn (not “Fall”) and have the opening day of baseball.  The miracles of modern technology allowed us to watch the opening day baseball game with some Aussie friends, while eating a Boston Bun.

A Boston Bun is not necessarily the height of culinary genius but it is certainly tasty with about 2 inches of butter cream frosting heaped atop a soft cake-like roll.  I cannot figure how the name “Boston” figures into this gooey treat, but its there.

The Autumn has provided us with some of the most beautiful weather imaginable.  The nights are cool but certainly not cold and the days are warm but not hot.  We have had a bit of rain to make the landscape wonderfully green.

Now all the super hot and fire-ridden weather is gone and it is no longer in the news, we are finally starting to realize how many things are great about Australia.  Here is a sampling:

“No Worries” - The phrase “no worries” is used many ways, often in place of “you are welcome.”  What a wonderful phrase that reminds us to not sweat the small stuff.  

School Funding / Education - Education appears to be a real priority here.  It seems to be well funded and most people appear to be well educated and well spoken.

Wildlife - The wildlife here is quite incredible.  The variety of species is amazing and it is all so close.  For some reason animals just don’t seem as fearful of humans.  For example, the birds will stay in the tree eating fruit while you are picking the fruit.  The sounds are also quite striking.  Nighttime here sounds like a rainforest.  You would swear there are monkeys outside your house and then you realize they are just the kookaburras. 

Music & The Arts  - Our community here and the city of Melbourne values the arts.  The National Gallery Victoria spans two sizable buildings - both of which are free.  The school put on an amazing Bach concert where all the students (7-12) and faculty participated.  And Melbourne hosts the Grand Prix every year.  Uh ... I guess that doesn’t really fall into The Arts but it certainly was entertaining.

Public Transportation - The public transportation is really good.  It has allowed us to live quite comfortably without a car for these first few months ... which leads me to my next point ... the car.

We have finally purchased a car!  

To quote Margaret, “What more could I possibly wish for?  I have been dreaming ab

out a car like this for a long time.  Talk about exciting!”

Uh no.

To really quote Margaret, “Uh Nord, is that our car?  We bought that?”.  You see Margaret had not seen the car before it arrived in our driveway.  It is a 1992 Diesel Toyota Van.  No veggie oil :-)

The good news is that we have it registered, insured, and it has an official “road worthy” certification!

So you can all come visit now.  It seats 11 and even has room for bikes.

Happy Easter to you all!

Be well,

Nord