Ghost Gums, Old Glory

Margaret River Getaway

I've been feeling quite stressed, just worn thin and worn out. I haven't had a trip overseas in nearly a year, so I started to look around and see where I could go close to home. One of my girlfriends agreed to come with me, and she even offered to drive. We went down south, to the Margaret River region. Truly an area of outstanding natural beauty, with some of the most gorgeous coastline anywhere.

We stayed 2 nights in a B&B. I got a coupon for half off the room rate, which I thought was good value - and just about what it was worth. Well, it was nice enough, and made a good base for our explorations.

It was such a wonderful, relaxing experience to have no particular place to go, to be free to wander and stop wherever we liked. I tasted lots of excellent wines. I found some gorgeous pottery. Mostly, though, I relaxed.

Busselton Jetty, which at 3 kms long is the longest timber-piered jetty in the Southern Hemisphere.

The other end of the jetty, with the train that runs from one end to the other.

In other news, here is my most recent picture of Buffy:

I gave her a bath this morning, and as usual I ended up taking one as well. 

 

 

Buffy To The Rescue

Well, what a very busy few weeks I've had! My niece was here visiting, that was so much fun. She only had a short trip, and I packed in as much as I could...I'm still recovering! hahaha

I'll be posting our activities a little later, but for now I have a short video to entertain you.

One day last week we were sitting in the kitchen chatting, and I heard the dog barking outside. It was her deep, serious bark. The one that says 'Come here now!! I've found something you need to deal with!' So, I run out back, and she was circling something in the grass. I knew what it had to be before I saw it - a blue-tongued lizard. We have so many here in the warm weather, but it's the first time Buffy had ever seen one.

I have been calling this a goanna  but it is properly called a shingleback, the western blue-tongued lizard. The goanna is a monitor lizard, and this one is a bob-tailed lizard. There's your Aussie wildlife fact for the day.

On to the video!

  

It was really interesting to watch her. She circled, closer and closer. She was smart enough not to charge in when she didn't know what it was. I pulled her away before she could eat it, though. While it's not poisonous, they do bite. But they move so slowly it's not hard to avoid being bitten.

Oh! And! Tonight is our first concert of the season: The Bangles opening for Pat Benatar. w00t!!

I miss the 80's.

 

Always Runnin' Behind

Between the garden, and trying to keep the dog from getting her face scratched off ( Buffy just can't understand why the cats don't want to play with her) and organizing the Thanksgiving meetup, posting has been rather light. For that, I apologize, faithful readers.

I don't have any fresh pictures to share, sorry. I KNOW. But I did want to share the fact that I will be taking my Aussie oath of citizenship in January - on Australia Day. I called the town council office as soon as I passed my test and asked when they had the next ceremony planned. "Australia Day, isn't that exciting?" Um, no yes? Well, when you put it like that, I guess I can't complain about having to wait for 5 MONTHS! Oh wait, I just did, didn't I?

Here's something I discovered on the web. Don't ever say this blog doesn't help you to live your life better.

 

One last thing. I've been migrating some old (OLD) posts over to this blog, and things might look a leetle wonky. Bear with me while I sort it out, ok? OK!

Back in the U.S.

I've been back in the US for a little over a week. It was a quickly thrown together trip, at the last minute, but I needed to be here to take care of some family issues. I was able to spend quite a few days doing as little as possible, and that really helped me to get over the jetlag. No danger of me driving in the wrong lane anymore! (Sorry, Mom).

It's 4th of July weekend, and it's the first one I've spent Stateside in many years. I'm slightly surprised and disappointed not to see more decorations around. As if there's not a lot of pride in being American anymore - that really saddens me. Tomorrow is a cookout with the family, which means chili dogs! YAY!!

I grew up here, and coming back is not very fun. There's nothing to do that I haven't done a thousand times before, and I don't gamble, so have no interest in the casinos. The best part, for me, is that it's less than 3 hours away from NYC on Amtrak. Always has been the best part, now that I think about it.

One day last week we went to Captain Scott's Lobster Dock for some seafood. The New England roadside staples - clam strip roll and lobster roll. It's well known, if you're local, but I never see it mentioned in any writeups on the area. The salt in the air, the gulls wheeling overhead and the ducks begging for scraps - just a perfect backdrop to the freshest, tastiest seafood around.

This is the view from the dock, can't you just smell the salt air? 

Meanwhile at home, Buffy has doubled in size and weight. She's 15 kilos (33 lbs.) so I guess I won't be cradling her in my arms when I get back home. And I don't think I need to mention how sad that makes me. Funny story: I went to the pet store to get a few toys for my fur babies back home. The cashier looked at the pile on the counter and asked me how many dogs I have. I may have gone a little overboard.

Soul

I'm constantly amazed at the calibre of musical acts we get here now. Most recently we saw Seal at King's Park. 

This was a new venue for us, generally we go to Sandalford Winery which is absolutely gorgeous. We're both past the age where a concert at a stadium has any appeal, so we avoid those.

I called the restaurant at the park (which just happens to be where we got hitched!) to get a table for dinner before the show. I was told that people were driving around (at 3 in the afternoon!!) looking for parking. No matter, as we're eating there, we'd park in their lot.

It took us nearly 20 minutes to get into the park, there were that many cars lined up to turn in. People streaming across the grass, loaded down with their lawn chairs and picnic gear, quite a lot of excitement in the air!

We bought VIP tickets, which includes a cocktail reception before the show. 

We opted instead to eat a real meal at the restaurant, but you'll be happy to know I made it in time to throw a couple glasses of champagne down my neck. As we were standing at the bar, I noticed some people waving, as if they knew us.It turned out to be a couple of shopowners from here in town. Small world! They were a little worse for wear, what with the free liquor and just finger food to eat. 

We were led down to our seats - front row, baby! - and settled in. I spent some time looking around, the venue was absolutely jampacked.

About 20 minutes after the show started, people started to come and stand in front of us. Or try to, anyway. Finally, I stood up, and somehow I got dragged to the edge of the stage by our friends from earlier.

Ooh, what a show! I loved the fact that his horn section was all girl, and also that he wore his wedding ring.

As the night wore on, the women around me got bolder and bolder, rubbing his legs whenever he ventured to the front of the stage. It kind of creeped me out, to be honest. Before you ask, no, I wasn't fondling him.

The set list included music from his 'Soul' cd - featuring classics from artists like Sam Cooke, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield and Otis Redding- as well as a few of his own hits. 

I was impressed, he performed for a couple hours with no breaks, and he really gave it his all. What a wonderful night!

Our next concert: The B-52s!

This Old House

Follow along on our home renovation, from start to finish. With pictures and everything!

This Old House 

Housekeeping

This weekend we had a bonfire in the back yard. Actually it was a few fires, burning off yard waste. There were piles of it that we needed to get rid of before summer - before the ban on burning. It gets very dry, and hot, and everyone lives in fear of a bushfire during the summer - hence the ban on any sort of fire.

This pile of brush was higher than my head, and it burned down to this in just a few minutes(!). I didn't get a picture, I was a little busy at the time, helping to keep it contained.  Stephen is standing to the right with the hose, which we had going the entire time. I took this picture with my phone, BTW. Who says iPhones can't take good pictures?

Still Fresh and Funny in Australia: Blackface

Yes, blackface.

You might understandably think this was a clip from a 60's tv show - but this aired last night. In 2009.

The show was a live reunion special for Hey Hey, It's Saturday, a popular and long-running program here in Australia that was canceled a decade ago. During their Red Faces segment, which is similar to the American version of The Gong Show, six doctors performed a choreographed number in blackface and afro wigs pretending to be the Jackson 5. Thankfully, one of the judges hit the gong shortly into the number.

The amazing thing is that, as the show tells us, in 1989, the same group doing a very similar act won the competition! So, in 20 years, we've gone from this offensive form of comedy being wildly popular to ... still being wildly popular with slack-jawed suburbanites. The studio audience booed the judge who gonged them.

Sure, there are culture differences, but it's not like they don't have black folks in Australia who would get pissed off by this. Judging from the comments I've read, that makes me a "precious American" who's too politically correct. Host Daryl Somers apologized (to Harry Connick Jr., who was a musical guest) later in the show, noting “I know that to your countrymen, that’s an insult to have a blackface routine like that on the show.” Well guess what, Daryl - I am one of YOUR countrymen, and I am beyond insulted.

Happy Birthday!

I'm a little slow posting a pic of my birthday flowers...here they are:

2 dozen red roses, so pretty!

I'm beginning to thaw out, the weather has warmed up FINALLY. We've actually seen the sun for the past 2 days, and looking at the forecast - it seems Spring is here. Better late than never, I suppose. Now to get out in the garden - I'll be planting out my vegetable beds this week.

Old Friends

So, we went to see Simon & Garfunkel. I didn't even know they were coming until a couple of weeks ago. When I found out, I rushed to get tickets, and there were still good ones available. YAY! Oh, but they were coming to Burswood, BOO!
The night of the concert comes, and we head down early to get dinner at the casino. First sign of trouble was the line of cars backed up to get in. We get in finally, and Stephen made a space at the end of a row in an already full lot. Walk over to the casino, and every restaurant is crammed. When I called, I was told that the one where we wanted to eat wouldn't open until 6 pm. We got there a little before 6, and it was already full!! With a queue out the front door. Bastards!
We walk back outside, and decide to try the hamburger shack on the hill above. Get all the way up there, and it's packed, too. At that point, Stephen's blood sugar crashed, and he was ready to go home. We ended up eating at one of the carts in the parking lot in front of the Dome.

On to the show! We get inside, and find our seats, and I am FREEZING! I wrapped my scarf around my head (having neglected to wear a hat). We're waiting, and waiting, and someone comes on the P.A. and says "We still have a lot of people in the parking lot making their way in, so we'll get started in a little while"... it ended up being about half an hour late. Art even commented on the temperature when they got started.

The music was amazing, the show was entertaining, we had a really good time once the concert started. One of the most entertaining parts of the evening- there is still a lot of tension in that relationship. They performed 'Slipsiding Away' together, and Paul Simon said  "If we hadn't broken up, I always thought this would have made a good Simon and Garfunkel song"...HA! Wow, way to twist the knife, Paul! Art was onstage alone doing some of his music (other than 'Brighteyes' from 'Watership Down', nothing anyone knew) Then they switched and Paul brought down the house with 'Boy in the Bubble' - he did a few from 'Graceland'. Then Art rejoined him onstage. They did 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' and I was impressed that Art still had that note at the end.

There was no opening act, and no intermission. Just the 2 of them onstage, often with just Paul's guitar, no band. We left after the second encore, (in an attempt to beat the traffic) and of course 'Cecelia' was the very last encore (they did 4). *sigh*

It was such an amazing experience - they are just legendary. I mean, they've achieved Muzak status. Looking their age, certainly, but the music was just as touching- as affecting- as ever.
I'm so happy we went, in spite of the drawbacks of Burswood.