. . . that it is officially summer vacation for Corvallis High School and Liberty Elementary. That is, all of our American friends and family have begun the season of eating watermelon, sleeping in, picking strawberries, staying up late, planning for fireworks, packing for the road trip, floating on the river, lazing at the coast, you know, summertime!! Not Ross and me. No sir. We're up every morning making our lunches before catching our rides. I'm grading papers in the evening while he writes his English essay. It's the weirdest feeling ever to write the date on my classroom whiteboard in the morning, 22 June, 2010. I've never done that before!
All griping aside, we're having an Aussie blast. For now, we'll settle down for a hot cocoa and enjoy the Winter Solstice.
Happy Summer everyone at home!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Ross scored a photo and INK!
This week in the Bellingen Shire Courier-Sun and Coffs Harbour Independent:
"The second game against the Coffs Harbour Suns saw the Braves somewhat overwhelmed right from the opening tip. Standout performance by Braves newcomer Ross Hernried was a feature of the Braves throughout the game, but the Suns demeanded to own the result on the day out playing the Braves to the final moments of the game."
"The second game against the Coffs Harbour Suns saw the Braves somewhat overwhelmed right from the opening tip. Standout performance by Braves newcomer Ross Hernried was a feature of the Braves throughout the game, but the Suns demeanded to own the result on the day out playing the Braves to the final moments of the game."
Monday, June 21, 2010
Congrats to Lydia!
Lydia graduated from University of San Francisco on May 21! Her ceremoney started at 9:00 a.m. in the beautiful cathedral on campus. Marc was there with my sister Emilie, and Lyd's second mom and "goddess" mother, Denise. Her dad and grandmother were there. Lydie's hairdresser, who also happens to be Pat's mom's second cousin (!), wonderful Rhonda, was also there.
I was there via mobile phone at 2:00 a.m. from inside our teeny tent in the middle of the outback at Warumbungle National Park!
Marc called me just as the procession was finishing. We had to hush when the prayers began and I just listened with the crackling connection. Then I could hear the national anthem being played on the big pipe organ. I thought of Mom. Tears were already rolling and I was so happy to "be there." After diplomas were given, I could hear the wooping as she passed down the aisle by the family. It was the next best thing. How amazing that I could share part of her day afterall?
I was there via mobile phone at 2:00 a.m. from inside our teeny tent in the middle of the outback at Warumbungle National Park!
Marc called me just as the procession was finishing. We had to hush when the prayers began and I just listened with the crackling connection. Then I could hear the national anthem being played on the big pipe organ. I thought of Mom. Tears were already rolling and I was so happy to "be there." After diplomas were given, I could hear the wooping as she passed down the aisle by the family. It was the next best thing. How amazing that I could share part of her day afterall?
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Camping at Warumbungles National Park
We took four days to travel about 8 hours inland, south and west from us, meet up with Paul and Diana again, and camp under the stars with the wildlife! We borrowed some gear, picked up the extras, and headed off. No s'mores on this trip, though. They don't sell graham crackers here, and the marshmellows looked, well, pink. I brought cookies, instead!
Our campsite was rustic - bring your own picnic table or do without, folks. We did have hot showers, with a resident koala living in the tree right above. Our tent seemed to be placed right under a kookaburra's perch on the power pole, and he called in his family three times a day right above our heads. That sounds, truly, like three howler monkeys calling out for 45 - 70 seconds at a time. Loud, raucous, laughing above us! Wonderful!
There were kangaroos all around, like we would have squirrels in the states. At night you could hear them rummaging around the campsite looking for scraps. I'd hear them bouncing by on their way through! There were emu in the surrounding meadows like we might see deer. It was unreal.
We set up camp in jeans and a sweatshirt (called a jumper here), but by sundown we were fr-eeeeeeee-zing. But freezing. We had a fire going, but we were freezing. Did I mention it was really cold? I can only remember one other time I would have tent camped so cold - at 10,000 feet, Tioga Pass above Yosemite. Am I spoiled with the motor home or what?? The days were glorious.
We hiked both days on the most beautiful hikes I've ever taken. The paths were scenic with photo opportunities at every bend. We climbed way up, we scaled rocks, we perched on incredible ledges, we looked over the valley and out to the WEST of Australia, as in, forever flat after the hill we were on! We didn't worry about snakes on the path this time around since it is fall and cold, and the snakes are either hibernating or really slow, so really a non-issue.
On our last day, on our last bit of trail, with Ross having jogged, by himself, the last part back to the "car park," we spotted a huge red bellied black snake curled up next to the path. Yes, very dangerous, but very shy. Yes, very scared! As he shimmied off into his little hole under the rock, he appeared probably 4 feet long. Plenty. This was my first real spotting of these guys, as you may have read awhile back, and it was good for me to see my Aussie friends so calm and observant, but very careful. They tickled him to nudge him off the trail while I watched in frozen terror back behind. It wasn't so bad afterall. Will I be that calm if it happens again? Not sure.
As we drove out the last day we stopped by the Observatory. This is where the telescopes for research are housed and it all happens- the largest observatory in the southern hemisphere! Seeing the enormous telescopes close up was awesome.
This was the most outback we've been so far (or at least that I've been - Pat and Tim had more outback earlier!), and certainly the most wildlife we'd lived with close up. It was a fantastic weekend. I'd go back in a heartbeat, but like so many things about this year, I feel I probably will never see that park again. Isn't that weird? But it's a beautiful memory.
Our campsite was rustic - bring your own picnic table or do without, folks. We did have hot showers, with a resident koala living in the tree right above. Our tent seemed to be placed right under a kookaburra's perch on the power pole, and he called in his family three times a day right above our heads. That sounds, truly, like three howler monkeys calling out for 45 - 70 seconds at a time. Loud, raucous, laughing above us! Wonderful!
There were kangaroos all around, like we would have squirrels in the states. At night you could hear them rummaging around the campsite looking for scraps. I'd hear them bouncing by on their way through! There were emu in the surrounding meadows like we might see deer. It was unreal.
We set up camp in jeans and a sweatshirt (called a jumper here), but by sundown we were fr-eeeeeeee-zing. But freezing. We had a fire going, but we were freezing. Did I mention it was really cold? I can only remember one other time I would have tent camped so cold - at 10,000 feet, Tioga Pass above Yosemite. Am I spoiled with the motor home or what?? The days were glorious.
We hiked both days on the most beautiful hikes I've ever taken. The paths were scenic with photo opportunities at every bend. We climbed way up, we scaled rocks, we perched on incredible ledges, we looked over the valley and out to the WEST of Australia, as in, forever flat after the hill we were on! We didn't worry about snakes on the path this time around since it is fall and cold, and the snakes are either hibernating or really slow, so really a non-issue.
On our last day, on our last bit of trail, with Ross having jogged, by himself, the last part back to the "car park," we spotted a huge red bellied black snake curled up next to the path. Yes, very dangerous, but very shy. Yes, very scared! As he shimmied off into his little hole under the rock, he appeared probably 4 feet long. Plenty. This was my first real spotting of these guys, as you may have read awhile back, and it was good for me to see my Aussie friends so calm and observant, but very careful. They tickled him to nudge him off the trail while I watched in frozen terror back behind. It wasn't so bad afterall. Will I be that calm if it happens again? Not sure.
As we drove out the last day we stopped by the Observatory. This is where the telescopes for research are housed and it all happens- the largest observatory in the southern hemisphere! Seeing the enormous telescopes close up was awesome.
This was the most outback we've been so far (or at least that I've been - Pat and Tim had more outback earlier!), and certainly the most wildlife we'd lived with close up. It was a fantastic weekend. I'd go back in a heartbeat, but like so many things about this year, I feel I probably will never see that park again. Isn't that weird? But it's a beautiful memory.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Cinco de Mayo
"What's THAT?" my carpooling partners said. I was mentioning that today is my dad's birthday, and that means it's also Cinco de Mayo. "Well, it's a holiday in Mexico that Americans go crazy over because it's a great excuse to eat nachos and drink Margaritas." "Oooh. Let's celebrate that!" they both chimed. "We could do it next week when Neil is home!" I didn't really know how to tell them it wasn't something one celebrates any other day than the 5th of May, since it's called The Fifth of May and all. "So what do we do?" I explained how we could have a lot of nachos and I could make fajitas. If someone had a blender we could have Margaritas (although I've never seen anyone drink anything besides beer, wine, beer, maybe a rum and coke and more beer). "Oooh. Sounds great!!" Sure enough, we had great salt-rimmed drinks, plenty of chili and tortillas, and limes to squeeze over everything. Over dinner someone asked how to spell Cinco de Mayo and what it meant. When I told them, they all looked at each other. "But todays the 15th!" No worries, mate.
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