We gathered together

When I was young, my dad periodically oversaw some international university students and we sometimes invited them to our house for dinner. One year we invited a man from Africa to join us for Thanksgiving dinner, along with our friend Aldena, an older woman (and quite a character) in our neighborhood who often joined us for holidays.  

Midway through the dinner, Aldena politely asked the man, "So what do you eat for Thanksgiving in Africa?"

The man paused for a moment and then replied, "Well, we don't have Thanksgiving there."  

"You don't?  Oh, my.  Really?  I can't imagine." Aldena was aghast and very disappointed in the continent of Africa and their apparent unthankfulness.

All of this is just to say: of course Australia doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, the holiday marking that feast when the indians graciously gathered with and welcomed the newly arrived pilgrims to the American continent. It's just a regular old work and school day here...but that didn't mean we were going to ignore one of our favorite days of the year.  So we pulled the kids out of school for the day, went to a movie matinee in the morning (Skyfall, which opened yesterday here), came home and made lemon meringue pies and stuffing, and then joined friends at their house for a gathering of expats and Australians. It was a terrific Thanksgiving feast with all of the traditional fixings. (Which was no small feat, really. It's harder to find turkey here. Or shortening. And canned pumpkin is non-existent.)

See the guy in the red ^? He is my second cousin, Craig. I'd never met him but I knew from his last name that we were probably related and sure enough, his dad Chuck is my mom's cousin so our grandmothers are sisters. He's doing an post-grad internship with Major League Baseball here in Canberra. (Maddy works for him there.) We were happy to have a family connection here. Such a small world.

Also? Kathleen, the dark-haired woman at the head of the table looking right at the camera, is a long-lost cousin on that same branch of the family tree (we just figured this out a couple of weeks ago). She is my mom's second cousin; her grandfather was my mom's grandfather's brother, both Brockbanks. So here we three are, halfway around the world in the same city, in the same ward, at the same time, from the same family tree. Lovely!

This year we're the new arrivals on a new continent. There's so much to be thankful for, especially for close and faraway family and friends. Love to you all. And Happy Thankgiving!

Say what?

A while ago I volunteered to go get the ward choir music bound at the local office supply store. I was wandering around trying to find some of those clear covers and plastic spiral bindings and couldn't locate them anywhere. Finally, I spotted a store employee and asked him where to find them.

"Oh, right. Those are online."

"So I have to order them online and then come and have these bound?"

"Uh, no, love. Online."

"Sorry?...but...online?"

(guy holds up nine fingers and speaks slowly)

"A i s l e   N i n e"

Ohhhhh.

. . .

Today on the drive to school the guy on the radio was talking about Elton John (who just did a concert here last night) and how his favorite song of the evening's performance was Tony Danza. While not a huge Elton fan, I was pretty sure I was aware of most of his songs and surprised that he wrote one about the Who's the Boss actor. Hmmm, interesting. Then he proceeded to play the song: Tiny Dancer. Ohhhhh.

. . .

Still finetuning my ears to the nuances of the Australian accent, I suppose, but it's very entertaining in the meantime!

Equal money

I love Aussie money. First of all, it's money and who doesn't like that? And it's colorful which just makes life cheerier when you're buying your milk and bread (and easier to quickly find the bill you're looking for). Also, it's made of an interesting polymer material which is kind of like fabric, kind of like plastic. It's rugged and slick with a cute little clear window to prevent counterfeiting. 

But I especially love Australian currency because I've noticed that each one features a man on one side of the bill...and a woman on the other (except the 5, which features a woman on one side and a building on the other). How cool is that? 

Poets AB 'Banjo' Paterson and Dame Mary Gilmore. If you look carefully you can see some of their poetry on the bill

Reverend John Flynn (founder of world's first aerial medical service) and Mary Reibey (who arrived in Oz as a convict and went on to become a shipping magnate and philanthropist)

Aboriginal writer David Unaipon and Australia's first female parliamentarian Edith Cowan

Well done, Australia! (By the way, the coins all feature animals and symbols of Australia.)

This has made me think about who I would include on US currency if I had a vote. Obviously Jane Addams, Sacagawea, and Susan B Anthony have been honored (although ironically those coins never really caught on). Sally Ride? Louisa Alcott? Ella Fitzgerald? 

Who would you nominate?

. . .

For more info on Aussie money, go here.

Ahoy, maties

Well, we're not in Kansas anymore!  That's probably just as well, since when we were driving across the country,  I lit my hair on fire in Kansas. But that's a story for another day.

We spent the month of August packing up, cleaning out, driving across the US, spending delicious time with family and friends, and saying goodbye over and over and over again. (Oh, the goodbyes! The only thing worse than saying goodbye to people you love is watching your children say goodbye to people they love. Heartbreaking.)  In early September, we offically set off on the plane bound for our new home.

We're finally emerging from the jetlag fog (and some pesky colds) to explore and enjoy our new hometown. Here's our home for the next few years. We love it. It was a really lucky find when we had a quick 3 days in an off-season market to find housing; we knew as soon as we walked in that it was the one. (The only thing that will make it better is when our belongings arrive in mid October.) Can you spot two silly teenagers who sneaked into the shot?

As you can see, it's early spring here so no leaves on the trees quite yet. But we have roses in our garden!

We really like the neighborhood (Yarralumla). There's a little row of shops a few blocks away with a post office, bakery, grocery, gift shop and a few restaurants. In the other direction just a couple of blocks aways is this beautiful scene that we can't get enough of:

So that's the quick version of the past few weeks. I'll fill in some more of the details in coming days but here's our journey by the numbers:

13 different sets of beds 
drove through 11 states in 5 days
hundreds of awesome songs on our playlist
5+ generous hosts (my parents, G's parents, my brother Matt, my grandparents, and Christie)
countless generosities from and visits with dear ones
3 visits to Cafe Rio and 4 visits to Cafe Zupas
24 hours traveling to Australia from take-off in SLC to landing in Canberra
and 3.5 filled airsick bags enroute

Some details I'll fill in more than others, I promise.

Getting a move on

"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer,
the top of the live-long year,
like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning."
--Katherine Paterson

I like that quote very much. Except, well, this is what the first week of August looks like at our house:

Not so top-of-the-ferris-wheel feeling, I assure you, but definitely cathartic, frazzling, and good. We are on day 2 of a 5-day pack and load process. In a severe test of my organizational abilities, all of our household goods had to be sorted into six sections: things going into storage, things going in the air shipment, things going in the sea shipment, things going with L to her apartment, things going with us in our suitcases for the next month, and a whole load of things we don't want anymore. We have alternated between resembling an episode of Hoarders and an episode of Storage Wars. (Please, come buy the junky contents of my garage right now! I'll give you everything for $1.)

And guess what? We have a signed purchase and sale agreement on our house, scheduled to close at the end of August. We're very grateful for the timing and the way things worked out. Whew.

Here's  one thing I've been wondering: what happened to my fight-or-flight response? Because I'm pretty sure that when I'm stressed I don't tend to want to fight through or high tail it & run away. I just want to curl up in a nice little fetal ball and have a nap. Apparently adrenaline is a sedative for me? That can't be evolutionarily wise, right? Fight, flight, or...fizzle?  

Lots to catch up on! More soon.