I sat in our study today, our study that is home to boxes, mostly empty boxes, some "green" shopping bags, a hammer and one lonely bookcase.
The study is light and bright and airy, even though it faces north. It looks out into the trees. It was very pleasing to me. At the moment the trees are green but soon enough they will change colour and the leaves will fall.
Whilst I look forward to seeing what Fall is like (we have Autumn in Australia, and autumn means some trees lose their leaves but only the imported ones, 99% of the Australian species keep their leaves, so the colour is not exactly spectacular), I fear months of no leaves on trees and gacky pathetic grass that has lost its colour after being snowed on.
So I guess I had best enjoy the study whilst I can, whilst it looks out onto dancing leaves and sparkles of sunlight (maybe I should move the computer up there out of the loungeroom!). Same with the ever-drawing-in evenings - get out there and enjoy them, quick, quick, like the ephemeral insects I saw dancing in the late afternoon sun today. It really feels like summer is done for now and we are heading for cooler weather. The evenings are cool now, not uncomfortable, just below 20 degrees C. Crickets call incessantly for mates, a sound which I like. It is gentle and soothing, unlike the shrilling of cicadas. The days start cool and warm up - we will still occasionally get temps in the 90sF, but I am hoping we won't get such oppressive heat as we have had recently. A thunderstorm every afternoon is exciting but tedious when you have to ride home on a bike in it....
Friday, 31 August 2007
Monday, 27 August 2007
Funny mood and a whinge
Today is a very odd day. DH has just been whisked off to Denver for his flight to a conference in Canada. Sniffle. Noone to talk to at home for days and days!
So I will go to an SnB (unless it rains, which it is threatening to) and a LYS knitty gathering and annoy our lovely neighbours.
I am sorta out of sorts at the moment. Since we got here, we've made friends with the neighbours and with one of Nathan's workmates/family and our new un-aunt-mother. That is it. (I've probably offended someone already by saying that.) We've met people and they seem really nice and welcoming and friendly but if you actually do ring them up or email them after they give you their card, they seem rather surprised. Hello! We are lonely! Of course if you are nice to us and give us your card we will contact you. In Australia, we give out our details to people we like, not just anyone we meet.
We think we are probably breaching some Unwritten Rule of Etiquette. Since it is unwritten, we do not know what that rule is. It is probably a cultural thing. It is like when I say I don't know where to go to get something. Quite often noone will tell me cos they think I am pulling their leg or something. How would I know what are good places to shop at here? How do I know where to find various items? We don't have the same shops at home. (We do have our own Kmart, which is slightly less scroaty than here, and our own Target, which seems aimed fairly much at the same market. Oh and Safeway in Oz is owned by Safeway here. And Shell.) We don't have the same products at home - there is probably a 50% cross over in some areas like shampoos and stuff but.
Ah well, could be worse. I could've been involved in this ballooning accident. I feel sorriest for the people who were having a nice holiday in an RV park (or maybe a nice quiet life) and then BINGO BANGO a flaming hot air balloon lands on their RV or their car and burns it to the ground.
Like Hello! How unlucky is that?
So I will go to an SnB (unless it rains, which it is threatening to) and a LYS knitty gathering and annoy our lovely neighbours.
I am sorta out of sorts at the moment. Since we got here, we've made friends with the neighbours and with one of Nathan's workmates/family and our new un-aunt-mother. That is it. (I've probably offended someone already by saying that.) We've met people and they seem really nice and welcoming and friendly but if you actually do ring them up or email them after they give you their card, they seem rather surprised. Hello! We are lonely! Of course if you are nice to us and give us your card we will contact you. In Australia, we give out our details to people we like, not just anyone we meet.
We think we are probably breaching some Unwritten Rule of Etiquette. Since it is unwritten, we do not know what that rule is. It is probably a cultural thing. It is like when I say I don't know where to go to get something. Quite often noone will tell me cos they think I am pulling their leg or something. How would I know what are good places to shop at here? How do I know where to find various items? We don't have the same shops at home. (We do have our own Kmart, which is slightly less scroaty than here, and our own Target, which seems aimed fairly much at the same market. Oh and Safeway in Oz is owned by Safeway here. And Shell.) We don't have the same products at home - there is probably a 50% cross over in some areas like shampoos and stuff but.
Ah well, could be worse. I could've been involved in this ballooning accident. I feel sorriest for the people who were having a nice holiday in an RV park (or maybe a nice quiet life) and then BINGO BANGO a flaming hot air balloon lands on their RV or their car and burns it to the ground.
Like Hello! How unlucky is that?
Sunday, 26 August 2007
Word of the week
CRAWDAD!
Golly, I love crawdads almost as much as I love the word "cooty." Of course now I think about it, cooty probably has racist overtones. Ooops.
(that one is real fresh btw - his eye is clouded but he is actually alive and crawling on the bike path)
But CRAWDAD? Almost as good as yabby! And the self same sorta critter - a crustacean that lives in ponds and creeks. I play with the ones in the creek down the bottom of the hill several times a week.
At certain times of the month or maybe when the current is stronger, they like to all pile up in the bit where the creek comes through a big drainpipe under the bike path. I think they are feeding there. Anyway, there are lots of swirls and eddies, and every now and then (ie very often) one yabby gets caught in an eddy and goes around and around and around and around - hope they don't get dizzy! They often knock other crawdads off their safe perch too so five of them go around and around and around. Sorta like a merry go round for crawdads. Other times the current just picks them up and deposits this flailing critter about 3m downstream. Then they start crawling back to where the food is oh so good@
Golly, I love crawdads almost as much as I love the word "cooty." Of course now I think about it, cooty probably has racist overtones. Ooops.
(that one is real fresh btw - his eye is clouded but he is actually alive and crawling on the bike path)
But CRAWDAD? Almost as good as yabby! And the self same sorta critter - a crustacean that lives in ponds and creeks. I play with the ones in the creek down the bottom of the hill several times a week.
At certain times of the month or maybe when the current is stronger, they like to all pile up in the bit where the creek comes through a big drainpipe under the bike path. I think they are feeding there. Anyway, there are lots of swirls and eddies, and every now and then (ie very often) one yabby gets caught in an eddy and goes around and around and around and around - hope they don't get dizzy! They often knock other crawdads off their safe perch too so five of them go around and around and around. Sorta like a merry go round for crawdads. Other times the current just picks them up and deposits this flailing critter about 3m downstream. Then they start crawling back to where the food is oh so good@
Thursday, 23 August 2007
Two monthaversary
It's two months since we got here. Wow, time flies when you are having fun!
So far it has been grand. We are getting fitter (well one of us is) riding our bikes around. The odd drive to 12,000 feet or so and a little hike around the mountains is helping too. We are seeing lots of nifty new stuff. We are getting to know our new home, at least in its summer face.
We've found all sorts of critters in the local creek and surrounds - racoons (mama and a youngster), a turtle, spiders, yabbies, fish... All sorts of plants and rocks and interesting natural stuff. It's mighty pleasing to me that we have such a nice spot down the bottom of our hill. Wonder what it will look like in winter?
Now that we are mostly settled in, it is time to start making new friends. We have a handful but we need a wider circle. I have all of next week to myself (DH is away Mon-Fri at a conference) so I'll be hitting the local yarn shops and hanging out. I might even make an SnB on Monday night!
So far it has been grand. We are getting fitter (well one of us is) riding our bikes around. The odd drive to 12,000 feet or so and a little hike around the mountains is helping too. We are seeing lots of nifty new stuff. We are getting to know our new home, at least in its summer face.
We've found all sorts of critters in the local creek and surrounds - racoons (mama and a youngster), a turtle, spiders, yabbies, fish... All sorts of plants and rocks and interesting natural stuff. It's mighty pleasing to me that we have such a nice spot down the bottom of our hill. Wonder what it will look like in winter?
Now that we are mostly settled in, it is time to start making new friends. We have a handful but we need a wider circle. I have all of next week to myself (DH is away Mon-Fri at a conference) so I'll be hitting the local yarn shops and hanging out. I might even make an SnB on Monday night!
Friday, 17 August 2007
Word of the Week
Cooties.
Man I love that word! Cooties! Every time I go into a thrift store now I worry about cooties! Of course anything that I bring home that has not been washed or obviously needs to be washed/cleaned gets washed/cleaned so hopefully I'll only have my own cooties and not anyone else's.*
My other current favourite word will have to wait until next week, when it can be Word of the Week.
(*I can't believe that they sell underwear - knickers, bras, jocks, socks - and even worse USED makeup !!!! at some thrift stores. Like who wants some nice cold sore ointment, aka used lipstick? Ick! But I still shop there for good things like sweaters to pull apart and the odd tshirt. I'm getting a good collection of tie-dye tshirts now :-)
Man I love that word! Cooties! Every time I go into a thrift store now I worry about cooties! Of course anything that I bring home that has not been washed or obviously needs to be washed/cleaned gets washed/cleaned so hopefully I'll only have my own cooties and not anyone else's.*
My other current favourite word will have to wait until next week, when it can be Word of the Week.
(*I can't believe that they sell underwear - knickers, bras, jocks, socks - and even worse USED makeup !!!! at some thrift stores. Like who wants some nice cold sore ointment, aka used lipstick? Ick! But I still shop there for good things like sweaters to pull apart and the odd tshirt. I'm getting a good collection of tie-dye tshirts now :-)
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
On homesickness
Homesickness is a PITA. You think you are travelling OK, then something suddenly comes and bites you in the butt and you sit around feeling wanty of something familiar. I've been avoiding it by keeping busy (ie shopping and checking out the thrift stores for jumpers to shred into yarn) but today is a slow, hot day and I only have about 80 cents in my wallet. I've been to the library and picked up some books I had on hold - one is an Alice Starmore knitting book but it turns out to be one on ganseys, not her fair isle ones. Dang! I've been to a yarn shop and dropped off my yellow bear. I've been to Home Depot and checked out storage options, Ryobi one+ kits (we love one+, we have it at home and it is great for home handypersons!) and oddly enough the kitchens. Very disappointed in the kitchens - where are the pull out whole cupboard pantries, etc? I love looking at the weird storage organising things for kitchens. It seems Australians are kitchen snobs - we have so many kitchen places getting in the latest designs from Europe.
Looking at pictures of the cats is probably a wrong move, eh? Like looking at pictures of an ex when you've just broken up, except you don't sit and cry miserably, you just feel a bit sad. Anyway, the sods (cats that is) probably won't even remember us - they haven't exactly pined away.
Homesickness is worst when I have not had anyone to talk to for a while. Even someone in a shop is good enough. Yep, the introvert needs some human interaction. The extravert of us goes completely pear shaped with noone to talk to.
So if you want to talk to us, get online and fire up your chat program. We are on jabber/gaim but I am told that AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, GroupWise Messenger and Zephyr will all talk to gaim. We want to talk to you! I can email you our names/servers if you want to chat and maybe even provide some options for chat programs, but I'm not advertising our identities online! Plus we have webphone and webcam now too (though DH sets all that up - it always needs tweaking, silly stuff!).
Looking at pictures of the cats is probably a wrong move, eh? Like looking at pictures of an ex when you've just broken up, except you don't sit and cry miserably, you just feel a bit sad. Anyway, the sods (cats that is) probably won't even remember us - they haven't exactly pined away.
Homesickness is worst when I have not had anyone to talk to for a while. Even someone in a shop is good enough. Yep, the introvert needs some human interaction. The extravert of us goes completely pear shaped with noone to talk to.
So if you want to talk to us, get online and fire up your chat program. We are on jabber/gaim but I am told that AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, GroupWise Messenger and Zephyr will all talk to gaim. We want to talk to you! I can email you our names/servers if you want to chat and maybe even provide some options for chat programs, but I'm not advertising our identities online! Plus we have webphone and webcam now too (though DH sets all that up - it always needs tweaking, silly stuff!).
Monday, 13 August 2007
Mt Evans, the Summit Lake episode
Last we were driving up Mt Evans, we were feeling a little challenged by the road. After all, you don't get views like this one
very often.
So we drove up through the clouds and the gloom and suddenly came out at Summit Lake. This is a really pretty spot, even in clouds and gloom. I'll let the pics do the talking, though our knees and teeth could've told a whole story by themselves. It was almost literally freezing up there!
I've put together a panorama here, though it doesn't show the lake.
DH and I felt the cold acutely, and scuttled around madly trying to stay warm, looking around the place. To the west was a deep valley that wavered in and out of view as the clouds rolled past:
One thing that fascinated us was the condition of the road. There is a warning sign saying "rough and uneven surface" or words to that intent. Uneven surface is not the best description. It seems that the road has suffered frost heave - it goes over a patch of permafrost. The road undulates madly. It is certainly not something you want to drive over at anything more than speed hump, real speed hump not these fake things that don't slow anyone down, speed. Totally bizarre, but we didn't take a pic cos we didn't know the significance then. Apparently this is an area that has arctic flowers that are not known so far south anywhere else - not only is it alpine but it is arctic as well. I guess the flowers are there because of the permafrost....
very often.
So we drove up through the clouds and the gloom and suddenly came out at Summit Lake. This is a really pretty spot, even in clouds and gloom. I'll let the pics do the talking, though our knees and teeth could've told a whole story by themselves. It was almost literally freezing up there!
I've put together a panorama here, though it doesn't show the lake.
DH and I felt the cold acutely, and scuttled around madly trying to stay warm, looking around the place. To the west was a deep valley that wavered in and out of view as the clouds rolled past:
One thing that fascinated us was the condition of the road. There is a warning sign saying "rough and uneven surface" or words to that intent. Uneven surface is not the best description. It seems that the road has suffered frost heave - it goes over a patch of permafrost. The road undulates madly. It is certainly not something you want to drive over at anything more than speed hump, real speed hump not these fake things that don't slow anyone down, speed. Totally bizarre, but we didn't take a pic cos we didn't know the significance then. Apparently this is an area that has arctic flowers that are not known so far south anywhere else - not only is it alpine but it is arctic as well. I guess the flowers are there because of the permafrost....
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