The Fresh Smell of Spring!

Awe.... the fresh smell of springtime in Minnesota....achoo!!  Well...I guess I'll  trust what others are saying about it smelling like spring...right now I can't breath through my nose and my voice sounds like a raspy 30 year smoker.  Oh...wait...that is me...but raspy voice doesn't exactly come to my mind.

Yup...I've got the dreaded spring cold/sinus infection complicated by allergies and the slow spring here has every flower, tree, grass and mold variety all firing at once and one of my worst nightmares come true.

I've had allergies for many years now but it's been a few since nature has exploded all at once and I've only had a couple of colds in the past 4-5 years that haven't been much to speak of...until now.  So I am feeling a bit sorry for myself and have jumped straight into the pajamas the minute I've walked in the door from work the last two nights.

Oh well...this too shall pass...another week and I'll have forgotten about my red 'Rudolph' nose caused by continuous blowing which freakishly sounds like a honking goose.  I wouldn't be surprised if I saw a 'warning-infectious disease area' sign on the outside of my cubicle tomorrow.  My co-workers haven't pulled out the face masks yet...and it probably is my imagination but am I getting more instant messages versus visits to my cube lately??  But can I really blame them?!  LOL

Ummm...would someone please pass the NyQuil??


Until next time...wherever you are...have a great day!!

A Red Carpet Departure!!

I did not sleep well and was up and down a few times during the night.  I would go outside and sit for a while just looking up at the stars and whatever the constellations were that I was looking at.  Heaven knows I could only identify the moon and knew absolutely nothing about the stars in the Southern Hemisphere.  A couple of weeks earlier it had dawned on me in the middle of the night looking up at the stars that I was truly in the Southern Hemisphere when I tried locating the Northern Star and realized I knew not a single star shining in that night sky. 

Even though I wished it away morning came and it was time to head to the airport.  I am one that doesn't like to be seen getting verklempt but from time to time I had to wipe a tear away.  I'm sure Natalie probably noticed but didn't say anything which was probably a good thing as I would have lost the battle right then and there instead of later. 

Before I arrived in Australia I had given Natalie a hard time about having the red carpet treatment and a band playing when I landed.  Well of course that didn't happen and I never expected it but now, leaving Australia I had to laugh as we approached the international customs departure area.  Lo and behold there before my eyes was a red carpet at the entrance!!  It was a brief moment of humor...and then I had to say goodbye.

You never leave someone behind, you take a part of them with you and leave a part of yourself behind. 

~Author Unknown~



My Last Saturday

Despite all of my wishing and hoping my last Saturday had arrived and Sandi, Natalie and I were going up to one of their favorite villages high up in the Dandenong Range for brekkie in the quaint village of Olinda. 

It was a lovely, sunny morning as we drove up the Dandenongs and soon we found ourselves in Olinda.  I don't recall the name of the restaurant but the food was yummy. 

It was kind of humorous to me when I took that first sip of my 'long black' coffee that morning...when I first arrived in Australia that first sip gave me quite a jolt...it was so strong.  Now having my last cup of 'long black' the first sip seemed pretty normal to me...no screaming taste buds from the sudden jolt of caffeine.  Had I really gotten used to that caffeine jolt?  It appeared so.

After brekkie we strolled down the boardwalk wandering in and out of the quaint little shops.  I found a key rack made of a board and square nails with an Australian penny embedded in the wood and picked it up for myself. 

Natalie had hated dealing with pennies when she was in the U.S. and because of her strong dislike I had sent her a paperweight that had U.S. pennies embedded in it as a joke.  I chuckled when I first got to Aus and spied that very same paperweight sitting on the ledge in my bedroom.

Pennies hadn't been used in Australia for quite a few years as it was taken out of circulation in 1991.  Much like the value of the U.S. penny the Aus penny was worth about .833 of a cent at that time so it made sense to stop using it.  I think we should consider doing the same thing here with the penny.  So I just thought it right that I have my own Aus penny to take home.  Anyways...
The day went by quickly and the next thing I knew Sandi was dropping us off and we were getting ready to head over to Natalie's mum's for dinner with Rob and Auntie Barb.  It seemed only fitting to spend my last evening in Australia with Natalie, Helen & Bob just as I had spent my first evening with them...only this time I would stay awake!!

The evening was full of chatter and laughter and once when I started to tell a joke Auntie Barb chimed right in and started reciting it with me and we both laughed...I surely didn't expect her to know that one!!

But, as was typical, the evening flew by and it was time to head back to Natalie's and finish up with last minute packing and get ready for the long flight back home to Minnesota.  I'm just not sure how a month's time could go by so damned fast but now, just over two months later looking back it was a blur of sights and sounds and people that can only be described as amazing.  For a first international trip I doubt if I will ever be able to top this one...truly a dream come true.

So until next time...wherever you are...have a wonderful day!!

Christmas in March??

I have to admit one of the outings I'd been looking forward to for almost three months was my Christmas gift.  Christmas gift?  Yeah, I know...Christmas was past but you see Natalie had sent me a 'certificate' for Christmas for an afternoon at Her Majesty's Theatre to see Mary Poppins.  To say I was thrilled when I got that at Christmas would be a complete understatement!  It caught me completely off guard and made me even more impatient to travel to Australia and now the day was upon us and off to the theatre we went...Natalie, her mum, Auntie Barb and me.

I met up with Helen and Auntie Barb at the Boronia train station as Natalie had gone ahead to Bayswater to drop off our rental car and she met up with us when the train stopped at the Bayswater train stop and off we went to Her Majesty's Theatre.

Her Majesty's Theatre was built in 1886 and is classified by the National Trust of Australia.  Once inside it was nothing but grand...sadly no photography was allowed there so I had left my camera at Natalie's which really made me feel a bit naked as I always had it in hand.

Her Majesty's Theatre holds 1,700 and our seats were in the grand circle (upper balcony) right on the rail so no looking from side to side to see the stage.  Just perfect seats in my opinion and it soon became evident that they were awesome!! 

I sooo enjoyed Mary Poppins...it was a fabulous production and if you ever have the opportunity to treat yourself to see this play do.  I don't want to give away anything about the production but there were some awesome creative scenes that had the kids in the theatre literally on the edge of their seats...ok...and me too.  It was magical in many ways and somehow I felt my mom was right there with me.  I couldn't help but think about mom as Mary Poppins, the movie, was the very first movie my mom ever took me to as a little girl of about 4-5 years of age.  

What a wonderful Christmas gift and a perfect day out with Natalie, Helen and Auntie Barb!!  A very special memory for me!!

So now...until next time...wherever you are...have a great day!!

Puffing Billy

My last adventure on my own finally come much to my chagrin. This meant that I had less than 48 hours left in the Land Down Under and even now I am still wondering where did all the days and weeks go?  The time had flown by and I had seen sooo many places and met sooo many people just in passing...brief moments in time but each one had left a little memory with me and I found myself getting verklempt over the thought of leaving Australia.  It just didn't seem right that my dream trip went by so fast but it had.

But in the meantime one last adventure...Puffing Billy!  I have to admit I took a bit of ribbing about my insistence that I wanted to ride on Puffing Billy but so be it.  It was off to catch the train up to Belgrave to ride on the world's oldest steam locomotive train up the Dandenong mountainside.

It wasn't hard to find the station once I got off the train at Belgrave...just follow the stream of people and in just a few minutes I was at the station for Puffing Billy.  There were people from all over the world and the red carriage I got on to head up the mountainside and there was a group of young exuberant fellows with me that were from Korea.  It seems they had been rewarded with a trip to Australia for their hard work at their company and were all smiles and chatter.  We talked from time to time but there was a definite language barrier but even so we tried.



Puffing Billy

 It was a pleasant ride up to Menzies Creek and then further on to Lakeside with ever changing scenery as Puffing Billy wound up the tracks through the rain forests past small towns where people waved us along, across wooden trestles and through the rain forests.  People were hanging out of their carriages or sitting on the ledges as we wound up the mountain.  There was an air of joy and happiness wherever you looked...everyone was just having a fun time.

Once we made Lakeside you were at your leisure to walk down by the lake or hang out and watch the engineers switch Puffing Billy around for the trip back down the mountain.  I chose to hang out and watch as the engineers refilled the water tank and then switch the engine to the other set of tracks...lots of photo ops for me.

It really seemed only like only minutes and it was time to head back down the mountain.  This time I got on the second to last carriage as they were going to drop the last carriage off at Menzies Creek.  As we started off I 'snuck' out onto the back platform and just spent time watching the mountains pass by.

At Menzies Creek we stopped and the conductors worked at unhooking the last carriage and didn't mind my being on the platform watching and explained the workings of the portable brakes and lights they were hooking.

Riding on the platform
with one of the
conductors.

As we left Menzies Creek for the last stretch of the trip I thought that I would have to go back inside the carriage as two conductors were riding on the platform but they gladly welcomed me to stay and I had the very best seat I think one could have standing back there with the fellows watching the scenery pass by and listening to stories of their love of the rail. 

I could have kept riding on the back platform all day long.  As a kid you were always a bit jealous seeing people standing outside the caboose as the trains would pass by and here I was all those years later getting to do just that.  It was yet another little dream come true on this amazing trip I was on.

Until next time...wherever you are...have a great day!!

If you would like to see more pictures of Puffing Billy here is a link to that photo album on Picasa:  Play slideshow

The Mighty MCG

First I have computer issues and then Blogger has had technical issues the past couple of days when I have wanted to blog...Murphy strikes again!!

But...I'm finally able to get access and it's past time to get to the venture to the mighty MCG or just The G has Natalie would refer to it.  You are probably asking yourself...what is the MCG?

The MCG

The Melbourne Cricket Grounds (MCG) just happens to be sacred ground for the game of cricket in Melbourne...much like Yankee Stadium is to baseball and you just can not go halfway around the world and not tour the MCG.  If only I had been a month or so earlier I could have gone to a cricket game though I know pretty much nothing about the game of cricket.  Now an AFL footy game would have been a bit more understandable but that season was a month or so away.  My timing hadn't been the best for sports...maybe next time.

Light tower at MCG

The G is the tenth largest stadium in the world and the largest stadium for playing cricket and holds the world's record for the highest light towers at any sports venue.  The 1956 Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games.  In 2009 The MCG was named one of the seven wonders of the sporting world. 

Tours run all day long at the MCG and I didn't have long to wait once I found my way from the Richmond Station.  I managed not to get lost this time like I had going to the Fitzroy Gardens but frankly...if I had managed to lose my way to The MCG I pretty much would have had to have been blind as the stadium is huge!!

We had quite a character of a tour guide taking us throughout The MCG from the ABC Press box to the Life Time member seats to the hallowed grass itself on the field.  We went throughout most of The MCG...about the only places we didn't go were the maintenance closets.

Also located at The MCG is the National Sports Museum dedicated to Australian sports.  I was particularly interested in the Women's Basketball section which was disappointingly small but I've been reminded more than once that basketball is not a big sport in Australia.  I, however, am a big fan of many of the Australian women players who currently play or played in the WNBA here in the U.S.  Some of those players are mighty Michelle Timms, Tully Bevilaqua and Lauren Jackson to name just a few.  Lauren is one of the premier players in the world of basketball if not the very best current player and a handful of years ago I had the great pleasure of sitting with her when the Minnesota Lynx were playing the Phoenix Mercury and she has a wonderful personality and a sense of humor that still makes me chuckle to this day.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Melbourne be sure to put The MCG on your bucket list of places to see.  The only thing that would have been better when I was there is if I could have seen a cricket or footy game.  But that wasn't to be.

MCG logo

Until next time...wherever you are...have a great day!!

If you would like to see more pictures of The MCG here is a link to that photo album on Picasa:  Play slideshow

My 'Good Friend' Murphy...

Ever have one of those days where your 'good friend' Murphy rears his ugly head and throws a kink into everything and nothing seems to go right??  Well...my week so far has been visited by Murphy (as in Murphy's Law where what can go wrong will) more than once.  Don't get me wrong though...my days are awesome as I just started a full time contracting job Monday after not having any steady work in way too long a time after being laid off when the U.S. economy really went south. 

It's been the evenings that have been a bit screwy for me between some 'lovely' Minnesota weather last night keeping me off the computer and technical computer issues. 

There's just something about severe thunderstorms with heaps of lightning which squelches my desire to have a laptop computer in my lap just in case lightning strikes and considering the house was struck by lightning about 13 years ago and suffered about 10k in damages I stayed away from the computer and yes...lightning can strike twice in the same spot. 

Add to the severe thunderstorms rolling through and the sirens sounding on and off for several hours signaling to 'duck and cover' because of tornadoes in the area...much more excitement than I like on any given evening.  Since I was a kid I've never been a fan of severe summer storms and I seriously doubt that that will change.  No...actually I know that won't change and I become a bit of a 'nervous Nelly' whenever tornadoes are possible.  Oh yeah...we've had one of them too since I've lived in this house so nope...not a fan.

Add to the weather there seems to be connectivity issues with the Internet provider here at home and it's been frustrating.  At least I want to believe it was a connectivity issue and not my lack of IT saavy.  At any rate...barring any further run ins with my 'good friend' Murphy I plan to be back on track blogging more about Australia tomorrow.

In the meantime...thanks so much for having checked in and for your patience!!

Until next time...wherever you are...have an awesome day!!

Not Murphy!!