T-Bone or TV?

As big as this world is, somethings are universal. No matter how good your list, you will always leave the supermarket and realize all the things you forgot. There is never a good day to get a cold and the end of each school year finds you careening down a hill of busy-ness. I am currently holding on with my fingernails. I spent 5 hours in the school workroom assembling poetry books. I have had experience with a binding machine, so I was chained to that thing for 4 of the 5 hours. God bless the wonderful lady who ran out for coffee about two hours into it. Then, I keep getting more assignments..."Mom, I need two dozen chocolate chip cookies on Thursday." "Mom, I need $6.00 for the end-of-surf education party." "Mom, I need to be at the schoool on Monday at 6:00 for the caroling service." "Mom, I need to be at speech day at 8:00AM on Wednesday." "Mom, am I going to bring treats for my class for my birthday on Friday?" "Mom, did you get the bags for my birthday party?" "Mom, can you give friend X and friend Y a ride to my birthday party...their moms need to work...they'll be calling you...." Next Wednesday is the last day of school. It takes place at the convention center. Speech Day (as they call it) is a day full of music (Ponygirl's choir and Surferdude's orchestra) and speeches. They both need to be there at 8:00AM and we will need to rely on public transport to get there. I have also been given the heads up....get your coffee before you get to the convention center. The one little coffee kiosk is always overwhelmed. One lady told me she waited over an hour for her latte. I would be climbing the walls by that point. So....armed with that knowledge, chocolate chips and a full tank of petrol...I will enjoy my high speed plummet down the hill. Wheeeee!!!!

Our weekend was eventful. We headed to the Blue Mountains to the village of Blackheath (just a 2 hour drive) for a weekend away. After checking into our Eco-cabin (more on that experience later), we explored Katoomba and rode the world's steepest train (54 degree angle), took a gondola ride over waterfalls and enjoyed a leisurely walk amongst the eucalyptus trees. The biggest attraction, however, was the weather. While eating lunch, sleet and hail rained down...then sunshine. As we left the railway, snow was falling...then sunshine.... It was only the second time in history that it had snowed in the Blue Mountains in November. Don't forget ... it is summer here. It was -2 degrees celsius at one point.

We had a fabulous time at dinner. It was a complete accident. Two places we tried to book for dinner were hosting weddings (those poor brides...snow and sleet). We ended up at The Fairmont golf course restaurant in Leura. Surferdude ordered a t-bone steak as big as his head. On the bar t.v. behind him, the RugbyLeague World Cup was starting and Surferdude kept trying to leave the scintillating conversation with his parents and sister to watch New Zealand shellac Australia. BigDogDaddy put it perfectly "You can have your T-bone or TV, Surferdude...Not both." That phrase has been oft-repeated since. The finale of the dinner was fried ice cream. You should have seen my brood sitting there with big goblets of fried ice cream with caramel sauce...priceless!

For the next part of the story, a quick vocabulary lesson is needed. An eco-lodge or cabin is an interesting phenomenon. These structures are designed to make as little "economic impact" as possible. This translates into low lighting, funky showers, liquid shampoo and soap dispensers, water heated with propane, and, sometimes, toilet "pits" which don't use any water at all. They are usually located in beautiful locations and allow for all of us to stay in a place with a kitchen. So, as we headed back to our cabin, we were full and happy. Once in our cabin, we realized that our only source of heat was WOOD BURNING wrought iron stove. All of our previous stays in eco lodges/cabins had all had a reverse-cycle airconditioner. Mr. Eagle scout BigDogDaddy soon had a wonderful fire chugging along and if you sat three feet in front of it, you could thaw out nicely. Unfortunately, the two bedrooms were a long way from the stove. So, after extinguishing the fire, the four of us climbed into our beds fully clothed fo sleep in a -2 degree (celsius) night. To make the night more exciting, gale force winds kept blowing so fiercly that gum tree boughs made loud thunking sounds on the metal cabin roof. Needless to say, we were all a little cranky by sun-up. It was so cold, that when you cracked open the lukewarm muffins we brought for breakfast, steam poured out of them...now that is cold!!!

Oh well, at least we got a new family mantra "T-bone or TV".

Here's wishing everyone in the USA a most Happy Thanksgiving. We will be celebrating ours with many other Americans in Sydney with dinner at the swank American Club. I will still be making pies though...gobble gobble!!!!


Things I like this week:
1. Australian coffee---I've needed some this week...liters of it!
2. My current book - The Guernsey Literary&Potato Peel Pie Society-Ann Shaffer
3. The US election being over

Things I don't like this week:
1. Clothesdryers that need the water emptied from them
2. Washing machines that need to be hand drained and then refilled
3. Eco cabins: they may be green, but they won't see our green (as in dollars) again

A Moment of Silence

There I was, standing in Priceline Pharmacy at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Suddenly, the muzak playing in the store was silent except for a lone bugle recording. Everyone, customers and staff, stood silently in a minute of silence to commemorate Remembrance Day. Florists sold poppies on the sidewalks for us to wear in our lapels . It was a wonderfully moving time. Australians still remember Gallipoli and teach about it every year in school. No country lost a higher ratio of soldiers in WWI (when you look at the total population) than Australia. Under John Howard, Aussie soldiers were our allies in Afghanistan & Iraq. Their devotion to Remembrance Day is something to be admired.

Surferdude and Ponygirl were remembering our last Veteran's Day in the USA. They made computer-generated thank-you cards and handed them out at Pat's Coffee Shop in Mooresville, NC. http://www.welcomehomeveteran.org/ This coffee shop is run by a veteran for veterans and has been for years. Ponygirl and Surferdude met some amazing people that day including an eighty-plus year old woman who served as a Marine MP during WWII. A tall young man walked in a few minutes later with two little children, ordered coffee, chocolate milk and donuts. He had just returned from Iraq. He was a Lt. Colonel who, among other things, provided reconnaisance directives for the Navy fliers in their bombing runs. Having an uncle who was a Navy aviator, Ponygirl and Surferdude had lots of questions. He was so moved by the kid's cards, that he promised that his children, when they were older, would continue the tradition when he went to Veteran celebrations. We checked out the thick Veteran's Book in Pat's, looked at the heaps of memorobilia, but mostly listened and enjoyed being in the company of so many self-sacrificing people. The most amazing moment was the conversation had with Richard, the current owner of Pat's Coffee Shop. He was a Vietnam Vet with an unbelievable story to tell. Richard called over a medium-build, mild looking man who was introduced to us as a Vietnam helicopter pilot. He put his arm around the man and said "This man was a complete stranger when he walked into Pat's. After a few months of reliving the old days, I realized that I had a connection with him. This man who flew into a terrible fire fight and recovered a company of soldiers killed in the battle. The location was so remote, that he knew the recovery teams would never find these men. One of the men he recovered was my brother. He brought my brother out of Vietnam. My mother has this man to thank everytime she goes up yonder to the VA cemetary to visit my brother's grave. Most people would have left him on that field...but not this man." Surferdude, Ponygirl and their mother were speechless. That is what Remembrance/Veteran's Day is about.

If you live around Mooresville, stop in for a cup of coffee and donut and thank those in there for their service. If you have older kids, bring them in and browse through the book. If you are in a pharmacy or grocery store on November 11th, stop and be still at 11:00AM. Buy poppies...anything! All of us who live in freedom anywhere in the world are so blessed that people like those at Gallipoli or in Pat's Coffee Shop chose to answer the call when the world needed them. It is the very least we can all do!!