Visitors

My brother Bryan was traveling to New Zealand for work, so he and his wife Kristen came to Melbourne for a few days afterwards. We enjoyed having them stay at our place and showing them a little of the city and its environments. And putting them on a tour bus when we didn't show them the city.

Bryan and Kristen arrived Friday morning. Tim met them at the train station and took them to our house to drop off bags, and then went to the Melbourne zoo. Jonathan had a regular day at school, so I took a regular day at work, but we all met up for dinner in the city centre. If you have to choose one restaurant, and you're with us, what do you think you choose?

Yup. Ramen. (Japanese.)

Saturday morning Jonathan had a skating lesson. During the lesson Tim took Bryan and Kristen to the Queen Victoria Market, where they spent $20 on fruit. Cherries, plums, passion fruit, grapes, mangos, apples. And some sausages made of kangaroo.

In the early afternoon, we took a tour bus to Philip Island. We stopped first at an animal sanctuary, and saw live kangaroos and wallabies and wombats.

Wombat.

Bryan with kangaroos.

Kristen with the kangaroos.

Then we stopped in tour bus city: a chocolate factory. We figure that the chocolate factory must pay the tour bus companies some big chunk of money to stop there, because chocolate has nothing to do with Philip Island, or really even much Australian, yet every single tour bus stopped at the chocolate factory on its way in. I found it annoying. Bryan and Kristen were more kind. They said their kids would have loved it!

Next we stopped at the Nobbies, for dinner and a walk with views, followed by lots and lots of wallabies on the sides of the road.

View from the Nobbies.

Finally, we went to the beach for viewing little penguins.

At the penguin beach.

The penguins come out of the ocean just after dark, rush across the beach, and make their way up the hill to their nests. We were standing over a little hill, and soon after sunset a pair of young penguins, who had been left behind, came out of the nest and started squawking. They weren't very small chicks anymore, but still a little too soft and downy for doing their own fishing in the ocean.

Lots of little penguins walked up the beach. We couldn't take pictures, but they were cute. Some were preparing to moult. When they're moulting they can't go fish in the ocean, so they fatten up as much as they can first. The fat penguins waddled up the beach all wobbly, with their heads bobbing back and forth. Kind of funny looking.

And then the bus drove us home, to arrive around midnight.

Sunday morning we went to church. (How boring.)

In the afternoon, we took a walk through the Botanic Gardens and the Shrine of Remembrance. The Shrine has the best views of the city.

And we saw a flock of cockatoos over the Botanic Gardens, way off in the distance.

We had dinner in the park -- we grilled those kangaroo sausages. Yummy. I guess.

Later, Bryan and Kristen and Tim headed to China town in the city centre for the Chinese New Year. Jonathan had school in the morning, so he and I opted for sleep instead. Talk about boring.

But Bryan and Kristen and Tim came back with stories of dragon parades and fire crackers and hoards of people. Melbourne has the oldest China town in the world, outside of China, of course, and San Francisco, I believe.

Monday morning Jonathan went to school. I went to work. Tim made sure that Bryan and Kristen got on their tour bus to see the Great Ocean Road. And then we all had a regular day. They got back near midnight.

Tuesday morning we all said goodbye.

And Wednesday morning, around 30 hours later, we got a note that their plane had landed back in their home state of Tennessee. That's a long journey.

But see how much fun we had? You should come visit, and you will have fun, too.

(A note on the photos: Many more were taken. Just not with my camera. Perhaps I will post more from other cameras later. Perhaps.)

Heavy breathing in the night

Tuesday morning I had a meeting in the dark, dark, early morning with Pennsylvania and England. I wasn't sleeping, so I got up early to check my email first.

Tim heard the door click shut as I left the bedroom.

A few moments later, Tim, alone in the bedroom, heard someone breathing heavily in the darkness.

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh....... "

...

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh......."

Slowly, in a sleepy stupor, Tim raised himself out of the bed to look around the room. Who was in the bedroom with him? Who was taking those heavy, deep breaths?

The room was empty.

The heavy breathing continued, low and threatening.

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh....... "

...

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh......."

Carefully, Tim got up, bare feet against the carpet, and stepped towards the closed bedroom door. He stood quietly, and listened. The breathing seemed to be coming from the darkness on the opposite side.

He opened the door slowly, carefully, and looked down the long, empty hall.

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh....... "

...

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh......."

The heavy breathing continued, further down, out of sight in the darkness.

He followed the sound past Jonathan's bedroom, where all was quiet.

He followed it past the office, where the only sign of life was a flicker of a computer monitor against the stillness.

Past the kitchen. Single digits on the microwave clock showed the time, silently.

Into the living room.

In the darkness, he saw me standing at the far end of the room, face pressed against the door to the balcony, staring wide eyed out into the blackness of the small hours of the night.

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh....... "

...

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh......."

The deep, heavy breathing continued, louder, slow breaths one after another after another.

"Who is making that deep breathing noise?" Tim whispered, his hands trembling.

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh....... "

...

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh......."

And I turned to him in the darkness with my pale, white face, and I said:

...


...


...

...

...

...

...



"YEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"



No, actually I said,

"That's growling! I think there's a possum right outside the window! But I can't see it in the trees in the dark."

And then Tim came to look. And then the noise stopped. And Tim went back to bed. And I looked up "Possum growl" on Google. And found this movie of this cute little guy the size of a cat.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHulXzuc_9Y)

And I read the comments. The language was a little offensive, the but comments were hilarious. Here's a sample (with some spelling and grammar fixes to make it easier to read).

"So that [redacted] demonic sound was a possum! A [redacted] possum! Australia pls no need to be so evil at 2am! Gosh!"

"I'm glad it's just a possum and not some crazed alien!"

"Sounds like a heavy breathing pervert outside your window!"

"All I could hear is a loud breathing noise -- sounded a bit like zombies trying to get in my room."

"I HATE THEM!! THEY LIVE IN MY ROOF!! SO DEMONIC!!"

"OMG I'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR THE CAUSE OF THIS NOISE FOR MONTHS NOW! I was convinced there was a vampire in my garden. It's been scaring me so much, and my family's been too scared to go outside to further investigate!"

"I actually rang the police last night and they came and said it sounds like a Possum."

And on and on.

Australian problems.

Cricket

Tim took me to my first cricket game on Friday night, at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds.

Even though it was cricket, an obscure English sport, there were a lot of people there! It turns out that many Commonwealth countries play serious cricket!

You could tell the game was a big deal, because not only were there a lot of people, but also they shot fireworks every time someone hit a home run, or got out. I don't think they really call it a "home run" in cricket, but it's the same idea. Someone hits the ball outside the ring of play. And I don't think they call it "getting out." I think they call it a wicket. But it's a bad thing for the batters, and a good thing for the fielders.

I learned all about cricket on Friday night. I learned that there are two batters, and in a typical game, thirteen wickets. And once you are out, you are out forever. And typical games last five days.

But luckily, this was a short game, which only had twenty overs for each team. And each over involves someone, whom we shall call the "pitcher," throwing the ball six times.

There are two batters. If the one in front of the pitcher hits the ball far enough that the two can switch places, they get a point. If they hit it far enough to switch places twice, they get two points. If they hit it hard enough that it bounces and rolls out of the field, they get four points. If they hit it hard enough that it clears the edge of the field without bouncing, they get six points, and there are fireworks. If they hit it and someone catches it, that is a wicket, and there are fireworks. If the pitcher hits the little contraption behind the batters (the wicket), that is a wicket, and there are fireworks. If the batters run, but the fielders get the ball to the wicket before the batter's bat crosses the line in the sand, then that is a wicket. And there are fireworks. There weren't really that many fireworks for all the different ways I've listed for getting fireworks. That's because these fellows are professionals.

Whew! Did you get all that?

There are also things called "wide" and "no ball" and I have no idea what those are, because it was my first cricket game, and I couldn't learn it all! My brain was full!

The team from India wears blue. The Australians (Aussies) wear black and yellow. There seem to be more Indian fans than Aussie fans in Melbourne. Which was good for the fans, because India won.

So there you go. Cricket.

If I'm going to pick up a new sport, though, I think I'll stick to Australian rules football. More fun, even though there are fewer fireworks.

That Facebook game

This has been going around Facebook for a while. The idea is you get your child in the room, and ask them questions about you! I think this was actually made for 2-3 year olds, not 11 year olds. But I wanted to do it anyway. And I'm going to do it again when the boy is 21, and then 31, and then 41. And then I will stop, because it just won't be fun anymore.

I ask Jonathan the questions, he responds.

1. What is something I always say to you?
  "Bug."

2. What makes me happy?
  "Um. I don't know. Going to the park. Playing Pikmin."

3. What makes me sad?
  "Um. People dying."

4. How do I make you laugh? 
  "Um. By saying funny things."

5. What was I like as a little girl?
  "You were a nerd. Who did ballet."

6. How old am I? 
  "You are thirty ... nine?"

7. How tall am I? 
  "Uh, five foot ten?"

8. What is my favorite thing to do?
  "Play Clash of Clans."

9. What do I do when you're not around? 
  "I don't know, because I'm not around. You work."

10. What am I really good at? 
  "You are really good at ... going to work."
 
11. What is something I'm not good at?
  "You are not good at playing the clarinet."

12. What do I do for a job?
  "You are a mathematician."

13. What is my favorite food?
  "Uh. Asparagus? I don't think that's actually your favorite food, but you like it!"

14. What do you enjoy doing with me? 
  "Hmm. Talking."

Now my mom should call me, and I'll go through the game with her. In fact, maybe I'll do it even though she hasn't called. Pretend my mom is asking the questions, and I am responding.

1. What is something I always say to you?
  My mom always says to me, "It's nice to talk to you!"

2. What makes me happy?
  My mom is happy when she has a full collection of family around her.

3. What makes me sad?
  She is sad when we use that time, when she has a full collection, to argue with my dad about religion and politics. Too bad my dad has such terrible opinions on religion and politics!

4. How do I make you laugh?
  My mother makes me laugh when she says she is going to organize her basement.

5. What was I like as a little girl?
  When my mom was a little girl, she was smiley, and all black and white. She didn't turn colored until after her teenage years. There is proof of this in various photo albums.

6. How old am I?
  Sixty-seven.

7. How tall am I? 
  Five feet, six inches. 

8. What is my favorite thing to do?
  My mom's favorite things to do are to take naps, and long drives in the canyon, and to hang out with family. The best thing is when all three happen at once!

9. What do I do when you're not around?
  Campaign for Millcreek City. 

10. What am I really good at?
  My mom is very good at sewing. Also reading children's books to grandchildren. And tickling grandchildren. She is a good peacemaker. She is good at listening. Do you think that's because she has a masters degree in social work? Or because she raised eight children?

11. What is something I'm not good at?  
  Alas, my mother is not very good at ice hockey. She has never won a game.

12. What do I do for a job?
  Well, Mom, first you taught elementary school, but that wasn't much fun, so you finished the masters degree I mentioned above. After working a couple of years in the schools, you decided to grow your own school, and ran an unlicensed child care center for years and years. It was all legal, though, because the eight children were your own. Except that one German exchange student that one year. You were nurse, therapist, counsellor, teacher, taxi driver. Except I did a lot of biking and walking, and then taught myself to take the bus, so maybe you were less of a taxi driver than my friends' mothers.

13. What is my favorite food? 
   Mom, do you have a favorite food? You like to bake potato bread. There's a fish casserole that you seem to make often when I'm around. You do like ice cream. Tin roof sundae. A lot of the recipes I use came from you. A few years ago you went through your recipe file and turned it into a book for a Christmas present, and that was a great idea. I go to your book first when I don't have ideas for dinner.

14. What do you enjoy doing with me?
  I enjoy talking to you. I still value your opinion, even though my own opinions don't match yours like they did at one time when we both had fewer wrinkles.

So there you have it. That Facebook game.

First day of school

Today was the day. The first day of school.

This is what the first day of school looks like.

And also like this.

Looks good, doesn't it? The whole outfit is required. Shoes, socks, shorts, shirt, tie, blazer. No hat required in secondary school, though. That's because he's all grown up. *Sniff*

Let's have some live blogging here while I interview the boy.

Me: What do you want to tell people about your first day of school?

Jonathan: It was fine.

Me: Anything else?

Jonathan: Classes were really random. And we brought our laptop to each class, and we weren't allowed to have a bag.

Me: What do you mean the classes were really random?

Jonathan: The timetable is really confusing. They have different classes at different periods each day over ten days.

Me: Did you make any friends?

Jonathan: I met some people.

Me: You have the same twenty people in all your classes?

Jonathan: Yeah. Today, at least.

Me: Anything else I should tell our readers?

Jonathan: Um.... I have to wear a suit to school.

Ok. That was a great interview.

Add your own questions below, and maybe we'll do another one.

Happy Australia Invasion Day!

Australia day is commemorated on the 26 of January and marks several things. First, it reminds us of the day that the pink aliens landed in New South Wales, Australia, in 1788 and thus began hundreds of years of theft, murder, abuse, kidnapping, rape, pillaging. That's why it is also called Invasion day in some circles.

Although perhaps the timing is inopportune, it is secondly a day to celebrate Australia and the people of Australia. Awards and honours are given out to those who have made notable contributions to the country over the last year. I received an email congratulating a mathematician on being honoured for their contribution to mathematics education. The government house is open for tours in Melbourne. And people have the day off work, so many head to the beach or the park.

We were invited to the park with a group of people from my work, to meet "under the gum trees northwest of the large playground." There were a lot of gum trees, and a lot of people under them. But we did find our group and had a very nice picnic.

Under the gum trees.

It was a large park, with a small lake. We took a walk around the perimeter, just because we could, and because one of us was banned from electronic devices for the day anyway. So why not?

Jells Lake.

Back home, at the park out our back windows, there were lots of parties and cricket games. We took a while to cool off, though, inside.

And finally, later in the evening, we took a tram to the city center at the Docklands, to see the fireworks. The bridge was lit up in green and gold, colors of Australia.

And the fireworks came in all colors.

Happy Australia day!

A third thing marked by Australia day is the very end of the summer holidays. Jonathan goes back to school tomorrow, to start year seven, first day of high school. We are all very excited about starting school again, where we means Jonathan, Tim, me, and probably the entire state of Victoria. He got a uniform and school supplies, including a laptop, and a student card for public transit.

Tomorrow: first day of school pictures. Provided I remember to take them....

A walk in the park

There is a 100 acre park just behind our apartment. Not only does this mean we have a great view, but it also means when we walk to anything to the east the journey is very lovely.

On Saturday, we walked to the nearest large grocery store, starting out in the park. The weather was just lovely. All my friends in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Washington DC were posting pictures of multiple feet of snow all weekend. We had green grass and blue skies. I'm sorry, New Jersey. Summertime makes my heart sing.

These people in white are playing cricket. I don't know how you play cricket, but summer is cricket season, and the game is played in the park in several fields all weekend long.

Over by the playground we noticed a couple of gray birds on the ground.

Looking closer, I realized they had pink heads and tufted feathers. Galah cockatoos! This was the first time we have seen galahs in the city. We have only seen them before out in the hills. They are very fun, social birds. When we've seen them before, they've been in groups, all laughing together as though they were having a fun family reunion. These two were just digging in the grass. Here is Tim, getting closer to take a better picture.

Here is the picture Tim took.

And, because neither of us got really close, and we only had phone cameras, here is a picture of a galah from Wikipedia. Thanks Wikipedia!

["Eolophus roseicapilla" by Toby Hudson - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eolophus_roseicapilla.jpg#/media/File:Eolophus_roseicapilla.jpg]

 At the south end of the park we found this tree, blooming bright red with dark seed pods. I can't figure out what it is. Any tree specialists?

Everyone else was playing cricket, but this group of people had climbed into giant plastic balls to play soccer. Sometimes you've just got to do your own thing.

And then later that night, we watched the full moon rise over the park from our apartment windows.

Finally, because there were so many snow pictures on Facebook, I realized we really needed to continue to take advantage of summertime. So we packed a picnic and had dinner in the park on Sunday. The city provides gas grills in all the parks, with gas. And they clean them and maintain them. We just brought meat and sides and a table cloth.

When we finished eating, we threw a frisbee around for a while. Has everyone had enough warmth and sunshine and green grass and blue sky? Yes? Ok. Now let's go home and post these pictures. 

I love summer.