Look how Quincy let himself go while we were away!

I always will want to remember how Quincy, our 7 year old cocker spaniel,  looked when I picked him up after a 9 and a half week absence. I really had to look closely to be sure it was him. I briefly thought that maybe there was a Q-dog look alike who was older, fatter and less well groomed than our dog in Jane's household. As it turned out, he's not fatter, just fluffier. He goes to the beauty parlor tomorrow. We're so happy to be back home with him. THANK YOU so much, Jane, for loving and looking after the big guy.

Last post!

In less than 24 hours we'll be leaving 3 Male Street, Apt 210 in Brighton, Victoria, Australia. Here's a picture of Joe standing on the terrace of our apartment. It was a great place to spend 9 weeks. We will always remember fondly our time here in Australia!

Creepy Crawlies on the beach in Frankston

Joe and Sandra and I took a little road trip today (our last day in Australia!) to see these fun sand sculptures.  The sand used is different from your usual beach sand. Each grain of beach sand is round but this sand, called "brickers sand" is square so it holds together better. It took the sculptors (some flown in from as far away as Texas) to do these sculptures and they were certainly hampered by all the rain. Once a sculpture is complete they're sprayed with something that protects them somewhat from the wind and rain, but until then, they're vulnerable. Apparently the artists would come in the morning (after a night of rain) and have a lot of rebuilding to do. The end results were fabulous though!

Did you know the average worker bee only produces 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime?

The world's largest cockroach comes from Australia -- 9 cm and 30 grams.

The "Exterminator"

Port Phillip Bay in Frankston

Made me giggle

Love all the slang terms here -- especially "chooks"

Another Aussie English lesson

A picnic on the beach! Here are some things to load into the back end of your ute (be sure to fill it with petrol before the trip): a big esky filled with biscuits, a pizza covered in aluminium, a salad of rocket, mushies and capsicum. Maybe you'd get take-away chook and some chips. The kids are going to want some lollies for dessert and maybe some icy poles too if you can keep them frozen. You'd also pack into your ute your bathers (a confident bloke would bring his budgie smuggler), your thongs for walking along the beach, a singlet if it's hot and a jumper if it's cold. Some in the group might want to get some exercise so they better bring their runners.
Did you remember everything? Spare tyre? Mobile? Good on ya! Let's get going!
Later, at the carpark, you'll turn on your indicator, pull over to the kerb, and open the boot to get out everything.  Time to put the shrimp on the barbie!

Christmas day on Brighton Beach

After a very delicious Christmas lunch at Jim and Sandra's we took a walk along the beach. There are over 80 of these bathing boxes, and this post is going to be filled with pictures of some of my favorites. It's been strange to be where it's warm at Christmastime but what has made it even more novel an experience for us is to be where it's so light so late. These pictures were taken at 7:00 in the evening.
I'm glad we've been here this year but when next year's "festive season" (as they call it here) comes around, I'll be happy to be in wintery North America. That just is Christmas to me as is being with our friends and loved ones. Love and miss you "dahlings"!

Merry Christmas and goodbye Tim and Olivia

It's 9:30 Christmas morning. Tim and Olivia just got in the cab to begin their long trip home. We all had a breakfast of eggs and toast together here in Brighton, Victoria Australia, and they'll get to LA about 17 hours from now at 7:45 AM  to have another Christmas morning breakfast. I guess if you're going to have a two-day long day, Christmas day is the one to have it on.
They had a great trip on the Great Ocean Road, in large part due to the crazy cast of characters with them on the tour. It was all young people backpacking. Several were young men from England who were just doing the tour to kill time till the real purpose of their visit to Melbourne: the big cricket match at Melbourne Cricket Grounds on Boxing Day.  I think it's something like the "Ashes tournament". Wish I understood the game and cared about this rivalry because it seems to be about as big as a rivalry can be. Oh well, it would be wasted on us to go to that match tomorrow. We're thinking of going to the IMAX theater to see "Megamind".