Down Time

I have often wondered what it would be like to have "down time".  It is a period of time where one does nothing - like riding on the hay wagon ride at Mortimer Farm's Corn Days Festival.  Bill, David and I went to the Corn Festival today out in Dewey, AZ.  We parked the car at the Country Store and rode the wagon down to the festival area.  There was a line waiting to get in.  There were people ahead of us who, when they reached the entry way, talked to the attendant and then turned around and left.  I wondered why? Well I soon found out why.  They were charging $10 per head to enter.  I asked what we got for the $10 and I was told, well, entry to the festival, and any of the games and activities are available for no extra charge.  Of course the advertised Corn on the Cob meal was extra - but the TV slot and Internet Web Site did not mention a price for the meal as being extra.  So we wandered around the inflated jumping houses and they were full of children, the inflated balloon thing that kids got inside and then rolled around on an artificial lagoon (read that HUGE inflated swim pool), and since I no longer qualify as a child, that too was off limits.  There was the usual artery clogging Fry Bread and fixin's  that we passed up as well as the hillbilly swing - built only to hold small children.  They had pony rides, but I am not a horsewoman and Bill probably only played cowboy when he was little.  The horses looked too frail to hold David so we passed that up as well.  They did have a live honky tonk cowboy band playing music for a while, then they brought in a new trailer full of freshly picked corn that they were selling - we bought a dozen.  It looked like a war zone when the people converged on the wagon to snag their share of the fresh picked corn.
There was a vendor there who was selling dried Gourds.  I bought a big one and David got two tiny ones.
We lined up for the Hay Ride and off we went.  That is when I decided I was having 'down time'.  riding on the trailer and doing nothing other than enjoying the green of the mountains around us and the corn on one side and pumpkins growing ready for the Harvest Festival in October.  The tractor was an International Harvester Farmall tractor - 35 years old - but still chugging with about 20 persons riding on the trailer sitting on straw bales.  There was a young boy holding a rooster that he had caught and was inviting the little children to come pet the rooster.  the bird looked none too happy and when the boy changed his hold on the bird, you could see what his perspiration had done to the chest feathers - they were all wet and disheveled.
The tractor driver stopped along the way to explain about the age of the Cotton Wood trees lining the route and the river bank.  He also invited some young children to take the wheel and drive the tractor.  That was a little scary when the little girl drove within two feet of the drop off.  The next to last stop was at a Sweet Corn field and we were allowed to go in and pick an ear of corn.  Apparently only one ear of corn grows on one stalk - a fact I did not know before this.  The farm workers were down in the center of the field picking more corn to sell to people coming to the festival or in the farm store.
We shucked the corn and ate the freshly picked ear.  I think that this wast the first time Bill had ever eaten a raw ear of corn.....not bad for a city boy.  Our crew re-boarded the trailer for the trip home, but on the way, we stopped by the brooding structure (they raise their own baby chicks), and the rooster was returned to his harem of hens.
On the way back to the start of the ride, a man sitting across from us was complaining about itching on his bare legs. Yes, he had wandered into the corn field and the 'no-see-ums' had feasted  heartily.
At the end of the ride, I went back to the gourd man and bought some small gourds from him for table decorations for Tuesday when my quilt group comes for lunch.
We got in the wagon for the ride back to our car and then we went to the Grill at the Stone Ridge  Golf Course.  At a table nearby were some very well off people.  I began to wonder at their life style and try to determine how they made enough money to live in this fancy development.
The highlight of the day was receiving a letter from the Morrison County Historical Society, and see all the Doroff genealogy they had sent me.  I hit pay dirt for Jacob's genealogy and extended his line one more generation.

The Green Hills of Home

Normally our landscape is a warm brown broken up with army green to grey green squatty little bushes here and there and of course there are the eternal cactus plants to relieve the monotony of the brown.  With all the rain we have had since July 10 (around 4 inches according to the rain gauge in our back yard and substantiated by the report in the paper), the hills have turned from warm Brown to bright green.  Everything is green - it is as if the Wizard of Oz has been turned loose making everything look green.
I went walking by Watson Lake today and to my joy the lake is full - the paper says that is has risen 2 feet and that they have opened the release valve so that some of the water can flow into Willlow Lake.  They are joined by a sluice that they open to drain one lake into the other.
I was surprised to see so many roads still closed as I drove around Prescott today.  One stream close to one of the ladies I visiting teach was closed yesterday she said, and the debris is still visible because it was stopped in its flow by the fence on the bridge.  Still, some streams are flowing slowly as they drain  the landscape.  The park near Staples was closed because of flooding.  They found a body in the creek a few days ago, and the man who reported the incident, ended up being arrested on another charge and now is cooling his heels in jail.  He also insists that he did not have anything to do with the drowning.  He said, according to the paper, that he had been drinking and had spoken to the lady, had then gone for a walk along the stream side trail and when he returned she was in the water face down.  He loudly claimed that he had not pushed her into the water.  Well, we will somehow find out what happened - that is if some sort of catastrophe does not push such stories to page 7 where we may never find it.
David is coming up to visit this weekend and already he has sent me a text outlining all the food he wants to eat while here.  He will not be here long enough to eat the entire proposed menu, but at least he will get a home made pizza - that is his absolute favorite food and it has to be made by mother.  He suggested that he be taken to Arby's for their 5 for $5 beef burgers.  I asked him if he intended to eat the entire 5 burgers and he said yes so I told him that he would then be eligible to be hired as the fat man in the circus as a result.
I checked the meal I left out for the pack rat and see that it has all been consumed and the food tray pulled into the area where he has his hideout.  At least I have not found any more tomatoes on the ground - he has been nipping them off the vines and leaving them on the ground.
I had an accident in the kitchen this week.  As I opened the door, the margarine tub fell out and I cannot find the lid.  I think it has found a new home under the fridge.  Well, I took a yard stick - our favorite tool to do myriad jobs - none of them including measuring anything - and I poked around under the fridge and could not retrieve the lid.  I did fish out some pieces of glass from the Jam bottle I dropped  and broke 2 months ago so that was not a wasted effort with the yard stick, after all.
Our newspaper offers us some insight into the social makeup of our fair city.  We live in a High End, retirement community yet in the past two weeks they have put pictures of the babies born in our area on the back page.  Usually there are only 4 to 8 babies each week but in the past two weeks we have had 35 babies born.  Twenty of them last week and 15 of them in today's paper.  Someone has been busy and you can bet it is not the post menopausal couples who comprise the majority of the population here.

The rain we prayed for

Oh yes, we have had 4 inches of rain - measured in the little rain gauge in our backyard.  I-17 has been closed at New River due to the rain swollen usually bone dry river bed - Agua Fria River.  Yay Team!
yes, you can blame it on us - our congregation was asked to fast and pray for much needed rain and in within days it began to rain - spotty at first but now in all earnestness.
As I drove around Prescott today, I could see the amount of water that was flowing into Watson Lake.  the water level has been down for the past 4 years or more but now the ducks really have enough water to swim in and their feet will not touch bottom......
The News tonight shows that one area has had over 8 inched of rain.  In Phoenix some people were in a park and the water came up so fast and stranded them on a small mound.  They had to be rescued.  Of course the usual number of Silly Drivers had to be rescued when they tried to cross flowing river beds. Ouch! that will cost them dearly.
My garden is dancing in the rain - the tomatoes have never been so bathed with heavenly blessings.  I do not have to water them today.
We have a pack rat in our little shed - had one when we came home from Maine.  Not a good scene for the rat - put out some food for him.
Bill went to work today - against doctors orders.  He was supposed to be off work for one week but he decided that they (the pharmacy) needed him............and so it goes.  I insisted that I still drive him because in the handout from the hospital he could finally see (had to be helped to see) the words "No driving for one week".  When he came home he went to bed with the ice pack on the wound.
At quilt guild on Monday, one of the ladies came up to me and started talking to me about family history.  Apparently she had been to the Family History Center, and the sister missionaries were there and they got to talking and she found out that I was on the staff there.  So we had a wonderful long conversation about her adventures in the Citizens Cemetery - it is a historic site here in Prescott. Coming up is a big reception at $50 per person to dine with the dead.  They set up a big tent in the cemetery and eat a catered meal etc. and it is a fund raiser for the cemetery upkeep.  I have invited her to be present at the Church this week for the Family History Presentation - a lesson to help teach people how to organize their genealogical materials.
I am very glad that Life in a Blender site let me in.  I hope to keep writing on this blog.
After all, life in Prescott really is like Life in a Blender.

6,000 mile round trip for a wedding in Maine.

Whenever we go anywhere, there is always this time lag.  It seems that all time expectations are in "rubber hour increments"  A rubber hour is something that essentially is "Expanded to exceed the 60 minutes allotted for an hour, and is used to cram in every activity that could ever be considered for use."  The upshot is, we are always running late because the conventional hour has been superseded by the Bill Markham Rubber Hour.  this time it was not too bad because we were only 10 minutes late in leaving - and there had been a notation on the calendar for the date and time of departure for many weeks. So we witnessed a miracle with Bill only being 10 minutes off the mark!

Our plane left on time for Albuquerque and the flight was uneventful for the most part.  In the airport managed to sit next to a lady who was crocheting Beads into a necklace.  held a long and interesting conversation with her and it really helped to pass the time.  She got off in Albuquerque but she told me of a bead camp that is coming up soon................Nirvana.

Our flight from New Mexico to Baltimore Maryland was an adventure to be sure. They announced that a sudden storm had rolled up the east coast and had snarled air traffic over and into Baltimore/Washington airport.  We found our plane doing circles over Ohio and so I took out my cell phone and set it to the compass and it was fascinating to see just how often they changed directions.  We did not worry about being in the holding pattern because we had some time between the expected time of arrival and the takeoff to Portland, Maine, airport. The holding pattern began to drag on and on but I did get some really good pictures of the thunderheads in the clouds that we flew by and through.  We finally arrived in Portland, only to find that our plane had been delayed.  Bill called the hotel to have them keep holding our room (which they did) and he could not get hold of the car rental place so we began to worry about that.  Although the motel was not far from the airport, it was way too far to walk in the dark.

When we got to Portland we found a crew of clerks waiting to help us get a car and leave.  They told us that the policy was for them to stay on duty for at least 30 minutes after the last plane lands.  They had a monitor on the wall that showed them when the planes were expected to arrive.  As they were giving us the keys to the car, the clerk said "Oh, and beware of Moose on the roads.  There have been a number of accidents here lately".  The only moose we saw this trip to Maine was a picture of two of them in a river eating and that was a wallpaper picture on the computer at the Bangor motel.

We drove to our Portland motel and literally fell into bed.  it was 1.30am.  Oh yes, that was only 10.30pm Arizona time but we HAD been flying all day.

We had to get up early and eat breakfast.  Now, eating is a challenge to me because I was 3 1/2 hours in the dentist chair in North Phoenix on Wednesday 9th having two crowns removed and having my mouth prepared to be fitted with two new crowns and a bridge so that I can have the ability to chew food again.  I had to drive down by myself, be treated by the dentist, and drive home.  Aaarrgghh!  What was I thinking?  Well, it was done and that is that and on the way home I went to the food court at Anthem Outlets and ate black beans and rice.  Unfortunately the rice was 'Old" rice and did not taste very good.  But I had not eaten since 7am and it was now 3pm., so I ate it.

We had a struggle to get up early enough to eat breakfast at the motel and get on our way to Augusta to see our friends.  We took the scenic route by the ocean through the Wiscasset area - really a pretty drive.  We found our way over this I-295 route to Mary Hitchings home in Chelsea.  She has a couple of new kittens to foster and they also have a new Australian Cattle Dog.

We left there and we went to Hannaford's grocery store in the hope that they still sold Wheatina, which is Bill's favorite hot breakfast cereal but I guess they really do not make it any more so he came away without it.  We even went up main street in Augusta to Shaw's grocery store but they did not have it either.  We then went down to Friendly's restaurant and met with the members of Augusta Ward.  It was raucous, affirming and wonderfully comforting to be with them.  They would like us to return to Augusta and be a part of their ward.  That is ok for all the seasons except Winter.  Winter is long and bitterly cold and it gets dark about 3.45pm and does not get light until around 8.15am.  Not good if you suffer from seasonal affective disorder.  Found out that my friend Rose Daigle is getting married.  Also caught up on the news of all the other members.  Sue and Martin Kader, Butch and Karinna Dawbin and children and Butch's mother all joined us for lunch.  Bill particularly wanted Clam Strips and I wanted that too, but Sue produced some coupons and if we ordered a certain amount we got a good discount.  So I did not get the clam strips but rather got a Lobstah Roll (Lobster).

We left Augusta and drove to Bangor, and we did not see one Moose.  We did see notices where the Moose are allowed to cross the highway -
Moose Crossing for next 10 miles - was the announcement.  On the road we passed the Mall; the turn off that we always took to go to Riverside Drive; and we also saw the new hospital.  They had begun work on it 2 years ago when we were in Augusta.  We arrived in Bangor and went to our motel.  It is a large motel but the rooms are very much smaller than the one in Portland.   We took a nap and then we went off to find the reception.  We got there just as the Bride was about to enter the venue.  We went in first, ahead of her, and the people gathered there were expecting the Bride to go through the door, but instead they got "The Markhams".  Ta Da!

The Wedding was a very elegant affair.  The wedding ceremony was held in the open rotunda type area with the minister officiating.  The Bride was escorted down the red carpet by her 5yr old son and he was so cute leading his mother along.  The minister asked "Who gives this Mommy to this Daddy in marriage" and he puffed out his little chest and said "I Do!"  It was so cute.  The bride and groom had written out their own ceremony and it was really nice.  After the ceremony we were all ushered into a reception area where we had canapés etc.  I wanted a soda to drink but the bar prices were outrageous.  Just settled for water. The Canapés were bacon wrapped sea scallops, spicy chicken on crostini,  and some sort of pasta wrapped broccoli and artichoke.

As soon as the bride and groom entered the room, we all clapped and then we were ushered into the Reception proper.  We had name tags to pick up and a table assignment was noted on the bottom of the card.  The decorations were superb.  The theme was Christmas in July and the tables alternated with red and silver decorations.  The silver tables had red napkins and ties on the chairs and the red tables had silver napkins and red ties on the chairs.  They had champagne flutes on the table with Raspberries in the glass and the servers came in soon with salads, followed by the main course and Cake was the dessert.  They had a toast to the couple, some last minute advice and they had a band that played wonderful music.  The sound man was standing in the audience with his little I-pad and he was monitoring the sound.  They had a photo booth where people could have their pictures taken and one set was for the guest and one for the bride and groom and we were invited to write a note beside the pictures.  a man named Micah was at our table.  He is a professor of ancient Indian culture in Maine and we had a wonderful conversation.  He has known Anne (mother of the groom ) and her husband who passed away in 2010.  The other couple at the table are old friends of Anne and her husband and they are soon to move to New Mexico.  The husband is a behavioral therapist and he uses horses in his practice to help families solve their problems.  Sounds interesting and I have no idea how his work accomplishes his goals.

In 2012 Anne, Alex (her son) and Sarah (the bride) went out to eat.  I was  impressed by Sarah and told Alex that he should think about marrying her.  I overheard him telling someone that I called it way back in 2012 and he is happy that I did.  I was not trying to play cupid - they just looked like they fit together really well and I said as much.

Both Anne and Alex wondered if we would make the effort to go out to Maine for the wedding and they said that it was really HUGE that we were there.  It was a way for us to honor them and let them know that they meant a lot to us.

We danced a little and then went back to our motel.  We are both very tired from the travel.  The bed in this motel is much smaller than the one in the first motel but we fell right to sleep anyway.  After breakfast, we went down to Portland ready for the trip home.  We took I-95 back to Portland and found a gas station  not far from the airport to fill up the car before returning it to the rental place.

Got into the airport at Portland in time to catch our plane.  The toilets at the Portland airport are really interesting - they have a sensor on the wall and when you wave your hand in front of it, a plastic tube issues from a box and encases the toilet seat - eliminates the toilet paper that finds its way to the floor and litters the public bathrooms.

Our flight left on time to go to Chicago and they announced that it would be bumpy due to the weather system headed our way.  It was anything but bumpy but when we got to Chicago, we found that our layover there was an extended one due to the fact that our plane to Phx originated in Houston was held up due to bad weather there and so we had a longer wait than expected.  The passengers were tired, grumpy and hungry and it was a miracle that tempers did not flare more than they did.

Bill and I ate at a Chicago style bistro place.  He had a sub sandwich and I ate chili.  Cannot eat much due to the dental work - have a temporary crown in place and cannot use teeth to chew anything.  I went wandering around the merchants in the airport and found a marvelous place that rivaled Charming Charlies in Lincoln.  It was a small place but had so much stuff for sale that it was a miniature Charming Charlies on steroids.

Our flight finally came - not as late as they expected and we piled on and started our final leg of air travel. Finally landed in Phoenix and drove to Prescott.  Went to bed around midnight.

Sunday, July 13 was my day to teach in Relief Society.  It went well.  I am glad to be back home but am pretty exhausted from all the activity.

 We left Prescott 8.10am on July 10, attended the wedding in Bangor on July 11 and spent all day July 12 flying from Maine to Phoenix and then drove to Prescott....a total of 6,000 miles round trip.  We are glad we went.

Fire fighter tankers and WWII B-29

Yesterday I was out in the yard and I heard the familiar droning of a heavy plane.  Recently we have had 4 mandatory evacuations in the Walker area south of town because of fires and the tankers have been flying to put water and retardant on the fires.  Thankfully the fires were put out and the million dollar homes in that area are safe for now.  However, the newspaper daily reminds us that we are in a critical fire danger position and we should be fire wise.
Well, I saw this really big plane overhead and thought that it was a tanker and wondered if there was yet another fire started somewhere.  Flying also was a small piper, probably one of the Embry Riddle students up for a spin.  I thought no more about it until this morning's paper.
the headline says - Flying in for the weekend - last airworthy WWII B-29 plane comes to Prescott.   Next to the picture is the explanation - The Commemorative Air Force's World War II era Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Fifi" is among the aircraft on display at the Prescott airport form 9am to 6pm through Sunday.
According to the newspaper, this is the only B-29 that is still in flyable condition. This plane was built in 1944 and it a big four-engine bomber and it supplanted the smaller B-17 and B24.
In years past they used to have an air show here in Prescott, but there will only be a number of historical planes on display this weekend -no air show accompanying them.
Prescott is gearing up for the 150th birthday of Fort Whipple and there are supposed to be big celebrations over the Memorial Day weekend.  I will not be here for it - makes me sad - but I will be out in Lincoln with the grandchildren.  Usually the Memorial Day weekend with its super large craft show heralds the beginning of the Summer Craft Show and various celebrations here in Prescott.  Last weekend they had the Mountain Artists Guild Mothers day weekend show. I went to it and saw some spectacular wood turnings by the Wood guild people and some fabulous hand woven pieces by the Mountain Spinners and Weavers guild.  I used to belong to the Weavers guild but could not manage two quilt guilds and one weavers guild all at the same time.  There were lots of Jewelry people - mostly people who 'strung' beads.  A true beader makes wonderful constructed bead necklaces whereas a stringer just puts a mishmash of beads together and calls it bead work.  There was one lady from California who had some Dichoric glass work that was spectacular.  Of course there was the usual painters, musicians and the ever present garlic tasting booth and roasted and sugared almond booth.  You do not have to be a member of the Mountain Artists Guild to be a participant in the show -you just have to pay a lot of money to have the booth there.  Some of the potters there have good work and some of the painters are exhibiting originals.  It is easy to spot the beginners from the experts.

Tornado, toys, insurance and walnut sized quail

Arizona is home to many creatures.  Last month, I was rounding the corner of the building at Las Fuentes Resort in time to see the Blue Heron fishing in their lily pond.  I asked the lady at the front desk if there were any fish in the pond and she said they stocked it with goldfish.  I then told her she did not have any left because the Heron was in there fishing and apparently had quite a feast.  He is a lovely graceful bird and I think he is the same one that wades in the shallows at Watson Lake.  There are lots of frogs there so he has quite a feast.  He looked at me and then fished some more and lazily got out of the pond and spread his wings and flew to the top of the roof.  He looked so cheeky standing up there staring down at me as if to say, "Ha Ha, you came well after I had a belly full of Las Fuentes goldfish.  I think I will go back to Watson Lake for a top off the tank with frogs."
One afternoon I came home and noticed what I thought was the garden hose on the front rocks.  I knew it was not the yellow/orange garden hose when it slithered away into the Rosemary Bush.  Ah yes, we have a snake in our front yard.  One warm day a few days later he was sunning himself back on our rocks and then he went over to the neighbors for a look see but soon came back to our rocks.  He is really pretty and is about 4 feet long at least.  I am not sure what kind of snake he is, but I do know that he is not a rattler.  There is also a similar colored snake that lives in the big rocks in our back yard, along with assorted lizards and Tarantulas.
The Quail family have hatched their chicks and they look like little mobile walnuts.  I watched the family pecking around the Rosemary bush and all of a sudden, there was with the adult birds, a flurry of little feather balls with legs - mobile walnuts.  They skitter so fast there is little chance of  catching a long enough  look to count them but roughly there are about 12 to 15 of them.
We have had a lot of problem with the Javelina tipping over the garbage cans.  They seemed to have zeroed on my neighbors can and it gets tipped over and feasted upon on a regular basis. That is, until last week when they went out and bought a Tough Shed to put the garbage cans in - it locks and not one solitary Javelina can break in and steal the contents.  Truly, these animals must have cast iron stomachs to eat the garbage they do.  So far they have tipped our garbage can one time - and it was a mess.
On Mother's day we were on Face time with the family in Lincoln and they were all downstairs for the night sleeping in the basement.  The sirens had sounded a Tornado warning so they grabbed food etc. and went down to the basement.  Lyla got on the phone with me and was telling me that if the roof gets blown off, all of Oliver's toys would be blown away but not to worry, the family has insurance and so in a week or so, Oliver could go out and buy new toys.  However, they did take time to round up their Devices (electronic devices including the Ipad).  I doubt if Lyla thought that the storm would be so particular as to sort out Oliver's belongings from the other stuff in the top floor and leave her stuff, Ethan's stuff and the Baby's stuff intact.  She was just convinced that Oliver would lose all his belongings.  Now that is a selective storm!
After hearing all that they took down to the basement to eat, I am sure they could be holed up for at least a week before they ran out........ha ha ha ha

We've been home one week

I think that we are getting more used to the time frame here in Prescott after our trip to Australia. It has been one week since we came home.
Tonight we went to Yavapai Community College Performance hall to see the Mikado.  It is put on by the music department of the college and was really a lot of fun.  I have seen it done twice by professional actors and that was wonderful, but this one was a lot of fun and the actors were having a great time.
Each semester the High School puts on a wonderful play and I wonder what they are going to do this semester.  Unfortunately I may not be here for the performance because I am going to Nebraska to babysit the children while Sara is still having to work.
Received an email from my cousin's husband saying that my aunt Jean is not doing well and has to move from St. Vincents Hospital to a nursing home.  She has had another bleed into her brain.  I am glad that I got to see her before we left Toowoomba.
Here in Prescott, the songbirds have returned and there are whole families of Quail in our yard.  We also have a finch nesting in the back porch light and each time we open the door, it flies off to the nearby trees, leaving its eggs to fend for themselves.  I put up a mirror and see that there are three eggs in the nest.
My Sunday School lesson for the 10 yr old girls is on Abraham.  The scriptures say that his posterity will be more than the sands so I have put together a small plastic bag with 1 teaspoon of sand in it and the challenge to the class members to count the grains of sand if possible - an object lesson in trying to understand just how many descendants there will be of Abraham.  Good luck with that one kids.

Tumultuous trip to Australia - March 2014

In a Word.......but there is no single word to describe this experience!

Monday March 4, 2014.

Well, much to my surprise, Bill had to work all day today and wonder of wonders, he had actually packed a suitcase, albeit a carry on, but none the less, he had packed a suitcase the day before we were to leave.  Historic, to say the least.  Mostly, when we are to go anywhere, he does not pack until we have to leave and then in a panic, he spends the 15 minutes tearing from one place to another to cobble together his belongings that he wishes to take.  So, under the immediacy of the proverbial 8 ball, he was not ready when our neighbor Sharon came to get us to take us to the shuttle - we got there with one minute to spare.

When we got to the Phoenix airport, we found a restaurant that did not mind that we brought our own food and sat in their establishment to eat.  On our way to the security gate, we stopped in a "Purely Arizona" store to get something for our friends in Australia.  I chose the "insect candy" - i.e. it contained a small Scorpion - yes that is purely Arizona.  So I wonder how many of these little creatures have given their lives for the tourist trade and been entombed in sweet candy.  Of course we have a seemingly limitless supply of these arachnids (they are not insects) and I am very happy that the candy makers did not choose to put Cockroaches in the candies.  In any case, these candies are peculiar to Arizona, as far as I know, and they make good conversation pieces but eating one of them is still a question in my mind.  One thing I did not think about was whether I could take such items into Australia - so I just had them in my purse and if the customs official found them, then I would surrender them but if not, then I would give them to my friends in Australia - for them to keep as a memento of Arizona. 

We arrived in Los Angeles feeling relieved that our baggage - read that one suitcase - was checked through to Brisbane, Australia.   I was amazed that we were ushered through all the rigmarole you have to pass through these days just to get on a plane.  We also found that we did not have to take a shuttle around the LA airport to go from domestic to international - we just had to walk about 300 yards and we were in the terminal where we were to be processed to board the Qantas plane for Australia.  I was also surprised to learn that my passport has a chip in it that they put into a reader and the gates opened and we were admitted to the "holy of holies", the inner sanctum that ushered our tired bodies to the waiting area for the Qantas flight to Brisbane....and off we went - on our way to a whirlwind tour in Australia.

In the LA airport waiting area, there were many Australians who had been here for a vacation.  I talked to one man and found out that he had been in LA for a week.  I was interested to know what he had seen - Hollywood?  Rodeo Drive? perhaps a Casino? but no - he had done the whole week as a pub crawl - from one bar to the next! 

My last act before boarding the plane was to take a picture of it and send it over the phone to Sara, David and Andrea.  Little did I know that this was to be the last time I could use my I-phone on this trip.  We were under the impression that we could use our phone in Australia but our attempts were futile.  In fact, we discovered that our batteries were drained after 4 hours if we left the phone on.  I wonder what was the "power sucker" that was in effect that drained our batteries and we were not using the phone?

Wednesday March 5, 2014

Sometime during the night, we passed over the International Date Line and lost an entire day.  About an hour before landing in Brisbane, the staff brought around our breakfast.  We dined delicately on the dainty morsel they served.  They also served a dainty morsel an hour out of Los Angeles - so this was the fare for our Sardine Class travel - it made me wonder what was served in First Class and if the extra $$ were worth the effort.

During the night I wandered to the back of the plane - it was impossible to sleep because the flight was so bumpy due to the turbulence.  They had a kind of self serve snack vending machine that had very small 'delicious' apples, some shortbread cookies and some Tamari flavored almonds.  I ate two packs of the almonds - came to about 20 almonds all told.  They do not supply peanuts due to allergies.  On the trip back from New Zealand in 1988, David bothered the purser so much over the packs of peanuts, that in total frustration, the purser brought a complete pack (about 50 individual servings) of peanuts and said, "here kid, Knock yourself out!".

In Brisbane, we were to meet Katrina (Eiser) Hollywood.  Katrina and I had met on the internet but not in person.  In an email, she had said she would hold a sign "Bosspossum" so that we would know her at the airport, but we became worried when we did not see the promised sign.  However, a lady came up to us and introduced herself as Katrina and we were very happy to make her acquaintance.  Katrina is my second cousin once removed.  Her great grandfather, Hermann Heinrich Eiser is brother to my grandfather, Frederick Phillip Eiser.

We took a nap and later I shared with her the genealogy that I had put together for her and my other relatives.  It covered 215 years - from 1750 to 1965.  Most of it was new research since the 2001 Eiser reunion we had in Drayton.  Katrina took us to a lake nearby and we walked around the perimeter.  It was a really nice place and we were very pleased to see so much beautiful landscaping and hear the birds in the trees and water fowl as well.  She took us home and we had dinner of lamb chops and salad.  We were really tired so we went to bed and slept - much easier sleeping in a bed instead of trying to catch some sleep in a plane.....14 hours of it from Los Angeles to Brisbane.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

We were awake way too early - still functioning on Arizona time.  The kookaburras woke us up.

After breakfast, Katrina took us to Graham Waghorn's house at Springfield Lakes, which is between Brisbane and Ipswich.  Katrina's house is up the Bruce Highway, headed for the Sunshine Coast.  She and her husband are about to build a new house on Bribie Island.  When I was young, Bribie Island was pretty much uninhabited, but developers are making it the upscale place to be.

We arrived at Graham's house about mid morning, just in time for Morning Tea.  Katrina left to go to attend to some business that she had nearby.  We are very grateful for her hospitality and I am especially happy to have met her.

Graham's wife, Michelle, had been called out to work unexpectedly, but she had made some Lamingtons and I was very surprised and happy to see them.  She is a good cook and had made some lemon and date slices and also some Anzac Biscuits.  She had also prepared some crackers and cheeses and the three of us sat on the back porch and ate, talked and listened to the birds.  In particular a couple of Willy Wagtails visited the back yard and it was refreshing to see them again.  When we arrived there were a couple of Peewits on the front lawn, and some magpies were arguing supremacy in a nearby tree.  After lunch, Graham took us to Mount Cootha, up around the TV stations that broadcast to the Brisbane area.  They have a grand look out area there and we could see all over Brisbane - even watched the planes land and take off at Eagle Farm Airport.  We could see Moreton Bay in the distance - this is the first place my ancestors landed when they came from Germany.  The ship used to anchor off the coast in Moreton Bay and a smaller boat used to shuttle the immigrants to the landing on the banks of the Brisbane River.

While we were at Mt. Cootha, we found a tourist trap where we bought postcards.  Sara had asked that we send postcards to  the children, so now the problem exists to find a post office to buy stamps.

When we got back to Graham's house, Michelle was home and we were glad to meet her.  She works part time for a physiotherapy office nearby.  We had Lamb stew and vegetables for 'tea' (evening meal), and bread and butter pudding for dessert.  We watched the news, and just as in the USA, the news was not good and rather scary.  A plane has crashed off the coast of China and locally, a man was arrested in the murder of his wife.  He buried her vehicle in the back yard of his home.  No wonder the police could not find the vehicle.  They yet have to find her body.  Another story was of a police commissioner who siphoned off thousands of dollars to pay for some sort of community study in which his educator wife was involved.  Conflict of interest they said.

Jet lag is starting to catch up with us.

Friday, March 8, 2014

We awoke to the sound of the Kookaburra's in the trees and the Magpies were still arguing in the trees as well.  A Peewit sang to us from the fence outside our bedroom window.

After breakfast, we loaded up our bags and off we went on our way to Toowoomba.  Graham stopped at a post office for us to get stamps for the cards to send to the Friest Children.  Imagine our surprise when they charged us $2.50 to mail a post card to Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.  At that instant, I decided that we were not mailing any other postcards to anyone anywhere.....the cards only cost 40cents each to start with.

We drove up to Toowoomba, and there is a lot of road construction.  Due to the flood in Toowoomba last year, they have had to gouge out the range area where the water spilled over into Lockyer Valley, and this is an effort to thwart further erosion of the area they tell me.  Graham told us that the persons who hold the little signs that read "stop" on one side and "slow" on the other, have to go to school for certification so that they can spin the sign appropriately to control the traffic.  We wondered if part of their training was "how to grimace threateningly at people who do not slow down sufficiently" and heaven forbid that they refuse to stop!

We drove to Newtown to Graham's house , on Vacy  Street, where he was raised and he was surprised to see how much overgrowth of plants there was and that someone had planted a Norfolk Pine next to his house.  We proceeded further up Vacy Street to Papa Lockyer's home (my mother's father and mother had lived in this house at #36).  I was sad to see how run down and unkempt the house was.  I took pictures of the house and Graham and I talked about Steve Kruger's house next door (Steve had been our teacher at Newtown School), and that the Middleton house across the road was also run down.  However, we did note the new buildings etc. that had been added to Glennie School for girls, across the street from my grandparents home.  We then proceeded up Vacy street to #46 where my Aunt Edna and Uncle George Gatfield had lived.  It has changed a lot - people have added a lot to this house but it still looks run down.  Next door to my grandparents, is a traditional Queenslander and it is in pristine condition.  I took pictures of it.  Dr. Shelshire first lived there with his family and I used to play with their children when I visited my grandparents and then the Vidgin family bought the house.  They sold it to Mrs. Van Kerkwick, a Dutch lady.

We drove up around the corner to Princess Street, to my childhood home.  It is also very run down and the changes to the house are remarkable.  As I was taking pictures, some ladies down the street were eyeing my activities suspiciously, so I went to talk to them to help allay their fears.  Across from 12 Princess Street is an exercise place and upscale sport facility and adjacent to that is Clifford Gardens shopping center.

We then drove over to Desley Dornbush Connelly's home for lunch.  I thought that it was just going to be Graham, Michelle, Bill, myself and Desley for lunch, but to my surprise, Neil Redpath was there and then Bevan Bishop showed up.  The five of us, all 70 years of age, had a lot of catching up to do.  I was impressed that Neil would ride his motorbike up from Surfers Paradise where he lives, to Toowoomba just for the occasion and he drove back that evening.  Bevan Bishop has become a master gardener and has been helping Desley keep her garden looking nice.  If I could describe the atmosphere in the room, the word raucous comes to mind.  Add to that, affirming, uplifting, happy, gregarious, supportive and a total boost to the body, mind and spirit.  I did not know that five 70 yr old former school mates would laugh and tease so much and the memories flooded back with each comment made. Both Desley and Bevan are widowed but all of us have children and grand children and stories to tell.  I was overjoyed at the  whole meeting together of us former Newtown School kids.  Bevan brought some photo's of us at Newtown that he gave me, along with the names of the students written underneath.  This was very special and endearing.  It was during this meeting that I mentioned the people I was to meet with and at the mention of Bevon Walton, Graham's interest peaked and we discovered that he and I are related to the same people.  Ruth Winter Walton McGarry (Bevon's mother), is first cousin once removed to Graham through Ernie Winter, her father.  I am Ruth's first cousin once removed through Alvina Schultz, Ernie Winter's wife (and she is sister to my grandmother, Olga Emma Schultz Eiser).  The world just became appreciably smaller that instant.

We took photo's of the Newtown Gang, and then Graham took Bill and I over to Pam's.  I was surprised to learn that Pam has a Mercedes Benz to drive and Andrew has a Volvo - the car he takes to work.  He told us that his best car (The one he keeps for better occasions) was in the garage - a Jaguar, then he opened the garage and sure enough, there sits a Jaguar.

We went with Andrew to get some Hot pies for dinner and after watching TV with Pam, we went to bed.

I did manage to talk to Andrew about Genealogy.

Saturday, March 7, 2014

Went with Bill over to the shopping center to see if we could get on WiFi.  found a coffee shop that had free WiFi (this was the first, last and only  place we were able to get free WiFi the whole trip in Australia).  Some little kids were engrossed in their electronic games and they told us the password.  Managed to send a couple of messages to David and Sara and Andrea.  Found a "hot Shop" where I bought a Sausage Roll - Aaaahhhhh! Nirvana never was so good.  I love Sausage Rolls.

when we got back, Peter Sheridan and his wife Betty were there at Pam's house, so I sat with him and talked to him about the genealogy.    As soon as he left, John Weis came over and I went through the genealogy with him also.  Right after lunch, Bevon and Ruth Walton came over and spent the whole afternoon.  I did not give genealogy to Bevon because he is from the Schultz side of the family and not the Eiser genealogy that I was sharing with my Eiser relatives.  After Bevon left, Andrew went over to the fish and chips shop and brought back some fish, chips and the biggest Calamari that I have ever seen.

Sunday March 8, 2014

We got up early and went to Toowoomba Ward.  I sat next to Diana Cameron and her daughter Christine.  I was surprised to see Diana, who is now 91 years old and spry and lively beyond belief.  Her husband, Cliff Cameron, has passed away some time ago.  He is related to me, somehow, and he was my first Bishop when I joined the church.

Andrew was outside the church with Pam when the Sacrament meeting was over and we drove off to Fiona and Lenie Passier's for a party for Pam.  Stewart and his family came over from Caboolture for the party as well.  Fiona and Stewart are Pam's children by her first marriage.  This party was really raucous.  Lenie is one of the funniest men I know.  Travis, their second son plays volleyball for the Australian Team and he is presently in Finland playing Volleyball and his hope is that he will be on the team when the games take place in Rio, South America.  He played for Australia in the London games.  Lenie says that Travis has terrible problems with his knees and shoulders and elbows as a result of constant volleyball playing......cortisone keeps him moving. Jaek Benn, eldest son of Fiona and Lenie came up from Murphy's Creek with his girlfriend.  Jaek works for the Toowoomba regional council.  Although Pam said she did not want a party in her honor for the 80th birthday, she got one anyway and I noticed that she thoroughly enjoyed it.  There was lots of catching up and lots of laughter and it was wonderful. Andrew got sick and Jaek had to drive him home. 

We left Fiona's home for Laurel Bank Park to be with the Eiser family for that family reunion.  That also was lots of laughter and catching up.  I lost my camera case at this outing....it just disappeared.  My aunt Esther and Aunt Alwine were there.  Aunt Beryl is in a nursing home, she has Alzheimers.  Uncle Ivan was at the hospital with Aunty Jean - she has had a bad fall and has bleeding into her brain.  I had forgotten to take Lynnette's Genealogy to her at the Eiser reunion, so took it with me to St. Vincents.  My cousin Roslyn picked Bill and I up at Pam's and took us to St. Vincents and lucky for me, Lynnette was there so I gave her the information as well as gave it to Uncle Ivan.  We took pictures and then Roslyn took us back to Pam's

Pam insisted that I take the Crystal Water Set back to the USA with me.  I really have no use for it - it belongs to a different generation than mine.  I would rather take my mother's fine bone china cup saucer and plate sets, but I have no real use for them either.  Just like Mom Belnap said to me years ago, it is only STUFF and the memories are of more value than the items themselves.

We packed up our stuff and went to bed.  The bus comes for us at 4.30am tomorrow.

Monday 6 March, 2014

Managed to not sleep but stayed in bed till 3.30am.  Had my cell phone timer set for 3.45am but found that although the cell phone was fully charged last night, that it was completely drained this morning so it is just as well that I got up by myself.  Bill did not believe that the bus would come at 4.30 but it did and he was barely ready to go.  Pam got up as well, and the cat wanted to eat and Andrew got up also to see us off.  Their cat is nothing but a stomach on legs.

The Airport Flyer - name of the shuttle company that operates between Toowoomba and Brisbane, collected lots of other people on the way there and off we went to Brisbane Airport, we are off to Perth.

International travel is always an adventure - and the TSA makes it almost hazardous to our health.  At Brisbane Airport, they said that Bill had a weapon of destruction in his carry on.  I was floored.  My husband have a "weapon of destruction"?  Well, they sorted through his stuff and found a pair of 3inch scissors in his manicure set and they took them from him.  Yep!  It certainly was a weapon of destruction!  I am very glad I did not take my quilting scissors - they are 3 1/2 inches long and made of tungsten - and those babies can really inflict wounds on hands etc. if I am not careful when clipping threads etc.  They also cost a small fortune to purchase and I would certainly cry buckets if they took them from me.  Bill, on the other hand, looked forlornly at the offending scissors and made a courageous decision to let the TSA official put them in the trash.   They said that for $30 we could put the Red Carry on and keep the scissors in that and the carry on would go to Perth.  The scissors were not worth $30......Way to go Bill!

I often find myself in deep thought about the people who man the TSA.  They wield uncompromising power and their persona seems to feed  on the "power accorded them by the Government".

I found a "hot shop" at the airport and bought myself another sausage roll - AAHHH Nirvana! I am glad I did because the airline food was terrible.  Last night Pam gave us $500 to buy stuff for the Friest Kids.  I was very surprised but happy to be able to buy something for the kids other than what we had planned for.  Bill did visit an ATM to get Australian Money, but he only took out $20 because he said we would be using the credit card to buy stuff in Australia.  the $20 did not go far..................

As we drove through the streets of Brisbane the names of the various suburbs brought back memories for me - stops on the rail line on the way to Caloundra, names on the map of Brisbane and one, Nudgee Road, brought memories of Aunt Gloria.  She did not come to the reunion.  She is not talking to the rest of the family....and I do not know why.

When we got to Perth, we were told to go out to the curb and take a certain bus.  We were wandering around when a uniformed lady scooped  us up, and then said "I'm here to take you to the hotel" and off we went.  We checked in and over in the corner is the obligatory display of pamphlets of "what to see in Perth" and this is a magnet for Bill.  We now have at least one of each of these in our room - even though we have a tour booked for each day here.

My cousin Shirley Nichol Roper picked us up at exactly 4.45pm and took us around Perth.  We drove along the road that runs by the Swan River.  Saw people wind surfing - they have this large piece of fabric that acts like a spinnaker and they have what looks like a slalom water ski board on their feet and the wind in the spinnaker allows them to whip across the waves and slalom ski on the surface of the river or ocean.  We saw some doing this wind surfing on the ocean when we got to Cottesloe Beach.  There are a lot of Marina's filled with large boats along the way.  It was a very windy day and there were white caps on the waves - it must have been cold as well because all the wind surfers were wearing wet suits.  I wondered if the surfers ever got their lines tangled - there were many young people doing wind surfing and they are attached to the spinnakers by long ropes.  Shirley took us to Cottesloe Beach to see the sand sculptures that were there.   I collected some sand in a baggie from Cottesloe Beach.   One particular installation looked like Casto on Steroids.  The wind was extremely strong and when I got back to the motel, I discovered that I had sand in my hair.  Some people were swimming in the water and Bill took his shoes off and went down to the water's edge and paddled.  He wanted to say that he had touched the Indian Ocean.  Shirley took us around to see some of the homes around Cottesloe Beach and she was telling us that some of the houses are valued at around $15 million.  Her own home is small and it cost $1million.  The real estate in this area is the most expensive in Australia - she is in the building industry and knows this kind of stuff.

When we got home, her husband had most of the dinner cooked - we had lamb chops and veggies and salad.  It was very elegant and I noticed that she used Corelle ware - I have Corelle Ware as well.  Shirley and her husband are about to take a trip to Japan - a hiking trip on the western end of Honshu.  I talked to her about the genealogy of the family.  I will send her the rest of the family genealogy when I get home, because she does not have a copy of the stuff I took to Australia in 2001 for the Eiser reunion.  On the way back to the motel, Shirley and her husband took us to a vantage lookout over Perth and we saw the city by night.  that was spectacular.

Tuesday, 11 March, 2014

We got up really early and went down for breakfast.  It was truly a feast - American motels could easily take a lesson from what was served here.  I ate fruit, potato cakes, scrambled eggs and one slice of bacon with the rind on (no rind on bacon in the USA). Bill ate rolled oats, cold cereals, toast, butter and hot chocolate for both of us from the dispenser that also served 4 kinds of coffee and some different tea's.

Adams tours picked us up and took us to the main drop off place where we boarded a bus to take us to Wave rock.  We made a few stops on the way and in the town of York, we found an IGA that had all the candies my heart desired.

Our first stop was at the Hippo's mouth cave.  It was a rock formation that was adjacent to Wave Rock.  It was a large opening that did look like a Hippopotamus mouth but no teeth.

Wave rock is spectacular to say the least, but the climb up to the top was a real challenge for me.  Bill went to the top, or so he thought, and he found that there was more "top" after that.  On the way there we stopped at a Dog Cemetery - out in the middle of nowhere.  Lots of people take their dogs there to be buried.  On the way there we stopped at "Mulka's Cave".  It is supposed to have Aboriginal hand prints etc. but I think that they are fake markings.  They are supposed to have been there for centuries but the driver of the bus claimed that these markings were made of Ochre (mud).  They looked more like paint to me.  The hand prints just over our heads were said to have been made my Mulka himself, who was  said to have been very tall - well if you know your physiology, the left hand print just overhead would take a contortionist to put up there because it was upside down.  (the fingers were pointing to the floor, where one making such a print even standing on a few rocks etc. would have to bend his/her hand backwards to accommodate the upwards slope of the roof above us) The person making the print would have to be at least double jointed to make the print and the ceiling was at least 15 feet over our heads, so a ladder would have to be used and more than that, a scaffold would have to be employed so that the person could lie horizontally with the ceiling to make this left hand print.  However, tourism is what it is and so we saw Mulka's cave replete with hand prints and a rather fishy looking fish portrayed on the ceiling.

Legend of Mulka:  The legend says that Mulka was the child of a clandestine relationship between two people of opposing tribes.  As a result of this, Mulka was born with Strabismus and so when it came to the time of transition from childhood to manhood, he could not pass the test of spear throwing - could not see straight or throw straight.  This made him the laughing stock of the community and so he became an outcast.  He was not very well accepted even before that due to the illicit liaison of his parents.  He went off by himself and began to raid camps for food and was even accused of stealing and eating children.  He was chased by the tribe and he ran away but they caught and killed him and left his body to be eaten by ants rather than given a burial.  This ignominious end to Mulka was a warning to others against illicit liaisons and the end that can come to such resulting individuals.  to not be buried was the ultimate punishment and to be eaten by ants was ignominious.

After Mulka's cave, we stopped to eat lunch.  This was a disaster.  They carved up a chicken, broiled it in soy sauce and when it was doled out, I managed to be served the spine area with lots of little shards of bone.  this was topped off with rice and coleslaw.  do not know who the nutritionist was for this meal but they need to take lessons.

The driver had told us that at this stop they had a "Lice Museum", a toy soldier museum and a wildlife park and flower pavilion.  I was intrigued about the "Lice Museum" and wondered what size the Lice were, and why a museum for that?  When we got there, we found that it was a "Lace Museum", a miniature set up of miniature soldiers in war array, a rather ratty wild life park with two kinds of kangaroos and no Koala display (the eucalyptus leaves were there but no Koala), various wild parrots and some swans on a pond and loads of flies that crawled all over us.  They had an interesting array of dried flower arrangements in the form of butterflies on the ceiling and walls and  a sparsely stocked tourist trap of stuff made in Japan/China.

Flies are an integral part of Australia.  When the bus was open to allow people to leave and enter, a bunch of flies also entered (and did not seem to leave the next time the door was opened.).  However, for the first 30 minutes after loading up, the flies were bothersome and then they seemed to disappear.  I do not know where they went to , I just know that they seemed to fade away and not bother anyone.

On the way home we stopped in a small town called Babakin to have what was cross between afternoon tea and dinner (cookies, cakes and sandwiches with mystery fillings).  This spread was put on by the local CWA.  CWA stands for Country Women's Association.  Our driver dubbed it "Chatty Women's Association", but my father used to call it the Cow Whoppers Association.  My mother was the handcrafts demonstrator for the State of Queensland.  Our driver said that the Bus tour company that we were traveling with, had its start in Babakin and so the tradition stands, the bus tour goes Babakin for the CWA to make the refreshments and to garner some $$ for their association.  Their membership is dwindling due to no new members and a shrinking population in Babakin.  I bought a small cook book from there - do not know if I can make the stuff in the States but will try.  I am taking some Golden Syrup home with me when I go.  As we left Babakin, I noticed an Agave in full bloom - not that far removed from Arizona - a desert plant, in a desert environment in Western Australia.

This tour was very long.  Started at 7.30am and ended at 9pm.  This whole trip to Australia should be dubbed "Topped out Tumult".

Wednesday March 12, 2014

They have a Large Screen TV in the Breakfast area in which various 'talking heads'  blurt out the latest headlines and endless opinions on the news.  I decided that these newscasters are trying to emulate those of the US newscasters and they sound just as empty headed and fake.  The wreck of the plane from Malaysia to Beijing is still in the headlines and the minutiae about the two men traveling on stolen passports and wondering if this was a terrorist attack occupied the whole breakfast time.

We went out to take our shuttle to the drop off point and it looked for all the world like a converted Garbage truck and was difficult to get up into it.  It rode as harsh as a garbage truck.  I was horrified to find that this vehicle was taking a busload of people to Wave Rock - imagine a whole day riding in this vehicle to Wave Rock and back - yesterday was hard enough and that was in a bus and not in this vehicle.  This travel company does not cater to anyone with mobility problems.

Our bus today took us on a tour of Perth and then headed off for Fremantle.  The tour today stopped at the National War memorial park for us to overlook Perth.  We stopped in Fremantle and went shopping for stuff to take home.  We caught the Ferry back to Perth and that was wonderful to ride on the Swan River.  The Ferry passed in front of the above mentioned park and we saw the walkway in the tops of the trees.  This was one of the attractions advertised in the pamphlet about the tours by the Adams company, and I was surprised to see this walkway in the treetops from the comfort of the ferry.

We left the dock and walked to the Hay Street Mall.  found a shopping area that looked for all the world like Diagon Alley from Harry Potter.  In this alley we wandered into a little Chocolate Shop and the air was thick with the aroma of chocolate - one did not have to eat the stuff to be under its spell.  In a word, "Heady".

We were looking for a place to eat.  Seems like most places for food close around 5pm - that is when the workers leave the city for home - after all , we are in the central business district of Perth.  So we ended up eating at the restaurant at the motel.  I chose the sampler plate because it promised skewers of Kangaroo meat among other things.  I wanted Bill to have the opportunity to eat Kangaroo while he was in Australia.  Bill was more careful and chose the Porterhouse steak which was served with French Fries and nothing else.  Eating out in Australia is quite different from eating out in the USA.  Bill really liked the Turkish bread roll that was on my plate.

We were so tired that we went to bed around 8pm.

Thursday 13, March, 2014.

Today was our last day in Perth, Western Australia.  This vacation in Australia certainly has been an Adventure.

There is still sand from Cottesloe Beach in the bedside table - yes the maids are diligent to be sure.  We had a big red sign on our bed when we first came to this motel , that read "Please help us to keep the planet green and stop waste of water and energy.  If you are to be here more than one day, please hang up your towels and reuse them, just as you would at home.  Thank you,  The Management".  Ok, so we hung up our towels and that night when we got home, our hung up towels were gone and fresh clean towels were on the bed with the same big red notice on them.  So we hung up these towels and the next night when we returned to our rooms, the hung towels were gone and fresh new ones were on the bed with the same BIG RED SIGN.  Either we cannot read or the maid does not know the rules outlined on the big red sign.  Diligent maids - made sure the big red sign was in place each day, and the sand remained on the bedside table.  I was wondering how long it would take for them to wipe it off.

Our bus came early this morning and took us over to the drop/OFF/pick/ Up site at the head office.  We did get a garbage truck to ride in, but it was a small one.

Off we went on our adventure.  Our first stop was a wildlife zoo and park  (Cavershams), and we got to have our pictures taken with a Wombat, feed Kangaroos (don't step in the small round pebbles on the foot path), and get up and close and personal with the Koalas.

The next stop was a potty stop, and then on to the Lobster Shack.  They sell rock lobster all over the world and they process them very carefully.  They have these large tanks with tons of lobsters in them and the water is recycled from the plant that draws it clean from the ocean nearby.  They said that when it is time to process the lobsters, that the lobsters are not fed for a couple of days to help them purge their alimentary canals, then they are stunned in really cold water so that they can be handled safely by the workers (read that, not be latched onto by the Lobster Claws.)  They are then taken and weighed, sorted into size and weight and whether they are missing too many claws/legs.  Those bereft of a certain number of appendages are put in one area of the holding bins for processing as Lobster Meat, while the others are put into appropriate bins (wire baskets) and fed when they are put back into the salt water to keep them alive.  When they are first caught, the lobsters are measured to be the allowable size, and if they are females with eggs, they also are put back into the water with the small ones.  Certain countries like big lobsters, other countries prefer smaller ones and so on.  The lobsters are packed and shipped live to the country of destination. 

Lunch time at the Lobster Shack found us with a prepared lunch from the tour company of Chicken breast and salad and an odd looking and odd tasting pasta side dish and a piece of fruit and a drink.  We ordered a lobster type basket from the little cookery place just to taste it, but I think that it was mostly fish with a little bit of lobster so that they could call it a lobster platter.  Yes, we are spoiled from eating Maine Lobster.  We ate from both offerings and it was pretty good.  I will say that the fries they sold are superb.

I collect sand in places that have sand, and on this stop I collected my first sample of sand for the day.  It was lovely, clean and white, much like the sand at Tulum, Yucatan peninsula . We climbed onto the bus and stopped along the road to the Pinnacles Park to let the air out of the tires so that we could go sand duning in the bus! Yeah! We drove over the dunes in this converted garbage truck vehicle.  At the place where we stopped, I noticed a number of homes made of Fibro - an asbestos product used extensively in home building in earlier days in Australia.

The bus first went to the Pinnacles for us to see these wonders of nature.  these pinnacles are actually calcified trees - buried in the sand for years and the silica of the sand has calcified them.  Then the bus drove over the dunes - crazy angles and all - finally he stopped then announced the sand boarding adventure for the participants.  He grabbed a number of what looked like snow boards and the younger crowd all grabbed them, waxed them down and then ascended this super high dune and slid down to the bottom.  Bill decided he would try it and I video'd him doing it.  The driver started the on-board compressor and re-inflated the tires on the bus.  That was amazing to see.  We made one more stop for toilets before we started off home.

Along the road I noticed that certain plants grew in certain areas - just like Saguaro only grow in certain parts of Arizona and not in others.  I noticed this with the grass trees.  When I was a child, these were called black boys, but now in our politically correct environment, the name has been changed.  These plants have a thick bare trunk and growing out of the top of them is a mass of what looks like long grass and coming out of the middle of the top is usually a single spike of some sort.  In some areas there were lots of Banksia trees but not in others.  There was an absence of Eucalyptus Gums in a lot of areas as well.

I noticed that a number of homes were being built and that the struts seemed to be of Blue Steel but as we got closer, I could see that it was blue wood.   When Shirley called tonight to wish us bon voyage, I asked her about it.  She is in the building business and she said that the wood had been treated against termites (white ants and borer's in Australian).

We met a girl on the bus who is from Osaka Japan.  She is a midwife and decided to take a holiday to Australia and she is staying with a friend in Perth.  She really was surprised to hear Japanese spoken so we continued to talk in Japanese and it was wonderful.

We have to find a place that sells Lithium batteries.  Bill decided to buy regular batteries, he said they were just as good, and then proceeded to take lots of video's of the activities and places we visited, and of course the batteries ran out in one day.  We tried to find Lithium batteries at places we stopped, but we were not in luck.

I went down to the conference room to use the public internet link there to see if David Savage had answered my email from Tuesday, only to discover that I had wrongly addressed the email to him.  That is what I get for not a) checking the email address and b) not having the correct glasses on my face to see the screen.  I wonder if he will remember to pick us up at the airport in Brisbane.

Friday 14 March, 2014

I asked the desk to call us at 4.15am so that I could shower and rearrange the suitcase and get Bill up and moving.  He showered last night and all he had to do was shave and dress and be ready for the bus to pick us up at 5.35am. - and he still was not ready in time.  Anyhow, the front desk called and we got downstairs about 10 minutes late and off we went tearing through the pre-dawn traffic of Perth to the airport.  It was the same lady who picked us up the first day we were in Perth.  At the Perth airport, I purchased some Lithium batteries - we still had pictures to take before we left for home. We only had a short time before the plane loaded and we were on our way to Brisbane.

We had to pay $75 to check our big blue suitcase because the airfare we paid did not include taking a checked bag but was for carry on only - what a shock that was.

At the Brisbane airport Bill wanted to call David Savage's land line to tell him we were here.  I told him that it would not do any good to call the land line if David was in his car on his way to the airport but that  idea did not compute with Bill.  He still tried and tried to make a call on the cell phone, but the cell phone has not worked since we set foot on Australian soil.  Our baggage had not even arrived at the carousel, so we had time.  While Bill was stressing over the phone the baggage came down and Bill did not recognize the bag, and it was in front of him.  I tried to get it off the carousel, but it was too heavy for me and a kind man nearby pulled it off for me.  At that moment David Savage and his wife Kerry came through the door and Bill wanted who the man was I was talking to.  I introduced them.  Bill was all set to go to the Brisbane Temple, and it took a lot of explaining to him that this was not going to happen on this trip.  The plan was for us to go to see Mum Savage in the nursing home.  It took a long time to get there due to traffic etc.  She was very surprised to see me - we have not seen each other for over 30 years.  She fell a few days ago and has a black eye and a very sore head.  She is 94 years old and suffering some dementia and kept telling me that the bus she catches every day goes past my home on Princess Street.

It was a wonderful visit with Mum Savage.  We left the nursing home and went to David's home.  Over dinner we talked and laughed over our visits to Caloundra.  they used to visit Caloundra for holidays and so did my family when I was growing up. 

finally we went to bed around 8.30pm.

Saturday 15 March, 2014

We woke up to the calls of the Peewits and the Magpies and galahs in the trees.  After breakfast we left for the airport.  David and Kerry left us there and went on their way to go see their grandson play football.

the lines were very long at the airport - apparently there were 5 flights going to 5 different countries all slated to leave about the same time.  We checked our bags and as I was passing through the Australian version of TSA, my bag was tagged as containing a "weapon of serious nature".  It turned out to be a 2inchlong - cannot -even -cut- butter -pair -of -scissors in a small travel case (2inches by 3 inches).  they let me keep them, but only when the Supervisor decided that they were not dangerous.  Do Tell!

The flight left at 10am and we flew across the date line and arrived in Los Angeles at 6.30am the same morning.

going through customs in Los Angeles, I got stopped because I reported that I had a soil sample.  It amounted to two tablespoons of red Toowoomba volcanic soil.  After causing such a stir and flurry of questions to higher ups, they let me keep the sample.

We walked over to domestic and got on the plane to Phoenix, then the shuttle bus to Prescott.

Yep, it was an eventful trip, and jet lag is just that, JET LAG.

a festive weekend with a few "But First we..."

Oh yes, we have about 36 hours before we climb on a plane and fly off to Australia for two weeks, but many things have to happen before one embarks on such a journey.
Yesterday we went to Mesa to attend the temple but we had a couple of "but first we" things that had to take place before we entered the temple.  The initial "but first we" was driving to the Phoenix Valley in driving rain.  We have not had rain in Arizona for many many weeks and we have had no snow for winter either.  This does not bode well for our lakes here in Prescott or for the aquifer that runs under Prescott.  When it rains it is 'festive' for us and we go to the window or even outdoors and watch it rain.  For some people that sounds really nutty to watch it rain - but watch it we do and yesterday drive in it we did.  It came down so fast that our windshield wipers on the fastest speed could barely keep up and we found ourselves in the same predicament as many drivers - doing 40mph or less in a 75mph zone.  In all the years I have lived in Arizona I have not driven as slow as 40mph on the I-17 corridor to Phoenix.  Mostly the speed is at least 75mph and often a lot higher by the speedy little sports jobs that people love to own (but we don't).
We made it to the Phoenix valley - white knuckle driving all the way because we could barely see the white
lines on the highway.  Bill said we should go and find a member of the church who moved to Phoenix and left no forwarding address - we have some who do this - but this man did not realize that he has Bill Markham on his tail and so we found ourselves in an area of Phoenix that we have never been in before.  It is remarkable to note that the houses across the I-10 freeway from this area we were in, were very upscale and the area we were in was very low income and dilapidated.  Stark reality to be sure but I surmise that at one time when these houses were built, that they were the ones to own....but time and economics no longer make them desirable.
It rained off and on while we were in Phoenix, and as we left for Mesa (our second "but first we"), it was still touch and go with the rain.  We entered the temple in time to see a bridal party gather on the steps for photo's after the wedding.  When we emerged from the temple about 3 hours later, it was pouring rain.
Now, as I wrote, it is festive for rain to fall here in Arizona and we welcome it and it sure looked picturesque as it fell on the reflecting pool in front of the temple, but we had left our umbrellas in the car and the car was parked about 100 yards from the temple gates - so our chance of staying dry was slim to none.  Finally we got to the car - ran between the raindrops so to speak - and left for Scottsdale.  In Scottsdale we found the Apple store (our third "but first we" and our last one before heading home), and went in to see about buying a converter for our electronic devices that we plan to take to Australia with us.  I was duly impressed by the Apple store - it is large, airy, with floor to ceiling  windows on both ends and it was filled with technological wizards who knew exactly what we needed and more interesting than that, I was fascinated by the 3yr old who was playing  a game on the sample I-pad they had on the table - just at his height for his convenience.  His mother said that he even has to tell his grandpa how to work certain electronic things in the house...........and I believe it.  I asked if he was for hire to help me make my way through the electronic maze.  She said he was, but we live in Prescott and he lives in Phoenix.
One problem that might have existed with the rain was the cultural celebration that was to take place on Saturday evening in connection with the dedication of the Gilbert Temple.  We wondered if it would go on with the rain but apparently it was slated to go on, rain or shine and it did.
This morning we went to the Stake Center here in Prescott, and attended the live feed temple dedication ceremony.  This ceremony was both peaceful and festive.  That sounds strange, but it makes my heart happy to have been able to attend the dedication of one more temple, and it gave peace to my soul at the same time.  Temples are important because we learn more about God and his plan for us and it is the connection between mortality and heaven.  Marriage for time and eternity is the focal point of the temple ceremonies - the marriage bond extends beyond the grave....and that is comforting.
So now that we have a festive weekend of rain, and the celebration of a new temple dedication, we can concentrate on packing up our stuff and getting ready to go to Australia.

Seven Days to go

It is now seven days before we leave for Australia.  You would never guess it because we have not even pulled out the suitcases............planning is not a top priority - until this evening.  Bill observed that we had better do something soon because our plane leaves next week.  I just hope we are on it!  ha ha ha ha
We have not had much of a winter this year.  Only a small dusting snow shower and the air is very dry.  I have to sleep with a humidifier going otherwise I have difficulty breathing.
One magnificent thing needs to be noted.  The fruit trees and other ornamental trees are in full bloom.  My own two fruit trees, a peach tree and a nectarine tree have very swollen buds and a pin head size burst of pink color on the outer edge of some buds - they will be in full bloom before we leave.  The days are wonderfully warm and the nights cool and we desperately need rain.
Now, the saying goes that March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb.  I hope that when it comes in that it does not destroy all the beautiful blossoms that adorn the trees and especially that it does not freeze out my fruit trees - or anyone else's fruit trees for that matter.  As I walk the neighborhoods, the sight of the blossoms is breathtaking.  My  neighbor has a plum tree that last year was loaded with fruit.  Most years it freezes out but last year we had plums galore and our friends cringed when we approached them with a bag of plums - they were already overloaded with previous gifts of the fruit.  This year, if there is a plum for each flower, she will have a bumper crop.  We hope that March leaves like a lamb and the fruit trees remain intact.
We had Community Quilts today and there was a large donation of quilt fabric from someone's estate.  When the bags containing the fabric were tipped out onto the table, the ladies gathered around and began to sort the pieces.  It was joyful and the chatter was fun to listen to. When I told Bill about it he said "It must be like opening and playing in a brand new toy box" and I guess he is correct.  Somehow, we managed sort to color and size and put the new pieces in our boxes of fabrics for use in community quilts.  Last week at the Guild meeting, we had a program by the Lumber Yard Ladies.  They cut their left over fabrics into pieces of 2x4, 4x4, 2x8, and 2x2, and they then use these small pieces to put together quilt blocks that measure 8x8 and then they take these 8x8 blocks and combine them to make quilt tops.  A truly scrappy quilt effect, but the ladies who took the class are all excited for the new process.  One thing that needs to be noted is that not all the blocks come out to an exact 8x8 measurement and this is due to various things like cutting errors, stitching errors and also that some machines do not sew a 1/4 inch seam exactly.  For example, if you begin sewing the blocks on one machine, you cannot go and sew on another machine and expect the blocks from both machines, when combined to make a quilt top, to finish out at the same size - some machines are a scant 1/4inch and others are a generous 1/4 inch.  Ah the fun of doing quilting!  And they talk about needing uniformity in various community endeavors, well, start with the quilting and we may just accomplish something.  How can you sleep under uneven seams?  ha ha ha ha
Our quilt show is coming up and I have completed finishing two sides of my 3600 piece hexagon modified grandmothers flower garden.   It is a King Size quilt. (www.paperpieces.com  and look on 'pictures' and on page 3 or page 4 for my picture with this quilt).  I will be glad when it is finished.
I am very grateful for the work of Dr. Benson.  His series of injections into my left leg have been successful and I can now walk 2 miles per day.  I have not been able to go walking since returning home from Nebraska in July last year.
Sara has sent me a few pictures on the messages portion of my phone.  One of them is baby August being quite vocal.  Another one is of him doing his level best to get to crawling - right now he is developing his upper body strength by hauling himself along with his hands and arms and dragging his wiggling legs behind him.  On facetime, I saw him get up on arms and legs and do a type of (yoga) Downward Dog pose.  I think he will be fully mobile before you know it.
I am not sure how to continue the blog while in Australia because I will only have my Ipad with me but will perhaps keep a written record that can be transcribed when I get home.
but first we have to get to the Apple Store to buy a charger for Australia's electricity.

Getting ready to go......but first we!

I sit here in very dry, warm Arizona - the warmest winter so far and the driest.  the TV is on and the totally nutty Snowboard cross is running.  It appears to be the most insane of all the Olympic events so far. 6 people with their feet strapped to a funny looking piece of equipment  hurtle down the snowy slope filled with terrifying jumps and twists and turns and the winter has moved in on the field with snow falling at the top of the run and rain on the bottom of the run - and they think that this is fun?  And now there are women skiing down the slope on what they describe as terrible conditions.  What sort of death wish do these people have to even think of taking this on.
Our trip to Australia is looming - one of my preparations for this trip has been to put on paper the family narrative to be given to my relatives in Australia.  As far as I know, I am the only one who has taken on the challenge of tracking them down.  The narrative is an outline of the good, the bad and the ugly so to speak.  In a perfect world, the princess is swept off her feet by the handsome prince and carried away on his prancing white steed to live happily ever after.  Reality talks about the move from one country to another - from one culture to a new one and to have to learn a new language into the bargain.  I can identify with all of this.....been there done that.
Our last week in Prescott is in total chaos,  On Monday I have an all day stint in the Community quilts activity for the quilt guild.  Tuesday I have a luncheon with my applique group.  Wednesday is my beading group.   Thursday I have my Pilates class and then 4 hours at the family history center.  Friday is a Family History Center training session.  Saturday we are going to Mesa to attend the temple and on Sunday is the dedicatory sessions for the Gilbert Temple over closed circuit TV to the church.  Monday we leave for Australia.
I am very happy that I have finished the genealogy report - I can now enjoy the last week here.
Now on the TV is some other insanity - the ski snow cross in the half pipe....and I thought that the snowboard half pipe was insane but these people on ski's doing the half pipe staggers my senses.
preparing to leave for Australia but first we...............but first we must to lots of other things in preparation.