Getting acquainted with Gaudi

Today was the beginning of getting acquainted with the architecture of Gaudi, the Catalonian who created magnificent and very unusual designs from the late 1880’s until he was killed by a tram in 1926. Today we visited the biggest structure he designed, the cathedral called Sagrada Familia, subject of today’s picture. This building was less than 25% completed when Gaudi died, and is still under construction. Touring it, including going up the spires to see the construction going on up high, gives you a real sense of the immense amount of labor and materials it took to build the older cathedrals that you now seen as completed wholes. It is expected to be completed in 2030—don’t think I’ll make that one. There are several more Gaudi buildings to see here—we’ll continue our Gaudi exposure over the next several days.

We have landed in Barcelona at the end of a major festival, and are finding many squares and museums quite crowded. We’re also finding it a major challenge to eat at a reasonable price, with some of the most expensive meals any of us have seen (including Tokyo and London)—with dinner entrees upwards of 20 euros (that’s about $30). All markets are closed on Sunday, so we will have to wait until tomorrow to lay in supplies so we can cook dinner at home. Then we’ll eat out midday, when restaurants feature more reasonably priced meals. We can’t figure out out people who live here can afford to eat out—they must be clever at finding little spots that are reasonable.

Overnight train to Barcelona

Call it functional, but just barely. We shared this small boat-sized space with Fritz & Nancy and our four suitcases—just a bit of a challenge. I’m shooting this picture from my top bunk. The space between the two bunks was about 1 ½ feet—not much room to maneuver. Fortunately in the morning we were able to fold the bunks up and find decent seats underneath.

The train itself left Turin about 40 minutes late and arrived in Barcelona about an hour late. But what difference did it make to us?? A little boring waiting on the platform at 9 pm in the evening in Turin in a station with absolutely no services, and a slightly later start on Saturday in Barcelona getting our bearings.

We’ve settled into our little apartment, and are currently waiting until it’s late enough to go out to dinner (must be at least 9 pm). Americans are not used to having that kind of time to fill in the evening. Fortunately, it also has wireless internet access so I'll be able to post some pictures this week.

Already it appears the challenge in Barcelona is going to be finding places to eat that don’t cost an arm and a leg. Lots of tourists here (as opposed to Turin, which is not so overrun with tourists, so you can find good places that the locals can afford to eat in).

Turin-wide plazas, limited parking

One of the enigmas of Turin is that is has wide boulevards and vast plazas, but it also has more cars than it can fit into the limited parking spaces along the streets.

If I can load two pictures, the first is a picture of one of the large plazas. The second shows one of the more inventive parking solutions—one owner tucked his/her car underneath this construction vehicle for the night.

Touring Torino ((Turin)

We're happily ensconced in Nina Rook's Turin flat, learning our way about this very interesting city. My very basic Italian is getting me what I need--I can mostly make out the price of things when told, and ask where the toilet is. And at times I can understand directions when I ask "dove e museo?" if the answer is accompanied by a sufficient number of hand gestures.

No pictures this post. Nina does not have wireless and we were unable to get my camera pictures to load into her system. So just know that I am capturing lots of images of some very interesting places. Yesterday we visited the Rivoli Castle, which once was a castle but is now an extremely interesting museum which has juxtaposed some very modern architecture with the centuries-old remainders of the castle. Astonishingly, it works very well. And inside they have commissioned artists to create new works in the old, mostly very large, castle halls.

Turin also turns out to have the second largest Egyptian museum outside of Egypt. I visited that today, and enjoyed their very well done displays of statues and sarcophagi complete with mummies. We're enjoying delicious little cappucino's and finding some good restaurants, as well as cooking in.

We also made one journey south of Turin to a small town that still has its medieval buildings intact. There's not much left of medieval Turin--mostly 18th & 19th century, alongside modern. Got a look at the converted former Fiat factory here in the middle of Turin, complete with test track on the roof and the small collection of pictures made available by the Agnellis--owners of the company.

We're here for two more days, then take the overnight train Friday evening to Spain. So will post more from there--hopefully with pictures.

Exploring the splendors of the Lakes District

Nina Rook and I have now done two hikes exploring the beautiful scenery of the Lakes District and pressing our bodies just enough. While we’ve been climbing, the remainder of the group has opted for less strenuous hikes or walks. Group members have been cooking up a storm—we’ve been enjoying a series of English dishes such as Cumberland sausage, lamb chops, shepherd’s pie (with ground lamb), and apple bramble crumble (brambles are blackberries) served with “double cream” – (that’s VERY thick and rich cream). We’ve eaten well, and best of all, after five days of traveling together—sometimes 7 of us in one car—we’re still on good speaking terms.

We’ve also explored nearby towns, twice as the result of flat tires acquired by the confined widths of narrow Lakes District roads and holes/rocks on the edges of the road (there are no shoulders on the roads here). It’s exciting driving here! Not only are you on the “wrong” side (shifting gears with the left hand instead of the right) but frequently on lanes just wide enough for one car, so if you meet someone, somebody gets to back up to a point where there’s a wide spot in the road. I’ve done the driving for Nina and me to enable us to take a separate path from the rest of the group—and I’ll be happy to give that up when we move on to Italy, where we plan to confine ourselves to public transport.

Lake End House at High Nibthwaite, Lake District, England

The white house is our home for the week, situated at the south end of Conistan Water. In the background you can see the lake, where we went rowing this evening. We’ve taken ourselves to a couple of the small villages nearby, including Ambleside and Hawkeshead. Today we visted Beatrix Potter’s Hilltop House in Near Sawrey, then after went to Blackwell House, an “Arts & Crafts” house built around 1900 with incredible detail in its handcrafted friezes, moldings, door handles and downspout decorations. Our eyes are enjoying the landscapes of rolling green hills dotted with sheep and stone houses. The VERY narrow roads continue to take our breath away when we meet other cars, or worse, buses. So far so good—no bumps or scratched car sides.

Sept. 12 2009 - The Book Group Goes to Europe

We are part of a Book Group that has been together in a variety of incarnations for over 30 years. The group has done a few adventures together, but the furthest afield we have traveled is Lopez Island. Last year we decided to undertake a major adventure, driven by opportunities afforded by our members. The first opportunity was a large house in the Lake District in England which belongs to a friend of one of our members, and is rented at a very agreeable price to people they know. Seven of our nine book group members agreed we wanted to travel together there.

Another of our members has an apartment in Turin (aka Torino) Italy. On the premise that “since we’re already in England, Italy’s pretty close), five members of the group decided to continue on to Turin. To finish off the trip, four of us will continue to Barcelona (no book group connection there), and then return to London for a few days.

So here are five of us in front of the ABC Hyde Park Hotel in London, one of a row of little hotels tucked into the Sussex Gardens Street in the Paddington area, close to Hyde Park (left to right, after me and Phil are Steve Frank, Nina Rook and Kay Frank). After an overnight in London, we hooked up with our remaining pair (our Lake District “hosts” Nancy Taylor and Fritz Levy) and came today by train and then car, carefully navigating on the “wrong” side of the road. We’ve just finished off a beautifully English dinner of Cumberland sausage accompanied by “bubble and squeak” (a side-dish mix of mashed potatoes and cabbage). Dessert was sticky toffee pudding. All delicious--we’re carrying on the book group tradition of eating well.

Lucky us—after 10 weeks of rain, the weather has turned beautiful. Today was sunny and warm (in the 60’s). We’ll see how fortunate we remain. No matter—we’ll be out walking around regardless of weather.

I’ll keep up posts every few days so you all can follow our fun!

Heading Home

We now have the bit in our teeth and are headed south. We’re just north of Nanaimo, back in civilization where the phone works and we can occasionally find a grocery store to resupply. I’m on countdown for crossing the border and getting home, trying to manage how many bottles of booze & wine we have and how much of I have of forbidden things like meat, vegetables & fruit. We’ll cross on Sunday to Roche Harbor, visiting friends Richard and Lynne Hobbs there, and spend two days stopping at favorite places in the island.

Music Fest at Shoal Bay (Sat August 22)

We have now participated in the annual music fest at Shoal Bay—a gathering of boaters, friends and “neighbors” (all arriving by boat—the only way to get here) to celebrate the ending of summer. The roasted pig and corn was provided by our host Mark Macdonald, accompanied by boater donations of salmon, cod and generous side dishes, along with a variety of desserts, and of course ample booze to keep everyone afloat. Three sets of musicians entertained us, and jamming went on until around midnight (yours truly having retired around 9, but sound carries on the water).

We’re on our way south now, heading for Desolation Sound today (the Octopus Islands). Weather permitting, we’ll stop on Wednesday to see our friend Ralph Clasby on Hernando Island. Thursday we’ll cross over to the east side of Vancouver Island, stopping at Deep Bay and Schooner Cove, where we’ll rendezvous with another boating friend, Barbara Bunting. Back in the San Juans around a week from today (next Sunday).

Quiet Sunset

We spent last night in one of my favorite anchorages—Viner Sound. It was so quiet you could hear the fish jumping. I snagged three more crab, and we enjoyed a very peaceful evening. After an overcast day, we were treated to enough clearing that we had a beautiful sunset—shared here if I can get it to upload. We’re on our way south. We’ll go through the Johnstone Straits tomorrow, and by Thursday, be back in Shoal Bay.

Ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

Sometimes you have to improvise a bit to make things work. My Mac computer was having trouble picking up the internet signal at Shawl Bay, but worked just fine if I went to the end of the dock to get a straight shot at their antenna. Unfortunately, the outdoor light made it difficult to see the screen—so here’s my solution. Hides the view but I can see the screen!

Shawl Bay Marina

We’re back at the funkiest marina in the Broughtons—homey Shawl Bay, where they serve pancakes in the morning. Pictured behind the Tamarisk is the covered float where we’ll convene for cocktails and meet the other boats. Great stories and helpful boat advice to be had for being friendly. We’re lucky—we landed here on the night they’re providing a seafood chowder as the center of a potluck dinner. Fresh homemade bread, and cinnamon buns too. And supposedly there are shrimp in the bay outside the marina. We’ve set the pot and we’ll see tomorrow.

The First Crab!

Pictured here is the first crab of the season being dropped into the pot. The special spot at Lagoon Cove that I was told about by one of the staff continues to yield well. I garnered a total of 6 crab (3 yesterday and 3 more this morning), and will make up a nice crab hors d-oeuvre to share with our fellow boaters tonight at Kwatsi Bay. Looks like we’ll be anchoring out at Kwatsi because the docks are full. They’ve become so popular that there is often no space at the dock. We’re also trying to get into Pierre’s new Echo Bay moorage for the pig roast on Saturday night—have yet to hear whether we’ll have space there. Overall cruising is back up to former levels in the Broughtons, after a low year last summer because of the high fuel prices. Makes dock space crowded sometimes, but we’re glad for all the marina owners that try to make a living out of it.

Lagoon Cove

Here’s a picture of things we do on a rainy day on the boat. We’ll fire up the diesel stove to warm ourselves, then tuck in with books or do indoor projects. And since the diesel stove provides an oven, I have whipped up a favorite boat dessert, toffee bars, which you see sitting proudly in the middle of the table cooling down, waiting for consumption.

We came up the Johnstone Strait yesterday, rather than today as planned, because as we began to approach the strait the weather reports indicate calm weather. So we first decided to go partway up the strait to Port Neville (about halfway up the passage we have to make), since we had a favoring current until 3pm. However, once we were in the strait, it continued flat calm, so we did the only thing you should do when you discover the strait is calm—go for it! By the end of our passage there was a little wind—perhaps 10 knots—and a heavily overcast day that was threatening to rain, but didn’t until right after we finished anchoring. Rather nice timing!

We overnighted in a small bay called Burial Cove, along with a few wandering logs and an ugly two-story boathouse that showed up after we’d anchored and then was moved again in the morning. We were waiting for a favorable current to go through Chatham Channel, a narrow pathway leading into the waterways of the Broughton Island area where we’ll poke about for the next week and a half. This morning we came through the Channel and are now tied up at Lagoon Cove.

I’ve set my crab pots in my favorite spot in Lagoon Cove, using prawn heads for bait. At Lagoon, there’s a tradition of a 5 o’clock cocktail hour with everyone contributing hors d’oeuvres and Bill, the marina owner, putting out a bucket or so of freshly caught prawns each day. Overall shrimping is scarce this year for private parties—it was a particularly good year for the commercial guys so they let them have an extra couple of weeks and now there seems to be nothing left. But somehow Bill always manages. Fortunately, that means he has lots of prawn heads left over, which make excellent crab bait.

Shoal Bay

From Dent Island it was a short 8 mile ride on a favorable current to one of our favorite spots, Shoal Bay. The view from this bay is easily remembered, as we look across the channel at Phillips Arm at a beautiful array of mountains. We always enjoy keeping company with Mark xxxx, whose cheery personality and unending projects to improve the property make this a special place to stop and catch up as well as meet other boaters over a drink at the little “cottage/pub” he runs. Mark always manages to attract an interesting crew of volunteers to help him on his place, in return for food and a place to sleep.

It rained in the morning of our second day here, and then was somewhat misty and cloudy the rest of the day—weather that’s badly needed as they’ve had no rain for over a month. Not only is the vegetation quite dry, the water supply on these islands is very low. So the weather was extremely welcome.

This picture is taken from deck of the pub, showing the dock with Phillips Arm in the mist. Tamarisk (our boat) is at the end of the dock on the right, with the black forestay.

Tonight we ate the oysters I picked at Pender Harbor, fried in bread crumbs, together with a salad of fresh greens from the garden that Mark keeps for both his use and to refresh supplies on passing boats. I was able to get a cucumber, a couple of squashes, some great-smelling dill, snap peas, parsley and nice tender lettuce leaves. I also picked some kale, which I put in a soup for lunch. We’ve dumped our garbage in the compost pile, put bottles and beer cans in his recycling, and gifted a large batch of miscellaneous paper to his burn barrel. We’re ready to move on.

We’ll move to Forward Harbor tomorrow, a small bay at the south end of the Johnstone Strait, and hope to head up the Strait on Monday, weather permitting.

Dent Island Lodge

For years I’ve been intrigued by Dent Island Lodge, situated on the edge of the Dent Rapids. It gets a good writeup in the Waggoner Cruising Guide—one of the cruising bibles we use to find our way through the various harbors and passages. Privately owned but open to well-heeled boaters, it controls access by having various expensive moorage. It’s restaurant prices match the moorage, so we’ve always passed it by. But this year we decided to splurge and find out what was there.

It’s a lovely setting, as you can see from the picture of Phil and me at lunch on the deck with the marina in the background. While it is a small island removed from the actual Dent Rapids, the lodge has its own small set of rapids separating it from that small island, so it puts on a show throughout the day with boiling water in between the slack tides. The lodge has an outdoor bar (which wasn’t operating the day we were there) right alongside these rapids, and also an outdoor hot tub next to them. The hot tub WAS operating so we used it after dinner. Our dinners (at a fixed price of $90 for a four-course meal, sans wine) was disappointing. The clams in curry sauce appetizer was excellent, the entrée was overcooked (our medium rare steak was medium, the grilled prawns were mushy, and the ratatouille vegetables were both mushy and fairly tasteless. The dinner was nearly redeemed by two delicious desserts, but overall it was not what you’d expect given the price.

We enjoyed our splurge, but have now satisfied our curiousity and won’t repeat the visit.

Chapman's House & Guest Cabin

Pender Harbor to Evans Bay

In Lund we enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of Barbara and Warren Chapman, Phil’s former clients, who 40 years ago bought property surrounding a small bay just south of Lund. We ended up staying two nights at the Lund marina, in order to get our dinghy motor fixed, and as a result were lucky enough to share dinner both nights with the Chapmans and Barbara’s niece and family from Tennessee. The bounty of the sea provided our last night’s dinner, which you see pictured here—an outstanding preparation of Oysters Rockefeller. Shots are of the guest cabin (with the deck) and the main house (with the tall, slender windows) I'll do in a separate post.

On Wednesday August 5th we motored and then sailed for the first time on our way to Evans Bay on Read Island. We had thought we’d tie to the dock of a friend’s cabin in a small bay off Evans, but discovered that he’s sold it. So we anchored in nearby Bird’s Cove, setting our first shrimp pot of the season in a place that had provided nice hauls three years ago. Not this year—one lonely shrimp in the trap when we pulled it. Really disappointing after pulling up 400 feet of line by hand!

Anacortes to Pender Harbor

We spent two days hooked to the dock at Parker, enjoying the hospitality of our hosts Herb & Karen Berry. They have created a wonderful maze of trails on their property, which connect to trails on adjacent properties, so there’s lots of walking in the woods to enjoy. The cool woods were also the place to be on two very hot days, with temperatures in the 90’s—weather we are totally unused to in the northwest. Imagine doing your computer work in the woods. The picture shows Phil doing just that, making use of a kindly neighbor’s internet connection.

On Wednesday, the Berrys left for a two-day sailing cruise and serendipitously our boating friends Anne Kilkenny and Jon Navieux, whose Wise Island cabin is a short dinghy ride away from Parker, noticed our boat and invited us for cocktails and dinner.

Thursday we moved to Ganges Harbor to stock up on the fresh fruits, vegetables and wine you can’t bring across the border, plus get Canadian cash and miscellaneous items we forgot to bring along like the card reader for my camera so I can now share pictures as I go. I also popped into the local thrift store to purchase a couple more halter tops. My supply of them is quite small and with this hot weather, they’re the only thing I’m wearing. Dropped my first crab pot of the season and came up with one female—a disappointing start. But that lone crab had eaten hardly any of my delicious salmon head so back into the freezer it went for another try.

Friday we spent a long day motoring to get up to Pender Harbor. There was a little bit of wind (maybe 10 knots) and better yet, a favoring current, so we motorsailed, arriving about 4:30 pm after an early 6:30 am start. We tied to the side of our friends’ boat (Jack & Judy Charlton) on Mary Islet, the small island they own in the middle of Pender Harbor. Unfortunately they’re not there, so we’re hoping to connect with them on our way back down. Instead we’ve joined in BC Day celebrations and a wooden boat show we found in the harbor. Tomorrow we’ll move to Lund for a night or two, visiting other friends and hoping to get our leaking dinghy outboard motor fixed, so we’re not limited to rowing distances. That’s always the fun of sailing—discovering and fixing problems, while enjoying stupendous scenery!

Off to Northern Waters

Phil and I launched the boat this morning, after she had endured a winter "on the hard." Two days of run-around prep, and we're almost ready to leave. We'll head to Parker Island in Canada in the morning, and from there proceed slowly north. Probably a stop in Silva Bay and then across the straits to Pender Harbor. I'll post when I find internet access.

As usual I am discovering all the things I left behind, one of which is the attachment to download pictures from my camera. So unless I can find a replacement, these posts will be verbal, without pictures. To make up for it, I've posted a picture of apast trip when Tamarisk (our boat) was tied to the dock. Our visit tomorrow will look just the same as this one.

I'm delighted to be on the boat, headed for my favorite cruising grounds. My whole body relaxes when the boat hits the water--and my mind follows soon behind. We'll be gone for almost six weeks, and glad to get out of the heat we're experiencing in the northwest. Whoever thought we'd complain about sun and warmth!!

Home and Off Again!

At last I am back with my own computer and will try to upload the pictures I wanted to do in Australia. I'm sharing a picture of the view from the apartment where we stayed in Surfer's Paradise, and also a shot of me doing one of my favorite activities, walking the beach.

I have been home a little over a week, scrambling to catch up on bills, groceries, clothes washing, a bit of gardening, and all the other things that collect while you are gone. Phil cooked a wonderful osso bucco for my Mother's Day dinner, rounding it out with delicious chocolate eclairs and a bottle of great wine. Delicious!!

Tomorrow I head to California to help my parents make a decision about moving to a place that will provide them more support than they have in their home in Carpinteria. I'll be driving them up to look at a couple of places in Santa Clara, and we'll go from there. I'm not sure how my schedule will be, but will be back in Seattle no later than the 29th of May.

Look for a post under health in a few days.

Getting Ready to Return

It always seems that towards the end of a trip, no matter its length and no matter how much you've enjoyed it, you start to mentally prepare for your return, beginning to look forward to your familiar surroundings and routines. We're at that place now.

We've enjoyed a return of better weather here in Surfer's, with more sunny days than overcast days, but there's a definite touch of "fall" in the air--Gold Coast fall, that is, where the temperatures at night may drop down to the 50's and the day temps are only in the high 60's or lower 70's. Still mighty nice to a Seattlite.

At present we're still alone in our friends' apartment, expecting their return this weekend. We've taken a second trip into Brisbane, haunted the local shopping centers, bookstores and libraries, and today took a 2-hour river tour to see some of the elegant homes along the many waterways that have been constructed here.

Saturday is Anzac Day here--the Aussie version of Veteran's Day. Anzac is the name for the Australia/New Zealand military forces that served in the several world and regional wars. And it is a BIG DEAL here, unlike our comparable day in the US. There is very strong sentiment about honoring the many Australians who have given their lives in defense of other sectors of the world, usually joining European and US troops. About the only time they were actually fighting action that threatened their own country was in the Pacific arena in WWII, when the Japanese attacked parts of the Aussie coast. So there's lots on television about these veterans and about their part in the wars. Just great for someone like me who loves watching military history, but you-know-who is loving it!

Next posting when we get home. I'll be glad to be back to my own machine where I can actually upload pictures again.

Back to the beach!

We're back in Surfer's Paradise, glad to be where we can again get our daily walk on the beach and our cappucino at our favorite cafe. I tried to post a picture of me on the beach, but the dial-up computer access I'm using seems to be too slow, so I've given up.

The weather continues quite mixed. It's been overcast, with spells of sun each day, along with a little rain. Naturally today's rain came just as I was beginning my return trip from the cafe. Phil opted to take the bus. I went ahead and walked, and about halfway home the rain stopped, so at least I wasn't dripping wet when I got back to the apartment. Tonight we're going to check out a Thai restaurant near us, the beginning of our scan of the local eateries that are within walking distance.

I've been collecting some Aussie phrases. Shortening words is the order of the day, occasionally leaving us scrambling to figure out what someone is saying. Here are a few of my favorites so far:

Brekky (also spelled breaky) = breakfast
Swimmers = swimsuit
Servo = service/gas station
Avos = avocados
Muso = musician
Cuppa = what Phil and I do each day--having a cup of tea or coffee (the operative phrase is "would you like a cuppa?" or "we're be with you in a minute; we're just having a cuppa" (the latter comment from the hairdresser Phil went to in Gympie to get a haircut).

No worries, mates. We're getting the hang of this. She'll be right!

Tin Can Bay & the Dolphins

We've now been up in the Sunshine Coast area, staying with our friends Steve & Betty Ostrycharz (formerly from Seattle) for four days. Our weather luck ran out, and we've been treated to rain every day, sometimes as showers, sometimes as tempests. We've tried not to let it curtail our explorations, including this morning's trip to Tin Can Bay to participate in feeding three dolphins from a pod there that appear every day to "socialize" and be fed. The picture shows me (yellow t-shirt) feeding one of them. Each person gets one or two fish to feed to them, the total amount carefully measured so they get no more than 10% of their daily food needs, so they don't become dependent on it.

Tin Can Bay is not named for piles of tin cans that somehow ended up there; rather it's an Anglicized version of the aboriginal name for the site. It's on a river estuary off the Pacific ocean. For some reason, about three generations ago these dolphins began to appear, and each succeeding generation teaches the next. Not all of the dolphins in the pod come, just a few. They're quite docile, though the visitors are urged not to splash and to douse their cell phones, because sudden noises or movement can scare them off. They gently take the proferred 6" fish from your hand (you are holding the tail, they take it by the head) and down it goes. Then they wait for the next person in line.

The countryside here is different from what I expected. Somehow, having heard that Steve & Betty were on a 110 acre farm, I expected it to be dry and brown, out in the middle of the wilderness. Instead, they're about 10 minutes from the town of Gympie, which while not large, has all the necessary services, and only about an hour from Brisbane. It's also lush, green and very hilly country. The lush grass feeds the cattle that they have grazing their property, along with the goats, chickens and ducks. We've been enjoying fresh eggs for brekkie (as breakfast is known here), along with wonderful pineapple (bought a large one today for $1.50). They haven't yet butchered any of their animals, though the plan is to do that with at least some, and sell others. That may prove difficult--nearly all of them have names.

We explore the highlands area two days ago, popping into shops and driving around trying to catch things between downpours. Lots of dairy cattle in this region, so there's good ice cream, cheese and yoghurt, and we sampled some excellent, prize-winning ice cream on that excursion. Yesterday we visited the Saturday market in Eumundi, about 30k from here--lots of booths with clothing, jewelry and the usual assortment of other trinkets, along with food. Had some excellent calamari for lunch.

Phil is making a paella for dinner tonight, which will feature some expensive (but delicious) prawns. The commercially bought prawns here are just as good as the ones we catch on the boat. I don't know why that is--I certainly wish it were true in Seattle.

We'll stay here til Wednesday, at which point we'll venture back to Surfer's Paradise by train, just before the Easter holidays. Though Australia is not particularly religious, everything shuts down on Good Friday, and the weekend is an extended holiday with Monday off as well. Some stores shut down the entire weekend. We want to get back to Surfer's in time to do some shopping before the holiday, though I think the larger grocery stores will be open at least on Saturday. However, we may find our favorite coffee shops in hiding for a few days. We shall see.

The Gang at Curtis Falls

Charles Reynolds (our host), Phil and Kae admiring Curtis Falls, in the mountains just to the west of Surfer's Paradise.

Convict Bridge at Ross, Tasmania

Here I am gracing the shores by the convict-built bridge at Ross, a pretty little village in Tasmania, north of Hobart.

Travel pics from Tasmania & Tambourine Mountain

I downloaded some of my pictures so I could share them. After several tries to post multiple pictures, I'm going to upload them one at a time. First up: a picture of Hobart (Tasmania) from Mt. Wellington.

Moving North

We're about to change our routine from daily beach walks and cappucinos to a visit with friends of Charles & Valerie's in Caloundra, and then move on to visit Steve & Betty Ostrycharz, who live near Gympie. Both of these are north of here, about 1 1/2 hours (Gympie's about a half hour further north of Caloundra). We'll have new routines to discover, just as the weather has shifted from daily sun to a bit of rain and showers for the next week.

I've also done a fair bit of reading, as our daily schedule allows for copious amounts of it. Finished off the mysteries I brought with me. Fortunately we found a good used bookstore within walking distance, so I'm working on a Jane Smiley book on the early settlment of Kansas, and also Manley's book "A Short History of Australia."

I'll post again when our new adventures have revealed themselves.

Laid Back Life

We're adjusting well to the slow pace of indolent life next to a beautiful beach, with great surf and warm weather (80's). Our routines include a daily walk on the beach (Phil sometimes does his with our friend Charles; I do mine either alone, with Phil or with Valerie) and lots of reading. Our friends Charles and Valerie are with us in their apartment, so we're a bit like college roommates, doing a lot of talking and spelling each other on cooking duties. It's a tough life, but we're managing it.

I've gone with Valerie two times to play in the surf, not something that comes naturally to me. She grew up in Bondi Junction (suburb of Sydney) and daily playing in the surf, so she loves to get into the waves and swim. As a northwesterner who grew up in inland Yakima, playing in the surf was something I did rarely, on camping trips to the Washington or Oregon coast, where the water was cold enough that you didn't spend much time there. Here the water is a warm 25 degrees C (roughly 75)--heavenly to splash about it. I worry a little about sharks, though none have been around here and they do have a shark net on this beach. I don't go out very far. There's also been a pretty strong undertow the last few days, so I'm overcoming my nervousness about holding my own as the tide sucks itself back out. But I've quite enjoyed myself the two times I've been in. A splash about every 2-3 days is great for me.

The other fun thing about travel is enjoying different foods. Even shopping for them and trying to discover things you like is fun. Best thing so far is the cappucinos, which are just like Italian cappucinos, because the Italians came early to this country and brought their cappucino habit with them. A nearly daily cappucino has also become part of our routine. Fresh tropical fruit is another. We're at the end of mango season, but the pineapples are wonderful (and huge--think I mentioned that in my last post). The shrimp and fish are also pretty tasty. Haven't had many shots at lamb yet, but will do that too before long. As on our boat, when you are moving at a slow pace, food becomes one of the more important parts of your day.

I am thinking that a 14 hour plane ride is worth it for what I'm getting back. This is pretty nice!

Next Monday we plan to hitch a ride with Charles and Valerie traveling about two hours north to Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast part of Queensland (about 1 1/2 hours north of Brisbane). They're going to babysit a house (with a cat) while their friends Neil and Lyn Ball take a vacation. Apparently Neil & Lyn stayed in our Seattle house for a few days while Charles & Valerie were staying in it, so we are returning the favor, meeting them and then staying a couple days in their house while they're gone. Then our former Seattleite friends Betty and Steve Ostrycharz will pick us up and take us another half hour north to their farm outside of Gympie. After staying with them for about a week, we'll take the train back down to Surfers (where we are now) and reoccupy the apartment while Charles & Valerie take their turn visiting the Ostrycharzes. Complicated? It's taken us a few days to work all this out, but then what else do we have to do?

That's it from the Gold Coast of Oz. Will post again when something exciting turns up.

Sun, surf and Paradise?

We have landed in Surfer's Paradise, a part of the "Gold Coast" on the eastern Australian seaboard, about 40 minutes south of Brisbane. It's balmy, in the low 80's. I've been for my morning walk on the beach, and am looking forward to a relaxed month of not doing too much of anything. Yeah for warmth!

We arrived in Australia two weeks ago, spending three days in Sydney, where we connected with a cousin of Phil's (Becky Ridge), friends from Madison Park (Neil & Patty Inman) and stayed with Elva Sinclair, mother of Valerie Reynolds (she and her husband Charles have stayed in our house for the past three summers while we sailed).

After that whirlwind visit, we flew to Tasmania, where we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves touring the island for 10 days. We poked into most of the corners of the island, seeing the rich inner valleys on the east coast where there's lots of agriculture, driving along the north coast which forms the south side of the famous Bass Strait, then down the west side through the mountainous region that houses Cradle Mountain and Lake St. Claire, two of the "must see" destinations. Back to Hobart, where we started, to check out the local scenes and then our last two days were up on the lower east coast at Swansea, which was our base for doing a little hiking in Freycinet national park.

In all, we saw the great variety that the island has in a total square area about the size of Maryland. A lot of the landscape on the north coast reminded us of Lopez Island--with rolling hills (a little taller than Lopez's) and cultivated or grassy fields with sheep. In all it was a great tour, and a nice introduction to the "laid-back" life style of Tassie (as Tasmania is known here). Wonderful fruits and vegetables, great seafood and tasty dairy products. Saw lots of wallabys, unfortunately most of them roadkill. No Tasmanian devils, which we did not make an effort to see in a wildlife park, and none wandered by au naturel.

The biggest challenge was driving. Aussies drive on the left side of the road, like the English. We're been attempting to retrain our reflexes, both as pedestrians and drivers) but it's a slow process. It's surprising how much of car handling you automate--you find out when you try to reverse it. I found it most difficult to navigate curves smoothly, especially inside curves (which here means a curve to the right). Since the Tasmanian roads were also quite narrow and often curvy, but the trucks and tourbuses the same size as usual, this makes driving quite exciting at times. We survived the week without scratching the car, which somewhat amazed us, but are relieved to let go of driving for awhile and use our feet (or ride with the Reynolds while they are with us).

Right now we are lodged in the apartment Charles & Valerie have in Surfer's Paradise (the name of this community), and they are here too. We'll spend a few days together so we can enjoy their company and get oriented to our surroundings. Then they will take off to visit friends and we'll be on our own. At some point we'll venture further north to visit friends who live up by Gimpy (about 2 hours north of Brisbane), but for now, we're happily into kicking back and doing not much of anything.

I'll post again when there's something exciting to share.

Certified Survivor!!

I passed my first post-treatment screening with flying colors. Everything on the CT scan was “unremarkable” which is just what you want to be as a cancer survivor. Today’s physical exam by my radiation oncologist also showed that I am healing well from the effects of the radiation. So I’ve been sent away from radiation oncology to be followed by a gynecologist with a specialty in oncology. Got that? Just part of all the confusing specialties you get to learn about as you make your way through treatment.

Phil’s taking me out to dinner to celebrate. My psyche feels many pounds lighter, I’ll say that for it! On to planning for Australia (we leave on March 2, and will be gone through April 30). I’m really looking forward to the sunshine and warmth, as well as the time to play.

My next treatment venture is to have the infusion port removed on Thursday. That’s the port that was installed in my upper right chest to facilitate my chemo treatments, so they wouldn’t have to mutilate the veins in my arms. It will be nice to have that little bump gone—it has been a sort of constant reminder that I’m not “normal.” After that I can focus on healing my body from the blows it has been dealt. Truly getting back to normal.

I won’t post that often on my health anymore. If you want news, email me directly. I’ll turn the blog into a means for posting our life adventures. So I’ll come up with some new categories to entertain you all, and let the “health” postings fade away.

Thank you for your wonderful support, encouragement, prayers and good wishes. It takes a “village” to sustain you through a journey like this, and you have each been there at just the right time to be part of my village.

Cheers!!

Holiday changes & New Year Travels

Sorry it’s been so long since I posted. I'm sharing a couple pictures from our New Year's celebration with Joahnna Rivera's family (Guy's fiancee). The first is Joahnna's mother Carmelita (known to most as Millet-accent on the second syllable). The second is Guy and me.

Our Christmas plans for a nice family time in Morro Bay were upended when my stepmother had a stroke the Monday before Christmas. She was in the hospital four days, released on Christmas morning, so we managed to get everyone together at my parents house in Carpinteria for a nice Christmas dinner. The drive back and forth from Morro Bay was over two hours each way, however, so I only got down to see them twice, and the rest of the group just on Christmas day. Needless to say, we had a few anxious days, but she is recovering well, with the primary damage some trouble in retrieving the words she wants. Around the edges, we had a nice family time in Morro Bay, with Phil’s brother Howard joining us, along with Shana (in from North Carolina) and Guy, together with Joahnna and her son Zach. Fun having a teenager around again! (that would be Zach, who is 16)

After Christmas Phil and I drove to Long Beach to visit our friends Ken & Jean Frost, greatly enjoying their charming home on the Naples community canals. Then we drove back up the highway to Santa Clara to celebrate New Year’s with Joahnna’s family. We met lots of aunts and uncles and are working to get names fastened to faces so we can recognize them at the wedding. We have now been inducted into how one extended Filipino family celebrates New Year’s—with lots of family fun.

After three days in Santa Clara, we then spent three days driving home, arriving in Seattle on Sunday January 4. On Monday I turned around and flew back to Santa Barbara in order to participate in some workshops at Fielding Graduate University (where I did my doctorate). They continue to hold workshops that alumni can attend, and I enjoy dipping into that intellectual atmosphere once a year. I’m staying at my parents and going back to Seattle nest Monday, so it’s nice to have a bit more time with them too.

I continue to shed side effects a bit at a time. My appetite and taste buds seem to be back to normal, though I may have to reacquire a taste for red wines, I’m finding. My hair is very gradually beginning to thicken up a little. I reacquired the swelling in my legs that I experienced while on the boat this summer (I think for the same reason—a lack of activity), and am working dutifully to increase my exercise by walking and doing yoga, hoping that that combination will diminish it. That’s my primary issue right now.

I have my first followup CT scan scheduled for January 26th, with a debriefing by my radiation oncologist on February 3. That’s the date I’m looking to to be certified to celebrate. So hang on with me as I patiently wait to get there.