For Eliane

Ok, so I have kind of fallen into a blogger land abyss of late. There's been much going on in our lives, which I'll blog more of as it becomes less raw with time. For the moment, we are enjoying being distracted from the freneticness (ok, so I don't think that it really is a word, but it'll do!) of the last month with our new housemate, Juli.

Juli is from Germany and is staying with us for a total of 6 weeks, although one has already passed at lightning speed. Tom and I have really enjoyed this pleasant distraction which has allowed us to go out for more dinners, coffee and shopping than usual! For example, the tops that you can see us wearing in this photo were bought when we popped into Tom's work last Friday, they were on special and the two of us just couldn't resist!

It has been really great to see Juli's knowledge and ability of the English language grow each day. Every day we can see that she understands a little more and has more confidence to use English. It also helps me with my sketchy knowledge of German, the other day when we were out shopping I tried to speak German while Juli spoke English, I still have a lot to learn!

We are looking forward over the coming weeks to show Juli her first surf beach in the flesh, and also some of Australia's crazy's animals. Every day we try to surprise her with something new, generally food, as Tom and I seem to eat of lot of it!! We've also needed to give Juli a few more warm clothes, we think that Australia gets too good a wrap overseas and there's a perception that it never really gets cold here - let me assure you, as we are heading for a minimum of four degrees tonight - it is COLD!! Australian houses were not built to cope with this weather.

Well, that's all from me for today, hopefully I will be able to post more information soon of the great adventures of Glenda, Tom and Juli. xox

Tom's Brush with Fame

Know who this is? No worries if you don't, I wouldn't either. But last week Tom got to meet one of his all-time hero's, Dennis Lillee.

Here's a grab from an article I found on him (from mcg.org.au):

"Dennis Lillee was the most accomplished and consistently hostile fast bowler of his time. At his peak no one was faster, more competitive, more menacing or resourceful. By his career's conclusion Dennis had claimed a world record 355 test wickets and had become an Australian sporting legend. There is strong support among senior cricket officials, players and the media for the contention that he was the greatest Australian pace bowler of any era."

Pretty high praise huh? Tom had the pleasure of asking him whether he thought that Tate and Watson would make a good opening bowling line-up for Australia in the future (he did) and even got an autographed card saying "To Tom, keep enjoying your cricket, Dennis Lillee".

Sorry to those of you who still have no idea about what I've just said. But it's a funny thing isn't it? The idea of meeting one of your all-time hero's. Somebody who has so impressed you with their sporting ability or writing or singing or acting or who knows what else that when you meet them you want to immortalise that moment. Tom had been thinking about what he wanted to ask Dennis about the future of Australian cricket, but haven't we all thought at some stage, I'd love to know what this person thinks of that idea, and yet so few of us get to actually do it. On the other hand, what must it be like to be the person who influences others to that extent? But then again, don't we all? It's a sobering reminder again for me, as I think about my role as a staff member and leader/mentor for students at Melbourne Uni of how much influencing I'm probably doing and yet not realising that I'm doing it. I thank God that it is he who is working through me to enable me, because if I were doing it without Him, I'd probably so often choose what suits me best and brings me glory, rather than God.

Who are your heroes?

Happy Birthday Dad!

Aren't Dads great? Mine sent me a beautiful email a couple of days ago, was filled with warm words and much encouragement. Made me miss him all the more (but then, if he were here, I wouldn't get the emails!).

Dad is great. He's very handy around the house, a bit of a tinkler, that is, he'll play with something until he gets it just right! He likes to do things properly. We'll never let him live down the day that he sat down to eat tacos with a knife and fork! He's expressive, he's not afraid to shed a tear when one is due and indeed if he does, there's no way that I could not shed one too!

Even though you are thousands of kilometers away dad, I still love that we can talk like you're here next to me. Thanks for being such a great dad. I love you. Happy Birthday.

Brentwood Secondary's Debutante Ball

Last Friday night I went along to "The Deb" as it is fondly called. There were a few reasons why I decided to go:

1. This year level has caused me too much pain to miss an opportunity to watch them behave like adults for (almost) an entire evening.

2. It was a good opportunity to support my friend Katharine, who was a key organiser of the event.

3. I get to make myself up and put on a pretty dress and

4. I'd never been to one before.

And let me tell you, it's a pretty funny event. Each couple is presented on their own and have things read out about where they work and what they want to do in the future and there's in excess of 20 couples, so this takes a while...

Then they perform set dances, some of the facial expressions were hilarious as obviously some boys were convinced that this was a good idea by someone else (normally a pretty girl) and were yet to won over to the idea. The picture below is of their "fun dance" and the boys all gave the girls their jackets to wear for the song.

And of course, it was a great opportunity to catch up with some of my teacher friends in a relaxed setting and have a bit of a dance.
This from L-R is Katharine, Me, Monique

This is me and Robyn.

An Engagement Party - Bollywood Style!

Flew to Adelaide last weekend for my friend Kristen's engagement party. Was a great opportunity to catch up with other friends as well. I stayed with family friends (also my old piano teacher) and enjoyed being doted on like a daughter for a few days (ie. having coffees made for me, being taken out for lunch - twice!) and of course, playing Mary's grand piano, very therapeutic!

Was taken out for lunch (again) by my friends Phili and Dan. Was great to see them again after their surprise trip to Melbourne in March. Must say though, we probably spent 20% of the time going "I can't believe this rain". Yes it rained and poured while I was there. I'd forgotten what it was like for it to rain that much. Unfortunately back here in Melbourne, we got a couple of bursts but nothing like the 2 and a half days of near-constant rain in Adelaide. We wait in hope.

Anyway, to the purpose for the visit: Kristen and Michael's engagement party. Somehow my invite was lost in the post so when I messaged Kristen to find out the details on Thursday morning (before leaving Fri morn) she replied with the venue, time and "Bollywood theme - wear something colourful" BOLLYWOOD?? Could have told me earlier! So I messaged Phili to see if she or her sister Ali had anything that might do the job. Thankfully Ali came through with the goods and here was the end result:

The punjabi (sp.?) and necklace were Ali's. The oversized earings and large bangle were Mary's and the shawl and Indian bangles were mine. A good team effort! Kristen was dressed in a gorgeous sari:

One that she bought in India when she holidayed there with Michael and his family. Here's one of them on the dance floor:

I was really struck by the whole "men dancing" thing. Such a different culture where you'll get men dancing together in syncronised moves. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me when it was happening but this photo's pretty cool:

Needless to say, it was a fun night of eating (his family's Indian, hers is Polish - need I say more?), drinking and dancing. And even though I only knew about 5 people, I arrived at 4pm and left at 10pm and so made quite an evening of it!

Next post: the Brentwood Secondary Debutante Ball...

Lest We Forget

Today is ANZAC day. The day we remember all the soliders who have fought for us. I thought it would be a fitting day to post the photos that Tom and I took when we visited the Australian War Memorial in Canberra last year.

This photo shows the remains of the HMAS Sydney. Tom's Gran's brother died on this Ship. The ship was lost off the coast of WA and sank without a trace. This exhibit shows it's only remains, a lifeboat and a life-vest.

The poppy up the top is the one that we put in for Gran's brother.

This next photo is of the HMAS Australia. My Grandad Bob's brother Jack died on the HMAS Australia. What I found out from this exhibit was that the men who died on this ship were killed by the kamakazie pilots who attacked the ship.

Here is a picture of me pointing out the poppy that we placed for Uncle Jack Annear.

Despite the smiling faces it was a very sombre reminder of the price that was paid by our relatives so we could have the freedom we now enjoy.

Lest we forget.

Look Mum, I Grew a Pumpkin!

Okay, so it was kind of accidental, but I managed not to kill it (unlike the rest of the plant)! Made pumpkin soup on Sunday night, had some in a funny vegie thing I made for tonight and are going to put some more in a pumpkin korma curry for Thursday night. Yum!

A Quiet Night In?

Picture this: I'm all psyched up for an evening in, Kaitrin's coming for dinner to share photos of her recent Liberia/UK trip and to catch up, I've set the menu: a roast followed by Butterscotch self-saucing Pudding.

Then she calls me. "Do you want the good news, or the bad news? I can't come for dinner, but we're going instead to Bjorn Again at Crown!"

Requires a bit of a change of mindset, don't you think?

Anyway, it was a fabulous night out, with lots of singing along and getting up and dancing, and once again I amazed myself with how many Abba lyrics are sitting uselessly in my brain for a rainy day (or Bjorn Again concert)! They really are a very talented outfit and have really paid attention to detail - including very outdated choreography. We had all the hits Dancing Queen, Fernando, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Money, Money, Money, The Winner Takes it All, to name but a few.

And that was it... my quiet night in with a friend.

Time out at the Howqua Valley

Well after my last blog I have sucessfully managed to take some time out with friends, and to relax a little. It was great over the Easter break to be able to 'go bush' for 4 days camping. I'm not a huge camping person so the first night was kept awake by 1) the birds, 2) the sound of the river flowing 3) a horse neighing at 1am and 4) the cold. Thankfully I managed to overcome these obstacles to sleep quite well the other nights!

Tom's dad has a 4wd which he loves to take off road so I enjoyed the opportunity to see him in his element and to see some of the countryside in the area that was ravaged by bushfires earlier this year. It's difficult to take a photo that shows how extensive the damage is but here's one that worked well.

In the foreground is Fry's Hut, built in 1930. There are a number of these huts which were built for the cattlemen to rest in when they were driving their cattle up to the plains in summer. In the middle of the picture you can see the green trees of Fry's flat, a camping area, and in the background are trees that were burnt in the fires (I know it looks a little like Autumn).

Behind Fry's Hut lies the Howqua river, to canoe from this point of the river to where we were camping would probably take around half a day. This is me by the river.

And of course it's all about the food when you go camping (with the Hanslow's and Boyd's anyway!). We had a magnificent roast which was buried in a pile of hot coals for 3 hours. This one's a bit of a story by pictures:

And then 3 hours later you dig it out of the dirt and eat it (it's in a pot). And it was magnificent! There's lots of other great pictures, it's just that I don't have them on my camera. It was a great relaxing time out, with weather you wouldn't think possible in early April, blue skies and 25degrees. Apparently, I won't be really tested in my camping abilities until it's raining... not sure if I'm too keen on that one, one step at a time.

Words I Hate

There are some words in the English language I just don't like to hear. Swear words are one group, but there are a few others that are almost just as jarring to my ears, words like "Stress" and "Busy". I remember having a conversation with a friend who is a dentist some time ago and he said that 5 years ago whenever he asked a patient how they were they would say "stressed", now whenever he asks a patient how they are, they say "busy".

I am somewhat scarred by the word "busy", when I had my accident 3 years ago, I had a few friends who never came to visit me at home. When they saw me at church they'd say "I'm so sorry I haven't been to see you, I've just been so busy". And all I could think was "I nearly died, what more will it take for you to make some time for me?" I promised to myself then, that I would never be so busy as to not make time for my friends and for people. John Piper has a great quote in his book "Don't Waste Your Life" that goes 'No man has ever lamented on his dying bed, "I wish I had spent more time at the office"' But now I look at my lifestyle over the last month and feel like it's out of control. I love what I'm doing but I'm so ... you know the word. In fact I've been so ... that I forgot a dear friend's birthday! I don't want to be that person, I promised myself I wouldn't become that person - Lord, help me to keep my life in balance, that I may remember to appreciate the small things, that sometimes look insignificant but help us to appreciate all the goodness that you have given us. Amen.

A Tearful Reunion

As I get older (about to turn the ripe old age of 25 - so this is said seriously but also can't help be a little tounge-in-cheek) I'm starting to reflect more on the relationships that have helped to form me as a person, and the people who have had an influence on me without me even really realising their importance.


On Saturday I had the joy of seeing one of my many other "Mums", Mary Lewis. Mary is the mother of my good friend Phili, (whose Blog you can check out on the right of the page) and therefore, by default also became another "Mum" to me as during my high school years in Adelaide it was often the case that if I wasn't at home, I was at Phili's and that often meant enjoying Mary's company as well.


I ran into Mary, quite to my surprise (and her's) on Saturday at a "Ridley Women" (as in the Bible College) Mentoring Day, after not having seen her for quite a number of years. At morning tea I tapped her on the shoulder and (after she figured out it was me - it can be hard with a married name!) gave each other a warm mother/daughterly embrace! What a joy it was to see this amazing woman of God again and to see the way in which God brought us together at that exact moment when I needed a motherly embrace from someone who has seen me grow up all through my adolecence (and it's been almost 12 months from my own Mum). I was taken aback by the strong affection and connection I felt with Mary after such a long time of separation, for, as I said at the beginning of my post, it hasn't been until the last couple of days since seeing her that I have reflected as an adult on the impact she had on my life. So thanks Mary, for being one of my special "Mums" (and thanks Phili - for sharing her with me while she's in Melbourne!)

And because I knew Mum would love a photo:

An Extrovert Living an Introvert's Lifestyle

My apologies for a severe lack of blogging of late. No excuse really as I've been at home more than I would usually be with uni only going back next week. I've been spending large amounts of time at home working on my own as Tom has been working his second job binding books at Swinburne Uni. I've been thinking about what it was that was sobering my mood of late and came up with the title for this blog "An extrovert living an introvert's lifestyle". You see, I would not normally choose to spend 8 hours on my own, let alone more than once a month! So the past few weeks have left me like a fish out of water - kind of limp!

But tomorrow marks O-Week, a full day of on campus work. Chalking, meeting new people, catching up with old people and a general happy extroverty kind of vibe. (And a free lunch because there's a CU BBQ!) So hopefully this will wake me up from my dazy time of trying to live like an introvert, ie. reading books, sending emails and generally enjoying space, give me people and lots of them in all their fullness, then maybe I'll wake up enough to start blogging again (what an introverted thing to do!)

A Yarra Valley Day Out

Had a very fun weekend with Josh (my cousin) and Jayne (his girlfriend) down from Sydney for work but also to hang out with us for the weekend - lucky us! Tom and I had been planning the day out for some time as Jayne mentioned she had been to Melbourne a few times but not really seen much of Victoria! Unfortunately I don't have too many photos but the day started out at the Yalley Valley Dairy (mmmm, cheese...) where Tom, Jayne and I tried out their taste-tester selection of cheeses (the tastes were a little too strong for Josh).

We then drove on to the Yering Farm winery, where we were able to taste both wines and jams and then we had a coffee together overlooking the beautiful (if not so green) countryside.

We then drove on to the famous Healesville Pub for lunch, and then, because the day was not yet old enough, we drove them through the Black Spur to Marysville, where we stopped once again for coffee, cakes and to see the lolly shop.

And because it made for a good photo...

Thanks Josh and Jayne for a chance to take you out for the day. And to all our other friends interstate... we'd do it for you too if you came to visit us!

Tom's Birthday Celebrations

Well Tom turned the ripe old age of 24 on Friday and so his parents put on a bit of a party for some of his old mates, so I thought I'd give you an idea in pictures of how the night went.

This is some of the boys playing a strange version of cricket in the pool.

This is a nice photo of myself with Katie (L) and Krystal.

This is me trying to take a snazzy shot with the night vision on the camera, as you can see, I need a tripod.

This is Heather's magnificent trifle, she has to put it in a lasagne dish and three times the recipe! YUM!

And because trifle with ice-cream wasn't enough, there was a gingerbread house (made by Christy) for afters.

Yet through all this I didn't seem to get a picture of Tom, so here's one I took tonight! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Holidays

We are currently enjoying holidays in Newcastle which have been very relaxing so far including trips to the beach and long talks with our cousins and aunt and uncle. Josh and his girlfriend Jayne picked us up from the airport and we went out for a beautiful breakfast in Stockton, it was the first time we had met Jayne and she was every bit as gorgeous as Josh had described. We have also been watching lots of DVD's including "You, Me and Dupree", "Bridget Jones's Diary", "Robin Hood, Men in Tights". Tom has also promised Uncle Dave that he'll watch "The Sting" with him before we leave on Thursday. Went to the 20/twenty match at Newcastle yesterday and it was packed. A fairly close game coming down to the last two overs. NSW kind of stuffed it by letting one of the Rugby players into their team as he wasn't very good. I enjoyed it because it was a faster game of cricket!

Only two trips to the beach so far, the weather here hasn't been perfect beach weather and the water on Saturday was 15 degrees, I mean, if we wanted to swim in water that cold we could have stayed in Melbourne!

Anyway, the food has been great (as one always gets with Aunty Sue) so much so that we will be doing some serious trips to the gym this month! Anna leaves to go back to London tomorrow, but we have enjoyed spending more time with her this year as she was already there when we came last year. It has been freaking us out how similar Anna is to Jocelyn and Uncle Dave is to my Dad, like, REALLY FREAKING US OUT. It's also nice to get a taste of familiarity though with Mum and Dad overseas. It's amazing how similar familes can be even when they don't see each other very often!

A Teppenyaki Treat!

Tom and I have never dined out to Teppenyaki before but with Entertainment books in hand and a cousin over from Perth with her husband, Connor, Tim and Amy, Heidi and Adrian and Tom and I thought it might be fun to take them out somewhere fun. So we ended up at Southbank at a Teppenyaki restaurant.

From L-R: Eloise, Heidi, Amy, Me, Tom, Tim, Connor, Adrian.

And now for the food:

Yum!

For Phili (who loves irises)

It's so lovely to have a garden, but I have been quite concerned about the beautiful white irises on the path to our door. This is why...

They just didn't seem to be flowering. Anyway, we got a bit of rain on Sunday morning and when we arrived home they looked like this...

I have no idea why they decided to start flowering or how they did it in a few short hours, but I will enjoy them all the same. Isn't creation great?

A Tour of My House

Well the Optus man has come and done a double deal for us! I was only expecting to get the home phone connected but he's done the cable Internet as well! I'm thrilled and glad to get back to blogging as I have so much to share and many pictures to show. I'll start with our beautiful house!

The house with the driveway and our car (so you actually know that it's ours!!)

This is the path to our door - isn't it cute?! You can also see the rose bushes at the fence line. Only 3 at the moment but when the drought breaks I hope to put in 4 more.

This is the entry hall with Howard's beautiful painting. And the roses are from my garden!

This is our master bedroom, it's kind of long and skinny.

This is MY study, I can't show you the picture of Tom's study/guest room cause it's too messy at the moment.

This is the lounge, I couldn't really take a photo that does it justice. It's a great room to sit in and the lilac walls have really grown on me. I bought some new cushions for the couches yesterday - 4 for $20, I thought that was a bargan. I put the colourful cushions on our new cane chairs we got for Christmas that sit on our deck - they look great there!

Then there's the dining room:

The kitchen:

...and the deck:

And I think that will do! I hope that you enjoyed the pictorial tour of our new house - please do come and see it for real sometime!