Marching on

 
Melissa doin' her thing..... she is in the school band which seems a little odd but reportedly she and the other violinist are playing the flute part!
She is also learning to play the piano in her music class. Eli is learning how to impress girls with his American accent. Well, we've all got to be good at something I guess..

We survived the tsunami warning as did everyone on the home front it sounds like. Staring long and hard at the smooth calm sea at the appointed hour from our deck, no gigantic waves were spotted. It was an intermittently sunny day so we headed to the beach as we often do on the weekend, after heated debate regarding the foolishness of such an act. Our favorite surfing beach did in fact have a sign stating that it was closed but hundreds of others also failed to heed the warning. So we frolicked and jumped about and Tom found himself vertical on the surfboard for some long seconds...I haven't tried it yet but I am getting better at catchin' waves on the body board.

If you are imagining us lazing by the pool, strolling on the beach,or otherwise working on our tans, or fishing, you can put those visions to rest. It is STORMY!!!!! Constant deluge since Sunday night along with winds. Not exactly cold, but much cooler than before.Prior the precipitous precipitation pounding us it was about 110% humidity (or is that my hot flashes??) It's supposed to rain for days. It is extremely lush and green around here and we are in the wet season so.....average annual rainfall is about 1200 mm which I thought sounded like heaps o' water but it's only 47 inches, kinda like Arcata.

Here's some lists I've made:

In Arcata, not Australia:
1. medical marijuana dispensaries
2. laundromats
3. hitchhikers/panhandlers
4. tie-die clothing
5. Mexican food restaurants


In Australia, not Arcata
1. Bundaburg ginger beer (yum)
2. heaps of plastic water bottles-no BPA fears here
3. hill's hoists (the ubiquitous Australian clothes line)
4. two dollar coins
5. excellent Thai food, even by Tom's standards



Mapelton National park is not so far from here and from Tom's prior trips here he remembered some beautiful waterfalls. So off we went in search of them. We found the park but it was not long before the kids were going to be home, so we opted for a short hike. It was indeed a nice stroll, but Tom was convinced it was a loop that was taking us back to the car. I didn't think so, and I turned back. 45 minutes later he finally appeared. Good thing, I had no phone, keys to the car....I did however acquire some complementary mozzie bites while I was waiting.

I watched part of a rugby game on T.V. today. I had never actually seen this game before and I will show my true colors and admit the sound was off. Those of you who have seen this immensely violent muddy game already know this but I was astounded to see one player actually pick up a team mate around the thighs and lift him into the air! Also, they tackled each other (including pulling on clothing) without the benefit of any padding, although a couple of lucky guys did have mouth guards (who decides which ones get to keep their teeth??) The strangest part was this huddle thing where everybody on both teams was in a group headlock position. The ball was in there somewhere and this was followed by a massive dog-pile.

Left me feeling so warm and fuzzy that Eli plays soccer instead.

We have added another album to our picassa website, this one featuring some local tropical flowers.

http://picasaweb.google.com/TOMARCATA