Bad Dialogue and other Reasons to Mate

I saw a few articles in the news recently that made the writer in me pay attention.

The first was a Chicago Tribune Watcher column about bad dialogue in television shows and posing the question: What lines do you never want to hear spoken on television ever again?

I've been hesitating to mention this article only because I feel like I should be able to offer up a suggestion of my own. But, truth be told, I haven't watched a lot of television in the past few months so none are jumping up and screaming to be chosen. But I'm mentioning it anyway because I think it's a good exercise to sit back and think about what has become cliche.

The other article that grabbed my writer's interest was from the New York Times on The Whys of Mating: 237 Reasons and Counting. To quote the article: After asking nearly 2,000 people why they’d had sex, the researchers have assembled and categorized a total of 237 reasons — everything from “I wanted to feel closer to God” to “I was drunk.” They even found a few people who claimed to have been motivated by the desire to have a child.

To me, the most interesting part of the article was how the researchers categorized the reasons into four motivational types:

*Physical: “The person had beautiful eyes” or “a desirable body,” or “was good kisser” or “too physically attractive to resist.” Or “I wanted to achieve an orgasm.”

*Goal Attainment: “I wanted to even the score with a cheating partner” or “break up a rival’s relationship” or “make money” or “be popular.” Or “because of a bet.”

*Emotional: “I wanted to communicate at a deeper level” or “lift my partner’s spirits” or “say ‘Thank you.’ ” Or just because “the person was intelligent.”

*Insecurity: “I felt like it was my duty” or “I wanted to boost my self-esteem” or “It was the only way my partner would spend time with me.”

The writer in me can't help but think that by working through these types of motivations, I can make my love scenes even more integral to my plot and characters. Obviously, the characters might not know or understand their motivations at a conscious level, but when I as the writer know their motivations, I can relay them through action and, hopefully, give the scene more substance and relevance.

More summer birthdays

We had yet more special occasions to celebrate last weekend as we hit the late summer cluster of birthdays.

Happy Birthday to Dave, Kristin and Ashley.

Plus a Happy Anniversary to Kristin and Eddie, who are celebrating two years today. It amazes me that their wedding was two years ago already. Have a look at all of us back then:

Free to discuss Harry Potter

Dave finally finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last night. Yeah! We're free to discuss.

If only the book had been released on July 20 instead of July 21. We could have bought it at the Sydney airport and read it the whole day in transit back to Chicago. Instead, we bought it Saturday morning -- a hardcover copy for me and an audio copy for Dave.

Despite my jetlag (or maybe because of it), I had the book finished by Sunday night, but had to wait until last night to discuss the ending with Dave. It was difficult to wait. Every time he'd rant that so-and-so had better not die, I'd have to give a non-committal answer. Every time he complained that the story seemed a little slow, I'd have to content myself with a simple, "Just you wait. It'll get really good."

What was nice, though, was all week as Dave would listen to his audio version, I would get to listen along and "re-read" much of the second half of the book. I could relish the retelling.

I'm sad that the franchise is over, but content with how J.K. Rowling ended it.

News accounts say Rowling is developing two different books right now, a children's book and an adult book, neither in the Harry Potter universe. I can't help but wish that she'd get those other projects finished then return to Harry's world. Teddy Lupin seems like the perfect character to re-enter the universe with...

Summer reading

Since Harry Potter wasn't out yet, I'm sure you're wondering what I did get to read on my summer vacation this year -- You are, aren't you? ;-)

The first book was J.R. Ward's Dark Lover. Jules suggested this series and I 'm hooked. The Black Dagger Brotherhood. Vampires. I'd started the series by reading the third book, Lover Awakened, last month. Yeah, I know, jump into the middle. But I'm fixing that. Dark Lover is the first book in the series, and now I'll continue in order. There are two other book in the series out and one due for release in October. You bet I'll be reading those soon.

The second book I read was Laurell K. Hamilton's The Harlequin. I've been hooked on this series for a long time -- it's 15th in the Anita Blake series. Vampires. Werewolves. Necromancers. All sorts of paranormal critters. Hamilton is one of the few writers that I always seem to make time for. Love her work.

Those were the only two books I read. Based on those two, you'd think I have a thing for vampires. But it's not the vampires that do it for me -- it's the paranormal settings, and so many paranormal romances these days have vampires. Plus, I like reading strong, alpha male characters, and vampires make good alpha males. (Note: I said I like to read strong, alpha male characters. I could never live with one in real life. Too high maintenance.)

Home from Australia

So, here it is, almost three weeks later and I haven't updated this site once. I blame it on a number of factors including less-than-ideal Internet access, problems with our laptop computer, jetlag and all-around exhaustion. We were busy, busy, busy.

If you haven't figured it out, I'm home now. We got back Friday night and spent the weekend in a jetlag haze. Finally got a decent night's sleep last night with the help of an OTC sleep aid. That 15-hour time difference really threw my body out of whack.

My friend Marc has a good rule of thumb for adjusting to time zones. He says it takes one day to adjust for every two hours of time-zone change. That puts the adjustment for this trip at about a week (which is very accurate in my experience).

Even though I didn't write during the trip, I'm going to try really hard to recreate what we did and back-post the entries. It won't have the flavor of being on-the-spot journaling, but I still want a record of it.

Australia - Day 12 - Ayer's Rock

Dave and I overslept and missed our morning tour and 9-kilometer hike around the base of Uluru. I was disappointed that we wasted the money and missed out on an opportunity to be active, but the upside was that we didn't have to freeze in the desert darkness again and we had a much-needed leisurely morning.

After breakfast, we checked out of our room, put our bags in storage, and hopped a shuttle bus over to the Aboriginal Cultural Center near Uluru.

We didn't spend long in the educational portions of the center, since they were all open air and we were cold. We spent much longer in the Aboriginal art galleries and stores, since they were heated. Strangely, we didn't see a single person of Aboriginal decent anywhere in the center. And for cultural reasons, photography was strictly prohibited.

On the upside, we ran into Mom, Heather, Jeff and the boys there when their tour group stopped to look around. They'd taken a sunrise/breakfast interpretative excursion, which they all said was great -- but they'd frozen their butts off.

From the cultural center, Dave and I decided to take the half-mile or so hike to the base of the Uluru climbing area, which is the only part of the rock that looks remotely climbable, and it has a chain rope to hold on to on the way up.



The problem with looking at photos of Uluru is that you have no basis of comparison for understanding the size of the rock. Because it's out in the middle of nowhere, with total flat land around it, the photos don't make it look that big. (To get an idea of how flat it is, see the panorama above that I stitched together from eight photos I took yesterday.) Well, it's big -- 348 meters (1,142 feet) high according to Wikipedia. (By comparison, Wikipedia puts the Sears Tower at 442 meters [1450 feet] tall at the roof, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge at 134 metres [429.6 feet] tall. My own knowledge puts the Sears Tower at about 110 stories tall and I've heard that the Sydney Harbour Bridge is about 40 stories tall.)

The confusing thing about Uluru is the contradictions coming from official sources regarding climbing the rock. First, the literature tells you to respect the Aboriginals' wishes and spiritual beliefs and not climb, but that's followed up with instructions on how to climb and safety precautions to keep in mind.

Well, I respect the Aboriginal beliefs, but I wanted to climb Uluru this visit as sort of a debt of honor to myself.

Twenty years ago, I attempted to climb Uluru. I think I made it about half way up the steep slope, then I stopped to rest. My cousins went on ahead. As I sat there, I over-thought the danger of the climb and listened as everyone else resting near me expressed their fears. I thought about all the people who'd died climbing the rock (there was a plaque at the base listing dozens of names). After a long while, I ended up talking myself out of the climb and scooted down the rock.

It's bothered me for years that I didn't finish the climb. This trip, I'd hoped to have the opportunity to get that failure off my back.

But, the decision was taken out of my hands, as the climb was closed both days because of strong winds at the summit of the rock. (A convenient exaggeration to keep the climb closed? my husband might argue.) Regardless, the decision was taken out of my hands. I guess I'll have to continue to live with myself. :)

Instead of climbing, we poked around the base of the climbing area, taking photos, until the shuttle bus arrived to bring us back to the resort.

This is where I go into an aside about red dust. We had it everywhere. In our shoes. In our socks. And for those who did the morning excursion to watch the sunrise, in other places, too, I'm willing to guess. I was lucky, because it wiped off my leather gym shoes just fine. Jeff ended up throwing away his shoes in the hotel lobby, figuring they were old, he wouldn't need them any more this trip, and he had a replacement pair waiting for him at home.

After what felt like a really long wait, the shuttle bus showed up to take us to the airport. We crossed all our fingers that the bags would make the airline's weight allowance (since we'd acquired more stuff) and we got on our Quantas-link flight for Cairns on the Great Barrier Reef. Finally. Some warm weather ahead in the tropics.

In the Cairns airport, we were met by the transport service and taken to our beach front apartment in Trinity Beach, which is a beach town north of Cairns.

We were greeted by the proprietors of the Meridien, Ian and Barb, and their animal ambassadors Charlie the dog and Midnight the cat, and shown our three bedroom apartment. It was perfect. Warm weather. Our own kitchen. Cable and wireless internet. The beach a short walk out the patio door. And warm weather.

For dinner, restaurants were only a short block or two away. My nephew "Drake" expressed fears that we'd have another dinner fiasco, but we quickly found an outdoor table (yes, it was warm enough to eat outside!) at an Italian restaurant and sent a contingent off to the bottle shop to buy our wine.

Then it was back to the apartment to vegetate in front of the television and watch "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban".

A message from Thor?

"Marriott" is boring. She worked! On Saturday! Boring! ... But then we got rawhides, so I still love her.

~Thor

Australia - Day 11 - The Olgas

We woke up early to say goodbye to Margaret, who was leaving on her trip to Peru. An hour later, we were headed out the door to the airport ourselves. The sun was just rising.

Morning traffic delayed us, and we had our fingers crossed that we'd get to our flight in time. We did. We said goodbye to Auntie Edie, Ross and Gill outside of security, then caught our Quantas flight to Ayer's Rock.

Dave and I were in coach this time, with some squirmy little kids behind us kicking our seats. It made me really appreciate (for the umpteenth time) what good travelers my nephews are, as they were content to listen to their music and play their video games.

We had a spectacular view of Uluru (Ayer's Rock) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) on our approach to the little airport of Ayer's Rock. The airport was so little, we deplaned using an outside staircase (I don't get to do that very often anymore) and there appeared to be only a handful of gates. Perfectly understandable, when you consider that Ayer's Rock is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere (closest city is Alice Springs) with the resort and related tourism the major industry.

A free shuttle took us to the Ayer's Rock resort area, which we learned is a collection of about six different hotels/motels/campgrounds apparently managed collectively and clustered around a "town center" shopping area.

We checked into the hotel, snarfed down a quick lunch in the bar, and signed up for our excursions. It turns out that we should have pre-registered for the excursions we really wanted because many were sold out -- such as the sunset camel ride. Instead, Dave and I got on a tour to The Olgas, while Mom, Heather, Jeff and the kids took a shuttle over to Ayer's Rock.

The Olgas (Kata Tjuta)

Dave and I climbed into yet another 12-person passenger van. This time, for a less-than-an-hour ride to see and hike in The Olgas. At first, I wasn't that enthused about getting in a van and driving a distance -- again -- but I really felt the need to get out and do something active, and the booking agent assured me the drive wasn't that long.

And, the booking agent was right: The drive didn't seem that long. Especially because we stopped along the way to view Kata Tjuta and Uluru from a distance.



We stopped in the Walpa Gorge section of Kata Tjuta to hike. Our hike was probably only a mile in and a mile out, if that, but it was just enough to feel like I'd done something. The views were amazing, but the sun was a little too harsh and my photos didn't turn out that spectacular. I brought my winter coat, but didn't end up needing it on the hike.



After about an hour, after all 12 of us had trickled in from our hikes, we loaded up the van again and headed for a toilet break. I only mention this stop because Dave encountered a massive spider in the men's room, which, reassuringly, was our first spider encounter on the trip. (After watching Discovery channel for so many years, we were very aware of all the venomous things in Australia -- and were quite delighted not to be seeing many of them this trip!)

Sunset over Ayer's Rock (Uluru)

The last stop on our 12-person bus tour was the sunset viewing area at Uluru. Funny thing was, we ran into my Mom, Heather, Jeff and the boys here and were able to watch the sun set with them.

I hate to admit this, but while the sunset was amazingly beautiful, we were all freezing and a little bored. Dave kept poking me and saying "Take more pictures. That's why we're here. Why aren't you taking pictures now?" Well, it was just a (huge) rock changing (brilliant) color, but otherwise not doing anything, so I humored him and kept taking photos. Now I have a big collection of the same rock in slightly different lighting and framing. I won't bore you with all of them. :-)

The Dinner Fiasco

Our attempt to eat dinner tonight will from here on out be known as "The Dinner Fiasco."

We were warned that we'd need to make a booking for dinner (all the excursions end at about the same time after sunset, so everyone would be trying to eat at the same time). We had done some research and chosen a restaurant on the other side of the resort that was very family friendly and allowed us to cook our own food. They didn't take bookings.

So, we walked across the resort and found the place. Turns out it was near the campground, sheltered under a tent with heat lamps, but technically outside. We hadn't done enough research and it was too cold for many in our group, so we hunted for Plan B.

We found a buffet next door that appeared to be half empty. But, no, they couldn't accommodate a party of 7 because they had bookings. "Could you squeeze us in? We'll eat really fast," we asked. We were given an emphatic no. But, after a moment, they reconsidered and said they could squeeze in 5 of us.

It was a no-go. Time to find a Plan C. We took the shuttle bus back to the other side of the resort. The takeout cafe was closed, the grocery store had items that needed cooking facilities, and the Italian restaurant had a line out the door. We were cold, people were starving, the family was grumpy, and the wait for a table for 7 would be long.

Somehow it turned out that Dave and I got a small table for two at the Italian restaurant, while the rest of the family ordered takeout from the restaurant and took it back to their rooms. We weren't going to be happy, but at least we'd be fed.

Warmed up and with food in our bellies, Dave and I went back to our hotel lobby for a glass of wine and to surf the Internet using the hotel's wireless service. The wine was good, but our laptop wouldn't connect. Something was broken. Dave spent at least an hour trying to make it work.

Heather showed up with her laptop and was able to connect, so we were able get a few of the big things on our to-do list accomplished, such as arrange a pickup from the airport tomorrow in Cairns and a rental van for pickup on Sunday -- but just barely. Bleary-eyed, we stumbled back to the room.

I think all of us had been in go-go-go vacation mode for too long and we were due for a crash. This was it. All in all, it wasn't a good night and the best option was to go to bed.

The Loki and Thor report

From an email from home:

Today was another good day of fun and games. Loki wants to play but she [is lazy and] won't get up. She stays laying down either on the couch or the ground. Since she wants to play she starts to bark at me and then I rub her belly and she is happy. Thor on the other hand runs and chases me. We played the stay-and-call-them game. They both enjoyed that. It was a good day and I will miss them over the weekend.

~Felicia

Australia - Day 9 - Treetop Walk and Great Ocean Road

I'd managed to steal enough hours of me-time with a book this week, but Dave needed a respite today, so he stayed home. He slept in, worked out and went shopping with Stuart, who'd just gotten out of the hospital following surgery on his arm/wrist.

I went with Ross, Gill, Ben, Auntie Edie and the rest of the American family for a marathon drive to the Otways and back along the Great Ocean Road. We had an ambitious itinerary and a lot of kilometers to cover before we had to be back for a final dinner with the family.

Today was all about the views: the Melbourne cityscape was we drove out of town, the green pastures of farm county, the lush rainforest in the Otways, and the ocean vistas at sunset on the way home. I was intrigued, because this is an area around Melbourne that I'd never gotten to explore before.

In Geelong, we stopped at Geelong Grammar School, where Ross' dad was once headmaster and Ross grew up. As an American, when I hear "grammar school", I think of an elementary school for grades 1-5 or 1-6, but Geelong Grammar is more like Hogwarts from Harry Potter. Not with castles and magic, of course, but with dormitories and "houses" and intra-school competitions. I guess a more accurate comparison would be an old English boarding school, but I know far more about Hogwarts than any old English boarding schools.

From Geelong, we took the Princes Highway past small towns and farming country (including a drive-by of a farm that Ross used to own). We stopped for lunch in the town of Colac, where some of us sampled the meat pies (love a good meat pie -- it's a good thing for me they're not common here in the U.S.).

From there, we went on to the Otway Fly Treetop Walk. This is an interpretative trail set up through the rainforest that brings you up onto catwalks about 25 meters above the rainforest floor. From there, we were able to climb a tower that brought us more than 45 meters above the rainforest floor. It's difficult in words and pictures to capture the sense of sway and movement in the catwalks, but yet at no time did I find it scary.

Ross really seemed to be in his element on this walk -- in full school-teacher mode -- while Heather and I had a great time trying to get creative with photos. The boys, Jeff and Gill were all really patient with us (Mom and Auntie Edie had stayed back in the lodge to enjoy the view there).

From the Otway Fly, we took the Great Ocean Road home. My best frame of comparison for the Great Ocean Road is Highway 1 along the coast in California, although Mom insists that the Great Ocean Road is windier. Unfortunately, we were in daylight for only about the first third of the drive -- I have a ton of respect for Ross driving the van on that road in darkness. My nephews didn't enjoy the ride much, as they both started to feel queasy from the twists and turns. We moved them up to the middle of the van where, fortunately, they slept through the worst of it.



I had said our itinerary was ambitious, and it was -- we had to call ahead and postpone our farewell dinner by an hour, and then we were still a half-hour late. Thank heavens Dave was there to represent the American family during that time!

Food was already on the table when we arrived at the restaurant. Waiting for us were Peter and Lynn, Emma and Greg, Stuart and Tasha, Paul and Sara, David and Sue, Natalie and Margaret. There were more than 20 of us total. Dinner was over far too quickly and we were saying goodbye to everyone. I think each and every person was extended a personal invitation to visit us in the States, and I sincerely hope they can come someday.

Then, we were back to Margaret's house, where we had to pack our suitcases and get ready to head on to Ayer's Rock first thing in the morning.

Australia - Day 8 - Yarra Valley wine country

Today my nephews got a reprieve from the adults, as they got to spend the day with Gill and Ben on Ross' farm doing boy things and being kids.

Meanwhile the adults spent the day doing adult things -- like tasting wine.

Last time I was in Australia, the wine industry wasn’t as developed as it is now and I don’t remember touring wineries as being an excursion option. Even if it was, I didn’t appreciate wine then like I do now. This time, it was a must-do for all the adults in our group.

We had a full crew heading out to the Yarra Valley. Margaret was designated driver, and we were joined by Paul, Keith, David, Sue, Ross and Auntie Edie on the bus.

First stop, Yering Station for lunch (and many bottles of wine, of course). We didn’t do an official “tasting” here, but we had a “gorgeous” meal with at least four different varieties of wine. We probably spent too long lingering over lunch and enjoying the fabulous views, but can I really complain about that?

Next stop, was TarraWarra, where we all did the tasting of their full spectrum of wines – and enjoyed the fabulous views. Funny thing was, the server was also one of Ross' former students.

Final stop, Domaine Chandon at Green Point, where we ordered flights of the sparkling wines so we could taste the different varieties, and relaxed in the tasting room where we (can you guess what I’m going to say?) enjoyed the fabulous views. (These wineries know how to maximize on their locations.)

All three places had “beautiful” wines, but we didn’t buy any to bring home. We had far too many airplane flights ahead of us with carry-on liquid restrictions and baggage weight allowances. But, I plan to look up these wines at the “bottle shops” at home. It’s fun to be able to read a wine label and actually know the region the wine is from – and say “I’ve been there.”

Not everyone in the group was a wine drinker, but one thing I learned living in California is that the best way to try wine is at tastings like these where you get to sample many varieties. I’m not sure Paul is converted, but he made a great effort.

Tea at Auntie Edie's house

“Tea” tonight was at Auntie Edie’s house. "Tea" we quickly learned this trip, does not mean that the beverage "tea" will be served; instead, the Australians tend to use it to describe the evening meal -- what I would call "dinner". (Yet, even though this was a dinner, Auntie Edie served some of the yummy tea-cakes and tea-biscuits she'd been tempting us with all week. Speaking of which, I need to track down the recipes for some of those.)

I'd only seen the outside of Auntie Edie's home at the retirement village, so I was surprised at how spacious the place was inside. Many of the treasures I remember from her old house were there, including the weird-yet-fascinating piece of "hair art" made from the hair of one of my great-great-grandmothers. Those wacky Victorians. It's one of those family relics that kind of makes you go "yuck", but yet it's been saved so long and meant so much to someone at one time, how can you get rid of it? With that said, I may someday receive a package from Australia with the "hair art" inside, because I'm not sure many other people in the family appreciate it the way I do...

Australia - Day 7 - Melbourne and Victoria Market

Today was our "city" day. Margaret drove the bus to pick up Sue, Heather, Jeff and the boys, and we were off to our first stop, which was the Victoria Market. I'd forgotten that I'd been to the market when I was here in 1991 until Auntie Edie reminded me that this was where I'd purchased sheepskin rugs. (Some as a wedding present for Heather and Jeff, and some for myself.)

The first part of the market we went into was mostly flea-market. Tons of vendors selling mostly touristy type things. We bought some camphor laurel cutting boards (which smell heavenly and have really cool grain patterns), then moved on.

While we were enjoying ourselves at the market, Dave and I didn't get really excited until we made it into the produce area. Very Victorian looking and lots of gourmet food stalls. It would have been fun to really shop there, but traveling with perishables would have been problematic.

From the market, we headed to Federation Square. This is where driving the bus proved challenging. Turns out, we were a little too tall from many of the parking garages. When we finally found one that could accommodate our height, we had to search for a stall on the ground level, and once found, Margaret had a real tricky time maneuvering into place. She did an outstanding job, even if some people inside the bus were afraid to watch.

We walked to Federation Square, where we popped into the Australian Center for the Moving Image to see the Pixar: 20 Years of Animation exhibit. My nephews, Dave and I were all excited to see this exhibit, which showed how Pixar has brought stories like Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc. to life. A highlight of the exhibition was the zoetrope, which contained all sorts of models from Toy Story. The zoetrope would spin in sync with a strobe, making the models appear animated.

The writer in me really liked all the commentary about how Pixar brings a story to life. One quote that really stuck with me was by John Lasseter: "Computers done create computer animation any more than a pencil creates pencil animation. What creates computer animation is the artist."

Once we had finished the Pixar exhibit, the fog had cleared up outside and we were able to enjoy Federation Square a little better. The square has a really modern look that a lot of people apparently don't like, although most people seem to admit that it's functional as a community gathering place. I found the square to be interesting and fun to explore. I even liked the juxtaposition of the modern architecture against the more Victorian architecture of its neighbors. To me, it made the city seem more vibrant and alive, as though it's never stopped growing and changing.

From Federation Square, we walked along the Yarra River to find lunch, then we went to the top of the Eureka Tower to enjoy the views. Unfortunately, the wait was too long to experience The Edge, but we were able to watch it in action. It's a little room with glass walls and floor. You board The Edge when it's tucked inside the building, then it gradually pulls away. The glass on the walls and floor appears to be LED, so that when it's moving away from the building, the glass is obscured. Once it's all the way out, the LED turns clear, and those inside get the illusion that the floor has dropped away, revealing a view of the ground 88 floors straight down.



From the Eureka Tower we walked to the casino, stopped to rest, then wandered back to the bus, enjoying our views of the city as we walked.

For all the time I've spent in the Melbourne area, I've spent very little time in the city. Maybe someday I'll stay in downtown Melbourne for a night and get the true city experience.

The Loki and Thor report

From an email from home:

Well, I am back at the house and it is good to see Loki and Thor. I missed them so much.

I love knowing that they are talented. Loki talked on demand and Thor gave me his paw. I love the game where they stay and I call them, so we did that once before the rain came.

Does Loki beg you guys for human food? It is so cute because she just stares at me. She does not do anything to bother me but her stare makes me feel so guilty. I do not give them anything. I don't want to ruin their appetites for dinner or breakfast.

Loki and Thor seem super happy. It is nice because Thor is already warm to me and gave me a kiss and sat on top of me. He cracks me up.

~Felicia

The Loki and Thor report

From an email from home:

Loki has been eating like a trooper. She is so adorable about it. She munches a bit and then looks up to make sure I'm watching her and she has the most happy look on her face when she sees I am.

Thor is being super snuggly and sweet quite a bit. Which makes up for the rather amazing number of scratches and bruises I already have from the excited clumsy times. :-)

~"Marriott"

Australia - Day 6 - Penguin Parade

I've been social so many days in a row, today I was finding it more difficult. The urge to curl up with a book and declare that "I want to be alone" was strong, but even stronger was my desire to hang out with the family and see the penguins.

We picked up a rental bus this morning, one that accommodates 12. It made shuffling us all around easier.



Our first stop was the crematorium gardens where my Uncle Ray and Cousin Ian had their ashes spread. Two years ago, my Mom brought a few of my Dad's ashes and scattered them in the same flower bed in the garden so that a little bit of my Dad will always be here in Australia.

The gardens were really gorgeous, even though it was winter. We each placed a rose in the flower bed and paid our respects, then explored the grounds.

A nice feature of the gardens is the seasonal pavilions containing memory books of the people officially memorialized here.

At one point, Dave pulled me aside and told me quite seriously, "They've made a mistake. The books are in the wrong room. June, July and August are in the winter room, and December, January, February are in the summer room."

I had to really look at him to try to gauge his intent. "You're serious, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, they've messed up." Then, after a moment, realization dawned. "Oh, that's right. Southern Hemisphere. I keep forgetting. The seasons are reversed."

Funny thing was, not 2 minutes later, I heard my nephews having the same conversation.

Peter, Lynn and Alicia joined us at the Crematorium, which was really nice, since I'd never really gotten to spend much time with any of them before, except for a few quick conversations at the reunion.

After the Crematorium visit, Margaret and Edie left to take Ro to the airport, and the rest of us drove on to our next destination -- to meet up with Ross, Gill and Ben and see the Penguin Parade.

The Penguin Parade is located on Phillip Island, south of Melbourne. It's a little bit of a hike by car, but still easily a day trip. The island is home to a colony of Little Penguins, which are the smallest penguin species. During the day, many of the penguins are out fishing in the ocean, but at sunset, when they deem it safest from predators, they'll come ashore and waddle to their homes.

When we were in Melbourne 20 years ago, we came to see the penguins, and I've always considered it one of my favorite Australian stops.

Since the penguins come ashore on the beach and walk right past the spectators, the park has had to implement more and more safeguards over the years. From reading the website, it seemed like we'd have to take more of an organized tour to get the close-up experience we were hoping for.

Taking the ranger tour was our best decision of the day. Not only because we got all the extra little details that a tour guide provides, but because she walked us back to the viewing stand as part of the tour and pointed out the best seats to watch from. We were all set up by the time the rest of the crowd was allowed in. The only drawback was that we had a full hour to wait for the sun to go down and the penguins to start coming ashore. It was a really cold hour. But, at least Margaret had sent us off this morning well prepared. We had blankets to sit on and blankets to wrap ourselves in.

And when the penguins arrived, they walked right past us. Just a few feet away. So very, very cute as they waddled past. I think there were about 350 that came ashore that night total.

Unfortunately for us, photography was strictly prohibited. They didn't want people using flash photography and hurting the penguins' vision -- and since they didn't trust people to keep their flashes turned off, they made all photography verboten. (We had about 30 seconds during daylight when the ranger said it was OK, and I was able to get one hasty shot of us getting settled in the viewing stand.)

When the penguin parade was done, we were a cold group of people wandering into the visitor center to warm up. After a round of hot drinks, we were back into the bus for the long drive home.

Australia - Day 5 - Family Reunion

Today was a day for warm fuzzies and good feelings.

We all gathered for lunch in the social room of the clubhouse at Auntie Edie's retirement village. All 35 of us. Everyone from the Melbourne area who was in town was there. They even released Stuart from the hospital for the afternoon to attend.

It's not quite the 50 people we had at the 1987 reunion, but we were also a smaller group of Americans than before, as last time my Grandpa was there, as were Uncle Don and his family.

Dinner was a potluck affair, with all sorts of casseroles, including one that Peter brought made with kangaroo meat. I diligently sampled from each one, with no room left for seconds (and no room left for dinner that night, either).

We talked. We gave toasts in each others honor. We encouraged everyone to make the journey to the U.S. and visit us. The Australians all encouraged us to come over more often as these are the only times that some of the Australians get to see each other.

Dave managed to talk more football with the men (and the women). My favorite question was to ask everyone what team they supported. With so many footy teams based in the Melbourne area, it wasn't unusual for couples to support different teams, and sometimes the kids supported yet a third. My nephews kept themselves out of trouble by playing pool with Ben much of the afternoon.

Soon it was time to take the family photos. And, amazingly, everyone cooperated. I think that the photo we took 20 years ago has been trotted out on so many family occasions, everyone was determined to look good in this one. When I mentioned how much I regretted wearing my hair braided in the old photo, my cousin Daniel returned with a "Yeah, well I was hugging a tree in the photo" (see below).



Nobody even complained much when Heather and I wrangled everyone for the generations photos.

Auntie Edie and Aunt Doris are the only two from my grandfather's generation. They are sisters in law, with Edie being my grandfather's sister, and Doris being his brother Keith's wife.

I've posted a photo of the first cousins from 20 years ago and one from this year. Twenty years ago, all 10 cousins were there for the photo. Unfortunately, there are three fewer people in that generation now, as my Dad, my Uncle Don and my cousin Ian all passed away at far too young an age.

In 1987 we also had all of the second cousins represented, but this year we're probably missing half the generation, as not everyone could travel from the U.S. and other parts of Australia.

The photo of the third cousins is even less complete, as Greg and Todd in the U.S. have children, as do Lisa, Sara, Justin and Jodie in Australia. (Did I miss anyone? Sorry if I did.)

Everyone agreed that 20 years was too long to wait for another reunion. Five years kept getting thrown around a lot. But there are a lot of people to wrangle for a reunion. It's difficult. We talked about maybe meeting half way in Hawaii some time.

The Loki and Thor report

From an email from home:

Things are still good here although Loki got kicked off the bed this morning for a little too much paw-in-my-face action whenever I paused in petting her for even a half second. She got to nibble my PJs outside when we went out after breakfast, though, so all's well.

Thor is being a lovebug. I think he still really misses you guys, but he seems happy and has been my buddy since moment one, with no backsliding so far (he's licking my foot right now as I type).

And it is so funny the whole "We don't like you doing things in the kitchen" thing. They hide on either side of the kitchen table and look at me accusingly until I'm done. Who knew making toast was so threatening...

~"Marriott"

The Loki and Thor report

From an email from home:

Thor's doing fine, aside from his continued lack of respect for personal space and sensitive body parts. We've been playing hard core tug of war (um... on a related topic, you now have a one-armed snowman plush toy). Loki even joined in at one point. Had one toy/dog for each hand and Thor spun all of us around for a few minutes. Then we collapsed in the grass and watched the fireflies start to come out.

~"Marriott"

Australia - Day 4 - Footy match

I'm not usually up anytime near sunrise at home, but I can't complain about seeing another one here. Getting up so early gave us plenty of time to make breakfast for everyone (a true fullhouse with one bathroom and Margaret, Rosemary, Auntie Edie, Mom, and me and Dave fitting into three bedrooms).

We had plenty of time for Dave to go workout and me to take a nice long walk. Margaret gave me directions to a park, but I missed a turn and instead ended up walking to the mall we'd visited yesterday. By the time I got back, a good hour or so had passed and I'd logged more than a few kilometers. Rosemary said Margaret was really worried about me getting lost, especially when she realized that the park she'd directed me to was a lot further away than she'd remembered. Well, her fears were only partially realized -- I didn't make it to the park, but I didn't get lost. I knew how to get home the whole time.

We were able to fit in a call to "Marriott" back home. Our dog-sitting arrangement was going through a transition for the weekend from Felicia to Marriott, and I was a little nervous about Thor. But it turns out I didn't need to be, as Marriott reported that he was excited to see her.

The plan for our day was that Marg, Mom and Ro would stay home and start the family reunion portion of this trip with a ladies' lunch (I think eight ladies total?). Heather and I didn't have to be "ladies" today, though. Instead, we were going with the boys to a footy match at the MCG.

Ross and Ben drove me and Dave to David's house, and from there we all took the train to the stadium. (Ben is my nephews' age. He's a cousin of Ross's wife, Gill, but Ross has more of a fatherly relationship with him.)

Aussie Rules Football at the MCG

Slideshow photos by Heather

We were told right off that we couldn't "root" for any teams, as "rooting" is apparently a rude word in Australian vernacular. Instead, as women, Heather and I could "cheer" for a team, but the preferred term was "barrack". And who should be barrack for, we asked? Well, not the Collingwood Magpies we were told (I guess you either love the Magpies or hate them), so that left the St. Kilda Saints.

As we exited the train and walked toward the MCG, Dave and I were both amused to hear little pockets of music coming from Saints fans. Their theme song? When the Saints Go Marching In.
What was funny to us is that the song makes us think of the city of New Orleans and the New Orleans Saints NFL team, not an Australian football team.

But, apparently the fans had long ago adapted the song for St. Kilda, even altering the lyrics.

Oh when the Saints, go marching in,

Oh when the Saints go marching in,

Oh how I want to be with St Kilda,

Oh when the Saints go marching in.

Even though we were barracking for St. Kilda, it turns out the nobody in our party was particularly a St. Kilda fan (David supports the Melbourne Demons, Ross the Geelong Cats, and Ben the Essendon Bombers). But since we'd asked to see an Aussie Rules football game at the MCG, and since four different footy teams call the MCG home, this is what worked out. Collingwood was technically the home team, but since both teams were from the Melbourne area, the crowd was fairly even.

David is a member of the Melbourne Cricket Club and arranged for us to sit in the members balcony section, which has a strict dress-code requiring, among other things, that the men wear collared shirts. If we'd been a far smaller party, David could have gotten us passes for the Long Room (dining room), which requires the men to wear jackets. In fact, as we were sitting on the balcony, men would wander outside from the Long Room, and I found it a weird experience to be surrounded by people wearing suit jackets at a football game.

My impression was that being a member of the club was the closest equivalent to our American notion of holding season tickets. But, because the MCG had such huge capacity (100,000), the seating for most footy games is general admission (no assigned seats). So, we were in the members balcony, part of the reserved section for members, but we didn't have assigned seats in the balcony.

The nice thing about the balcony, we were sheltered from the rain but had a nice view of the action. David and Ross did an excellent job explaining the basics of the game (My Dave was actually quit conversant in the game by the end of the trip) so that we were all able to enjoy it, even if our team was losing much of the time.

(By the way, it's pointless debating American rules -- as they call it: Gridiron -- vs. Australian rules football. They're two different games requiring different skill sets, and both are fun to watch. Both games also just happen to call themselves football and have similar shaped balls. Both are probably descended from the same sport.)

Late in the game, David took us on an informal tour of the MCG, including a stop to see the MCC's cricket record board. Color us impressed. Why? Because David used to play cricket here and had his name posted on one of the record boards.

While we were in the MCG's cricket museum, we heard the crowd getting excited, so we ran back to our seats. The game was tied up and the game was intense. But then Collingwood pulled ahead and St. Kilda ended up losing.

Ben and my nephews bought Australian footy balls in the stadium shop, and then we took the train home.

Cousins Night

For the evening, all the cousins were getting together for Cousins Night. That meant that the first cousins (my Dad's generation) would be having dinner at David's house, and the second cousins would be dining out.

Now, being the younger generation, you'd think the second cousins would be the party animals. Well, not true. We were the jet-lagged and young-parents group. We had nice conversations over dinner, and then tried to hang out in the bar afterward, but got droopy eyed. The only thing keeping a few people awake was the footy game on television and the bizzare-to-us sight of all the young and hip Australian kids in the club, decked out like it was the '80s to an extent that was startling. Is this the direction of winter fashions to come?



Truth be told, we had an enjoyable night. Emma (who we'd gotten to see the day before) was there, as was my other cousin Emma (this one Emma B.) whom I've actually gotten to spend very little time with previously. Paul was there with his wife, Sara, and Natalie stayed for a little while before having to go to work.

Too many of the second cousins were not represented, as Stuart was still in the hospital with his broken hand/arm, Andrew was touring Europe (probably running with the bulls in Pampola as we were gathering), Natasha was in Adelaide, Jodie in Sydney, Lisa in Perth, Sara near Brisbane, Justin in Hong Kong, Scott in the United States, and the rest working or otherwise busy. We're a spread-out generation of second cousins.

It was the first cousins who were the partiers, with everyone of that generation represented. While Dave and I were home sound asleep in bed, they were drinking and carrying on into the night.

The Loki and Thor report

From an email from home:

Today was a day of practicing all their tricks that they know how to do. Loki didn't feel like talking in the afternoon but this morning it worked. Go figure. Thor was really into it that when I kept asking Loki to talk he would give me his paw. He is such a sweet heart.

~Felicia

Australia - Day 3 - Healesville

Dave and I were both up before dawn. The joys of jetlag.

We got cleaned up and watched everyone else trickle awake, and eventually all settled down for a nice breakfast together. When I think back to all my previous trips to Australia, the breakfasts are a memory I hold on to fondly. Not the food (it was usually a bowl of cereal), but the fun of sitting in Auntie Edie's kitchen while Uncle Ray worked on a puzzle. The camaraderie. I was happy that I'd probably have such nice breakfast memories at Margaret's house, too.

Dave and I were eventually able to get onto Margaret's computer and check email. Happily, there was another message from Felicia saying all was well with the dogs. Good.

Dave entertained himself watching Scrubs on his iPod (we'd transferred a few season's worth of episodes to the iPod before leaving) and Margaret dragged out extra fleeces, raincoats and umbrellas for us to use at Healesville Sanctuary.

We were meeting at Margaret's house, and I was excited to see some more cousins that I hadn't seen in ages. Ross drove in from the country, and his daughter Emma arrived with her husband, Greg, and baby, Samantha. I have distinct memories of Ross and his then-wife Sandra visiting Chicago in the early '70s, and Emma spent a year in the U.S. as an exchange student in the late '80s including several weeks at my parents' house. (I'll try not to catalog every interaction between the U.S. and Australian branches of the family over the years -- there's been a lot -- but there's something about having interacted with a person on both continents that makes the relationship seem stronger.)

Dave and I piled into the car with Ross, Rosemary and Auntie Edie, while David drove Heather, Jeff and the boys, and Emma and Greg followed in their car. Margaret was staying behind to pick my Mom up at the airport.

Healesville

Every trip I've ever made to Australia has included a visit to Healesville Sanctuary. I remembered it as being a great opportunity to see all the unique Australian wildlife you'd expect to see on a trip here -- kangaroos, wallabys, koalas, platypuses, wombats, etc. In 1987, my cousin Donna and I were both lucky enough to have a lyrebird do a courtship display on our arm while demonstrating it's huge repertoire of sounds. If you can hear a recording of a lyrebird, it's truly amazing. They mimic everything, from other birds to car alarms and gunfire.



Looking back, I guess it was a bad sign this time that the first thing we did after paying our admission to Healesville was to buy a round of hot drinks for everyone. It was cold. And wet. I'd been to Australia twice before in their winter (remember, the seasons are reversed from the U.S. because it's the southern hemisphere), but I didn't remember it being this cold. (My photos from 1987 show everyone wearing sweaters under a jeans jacket.)

Maybe it was because of the cold and wet, or possibly it was because of more conscientious animal management techniques than they used in the '80s, which is a good thing overall, but the animals didn't seem as accessible as I remembered from previous trips. I remember being in a paddock full of kangaroos and wallabys, able to reach out and touch them, but today they were all staying behind their protective fences. Overall, the visit didn't live up to my memories, although we did quite enjoy the birds of prey show. I can't remember my bird species, but they showed us several birds, having them swoop over the crowd, and they had one bird demonstrate how it will, by instinct, use a rock to break open an emu egg. The demonstration on how to throw a boomerang was entertaining also. (I've uploaded video links at right. It's not the greatest video footage -- blame the amateur cameraman [me] and the low-resolution camera.)

We didn't linger overlong at Healesville. By 2 p.m. we were loaded back up in the car and looking for a place to warm up and have lunch. We ended up back in the town of Healesville at the Healesville Hotel.

The Healesville Hotel was a perfect choice. We got a table in a little room with its own fireplace adjacent to the bar. The food was excellent, and they had a great variety of wines. (It was just the kind of place I could see taking my friends for a girls getaway.) (Note: We later ran into an article about wine pubs that mentioned the Healesville Hotel on page 61 of the Quantas Airlines in-flight magazine. If that link doesn't work, try the dining article in this zip file.)

Little Sammie charmed us all at lunch. Even though Emma and Greg insisted that she was being cranky, nobody believed them.

Family Dinner

Back at Marg's house, we were thrilled to see that Mom and arrived safely and was looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. The night of sleep in San Francisco and the First-Class sleeper seat on the flight to Sydney really did her well. She wasn't nearly the glassy-eyed zombie we'd been the day before.

Marg drove Dave and me to the nearby mall so that we could pick up some more groceries (Dave and I were planning to make breakfast for everyone the next morning) and buy some well-needed gloves and long underwear for our football game tomorrow. Plus we also stopped at the local gym so that Dave could figure out how he'd fit in some workouts during this trip. Somehow, he finagled himself into a free 1-week trial membership even though they knew he'd only be in town for a week and wouldn't be joining permanently.



Dinner was a big affair -- at least 14 of us -- at a local Indian restaurant. Dave and I were thrilled to have Indian food, but it was a little adventuresome for some of the rest. My nephews fell sound asleep at the dinner table, so Marg drove them and Jeff back to her house.


We met back up with Paul at Marg's house to watch some Friday Night Football (Australian rules football, that is), but the jetlag was kicking in for everyone by the second half. The party had adjourned and Dave and I were in bed by the fourth quarter.

The Loki and Thor report

From an email from home:

We were up late last night because of those fireworks. We are hoping that we don't hear anymore tonight. They finally stopped around 11:30pm. It was so sad because Loki and Thor were in a deep sleep and a big firework would go off and wake them up. They would look to me for some hugs and go right back to sleep.

Thor is like me in the morning. Let's get as much done as possible. He has lots of energy so we chased each other in the back. We also play the stay game, which he loves. Loki wanted no part of it this morning.

~Felicia

Australia - Day 2 - Arrival in Melbourne

I never would have guessed that because we claimed some food items when going through customs, and had to go into a separate line to have our bags checked, we'd actually clear customs before Heather, Jeff and the boys. But we did. The benefits of honesty -- and perhaps the fact that our Joseph Schmidt chocolates and bag of fortune cookies picked up in San Francisco were not really the types of food they were concerned about.

Anyway, we came through first.

Have you ever had that moment of doubt, when you haven't seen somebody in years and years and years, that you wouldn't be able to recognize them? Well, I did. But it was instantly gone when I saw Auntie Edie and my cousin Margaret in the crowd of faces. And then there was my cousin David and his daughter Natalie and all the years melted away. (Sure, everyone was older -- Natalie was preschool age when last I saw her and now she was an actual grownup woman.)

Note: We're dealing with four generations here. For the sake of convenience, most everyone is a cousin. Even in-laws. I won't go into the specifics of first-cousins, second-cousins, third-cousins, first-cousins once-removed, etc., unless absolutely necessary. I could bore you to tears with the relationships. Suffice it to say, my grandfather had four brothers and sisters in Australia. Edie is my grandfather's sister. Everyone else is descended from one of the siblings and therefore cousins.

While Dave and I arranged to rent a cellular phone through Vodaphone, Margaret ran off to meet my cousin Rosemary's flight from Queensland, and everyone else went home to David's house. (Note: "Dave" is my husband and "David" is my cousin.)

With our new phone in hand, we called Felicia (one of our dog-sitters) before it got too late in Chicago to make sure she had a phone number to get ahold of us just in case. (I know I sound overly concerned about the dogs, but knowing how socially retarded Thor is, and having had him run away, get hit by a car and almost die while we were out of town before, I need all these safeguards so I can relax.)

Once Rosemary was collected, we met up again and tried to find Margaret's car. "Tried" being the operative word. Margaret knew exactly where she'd parked it, but it wasn't there. It took a few minutes to realize we were on the wrong level... the car was actually right where it was supposed to be. LOL

Margaret had the best excuse for being distracted, though. Not only did she have our arrival to worry about, but she was also leaving on a five-week trip to Peru on the same day we planned to leave Melbourne, and, more importantly, her son Stuart had been in the hospital all week, having been randomly beaten up by some thugs on the street while out the previous weekend. He'd had multiple surgeries on his hand/arm (apparently a defensive injury) but the feeling still hadn't returned. The doctors were hoping it was simply a matter of the swelling compressing the nerve.

We arrived at David's house to be warmly greeted by little Billy, the dog. Then it was a pizza lunch and an Internet check. I was finally able to email my work project and officially start my vacation!

I'd been to David's house when I'd last visited in 1991, but didn't remember much about it except that it was old, possibly Edwardian era? David and Sue have since put on an addition to update the kitchen and add a large family room, but the historic details that I love were still there. The old fixtures, the high ceilings and detailed woodwork. I wish I'd taken photos. (If Heather did, I'll add some later.)

After a few hours, we left Heather, Jeff and the boys at David's house then moved on to Margaret's house, where we'd be staying.

I remembered Margaret's former house fondly. It overlooked a wooded area and creek, and had a treehouse quality to it. Lots and lots of character. I was curious about her new house. When I'd mapped it online, the neighborhood had a subdivided look that made it seem very modern and planned.



But I should have known better than to expect anything modern for Margaret. Turns out she'd purchased a house with "heritage" designation. It was the original house in the area, built around 1896 (according the etched glass over the front door) and named "Strathallyn", which was also the name of the street the house was located on. Turns out, the street was named for the house. Margaret described the house as an old gumnut house, but I'm not sure exactly what that means. The house also had all those high ceilings, fancy trimwork and old fixtures that I love, but it also, conveniently, had a nice and new bathroom.

The rest of the afternoon was sort of lazy, catching up, looking through photo albums of previous trips, and browsing an incredible collection of letters that my great-grandfather wrote during World War I.

(My great-grandfather worked for the YMCA in New Zealand and traveled to London to work with soldiers through the YMCA. The letters detailed his several-week journey across the Pacific, North America -- including Chicago -- and the Atlantic. I didn't get to read any letters after his arrival in London, but I do know that he was awarded the MBE [Member of the Order of the British Empire] from the king for his work during the war. I really hope Margaret gets those letters copied so they can be shared with the entire family.)

At some point, we got a quick message for Mom saying she was on the flight from San Francisco -- in First Class, no less. She'd be joining us tomorrow. Relief.

In the evening, Margaret's son Paul stopped by to say hello while on his way to footy practice. But, the jet lag and travel fatigue were kicking in, and I'm not sure I was even stringing together coherent sentences by that point. After a homemade meal of pumpkin soup (yummy) and curry chicken (also yummy), Dave and I fell into sound sleeps by 9 p.m.

The Loki and Thor report

From an email from home:

Loki and Thor wanted me to write you to say hello. They miss you, but we are having fun. This afternoon we just tried to bond and play in the back since it was so nice out. Then this evening the fireworks started, so Thor and I are best friends already. He is letting me pet him and we have run all around the upstairs. He has even kissed my feet. We hope your traveling is going well.

~Felicia

Australia - Day 1 - Travel Day

Nearly 30 hours in transit. Give or take.

The morning started out sleep-deprived. I was up most of the night packing and trying to finish a project for work. I successfully got everything packed (although my suitcase could have used at least another round of culling), but the project didn't get finished.

Then we spent far too long with Felicia going over dog/house sitting issues. Loki and Thor adore her, and she's watched them several times before without problem, but the fretting was for our benefit. With Thor's history, and especially after his stunt at the vet's office in May, only a total lockdown would allow us to relax on this trip.

Finally, it was noon. We said our goodbyes to the dogs and Felicia, then we were off.

Or so we thought.

The taxi wouldn't start. A mechanical delay in our driveway -- run back in the house, get the dogs excited, grab my keys, pull out my truck, jump the taxi, pull the truck back in, run the keys back in the house, get the dogs all excited again, say goodbye again, and pray that this wasn't an omen of bad things to come on this trip.

Now we were really off.

All seven of us met up at the airport. Mom, Jeff (my brother-in-law) and my nephews came together in a taxi, while my sister came in via the El from her half-day of work downtown. (Heather was going on even less sleep.)



Dave and I were in First Class to San Francisco. I'd been hoarding Mileage Plus miles for years to be able to afford Business Class on this trip, and since this leg didn't have a three-class airplane, we got the First Class treatment. Although, I didn't get to fully enjoy it, since I was still trying to finish my project for much of the flight. But hey, it was something to do.

Mom, Heather, Jeff and the boys decided to hang out at the SFO airport during our five-hour layover, but not me and Dave. We were in San Francisco. So, we hopped on BART at the airport and did a quick dinner and tour of Union Square and Chinatown. We tried to pop in on Skip at West Coast Leather (I'd done some freelance work for him while we lived in San Francisco and later), but the store was closed.

At least the Fortune Cookie Factory was open. Tucked away in a little alley in Chinatown, it's always a favorite stop of mine.

Silly us, we'd forgotten how cool San Francisco weather is in July, and spent much of the time shivering. I should have remembered, since the July day in 2001 when I found myself turning on our house's heating system is scarred on my brain. (Mark Twain is credited with saying that the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.)

Felicia emailed while we were in San Francisco to let us know the dogs are doing well. I'll post that email, since Felicia is so good about reassuring us that Thor won't do anything stupid.

We met back up with the family in the International terminal with plenty of time to spare for our 11 p.m. flight.

But then came the truly difficult part of the journey -- Mom couldn't get on the flight.

As the widow of a retired United employee, Mom was flying space-available on this trip. Well, there was space available on the plane, but no standbys were given seats. Something to do with load factors and wind and fuel. (Not getting a seat is a gamble all employees are prepared for and used to -- the price for extremely inexpensive travel. If you want to be guaranteed a seat, you buy a ticket like everyone else -- or hoard miles.)

So, we boarded and Mom found a hotel room for the night. She'd try again in 24 hours on the next SFO-Sydney flight...

I worked on my project again on the flight to Sydney, finally calling it "done enough" at about the point we flew over the International Date Line. It didn't help me at all that the laptop somehow mysteriously forgot how to cut and paste, and I had no room to spread out all the documents I needed to trace to. Dave at some point suggested that I'd worked on it so long, I shouldn't have to call Tuesday a vacation day at all. If only. But again, it gave me something to do.

The best I can determine, I got maybe four hours sleep on the plane. This is where the Business Class seats really paid off as the seats reclined into a nearly flat bed. (That's in addition to having our own personal television sets and the food actually having flavor and texture.)

The sun was rising as we finally landed in Sydney. Our first hint of daylight in the roughly 14 hour flight.

It had been maybe 26 hours since we pulled out of the driveway. We still had about four to go in order to get to Melbourne, including the layover time.

We'd left Chicago and San Francisco on July 3 and arrived in Sydney on July 5. The Fourth of July was spent in pitch blackness somewhere over the Pacific, eaten up by the International Date Line.

The vacation preparation frenzy

The past several days have been busy as we've scrambled to get ready for vacation.

There was "Drake's" birthday on Friday night, Heather's birthday party on Saturday night, and double barbecues for family and friends on Sunday - the first because Dave's Dad was in town visiting, and the second just because we could.

We've had to-do lists to finish, laundry and packing, not to mention work to wrap-up. In fact, I'm still wrapping up work, and our flight departs in 12 hours. Even if I were in bed right now, I'm sure last-minute to-do lists would still be scrambling through my brain.

Isn't that usually the way vacations start?

Bathing beauties

When we had the family barbecue on Sunday, we decided to kill two birds with one stone by giving the dogs baths as a form of entertainment for our nieces.

So, we dragged out the wading pool, connected the hose to the laundry room utility sink, and bathed first Loki and then Thor. Neither dog was particularly happy about the experience, but they never are. Let's say they tolerate it well.



The really cute part of the day was afterward, though. We thoroughly cleaned the pool and filled it again with warm water, then our 3-year-old niece decided to lounge around like it was her private bathtub for the next hour and hold court for her Uncle Eddie.

National conference

It takes a lot of disciple to be an unpublished, uncontracted and unrepresented writer and yet still get a book written. There is no one standing over you saying "I need this now." It's just you and your computer and a time schedule that's totally artificial and self-made.

I can sit and dream and tweak forever, but producing a readable and polished NOVEL is a labor of love. The minuscule details and threads that have to be connected and checked for continuity take a lot of dedication.

The submission process is usually a long string of rejections, hoping to find the one person who believes in the project.

If I'm lucky, my friends are waiting and asking to see my work on a regular basis. I find myself looking for external motivators like contests and conferences.

But the years when I go to the national Romance Writers of America conference seem so much more productive than the years when I don't. Is it a chicken and egg thing? Does the knowledge that I'm going make me more productive? Or do I only want to go on the years when I'm productive?

The national RWA conference is coming up in Dallas in a few weeks. I won't be going. I'm not sad about it, because I'll be in Australia. I'm sorry that I won't be there to cheer on Margaret Watson and Allie Pleiter as they go for their Rita awards, or Jerilyn Willin, who is up for a Golden Heart.

But I'm going next year -- 2008 is San Francisco. I've been planning this since 2001 when I lived in San Francisco.

Gotta get off my butt and make something happen. When I return from Australia, I'm buckling down again.