Chasing the Sun

First and most importantly, Happy Holidays!!!  Hope this season finds you savoring  time with folks you love or doing something you adore!

Tony and I arrived in Australia 9 days ago!  We started in Sydney, then made our way west to the Blue Mountains….  It’s been odd to see strolling carolers donning cut-off-shorts and a santa-hat, Christmas trees in leafy gardens surrounded by bright, blooming flowers and children queued to sit in Santa’s lap in an outdoor courtyard.   As this is the year of Chasing the Sun all is as it should be with us.

Other than recognizing the Sydney Opera House (which we toured) and the Sydney Harbor Bridge (whose arches we have climbed), I didn’t really know much about the Antipodeans!

First impressions….

It’s big! Australia is the size of the continental US with a population of slightly more than Florida.  That means, like the US, it has a car culture.  They have even adopted the same practice of affixing little stick likenesses to the rear windows of their vehicles illustrating each family member’s avocation.

It’s casual!  Women wear flat shoes, flip-flops and hiking boots!  Happy feet!

It’s expensive!  In a mid-range casual italian eatery a liter bottle of still water was A$12.50 – that’s GB£ 7 or US$ 11 – “tap please”.  By the way, that “paper” money is plastic.

The people…

Are way honest! I tried-on a dress in a little outdoor market.  I commented, “It’s a little tight”, thinking to myself, it’s not toooo bad.  The proprietor commented, “It’s waaay too tight, you can’t sit down in that girl.”  Ouch.

Very proud of their killer wildlife! They are quick boast the world’s deadliest snake, spider, crocs, sharks…  What they don’t prepare you for is the flies.  Big flies, little flies, always there are flies.  Even in an upscale restaurant in the Blue Mountains, there were flies.  Tony and I  were eating and swatting.  A British diner insisted the flies be eliminated.  The Australians sitting next to us began to defend the flies, saying in that voice that’s intended for other patrons to hear, “It’s impossible to fight the flies.  What are they going to do, run off the kangaroos too?!?”

Kinda’ interesting things I’ve learned so far….

• When we toured the Sydney Opera House, I learned that when ground was broken and building began for this iconic building, no one had any idea how they would build the roof.  The technology didn’t even exist yet.
• When the Sydney Harbor Bridge was under construction, the residents were totally disappointed as they knew their horses would never climb the arches to get to the other side of the harbor.  The builders of the bridge took out full-page ads in the city newspapers encouraging everyone to take heart, the arch was not the road, the road would be added next.

• The Blue Mountains are called that because, wait for it, they look blue!  That is due to the all the eucalyptus trees.  The oil they release has a blue tint.  This oil also makes them combustable, which is why fires are common in the Blue Mountains.

Next the Hunter Valley…..

Okay, so maybe I didn’t actually do any of the sailing, and maybe the Caribbean Sea isn’t exactly the high seas, but I did learn some stuff!

I learned Tony is a fabulous navigator….

 …and  splendid “Master and Commander”.  (He preferred we call him that, rather that just “Skipper” or “Captain”.)

As a student of the seas, I also learned very important terminology that I knew, but didn’t know I knew.

For instance, turns out that “Three Sheets to the Wind” is a sailing term.  Some of the ropes on the boat are called sheets, they all come together at the bow of the boat.  If they are loose, or “to the wind”, you basically have no control over the vessel.   Thus a fitting metaphor for someone who might enjoy a bit too much of the local rum.

Second, “Bitter End” is a nautical term.  Who knew?  It means the very end of a rope that is tied to the the iron cleat (or bitt) attached to the boat.

Third, “mind your P’s and Q’s”.  In the days when sailors were bit more salty, local tavern keepers would keep an account on a board behind the bar, of the pints and quarts the sailors enjoyed until payday came around.  If by chance an innkeeper were unscrupulous, he might take advantage of an inebriated sailor by adding an additional mark next to a patron’s “P” or “Q”.   Therefore the sailors would caution one another to “mind their P’s and Q’s”.

 Jim and Jo Anna make excellent fellow yachtsmen!

Finally, I learned it’s actually possible to hear enough Jimmy Buffet and Zac Brown music.   But I could never tire of the sunsets!

At the risk of sounding mushy, I’m so grateful to so many who have made this Summer possible, my Mom, for taking care of little Coco while we have scampered around and us when we are under her roof.   To our other family and friends who have made time for us in their very busy lives.  And to God for His amazing creation!

Now, we are back to London for a few weeks.  Then if all goes as planned to the land of Oz in December!

Among our wish list of items during this “Free to be….” time, Tony and I have been very eager to spend quality time with our family and friends that we miss when in London.   Also, we are working desperately to become more interesting people – – sailing? diving? tennis?….. At the moment, we know only enough to be dangerous to ourselves and others.

Anyway the last two months have seen us primarily in the States (with a brief scamper to the Caribbean).

Here is my Top Ten List for the last two months:

1.  Having coffee most mornings with my Mom.  She is the most accidentally funny person I’ve ever met.

2.  Lunch, Dinner, Lunch, Dinner, Lunch….with my fabulous family and my dear friends from high school, from my old job, from Raleigh,  from church…. all in all I put on 10 pounds in my brief stint West!  Every bite a delight, every story savored.

3.  Spoiling my niece (6) and nephew (9).  When we went zip-lining, Jed shouted down, “I’m a little scared, but this is the kind of stuff I’m going to have to do when I’m a Navy Seal, so I better get used to it!”

4.  The tennis immersion course on Kiawah Island.  Head down, arms up, head down, arms up….

5.  Watching Coco bravely overcome her fear of the ocean!  (We are still working on electric garage doors.)

6.  Niagara Falls!

7.  Watching the sun set (and the stars come out) from Cane Garden Bay.

8. Tony adds: diving on the RMS Rhone and celebrating with his behind in the sand, his toes in the water and a beer in his hand.

9.   Husk, Magnolias, Poogan’s Porch…how I love Charleston!

10.  Worship service at the all-black church on John’s Island – – particularly the moment the hatted lady in front turned to me and said you sing like a “soul sister”!

Wait…wait…wait….there must be eleven in my Top Ten!

11.  The urban forest in Aiken, South Carolina…perhaps my new favorite place on Earth!

Now it’s Tony’s turn!  Listening to Jimmy Buffet music everyday on his Ipod while jockeying for position on the Underground eventually demands action!

After all, one can only say “Mañana” to Cane Garden Bay for so long.    Now, Tony is not a Son of a Son of Sailor, but nevertheless, it was time for some Changes in Latitudes and Changes in Attitudes, so he headed down to Tortola for a seven day class on a 46 foot catamaran.    Along with Mark the American, Hamish the South African and Jason the Captain/Instructor they  set a course for One Particular Harbour and learned what it meant to have “eighty-feet of waterline, nicely making way.”

Before I got a postcard saying The Weather is Here, I Wish You Were Beautiful, I joined him this weekend and can report that not only can Captain Tony take us for a sail around the islands, he looks tanned, relaxed, happy and healthy (proving a Tin Cup Chalice filled with good red wine and a Cheeseburger in Paradise is actually excellent for the heart)!

As I write, Tony is checking another item off his bucket list, he’s increasing his dive certification to Advanced and maybe Rescue.  I’m soaking up the rays, reading a lot, writing a little, hiking some and practicing my back-hand.

What’s next?  Only Time Will Tell but I can tell you, more than ever I’m a believer in Growing Older, But Not Up.

All for now,

Lynne

A Hula Girl at Heart

If you would like one more hit from Africa – -here it is in 4 minutes.  

Now I promise we’ll move on!

‘Safari’ actually means ‘journey’  from  the Arabic ‘safara’ meaning ‘to travel’.  So a safari is the perfect way to bring this African adventure to a close.

Top 10 moments (in no particular order) of the safari in theMaasai Mara

1.  The sunrises!

2.  Meeting two great newlywed couples!  One even spent the first week of their honeymoon volunteering at a school/orphanage in Kenya.  Ol Seki, our lovely home base for the Maasai Mara must be a magnet for young love.

3.  Having sundowner drinks with the lion.  They skipped the G&T and had giraffe, instead.

4.  Sunrise hot air balloon ride.  When we were awoken at 4am, I thought, bad idea (I can’t believe we are paying for this abuse!)

 It was stunning!  The mist rising from the river, the lions, elephants, wildebeest and zebras from above, the quietness.  It was magical.

5.  The animals.  The ones that are so ubiquitous, so peaceful,  just munching on the grass, that you don’t even notice them.

6.  Being mesmerized by the cats.

7.  Watching the migration of 3 million (or at least a whole bunch) of the wildebeest cross the savanna and Mara river.

8.  Two and half hours with a gorgeous leopard.

9. Visiting the Maasai Mara village where Tony and I were greeted by song and dance from the women of the community.  They invited me to dance and sing with them.  As we were singing in Mara (one of 42 languages in Kenya), I’m not sure of the actual words, but I believe it was something like, “look at the poorly dressed white woman in the silly hat, bless her heart, she has two left feet, bless her heart”.

10.  African sunsets!

Have I mentioned I love this place?  I love this place!