Summer visitors
15 April 2013
February and March seem to be the season for guests from the US. At the start of February we had a visitor from Los Angeles, Kelly, who was touring Australia. As we had only recently compiled our list of things to see and do in Melbourne for Man About World magazine, we felt reasonably well-qualified to make sure he got to meet the locals and see the sights. Last year we enjoyed having Chad to stay and this year we had our friend Charles from New York stay with us in late February during his trip around Australia. Meanwhile, Chad was visiting Sydney again and seems tempted to move here.
My mother has recently moved to supported accommodation overnight. She is still quite active during the day and asked to spend time at the family beach house at Sorrento over the Summer. We organized several overnight stays there, some with her helper Carol and my sister and some with us. She is very enthusiastic about swimming, though we need to provide some guidance to get her back to shore.
After literally years of trouble, I finally went to see a specialist about my painful right triceps tendon. Imaging showed an impressive degree of calcification which has been treated with several rounds of shock-wave therapy. The most difficult part is now resting it, which interferes substantially with gym workouts, but will be worth it if it heals as otherwise the next option is surgery.
In the week before Mardi Gras, an Atlantis cruise visited Melbourne on is way to Sydney, so we said a quick hello to a few friends who were on the cruise, including Pete and Randy from San Antonio and Tang whom we had met with Yoav and Guillermo at New Years. We also met Art and Gene from Palm Springs, friends of Beau.
The Mardi Gras weekend was very busy for us. It was my mother's birthday, so we celebrated that on Saturday afternoon followed by a drive to Sorrento for my cousin Amanda's 40th. Her party was an extravagant 80s-themed event with a light-up dance floor, ice carving and sushi chef. 40 seemed impossibly old for my "young" cousin, though it seemed quite normal to me at the time. No one guessed her birthday wish was to dress as Sheena Easton.
The following morning we flew to Sydney in time for the Daywash party on Sunday afternoon. There we were reunited with all our Melbourne visitors from the previous month as well as seeing many others who were in town for Mardi Gras, including Loren from San Francisco, which was a pleasant surprise. The outdoor setting and warm weather made it a very enjoyable event. The festive atmosphere was helped by the large number of Atlantis guests who were also staying at the Hilton.
In the week following Mardi Gras, the pro bodybuilding circus came to town, and specifically to our gym, for the FitX expo and IFBB Pro Show on the weekend. We got a few photos with jet-lagged competitors and enjoyed the expo which we toured with our friends Beau and Darren and Ally. The expo has grown dramatically over the last three years; Tony Doherty whose gym we go to has really made a success of it.
Easter came early this year, with Good Friday falling on my birthday. At the same time, government disputes over funding meant that the public hospitals were running at low activity and encouraging staff to take leave. Jay and I organized a short vacation in Noosa for five days over Easter. Despite forecasts of rain, we had a few days of good beach weather. We were also lucky to find some friends had happened to be there at the same time, so we had dinner with Kerry and Chuck from Melbourne and also with Attila and Timo from Brisbane whom we hadn't seen for a long time.
Jay received notice in April that his citizenship application had been approved. Now he only needs to make a time to swear his allegiance formally. This will be the end of the process we started at the beginning of 2009, though we had been collecting documentation for some time before that. We will have a real celebration after the citizenship ceremony, but I organized an echidna chocolate cake at short notice.
Autumn here brings the Comedy Festival, where we will see at least one of the shows, and the AFL football in which for the first time since we moved here my team, Richmond, is doing almost as well as Jay's team Essendon. The shorter days also bring the urge to plan a vacation for later in the year. I have a conference to attend in San Francisco, so we will extend that to a vacation together. The details are still to be figured out.
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My mother has recently moved to supported accommodation overnight. She is still quite active during the day and asked to spend time at the family beach house at Sorrento over the Summer. We organized several overnight stays there, some with her helper Carol and my sister and some with us. She is very enthusiastic about swimming, though we need to provide some guidance to get her back to shore.
After literally years of trouble, I finally went to see a specialist about my painful right triceps tendon. Imaging showed an impressive degree of calcification which has been treated with several rounds of shock-wave therapy. The most difficult part is now resting it, which interferes substantially with gym workouts, but will be worth it if it heals as otherwise the next option is surgery.
In the week before Mardi Gras, an Atlantis cruise visited Melbourne on is way to Sydney, so we said a quick hello to a few friends who were on the cruise, including Pete and Randy from San Antonio and Tang whom we had met with Yoav and Guillermo at New Years. We also met Art and Gene from Palm Springs, friends of Beau.
The Mardi Gras weekend was very busy for us. It was my mother's birthday, so we celebrated that on Saturday afternoon followed by a drive to Sorrento for my cousin Amanda's 40th. Her party was an extravagant 80s-themed event with a light-up dance floor, ice carving and sushi chef. 40 seemed impossibly old for my "young" cousin, though it seemed quite normal to me at the time. No one guessed her birthday wish was to dress as Sheena Easton.
The following morning we flew to Sydney in time for the Daywash party on Sunday afternoon. There we were reunited with all our Melbourne visitors from the previous month as well as seeing many others who were in town for Mardi Gras, including Loren from San Francisco, which was a pleasant surprise. The outdoor setting and warm weather made it a very enjoyable event. The festive atmosphere was helped by the large number of Atlantis guests who were also staying at the Hilton.
In the week following Mardi Gras, the pro bodybuilding circus came to town, and specifically to our gym, for the FitX expo and IFBB Pro Show on the weekend. We got a few photos with jet-lagged competitors and enjoyed the expo which we toured with our friends Beau and Darren and Ally. The expo has grown dramatically over the last three years; Tony Doherty whose gym we go to has really made a success of it.
Easter came early this year, with Good Friday falling on my birthday. At the same time, government disputes over funding meant that the public hospitals were running at low activity and encouraging staff to take leave. Jay and I organized a short vacation in Noosa for five days over Easter. Despite forecasts of rain, we had a few days of good beach weather. We were also lucky to find some friends had happened to be there at the same time, so we had dinner with Kerry and Chuck from Melbourne and also with Attila and Timo from Brisbane whom we hadn't seen for a long time.
Jay received notice in April that his citizenship application had been approved. Now he only needs to make a time to swear his allegiance formally. This will be the end of the process we started at the beginning of 2009, though we had been collecting documentation for some time before that. We will have a real celebration after the citizenship ceremony, but I organized an echidna chocolate cake at short notice.
Autumn here brings the Comedy Festival, where we will see at least one of the shows, and the AFL football in which for the first time since we moved here my team, Richmond, is doing almost as well as Jay's team Essendon. The shorter days also bring the urge to plan a vacation for later in the year. I have a conference to attend in San Francisco, so we will extend that to a vacation together. The details are still to be figured out.
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