9 am, Sunday This morning, while enjoying coffee and proclaiming “Today’s going to be a great day – I can feel it”, our happy world suddenly came to a crashing halt. Why? This is why: He’s huge, he’s furry, he’s utterly disgusting, and we are not sure how we’re going to get rid of him. …
Our new, furnished, 2 bedroom home here in Sydney is in this 1920s brick apartment block, located two blocks from Bondi Beach. We’re on the third floor, the top of the building, reached by two flights of stairs (no lift). The common areas are decorated in floral print carpeting and darkness, although there are funky …
We have been consistently warned by Sydneysiders and transplants alike that property management here in Sydney is primarily focused on managing to get you in and then ignoring you and your silly requests to get anything fixed afterwards. This appears to be coming true for us around our stove. This is a photo of our …
It’s raining here. Has been for 2 days. Not the Seattle drizzle kind of rain. This is a serious rain. The type that pours from the darkened skies, the dishwasher on heavy cycle. You would think we didn’t know about rain, the way we’ve been acting since it started. “I can’t go run in that!” …
It’s Sunday, Mother’s Day, and we are up at the practically work-week hour of 6 am to prepare for today’s 8K fun run. By prepare, I mean throw on some shorts, down a cup of instant coffee, and think about what we want to eat afterwards. Neighbor Cynthia shuttles us all downtown to the start …
Well, it’s been a hectic time here in Sydney over the past few weeks. There were packing and logistical preparations for last Saturday’s move to Bondi Beach and race preparations for Sunday’s Mother’s Day 8K Fun Run. One involved a little exercise and the other, a bit of wine, and not in the order you’d …
Not that we don’t have plenty we want and intend to blog about, but it’s been a busy time down here with the past week and a half of repacking, moving, cleaning, re-unpacking, and, because that wasn’t enough physical effort, squeezing in an 8 K fun run on Mother’s Day. All of these events have …
We live at The Motto. It’s been our home since we arrived in Sydney 6 weeks ago. The Motto is a year-and-a-half-old development of modern and spacious condominiums and townhomes in the suburb of Erskineville, part of Sydney’s Inner West. Our condominium is roomy by Sydney standards. All of the cupboards close and nothing needs …
24 April 2010 It’s ANZAC weekend, the second of two holiday weekends in April in Australia, and we are on our way via train to the Blue Mountains. These are not mountains like back home, craggy snow-capped peaks dotted with alpine lakes and meadows. These are mountains that you are already on top of, looking …
Admittedly, neither one of us knows a thing about music. Not “real” music anyway, the kind you hear in concert halls or opera houses. The kind with instruments that your parents wanted you to play in high school marching band, as opposed to that garage band your classmates struck up that played the kind of …