It's not a Koala bear.

Who knew.  We were informed in no uncertain terms that only tourists call them Koala Bears. The Aussies simply call them Koalas.  I was able to pat one at an animal park.  So soft!!!!

 The first picture shows the park worker cuddling the Koala as she talked about them.  What you cant see is the crocodile lurking in the pool behind her.  Happily there was a glass wall between the two.
Here I am patting the Koala.  As I said, very soft and clean feeling. So cute!

travels in Australia by balloon

 I was delighted to learn that I could go on a hot air balloon ride while I was in Australia.  I have wanted to do this for a long time.  Here are views of other balloons seen from our balloon and one view of the ground as we were lifting off. We flew high and low and saw kangaroos hopping around in the wild.  I expected it to be a very exciting experience and it was but it was really more serene and relaxing; very quiet when our pilot wasn't firing up the balloon. We were up for about 45 minutes floating over the high plain of north-eastern Australia inland from the Great Barrier Reef.  More about that another day.  I would go up in a balloon again any time.

Home again

I'm back from a really grand vacation and hope to have some pictures loaded and ready to post soon but right now I'm still pondering crossing the International Date Line. On the way to Australian we left here on February 6 and arrived on Feb. 8 skipping Feb. 7. On the way home we flew out of Nadi, Figi at 1:30 am on Feb. 24, landed in Los Angeles at 4:30pm on Feb. 23, after flying back in time for 10 hours, flew on through another condensed night and arrived home at 11:30am on Feb. 24. I do understand the concept, really I do. We studied about this in elementary school but I still find it fascinating and exhausting. I'm just about over my jet lag now and will write more tomorrow.

Taking time out

I will be "off the grid" for about three weeks.  When I start writing again I will have some pictures to share and there won't be snow in any of them. 

raincoat woes

There seems to be a blip in the universe when it comes to me finding the perfect raincoat. I had a perfectly adequate beige raincoat that had traveled to several countries with me but it was stolen with my suitcase in Seattle last May.  Before my summer trip to the British Isles I bought a supposed rain coat at the mall.  You do need a raincoat in Scotland in July.  Unfortunately it turned out that raincoat wasn't waterproof - cute but not waterproof - which pretty much defeats the purpose.  Now I am about to leave on another trip, this time to a much sunnier place, but the detailed instructions from the travel agency said to bring a raincoat.  So I went shopping again. I found a beautiful turquoise rain jacket at Kohl's clearly marked 'waterproof' in my size. I bought it Friday and brought it home. Yesterday when I started to cut the tags off I discovered that the security tab was still securely attached. I have no idea how I managed to walk out of the store without setting off the alarm.  Today I took the coat back, clearly set off the alarm as I walked in and got the tab removed. So now I have a legally owned, untagged raincoat, hopefully really waterproof, and I really, really hope I don't need it at all on this trip. 

Scheherazade

I actually don't think I ever heard Scheherazade before but from the first notes it seemed somehow very familiar and right and lovely.  I think it is my new favorite.  I love going to Philharmonic concerts but this the first time I really remember thinking "No don't let it be over." as the conclusion was reached.  Happily, my grandchildren also enjoyed it very much, and yes we came home and had tea and cookies afterwards. What a great night.  Fort Wayne is truly blessed with so many opportunities to enjoy a wide variety of musical venues.

Tea Time

Tomorrow night two of my grandchildren are going to stay overnight with me.  We will be seeing Scheherazade at the Philharmonic in the evening, then attending church together Sunday morning.  Every year I give each of my grandchildren a day out of shopping and lunch.  This year two of them gifted me with a day out of my choice so tomorrow night is one of their gifts to me.  Happily I have season tickets to the Phil so this one won't be a great expense to them.  I don't know everything about how the evening or Sunday morning will go but I do know one thing. Evening and mroning they will be expecting tea to drink, the way I make it.  There's nothing particularly special about how I make tea - hot black tea with plenty of milk and sugar - but it always tastes good and brings back happy memories of all the cups of tea we have enjoyed together over the years. Of course it never hurts to add chocolate cookies to the experience so I have laid in a goodly supply. Yummm.

Dining in Venice

OK, not actually in Venice but I did have an excellent dinner at the Venice restaurant here in Fort Wayne this evening. I've only eaten there a few times but when I have the food has always been excellent,  Tonight I had Manicotti which always brings back memories of the year I spent teaching in Monticello, New York.  I made a good friend there when she took an evening painting class that I was teaching. She and her husband ran a dairy farm and would often have me out for the weekend. On Sundays she almost always made Manicotti for dinner. I've never had any anywhere as good as hers but the Venice's version ran a close second.  They also serve a very generous glass of wine. I left feeling just a little woozy. But that's ok.  One of the advantages of not being able to drive after dark is that I always have a designated driver with me. Very handy.