Or come up with your own caption!
29 November 2008
27 November 2008
Errands
We came home a day early, but that doesn’t mean we went back to work a day early! Instead we spent Tuesday taking care of odds and ends that we’ve been neglecting (I know, so exciting). So here’s our To Do list:
1) Take the car in. Since we got a used car that’s been passed from grad student to grad student, we’ve been meaning to do this for a while just to have things checked out. But when we lost the belt that controls a/c and, more importantly, power steering during this last trip, this suddenly moved to the top of the list. Fansons - if you thought steering the truck was hard, you ain’t seen nothin’!!
2) Fix the washing machine. The cold water decided it should just come out in a little trickle, which was a really bad idea because it made the machine beep all the time and took FOREVER to do a load of laundry. Luckily, after a little tinkering, we figured out we could swap the hot and cold wires to get it to work. And now we know more about washing machines – and we didn’t even electrocute ourselves!
3) Get the lawn-mower fixed. Apparently, the dollar store is not the place to buy 2-cycle oil. It gave the mower really bad indigestion, but it was still cheaper to fix it than to buy a new mower. And it was worth it just for the experience! The 2 guys at the shop were kind of “Click and Clack”-ish, but not brothers. They greeted us with a jovial “Hey mate, how ya going?” (That’s the standard greeting, here – not “How are you doing?” or “How’s it going?”) Other questions that came up during our conversation included:
-“So do you do all the mowing?” (this question was addressed to Kerry, and was apparently in an attempt to figure out why it took 2 of us to drop off a mower, because it was followed by “…or are you just here to make sure he doesn’t mess this up?” Later, when discussing the decompressor valve, we were told “This is to make the mower easier to start, so the women can do all the mowing while the guys sit back and drink their beer.”)
-“Why don’t they pronounce it CHEE-ka-go?” (when we said we were from Chicago)
-“What do they have in the water over there?” (this was referring to fluoride, and was followed by the comment “You have great teeth” …from a big manly-man with greasy hands)
4) Take Ani to the vet. After a solid year of vet visits in preparation for moving, we thought we were done with vets for a while. But since her vaccines were the first thing we did at the beginning of the year, that means it’s time for her to get vaccinated again. Luckily, the vet is a 20-min walk from our house, and the vet was great.
5) Fix our camping stove. Although gummy, luke-warm pasta was unforgettable, we decided it’s not that addicting. So the stove was dismantled and cleaned, and will hopefully work better next time!
1) Take the car in. Since we got a used car that’s been passed from grad student to grad student, we’ve been meaning to do this for a while just to have things checked out. But when we lost the belt that controls a/c and, more importantly, power steering during this last trip, this suddenly moved to the top of the list. Fansons - if you thought steering the truck was hard, you ain’t seen nothin’!!
2) Fix the washing machine. The cold water decided it should just come out in a little trickle, which was a really bad idea because it made the machine beep all the time and took FOREVER to do a load of laundry. Luckily, after a little tinkering, we figured out we could swap the hot and cold wires to get it to work. And now we know more about washing machines – and we didn’t even electrocute ourselves!
3) Get the lawn-mower fixed. Apparently, the dollar store is not the place to buy 2-cycle oil. It gave the mower really bad indigestion, but it was still cheaper to fix it than to buy a new mower. And it was worth it just for the experience! The 2 guys at the shop were kind of “Click and Clack”-ish, but not brothers. They greeted us with a jovial “Hey mate, how ya going?” (That’s the standard greeting, here – not “How are you doing?” or “How’s it going?”) Other questions that came up during our conversation included:
-“So do you do all the mowing?” (this question was addressed to Kerry, and was apparently in an attempt to figure out why it took 2 of us to drop off a mower, because it was followed by “…or are you just here to make sure he doesn’t mess this up?” Later, when discussing the decompressor valve, we were told “This is to make the mower easier to start, so the women can do all the mowing while the guys sit back and drink their beer.”)
-“Why don’t they pronounce it CHEE-ka-go?” (when we said we were from Chicago)
-“What do they have in the water over there?” (this was referring to fluoride, and was followed by the comment “You have great teeth” …from a big manly-man with greasy hands)
4) Take Ani to the vet. After a solid year of vet visits in preparation for moving, we thought we were done with vets for a while. But since her vaccines were the first thing we did at the beginning of the year, that means it’s time for her to get vaccinated again. Luckily, the vet is a 20-min walk from our house, and the vet was great.
5) Fix our camping stove. Although gummy, luke-warm pasta was unforgettable, we decided it’s not that addicting. So the stove was dismantled and cleaned, and will hopefully work better next time!
26 November 2008
Bir-niversa-giving Trip IV: Ani’s Adventures
Since the race was in a national park, Ani had to stay behind. Luckily, we have great neighbours who were willing to look after her, so Ani was able to stay at home with a queen-size bed all to herself, lots of entertainment each afternoon, and 4 extra pairs of hands giving her treats. She went to Eliza’s Oz tag practice (which is like flag footy/rugby), and was a hit among all the kids. Ann said she’s the most well behaved dog she’s ever met, but we didn’t let Ani hear that (we didn’t want her to get a big head – she’s already getting a big belly!). I think she was actually a bit disappointed to see us come home.
Bir-niversa-giving Trip III: Big things
So they like big things here. It’s kind of like the ode to gigantism that has been erected throughout the western US. On this trip, we saw (rather unintentionally) 2 of the 48 big things: the big trout and the big merino. Very exciting!
It was thiiiis big! Really!
[As a side note, they like to make their big things anatomically correct, and they generally prefer to make them male. Bill Bryson amusingly describes a pair of big bull balls that actually swing up in Queensland. And yes, the ram was indeed anatomically correct.]
It was thiiiis big! Really!
[As a side note, they like to make their big things anatomically correct, and they generally prefer to make them male. Bill Bryson amusingly describes a pair of big bull balls that actually swing up in Queensland. And yes, the ram was indeed anatomically correct.]
25 November 2008
Bir-niversa-giving Trip II: Kosciuszko National Park
The rest of the trip was almost cancelled given our cold, drenched, sleep-deprived, aching-muscle state. But it’s amazing what a warm car-ride and a hot meal can do!
So we headed to Kosciuszko NP. We still had plenty of snow to go through, but we were able to fight our way through most of it in the warmth and comfort of our car.
We did a little bit of hiking – as much as our legs would allow. We also checked out the Yarrangobilly thermal pools, thinking it would feel great on our legs. Unfortunately, at ~75F, it wasn’t quite as soothing as we hoped. But fun, nonetheless!
There were lots of signs telling us to watch for kangaroos and wombats, so we did.
And we saw them!
And late in the afternoon, the sun finally decided to show up! We camped by a beautiful river, and enjoyed Ben’s first place prize – a bottle of wine. And we learned a valuable cooking lesson: while noodles may get soft in luke-warm water, they don’t necessarily get “cooked.” Instead, they just get gummy. So it wasn’t the delicious post-race dinner we had planned, but we had sun and a river and a great mango. Happy anniversary to us!
So we headed to Kosciuszko NP. We still had plenty of snow to go through, but we were able to fight our way through most of it in the warmth and comfort of our car.
We did a little bit of hiking – as much as our legs would allow. We also checked out the Yarrangobilly thermal pools, thinking it would feel great on our legs. Unfortunately, at ~75F, it wasn’t quite as soothing as we hoped. But fun, nonetheless!
There were lots of signs telling us to watch for kangaroos and wombats, so we did.
And we saw them!
And late in the afternoon, the sun finally decided to show up! We camped by a beautiful river, and enjoyed Ben’s first place prize – a bottle of wine. And we learned a valuable cooking lesson: while noodles may get soft in luke-warm water, they don’t necessarily get “cooked.” Instead, they just get gummy. So it wasn’t the delicious post-race dinner we had planned, but we had sun and a river and a great mango. Happy anniversary to us!
24 November 2008
Bir-niversa-giving Trip I: Deep Space Mountain Run
Since Ben’s birthday, our anniversary, and Thanksgiving all fall within a week of each other, and since none of them are a recognized holiday here, we decided to play hooky. And, after being here for more than 3 months, it was definitely time to do some exploring further afield.
So the determining factor for the location of this trip was Ben’s desire to participate in the Deep Space Mountain Run. This took us south to Namadgi National Park in ACT (Australian Capital Territory). Ben signed up for the 25km run, and Kerry signed up for the 8.4km run. We knew beforehand that there would be some serious changes in elevation (this area is nick-named the “southern Alps”). The start line was at 1100m, and both courses peaked at 1400m (but Ben descended all the way to 700m before heading back up). We didn’t know how much the weather would add to the adventure.
The white line very roughly tracks the middle part of Ben's run.
We drove down on Saturday through intermittent showers and dropping temperatures. We arrived at the campground during a break in the rain, which gave us enough time to set-up camp and watch the kangaroos just near the edge of camp. Unfortunately, the rain and the wind decided they weren’t done, yet, and the wind REALLY got howling. With the “hurricane-like” weather (as the Aussies described it) and perhaps some jitters about the race (at least for Kerry), sleep wasn’t happening. Then, around 1am, it decided to start snowing, and it was a really wet, sticky snow that piled up on the tent. As if we didn’t have enough keeping us awake, we now had the added task of shaking the tent every so often to make sure that not too much snow accumulated (with this being our second use of the tent, we weren’t sure how much it could take).
First batch of snow piles that slid off our tent, at ~1AM.
Finally, 5am rolled around and the alarm clock went off. Yes, Ben’s race started at 5:45am, so they could reduce the risk of runners over-heating in higher midday temps. Good idea, because I think it got all the way up to 33F that day! Kerry got up to cheer him on and photograph the “bright, cheerful” start of the race. His course went down into a valley, then up to the top of a mountain, and back again – basically, there was no flat part of the course. But he did see kangaroos in the snow! And, he came in FIRST for the 25k!!
Getting ready for the race. Yes, Ben is in shorts.
Ben, after a bit of a recovery, with his first place prize.
Kerry’s race started at 7:30, about 25min before Ben finished. Her course went the opposite direction, to the top of a different mountain and back down. No kangaroos, but still plenty of snow.
NOTE: Three days later, Ben is finally regaining his ability to walk without moaning in agony.
View Larger Map
So the determining factor for the location of this trip was Ben’s desire to participate in the Deep Space Mountain Run. This took us south to Namadgi National Park in ACT (Australian Capital Territory). Ben signed up for the 25km run, and Kerry signed up for the 8.4km run. We knew beforehand that there would be some serious changes in elevation (this area is nick-named the “southern Alps”). The start line was at 1100m, and both courses peaked at 1400m (but Ben descended all the way to 700m before heading back up). We didn’t know how much the weather would add to the adventure.
The white line very roughly tracks the middle part of Ben's run.
We drove down on Saturday through intermittent showers and dropping temperatures. We arrived at the campground during a break in the rain, which gave us enough time to set-up camp and watch the kangaroos just near the edge of camp. Unfortunately, the rain and the wind decided they weren’t done, yet, and the wind REALLY got howling. With the “hurricane-like” weather (as the Aussies described it) and perhaps some jitters about the race (at least for Kerry), sleep wasn’t happening. Then, around 1am, it decided to start snowing, and it was a really wet, sticky snow that piled up on the tent. As if we didn’t have enough keeping us awake, we now had the added task of shaking the tent every so often to make sure that not too much snow accumulated (with this being our second use of the tent, we weren’t sure how much it could take).
First batch of snow piles that slid off our tent, at ~1AM.
Finally, 5am rolled around and the alarm clock went off. Yes, Ben’s race started at 5:45am, so they could reduce the risk of runners over-heating in higher midday temps. Good idea, because I think it got all the way up to 33F that day! Kerry got up to cheer him on and photograph the “bright, cheerful” start of the race. His course went down into a valley, then up to the top of a mountain, and back again – basically, there was no flat part of the course. But he did see kangaroos in the snow! And, he came in FIRST for the 25k!!
Getting ready for the race. Yes, Ben is in shorts.
Ben, after a bit of a recovery, with his first place prize.
Kerry’s race started at 7:30, about 25min before Ben finished. Her course went the opposite direction, to the top of a different mountain and back down. No kangaroos, but still plenty of snow.
NOTE: Three days later, Ben is finally regaining his ability to walk without moaning in agony.
View Larger Map
23 November 2008
Lingo Lessons: the “-ie” ending
Aussies like to shorten EVERYTHING. They can find a way to shorten just about every word there is. There are different ways of doing this, but one of the most prevalent is to take the first few letters of the word and then just add “-ie” or “-y.” This has the effect of making everyone sound like they’re using baby-talk. Here are just a few examples to illustrate my point:
sunnies – sunglasses
brekky - breakfast
rellies – relatives
oldie – parent
schoolie – high-school aged kid
footy – rugby (aka football)
pollie – politician
cozzie – costume (or swimsuit)
blowies – blow flies
mozzies – mosquitoes
yabbies – crayfish
esky – cooler
barbie – barbeque
lollie – candy
middy – medium glass of beer
tinnie – can of beer
carbie – carburator
Chrissie – Christmas
scratchy – scratch-off lottery ticket
sunnies – sunglasses
brekky - breakfast
rellies – relatives
oldie – parent
schoolie – high-school aged kid
footy – rugby (aka football)
pollie – politician
cozzie – costume (or swimsuit)
blowies – blow flies
mozzies – mosquitoes
yabbies – crayfish
esky – cooler
barbie – barbeque
lollie – candy
middy – medium glass of beer
tinnie – can of beer
carbie – carburator
Chrissie – Christmas
scratchy – scratch-off lottery ticket
21 November 2008
Kerry gets a real job
Now that I'm 30, I decided that maybe I'd try this 'real job' thing. But it's only temporary, so if it doesn't work, I'm not committed.
Through a series of fortuitous coincidences, I ended up with a potential job before I even arrived in Australia, and now it's turned into an official thing. I'll be working at the Western Plains Zoo as the Reproductive Technician. The person currently in that position needs to take some time off to focus on her PhD, so I'll be filling in for her for 6 months (Jan-June). Basically, I'll be doing the same thing as I did for my thesis (playing with poo and trying to figure out who's pregnant), but with different species of feces. I might be able to start some stress research projects, as well.
So it'll be nice to feel like I have more of a purpose, here, but the bad part is that the job is 6 hours away from Sydney, in a little town on the edge of the outback called Dubbo (DUH-bo). Ani and I will head out there, and Ben will go back and forth as it works around the fly schedule.
So a side note: there are a lot of things in Aussie lingo that sound like kid-talk (we will discuss this more in a future entry). But when I got the packet of paperwork the other day, we about lost it when we saw the letter about the 'buddy system.' Not a 'mentoring program,' or anything like that - a buddy system. So rest assured, even though Ben won't be with me the whole time, I will have a 'buddy' to help me adjust to life at Western Plains Zoo.
AND I get to work for a company that has a platypus for it's logo!
Through a series of fortuitous coincidences, I ended up with a potential job before I even arrived in Australia, and now it's turned into an official thing. I'll be working at the Western Plains Zoo as the Reproductive Technician. The person currently in that position needs to take some time off to focus on her PhD, so I'll be filling in for her for 6 months (Jan-June). Basically, I'll be doing the same thing as I did for my thesis (playing with poo and trying to figure out who's pregnant), but with different species of feces. I might be able to start some stress research projects, as well.
So it'll be nice to feel like I have more of a purpose, here, but the bad part is that the job is 6 hours away from Sydney, in a little town on the edge of the outback called Dubbo (DUH-bo). Ani and I will head out there, and Ben will go back and forth as it works around the fly schedule.
So a side note: there are a lot of things in Aussie lingo that sound like kid-talk (we will discuss this more in a future entry). But when I got the packet of paperwork the other day, we about lost it when we saw the letter about the 'buddy system.' Not a 'mentoring program,' or anything like that - a buddy system. So rest assured, even though Ben won't be with me the whole time, I will have a 'buddy' to help me adjust to life at Western Plains Zoo.
AND I get to work for a company that has a platypus for it's logo!
20 November 2008
Happy birthday to Ben!
Yup - today's the special day! And instead of falling leaves and dropping temps, this year, Ben gets to celebrate with longer days, blooming flowers, and baby ducklings. It's kind of weird to have our birthday eco-cues flipped.
Although we didn't originally have any special plans, Ben decided to take the day off. We headed to Macquarie Centre (which is essentially a mall, but it's the place to go for absolutely everything - I know, who'd ever have imagined that Ben would choose to spend his birthday at a mall!). We did a few errands and then ate lunch at this sushi bar that has a conveyor belt full of sushi. You just pull off whatever looks good and pay for the number of plates at the end. Pretty fun! And then we saw the new James Bond movie! Although it's missing a few of the classic Bond features (e.g. Q and his gadgets, sleeping with the enemy), it was still good.
AND, in a few days, we're going to take a birthday/anniversary/thanksgiving trip down to ACT (Australian Capital Territory). We'll fill you in when we get back.
So happy 31st birthday, Ben!!
It's an old pic, but I like it.
Although we didn't originally have any special plans, Ben decided to take the day off. We headed to Macquarie Centre (which is essentially a mall, but it's the place to go for absolutely everything - I know, who'd ever have imagined that Ben would choose to spend his birthday at a mall!). We did a few errands and then ate lunch at this sushi bar that has a conveyor belt full of sushi. You just pull off whatever looks good and pay for the number of plates at the end. Pretty fun! And then we saw the new James Bond movie! Although it's missing a few of the classic Bond features (e.g. Q and his gadgets, sleeping with the enemy), it was still good.
AND, in a few days, we're going to take a birthday/anniversary/thanksgiving trip down to ACT (Australian Capital Territory). We'll fill you in when we get back.
So happy 31st birthday, Ben!!
It's an old pic, but I like it.
19 November 2008
Fruit of the day: Mangoes
So our brilliant shopping decision for the week was to buy a crate of mangoes. That equals 14 mangoes that are pretty much the same ripeness. Our logic was this: in the grocery store, mangoes are $4-5 each (even though they come from nearby Queensland and are supposedly in season and, in my mind, should be a lot cheaper right now). But when you buy a whole crate at the fruit market, they’re only ~$1.25 each. So the challenge is on, and we’re willing to accept it. We’ll let you know if we make it through all 14 before they go bad. It’s a rough job, but somebody’s gotta do it!
18 November 2008
A day in the life of Fly Boy
In case you're wondering what a normal day is like for a fly biologist, we’ve decided to give you a glimpse into that wonderful world.
So when you boil it down, all biological research questions are about 1 of 2 things: sex or death. Ben’s research is about how food/nutrition affects these 2 things in Queensland fruit flies (which are way different from the fruit flies you’re probably thinking of, but we’ll save that for another day). So here’s an uber-simplified look at what he does.
These days, he devotes a lot of his time to designing the ideal maggot diet – fun, huh?!? So first, he weighs out lots of different chemicals to create different mixtures of protein and sugar.
Then he adds it to agar to create a nice firm gel in little petri dishes. Then he adds eggs to each dish so they’ll be able to start eating as soon as they hatch. In human terms, it’s like living in a swimming pool full of jello. There’s a little larva circled in the bottom left side of the photo.
Each day he checks his little larvae to see who’s alive on what diets, how much they’ve eaten (you can measure their feeding tunnels), how much they’ve grown, and how soon they pupate.
And by the end of the day, he’s a little bug-eyed!
So when you boil it down, all biological research questions are about 1 of 2 things: sex or death. Ben’s research is about how food/nutrition affects these 2 things in Queensland fruit flies (which are way different from the fruit flies you’re probably thinking of, but we’ll save that for another day). So here’s an uber-simplified look at what he does.
These days, he devotes a lot of his time to designing the ideal maggot diet – fun, huh?!? So first, he weighs out lots of different chemicals to create different mixtures of protein and sugar.
Then he adds it to agar to create a nice firm gel in little petri dishes. Then he adds eggs to each dish so they’ll be able to start eating as soon as they hatch. In human terms, it’s like living in a swimming pool full of jello. There’s a little larva circled in the bottom left side of the photo.
Each day he checks his little larvae to see who’s alive on what diets, how much they’ve eaten (you can measure their feeding tunnels), how much they’ve grown, and how soon they pupate.
And by the end of the day, he’s a little bug-eyed!
17 November 2008
Make way for ducklings
This is my new favourite sign. It’s ~2 blocks away from us, and it makes me smile every time we go by. And the ducklings are pretty cute, too. They’re Pacific black ducks. I’m not sure where mom was when I took this photo, but the kids seemed to be behaving and staying out of the street.
UPDATE: not only do they have 2 signs - they also have a chaperone! When I was biking home yesterday, there was a lady standing out there making sure cars stopped so they could get across the street safely.
16 November 2008
Weekend fun
It’s been a little while, so we promised Ani that we’d take her out for an adventure on Saturday. So we decided to head to Olympic Park. Yes, this includes the buildings they used when Sydney hosted the 2000 Olympics. But it also includes a bunch of trails/parks/wetlands, so it’s a great place to go wander around. We saw a whole bunch of new birds. And even though we’ve seen them before, I still got excited when we spotted some superb fairy wrens. They have blue heads – how can you not get excited about that!?! And they’re one of the few birds here that actually has a melodious song.
With Ani along, we didn’t go inside any of the buildings used for the Olympics. BUT, we did manage to get in trouble. Twice. I know – no big surprise coming from trouble-makers like us. So the first time it was for having Ani in an area where dogs weren’t allowed – we just thought dogs had to be on a leash. But the ranger was great – he drove by when we were looking at birds and scolded us, then adds “It’s no big deal – just head toward the exit. But take your time. What good birds have you seen? If you go look here you can see these birds ‘visiting’ from Siberia. And over here there are baby plovers. And be sure you go here.” So he was really nice. The second time, we managed to walk into a restricted area that didn’t have any signs and looked just like the other buildings we had been walking by and there were tons of other people walking around. Again, the guy was pretty nice about it, but I still don’t know how we were supposed to know it was a restricted area.
And that night, we headed over to Julie’s for dinner – she takes good care of us. We got to feed her possums – there’s a mother/baby pair and a big single male that stop by her backyard to see if there’s anything good. Sometimes she feeds them banana, which may not be the best thing to do, but it is kinda fun to get such good views of the local wildlife!
And then Julie and her mom fed us – they made this great fish au gratin. Only disappointment of the night was that the resident frogmouth wasn’t there (that’s another bird, in case you were wondering).
With Ani along, we didn’t go inside any of the buildings used for the Olympics. BUT, we did manage to get in trouble. Twice. I know – no big surprise coming from trouble-makers like us. So the first time it was for having Ani in an area where dogs weren’t allowed – we just thought dogs had to be on a leash. But the ranger was great – he drove by when we were looking at birds and scolded us, then adds “It’s no big deal – just head toward the exit. But take your time. What good birds have you seen? If you go look here you can see these birds ‘visiting’ from Siberia. And over here there are baby plovers. And be sure you go here.” So he was really nice. The second time, we managed to walk into a restricted area that didn’t have any signs and looked just like the other buildings we had been walking by and there were tons of other people walking around. Again, the guy was pretty nice about it, but I still don’t know how we were supposed to know it was a restricted area.
And that night, we headed over to Julie’s for dinner – she takes good care of us. We got to feed her possums – there’s a mother/baby pair and a big single male that stop by her backyard to see if there’s anything good. Sometimes she feeds them banana, which may not be the best thing to do, but it is kinda fun to get such good views of the local wildlife!
And then Julie and her mom fed us – they made this great fish au gratin. Only disappointment of the night was that the resident frogmouth wasn’t there (that’s another bird, in case you were wondering).
15 November 2008
I spy: Jacaranda trees
OK - I'm not sure if the phrase "I spy" is appropriate, because you really can't miss them. The Jacaranda trees are blooming, now - man, are they purple! It's not like they have a few nice purple flowers here and there - the entire tree is purple. They are fairly common, here, and they are like these explosions of lavender in amongst all the boring green trees.
14 November 2008
Fruit of the day: Lychee
The trip to the fish market also 'happened' to take us right by the fruit market, so we had to see what's in season. Turned out lychee fruits are now in season. They're kind of like the longans (see entry on 8/17/08), but sweeter and bigger and definitely better.
12 November 2008
Bees do it, educated fleas do it - trees do it, too
They molt. Or shed, depending on your semantic preferences.
There are lots of different smooth-barked eucalyptus species (aka, gum trees) here. They have really pretty, smooth bark (hence the term) most of the time. But a few days ago, when I was walking Ani, I noticed one of the trees in our neighborhood had this big pile of bark at the base, and it didn't seem to be looking so good - bark was peeling off. Then I noticed that the bark was starting to peel off of lots of other trees, too. And it turns out that smooth gums shed their outer layer of bark every year or two because they 'out grow' it - just like insects. And they all do this massive exfoliation of all their bark at roughly the same time, so there are big chunks of bark all over the place. Crazy!
There are lots of different smooth-barked eucalyptus species (aka, gum trees) here. They have really pretty, smooth bark (hence the term) most of the time. But a few days ago, when I was walking Ani, I noticed one of the trees in our neighborhood had this big pile of bark at the base, and it didn't seem to be looking so good - bark was peeling off. Then I noticed that the bark was starting to peel off of lots of other trees, too. And it turns out that smooth gums shed their outer layer of bark every year or two because they 'out grow' it - just like insects. And they all do this massive exfoliation of all their bark at roughly the same time, so there are big chunks of bark all over the place. Crazy!
10 November 2008
Sydney Fish Market
Aahhhh... the fish market. Such a wonderful place.
Ben's first exposure to the fish market was several weeks ago, when he and Dr.Phil (who luckily isn't like the other Dr. Phil) went down to meet with Dr.Simpson's lab at the University of Sydney. It happened to be on a Friday, and the Simpson lab has a tradition of walking over to the fish market for a leisurely lunch. Then, as they're walking back to the lab, they stop at a few pubs along the way. (They must be the best paid grad students in the world.) And by the time you get back to the lab, it's time to go home! So Ben and Phil missed out on the pub crawl, but they did get to go to lunch, and Ben decided he had to take me.
So on Saturday, we met up with Julie (lab mate) and her mom (who is in town visiting) at the fish market. [And scatter-brain Kerry forgot the camera, so no pics, but I'm sure we'll be back.] You can get raw fish or cooked fish - you can even get some live fish if you want. You can get fresh bread or cheese or a bottle of wine to go with your fish. And then you can sit and enjoy your lunch right on the water (and the gulls & ibises will do their best to enjoy your lunch with you). We sat there for probably 3 hours, chatting and sampling some of the best, freshest seafood there is. And Ben and I had walked through Chinatown on our way over, and stopped at the bakery and picked up dessert (a coconut tart and a passionfruit & apricot mousse thing). It was a happy day for taste buds!
Ben's first exposure to the fish market was several weeks ago, when he and Dr.Phil (who luckily isn't like the other Dr. Phil) went down to meet with Dr.Simpson's lab at the University of Sydney. It happened to be on a Friday, and the Simpson lab has a tradition of walking over to the fish market for a leisurely lunch. Then, as they're walking back to the lab, they stop at a few pubs along the way. (They must be the best paid grad students in the world.) And by the time you get back to the lab, it's time to go home! So Ben and Phil missed out on the pub crawl, but they did get to go to lunch, and Ben decided he had to take me.
So on Saturday, we met up with Julie (lab mate) and her mom (who is in town visiting) at the fish market. [And scatter-brain Kerry forgot the camera, so no pics, but I'm sure we'll be back.] You can get raw fish or cooked fish - you can even get some live fish if you want. You can get fresh bread or cheese or a bottle of wine to go with your fish. And then you can sit and enjoy your lunch right on the water (and the gulls & ibises will do their best to enjoy your lunch with you). We sat there for probably 3 hours, chatting and sampling some of the best, freshest seafood there is. And Ben and I had walked through Chinatown on our way over, and stopped at the bakery and picked up dessert (a coconut tart and a passionfruit & apricot mousse thing). It was a happy day for taste buds!
07 November 2008
Fruit of the day: Ya pears
So until now, I had thought that more or less, a pear is a pear. Sure you could taste little differences when we sampled them side-by-side at Brennan's, but if you were blindfolded, you'd still identify it as a pear.
But Ya pears are different. They're very crisp, and I think they taste a lot like jicama (even though every website describes them as tasting like a cross between a rose and a pineapple). They're very juicy, too. They're good, but I don't think they're going on my list of favourite fruits.
06 November 2008
I FINALLY spy: Brushtail possum
Pretty much since we moved in, we knew we had a possum around. There were little clues like Ani getting super excited about something in the backyard that we never managed to see, the sound of some clawed-animal leaping onto our roof every morning at 5am, the rotting carcass that was cached in our roof for a later meal, the neighbors asking if it still lived there. And we caught a glimpse of it climbing up a tree and onto our roof when we took Ani for a late walk one night.
And finally, last night, I got a good look at it. It's a brushtail possum (the only other real possibility was a ringtail possum, but the brushtails are cuter so I'm glad that's what it is). It's the best Ani-entertainment since rabbits. As soon as it gets dark, she'll just go sit out in the backyard and watch for it - maybe bark every now and then to encourage it to come out and play (or something like that). And it's nice to finally know who we're sharing the house with.
To give you some reference, it was right above Ani's head. She's still looking for it.
And finally, last night, I got a good look at it. It's a brushtail possum (the only other real possibility was a ringtail possum, but the brushtails are cuter so I'm glad that's what it is). It's the best Ani-entertainment since rabbits. As soon as it gets dark, she'll just go sit out in the backyard and watch for it - maybe bark every now and then to encourage it to come out and play (or something like that). And it's nice to finally know who we're sharing the house with.
To give you some reference, it was right above Ani's head. She's still looking for it.
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