If Australia weren’t so far away I’d go there all the time.  It’s such a beautiful country, and the people are so warm and welcoming.  It’s just an arduous journey, 15 -16 hours getting there and about 13 coming back with a good wind.  Qantas has upgraded their entertainment system since the last time we flew – now they have movies on demand which is great.  But where I used to be able to stretch out with an empty seat beside me most flights, now we’re jammed in, not an empty seat in sight. My other gripes, the food, well… sucks.  No other word for it.  My hubby took a chance and ordered the vegan meal, but that was just weird, he ended up getting spinach for breakfast.  And all the airport hassle with the new security rules continues.  Going there from LAX we could buy a bottle of water once we got past security and keep it with us on the plane – but in Sydney they put a second security post right before the boarding area so we couldn’t take our own water and had to keep asking for some. But all that is besides the point.  We got there – and in one week we were able to close up my mother-in-law’s house.  It was me and Greg, and his sister Felicity and her son Jesper.  We all worked flat out, boxing, packing, sorting, shipping, and getting everything where it was to go. Amidst all of this activity Felicity planned a beautiful service, and Greg wrote a fitting tribute for his mum.  Felicity put together a beautiful program book, the photo on the cover was one of mum at our wedding, wearing one of her trademark hats, and the “Parti Sapphire” ring that she left me.  I wore a pair of her pearl earrings to the service, and in my talk I spoke about the qualities that mum had that I see now in her children and grandchildren. When we got back I had the instinct to go to the phone and call mum to tell her everything that happened.  She would had chuckled, and been so pleased with how the family came together.  I am going to miss our conversations.

When you go to the site, the directions are written in Japanese, but I’ll translate for you 🙂 Apparently this is an IQ test given to job applicants in Japan: “Everybody has to cross the river”.
The following rules apply: 1) Only 2 persons on the raft at a time. 2) The father can not stay with any of the daughters without their mother’s presence. 3) The mother can not stay with any of the sons without their father’s presence. 4) The thief (striped shirt) can not stay with any family member if the Policeman is not there. 5) Only the Father, the Mother and the Policeman know how to operate the raft. 6) To start click on the big blue circle on the right. 7) To move the people click on them. To move the raft click on the pole on the opposite side of the river.
http://freeweb.siol.net/danej/riverIQGame.swf Do your best… and I’ll post the solution on my next blog! ]]>

If you have, or have had, a senior in high school, you know what I’m talking about.  Every day it’s a mad dash to the mailbox, a little prayer said before it’s opened, and then the tentative sorting through envelopes looking hopefully for that big one, the one that starts with: “Congratulations!”  Brian has made me promise not to open his mail, but he calls me from school every day at 1:30 to see what letters he has received.  A large envelope is a good sign, one that portends acceptance to the university that he applied for. A regular sized envelope contains the letter that starts with: “Unfortunately…” Brian has some good choices already – but we’re still waiting to see the outcome for several others.  Until he has the full picture, he won’t be able to decide just where it is he’ll be going come September.  Schools have promised to get letters to students by April 1, which means our waiting game should be over soon.  And then it’s decision time – and we have until May 1 to declare our intentions. It’s Sunday, and there’s no mail today… so we can breathe a little bit, at least until tomorrow!

Baby bunnies, baby birds, baby squirrels, all the little signs of spring are turning up right in our backyard.  I love Easter!  Even as a little girl I knew there was something special about this holiday, and this time of year.  I remember one year I was “Rabbit” in our elementary school production of Winnie-the-Pooh.  My grandmother made me a costume out of an old white tablecloth – it was so cute… and then I’d wear that costume every Easter, and hide eggs for the littler kids next door. For years I’ve done the annual family Easter Brunch at our house.  I started this tradition before Freddy was born.  And then when he came along, the day took on more meaning as an egg hunt was included in the festivities.  It seemed like each year there was another cousin added to the mix – each year there were more kids, and more eggs!  I have such happy memories of a backyard full of little kids scrambling for plastic eggs, baskets in hand, squealing with delight at each new discovery.  There was the year that it was particularly hot, and the chocolate eggs melted inside the plastic ones.  After that I filled the eggs with pennies, or jelly beans.  Then there was the year our new puppy found more eggs than the kids did.  When the kids started getting too big for egg hunts, I even stretched it out by inviting my friend to come and bring her little boys! This year, all of the kids are teenagers.  They’d rather receive gas cards than chocolate eggs.  But I’m still having Easter Brunch.  We’ll eat strawberries and waffles, and just enjoy having the kids all together in one place for awhile.  There have been so many changes over the years as they’ve grown.  And Easter keeps coming around, a marker of how some things stay the same.