The Plunge Down Under

Spring, Finally

It may have been slow to arrive this year, but we have not been slow to appreciate its beauty.  The grass turned from brown to a neon green overnight (the 9th of April to be exact).  We returned from our out-of-the country excursions to a new world, a warmer and a softer one.  With ceaseless chirping and singing, the birds in our backyard remind us that winter is well and truly over, never mind what form of precipitation may fall (graupel, hail, sleet and snow flurries--we have seen it all this month).  Following are a few images I captured around our house in the second half of April.

Canada From Coast to Coast

A few months ago I announced, prematurely as it turned out, that our entire family would be traveling together to Australia.  So many of our Aussie friends and acquaintances had told us before we moved back to Pittsburgh:

"You will never come back.  Expats always promise that they will come back and visit, but they never do."

 It turns out that the nay-sayers were more right than I would have liked.  Thanks to the Department of Australian Immigration, our family trip disintegrated.  Seeking to salvage some of the value of the airline tickets we had already purchased, R decided to take our younger three to visit his parents in Fredericton, New Brunswick. I have already written about my own adventures traveling to the far side of the world.  I this post, I will tell you, primarily through photos taken by my husband and son, the Canada side of the story.  It was a journey that took them from mountains of snow on the east coast to full-blown spring on the west coast. 

All Joy and No Fun: A Book Review

I realized early on in my life as a mother that parenting books were making me a bit crazy.  That did not stop me from reading them compulsively, with predictable results.  I tried one approach after another until in my growing frustration my mother came to my rescue. She suggested I follow the principles of what she called common sense parenting---the way kids had been raised prior to the 1970s.  I did my best to forget all of the well-intentioned advice I had read, and with the exception of two tried and true guides which I occasionally consult (Hold On To Your Kids and Endless Adolescence), I have stayed away from most parenting books.  

Tips for Surviving Long Haul Flights

Seven round trips between Australia and Pittsburgh may not qualify me as an expert, but I have figured out a thing or two about making international flights bearable.  I never get it exactly right--it always seems as if at least one of us tries to take a forbidden item through security, forgets to fill up a water bottle before boarding, or packs an item in the checked luggage that was meant to be in a carry-on.  But we have gradually gotten better at international travel.  Following are my top tips.

Marvellous Melbourne: From City to Coast

When I'm asked what I liked best about living in Melbourne, I often reply that it has a perfect combination of city, coast and forest.  This past week I took several walks, two of which I will describe in this post.  The first was in the city center, the second along the southern Victoria coastline, about a ninety minute drive southeast from Melbourne.

A Tourist in Melbourne

Last Saturday marked my sixth time flying to Australia from North America, and can I just say how wonderful it is to be the one picked up from the airport and looked after?   I have been welcomed with cuppas, spoiled with smashed-avocado-and-eggs-on-toast for breakfast, plied with delicious coffee, and put to bed when my eyes will no longer stay open. Perhaps it is not surprising that I want to make visiting Melbourne an annual event in spite of the distance involved.

This quick trip of mine is not about sightseeing---it is about dipping back into the experience of living here.  I know full well that I will soon have to leave, but in the meantime I am indulging in all that I have loved about this city--the cafes, the trams, the cross walks, the urban parks, the gum trees, and even the oversized, squawking, obnoxious, "notice me" Australian birds.  How I have missed them and everything about this place.  Walks with friends, morning tea, beetroot-feta-and-cashew dip, meandering through laneways and arcades, lingering over a coffee, dodging the raindrops on Glenferrie Rd.  I love it all. 

Notes from the Toronto Airport

There have been many times during the past five years that I have never wanted to see another airport, let alone another airplane.  And yet I woke this morning with a sense of anticipation in spite of the forty hour journey ahead.  After months of routine living, the prospect of going to the airport was an exciting one.  Airports represent so many things to the traveler.  Even the most sterile and run-down can contain pockets of deep emotion, reservoirs of memories, and spaces in which it feels like anything can happen. 

A Day in Photos

 Expat Blog Challenge for March 2015

"A Day in Photos"

More than a year has passed since I participated in the Expat Blog Challenge organized by by fellow American expat blogger Cristin in Sydney.  Each month she sends out a new prompt.  For March she chose her personal favorite, a day in photos.  I opted to document the 2nd of March.

Instead of the jarring noise of my alarm, I wake to the sound of shovels scraping snow from sidewalks and driveways.  Snow began falling the night before, causing nearly all of the schools around us to call for a two hour delay.  I roll over and treasure the gift of a few extra minutes of sleep.  Later R wakes me up by bringing me a cup of coffee and telling me that he has retrieved our minivan from the neighbors' driveway at the bottom of the hill.  The roads were so icy last night that I was unable to drive it up our street.