Little Red Corolla (foreshadowing worse news to come for Thursday)

Don't worry. I didn't cause it.

And it didn't even involve my car. Phew.

I was taking Allen to the train station early Thursday morning. While we were waiting to turn right (across traffic), a car in the lane next to us rear-ended the van she was following. The traffic ahead of the van was backed up even though the light was green. So the gal in the little red Corolla (I miss Prince already) thought it was all clear to keep going. She hit them pretty firmly. She slowly got out of her car because the airbags had deployed. Allen stepped out to help her while I continued through the light to park at the gas station on the corner.

So thankfully everyone was able to move around and conscious and had no major injuries. At this point, we figured we'd call the police and they would send the appropriate vehicles to clear the non-drivable vehicle, provide medical evaluation, take a report, and maybe even issue a citation if necessary.

No.

The Irish van driver called the police and I heard them give a full report. One of the questions I heard the operator ask, "Is there any violence between the drivers?"

Garden fail

Back in September I planted a garden. The soil was mostly clay, so I was cautiously hopeful that my minor soil amendments would merit a steady supply of tomatoes and lettuce.

Eh...

The first disappointment was that the 8 Lebanese cucumber plants turned out to be English cucumbers and Australian cucumbers (also the standard cucumber in America).

The birds (I'm still hoping it was birds and not rats) ate the handful of Black Russian tomatoes produced before the entire plant died.

Live Like You Were Dying

You know that Tim McGraw song, "Live Like You Were Dying"? It's about the joy you can experience when you let go of all that has held you back before and you take a "now or never" approach to all those things you've wanted to do. I feel like that is what we are doing here. We know our time in Australia will come to an end and we've got to enjoy it NOW. No postponing. No wasting moments. We are taking every opportunity that we possibly can.

First time for everything

We are living simple, but experiencing a lot of "first time" things and it can really be draining. You know the first time you make a new recipe it always takes longer. Everything we are doing here takes longer to figure out. Where to shop. How to deal with the quirks of a new house. How to register the car. How to ride the train. How to register for school. Where to find medicine. Or which medicines will work when you can't find what you usually buy. What do you use in a recipe that calls for corn syrup because you can't find corn syrup. How to deal with filing taxes in the US from all the way here. Opening a bank account here. Transferring money here. Transferring money there. Paying bills from a distance.

and

OH

MY

GOSH

Dealing with Verizon Wireless on a REPEATED basis trying to just keep my phone numbers alive so I can still have them when I get back. And then Verizon FAILED ME and gave two of our numbers to someone else without telling me. I found out from Facebook. Yes, FACEBOOK.

Our trip to Bali

I can’t believe I haven’t loaded my own account of our epic trip here. But my daughter wrote her own account and did a great job. 

Dr. Suess must have visited Australia

I am COMPLETELY smitten by the trees here. They have so much character. They just look so interesting. They are smooth and tall and majestic. They are twisted and oddly shaped. I will miss seeing their silhouettes in front of the sunset.

My family knows that everything must stop if I see a picture worthy tree. Which is most every day. I often turn the car around to catch a tree. I'm never going to see them again. I have an entire photo album dedicated to the trees. I want to be able to flip through it whenever I miss them.

I have seen every tree from Dr. Suess's books here. I think he must have visited Australia and taken inspiration for his books. And I have spent 30 minutes googling this connection and can't believe I'm the first person to notice this.

Check out these examples.

Tasmania!

If you want the quick version, here's a video!

When we first found out we were going to Australia for a year, I decided I wanted to visit Tasmania just because it sounded so cool. I wanted my passport stamped with "Tasmania." Well, I felt pretty silly when I learned that Tasmania was a state of Australia, not a separate country, so I wouldn't get the stamp on my passport. But, as time as passed,