Today’s mission was the Blue Mountains. We saw the Three Sisters and rode the world’s steepest railway. Now we’re off to Featherdale to pet a koala!
We spent the morning looking for Nemo and we found him! And Joey petted a baby shark.
Indiana Court Clears Gay Couple to Adopt. Sometimes my home state makes me proud. Of course, the article does quote some idiot from the “American Family Association of Indiana” as saying: “When same-sex couples adopt, they are making a conscious decision to deny that child a mother or a father. Both play an important role, and kids do best when they have a mom and dad.” I take it this jerk also objects to all the hetero single parents in the world.
“In Indiana, when there are four people, there is euchre.” Moire just pointed me to a lovely introduction to the game of euchre. I resisted euchre for a long time, always claiming that it was too confusing or that I was too stupid to learn. Finally in high school I had a boyfriend whose family were euchre-mad, and they insisted that I learn. Within a year I was a euchre-fiend. Oh yes, I know the joy of being “in the barn” on a warm summer evening, sipping bad beer and swearing I’d get up after one more hand. I’ve been in arguments that were only settled with reference to the high holy book: “Hoyle.” In college I even entered a tournament with my friend Kel but we lost when our oh-so-complicated table sign system fell apart. (I shall never forget the horror of triumphantly throwing down my final card of the game expecting Kel to trump it, only to see her throw down an off-suit nine. “I thought you had the bower!!” “I forgot the sign!!” *sigh*) Imagine my surprise on one of my first dates with the Snook when, apropos of nothing, he said, “Do you know how to play euchre?” (My inner monologue: “I will marry this guy.”) Years have passed and I now know that Australian euchre is a little different from American Midwestern – their deck runs from sevens to aces; they play to eleven points (using sixes and fives to keep score); a common house rule is that if you order up a suit for your partner, you have to play alone. It’s still basically the same. (Though the Snook adamantly refuses to use my favorite house rule: “Partner’s Best.”) We’re getting older now and we don’t play very often. I should try to find an online version…
Teaching my little brother the intricacies of rugby at Aussie Stadium. At least he’s awake!
Me: What’s taking so long? Their flight landed ages ago.
Snook: You do realize that if a bunch of Amazing Racers come running through, I’m abandoning you.
Me: Dude, if any Racers come through I’m totally abandoning them too. We’ll leave a note.
I forgot to mention the other airport excitement: We saw Sir Bob Geldof. He strolled off in the company of two Emirates stewardesses. We couldn’t figure out if they were assigned to escort him to his limo or whether he’d just picked them up while disembarking, all rockstar-style. And then I had “I don’t like Mondays” stuck in my head the rest of the morning…
Well, it’s been 48 hours of living with a jet-lagged four-year-old. I think the cat was the first to crack. At first, Dr. Amy Jones was loving the idea that – finally – here was someone who’d play the “chase the laser pointer” game with her all day long. By the afternoon of the second day, she’d taken to actively hiding from Joey lest he discover her and invent a new game. (We freaked out for ten minutes when we couldn’t find her and she wasn’t answering, thinking she’d gotten outside, when she was just cowering behind the sofa bed.) The rest of us are holding up fairly well though. Friday we walked around Victoria Park and Sydney University. Saturday we went down into the city to see my shop and then to go up Sydney Tower. After an afternoon nap, we went down to Circular Quay to walk around the Opera House. We took the ferry across to Luna Park where Joey rode a couple kiddie rides. Then we took the ferry and train over to Newtown for dinner at Mama Maria’s. The little one was conked out at that point… which meant he was up looking for his Easter basket at 6am. (I totally scored with the Hot Wheels Easter set though.) Today they’re heading out to the big Hillsong church service at Darling Harbour while we heathens have a much needed shower and rest. Onwards and upwards…
Sitting in the sunshine atop Centrepoint Tower with my Mommy. It’s a beautiful day!
Woohoo! Rent Podcasts. (As in, podcasts about the musical Rent, not podcasts that you rent.) I’m getting the lot. No interview with Adam Pascal yet? I’m waiting…
Edited 13/04/2025: Link is dead and not archived.
My name is Kris. I’ve been blogging since the 90’s. I live in Sydney, Australia, and I spent most of my career in the tech industry.
No AI used in writing this blog, ever. 100% human-generated.
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