First stop...

Arrived in Hong Kong and have a 2 hour lay-over at which time we will get on another plane for San Fran for 12 hours. Cathay Pacific has been exceptional in their service. I suppose that's why they have a five-star rating. I would recommend them to any one. Oh well got to run. I'll write more from San Fran.

We're off...

We are sitting in the business class lounge of Cathay Pacific in Melbourne. We will be boarding in about 30 minutes for the first leg of our flight which takes us to Hong Kong. Then we get on another plane for an additional 13 hours over to San Francisco. We are going to stopover for the night in San Fran and then take the flight to Dallas in the morning. I will write more when we get to Dallas.

The penny has dropped...

Well as they say the penny has finally dropped and it's all coming to an end. Remember a couple of posts ago when I told you all the crap that was going on in our lives? Well, let's recap and see how we faired.

1) James' mum has just gone through surgery for bowel cancer and is about to start a 12 week course of Chemotherapy.

James' mum is doing better although she hasn't started the chemo because she needs to build up a bit more strength we think she will be just fine. James has been going up to see her and just came back so again she'll be okay.


2) We had to put our cat Max down a week ago because he had feline perotonitis, which he apparently had for some time and we failed to see the signs.

We grieved and then we got a new cat. I posted pictures of her and her name is Molly-Brown. There is a catch. It seems that when we took her in to have here spaying stitches taken out we find out that Molly is one in a 1000 as she is actually a hermaphrodite. She has boy and girl bits. She is a start and has had her photo taken and all sorts of lab tests done. What can I say, see what happens when homosexuals breed.

3) I started a new medication that is supposed to help offset the pain in my feet related to peripheral neuropathy. It took my 8 weeks two get up to the full dose of 8 pills a day added to my already 8 pills a day so I now am taking 16 pills and the damn new pills aren't working sufficiently enough for me to stop taking the pain medication (oxycontin it's like percodan) that I had to start taking, So now I have to go on therapeutic pain management and it will probably be for life. Great! (not really because I hate walking around in a haze)

I'm still in a haze

4) As I said my dad is very sick and could die at any moment and because I'm on the other side of the world I'm in a quandary as to what I will do when the phone call comes...And it will. You see I've just gotten my Australian citizenship approved and I have to go to a swearing in ceremony on the 17th September. I HAVE to attend the ceremony or I don't get my citizenship. I don't know what I am going to do!

I got my Australian citizenship early thanks to the department. They were nice enough to do a private ceremony just for me. I am grateful to them for their efforts. I also am now the holder of an Australian passport so I can come and go as I please.


5) James went to Sydney last week to visit with his mum before she starts her chemo and while he was there he did his taxes. Come to find out we now have a $140,000 tax bill because we sold one of the houses we owned in Sydney. BTW we don't have that kind of money sitting in the bank. Just kill me now!

Lets just say we are about to pay this bill and don't how!

6) I find out that some bright, intelligent astronomy types have decide to take Planet status away from Pluto just because it's to far away for them to bother..What the hell is up with that? (Ok this last one is not such a big deal but for some reason it just gets to me)

I've totally forgotten about this.....

7) And last but very not least...My dad has been in ICU for over four weeks and is basically on the brink of death and because I live on the other side of the world I feel helpless.

My dad passed away yesterday morning after a very long battle with emphysema. James and I will be flying to the states in a few days to spend time with my mum.

So I'm hoping that this vicious cycle we/I have been in is now at it's end because I need to have a small emotional breakdown now so that I can get on with our life and try to restart to enjoy what is good in our life!

I'm flat....

I'm flat and don't feel like posting and to be honest I don't feel much like doing anything period! I know this will pass but I'm not sure when. So all I can say is please keep checking back and I'll be back to normal soon. Until then enjoy a tree from our back yard...

It's official!!!

This was the cake that was bought for my celebration on Saturday. I actually got my citizenship on Tuesday but we had friends over for a BBQ today. I am getting my passport on Monday so then I'm good to go. I know many of my friends and relatives in the states won't understand why I took out Australian citizenship. Mainly I did because I could and I still got to keep my American citizenship. Most importantly this was the last step of an eight year process that James and I have gone through making it possible for us to be together.

Introducing Molly Brown

We have not replaced Max as that would not be possible but the hole he left in our heart and home was to big so we have a new edition to the family. With out further adieu I present to you and the world our newest edition to the family.

Molly Brown.....





She is a year and a half old. She's about 1/3 bigger than Max. We also think she has a bit of Maine Coon (it's a breed of cat) in her background like Max.

How does our garden grow...

Our garden grows very well thank you very much! No matter what time of year it is we always seem to have something blooming in our garden. We have just headed into spring here in the land down under and the had blossom trees have been going mad a few weeks all over town and they are about finished. The daffodils and jonquils are now going mad. Next up it will be our flowering plum and of course our pride and joy the Japanese Maple that graces our back yard which has just started to pop new green leaves all over the place. This is a good sign! Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of flowers from our garden. I will say one thing I vary rarely have to buy flowers for the house now and I usually have enough from the garden to put flowers in every room.

I bought these orange lilacs from the markets and planted them last year...



More jonquils and daffodils...



Another one which also includes a picture of the two hand-blown glass spinning tops we bought, also by local artist. We had the orange and blue one for a while and recently added the purple and white one after the artist made it up just for us.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

We have lived in our new home for over a year and a half now and we have been slowly adding bits and pieces of furniture and artwork to make it truly "our" home. So, I thought I would share with you our three newest acquisitions. All of this artwork is by local Tasmanian artists. I'm sure some of you will like our choices and others will say "What were they thinking". I say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We like them and that's all that counts.

First up one we like to call "The spirit of Max" because we bought it the weekend before we had to put Max to sleep and of course we did not know we were going to loose him. We now feel that there was a reason that we bought the painting besides the fact that we like it...



Next up is a painting that James found and fell in love with. After seeing it I agreed and it now sits on the wall in our lounge room. My photo doesn't really do it justice but you get the idea...



And last but not least we also picked this small one up to compliment the one James liked. I picked this one out and I would love to get something else by this artist. I can't explain what it is that I like about this artist's style, I just like it...



Well, that's the end of the art show. I just thought I would share and I hope you enjoyed the paintings as much as we do. And if not well as I said we like them and we paid for them end of story. Later......

Labor day...

Happy Labor Day to everyone in the States. I hope you have a pleasant long weekend. We don't celebrate Labor day here in Australia like they do in the states so for me it's just another weekend, but I'll live. What a lame post...