Blogs, Blobs and Balls

A good friend of mine read the “Blob” the other day. I’m pretty sure this was a typo on her part, but I loved the description, because some weeks seem like blobs – or blurs. I’m often going flat out, so if anything ever gets planned, organised or generally thought through, it is a miracle. More often, however, things tend to blob along.

One successful blob was Andrew’s surprise birthday party. He was almost surprised. Those of you who know him will recognise that he is very observant, and therefore hard to fool. I think the guests were more surprised. I’d ended up inviting them all over Saturday and Sunday, and the party was Monday night. It’s not that I hadn’t thought about planning it – it’s just that every time I did think about it, a week’s worth of work got in the way. It was a great party, and a nice birthday week for Andrew. Spontaneity has its rewards.

On other subjects, this weekend is the AFL Grand Final. That’s Australian Football League – and Australian football – not Gridiron. Think of a big punch-up in a round playing field, and you get the idea. Oh yes, and there’s a ball that gets kicked, punted, thrown and punched around as well. And no padding – ouch. Someday I’ll understand the rules enough to be able to properly cheer for my team. Maybe by then I’ll even know their team song (yes, they all have team songs). Until then, I’ll simply enjoy the fact that Australia hunkers down for the game in much the same way the U.S. does for the SuperBowl. Those of us who don’t understand the sport can at least enjoy the party – or go shopping!

No Snail is Safe

Spring started officially in Melbourne on the first of September. I generally held the belief that Australians were merely living up to the pioneering spirit, and held the attitude of “equinox, solstice, who needs it?”. But they obviously got it right, when you consider the fact that during the coldest part of winter (when we actually got down to freezing once or twice) the fruit tree started blooming. The winter flowers have been blooming all along, but don’t let that confuse the issue.

The trees have been budding, the bees have been appearing on window sills out of nowhere, and the occasional fly and mosquito buzz us to make sure we realise that they will be the dominant life form soon. The trio of magpies that sit expectantly outside our window seem to go their separate ways occasionally. Perhaps momma bird is about to tell her teenage children it’s time to go find their own bread crusts.

I’m not sure what the snails are up to. They didn’t show their shells much during the winter, but are once again using our front porch as a thoroughfare to go wherever it is that snails go. We have two shallow steps down, then a sort of moat which directs water away from the door in heavy rains, then two shallow steps up. This moat makes an ideal snail freeway. The problem is that a snail high speed are much slower than human speeds, and the snails are invariably overtaken – especially at night when you can’t them. It’s unfortunate, but I can differentiate between the crunch of a thin snail shell and that of leaf quite easily now.

Escargot, anyone?

The Rainy Season

I see my posts have fallen off quite a bit. It comes from just really needing a good, refreshing vacation, and not really having too much extra energy right now. Unfortunately, in Victoria, work holidays tend to all clump together during one half of the year, and the other half is fairly barren. The good half starts with the Melbourne Cup in November and goes until the Queen’s Birthday in June. After that, you slog away, hoping you get sick enough to take off work, but not sick enough that you can’t enjoy it. Unfortunately, it never seems to work that way. During winter, anything you catch is likely to keep you firmly tucked away under the covers, hoping for enough unconscious moments to recover your health.

Along with winter comes the “rainy season.” They really do have one here in Victoria, but apparently they haven’t had a really good one in while. This year is different. We are wondering if it is due to Dad’s visit, but it has rained (almost) every single day for the three weeks he was here. On the Sunday he arrived, we even had snow. While the higher elevations get snow (hence the ski resorts), in most areas it is so unusual that the last time they had snow was 20 years ago. Here in Park Orchards we experienced some of the wet, heavy, almost-melting flakes – for about 10 minutes. Dad says this has happened to him before while visiting snow-deprived regions.

Granted, it isn’t as much fun for Dad to have a rain-filled holiday, but those of us who live here hope it continues. If we get enough rain – in the catchment areas – we could see a turn-around in the drought. Maybe we can convince Dad to vacation here more often.