GoogleMaps has obviously taken some new higher-res photos of Australia. I just checked my street address and I could zoom in much closer with much more detail. The green arrow points to the roof of our house.
And to my surprise (and delight?) I could see my broken-down red Alfa parked in the front of my house!
Long time between updates! But so much has happened ...
1. Ski trip to Italy - in January this year. Finally got the photos.
The trip began with a fun drive from Milano (Milan). All the more fun since we didn't have a road map and couldn't understand the road signs.
We stayed in a small town in Northern Italy. When we got there, there was no snow! Something to do with the warmest, driest winter in Europe for a long time. The ski slopes were bare - mud, rocks, grass, but no snow.
But then the heavens opened, and it dumped a few feet of snow every day for the rest of the week. Sweet! We had light fluffy powder all to ourselves. No crowds. Just P-O-W-D-E-R!
The problem with skiing in Italy is trying to understand the ski signs ...
Which way is it to Oberfriggin?
Apres ski life in a quiet Italian town ...
... with hot chocolate so thick that your spoon sits on it ...
... followed by horse meat for dinner. Yes, horse -- as in "I was so hungry I could eat a ..."
2. I bought Steph a cow for her birthday in May this year. Steph has always wanted a pet cow. So this year she really got one.
How did this all happen? I have a minister friend who lives in Coonabarabran on a 100 acre "hobby farm". Last year he bought 10 cows at $300 each. This year, he sold the cows for $600 each, after they had doubled in size. A 100% return!
This year he was going to buy 20 cows with his profits. So I asked him, "Buy one extra cow for me while you're at it, and I'll give it to Steph as a present."
So he bought a cow for me to give to Steph. Even better, the cow had ringworm, so it was dicounted from $300 to only $200!
The cow lives on my friend's farm in Connabarabran. Steph and I made a special trip to see the cow last month. Steph has named the cow "Clover".
Next year, we'll get to eat Clover. Steph loves cows. But she also loves her red meat. So it's a double-present. The present that keeps on giving ...
3. Every year the RICE RALLY just gets bigger and bigger! This year they booked out Darling Harbour Convention Centre. 3000 High School students turned up. It was huge!
Here are some incriminating videos and photos from the night.
Ah yes. The old double-recorder-out-the-nose-trick. Haven't had to do this one in public for over 10 years. Good thing I didn't have a cold on the night.
4. Steph is preggers! The baby is due in 3-4 weeks. This photo was from about a month ago. Steph is "showing" a lot more than this now.
