Goings On

Hey There,

Its been awhile since I posted. Its been a trying couple of months for me and Graham so we have been hovering under the radar. We entered into the world of IVF last month with no success... But we will try again. Unfortunately I would not recommend the process, its not fun, makes you feel terrible and out of control, and then when you think its bad it gets worse cause it hurts. Not just physically but emotionally as well. I hope the next year brings us some success, cause I plan on sticking with it for a little while. Lets see what the future brings.

I thought I would post a couple of picture and make this post a photo blog!

 My Aussie Mum Karen came for a visit over the 4th of July, we had a great time with her and I was so happy she could make a trip out to see us. As you can see she fit right in down at the Bowls Club.

 Celebrating 4th of July with my Mum!

 Mother and Son in Fremantle WA

 Graham always says he doesn't like Macs, but here he is looking at my work computer in the living room.

 We had a wonderful evening with our friends Sue and Peter on their property in the hills outside Perth. They treated us to a yummy dinner and log fire, in the morning we took a tour of their beautiful property. We are blessed to have such good friends.

 Graham asleep on my lap, almost as bad as the cat.

 In July we celebrated 8 years of marriage! Im so glad I found Graham all the way on the other side of the world. He is my best friend and a wonderful partner and husband. I wish every girl could have such a loving and supportive man in their lives... But I am never giving up my man. He's the best! Love you tons Grazy!

 Me and my cat child Kit. He has been enjoying time outside in the garden this winter, and chaperoned visits to the side garden. He loves to nap in the big ferns, I can hardly see him and he thinks its a wonderful hiding place. This is us having a cuddle in bed. Love my kitty!!

 This is a duck at Edith Cowan University in Joondalup where I gave my first University lecture this month on linking dance to thematic ideas in the primary (elementary) classroom. It went really well and I was tickled pink to have been asked!

 Classic winter scene at our house. Kit and I enjoying the heater. 

 Swan River sunsets in Como near my home. I walk/run along the river frequently and love to see the big pelicans and black swans down there. In the photo you can see a pelican flying. This is the Como Jetty.

 Kit and I up to our same old tricks. He loves a good head rub, and will do anything for a neck scratch. You know he is enjoying it when the slobbering begins. 

I saved this American Flag about 6 years ago when I first came to Australia. It was used in a show I was stage managing, and the production team was going to through it away. So I did the right thing and bought it for $15.00, cause thats the American way. I take it out for special holidays, but this week I hung the old flag up on our clothes line to get some fresh air. I miss America and my family and friends very much. Although I live in Australia and I am grateful for my life here, underneath I am still red, white and blue. 

So thats whats been going on. 

Hope you and yours are well!

Mary

Albany Visit

Graham had to spend a month in a regional or remote location working in a GP clinic for school in June. He was send to Albany Western Australia. A beautiful seaside town (regional town) in southern Western Australia. He was gone so long I decided to break up the time apart I would go down to visit him over a weekend.

It took me a long time to decide if I was going to bus it to Albany or dive myself. In March my friend Cadi gave me her car when she moved to NSW. I had never taken Sardine car on a road trip before so I didnt know what to expect! I decided to drive and packed up Sardine car, checked the tire pressure, fluids and oil and off we went. (I was reminded to fill up the spare tire, thanks to my boss, when I checked it it was flat, so good thing you reminded me). 5 hours later I arrived in Albany! 

It was great to see Graham and I could tell by his big smile he was happy to see me too! It had been a long 3 weeks apart at that point. 

Below are some photos of our time together in Albany WA.

This was on my drive down. There are some tiny mountains out in the distance. I was pretty happy to see them. I don't see big hills that often... 

One of the local pubs in town served Miller Genuine Draft, a rare find in Australia. Let alone in a remote area of Australia. 

This is the town of Albany taken from a mountain top near Graham's house.

The bay near Middleton Beach. Mother whales come to these bays to give birth and spend time with their calfs. 

I took a hike one morning Graham had to work. This is me on my hike. 

Middleton Beach

What a contrast. White sand, blue water and sky, red earth.

Me

Emu Point at sunset. We went fishing. I caught nothing. Graham caught squid, I spent an hour playing with a octopus though, he was cool.

Graham fishing on the jetty at Emu Point.

We went out to see Elephant Rocks and the Gap just north of Albany near Denmark, it was beautiful. 

I was really sick the night before this photo. I was feeling pretty bad, I got a tummy virus of some kind. But look at me! I was still going, thanks to patient Dr. Graham who held my hand and got me through.

I saw a whale from this beach. A beautiful hump back. It breached for about 30 minutes. I watched in awe. Out in the water there is a speck of white. That was the whale breaching. This is also a photo of Graham fishing down on a little inlet at Salmon Holes. 

I spent my last day in Albany wandering around town. It was a rainy and cold day but I got to see this rainbow right in the centre of town. 

It was windy at Emu Point, we went to a nice cafe there for lunch one day. 

I had a nice trip. I got to meet some of the lovely people Graham was working with. We even visited one of his Dr. mentors at her home in Albany and met her cats, cow, chickens and alpacas. It was great to look through her garden and citrus orchards. She told me about how she sells her fruits to Coles a big supermaket here in Australia. She took us to some cool geocashing sites as well. It was so cool!!!! It was a pleasure to meet such a hard working and kind person. I was happy Graham was able to make some new friends while working in Albany.

We plan to be back down in Albany again in November! I am excited to spend some time down in such a beautiful part of the world again.

As I write this Graham is finally home. We are expecting his Mum Karen out for a visit this week, so I will have another blog post to write soon!

All my love,

Mary

May Activities

So its been a nice autumn in Perth. Slowly days have been getting darker, and now by the time I get home from work its to dark to go out for a run. I have had to do all my running on weekends or early days off work. Its also been slowly getting colder. I convinced Graham to take out the heater just this week. Kit cat remembers his old friend the heater and has taken up his winter residency laying in front of it no matter if its on or off... see you in spring Kit cat!! He will no longer care to sit on my lap at night.

Work and life has been busy as per our usual. Work has run me off my feet. Only catching a bit of a breather this week. Thank goodness. I am so lucky to have such a supportive and kind boss who has been really great the past few months supporting me! We are both really busy!

Graham is busy with school and we have been enjoying a little freedom with the car. I went and had lunch with my friend April from Kentucky the other weekend. I traveled about 45 min from home and met her in the Swan Valley where we ate at a beautiful winery and enjoyed a beautiful fish main and shared a sweet treat in the sunshine.
Graham and I also go out to the Swan Valley earlier in May to meet with some great friends Nicki and Brendan, that same day we visited out favourite organic winery Harris Organic and went to the local honey suppliers and I even got to go to the best local produce road side stand in WA Maggies Place. I love buying locally grown fruit and veggies.. The best part is its always a great price Maggies too! (no cost of travel I guess)

Heres a photo tour of whats been happening at ours lately.

We planted some snow pea seeds in the back garden and took out our tomato and cucumber plants that did so well this summer! I also planted some mixed lettuce seeds so we will see what happens. As long as the snails don't get to them before I do!

I planted some new flowers in the front garden. Just to give us some flower variety over the winter. I am still growing the largest begonia ever known to man. Its not photographed here. But I planted it 1.5 years ago and its still going!!! WOW!

We hung this USA made bird feeder Mom sent us. Its been up almost a week and still no bird visitors. But I hear it can take a couple of weeks. I hope we get some small parrots and wrens soon!! 

Graham has to do some work down in Albany soon and he wanted a travel bag for his bike. He sent it to my work PO Box in the city. I picked it up for him. I didn't realise it was going to be such a big item. This is my office at Buzz, with my lovely boss Pippa in the back. 

Another run on the river shot. Over winter the Black Swans come to stay on our section of the river and they are such beautiful birds. Nothing like the big geese that chase you in the US. These Black Swans don't seem to share the beaches and paths with people. This is the Swan River view from Como our little suburb outside the city. 

We had a show open at work in May. A theatre piece called Goodbye Jamie Boyd. This was from opening night at the State Theatre Centre-Studio Underground. Its a beautiful show and I am so glad Buzz got to work in collaboration with Monkey Baa Theatre in Sydney on this amazing work. This is Ali our Marketing Consultant with me and the Stage Manager Sam. This show is now on tour across Western Australia. 

Hurray!!!! A new American Bar opened in Perth, right next to Graham's University. Its called Varsity Bar and they serve good American food you can't find any place else!!!! Hot Wings, Pulled Pork Sandwhich, Philly Cheese Steak (this I have never seen on a menu in Australia) They also show American sports so Graham and I went and sampled the foods and watched the Pacers get beat by the Heat. Oh well. Still a good time! I suggested they put deep fried pickles on the menu on the Americans in Perth Facebook page and guess what... They are adding it to the menu soon!! YAY!!!!!! 

We are still hanging at the Bowls club. Graham and some of his buddies playing some night time Bowls. This was after the awards ceremony for the club, I helped my friend Sarah put on a big feast for the members. It was a great success. And Graham even won an award!!

Kit cat in the front garden. As I write this Kit is out in the garden now laying in the ferns. We got him a collar just in case he runs away from us. But he can not get out of the front area as its all fenced in and he is a old cat now and is bad a jumping over fences. He just likes to hide and watch dogs walk by.  Oh and eat a few cobwebs.. his favourite past time. 

So thats whats been happening over here in Perth. Hope all is well in your part of the world and all my friends and family in the US are enjoying a wonderful Spring and early Summer!! 

All the best - Mary

Happenings March April

Hey there,

Well life has slowed down just a touch. Thank goodness the start of 2013 was a busy one. I am trying harder not to take on extra projects and have quieter weekends at home. We normally spend our weekend evenings down at the local bowls club and I love chatting with our friends and bowls family. People of all walks of life young and old gather there and its great to know such a variety of loving and caring people in our area.

I am busy at work with our last show for the year opening in mid May. After that we have our annual Big Stretch Tour. So there is always something on the horizon. I helping to Stage Manager a show in Perth next month called Migrant Got Talent so I am looking forward to that. Its a contest for new migrants in Perth to show off their talents. Lots of teens and young people competing. I am looking into a get away holiday down south to Pemberton in June (as we always do) for Graham and myself. Go fishing, do some bush walks, cook some great foods, enjoy the wine country and the local wildlife. The birds in Pemberton are just amazing. Last year when we down there was a big storm adding to the excitement of the trip!! But we love hanging out in the forrest in a little mud brick cottage and lighting the fireplace every night. Something we don't get to do much in sunny Australia.
To read about our Pemberton adventure last year check out this blog post: Pemberton Trip 2012


Graham is super busy at school but doing well. Not much longer to go till he graduates. I can't wait.
My old Boss now friend gave us a car for a good price in March so we now have wheels! Cadi was so generous to give us "Sardine" car at an extreme discount. Sardine is a Mazda Metro. She has some miles on her but she gets us around no worries. To get her registered in WA I spent a morning learning about headlight restoration and doing it myself. Easy! Then Sardine passed inspection and now has a WA licence plate. So exciting. We can go fishing, to the beach, out to the swan valley for local produce on the weekends! Its so amazing having a car when you have not have one for a long long time.
We don't drive her every day, we still either ride out bikes or take public transport, but I love not having to walk in the rain with bags of groceries any more. I once told Graham that when we finally make it I wanted to be able to take a cab whenever it was raining and windy.. lol guess I an drive myself now.

Next step.. dish washer.. can't wait till we get to have one of those again. All my American friends have all the gizmos and gadgets. While I am still washing up by hand, hanging my laundry out to dry (will always do that) and walking to and from the shops for the things we need. I will say this lifestyle is a good way to stay fit and healthy!! I still dream about having some of the American common luxuries though, like central air in the winter, drive through banking, (we have drive through liquor stores) good clothes dryers with more then two settings (Hot or Air Temperature) that can make your towels fluffy and soft.. thats what I want a clothes dryer for mainly.. towels and sheets. But I guess you got to trade something for Australia's many wonderful things like nearly all year summertime, amazing beaches, fresh foods a plenty, and healthy work/life balance (4 weeks holiday heck yes, plus tons of public holidays!) So when I think about that dish washer.. next time I am on my 3rd water change and still washing up.. I will think about all the good things I get in return. That should help.. at least long enough to get through the next load of pots and pans, dishes and bowls.

A few pics as of late.

Its 5:00pm on a work day. I get home to see this happening in my living-room... Poor Kit cat!!!

The view from my run last night along the Swan River. Perth city is out in the distance about 4 miles away.

Me and Graham is Sardine car on our way to the beach!

Thats it for now!!!!! 

Mom and Dad Visit Perth!!

My parents came to visit me and Graham in February! We had a great two weeks with them here in Perth. It was their second trip to Perth and a great time was had by all.

A few photos from their visit:

Mom and Dad arrive in Perth!

 Mom always brings an extra suitcase full of goodies for me!

Dad at Graham's University Campus UWA (University of Western Australia)

Mom at UWA campus.

Mom and Graham at Valentines Day lunch at a restaurant on the beach called Indiana! 

The views didn't look like Indiana to us. Its named for the Indian Ocean.

Mom at our neighbourhood hangout The Como Bowls Club. Its our usual weekend hang out.

Dad and Graham at The Como Bowls Club, Dad's new favourite hang out too.. 

Mom and Mary closing night of my show!

Mom and Dad at Kings Park. We had a nice morning walk before lunch at Perth's largest park.

Kings Park, one of the look outs!

Relaxing at Mary and Graham's house.

Dad getting some sun at the pool and checking the airways for local hams.

(ham radio)

We went to the SwanValley and saw some of our favorite winerys!! 

Testing the grapes..

Yep.. their ready! 

Mom at our favorite Swan Valley Winery Harris Organic! 

SAILING!! We took Mom and Dad sailing with our good friends!!

Mom with our favorite sailing friends Peter and Helen!! 

Sailing on the Swan River was a great night, we even saw dolphins!

I think the dolphins made a special appearance for Mom and Dad.. Actually I am sure they did!

I took Mom and Dad to a great little cafe called The Secret Garden. Its near my home in South Perth, good breakfasts and yummy treats!

Mom and Graham and the Bowls Club. We spend a lot of time there.. haha

Graham is in his bowls uniform for completive bowls called pennants. A uniform is also called Club Colours. If it was the USA we would say Club Colors. 

Dinner at Mary and Graham's! Graham made prepared some beautiful fish.

Dog Beach! Windy day at the dog beach, right after I snapped this picture a black lab ran past at the bottom of the photo. He was cute! This is the place you can take your dog for a swim.

People Beach!! haha

It was windy!! This is the Indian Ocean at Trig Beach

Take Mom to a beach and she find treasures.. She doesn't care for swimming but she can spend hours searching the sand for the perfect shell.

We took a day trip south to Harvey and Bunbury. This was at the May Gibbs Cottage, with a beautiful English cottage in Harvey. A perfect spot to have a cup of tea.

 As we enjoyed out beverages and snacks we became surrounded by BIG Skink lizards. About 14 inches long.. It was a funny surprise. 

Dad back again at the Bowls Club chatting with Bevin. 

 Dad buying drinks at the Bowls Club bar.

Graham practicing Bowls

Mom getting a lesson in Lawn Bowls from the novice champion Graham. 

She did pretty well!! 

Dad comfortable at the Bowls Club on his last evening in town.

It was so wonderful to have you in town Mom and Dad. I am so glad you got to spend time on our beautiful river, at our favorite hang out and got to meet some of our Perth buddies!

I miss you every day. Thanks for loving me and raising me with big strong wings and courage to pursue my dreams.  I love you!!

Can't wait to see you again this year!!!