Anzac Day

Yesterday, was Anzac Day. It is a combination of Veterans Day and Fourth of July. If you've seen Gallipolli with Mel Gibson...that's what it's about. In WWI, the Australian and NewZealand Army Corp was sent to take the beach in Gallipoli - now Turkey. It was a very bloody and protracted battle that ended in defeat for the Anzac Troops. They say that this event forged a national identity for Australia as a nation, as opposed to just being part of Great Britain. During a service at our local memorial, there was a lot said about the values that this day still inspires: pride in being an Australian, courage in the face of impossible odds, the importance of "mateship". It was a very moving ceremony.

Bird watching: this week the update is on birds...We went on a picnic at New Farm Park in Brisbane over the weekend. It is the site where the convicts grew produce in the old days. Today it is a lovely riverside park with some spectacular fig trees. Some crows started getting riled up and chasing something around - it turned out to be a wedgetail eagle. The eagle got itself stuck in the tree. After a while of hanging upside down, it fell out of the tree and almost landed on my head. Of course, I was running away - so luckily it just hit our cooler. Someone in the party had the presence of mind to wrap it up in a picnic blanket and call the rescue people. The happy news is that the rescue people did arrive and will take care of it and re-release the bird when it can fly again. The rescue people couldn't believe it was a wedgetail as they don't usually come into the city.

Other bird sighting: Tim took Elliott and me off the Mt. Coutha for a little bike riding "in the bush." It was a hideous event....just a little further, around this corner, etc. Elliott had realized what we went down we'd have to come back up, but I thought surely there would be some loop and we would arrive back home without having to go up hill. Anyway, after a little cursing and a lot of pushing, we were almost home when we saw a beautiful rainbow lorikeet in a tree. It made the whole ride worth the trip.

Lastly, news on the house front. Window guy came today and put big red pieces of tape on every window that needs fixing. Those match my yellow post it notes to mark the ripped screens. It's very colorul now, if not fully functional. The owners come tomorrow to have a look around. Tim will luckily be home to handle that. We hope the owners are able to shed some light on the section of fence that went missing sometime between 10 pm and 6 am one night. Is it the builder? Is he going to fix it? Is he mad and going to keep it? Did a kid take it? We have no idea. We have been swimming in the pool now. The pump is broken so we aren't too sure just how clean the pool is...but what the heck. It has cooled off to 24 degrees, so we want to get as much use out of it as we can before "winter" sets in.