Thanksgiving in Australia

Last Thursday was American Thanksgiving. Because Tim had work and Elliott had school, there wasn't alot of time to have a big celebration on the day. But on Sunday, we got together with the other Boeing Families here and had a good time. We decided against doing a traditional dinner for a couple of reasons. The first was not many of us have an oven big enough to cook a huge turkey. The second reason was it is too darn hot to be cooking much of anything. One of the gals ordered a smoked turkey from the butcher for a small fortune and we all brought something to share.

We met up at Southbank, the man-made pool/beach in downtown Brisbane. Someone came early and secured a lovely table in the shade. Without shade, we all would have melted by 11:00 am if not before. The park is the favorite venue for all the Austalian holidays and long weekends. On Sunday it was crowded with people gathered to beat the heat and watch the cricket on large screen TVs in the grounds. It was a nice celebration, if a little un-orthodox.

The cricket could be a whole nother blog! The Ashes has begun. For all you American readers, this is HUGE! England vs. Australia in a grudge match. Last year, England won at home. This year, the Australians are determined to get the ashes back. The first 5 day test ended today in Brisbane. England was sadly trounced. Tim and Elliott have quickly shifted loyalties to the Aussies, but I'm a bit more ambivilant. England still seem a sentimental favorite for me. I tried to get tickets and even joined "The Australian Cricket Family", but didn't have any luck. Tickets became available for today's session, but by this point, England was so far behind, there didn't seem much point. The fifth day lasted a mere hour and a half.

There is something soothing about listening to cricket on the radio. It is like listening to a foreign language program where you understand every third word. There is talk of mid-wicket, off stump, golden ducks and googlies. The write up in the paper takes an hour to decipher: "Bully-boy Pieterson, given a life on 12, didn't last much longer before McGrath jagged a delivery back into his back pad and he was given out leg before." And there are pages and pages of this! The scary thing is we now lived in Cricket playing countries long enough, I am almost understanding it. Elliott is playing again at school and helps with some of the trickier points.

Well, this is it before Christmas I'd say. Elliott's school has broken up for the holidays. We are off to the States in a few weeks. I am looking forward to it. It really will be unbearably hot in the next month and I won't be sorry to miss it. My tennis has been winding down now and won't re-start till late February or March because it will be too hot to play. I'll try to send out Christmas cards, but don't feel too inspired at the moment. I saw Christmas decorations with snowmen, but snow seems very far away as we lounge in the pool. I hope I find the inspiration to continue in the new year. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all and thanks for sticking with me for a whole year of drivel!