Thanksgiving in Kiama

This year our great friend Drew hosted us for Thanksgiving at his place in Kiama (where we stayed on our trip down the South coast). Alyssa and I cooked all day Friday and Saturday and put on (what everyone said) was a fantastic feast. We had two turkeys, one roasted the traditional way that Alyssa and I did, and one in a deep fryer that Drew prepared. We were all a little nervous that we were going to burn the house down, but it was pretty good -- who doesn't love fried food? It was a calorie filled but relaxing time with great friends, and a chance for us to hang out with Oliver (our friends Rupert and Poppy's baby) who you'll see in a lot of the photos. To add to the excitement it was election night, so not only did we celebrate Thanksgiving, but a changing of the guard in Australian politics.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family near and far -- even though we're far away from many of you you are always in our thoughts, and we're very thankful for your love and friendship. We hope all is well with you, and that if we haven't talked to you recently we can soon.

Love, Tracy and Carl

Waldemar Kolbusz's Morning

We happened a few months ago to notice an exhibit in a gallery around the corner from our house that had some great modern paintings, but unfortunately the one we liked the best had already been sold. The gallery offered to ask the artist -- Waldemar Kolbusz to do one for us on commission and it just arrived last week -- called "Morning". We're planning to put it up in our living room in San Francisco once we are home....its pretty crazy, but we think its very bright and cheerful (like the colors in Australia!) and will do well with the dark color in that room. We've got it in our bedroom now here in Sydney.

Kate, John, and Clara Visit Australia

A few weeks ago we were happy to host our San Francisco neighbors Kate and John in Sydney. They took two weeks to explore Australia with their daughter Clara, and it was great to catch up with them and so nice that they could visit. Although the weather was totally awful most of the time they were in Sydney, we tried to show them the sights on the few good days there were.

Carl Visits His Family

On his last trip to the states, Carl got to spend a few days with his family in New York. Although the flight was pretty long (24 hours in a plane!) it was so nice for him to see his parents and of course our dog Chippy (who still hates Carl!). We're looking forward to having him back before too long. Enjoy the pics.

Catching up on our blog

Its been a while since we've been posting, so we took this afternoon to get caught up on posting all our pictures.

Here are some snaps we took around Sydney, at our favorite coffee shop / flower shop down the street and in Centennial Park. All days that start with bannana bread are good ones. ;)



And here are some more of the Jacaranda's in bloom across the street from our house which were just spectacular.