Like my mom said in an email this morning, this setback is temporary and there are more rides to come!

This pic was me just a few days ago. Sadly, my ride on the 20th can’t happen now but my bike will be waiting for me once this ulnar fracture has healed!

Had a marvellous morning but not so hot afternoon. Cycled north and saw Freshwater, Curl Curl, and Dee Why beaches, each one stunningly beautiful. Then continued on to Cromer Park to join the family to cheer for family friend Maddie Kilpatrick in her soccer game. Beautiful spring weather! Everything went terrific until the very end of the ride. Turning into the grocery store to buy dinner fixings, I was going too fast and not at a right angle to the entrance. The wheels slid out from under me and I landed on my left side hard, severely bruising my left elbow. Can’t rotate my arm; iced it all afternoon and if not better i’ll have it x-rayed tomorrow.

I was going to post pics of these gorgeous beaches tonight but now, typing with one hand, those pics will have to wait. On “Good Behaviour” for the next 3 weeks so I can ride in Spring Cycle on the 20th.

My education as a cyclist continues. Some lessons hurt more than others…

This is MBD and her friend Joumana getting ready to play Beethoven’s 9th and another song called “Rock to the Max, Mr. Sax.”  Last night was an arts festival called “Stella Alive” that featured all sorts of artistic performances and galleries of creations by the students.  The Year 7 Junior Band is comprised entirely of girls who had no experience with a musical instrument but nonetheless selected one and learned how to play it in just a few months.  I was up front with the Mums, taking photos.  (MBW was on the way back from Melbourne where she watched a rock concert by Pink.)  Very strange to see my little girl up there playing her flute in concert!  But I’m so proud of her….

Today starts a food & wine festival in Manly, and MBW and I walked down to check it out.  For the kids there were several bounce houses like the ones we rented in Texas and Tennessee for MBD.  But I had to laugh at the detail they went into for this one.  Inflatable teeth on a T-Rex?  Ha!

To change the subject just a bit while we continue to deal with our family’s loss of our friend Barb, here are some grainy shots of Vivid Sydney from my iPhone.  I’m headed back down there Sunday afternoon for some free Nikon seminars.  Yeah, we went on a cruise last weekend to see the lights, but to be honest Vivid Sydney is best seen from land.  If you’ll pardon the grainy shots from my iPhone, this ought to give you an idea of how the city comes alive at night.  They set up sophisticated projectors and dance light patterns and themes all over structures throughout town!  The mini-light shows last for several minutes, and each structure might have three to five different shows.  This first shot is the Museum of Contemporary Art that I posted in a previous blog.

The next shot is an historic cottage.  Yes, it’s made of stone but what you see is a complete overlay.  Turned it into an aquarium!

Finally, look what they did to the Opera House.  SHARK!

I’ll try to get some better shots with the Nikon this weekend. Tripod time!

Odd name for a fruit, isn’t it?  Everyone nowadays is calling things “super fruits” or “super foods.”    They say the same thing about this strange looking fruit that is grown up in Thailand.  Available in many asian neighbourhoods around Sydney, I saw this in Burwood to the west of Sydney where I’ve been working.  You don’t want to try it.  You don’t even want to SMELL it.  The fruit has a sulphur taste to it that, after having just a little taste of it last year, took me HOURS to get the taste of rotten eggs out of my taste buds!  MBW and I learned that the cab drivers up in Phuket won’t let passengers eat this fruit in their cabs because they can’t get the smell out after they leave.   Lovely to look at, fun to touch, but cut it open and you’ll say “TOO MUCH!” 🙂