family

Returning to the bosom of your family is an experience fraught with expectations and reality checks. My parents are older and their mortality (and mine as well) stares me right in the face. But does this make me more tolerant of their idiosyncrasies - or am I still carrying the baggage of a somewhat disappointed childhood. The answer is, some of each!
At the other end of the spectrum that is life, are my gorgeous little nieces - Ruby is 5 and now at school every day, and Nellie and Tilly are 4 and can't wait to join her. They have SO much joy in just living each day, that to spend time in their precious company can be somewhat overwhelming - especially when one hasn't seen them for three and a half years, as Juergen is experiencing.
And in between there are brothers and sisters who are making their way through what is generally taken for a normal existence. Working for their families and now for themselves - for the house and the car and good food on the table and maybe a full retirement doing all the things they don't have the time for now.
There are also adult nieces and nephews who are growing into an independent life. For the lucky ones, who have discovered their passion, it is relatively smooth sailing. But for the ones who are still searching there is evidence of frustration, lack of understanding of what is actually going on, and sometimes unhappiness for no explicable reason.
And I love them all simply because they are...

seeing Australia through new eyes

In 2005 we started planning a long journey from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. In March 2006 we embarked. In May 2009 we began the process of coming home - and it's not over yet!
We arrived in Sydney 2 weeks ago, and then left last Friday to drive to South Australia to visit family and friends. I observed some interesting reactions in myself during this drive

• I am so in love with my country that it makes my heart pound
• Gum trees really do look much better here - even though one can find them in almost every country we visited
• Pink and Grey Galas and Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos are magnificent creatures, and their rather loud squawking can sometimes sound like a song of welcome
• I will still want to leave again