The "Gloriest Place"

    Sam was on the phone with his 6 year-old cousin in Utah recently and was trying to explain to her where we were living now.  He explained about the Opera House, the Harbor Bridge, the North and South Heads and then Balmoral Beach.  Finally, he just said, "You know, it's the gloriest place." 

     Our weekend outings certainly back up that claim.  Sam's Saturday morning soccer game was at an area of Mosman called George's Heights.  From the soccer field, you can look across the Harbour to the Eastern Suburbs and further to Bondi Beach and the Pacific in one direction and across Balmoral and up Middle Harbour in the other. After the game, we walked over for a snack at a great little cafe and then took in the views. 

Sam pays careful attention to the game during his stint as goalie.



Shot Cafe at George's Heights.  This area is an old army base base that now houses businesses, studios, etc.

 

View of the entrance to Sydney Harbor from Shot cafe.  Nice!

     This view from the house is of the North Head, the dramatic cliffs at the entrance to Sydney Harbor.

 We look at it all the time so we went over to walk around a bit over the weekend.  More lousy scenery, as usual! :-)





Mia with home, Balmoral Beach, way behind her in the background.



A closer shot of Balmoral from the North Head (love the zoom lens).  You can see our steep street heading straight up the hill just to the right of the large white building (Bathers Pavillion) on the beach. 



  Other stuff we've been up to  -

    Mia has started swimming at a different swim club.  For a number of reasons, we all think this pool may end up being a better fit.  It's hard to keep starting over, but we think this is worth it.  She has started picking up an Aussie accent when she's around Australians.  It lasts a while when she gets home from school and then fades out.  Funny!   A boy at school gave her a "loveheart" (they don't just say heart for the shape) necklace with her name on it.  She proclaimed that "He can like me, but I'm ten. I'm not ready to be a girlfriend."  Whew! 

The loveheart necklace.

Happy for hours this way! (that's an AFL ball, by the way)

He's finally getting some front teeth again!

   Chris has been spending the weeks in Melbourne, then flying back for the weekends.  He's still training a bit for the Balmoral Burn, a race straight up our street that takes place in less than 2 weeks.  Unfortunately, he hurt his knee recently, so between that and long hours at work, he's not too hopeful for a quick time. Combine that with the good food of Melbourne (he said tonight he just had his favorite Italian food since leaving the U.S.), and he's not feeling too fit.  His company is a sponsor of the event and they had a professional PT (personal trainer, not physio) make the trek over from Bondi (apparently it's a big deal for Bondi people to come across "the Bridge", especially to the decidedly un-Bondi-esque Lower North Shore with its SUV driving Mums).  Chris said their time trial up the street was so tiring, his arms went numb.  What fun!

    Sydney, and a lot of Australia, has had a stretch of chilly weather, much colder than normal we're told.  It even snowed in the mountains.

Chris thinks  this is one of the Victorian "ski fields" with the season's first snow as seen from his plane this morning

  Apparently the highs in the low 60's and lows in the upper 40's is typical winter weather here, not fall (or autumn as it's known here...maybe because gum trees are evergreen so they don't really know what it means for leaves to fall).  When the thermometer in our bedroom dipped into the 50's during the day, we knew it was time to take action.  Construction here is not known for insulation and we were feeling it!  The house does technically have electric heat but it's expensive and doesn't reach about half the house.  Chris calls the damp cold inside (which is colder and wetter than outside) "Florida cold."  I won't write what I call it.  We were given a lead on some heaters for sale, by the previous tenants no less.  They lived in "our" house for 3 years (formerly of Minnesota) and thought it felt "like camping " without the heaters.  I agree!!  Only in the last ten years have Australians started using double pane windows, weather stripping, etc. in construction.  Since they moved to a beautiful new house with those construction novelties, we bought their toasty natural gas "bayonet" heater.  It's almost like having the fireplace on at home!

So, now we are much more comfy in the "gloriest place."