A little while ago, I received an email from schmap.com through my Flickr account. The author of the letter, lets call her E.W., started off by saying:

I am writing to let you know that one of your photos has
been short-listed for inclusion in the second edition of
our Schmap Australia Guide, to be published mid-May 2008.

Wtf? What photo? I take all right photos but I’m not delusional about their quality. Is this a scam? One of those emails you get that make you feel important, but in order to really be important, you have to give the author of the email your first million?

Well I did a bit of a search. And it is not a scam. Schmap.com is legitimate as is E.W., its representative. Also turns out that I should certainly not feel special - though I’m still secretly chuffed - as with the onslaught of digital photos from amateurs hitting the Internet, many of my friends have also received such emails. And with that is where Schmap.com and others like it are being slammed. Those who oppose them claim that by choosing to give your work away for free cheapens all photography. The increasing prevalence of casual photographers reduces the market value of professional photographer’s work.

But Schmap.com’s publications are available free online and their viewer is also free - and so I allowed them to shortlist my photo - and it did end up getting included! So if ever you are looking for information on Dreamworld in Queensland, and you look up information on Schmap’s Australia Guide, the photo of Dreamworld is mine.

A few weekends ago it was ANZAC day - on a Friday - which presented us a 3-day weekend. Perfect for doing small DIY jobs. Our family room always presented a bit of a problem for us. The couch was kind of lonely way back on its own in a little alcove, facing the television which is mounted on the wall some 10-12 metres away. Duncan did a lot of research and we decided to go to IKEA and buy four bookcase pieces that fit together to put along the back wall, bringing our couch halfway closer to the TV - though on an angle - and creating two points of interest in the room.

We found out that IKEA opened at 1pm on the holiday. So we headed over for opening time - thinking first in, best dressed. Apparently everyone else thought the same thing. (Yes that is a queue going down the escalator, out the store, around the mall and down to the left of the picture.)

1. Why, when I’m doing two loads of laundry, does half of every pair of socks I’m washing end up in one load, and the other half in the second load?

2. Why, when it is cold enough to see my breath, do bus drivers insist on running the air conditioning on cold?

I’m just too far behind to catch up with the diary-like posts. So I’m moving on to the here and now. Before leaving then though - I’d just like to say I had a fantastic visit with my parents. We went to all the restaurants, save one, that we had on our list to take them; we took them to more pubs then they’d probably been to in the ten years previous; they got to go sailing with my godparents - twice; they enjoyed a Campbell Christmas and a Campbell/Tin-Crane New Year; and they watched as I nursed skinned legs back to health and Duncan knit his broken ribs.

We just finished having Duncan’s parents for a visit. They probably had enough Thai food and fish and chips to keep them going another year or two in the predominantly Spanish-food of their … well … Spanish home. We did all the touristy things - Hunter, Blue Mountains, northern beaches. And Duncan joined them up in Brisbane and drove back with them through Byron Bay and Coff’s Harbour.

So I’ll leave off with this fantastic ‘bumper’ sticker that Duncan’s dad and I read at A.C. Butcher’s in Leichhardt:
If we weren’t meant to eat animals, why are they made of meat?

Once again a bit of a delay between posts - but Duncan’s parents arrived and I thought it rude to spend too much time in front of my computer…

When I left off, Dad was about to join us. The highlight (for me anyway!) of his first few days was the Harbour Bridge Climb. It was my 60th birthday present to him - my way of guaranteeing he’d come visit. Dad and I were early to registration and so got on an earlier climb - with a family celebrating a bar mitzvah. The boy and his family were Australian. His aunt, uncle and some family friends were American. Loud Jewish American. (Maybe that could be a new acronym? LJA?)

We entered a room where they made us sign our life away and complete a breath test to ensure we were sober enough to complete the climb. Then it was in to the change rooms where we replaced our pants and covered our tops with a one-piece grey climbing suit. All jewelry was removed and anything not removed was secured with clasps to the suit. Next we went through a metal detector and into the room to be kitted out with our climbing harnesses and other paraphernalia. Then, we practiced on a mini bridge - learning how to remain attached to the tresses. Finally we were given radios and headed out.

It was very evident from the start that two of the women in our family group were deathly afraid of heights. One had to be guided around the whole bridge, hand in hand with the guide. Made for rather a slow trip. But it also meant that Dad and I had plenty of time at each stop to really appreciate the view! The whole experience took over 3 hours and was well worth it. Upon descending we met Mom and Duncan in the Australian for pizza and beer - Dad enjoyed his sitting on the kerb. Because you can’t do that in Canada. (No really. You can’t!)

A lot has happened since September - but I’ll try and keep it brief. And for the times I can’t be brief, I’ll break up the monotony of word with pictures!

At the end of September, I ran the Blackmore’s half marathon. I beat my goal of 2 hours by 5 minutes. I don’t have any digital photos, but the one I purchased off the race site shows me suitably pained.

In October my Aunt and Uncle, Robin and Bob, stayed with us on and off for a month - the first to make use of our granny flat. We did the usual touristy things of wine tasting in the Hunter, visiting the Harbour Bridge and Opera House and walking the Rocks Market. Oh and lunch at the Newport Arms of course.



Also in October, at long last we got our deck replaced, putting an end to the very real possibility of someone suing us over falling through the old one.

In November, it was my Mom’s turn to drop in for a visit. The first weekend of December was her 60th birthday. To celebrate, I took her to Melbourne. We left early Saturday morning, arriving in Melbourne in time for breakfast. Saturday was spent on a walking tour given by an old family friend, Jim. [Pictures on Flickr]



Sunday we headed back to one of the many arcades we’d walked through with Jim for the best breakfast. Ever. Perfectly poached eggs. Toasted light rye. Squeaky haloumi, perfectly grilled. And nutty basil oil.



The rest of the day was spent getting on and off the Melbourne City Tourist Shuttle. The shuttle is free - you get on and off at any of 11 stops, allowing you to easily see many of Melbourne’s best known sites. Now why doesn’t every city have one?Next it was the MRM Christmas Party. One thing about Sydneysiders (or maybe Australians?) is their love of Fancy Dress parties. For the first time, Duncan and I went and hired costumes. What other costume would Duncan have hired but that of a pirate? I went with the flapper myself.



Well I think that’s enough for one post. See you next time when Dad joins us for Christmas.

So way back in September, our hard drive crashed. Though my old blog is still alive, comments were lost. As was the ability to add comments. Duncan thought we should take this opportunity to move from MoveableType to WordPress. Over the next little while, I’ll be doing some experimenting…