27

Things have been busy since my mom’s visit.  I barely had time to get back into my usual routine before heading out to Los Angeles.  I was able to take a week off of work to go home to celebrate my birthday with Neal, friends and family.  The four flights to get myself there and back were less than fun but the week in LA, Long Beach, and Newport was very nice.  The weather was perfect and I was able to go to the beach four times.  The ocean has already cooled down quite a bit, but I was able to relax and get a start on my tan for the approaching summer here in Melbourne.   My good friend Maaike was able to fly in for the weekend and Neal, Peter, Maaike and I all went to see a show at the Hollywood Bowl (which is my absolute favorite venue).  Unfortunately we are slackers and headed out way behind schedule and tried to use LA’s less than adequate public transportation system to get there so we ended up missing two of the bands we had really wanted to see.  The rest of the week went really smoothly and way too quickly.  My parents drove over from Arizona and brought their bikes so the three of us had fun biking around Long Beach one day while Neal was at work.  The area is really beautiful and has really nice bike paths and trails all along the coast.  It was very hard to say goodbye to Neal again but thankfully he is able to come out to Melbourne for a visit over the Thanksgiving holiday (which of course is not celebrated here in Australia). 

 

I got back into town Sunday and back to work Monday morning… I handled the jet lag very well and made it through a busy work week.  This past weekend I went to see two shows, had a picnic at the botanical gardens, and attended a nice potluck dinner party.   The weather this weekend was very nice but yesterday was cold and rainy.  Last evening I got caught in an intense downpour that was accompanied by strong winds that turned out my new umbrella, (which had just replaced the yellow one that the wind had already destroyed)!  Just as I was thinking, I’ve had about enough of this Melbourne weather; I turned and saw a huge, stunning rainbow spanning the Yarra River perfectly.  It was really beautiful and I was very disappointed that I didn’t have my camera on me.  I hope to post a new album from my trip home soon....

Here's one I took of Neal on the beach.