Settling In...

Greetings, fam and friends.  I hope this post finds you feeling good and enjoying your 4th of July weekend.  They have a 4th of July here in Oz too...but it's just another day on the calendar...no reason to celebrate down under.  I heard that the US Consulate in town was throwing a party of sorts, but that turned out to be a false advertisement...so instead I'm celebrating my 4th by hitting Mass in the AM and then doing a bike ride with a few guys into the foothills that run along the Swan River Valley north of Perth.  My climbing legs were lost somewhere between here and the Spring of 2007 in Seattle...they were last seen near Bellingham along the side of one of the cold and wet chip sealed country roads.  No sign of them since. 

Life in Perth has taken a positive turn the last few weeks. I mentioned last time that I met up with a young adult group from the archdiocese that meets just down the street on Wed nights.  That gig is still rolling well.  I've hung out with a few of the people from that group a couple times.  Fun, solid group.  I joined a few others today on a winery hopping tour of the Swan River Valley.  Good times.  After tasting a few local vintages we went to Elmar's German restaurant...Every kind of "wurst" under the sun...and then some.  Good grub and a few micro-brewed beers.  To top it off, we stopped at a local chocolate factory, sat out in the sun and enjoyed a cup of joe. Near cloudless day with perfect long-sleeve temps.  Feels sort of like Halloween time around here.  On the way back home, I learned that on the first Saturday of the month this group along with a couple others meet up with a few Little Sisters of the Poor and stroll around Lake Monger and recite all four mysteries of the Rosary! They asked if I was in...and I said "roger dodger".  So that's how I spent the end of my afternoon today. 

Last weekend a group from the office came by my place for a BBQ to say farewell to a colleague, Jill, who headed back to the US.  Jill and I work together in Redmond and she was in Oz working as well...We had a good time shooting the breeze and having some laughs over a plethora of grilled meat, cold beers and a few giant samosas.  I uploaded a few pictures from the last couple get togethers.

To keep the music theme going, I figured I'd post a couple tunes from one of my favorite artists recently...Jackson Browne.  I mentioned him a few posts back, but figured I'd share a few of his tunes now that I can successfully imbed youtube videos in these posts.  JB specializes in melancholy songs that seem to sum up exactly how probably each of us have felt at one time or another.  Two of my favorites are Late for the Sky and These Days.






I'm not so sure about the video accompaniment for These Days...but that aside...man, what a song.  Not bad for a 16 year old...he wrote that joker when he was 16!  Though nothing fancy, that closing guitar solo, at least for me, totally completes that song in soul and emotion and is probably one of my favorites.  And Late For the Sky...I've heard it dubbed as his masterpiece song.  One of my favorites for sure.

Just looked and the clock is about to strike midnight and that means LIVE coverage of the prologue of the 2010 Tour de France is about to start!  My butt is outta here.  Remember that sparklers are dangerous and aren't toys.  Play safe and have a great holiday weekend.  God bless America, baby!

Peace and love to you all. 

Scotty