February 28--A Comfortable Day

Stars should not be seen alone. That's why there are so many. Two people should stand together and look at them. One person alone will surely miss the good ones.  --Augusten Burroughs

    Speaking of stars, I can't remember if I mentioned that I saw the Southern Cross constellation the other night when we were viewing the penguins. Salute to Jimmy Buffet. 

    Today was a day off in Hobart. We slept in till 7:00, had a light breakfast, then tackled laundry. It took a while but we have clean clothes, which on a six-week trip in one suitcase feels like the best thing ever. We had a pastry brunch with several fellow travelers and our guide, Wayne, at a fabulous cake shop two blocks from our hotel. Lanie and I went to the nearby art and history museum, which far exceeded expectations. There I saw the most magnificent Lego creation I have ever seen. It's an ice breaker ship, open on one side to show the innards. Probably 12' long. Even the ocean waves underneath are Legos. Alas, there was no placard with the details about it. I wanted to know how many bricks--I suspect over a million. 

    The museum was conveniently across the street from a previously-visited pub, so after all that learning, we needed a beer. We left there to find a lunch spot which we had been told had great Reuben sandwiches, but we were just a bit too late, so we hiked down the waterfront. We had another beer to kill time till the Friday evening market opened. That included stalls of foods, drinks and assorted wares--fun to look, but no purchases. We went back to the hotel for a brief rest, went out for excellent pizza, and once again turned in fairly early.  

    Tomorrow we leave Tasmania and fly to Adelaide, heading for the HOT temps of central Australia. 

    Lovin' life,

        Leta

Yes, that is ALL Legos!!!

Lego penguins!!!!!!!!!

February 27--Kanga and Roo!!!

Holding hands is a way to remember how it feels to say nothing together. 
--Nicole Krauss

    Holy cow, another amazing day. Let me rephrase that: Holy kangaroo, another amazing day. Actually, we did see "Oreo" cows--black in the front and back with a white band in the middle.

    We headed out toward Port Arthur, one of the prison complexes where British criminals were sent in the 1800s. Our first stop was the Tasmanian Devil Unzoo. That word is correct. Our excellent guide, Joe, took us first to see the kangaroos. There are a couple dozen of them, a couple with joeys in their pouches. OMG, I had several kangaroos eat out of my hand and I got to pet them, chest only. Did you know that kangaroos can't move backwards? Think about it. Then we went to the Devil viewing area where Joe told us all about them. Right up front, the cartoon Tasmanian Devil is NOTHING like the real thing. They are solid muscle except for some fat where the white patches are. They are very passive except during mating season. A female ready to mate waits outside her den for the males to visit. If she doesn't like one, she will give him one chance to leave by chasing him off viciously. If he doesn't get the very strong hint, she kills him and eats him. (At that point, I blurted out "That's a good plan!" which produced loads of laughter.) The devils have incredibly strong jaws, and when they eat something, it is all gone--bones, fur, everything. They can eat 20 chickens in one night. It was fascinating! We also saw wallabies and Green Rosella birds. The photo of the Green Rosella below is not telephoto--I was that close to it. 

    Then we went to Port Arthur and had a tour of the grounds, including the solitary confinement building where they locked prisoners in silence and solitary, letting them out only one hour per day. Eventually they had to build an asylum next door because the prisoners went nuts. Duh! The Brits sent boys as young as nine years old there. The grounds today are beautiful, including a stunning garden (photo below). We also did a boat tour of the harbor. On the way back to the bus, we stopped at the memorial dedicated to those who died in the mass shooting rampage in 1996. After that shooting, the government had a buyback of all the automatic rifles in the country. [For how long are Americans going to continue to be idiots in this realm!?!?!??!?!] The memorial includes a reflecting pool with a panel with a leaf for each person killed. There is also a cross with the name of each person murdered. The plaque at the entrance says: 

Death has taken its toll.

Some pain knows no release.

But the knowledge of brave compassion

Shines like a pool of peace. 

    On the way back to Hobart, we stopped at the Tasman Arch. The coastline here is magnificent. We are told that the water is really cold. There is nothing between Port Arthur and Antarctica, approximately 1500 miles distant. 

    Lanie and I finished off the day with a beer, then a fine dish of chicken Pad Thai. 

    My brain is full and my heart is so joyful!

        Leta

Green Rosella

"Elvis" the devil thru the glass viewing area

Port Arthur gardens

For each one murdered...

And their names listed on the cross

Tasman Arch

February 26--Safely inTasmania

There is no magician like Love.  --Marguerite Blessington

    I would say there is no magic like travel!

    We are now on the island of Tasmania. The day started out rough--initially one person getting 42 suitcases off of eight hotel floors in one slow elevator. Folks pitched in to help, and somehow we made our flight from Melbourne to Hobart with time to spare. 

    I hope Virgin Airlines sends me a "how did you like your flight?" survey. My "how likely are you to recommend?" vote would be zero. Never. We had to walk on the tarmac and climb stairs to the plane. They could not have crammed one more seat into it. They charged for everything but water; $4 for a soft drink. When we landed, there were exclamations all over the plane. We hit the runway so hard that I'm amazed the landing gear held up. Nevertheless, here we are. 

    Our bus driver, Leesa, first ever woman driver on any of our tours, kicked major ass and got all our luggage loaded on the bus, then gave us a fabulous tour of Hobart. Lanie and I had to rearrange the twin beds in our room to get access to outlets. We are in the oldest hotel in town. It is beautiful, but again, there's one tiny elevator. We settled in quickly and you guessed it, headed to a pub. The local beer is Cascade, which we enjoyed a pint of at the Hope and Anchor, oldest pub in town, supposedly haunted. We had no ghost citing. Lanie and I stopped in and roamed through a beautiful church just up the street from our hotel.

    We went back to the hotel for a walking tour of town. It took us through a lovely park that used to be a cemetery and down to the wharf. Many of the old buildings were built by convicts who were shipped here from Britain. The sandstone has the carvings of the convicts to mark the amount of work they did (photo below). Our guide took us into a pub to show us the men's bathroom where the urinal trough faces a one-way mirror. Have I mentioned that our guide is quite the character? (Someday I will relay his "condoms for koalas" story.) 

    We returned to the hotel and had a buffet dinner in the beautiful atrium. We had less than six hours of sleep last night, so tonight is "early to bed." 

    "Drunk" and "Disorderly" are having fun!

        Leta

Sandstone cut and laid by convicts

Our atrium for dining

February 25--What DAY is It?

Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back.  --Plato

    Google's time widget tells me it is yesterday at home, which fries my brain. It's Feb 26 here now. 

    Holy cow, what a full first day of the tour we had! I started by getting us tickets to a symphony concert at the Sydney Opera House!!!! I am ecstatic about that. 

    We did a bus tour around Melbourne (pronounced Mel-bun). It's a gorgeous city of 5 million people with very mixed architecture. We had a guided tour of the Royal Botanical Gardens, heaven for this gardener. We drove by the Art Museum where dozens of trees are clothed in red with white polka dot wraps. Lanie and I had lunch in the oldest pub in the city, Young & Jackson, conveniently two blocks from our hotel. After a short nap, we headed out on the bus to Phillips Island, just under a two-hour drive south. We went to the Koala Reserve and saw about eight koalas relaxing in the trees. MAJOR bucket-list accomplishment there! Also saw wallabies and an echidna, which looks similar to a porcupine. Then we drove to the Penguin Park. We waited at sunset to see the penguins come in from the sea and make their way inland, many to babies burrowed into the hills. We could not take photos as the flashes scare the penguins. We're talking hundreds of penguins. It was amazing!!!! 

    Already this trip is worth every penny, and we are just starting our 2nd full day!!!

    Adventure!

        Leta

Sleeping 20 hrs/day

Baby awaiting mama--these are 
the only blue penguins in the world

    

February 24--What Time Is It???

When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.  --Nora Ephron

    As I begin writing this, it is 3:18pm on Monday the 24th in Melbourne. I have no idea what time it is at home. Let's say my brain is a little addled from a trip that was 32 hours from arriving at the Wichita Airport to landing in Melbourne. 

    The LONG flight over the Pacific was not bad, because I had three seats all to myself and could lie down and sleep. I slept off and on, about half of the 15-hour flight. Actually the worst part of the trip was the Houston to San Francisco leg where I was trapped by the window. 

    Our rooms weren't available when we got to the hotel, so (of course) the first thing Lanie and I did was find a pub--Charles Dickens Tavern. My "charmed life" came through, because with our beers and veggie spring rolls, we were able to watch the Cavaliers Sunday night NBA game on the big screen. Heaven! 

    Our hotel is in the middle of everything, near the Yarra River. The rooms are tiny with twin beds. (How long has it been since you slept in a twin?!?!) We have the right electrical adapters, whew! The one thing I did not bag up against leaks was my red nail polish. At the moment I have a lot of red paint on my fingers. Yuck, but nothing seriously messed up. 

    Our Collette tour group has a 5:30 meeting and 6:00 dinner together. The upcoming shower and clean clothes may be the best of my lifetime!!!

    Arrived safely, so grateful!

        Leta

Art along the Yarra River

February 21--Irrational Fear 😜

To lose balance sometimes for love is part of living a balanced life. 
--Elizabeth Gilbert

    In case you need some extra incentive to follow my upcoming 6-week trek into SUMMER, this may be just the post for you. 

    When we were last in Colorado, we were treated to lunch by our younger son and his partner. Both these kids are very creative and handy. They have to be--they live together in a tiny studio apartment. Our son's partner accomplished the task of installing a bidet on their toilet. I consider this a spectacular feat, the reason becoming obvious shortly. Our adventurous son decided to give the bidet a try. His eyes bulged even telling the story, and loads of laughter ensued. He said, "My favorite line that I have read about bidets is: you never truly know where your asshole is until you use a bidet." Roaring laughter!!! 

    I have never used a bidet. My travel partner and I have had MANY opportunities in our world travels (we stay in really nice hotels), but we are both a bit scared of them. When I told her my son's story, we agreed that when we encounter one on this trip, we are going for it!

    We leave tomorrow morning, flying first to Houston, then to San Francisco, then to Melbourne. This is my last post until we are safely in Australia. 

    Stay tuned for great adventures!

        Leta

P.S. OMG, there are Youtube videos on how to use a bidet!!! Of course there are!

The caption on this google photo:
"Bidet toilet seat makes a throne fit for royalty."

February 20--Let That Sh*(&#@t GO!!!

And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.  --Kahlil Gibran

    One of the things we get to do in Bali is visit a temple where we are encouraged to leave a small object on the altar as a releasing action. I elected to do a small painting (6" square) representing those things I want to jettison. It is ugly on purpose! Because I knew I would forget the details in the excitement of the trip, I put a color-code on the back:

• Black--sense of separation from Spirit (Side note: this actually is the root of all the others, so it is the background)
• Blue--grief
• Orange--disappointment
• Green--fear of aging poorly
• Yellow--expectations
• Purple--family angst 

    If I release all that, I should come home "light as a feather!" WOOHOO!! Two days till departure!

        Leta

I worked at making it ugly!! 😉😉

February 19--I'm Really Glad It Is Not Orange

There is hardly a more gracious gift that we can offer somebody than to accept them fully, to love them almost despite themselves.  --Elizabeth Gilbert

    What if snow wasn't white? I'm talking the new fallen stuff, not the dog-peed-on yellow or dirty brown/black old stuff. What if it was purple or lime green or rainbow? Certainly a sudden change of color would freak out everyone, but I think it is fun to ponder. 

    I know it is completely psychological, but because it is so dreadfully frigid outside, I am having trouble staying warm inside. I spent yesterday either in a hot bathtub or under many blankets with several layers of clothing and a revved-up heating pad. And I'm usually too warm! 

    I've had two good laughs lately. I've offered to do a simulated patient gig on Friday afternoon, and the organizer was looking for "lean" rather than "squishy" people. She stated that "squishy" is not a medical term. She picked me over two other available "squishy" folks. This made me laugh because I would definitely place myself closer to the "squishy" end of the spectrum. I guess the other two were more "squishy" than me. We'll see how this goes... stay tuned. 

    The other laugh... I was playing pickleball and there was a debate on the rules. The person who was ragging at me shall be called in this narrative "Airhead." Airhead would not let the issue go and get on with play. She offered to have a "better" player in our group explain it to me. I guess since I think she is an Airhead, she thinks I am dense. And as it turns out, I read the official rules later, and we were both correct on two different items up for debate. I get such a laugh when someone blatantly thinks I'm stupid. And I am well aware that sometimes I am stupid!!!

    Life requires a sense of humor!!!!!!!!!

        Leta

YES!! You can buy a snow-painting kit on Amazon.

February 18--Reminder to Self: The Cold Kills the Bugs!

If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart. I'll stay there forever.  --A. A. Milne

    Doesn't that sound like Pooh Bear!?!!? I am blessed to have friends and family all around the country with whom I have generally sporadic contact via text, phone, and (real live actual hand-written) letters. These folks all have spots in my heart whether we connected yesterday or three months ago. These cherished ones held in my heart keep me healthy on many levels. Our hearts are so much more than pumps! 

    The snow dump that was predicted for overnight did not happen. I awoke to only about an inch of snow. More is predicted today. It is, however, frigid cold with a temp of 5 degrees and a -17 wind chill. I am quite grateful for a working furnace and my warm, snugly bed. 

    Do I stay or do I go? Surely more coffee will help me decide!

        Leta

February 17--I Am Quite Unfond of Winter

You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because that is what love is. 
--Louis de Bernieres

    The weather prediction for tonight and tomorrow in Wichita is snow, snow, and more snow, with nasty, nasty, nasty wind. Oh, and single digit temperatures, not even counting the wind-chill. See the photo below. This is from one of the resorts where we will be staying in Bali. One week from today I will be in SUMMER. Even better, with a return date in early April, I will be returning to spring in Kansas. I didn't think much about this timing when I booked the trip, but (if I do say so myself, given the weather), it was GENIUS!!! 😉😉

    Today's mission is to get some exercise and accomplish several errands as I am likely to be snowed in for a couple days. 

    "One week till SUMMER, one week till SUMMER, one week till SUMMER..."

        Leta

Bali, another day in paradise!

February 16--Persistence Is Not Always A Good Thing

And when you get down to it, that's the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love--but to persist in love.  --Sue Monk Kidd

    I believe that in general, it is a lofty goal to persist in love--"till death do us part" and all that. 

    However, over the years I have seen several instances of persisting where there was actually major abuse going on and kept hidden. Some of the abuse was physical; all of it was emotional and psychological. Children have often been in the range of it, whether or not they were the target. The abuse went on much longer than it should have, for reasons such as "till death do us part," "maybe he/she will change," "I'm ashamed to let anyone know what has been going on," or "if only I were a better person, the abuse would stop." Big load of bullshit there. 

    I wonder what enables a human to think he/she has the right to abuse another? Such abuse is a CHOICE. They say those who have been abused are likely to abuse others. It is STILL a choice. I was emotionally abused for years in my family of origin, and I have not made it my mission to take that out on anyone else. 

    NO ONE deserves abuse. 

        Leta

Hoping to see some of these adorables
in the next few weeks!

February 15--"My Back Hurts"

One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others.  --Lewis Carroll

    I had a full-day simulated patient gig on Thursday. The reason for visiting the doc was lower back pain, mostly on the right side. I've had plenty of that in my lifetime, so it was not hard to pretend. I did 13 (yes, thirteen) 20-minute encounters with 1st-year student doctors. Some of them worked on my right side, and some on the left (not necessarily a good thing), so it ended up being fairly balanced OMM (Osteopathic Manipulation Medicine). Despite being brain-dead exhausted afterward, I LOVE these experiences!

    One of the student doctors, Vincent, was a repeat from one of my past sim-patient gigs. He has an outstanding personality to be a doctor. He recognized me as a "repeat" from the infinity tattoo on my left wrist, so we hit it off immediately. We had some extra time at the end of the encounter, so we spent some time gabbing in-real-life out-of-sim-character. Vincent came here from Houston. His father is a cardiologist, but Vincent has not yet decided on any specialty. Vincent's father helped him with the process of buying a house here in Wichita, and he has happily connected with the Lebanese community here (a favorite of our family, too). He says he loves Wichita, and he is staying here. How cool is that!?!?!

    We talked about improving doctoring. I offered that the thing I see most lacking is looking at the whole picture of a person--physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. The typical thing is "my arm hurts," so the doctor works on the arm. But what if the arm hurts due to domestic violence? That's a "whole 'nother ballgame!" 

    Speaking of ballgames, SPRING TRAINING HAS STARTED!!!!!!!!!!!! JOY UNBOUNDED!!!!!!!!!

        Leta

February 14--❤😍 ❤😍 ❤😍

Love is what you've been through with somebody.  --James Thurber 

    My husband, therefore, loves me, because he went through the DEAD cell phone panic with me. That would be me panicking, not him. He set me up with an old phone temporarily and did the online research that ultimately landed me with a Google Pixel 8A from Best Buy. The setup was amazingly easy, and now order has been restored in my life! 

    OK, isn't it weird that the word is "panicking" and not "panicing"? What great grammar god decided the "k" needed to be there? I think both versions look strange.

    Many years ago, when I was scheduled to attend a retreat with Edwene Gaines, she sent out a "tie up all loose ends" list to complete before we left home. It included such things as pay the bills, return borrowed items, get necessary appointments done or scheduled, clean and declutter, etc. It was so rigorous that my husband asked me if I was coming back home. Remembering that list inspired me to deep-clean the woman cave in advance of my upcoming 6-week trip. The other inspiration was to be able to hang my artwork on the walls. The effort took me three days. I washed the walls and woodwork (furry), made a new sparkly curtain for the window, dusted and vacuumed, pitched and donated a bunch of stuff, and best of all, put my paintings on the walls. 

    Onward, to conquer more "loose ends"!

        Leta

My artwork in the CLEAN woman cave

February 13--Yes, I Am Totally Phone-Dependent

Don't imagine that love, to be true and burning, must be extraordinary. No; what we need in our love is the continuous desire to love the one we love. 
--Mother Teresa

It is not where we are going or how fast we get there that gives this day worth. It is how much we are able to radiate love to everyone who crosses our path, no matter who they are or what we are trying to get done. Love is what a successful day is built upon.  --Mary Davis

    It may take me a few days to get back into the swing of things. 

    Last night my phone died. DEAD. The screen went black and it was not to be revived. Since I am leaving in nine days on a six-week trip to the other side of the world, this was cause for total freak-out, melt-down panic. Fortunately, my dear husband came to the rescue before the freakage went too far. He got an old phone of his working for me, and offered to shop for a new one today while I am spending the day being a simulated patient with a lower back ache. Let's just say that pretending to have a "pain in the ass" is not much of a stretch for me today!!! 

    Leta

The "before" photo--woman cave cleaning chaos...
a story for another day...

February 12--I'm Back, Sort Of

That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway.  --John Green

    I'm finally able to return to the blog posts without crying. I'm just going to pick up with the quotes where I left off, since they are all about LOVE anyway. 

    I don't know if I'm back really. However, a week from Saturday, I leave on a six-week tour of Australia, New Zealand and Bali. I leave winter here, go to summer there, and return in early April to spring here. I think that's about the best planning ever! I intend to use the blog as my travel log as many folks have asked me to do so. 

    SIX weeks!???! I want to go to all three places, and I only want to make the LLLOOONNNGGG journey over there one time. I've waited literally for years for the two tours to line up. We leave on the 22nd and fly to Houston, then San Francisco, then across the Pacific Ocean to Melbourne, arriving on the 24th. So I'm not sure when my first actual travel-log post will be. Therefore...

    STAY TUNED!!

        Leta

One of our Bali resorts
(can you say "died and gone to heaven!!"??)