Winter In Sydney -July 2008

Extended weekend - weekend prolonge

It is usually very rare when I am in town over the weekend. This month was no exception. I flew every week from Thursday through Sunday and was home from Monday through Wednesday. Last week the Crew Desk took a trip away from me because I was over my legal maximum allowed flight hours (that is the simplest way to put it) so I was home Thursday and Friday. Then on Friday I found out that one of my colleagues had picked up my trip on Saturday (I had forgotten I had put a request in the computer at the beginning of the month). All of a sudden I went from being 9 hours over my maximum to 10 hours under. I thought about picking up something else but then I decided that spending time with my friends this weekend was more important than the money.
On Saturday I went to a birthday party with Norman and I got a taste of my visit to the Philippines in November (check his blog for pictures and story). Norman's partner, Michael, was teasing me, telling me that now I knew how he felt when they went to visit Norman's family in the Philippines. I can see how it can be a little disconcerting. People that you don't know who on top of that are speaking a foreign language. Makes you feel a little bit like you are from Mars. But I had a wonderful time. I had met some of Norman's cousins before so it was not too bad and the food was soooooo good. I really cannot wait to go the Philippines in November.

On Sunday, Matthew, Mito and I went to the movies. We saw "Wanted" with Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy. It was very entertaining. Lots of action, ok story, some cool effects... not the movie of the year but a good way to spend 2 hours. After that we went to a few places in the mall looking for bargains to take with us on our trip to Miami next week. Nothing extraordinary but it was nice to spend some time with good friends and just hang out.

Today I am in Kona, Hawaii, for work, and I feel like my weekend is not over yet. Despite a difficult start yesterday and a near cancellation, we finally made it here at 1am, more than 4 hours late.
This morning I had breakfast and went for a long walk along the shore. I made it back to the hotel for lunch and hung out by the pool in the afternoon. The hotel is beautiful and the grounds are amazing. There are trams and boats to take you all around the resort (that is how big it is). There are water falls everywhere, water slides, lagoons. It feels like the Hawaiian Disneyland. :-)

Gardening #4 - Jardinage #4

I am finally done with gardening at the church. I planted the last plants this afternoon. I hope they will all look good together once they are all settled and it will be beautiful. It will take several months for the Blue Star Creeper to take over the star and I cannot wait to see how it looks when the space is all filled.

J'ai finalement terminé avec le jardinage a l'église. J'ai mis en terre les dernières plantes cet après-midi. J'espère qu'elles vont bien aller ensembles et qu'une fois que les racines auront bien pris, tout sera très beau. Il faudra plusieurs mois d'attente pour que l'Isotoma Fluviatilis remplisse l'étoile et il me tarde de voir comment ce sera.

Gardening #3 - Jardinage #3

Third step today towards the finish design. I planted some blue "Isotoma Fluviatilis" (Blue Star Creeper) in the star. I only had to plant patches and the grass will take over on its own and eventually fill the star. I chose this particular plant because it is easy to grow and it blooms during the whole summer getting covered with small star-shape light blue flowers. Appropriate since it is growing inside a star.

Troisième étape. J'ai plante de l'Isotoma Fluviatilis bleue dans l'étoile. Il m'a suffit de planter des morceaux et l'herbe prendra racine et remplira l'étoile après quelques mois. J'ai choisi ce couvre-sol parce que pendant presque tout l'été il se couvre de petites fleurs bleu pâle, en forme d'étoile. Parfait puisque ça va pousser a l'interieur d'une étoile.

Gardening #2 - Jardinage #2

Again today I did a little gardening. The second step of my design was to mark the star with bark. The star will be filled with low grass and I will plant some flowers on the outside. More work tomorrow.


Suite de mon jardinage. La deuxième étape fut de tracer l'étoile avec de la sciure de bois. L'étoile sera remplie avec une herbe courte et je planterai des fleurs a l'extérieur. Suite demain.