An evening along the Yarra

I had an evening to myself for a walk along the river, and Ordinary Spouse wanted some photos.  (Make sure you click on the panoramas so that you can see the full size.)

Gull

Art

A couple enjoying the river.  The Melbourne Aquarium in the background.

Sandridge Bridge with Flinders Street Station in the background

Eureka Skydeck (left) is the tallest building in Melbourne

Looking east from Sandridge Bridge

St. Paul’s Cathedral

Enjoying the South Bank at night

More from Australia

A few more tidbits from my time at the SRI ‘09 conference in Melbourne…

Government House reception

Last night, all of the conference delegates were invited to Government House, the residence of the Governor of Victoria.  Check out the invitation:

It was a very nice reception hosted by the Lieutenant Governor.  We were given the opportunity to tour the state rooms.  (Ordinary Spouse may wish to show some of the website pictures to the ordinary daughters.)

My fancy hotel

Since I’m not a fancy person (despite the efforts of my three princesses), some of the things in my hotel strike me as funny.  For instance, I have a pillow menu.  I can order my selection:

I don’t actually know which pillows I have right now.  Since they gave me six different ones to begin with, I figured that I could make do.

I also have three phones in my room.  Who needs three phones in a normal-sized hotel room?  There’s a phone by the bed, a phone by the desk, and a phone by the…  Well, let’s just say I won’t be making any phone calls with that last one.

Australia travels

Well – I’m writing from down under.  I left home on Thursday and arrived here in Melbourne* yesterday for a scientific conference on synchrotron radiation instrumentation.  I wish I could remember all of the stories that I wanted to tell.  Alas – jet lag has wiped half of them away.  But here are my random observations for anyone who cares.

* Note: as far as I can tell, Melbourne should be pronounced “Mel-burn”.  Of course, if you say it that way, no one in the States will understand you.  “Oh – you mean Mel-Born?”

(Welcome to O’Hare International Airport.  The journey starts here.)

Getting there on time

When it comes to air travel, I’m paranoid about missing my flight.  Even though I began with a domestic flight to Los Angeles, I still treated it as an international flight.  I figured that I should get to the airport two hours before the departure time.  And I asked the limo to pick me up early, just in case the traffic was bad.

This, of course, insured that there would be absolutely no problems whatsoever.  I was at the gate at 2:00 pm for a five o’clock flight.

Flying with children

I have a soft spot in my heart for parents who are flying with young children – especially when I’m not the parent and the children aren’t mine.  While waiting at the gate, I spotted a family of three – two parents and a one-year old girl with shoes that squeaked every time she took a step.  The girl didn’t appear to be too excited by her surroundings.  I thought to myself, “I hope that person who sits beside that family is not disturbed by fussing children.”  Guess who sat beside them?

I showed the girl pictures of my own girls, and we played peak-a-boo.  Soon into the flight, she was asleep and didn’t make a peep the rest of the way.  It turns out that I had a seat near them the whole way to Melbourne.

Full flights

Gone are the days when you could stretch out into an empty seat beside you.  There were none on my flights – they were all overbooked.

Oxygen masks

I realize that United Airlines wouldn’t want to alarm their passengers with the flight safety video, but it had one of the more bizarre moments that I’ve seen.  During the video in the part about oxygen masks, they show a nine seat block of passengers.  Everyone is just smiling and chatting away happily, when all of a sudden the oxygen masks fall.  Had none of them noticed that the cabin had just experienced a drop in pressure and that the captain had announced that they’d need an emergency landing?  But no – there is no surprise or panic on any of the faces when these masks suddenly appear from nowhere.  Everyone carries on their smiling conversations while calmly putting on the masks.  This was not a reality TV show.

Planning for jet lag

My trip had three legs: Chicago to Los Angeles to Sydney to Melbourne.  Once in Los Angeles, I started planning a way to deal with jet lag.  I figured that I need to try to stay awake until the middle of the flight, and then sleep as hard as I could.  An acquaintance from work also gave me a melatonin tablet with instructions to take it at the time when I hoped to be falling asleep (i.e. around the time that I’d be going to bed in Melbourne).  Supposedly, this will help re-adjust the body’s sleep cycle.

I didn’t do too badly in this regard.  I think I stayed awake until about 7 pm Melbourne time, which is 4 am Chicago time.  Of course, sleep was never very restful on the airplane, but I think that I managed to get about six hours.  It turns out that my biggest challenge was Star Trek.  The most recent film in the series (the one that is the prequel to all the others) came on right in the middle of what should have been the middle of my night.  Alas – I haven’t seen this one before, and of course I couldn’t sleep once I started watching.

As I type this after being here for 24 hours or so, it seems that I’ve adjust pretty rapidly to the change in time zones.  By getting out and walking during the afternoon and evening yesterday, I was able to avoid the dreaded early evening nap.  I actually stayed awake until about 10:30 pm and about five and a half hours of sleep before getting up at 4 am.  It should be enough to let me make it until a normal time tonight.

The day that wasn’t

When the history of my life is written, it won’t have Friday, September 25.  I’ll exaggerate for the sake of the story, but not by too much.  My flight left Los Angeles around 10 pm on Thursday.  We crossed the International Dateline at nearly midnight.  In other words, I went from 11:59 pm on September 24 to 12:00 am on September 26.  And so, no September 25 for me.

The flip side of this coin is that when I return to Los Angeles from Sydney, we’ll actually get there before we leave…

Is it Mars or is it Australia?

You may have heard about the dust storms that swept Australia recently.  There was an orange haze all around Sydney and we couldn’t see the ground until nearly the time to land.  Once on the ground, we could look at the sun directly without negative effects.  (This was at about 7 am.  However, as the sun got higher in the sky, it also got brighter.)  Happily, Melbourne didn’t experience the same dust storm.  Here, it’s just cold and rainy.

Fancy hotel

I think that this is the fanciest hotel that I’ve ever stayed in.  See the opaque glass on the left side in the picture below?  That’s the bathroom door.

Here it is a shot with the door open.

Here is the bathroom itself.  It’s all wood and stonework.

I have a bathtub and a walk-in shower.  That other door in the picture below is for the toilet room (for lack of a better name).

Last night, they turned down my bed and left three cinnamon sticks in the room.  The hallways have hard wood floors, and there is hardwood paneling throughout.  And here is the view from my room during the day…

And the night…

Those are views of the Melbourne Southbank river walk.  Really nice place.

Footy fans everywhere

The Grand Final of the AFL (this would be the superbowl of Australian Rules Football) was contested yesterday in Melbourne at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds.  The Geelong Cats defeated the St. Kilda Saints by a score of 80 (12.8) to 68 (9.14).  It turns out that this stadium (which holds 100,000 people) is just about one mile east of my hotel.  When I arrived, I didn’t notice any crowds, because everyone was already at the stadium.  My supervisor and I were ready for some lunch, and we enjoyed watching the first quarter in a pub with some of the locals.  I watched the rest of the match in my room, and I think I actually learned quite a bit about the game before the end.

Afterwards, I was ready to get outside for some supper, and that’s when I met the swarms of people.  Everyone was wonderfully civilized, even though there were plenty of folks from both sides.

Back to the room for cricket

Elsewhere in the Australian sporting world, the national cricket team has travelled to South Africa for the Champions Trophy tournament.  Here is yet another sport that I didn’t really know much about.  However, after watching Australia and the West Indies play last night after I got back to my room (as well as seeing India vs. Pakistan this morning), I have a bit of an idea of what’s going on.  By the way, the boys from Australia (275-8, 50 ovs) beat the West Indies (225-9, 46.5 overs) by 50 runs.

This must not be the time of the year for seafarers

I wanted to go to a church this morning, and I thought I’d visit the Mission for Seafarers, an Anglican meeting place very close to the hotel.  Supposedly, mass was to be at 9:30 am.  Unfortunately, when I got there this morning, the doors were locked and nobody was around.  Maybe there just aren’t enough people boating on the Yarra River at this time of the year.  After all, winter just ended.

So close, yet so far

I have found a bubble tea store.  (I say ‘a store’, rather than ‘the store’, because I know that there are more.)  Unfortunately, they didn’t have the bubbles ready yet when I stopped by this morning.  Despite this, I had a very enjoyable walk this morning, and found my first Australian geocache – a virtual cache highlighting an art installation.

And that concludes this blog entry.  It’s 3 pm local time, and it’s time for conference registration.  Later tonight, I’ll have the opening conference reception.  Then the fun (i.e. the scientific sessions) start tomorrow.

Reflecting on Ramadan

(As I blogged earlier, I decided to fast during the month of Ramadan.  I didn’t provide as many updates here as I would have liked.  However, I did write about my experience for my congregation’s newsletter, and I’ve reproduced that below.)

Saturday, September 19 marked the end of the Islamic month of Ramadan.  According to the Islamic faith, Ramadan is the month during which Muhammad received the Qur’an.  Throughout the month, Muslims observe a fast which begins at dawn and lasts until dusk.  They refrain from eating, drinking, or indulging in any excess.  The month is also a time for additional prayer, for acts of charity, and for reconciliation.

I also decided to fast throughout the month.  My hope was that I could develop a greater appreciation for our Muslim brothers and sisters, learn from their experience, and benefit personally from practicing some of the same spiritual disciplines.  At the same time, I described my participation as a fast to coincide with Ramadan, rather than a Ramadan fast.  It was my intent to remain faithful to my Christian faith, and I didn’t want to dishonor Islamic faith, since I knew ahead of time that I wouldn’t be observing the fast in quite the same way as Muslims.  (For example, each day I broke my fast early in order to eat supper with my family.)

So what did I gain from this experience?  One thing I immediately realized is how much I take food for granted.  For instance, I snack frequently without expressing thanks to God, and I sit down to many regular meals without being grateful.  And so I became aware of my need to change, and my heart was softened.

Another thing that I gained was a new and growing appreciation for a lectio divina approach for reading and praying scripture.  I was eating breakfast at an early time before sunrise, and I also tried to add Bible study to that time.  Lectio divina was a new experience for me, but I found it to be refreshing and life giving.

Finally, as Ramadan is a time for reconciliation, I was glad to work toward reconciliation that was needed in my own life, and was thankful for healing.

There was also one main opportunity that I feel that I missed during Ramadan.  I had hoped to learn more about Islam than I did.  I had considered visiting a mosque to observe prayer or to meet a Muslim for conversation.  I didn’t do that, even though I think that might be one of the best ways of learning and increasing understanding.

I’m hopeful that in the future, I will have these opportunities again.  I believe that in building these kinds of bridges, we are following the Spirit’s leading and working as peacemakers.

This week in the garden… 24 Sept 2009

Well – we’re approaching the end of the growing season.  I don’t know how many more garden updates I’ll have.  But for now, I’ll share some pictures that I took before I left for Australia…

Left to right:

• Crabapple
• Mums
• Anemone
• Something that we can’t identify (It showed up in the Mother’s Day wildflower garden.  We don’t know if it’s supposed to be there or not.)
• Marigold – this is Middle Daughter’s plant.

More Jack

Princess Jack

The-Cat-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named

OD teaches Jack

Flying cat

Are we having fun yet?

Five for Friday… favorite plants

Today’s “Five for Friday” is brought to you by Oldest Daughter, who suggested that I choose my favorite plants.  This was a hard one, not because I don’t have favorites, but because I was having trouble remembering them.  So someone might remind me of plants that I’ve forgotten.  Without further ado and in no particular order…

• Shagbark Hickory – This tree reminds me of my childhood.  I love the flavor of the nuts, and the grandkids used to make boats out of the husks and race them in my grandparents creek.  And the bark is just crazy.
• Cilantro – This may be my very favorite herb.  I just love the smell and flavor.  According to wikipedia, the dislike that some people have for cilantro may be genetic.  Guess I didn’t get that gene.
• Rosemary – Or, this may be my favorite herb.  Hard to tell.  This one reminds me of Ann Arbor, and especially of Seva, which is consistently chosen as the best vegetarian restaurant in town.  I now have a small rosemary bonsai – a gift from my family.
• Rock Cress – This one made the list for sentimental reasons.  When I was young, I asked my parents to buy a plant for me once when they were shopping at a green house, and I was surprised when they did.  (In retrospect, I’m sure it took no convincing at all to get my parents to buy a plant.)  That plant lived for many years at the house where I grew up, and even made the move when my parents moved.  I’m not sure if they still have it, but my family has one growing in our flower bed now, as well.
• Cherry Birch -  I’ll close out the list with another tree from my childhood.  I was introduced to the cherry birch during a nature walk at Laurelville one year while I was at summer camp.  My favorite part was picking a small twig and sucking on the bark.  Sweet!

Live humbly

A short reflection on my congregation’s Wednesday night service of prayer and meditation…

During the school year, I always look forward to Wednesday evenings.  On those days, a group of people from my congregation gather together for a meal, a time of prayer and meditation, and Bible study.  The time is open to anyone, but we tend to have a core group of people who are fairly committed.  In some ways, I feel very connected to these people who help to shape my understanding of what it means to be the Church to one another.  Tonight was the first meeting of the new school year.

The person who guides our prayer and meditation time had chosen an image from Yellowstone for us to consider- a rather barren scene from one of the thermal springs in the park.  There were mineral deposits around a pool of water and a tree which had died, unable to survive in the extreme conditions.  And yet, there was life which did exist in this environment, even though it was unseen.  In some ways, the image was a metaphor for spiritual barrenness that our congregation is currently experiencing.  Where is the life in our picture?

During our time tonight, we also considered one of the lectionary readings from this coming Sunday:

Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom?  Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly…

James 3.13, The Message

The combination of the image and scripture caused me to think of another image of desolation in Yellowstone.  In 1988, forest fires burned nearly 800,000 acres in the park – more than a third of the land.  The picture afterward was quite stark…

(Photograph by Jim Peaco, 1988)

Eight years later, my wife and I went to Yellowstone on our honeymoon.  There were still areas of the park that were just beginning to recover.  However, the plants in those areas seemed to have a different quality to them.  Their life in many ways seemed pure, vibrant, and even exuberant…

(Photograph by Jim Peaco, 1998)

 What would this purity look like in my life?  What is “pure” religion?  Tonight I was drawn to the phrase, “Live humbly”.  It reminds me of a similar admonition from the prophet Micah:

God has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6.8, NRSV

Is this not just a restatement of the two greatest commands…?

“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”  He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.”  And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

Luke 10.25-28, NRSV

Tonight, my prayer is for purity and humility and the new growth that comes after fire has burned away everything but love for God and for our neighbor.

More recent quotes

In addition to the aforementioned comments on my whoopie pies, our daughters have also come up with these quotables:

The first quote is just typical two-year old.  Ordinary Mommy was singing to Youngest Daughter who was crying.  (She cries at many things these days, but she also fits into the “terrible twos” stereotype to some extent.  Unfortunately for her, the Ordinary Parental Units have been through this before.  Temper tantrums do not phase us much anymore.)  Anyway, this was the response to “You Are My Sunshine”:

Youngest Daughter: I’m not your sunshine!

Ordinary Mommy: I was just imagining that your smiling face is like a bright, happy sunshine.

YD: I don’t want to be bright!

And the next quote from Oldest Daughter caught Ordinary Mommy by surprise when she sat down on our bench outside…

Oldest Daughter: Mom!  You’re sitting on my office.  We’re playing Hollywood, and I’m the one who owns Hollywood.  That’s my office!