quinntessential whit and whimsy: Bittersweet

I started this post about a week before we left Melbourne. I listed all the things I was going to miss about the great city and country we lived in, and then realized the post was getting way too long, and likely didn't mean much to anyone other than Andy and me. I thus tabled it, and then life got crazy when we returned home. Truth is, words cannot summarize the past five months. It is hard to believe that we lived Down Under that long. We are so thankful for the time we had together exploring and traveling as a family. God has blessed us in so many ways, and we left with memories we will keep forever.

We are adjusting to life back in Minnesota quite well, but find ourselves missing some little things. For example, as I watched a crow gnaw on a dead squirrel the other day, I remembered the tropical birds that abounded in Australia. I almost got decked by a couple of sulphur-crested cockatoos while walking to the drug store with Whit one afternoon, watched a rainbow lorikeet eat an apple in someone's garden the week before we left, and almost tripped over a white ibis on the sidewalk in Sydney.

Then, of course, there are things we were ready to move away from, like our play-size pots and pans. We cooked in installments because our cookware was so small. On the flip side, we had a toaster the size of a barn. I think our guests got tired of us offering them english muffins when they visited.

The list of things I loved about Melbourne is long, but Dorothy was right - there is no place like home. We are so happy to be back with family and friends, and look forward to hopefully seeing our friends from Australia again in future travels.

I leave you with some photos of the fine city of Melbourne, and a link to two songs I grew to love while there, both from Aussie artists.

Drapht's "Rapunzel" (a funky little rap that even my dad should enjoy)

Noiseworks' "Touch" (think Kings of Leon plus the requisite 80's video ingredients: running horses, a curious fire burning frighteningly close to the musicians, and big hair blowing in the wind...that is of course fueling the fire even more)

Melbourne's CBD on the north side of the Yarra River

Flinders Street Station

"The Angel" and a view of Southbank (our neighborhood)

The National Gallery of Victoria near our apartment, a place Whit and I enjoyed touring regularly

Whit exploring the children's area in the gallery, accompanied by his friend who was obsessed with the zippers on our shirts that day

Victoria Barracks, just north of our apartment

One example of Aussie PSAs, the finest PSAs around in my opinion. You should see the gems they have for smoking cessation - uber graphic and oh so disturbing that you can't help but laugh (well, I can't help it because they made Andy squirm, and you can bet that once I learned that, the kid in me was sure to call his attention to the TV every time they were on).