The Power of One

I admit it, I'm a choir geek.  I like to sing, but I LOVE to sing with other people.  I'd much rather do a duet than a solo any day.

I miss singing.

In Ireland, two years ago on a choir tour.

Last weekend, my sister got married.  Thanks to Ustream.tv, I was able to be there for the celebration, 8,000 miles away.  My favorite part was hearing my beautiful, talented sisters sing together.  It made my heart ache.  Also, the choir I sang with in New Mexico (Caliente) is touring Greece right now!  I wish I could be there.  (Thanks for inviting me, guys, but I just couldn't make it.)

I've sung in choirs since I was little:  Children's choirs, high school choirs, college and university choirs, church choirs, women's choirs, show choirs, a cappella choirs, community choirs - I even got to sing back up for a country band once.  I love it.  The thing that amazes me about a choir is the power that one voice has for good or for bad.  Even in a very large choir, one person makes a difference.  You are always heard.  My dad (also a singer) sent me a link last week.  Check it out if you have a few minutes.  http://www.wimp.com/choirvoices/  (I think I am Eric Whitacre's newest fan.)

I think sometimes we forget that our voice is heard.  Several months ago I went to a popular video store to rent a DVD (we still do that in Australia!)  I couldn't help noticing their collection of porn on the top shelf along the entire perimeter of the store.  I was offended by the pictures on the covers, and embarrassed to have my children with me.  I got my video and left.  I'm not the type that usually speaks up - if I ordered a steak well-done, and they brought it to me rare, I would just eat it rather than say anything.)  I talked to my friend Becky (yep, the same one that I grew up with in Idaho, who happened to move around the corner from me in Australia!) and she mentioned that she didn't like their top row selection of videos either.   We decided that we would say something, next time we were there.  I was nervous, but I did.

 I thought of my friend Angie who loves to read.  She read a book she liked but when the sequel came out, it was full of awful language.  She wrote to the author to tell her how much she loved her books and could she please not use such offensive language.  The author wrote back and said she would!

Today I stopped by the video store for the first time in 3 months, to see if they had Anne of Green Gables (it's chick flick time - we are on school holiday) and the video store had removed their offensive videos!  

I remember hearing that for every person who speaks up there are 100 people who don't.

Speak up.  You never know the power of one voice.

Nanner and Popsy

Translation:  Grandma and Grandpa.  

I have just returned from taking my parents to the airport to return to their home in Idaho.   Sniff, sniff.   That's right, we have had visitors.  We haven't seen my parents in almost a year, and for 12 glorious days, my parents stayed and played with us.  The house feels very empty now that they're gone.   I seriously contemplated faking a flat tire, so they would have to miss their flight, though I don't suppose that would be fair to my sister-in-law, Emily, who is 9 months pregnant.  My mother is flying to Ohio to help her as soon as she gets home.  (Busy woman!) 

In the Tambourine mountain rainforest skywalk.  

We had so much fun while they were here.  I have forgotten how nice it is to do the dishes with my mom, or have a profound conversation over dinner with my Dad.  

We played tourist for a few days, and even pulled the kids out of school so we could run up to the Sunshine coast (Coolum).  (Hey!  It was educational. . . ) 

Exploring the tidal pools in Coolum.

While we stopped at the Glasshouse mountains, the rain rolled in.  

Riding the City Cat on the river.  

Even the bugs in Australia are pretty!

We love the ocean.

Playing around at Underwater World.

We miss them.  

Singapore

We went to Singapore over Easter to visit family - the Zufelts.  We had a great time!  There was so much to see/smell/hear - I could never describe it all, but I'll try!

Sight:

Singapore is colorful and clean.  It is red.

 It is green.

It is tall buildings, smiling and helpful people, signs in four languages, and clean streets.  Chewing gum is against the law.  Smoking is punishable with a $1000 fine, as is littering, and dealing drugs is punishable by death.  Trespassing is apparently taken seriously too. The street signs said it all.

I think this gets the point across, no matter what language you speak.

We went to a market near little India, where people were literally selling garbage.

That's where that remote control went!

Cell phone, anyone?

Touch:

The first thing we noticed about Singapore was the humidity!  I have never experienced anything like it, and this coming from someone who has lived in Houston, New Orleans, and Queensland - all considered very humid places.  Going outside from an air conditioned room meant being covered instantly in condensation.  I didn't know it was possible to get so wet so fast - even without sweating.  And sweat we did.

Sound:

Singapore is the bell of the taxi, ringing to say the driver was breaking the speed limit.  It is the whirr of dare-devil motorcyclists, darting through traffic and creating their own "lane" on the dotted line; a dozen languages spoken on a train, none of which I recognized; and cicadas constant buzzing, like a broken car alarm.

It was the bells on the door of the Indian temple,

the mosque calling to prayer,

and monks chanting in the Buddha temple.

Buddha Tooth temple.

It was also primary children singing the same songs we sing in our primary.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints building, Singapore.

  One of the highlights of our trip was taking the elevator up to the fourth floor for sacrament meeting in a very beautiful, very tall, chapel.

Smell:

Singapore smells like incense, curry, sweating plants, beef bacon and turkey ham (muslims don't eat pork), bus exhaust, and elephants.

Taste:

Singapore tastes like curry, coconut, rice noodles, sugar cane juice, dim sum (eaten with orangutans) and fruits I have never heard of, but love.

Breakfast with orangutans at the Singapore zoo.  Please remember it is REALLY humid before you judge my hair!

We bought 2 kilos of mangosteens.  I love them.  They taste a bit like a cross between a sweet plumb and rhubarb - tangy sour/sweet.  You peel off the purple shell and eat the white flesh.  We saw plenty of durian too.  Durian are banned on public transport because of their foul smell, but they are still a favorite of many locals.  People either love them or hate them.  It smelled a bit like an outhouse to me, so we passed on that one.  We did however try dragon fruit, and some strange thai fruit.  It's strange to think there are so many delicious fruits out there that I have never even heard of, better yet tasted.  I'm going to keep my eye out for mangosteens.  Yum.

One of my favorite meals was in little India. Our meal came served on a banana leaf.

Bryce and Emily, eating off of banana leaves.

I couldn't help noticing that we were the only ones using utensils.  It was a familiar sight, workers squating in circles near the back of a shop, eating with their hands red rice on banana leaves, in a surprisingly tidy way.

The sixth sense:

Walking along the nature reserve, we got the feeling that someone was watching us.  It was the monkeys.  They were more intimidating than a gang of thugs.  We walked quickly and tried not to look them in the eye.

Monkeys waiting to ambush us.  There are more hiding on the wall.  

The monkeys at the zoo weren't quite so scary.  We love the Singapore Zoo.  It has a very Disneyland-esque feel about it - friendly, clean, entertaining, delicious.   The Zoo also offers a night safari.  It was awesome!  An entirely different section of the zoo comes alive at night.  The kids fell asleep when our tram broke down, but we definitely did not sleep through the fire-breathing show.  It was amazing!


Bintan Lagoon

We took a ferry over to a resort on Bintan Island in Indonesia.  The beaches were beautiful.

Hermit crabs were everywhere, and sand dollars were popular collectibles.

Finding hermit crabs.

But the kids spent most of their time in the pool, playing on the slide.  When we ask them what their favorite part of the trip was, they all say "laser tag!"  It was an amazing hotel, all open to the ocean breeze.

Shon was in heaven in Singapore, eating the food he ate on his mission, and speaking with the locals.

Shon in China town. 

I enjoyed eating American food!  You want it, they got it.  Angie and I had lunch at Chili's.  In Singapore.  I love their chips and salsa.  Yum.  It's been a long time. . . (We don't get much Mexican food in Australia.)

We all had a great time!

Feeding the "Gold fish" at the hotel.

The very best part of our trip was being with the Zufelts.  We already miss them.  It's always hard to leave, though it's nice to be home again.

No worries!

Emily feeding lorikeets.

One of my favorite Australian phrases is "no worries."  It is up there with "y'all" on my "Favorite Words I've Learned Since Leaving Idaho" list.

When I was in college, I played tennis with some friends on occasion.  It was fun, but the problem was, they were all a lot better than I was.  I was a bit self conscious, especially when making mistakes.  Let's face it, in spite of taking lessons twice (once when I was twelve, and once when I was 18) I still strike out on occasion.  It's hard to learn a new sport without making a complete fool of yourself (especially if that sport is diving, or so I hear from my diver husband, who is an excellent diver, but still messes up, and doesn't care.  That is one of Shon's most endearing qualities, but I digress. . . )   One of my tennis buddies knew just what to say when I made a mistake.  "Shake it off!"  What else is there to do when you make a mistake or something bad happens to you, but fix it as best you can, and quickly move on.

I play the organ in sacrament meeting once a month and have done it many times, in several different wards.  My organ playing career began in high school when my sister and I took organ lessons and rotated playing prelude music in church.  It was fun because the bishop never noticed me and would thank my teacher for the music, even when I was playing.  I was happy he didn't notice, because that meant I didn't make any big mistakes.

That is my prayer most Sundays:  Please don't let me draw attention to myself!  It isn't about me, it's about singing hymns of praise.  (Because, as you know, "the song of the righteous is a prayer.")


This week's hymns weren't anything difficult, but I practiced anyway, and I was ready to go, in spite of a very busy morning, and an even busier evening the night before.   Our church building is one of the oldest LDS churches in Brisbane - a beautiful red brick building with a lovely little courtyard, and tiny parking lot.  The organ was replaced some time back in the 60's or 70's.  It is very old.  It has all sorts of funny stops that make it have crazy vibrato or plunking noises.  Because of the position of the organ, you have to turn the volume up full blast in order for the people in the congregation to hear it.  I have learned from experience that I can't trust what I hear.   From where I am sitting, it sounds deafeningly loud, but from the pews it sounds fine.  Most of the organs I have played actually make me sound better than I am, with bass coupling, and nice stops.  Not this organ.  It has broken and been repaired several times.  This morning, as I was playing the opening hymn, the organ suddenly started making a horrible noise!  There was a loud vibration coming from somewhere, giving the song a "heavy metal" flavor.  I had a quick moment of panic.  The chorister kept going.  I turned the volume down a bit, and tried to see if any buttons were pushed, while still playing.  After half a verse of 'Thanks for the Sabbath School',  Def Leopard-style, one of the more experienced organists came up and jiggled a button and the noise stopped.  Thank you Susan!  I am still laughing. Never a dull moment!  That almost beats the time, last month, when Shon announced the wrong person for the closing prayer!  (There was an amusing bit of confusion. . . )


Shake it off.


Luckily, the primary children sang a beautiful rendition of "Beautiful Savior" accompanied by violin, so no one seems to remember my technical malfunction.  




On another note, Caleb got his two bits worth, Saturday.   He got a shave and a hair cut.  I gave him the hair cut.  The shave he did himself.  Oops.  I don't think he'll do that again.  

No worries, mate! 

Fall Break

It's the end of March, which means it's time for Fall Break! (Think southern hemisphere here.)  We climbed into PJ (our car) and headed to Straddie:   North Stradbroke Island.  (Obviously, we didn't drive in the water, like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  We took the ferry!)

Trip highlights:

The ocean.   Our unit was on the ground floor, but the apartments were on a cliff, so we had a great view.    We fell asleep to the sound of the ocean, and could see the surfers below.  I love the ocean.  (sigh) 

Unfortunately, the highlight was also our lowlight.  We drove down on an unpatroled beach about 2 km from the surf and rescue club, in what looked like a pretty placid spot.  We had 4 adults watching the kids, and one of them was in the water with them.  The kids hopped on their boogie boards and were having a great time.  Bryce's board had a broken tether, so he quickly lost his, but we weren't worried - the water was shallow and he is a strong swimmer.  A family's car was stuck in the dunes behind us, so I walked back to see if they needed help.  The next thing I knew, Shon was jumping in the car, yelling that he was getting the lifeguard.  Bryce was caught in a rip.  I looked up just in time to see him put his hand in the air (the signal that you need rescuing) 100 m away from where he had just been, and he was moving fast!  I couldn't believe how quickly the conditions changed.  Somehow he found a sand bar and stood up.  Shon turned around and came back.   With a little adult help, we got him back on dry ground.  Maybe 2 minutes after it all started, a lifeguard was there with a Seadoo, ready to help, though by that point, everything was under control.  Amazing.  The lifeguards must have been sitting in their station, watching us with powerful binoculars, knowing that we were going to get in trouble.  He must have really scrambled to get to us so fast.  Thank you, Mr. Lifeguard!  It could have just as easily been one of the little kids that got pulled out to sea.  As it was, it took an hour for the adrenaline to wear off.  And I will never swim on an unmanned beach. 

Wildlife. We saw dolphins.  They were just hanging out by the jetty, so Emily ran down and put her hand in the water, and they came right up to her!  (The fishermen on the dock weren't so thrilled - they scared all of the fish away!)  Call me American, but it still surprises me every time I see a kangaroo.  We saw a lot.  Goanna lizards kept walking past our veranda, like small dinosaurs.  It was fun to watch one climb up a tree too.  We also watched a huge sea eagle fish as we drove along the beach.  Abby and I explored the tidal pools (anemonae, crabs, little fish) and saw an awesome beetle.  It was electric blue with orange spots.   We're not in Kansas any more. . .

Straddie is a popular spot for sea turtles to nest.  This year they had 14 nests.  They had mostly all hatched before we arrived.

 Along with the magestic wildlife, we also saw some of the more annoying  varieties.  I saw the largest huntsman spider I have ever seen!  It was easily larger than my hand span.  It was just hanging out in the game room.  We also saw cane toads and hords of baby frogs and tad poles.  And one ferral cat. 

Off-roading.  PJ didn't let us down.  We never even got stuck!  (We tried our hardest. . . )   We drove through massive pot holes, and washed out roads.  I will be cleaning red mud and sand out of our car for a week!  We learned the value of a good map. 

Surfing!  We took surfing lessons.  Kids are awesome.  They just pop right up.  Even we grown-ups learned quickly:  pick a good wave, paddle hard, get up quick (not on your knees!) and don't look down.  It was so fun, but the next morning it felt like I had done a hundred push-ups (which I had).


photo courtesy of Andrea Call.



The very best part of our holiday was spending time with friends and our family, and now we have 2 lovely weeks left to enjoy together in our school holiday.

Volleyball

Shon here:

Bryce just finished the volleyball season.  His team was undefeated and they didn't lose a set the entire season.  Okay they did lose two third sets after they had won the game in two and had extra time so they decided just to play.  Today was one of those days.  In the third set it was hilarious.  There were these HUGE fans in the gym ceiling (probably 10' fan blades) to keep the place cool.  They were hitting the ball up as high as they could (during the third set) trying to hit the fans.

Bryce really loves volleyball.  I asked him why he liked it the other day and he said because I am good at it.  He is too.  He was selected as one of the best two kids in his grade to play on a combined team against the teachers and he has been invited to play on a select team later this year.

It will be nice to have a Saturday break from sports for a while until soccer games start.  Here is a picture of three weeks ago before he started jump serving.  Bryce is the only kid on his team that does jump serves.  He got all his serves in today too.  Last week he got them all in but foot faulted twice.

Happy Love Heart Day

For the most part, Australians love to shorten their words.  Chocolates are "chockies."  Breakfast is "brekkie."  The garbage collector is the "garbo."  Afternoon is "arvo," not to be confused with "avo" which is avocado.  An umbrella is a "brollie."  Biscuits (cookies) are "bikkies."  And my favorite: Lipstick is "lippie."

There are, however, a few words that are actually longer here.  If I were wrapping a present (prezzie) for, say, my daughter's birthday, I would use tape and wrapping paper.  Here we use "sticky tape."  If that gift were a coloring book, she would spend her leisure time "coloring."  Here she would spend her time "colouring in."

Speaking of coloring, and birthdays, my youngest daughter wanted this cake for her birthday.  It was in the American Girl magazine a year ago.  I couldn't find the actual magazine, but we still had the "mini mag" - the magazine for the doll.  I had to use a magnifying glass, but the recipe was there!

Emily and I made rainbow pancakes to match.  Thanks, Laura, for the idea.

Back to Aussie lingo.

In Australia, a heart is an organ.  That shape, the symbol of Valentine's Day, is a "love heart."

I love heart you!

But, my heart is given to someone else.  Happy Valentine's day to my sweetheart, Shon.  This is our 15th Valentine's Day together.  He knows what I like.

Thanks for the lilies.  (I'm not a big rose fan - definitely a highly over-rated flower.)

And I know what he likes.  Shon's favorite dessert is Amish Apple Pie.  It's a family favorite.  Here is the recipe.

Amish Apple Pie

1 C sour cream
1 egg
3/4 C Sugar
3 T flour
1/4 tsp vanilla
3 - 4 C diced, peeled apples
1 unbaked pie crust

crumb topping:
1/2 C brown sugar
1/3 C flour
1/4 C butter at room temperature
1 tsp cinnamon

Beat sour cream and egg together.  Add flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla.  Mix until smooth.  Stir in apples.  Bake at 400 F for 25 minutes.  Remove pie from oven.  Spread with crumb topping.  Bake 20 min more.

A couple tips:
-Use a nice big pie pan (I like the pyrex glass pans with the handles) or your crumb topping will spill all over your oven and might even catch on fire (like it did when I baked this pie at the Shanklin's house!)  But then again, it's nice to have your kitchen smell like cinnamon and spice for 3 weeks.  (Been there, done that.)  Trust me, put a cookie sheet underneath your pie, just in case.

-Only use 3/4 of the crumb topping.  There's just too much of it.  Make a double pie crust and use the extra topping to spread on the extra pie crust.  (You're children will thank you!)

-Use a medal pie ring, to cover the crust so it doesn't get too brown.  Take it off when you put on the crumb topping.

Happy Valentine's Day.  I think I'll go put on a little lippie and smooch my hubby.