St Albans, Vermont Spring 2006

This is a really short take...
Opening up the summer place...called the phone and power companies a week ahead so the utilities would be in place when we arrived. The lights were on but there was no dial tone on the phone. (Aside: why do we still call it a dial tone? Shouldn't it be a 'touch tone'?)

To get cell phone reception in our rural area, we must walk to the edge of the lake and face East. So I did and called the phone company with the resulting conversation:

Me:"Hello, our phone which was supposed to be connected last week doesn't even have a dial tone."
Phone repair service rep: " Is that the phone you are calling from?"

Sydney, Australia 1965

We were on our trip around the world and had a week or so in New South Wales. We took the ferry across the harbor to the Taronga Park Zoo; great pointsettia trees in full bloom and nice open areas for the animals. We came upon a caretaker digging worms for some creature and asked if we might hold one of the koalas. He said, "Sure, come back after lunch." Then after a pause he said, "Yer Canijun, right?" We told him, no, we were Americans to which he responded, " Sime thing".

We did meet after lunch and entered the pen, stepping over the sleeping wallabies to reach the 'cute' koalas. The keeper picked one he said didn't bite very often. News: they aren't cuddly at all. It's like holding a solid, heavy grocery bag. I didn't realize until later that my shoulder bag was partly open and the koala had made a deposit.
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Breakfast at our B&B was delivered to our door each morning but the nice lady didn't want to disturb us, so she left the tray outside the door. The food was invariably cold by the time we found it and was invariably eggs, sausage, toast and tea. I don't remember what we did with the tea, but we still smile at the memory of how we didn't like the cure of the sausage, and we would never tell the nice lady that the food wasn't grand. So we chopped up the eggs and meat, flushed them, stuck the toast on a fork and warmed it by the space heater. Then we set out down the street to find breakfast.

A Bit of Background

This blogging business seems like a good way to do a sort of memoir, bits and pieces and short takes in no particular order. I've had a grand life, lots of adventures and plenty of pleasant memories I'd like to record somewhere. I have heard that when folks get really old, much older than I am now at 72, their experiences and memories are much more important than the material goods they may have possessed.
So, here goes....