Things I've noticed...

Just some random things i have noticed/remarked on while here:

• Slang is in...  even the newspaper articles are rife with it...  most of the time i catch on without going "huh?!" (for instance, if they advertize Brekky, Lunch, Dinner -- not too hard to suss out that breakfast is on offer)
• Food is expensive here.  The difference between resort offerings and what is available generally is the quality/range, not necessarily the price (although we had hideous spikes in the cost of bottled water during our ranging)
• A cold is annoying, no matter where in the world one is afflicted with the virus
• It's nice to be able to "lay low" when dealing with a faucet-nose...  Kelly didn't get that luxury, but *I* am taking full advantage of it! LOL -- a book and a nearby box of tissues, along with copious amounts of peppermint tea...  grateful one i am!
• Neighborhood birds are bigger here, louder, more colorful.  I have been fortunate enough to see two rather rare species (pair of wattle-birds, i think?  [Kelly tells me i misremembered -- it's mallee fowl] in the outback, two male lyre birds the rain forest)
• I've seen far fewer kangaroos than I anticipated, but more variations (my mental image was of ONE type/color -- reality is there are a collection, and they live in widely-different habitats)
• Even a mild winter of cold/damp/wet is uncomfortable -- these days i think i have a really narrow band of comfort, and will find the heat wave that is currently over Utah equally challenging...  i'm sure hot flashes [heightened by the latest medications] make my temperature issues more pronounced... Kelly got to laugh at how rapidly i would cycle through cold/hot&sweaty/cold&sweaty the last three weeks -- layers are my new best friends
• Hair is like a watched pot -- in reference to that old saying that "a watched pot never boils" -- but i am sure that those who saw me a month ago will be able to tell that i have a pile of down on my head and tiny brows/lashes.  I keep trying not to stare and see if it really has gotten better than it was! LOL

So it's nearing 2pm here and i am up and dressed, finished the soup for lunch --  now think i will walk to the post office with postcards and perhaps wander the nearby shops...  that might become my entire accomplishment for the day, and it's enough!