Sophie Smiles.

It's hard to get a snapshot of it when it happens, it is always so fleeting, but what it is is that when Sophie looks at you, once in a while one lip will sort of snag up onto one tooth, thus showing us a single fang. We call it "The Fang of Love." And, if she really loves you, she will give you TWO fangs of love. Watch carefully and you will see. IF I can capture it, I will be sure to post it. The Fang of Love.

Our Scuba Photos Are Here!

Click HERE to run a cool slide show of our dive! Woohoo! This was on the Calypso, out of Port Douglas. I feel beyond privileged to have been able to enjoy the beauty and fascination of life at the Great Barrier Reef. Bluer than blue, warm as warm can be, crystal clear and teeming with many varieties of plants, turtles, fish and shellfish and how they all interact.

I appreciated the opportunity to observe firsthand the differences

I highly recommend the crew of The Calypso for their excellence. They were clear, their methods made sense, and were easy to follow and they really made it fun. Absolutely fantastic all around. Most of all, Derek, the ship's photographer, and Erin our personal dive instructor, made sure we all had a great time and we have the photos to prove it. Carol took most of these, and I took the last several and yes, I've hypersaturized some things and the turtle was taken by the ship's photographer, not me, but I did encounter a turtle up close and personal. It was all So. Very. Cool.

Bonnie Rocks.

H and I saw Bonnie Raitt at the Mountain Winery on September 3 and I have to tell you, wisdom and experience is the sexiest thing alive and she fully embraces both full throttle, no holds barred. She gave fans a sweet and sultry thang that was intimate as well as bracing. Jude Johnstone, Bonnie's darling du jour, opened with some really impressive cuts from her album and honestly each piece she sang was heartfelt, open and bitingly honest. I don't know what this woman has been through but whatever it was she's taken on before, it all comes out in her poetry, and the ever-changing warmth of the melodies she chooses. Bonnie and her band sparked the night with downright blistering New Orleans rock, funk, blues and ballads. She was really in touch with the audience in a way that only years of being on the road can bring -- she showcases not only that one-of-a-kind, incredible vocal grasp but shares with us, her peeps, a really great sense of humor. She talked about her home state, California, and she's just as pretty as ever. She cut her hair a bit but it's still that big shock of champagne strawberry blush. Mountain Winery has undergone recent construction that will morph that little bowl into a grand worthy venue. The ladies' room is already done, is enormous, with dozens of stalls and everything's all new and shiny, so much better than the last ones they had! Yow. And there aren't those big blocky bleachers any more, or those folding chairs -- it's a real ampitheater, with really nice seats, and we were in Section 1, row J, seats 7 and 8. Also known as "really close." 9th row. Anyway enough of that. I overheard it will be closed for renovation all of 2009 and should be completed for the 2010 summer season. We hope. What a great show it was, the night was perfect, not too warm yet and crickets clicked away in the brush around the vines. Driving on Big Basin Way with all the trees lit up with mini lights was also very lovely.

Everything Is Beautiful.

It took three weeks away from everything to readjust my take on life and I have a new creed. I want everyone around me to be happy no matter what and I am going to always do my best to uphold this creed so that everyone around me is happy. I want happiness for others. I took three weeks to reevaluate, rethink, and reassess, that this is my new core principle. I want to do my best to make others happy. Taking a holiday did a world of good for me. A world of good.

The Russell Hotel. The Rocks, Sydney.

We visited Sydney Harbor and the Opera House on Friday, August 29, on our last day. This is about all we saw inside, aside from the souvenir shop. Pam thought it would be a cool perspective, and isn't she so right. It was money to get in and we were out, so we walked around outside instead. Encountered a digideroo player, and I liked his sound. We had a blast waolking around the harbor, took the monorail in and ferried out, under the magnificent bridge. It was truly unbelievable. It was inspiring when five F15s flew over the Sydney Opera House, right when we were watching. I figured you just don't get to see that every day.

What We Did On Our Summer Vacation

SUMMER OF 2008
Year of the golden rat (1960, the year that I was born).
Summer Olympics began.
On 08/08/08.
Right after the opening ceremonies that Friday night, my daughter and I boarded a 747 for Oz to meet wonderful friends and go to many incredible and amazing places. ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD!

We scuba dived the Great Barrier Reef.




part I - Brisbane, Scarborough, Australia Zoo in Beerwa, Moreton Island, and Cairns
part II - Whitehaven Beach, Daintree Rainforest/Cape Tribulation; Magnetic Island, Fraser Island, 1770, airports and Sydney

Well, sort of. These are just a fraction of the hundreds we took. If we could only find them all, some seem to be missing unfortunately and hopefully they will turn up. Anyway, kudos also go to Carol, who took all of these because my cheapie camera I've had five years chose the second day of the trip to cease functioning. I let Carol do the job and she makes me proud. Most of these are really great composition, perspective and focus.

So, I hope you enjoy these snapshots. We enjoyed the incredible whirlwind. And I have to say something nice about Qantas: they were really great.

Gnoite, mite.

The Porpoise of Our Trip.

We met this little guy on the speedboat trip to Moreton Island, where we snorkeled around the shipwrecks that comprise an artificial reef. It is actually a dolphin, a pun for the title seems appropriate. We also spotted a dugong, known here as a manatee. That was cool.