One of my best buds had her 21st birthday party on Saturday and what an event it was. I met Sam during my first year at uni when we were in the same Indonesian classes. She is doing B of Arts/B of Education which means that in a bit over a year she will be teaching kids Indo, history and the like. In the past couple of years we have had plenty of fun filled times from concerts to nights out and just chilling.
Her party was a pretty laid back affair held at a local hall with both family and friends. The party did have a casino theme but I think we ended up playing more games of “Go Fish” then we did 21 🙂 Lots of little and not so little kids running round playing with balloons, making hand print memory pages, eating and drinking, singing and dancing, just all in general fun.
Sam is the queen of the jelly shot, I don’t think she has ever had a party which did not involve jelly and vodka. I didn’t have any of these as I was driving but they looked quite nice especially with the two layers of jelly, very tricky!
Today marks the end of week 3 at uni. 10 weeks left of teaching and 8 pieces of assessment to be completed by then. I spent time in the library last night after my class finished whilst I was waiting for Matthew to finish so we could drive home together, picking out books to start preparing for my first essay.
This is a photo that I took at uni yesterday as I walked up out of the free all day parking section towards the bush path leading up to uni. Just before the uni land starts but on the road that only goes to Uni there is a section of probably 40 or 50 free all day car parking spaces which are highly sought after. I have driven to uni both times I have gone this week as I have been recovering from a nasty flu that knocked me for dead on Monday. Both times I have driven I have been lucky to get one of these parks instead of needing to drive round to the free parking that is located further away from uni. Because, we all know that free parking is much nicer than paying $5 for a day pass.
The map below shows where my uni is located, smack bang in Toohey Forest. I quite enjoy going to a uni that was built round the forest and from many rooms, if you look out the windows all you will see is trees as between most of the buildings there are patches of bush. When it has rained (what is rain?) or when the wind is blowing right, you can stand still and breathe in the air that is perfumed with the scents of the various Eucalyptus and Acacia that grow round the place.
The best thing is that since uni is right beside the SE freeway it only takes 8 minutes or so to drive there from the city (15mins during peak time). Then from the city to home is about 15-20mins (25-30 mins during peak time). If I catch the bus though it is 1hr 20mins to uni and 1hr from uni because the bus timetables don’t always work in your favour. I quite enjoy getting the buses to uni but it is so handy to be able to drive when you are going to the library with a big stack of books or are only going to uni for an hour or two.
Yesterday marked the start of the 2nd week back at uni for me and I am getting used to new lecturers, doing my readings, going over notes and starting to plan my assesment pieces. I am a bit ticked off with one of my classes as the lecturer said at the first lecture last week, that he should have the reading brick put together in the next couple of weeks! Dude, based on the fact that reading bricks are designed to have the readings that accompany each weeks lecture, they should be ready for week 1, week 2 at the latest. grr.
These are three things that I am loving at the moment.
Strawberries. Fresh, sweet and flavoursome Queensland Strawberries. Strawberry season also means that the Ekka is fast approaching and that means strawberry sundaes and fireworks.
Hayseed Dixie. I am a big fan of the cover version and these guys with their “rockgrass” versions of classic rock songs produce some of the best covers I have heard in a while.
The Mountain Goats. Well I have loved these two guys for over a year now and in a mere 20 days their new album Get Lonely is released. I can’t wait to hear the other songs after listening to Wild Sage on NPR’s All Songs Considered.
And this is one thing that makes me so incredibly happy.
West Papuan David Wainggai is finally set to receive a TPV (Temporary Protection Visa) after the Refugee Review Tribunal overturned the original Department of Immigration ruling that granted visa’s to the 42 other West Papuan’s who landed on Cape York in January. I can’t describe how happy I was when I first heard it on the news and later read it in the paper. Justice Comes Ashore. Govt weighs appeal against Papuan visa decision.
After I had done my school work yesterday I sat down and had a little play.
After much phone tag and clashing schedules (Andrea works mon-fri and I work on sat) we finally manged to get a Sunday where we were both free. Of course then we were at odds at what to do! After checking out her newish flat we went in to the Valley where we had fun cruising the aisles of the Asian variety stores and found a source of little containers for when we next need to make jelly shots.
We then hit our primary target for the day; The Valley Markets, however I guess because it was bit overcast it was pretty dead so we didn’t stay there long before having fun checking out all the aisles in one of the Asian grocery store and seeing what things we could see such as the whole frozen Durians or the 1000’s of different dried mushrooms or MSG powder (mmmmmm MSG…..). After we had done a little bit of shopping we headed into the city to have lunch at Sizzler.
After a brief poke round Borders we headed back into the Myer Centre to find all the goodies. Our first stop was the Oxfam shop where after much drooling I walked out with a new hair tie and a bag made by Timor Leste women who are part of the Alola Foundation. The bag is gorgeous, it has a tais panel which I just love!
Our next stop was Myer where we were drawn in by the super big sale they are having and the tables upon tables of shoes they were clearing out for $20, $30, $40 etc. Andrea hit the jackpot and got a new pair of shoes and I well I thought I had hit the jackpot. These orange shoes, so very, very nice and the only size they had them in was 9.5 which was a tad tight. Ok well they also come in black, brown, white, baby pink, red and olive (I wanted the red, the orange or the olive) but no the only 10’s they had were in white or black 🙁
Since I had fallen in love with them I resolved to ring round the stores in the morning. Once we had a bit more of a browse and a 100 more laughs we hopped on the train back to her flat and had a little hang out chatting with her boyfriend and showing me some scrapbooking she had done 😀
I tell you when Andie and I get together we just become the biggest giggling gerties, it’s a total crack-up 😀
Fast Forward 16hrs.
After I finished work this morning at the grand time of 9:45am I went down to the Myer in our centre but they only had the 10 in white :(. I get home and do some ringing around and get told by more stores we only have the white or the black :(. Dude, those shoes were so funky but alas it seems it was not meant to be.
I wanted a new pair of jeans and since I had nothing pressing yet to fill my day with. I headed out to DFO to see what I could find 🙂 Well I walked out with a new pair of jeans from Country Road and almost walked out with 2 new skirts. The biggest find however are the shoes in the photo below.
The ones on the left are Simple and the ones on the right are Teva. They are both the first pair of thonged shoes I have owned in years and years as I normally find the thong bit between my toes very uncomfy but these ones don’t seem to be too bad and they both have soles which feel like clouds which is what my feet like 🙂
It was twenty-seven years today,
Mamma brought you to the show
You’ve been going in and out of BNE
And you’re guaranteed to raise a smile
So may I introduce to you,
The act you’ve known for all these years
Karl Johann Palsson, the first-born
We’re so very proud of you
We hope you are too
Karl Johann Palsson, the first-born
Sit back and let the evening go
Karl Johann Palsson, Karl Johan Palsson
Karl Johann Palsson, the first-born
It’s wonderful you are there
It’s certainly a thrill.
Happy Birthday Big Brother.
I was speaking to Karl on MSN the other day and asked him for the sake of it what sort of cake he wanted for his birthday and he answered with Lemon Poppy Seed Cake which was quite a surprise as I had bought lemons and poppys eeds the other day as I wanted to try my hand at making a Lemon Poppy Seed Cake. Karl may not be on the right side of the globe to enjoy his cake but still when Mum and I cut the cake we had a candle and wished you happy birthday.
I used a recipe from Southern Living to which I added more poppy seeds and more lemon juice.
225g cooking margarine, softened
2.5 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk or sour cream (I used half and half as I had some left over sour cream to use up)
2 tsp vanilla
zest and juice of 1 large lemon
3-4 tbs poppy seeds
1. Preheat oven to 160°C.
2. Cream margarine and sugar and then mix in the eggs one or two at a time.
3. Mix in the flour and baking soda and the buttermilk/sour cream in alternate parts until just combined.
4. Mix in vanilla, poppy seeds, lemon juice and zest
5. Cook in a 24cm spring form cake tin for 1hr 30 minutes (The recipe on Southern Living has directions for all sorts of other sizes but basically just use your common sense)
Lemon Cream Cheese Icing
zest of one medium sized lemon
juice of half above lemon
dash of vanilla
2 or 3 tbs caster sugar
200g or so cream cheese softened.
1. Cream together cream cheese and sugar.
2. Add the lemon zest, juice and vanilla and beat till smooth
3. Ice the cake
I personally am not a fan of sugary sweet icing, it should be accompany the cake and not overbear it, however if you like sweet icing just add more sugar.
And now for two other items of news.
I am tickled pink to announce that my uni results came out for the semester the other day day and I recieved FOUR DISTINCTIONS and ONE CREDIT!!! (Marks go High Distinction, Distinction, Credit, Pass, Pass Conceded and Fail)
If anyone can pick the uncanny link between the dates of Karl’s birthday and my birthday there is a piece of cake waiting here for you.
July 1-3, 2005 ættarmót (Clan Gathering) of the decendants of Jóns Einarssonar and Jóhönnu ÞórdÃsar Jónsdóttir at Reykjaskóla, Hrútafjörði.
Jón and Jóhanna were my great, grand parents and are long since dead. Tannstaðabakki is a farm just up the road from Reykjaskóla which has been in our family for at least the last three hundred years.
It is where Pabbi lived on and off for the first 14 years of his life and it is where Amma and my grandfather, a USA Army Corporal courted.
After arriving at Reykjaskóla we were shown our rooms in the “Pall Palsson Wing” which is where those descendants of my father who were not camping stayed. This meant that we were in and out of each others rooms and running amok in the hallway.
After settling in we drove up to Tannstaðabakki where a night of food, drink and cheer was waiting, set up in the barn were trestle tables and outside a BBQ was just getting fired up. It didn’t take long after we arrived to find Toti and his troop and I set off with Silja and Birta as they showed me the things they had discovered like the dog with young litter which was getting a lot of attention from all the youngsters or the horses that they liked to pat. A little while later a joyous sound rang out when Soley arrived and we gave each other a big hug.
After Mum, Matthew and I had been introduced to a variety of people and short conversations of English were spoken, the adults grouped off and started talking in Icelandic to each other and Mum, Matthew, Soley and I headed down to the “beach” and explored, played and had our own merriment.
Once the sun had started to move away and the wind started to blow across the water we headed back up to the barn to spend the night humming along to Icelandic Folk Songs whilst the rest of the crew sang, smiled and had fun. Since Mum, Matthew and I aren’t exactly up with the whole Icelandic thing, most of the songs we stood round watching. There were some songs however which were ones we knew in English, so we could sing along to those ones. More often the case was that I buzzed about taking photos and Matthew and Mum stood round talking.
Day 8 – July 2, 2005
The night before Skúli had passed around word that if any one who was interested could come watch the milking of the cows in the morning, so of course Mum, Pabbi and I took up the offer and actually were the only ones and arrived before the milking had started so we went for a walk along the fjord as Pabbi pointed out the places he had played as a young fella and what had changed over the years.
After a while we walked back up the farm and chatted to Skúli and Guðrún as they went about the dairy business.
Once we got back to Reykjaskóla and had our breakfast where Mum was just as excited as she had been since our first trip to the grocery store at the chance to have Sour Milk on her cereal (much better than buttermilk). Mum and Pabbi headed off to chat to people I guess and Matthew probably was sitting somewhere listening to his MiniDisc player I headed off to act like an 8yr old with my nieces. Taking silly photos, playing soccer and attempting to play croquet, passing the camera round to whom ever wanted to take photos with it; Silja, Birta, Nonni(?) and who knows who else – it is not me, my camera and my life but us, my camera and our life 🙂
Around midday everyone headed up to Tannstaðabakki, where we were told about some of the things that they are now involved in with raising chickens, running school tours and the weather station etc. Karl had come up from Reykjavik by now so it was fun to have him around to join in on the fun and games. Birta had taken my camera again by now and was no longer just taking photos of people in “Team Red” but all the “Teams”.
After the tour was over we headed back to Reykjaskóla where Matthew and Karl played foxtail with one of the bags of clothes that we had left with him to bring up. Considering the things those two have played foxtail with over the years (old Christams trees etc) it was no surprise when they started this up. As we carried stuff in from his car, Matthew had now grabbed my camera and started taking some photos.
Once we were all settled we went over to the Reykir Folk Museum which is just near the school and suprise suprise Guðrún was on the door, collecting admission and handing out guides. This museum is chock full of items from the local area including quite a few items that were made by my great, great grandfather Einar Skúlason in the mid to late 1800’s.
It also includes a boat which was made in 1875 from drift wood for use a shark fishing boat in Winter and was in use until 1915, as well as a tiny boat that came in two halves for easy transport on horses, as well as a couple of reconstructed interiors of 1800’s homes.
After the museum, Matthew and I headed off to the games room with a whole troop of people from the “Pall Palsson Wing” to play air-hockey, table-tennis, mini-golf and other assorted games that we came up with what we found around.
However the sun was beckoning and after looking at the egg laying hens; Soley, Birta and Jökull decided to make a dam in the little stream that came from a hot spring up the hill a bit; I joined in, offering advice and warming my arms and legs in the warm water.
Once the dam had been built to the best of our capabilities it was time for all the kidlets and adults to be rounded up to get dressed up for the dinner. We were all on our best behaviour as we found our place card and listened to speeches that we had only a few ideas as to their content. After filling up on a wide array of foods including some very yummy brussel sprouts, I moved over to the table where Matthew was sitting and for some reason we started building little boats out of the place-cards and using wax from the tea lights to give them weight. After we had each made one or two we raced as slowly as we could down to the stream to launch our boats. Along the way we managed to draw the attention of some other kidlets and Karl and before long we had raced back up stairs to the dining room to scrounge more place-cards and tea lights to make more boats to have an all out boat race.
Before too long though the boats started to get shipwrecked on the banks and had to be decommissioned as race boats. Then we moved down to the shore where there were more kidlets playing in the late night sun; skimming rocks, playing round the whale bone, digging and having fun.
This next photo is one I really like because there is my shadow as I take the photo, Karl and Matthew in the middle finding suitable skimming rocks and Hafthor and Soley are in the background heading off home.
Once the youngest kidlets were tucked up in bed, it was time for the mice to come out and play 🙂
Skúli been a man of many talents had called up his band to play for a barn dance where we had fun drinking and watching people dancing before joining in on the chicken dance and the hokey pokey, watching Toti and Anna show off their dancing skills as they tore up the gym floor with their fancy footwork and seeing my parents the happiest I had seen them in ages dancing together on the gym floor. Once we were all tired out from dancing or watching we headed outside to stand round with a few drinks sharing stories and making jokes.
Day 9 – July 3, 2005
This was a lazy day, we packed up our gear and headed back to Reykjavik to pick up Aunty Margaret from the airport and Karl’s car before driving back to Borgarnes to spend the night with HjördÃs who had prepared a stellar lasagne for tea and to do more washing in preparation for the start of our trip round Iceland in the morning.
