Friends in different hemispheres

There’s one huge advantage of this day and age with the prevalence of the Internet…we’re no longer bound to friendship circles based on where we are geographically located.  We can take tours of different places and join friends in whatever adventure they’re having, all without a hefty priced aeroplane ticket and accomodation. 

This is the type of fun I have with a friend of mine, Lisa. Lisa lives in Ohio, USA and I’ve seen her neigbourhood, the beautiful lake near her house, the music rooms where she teaches, her beautiful dog Kovi and I’ve been on road trips with her all over the place…and I’ve not once left Australia!

  An early morning photo of Kovi, the Husky! 

We take all these adventures by facebook messages! She sends me photos and videos of all the things she’s doing that might be interesting to a non-local. Being a musician/music teacher/all round awesome with everything music, and us having a shared passion for music, this morning I woke up to a recording of her playing music for me! Even on the other side of the world, their graded music books have the Australian National Anthem.  Previously she’s had a few of her students play it for me, but this morning it was her turn. It was the coolest thing. Thinking that an American music teacher is playing Advance Australia Fair because I’m Australian! So that was cool. 

We’ve spoken a few times about a benefit concert Lisa hopes to put together and how I could make a special guest appearance via Skype. Playing for Americans from the comfort of my own home. That’s quite a crazy idea…which we also have to thank the Internet for making possible. If I had said to someone in the days my Grandmother was growing up (or even my parents era really) that all this would be possible, they’d have called me a nutter! 

And because sharing is caring, here’s a selection of photos from Ohio. Curtesy of Lisa!  

  This one was on her way home one evening. The setting sun is just magical. 

  Recently she had a music evening at the school where she teaches, so I went along via facebook message! We entered into the raffle…had a bunch of tickets…but no luck. Seems I’m just as unlucky at winning prizes in the northern hemisphere too! 😉 

   

   These 3 were sent to me today. This is the most recent sunset. Beautiful. 

Seeing the world without the hefty travel bill, it’s the perfect arrangement. So when I eventually get around to the real travelling, I’ll have a list made of what I want to see in real life! 

It does go to show though, friendships don’t need to be in close geographical proximity to be amazing. 

Scrabble Day

Tomorrow (April 13), is Scrabble Day. It is celebrated on the birthday of Alfred Mosher Butts, the inventor of the Scrabble board game. 

Growing up, I played a lot of scrabble. At one stage, we had an elderly lady living next door. She was an avid reader and regularly did the crosswords in the newspaper. She also loved to play scrabble. 

After school, my younger sister and I would get changed and once 4pm came, we would go next door for an afternoon game of scrabble. Because she loved the company, our neighbour would also treat us to a chocolate biscuit. 

We would spend the afternoon playing scrabble and often just made it home in time for dinner. We would get serious too – we had the official scrabble dictionary and if words weren’t in there…they couldn’t be played. Sometimes though, that book infuriated our neighbour. Some words listed in the book she wasn’t satisfied with because she had never come across them and wasn’t convinced the word actually existed! There were many discussions about switching to trusting her (20yr old) Oxford Dictionary.

She was Scottish and would often tell us stories about where words originated and, sometimes, she would even tell us about the different pronunciation between Australia and Scotland. I’m certain that the teenage version of myself would frustrate her sometimes. With my teenage ways and particularly my competitive edge – I’d care more about big points than learning what the words mean when I played a word I found in the book that I didn’t know. I can still hear her today. Conversations would often go like this: 

Her: do you know what the word means, Natalie?

Me: no, but it’s a word and scores well! 

Her: You should still learn the definition… (this is when she’d often reach for the  dictionary and read me the definition).

I gained a lot from those scrabble afternoons. A beautiful friendship with my elderly neighbour (and her family who all knew my sister and I) which turned into many memories when she passed away. A deeper love and understanding for the English language and a few new words that I learnt and which have stayed in my mind ever since.

My discovery that Scrabble Day is a thing made my day! It made me think of our dear neighbour and the happy times we had sitting around a scrabble board. 

What I learnt from spending Easter with extended family.

I’ve spent the Easter weekend with some family members, including their young children. I haven’t had Easter with kids for quite a few years, so it’s quite different to the norm. 

The thing about kids, is their excitement for everything. And I mean everything. The simple act of going for a drive has turned into “I want to go in Nat’s car with her!” It has been crowded. And I mean very crowded, personal space is something I haven’t had for a few days. But surprisingly I’ve dealt with it ok. 

Each morning, the trip to the fridge for my thyroid pills has been risky…if the kids are awake, there’s a good chance I won’t make it back to bed for more sleeping (or talking on facebook to my friend in the U.S. who’s always waiting for me to wake up). There has been some early mornings, but it’s ok. Super humans don’t need sleep, right?!

If I do make it back to bed after thyroid pills, it’s not long before I hear the chatter of the kids in the other room. Chatter and laughter at all hours of the morning – between 6am and 6:30am has been something I’ve become accustom to. I’ve found myself surfacing in the midst of their chatter and being greeted with very excited “good morning” all in unison. 

Ah, Easter 2015…you’ve been an epic few days. Absolutely mental…crazy busy and a little crowded. But with 3 days of the 4 day weekend over, it has been fun overall. Mostly. 

Happy Easter everyone!