May 2012

 Hi Guys,

A quick update on our life: first, it was my birthday last week, so Andrew and I went out for dinner (with a generous GC from Gill and Tony) to Poets Cafe in Montville, a little town in the mountains, 40 minutes from our place.

I'd have to say it was, hands-down, the best dining experience we've had in Australia... it checked all the boxes: nice atmosphere, delicious food, good service, and great live music.  A lot of restaurants in Oz check maybe 2 of those boxes,  but this was a solid 4/4. 

 Here's a view of the dining room... the other direction is an amazing view across the valley to the ocean, but it was dark so you couldn't see it this time.  Below is a pic of the outside... I think it must be a very old building. 

Then  the night before my birthday we invited all the neighbors our age from our building over for cake... it was funny b/c we hardly knew some of them, but thought this would be a good chance to change that. 

We played a game of charades/pictionary... at first when Andrew announced the game everyone was a bit leery of it... but 2 minutes later everyone was laughing their heads off and having a blast.  (See pics above... Blogger has changed their format again, so just getting used to the new picture settings). 

Here were the birthday party invites... sticky notes on everyone's doors since no one was home when I went around to invite them.

Then last Sunday Andrew had a gig with his new band... it was a show at a beach, and sounded great... I love their music.  It was just a 3-man show this time; usually it's 4.  The guy in the middle is Drew Wilson who wrote all the songs... he's the main guy and super talented.  Andrew was to the left, and the drummer was to the right.  The backstage area was just a bunch of bushes... that's what you get with an outdoor venue.  :)

 Here's the view of the crowd- and it went way back, probably around 1000 people.  It was funny b/c a lot of the people were total hippies who started dancing near the stage with hula hoops and flowers in their hair.  Good show. 

And just to break things up a bit... here's a view of the sunrise from our living room these days... not too shabby.  :)