Lunar Eclipse

This week Australia experienced a total lunar eclipse, and we had a great view from our deck. Thanks to a tripod, an itchy finger on the shutter button, and some photoshop expertise from Meghan, here's a quick sequence of how the moon looked. From 6:51 pm to 10:24 pm on the 28th, the Earth's shadow swept over the full moon. For an hour and a half in between, no part of the moon received direct sunlight, but the scattered red light from a thousand sunrises and sunsets around the Earth lit it up with an eerie red glow...

It was astonishing how dramatic and sudden the change was between a black-and-white moon and one lit up in red! We also "discovered" something while watching the eclipse. As you can see, the Earth's shadow enters and leaves the moon at different angles, proving yet again that the Earth is round - or at least, not rectangular!

(Update: These frames were captured on a Canon EOS Digital XT with a Canon 100/f2.8 lens. Exposures ranged from 1/100 sec to 3 sec. With a telescope, you can do much better: for example, see this, and this beautiful sequence.)

A year of passionfruit

The pictures below were taken exactly a year apart. Can you spot the similarities and the differences? We still have a nice deck, there's still a bridge in the background, and the passionfruit tastes just as good as it did last August.

In the meantime, we've acquired furniture, bought a car, traveled a bit, seen some of the local flora and fauna, even held a baby wombat, and much more - all documented for you right here on this blog. As you can see, our life promises to be quite different starting very soon, so here's to a brand new adventure ahead!

Amelie

Stephanie and Mike had a beautiful baby girl on June 12, 2007. Shami and I have seen them twice since then, and so we have been able to practice our baby holding techniques a little bit.

It has been wonderful getting to know Mike and Stephanie. They are Australian, but actually lived in Ithaca for a few years. They are both veterinarians, and Mike worked with Jeanine at Cornell before they moved back to Australia a little while ago. It is very nice to have people around who know and miss Ithaca, including Ludgate Farms, Monkey Run, and even snow!

A few weeks ago we drove up to Mona Vale, where they live - a little under an hour's drive up north, near the ocean. It was wonderful to see them and to meet Amelie for the first time, at the tender age of 5 weeks.

Last weekend we had them over for dinner. Amelie is now 10 weeks old, and it amazed us how much she had grown in just a few weeks! Shami and I took turns holding her, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Good baby holding practice.

Memories of a year ago

One year ago today, we were standing in the Syracuse, NY airport with all our luggage, waiting to fly to Sydney for the very first time.

Ah, memories!

Baby gets a dresser

Having a baby + having a car = trips to IKEA for baby furniture!







Et voila! Two hours later, a dresser for baby clothes.


... don't miss our lamb named Woollahra posing on top of the dresser!