Perspective


Australia by an American


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My Meadow Quilt

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When I was in the US last year I saw a quilt class being offered in Melbourne in October and had to sign up.  It was to learn how to make the Meadow Quilt, a pattern by fabric designer Lizzy House .  The catch with the pattern is she doesn't publish it; the only way to make the quilt is to take the class. So I signed up. I've been sewing for 20 years and have never actually taken a quilting class before.  I knew I wanted to use fabrics that were a little different than the meadow quilts I had seen, but I also didn't want to go broke buying $24/meter fabrics in Australia when I knew I get the same thing for $10 in the US.  It was right before my mom and I went to Bali, so I decided to keep an eye out for fabric there that would work.  On the days we went batik shopping in Denpasar I found bundles of the perfect fabrics for $2/yard.  I bought way more than I needed just to make sure I had enough.  With all of the batik factories we went to on that trip...
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One Sleep Until Citizenship!

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In January of 1649, Thos Morgan, my great great ..... grandfather, signed the death warrant for King Charles I, an act that in normal times would make him guilty of treason for conspiring against the monarchy.  He ended up fleeing to America, where he changed his last name to Carrier in order to avoid being sent back to England for trial.  Of course, later he married a woman who was tried and hung for being a witch, but that's another story... Three hundred and sixty two years later, I found myself taking a new job in Australia.  In order to get my work visa, I had to pledge allegiance to the monarchy of the same country that my ancestor fled from so many years ago.  And tomorrow, I'll take the Australian Citizenship Pledge and become a dual citizen. Besides the physical move, there were a lot of little details involved in getting to this point.  We arrived on a skilled worker visa, which required providing my resume and degree in addition to the length...
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Ironman Cairns 2016

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From the Ironman- One day I will train properly for these silly races… This race was put on the schedule as it was the last full Ironman distance in Australia that I had not completed.  I did the 70.3 a few years ago and really enjoyed it, and also we were due for a holiday. I signed up for this race long before all of the drama of the cancellation of IM Melbourne and everyone being reallocated to this race or Port Mac a few weeks ago. Additionally, my parents wanted to come out and see me race again and to see the Great Barrier Reef (while it still exists).  We left the house early on Friday morning for a 9am flight.  It was a damn good thing we did as there was a semi truck fire on the freeway that closed it down during the morning rush hour.  As we sat in the lounge watching the chaos on TV and also watching all the bikes headed over to oversize baggage, the race brain began to kick in. The flight was full of triathletes and there is always a nervous buzz of...
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