Thursday - October 22

Still having a hard time figuring out which way traffic is going to be coming along, or turning, so I just look both ways, even though I know there won't be traffic coming from that direction, it's so ingrained in my head that I look anyway. Eventually I'll stop doing that but for now it just seems smarter to look both ways, after all, that's what we always taught our kids, right?

Some of our Aussie friends told us that clothing in Perth is expensive and of poor quality, and from what I've seen they're right. Even in Target, the clothes are pricey but look like cheap junk, making even US Target clothes look pretty good. Oddly enough, although the name is the same and the logo is identical, the Target here claims it is not affiliated with the US Target. Don't know how that could possibly be, but that's what they say.

One of the major grocery store chains here is called Woolworth, don't know if there is any association with the US chain of discount stores, but it seems unlikely. There is the usual array of fast-food places, although a chain called Hungry Jacks features the exact same logo as the US Burger King franchise. The food court in the mall is great, lots of variety and many places selling salads, quiches, spinach wraps, rice balls, etc. You don't see many burger and fries places, except for the fast food restaurants.

Walking around the mall Bill and I feel like dinosaurs, and when he mentions that it seems like EVERYONE is 25 or younger, I point out that we are at the mall, afterall, and that's where young people like to hang out. So we try not to get upset when they kick our canes out from under us or push our wheel chairs really really fast, we understand that they are just being kids.

Here are some more pics, taken at King's Park (where else, I live there.) This is the Swan River, overlooking Perth.

Wednesday - October 21

Spent almost 3 hours in Kings Park today - I love that place! I think I could live there. And with all the problems in our townhouse, camping out might not be such a bad idea. Here are some of the pics I took the first week I was here, when the wildflowers were still going crazy.

O.K., I took these pics today, until the camera battery died. These were taken in one of the botanical gardens, but I don't remember the names of any of the flowers. Just thought they looked good. And those birds at the top of the tree are cockatoos, called Galahs, with gray bodies and pink heads.

Tuesday, Oct. 20

I'm glad spring is here, the black clothing is beginning to disappear, and is being replaced by COLOR! After Bill spent a month here in August, he came back to say that everyone wears black, everyday. Seeing as how Bill is color-challenged anyway, I did not not believe him, until I saw it for myself, and yes, they do all wear black, all the time. Occasionally you'd see a gray skirt or pants, maybe navy blue or even dark brown, but the most popular color by far, in the winter, is black. The women all wear black tights too, it's like a uniform, and the men wear black suits, or at least black pants. So it is good to see people wearing color again (although the guys still seem very attached to their black pants.) I suppose they think it's more professional looking, but in Southern California we like color.

As far as the school system, from what we've been told, there are about 50% public schools and 50% private, and the private schools might call anything from 1st grade to 12th grade, college. They don't use the term high school, and what we would call college is university. So when we've told people that all 5 of our kids are finished with college, and they range in age from 34 to 22, they look at us strangely, and probably think we have raised a pack of knuckleheads. To just be finishing 12th grade at 22 years of age does not sound like much of an accomplishment, so we have to remember to say university, not college.

Monday - Oct. 19

The names of cities and other areas on the map are really diverse, everything from aboriginal sounding names like Kallaroo and Jundalup to Inglewood and Peppermint Grove Beach. There's the Bungle-Bungle range, (love the sound of that one) a maze of sandstone domes that look like giant beehives, and the Goongoonup Bridge.