Yesterday I had a very thoughtful day on the 4 month anniversary of Sam’s death.. Sam was on my mind even more than usual… even so,.. or maybe even because so…  the day passed relatively peacefully for me   At around 6 yesterday afternoon we all went voer to Glenn and Liesel’s for a dinner.. I came back to my room around 11 loaded with stories to put into my blog..  When I sat down to write my blog entry for the day.. I just couldn’t write about my fun evening.. all I could think about was Sam. I had a sad and peaceful night. …( I’m learning that those two moods go pretty well together). I woke up feeling good.. so here are the stories from last night.

 

Last night was really, really fun.. There The 20 of us took a ferry across the harbor then a bus up to Glenn and Liesle’s rented place up in Mosman.  Liesel’s mum Mary and her 17 year old sister Nadia were helping out . Add I Glenn’s kids and there were about 30 of us in all.   It was packed and fun. Liesel had been working all day preparing a huge array of wonderful food.. Lots of yummy spreads, great bread, grilled shrimp, meat-piish things, lamb chops, couscous with chick peas, and lots and lots of Australian wine and Tasmanian beer (very tasty).. For desert she made a Palava which is a meringue shell filled with fruit and whipped cream… it was absolutely delicious.   We had tons of fun telling stories, singing songs and playing with the kids.   I did a few science stunts.. including the standard burning-steel-wool-on-a-coat-hanger trick and the plasma-ball-in-the-microwave trick. The latter worked great until the glass I was using in the microwave blew up with a loud bang.. oooops.   Here are some pictures from the evening.

 

At one point I handed my camera to 4 year old Thomas and asked him to take some pictures.. here they are for you to critique

 

Our senior member (40 years in IBM !!!!)  Karl-Hienz from Germany told a joke which I captured on my camera for your enjoyment.. He’s  a really unique guy…

 

Today passed pretty quickly.. We concluded our meeting in mid afternoon and I walked home. I tried to do a bit of shopping but I really couldn’t get into it. I decided to go back to the hotel and take a run… as I walked I was doing my walking meditation mantra (‘Diane, Max, Sam, Gabe)…   which I always have and still use….  Just as I rounded a corner to cross the street to my hotel I looked down.. I(I was on ‘Sam’ in my Mantra).. and check this out..

One of the rain grates had SMC cut deeply into it by hand.. It was like a jolt.. I went walking around looking at the other grates.. and only that one so far has had this image… Amazing Sam…

 -jc..

 ps. Thanks to everyone who posted to Sam myspace yesterday. We are glad that he is still in your hearts !