For some reason, Colin was invited to present. When he got the invitation several months ago (when we were still in New York), Hopkins was a short train-ride away. At this point, it was a somewhat longer trip - but well worth it. In a whirlwind, jet-lagged week, he heard 15 talks on Spinoza, delivered his own, caught up with some very good friends, saw a bit of Baltimore, spent an evening with Naomi's family (Naomi was able to join us for a bit on Skype), flew to Albuquerque, saw his parents for a couple nights, ate a chile relleno burrito in Madrid (Madrid, New Mexico), did a little mud stuccoing, met his mother's new cat, started a new Spinoza paper, survived a 10-hour layover in LA, and came back to Melbourne. It was hard not getting to see a lot of friends, when they were so close... but he'll be back again before long.
After the long, trans-Pacific flight, arriving home again in Melbourne was sweet. Very sweet:
Naomi made a pile of these. They're insanely tasty... orange Florentines.
There hasn't really been a consistent theme in our lives since then.
There has been a consistent amount of rain, however. Out the window, one sees this:
Just inside the window, one sees this:
We've been told the spiders have been unusually prolific this season. These types seem pretty unconcerned with us - they just want a corner to hang out in. Unfortunately, their aesthetic sensibilities (pro-cobwebs) and ours (anti-cobwebs) don't match, so we've had to usher them along...
The orange florentines look very good. I’ll have to share my recipe for ANZAC biscuits, to give you an alternative—and culturally appropriate, for this part of the world—sweet biscuit recipe to try.
ReplyDeleteSounds good, Greg - we'd love the recipe. In fact, some sort of biscuit/cookie tasting/exchange would be a good theme for an event of some sort. Perhaps at the end of the semester? Just a thought.
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