Saturday, January 29, 2011

Valuable Advice for Boys of All Ages

These signs are in the mens' room in our Bangalore office. We have a twelve year old son and Cath thinks he and all his friends desperately need to learn this lesson.

Sent from Bill Phelps' iPhone

Sharing the Road: One of My Favorite Photos from Bangalore

I am just back from Melbourne and Bangalore and have a lot of photos to blog, not to mention a variety of other catch-up. Bang was a blur of very invigorating work, there is so much energy in our team there. I did get a few short photo opps.

Via iPad

Monday, January 24, 2011

Bras, Ducklings and Kangaroo - A Visit to Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne

Queen Victoria Market is a 'must visit' spot for any trip to Melbourne.  It is a huge indoor/outdoor market selling all manner of food and dry goods.  I say dry goods for lack of a better term to encompass clothing, kitchen wares, tools, linens, crafts and whatever else the vendors can fit in their trucks.  QV Market was founded in 1878 and is open five days a week, three weekdays and Saturday/Sunday.  Unlike the US where farm markets are usually a complement to the local grocery store, QV Market *is* the grocery store for many people in Melbourne. It is adjacent to the central business district, so it is easily accessible.

The food divides into indoor and outdoor, with the indoor halls selling meat, fish, fowl, cheese, bread, pasta, teas/coffees, wine, beer, oils etc. Outdoor vendors sell fruits and vegetables of all types, plus various livestock, flowers, eggs, honey and other things I don't remember.  .

I especially like the indoor food halls; they make me wish I had a kitchen here or that I could take meat on the 24hr flight home (and get it past the customs beagles).  I only know of a few butchers in metro Washington, DC and they generally have a limited selection.  There are more butchers at QV Market and they sell every cut of meat I have ever seen or heard of, and of course the meat sources go beyond the common beef, pork and lamb to include kangaroo and other exotics.  In addition to fresh meat, the cured meat is fantastic and diverse.   I loved the Polish sausage vendor, and bought a delicious garlic sausage that went perfectly with my pear cider.   For almost every kind of food I saw, there were at least a couple (and usually more) vendor stalls in competition.

The produce is good and diverse.  Temperate fruit from Tasmania and tropical fruit from the north are relatively close to Melbourne.  The huge ethnic diversity of Australia, and the almost universal interest in food and openness to new types of food creates an environment where food diversity thrives.

I visit QV market every time I come to Melbourne and find something new each time.


Sunday, January 23, 2011

This is why I run early and in the cold!

I know my photo doesn't do it justice but I had to try. The sunrise was magnificent and I forgot about the fact that it was 20 degrees out!

Posted via email from Cathleen Phelps

Saturday, January 22, 2011

CrossFit Fun!

I forgot my camera last time. Here's Lyra at her CrossFit class...she got to row on the erg and is under the mistaken impression that it is fun ( but that's what I'm paying for, right?). She did sit ups, learned some weight lifting moves (without weights of course) and got to do jumping pull ups on the ring. At the end, the kids played a variation on tag called "rats and cheese.". Everyone had a lot of fun and I think ( hope!!) Lyra will sleep well tonight.

Posted via email from Cathleen Phelps

Friday, January 21, 2011

Mad Giraffe Graffiti, Melbourne

Every laneway (alley) in Melbourne is decorated and they all have a bar or three hiding at their end.

Sent from Bill Phelps' iPhone

Posted via email from Bill's Photos & Miscellany

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Lyra is going to try CrossFit kids...can you tell she is excited?

Now MY CrossFit workout this morning was really hard! Just when I think I am getting it, there is something horrendous. And people were doing thus with WEIGHT VESTS on. It will be interesting to see what the kids' program is like.

Cathleen
www.thephelpsfamily.blogspot.com
www.givingfullcircle.org

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from Cathleen Phelps

Sunday, January 02, 2011

blog to be continued at www.phelpslore.wordpress.com

For awhile I've thought I should move our blog to Wordpress.  I've developed and maintained other sites via Wordpress and it is just so much easier and predictable than anything else I've used in my volunteer bootstrap environment.  But we started our original blog just over five years ago, right before Lyra was born.  There's way too much to migrate over here.  The only inelegant solution I can think of is just to keep blogspot and link to the new Wordpress blog and provide a link from there back to here.  BLEAH.  So I've been putting it off.
Until now.  Bill and I just took a quick but fabulous trip to Boston to celebrate our 20th (!) wedding anniversary.  We took tons of photos and wrote lots about what we did, where we stayed and all the glorious food we ate.  And the exercise of trying to put that enormous post into Blogger was enough to make me make the move.  Notice that post isn't on here?  So here we are, unfortunately just after all the holiday cards went out telling people to find out what was going on with us at blogspot.
Oh well.  New Year, new blog!  Read on to find out more about our Boston trip.  Bill and I have wasted way too much time to get it organized and posted on this blog.  I am guessing we'll maintain both for awhile and at some point a little later, make Wordpress our official home.  More on that when we figure it out!

Winter. The Archimboldo exhibit at the National Gallery is cool!

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Will Channeling His Inner Four Year Old on a Big Wheel

> We were with the cousins at Cathleen's parents' house and the kids had a few minutes coasting down the hill before some of the adults decided it was too dangerous an activity to do in the street (at which point the kids moved the fun to the sidewalk.)
>

> > > > > > Via iPad

Posted via email from Bill's Photos & Miscellany

Bill Kirchen playing at the Torpedo Factory, First Night Alexandria

Master honky tonk guitar player Bill Kirchen and his band put on a fantastic show tonight in Alexandria. While I would call the music honky tonk, I think it's broader from full on country to rockabilly, etc. All with fantastic guitar playing. A great way to usher in 2011.

Via iPad

Posted via email from Bill's Photos & Miscellany