Happy Australia Day 2007!

Two Hanky Link

I found this link on Clicked which is Will Femia's weblog on MSNBC. It's an 8 minute video titled 4 Generations and relates the story of giving a gift of a water buffalo to a Chinese farm family. Warning: Put your tissue box nearby before clicking.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCOTT!

Ella Grace's First Snowfall

Remember the first time you saw snow? I hope you had your warm blanket too!

Comet McNaught Visible

On Tuesday and Wednesday nights we had perfectly clear skies and Comet McNaught was spectacular. It was clearly visible from after sunset until after 9pm. The head and tail were very distinguishable. Hundreds of people came to our beach for a good look. For tonight it looks like the clouds have returned.

Comet McNaught

The weather didn't cooperate with our comet-watching last night. We waited patiently for the sun to set then looked in the proper direction and finally through a little peephole in the cloud cover, we saw Comet McNaught. We'll try again tonight. The sky is clear tonight but the comet will supposedly be less visible. There's a great photo gallery at Spaceweather.com of the comet in different parts of the world. Our view sadly was not comparable to any of these great photos.

New Yellow Wiggle

The Wiggles, a popular Australian band which specializes in children's entertainment, has a new member. Sam Moran will replace Greg Page, the Yellow Wiggle. Page was a founding member of the group and he has been a part of the song and dance group for the last 15 years; however, he suffers from orthostatic intolerance, a disorder which stops his heart from pumping enough blood while standing or dancing (or wiggling) and has been forced to resign from the group.

Sam Moran got his start with The Wiggles hosting the Dorothy the Dinosaur Show. Recently he married Lyn Stuckey, the American who is Dorothy the Dinosaur, in a Sydney Harborside ceremony. Pictured, Sam Moran and Lyn Stuckey

Roddick Beats Federer in Warm-up to Open

The Australian Open which starts Monday just got more interesting. Andy Roddick won the Kooyong Classic Saturday afternoon, recording his first win over Roger Federer since August 2003 and proving that Federer is not invincible. Federer has not been beaten since losing in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters to Briton Andy Murray last August. Roddick will probably battle through the Aussie Open without his new coach Jimmy Connors who lost his mother this week. Federer is the top men's seed in the Open.

McGwire Passed Over for Hall of Fame

We're not here to talk about your past, Mac.

As baseball greats Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn were voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame today, baseball cheat Mark McGwire only managed enough votes to keep him on the ballot for next year's balloting. McGwire appeared on 128 of a record 545 ballots in voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, raising doubts about whether he will ever get elected. Accusations of steriod use doomed McGwire's election and will likely cost Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro their places in Cooperstown when their balloting comes around.

Two Break-Ups and A Wedding

And a retirement. Tennis stars do seem to have a life outside of tennis. Lindsay Davenport is retired from tennis and awaiting the birth of her first child. Martina Hingis is engaged to Czech tennis player Radek Stepanek. Justine Henin-Hardenne will probably be dropping the Hardenne from her sirname in light of the rumored break-up of her 4-year marriage. She cancelled her appearance at the Sydney International tournament as well as the Australian Open for "personal reasons". What reason other than marital could be keeping the world's number one away from the first grand slam of 2007? In a break-up of the tennis sort, Lleyton Hewitt's coach Roger Rasheed walked away from Team Hewitt last week following a reported tirade from Lleyton during and after his loss at the Adelaide International last Thursday, going down to 94th-ranked Russian Igor Kunitsyn.

On a happy note, former golf great Greg Norman and former tennis great Chris Evert had gone public with their love affair, walking around Sydney holding hands and no longer repeating the refrain "very, very good friends", but looking to all the world like the 50-something lovers they are.

Happy New Year!

Sydney Harbor Bridge alit for New Year's 2007. Locals have nicknamed the bridge, the coathanger.