Women to Quarterfinals in Aussie Open

Eight women remain in the draw at the Open. They are:

• Lindsay Davenport v. Justine Henin-Hardenne
  
• Maria Sharapova v. Nadia Petrova
  
• Patti Schnyder v. Amelie Mauresmo
  
• Martina Hingis v. Kim Clijsters
  

Meringue Melt-aways

Super easy, super good recipe for your Australia Day picnic. Serve these with the fruit tray!

Preheat oven to 180C (350F). Beat 3 large egg whites, adding 3/4C sugar gradually until the whites are very stiff. Fold in vanilla or almond extract. Gradually fold in 1C broken pecans (or walnuts) and 1C (250g) chocolate chips. Dip out a spoonful at a time on parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Place the cookie sheets in the preheated oven. Immediately turn the oven off and leave the cookies for 8 hours or overnight. Do not peek. Peel paper off each cookie and keep in an airtight container until ready to pack for your picnic. Note: If the meltaways are not completely dried out after 8 hours, remove the cookie sheets from the oven, reheat the oven, replace sheet for a little longer. You can do this over and over until the meltaways are completely dry.

Baghdatis Fans at Aussie Open

Baghdatis fans may have been baffled by the game of tennis and its rules, but they understood how to pull off the noisy celebration between winning points in yesterday's Round of 16 routing of Andy Roddick . Sounding very much like, "I lost my car keys, I lost my car keys," the blue and white-draped crowd was actually chanting, "Marcos, you are crazy with the white t-shirt" after every point. Before the match Baghdatis took them aside and explained some of the rudimentary rules of the game as it is not a game played by many Cypriots. Baghdatis said in his post-game interview when asked how many people had seen the match in Cyprus where it was televised live, "Possibly the whole of Cyprus."

Movies from Hitchcock

My Top Five Alfred Hitchcock-directed Films:
Psycho
Rear Window
North by Northwest
To Catch a Thief
Notorious

For My Favorite Hitchcock Website, click here

Sudoku

The latest puzzle craze is Sudoku, a Japanese number game. To play fill in each space with a number so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 square contains every number 1-9 inclusive. At this link you can work a new puzzle every day on-line. I find it's easier to work off-line. Go to options in the sidebar of the puzzle and click print. The answers appear at the bottom of the printed page. I started at 3-star puzzles, but with only a little practice I can work 5-star ones now. See how you go!

Pink Armadillo Blog

Pink Armadillo posts a really cool blog. Along with lots of celebrity stuff, Pink Armadillo is posting photos and information on the Texas Hill Country. She's counting down 100 reasons to live in or visit the Texas Hill Country. Link to her here or from my sidebar and give her blog a look in!

Gilmore Girls

My guilty pleasure! I have already ordered the TV series on DVD so my granddaughter and I can watch them together in 2020. She's only 6 months old, but I like to plan ahead. Aussie says there probably won't be a DVD player in 2020, but if there is, I'm set!

Roddick Exits Open

Andy Roddick(USA) was beaten by Marcos Baghdatis(CYP) in the Round of 16. Roddick made errors and Baghdatis played inspired tennis getting a big boost from the partisan crowd. Roddick was the last American man to leave the Australian Open. Will he stick around to see Sharapova who is still playing?

World Baseball Classic

I am starting to get really excited about this! If nothing else, at least there will be baseball in March instead of having to wait until April for MLB to begin! Sixteen countries will compete at venues throughout the world in a round-robin playoff beginning March 3rd. The final four meet in San Diego CA March 18-20 .
To find out what countries will participate, venues, and player selection, click here.

Lizards Use Venom

Goanna venom rocks the reptile record

UniNews Vol. 14, No. 22 28 November - 12 December 2005

Goannas and iguanas are venomous – sharing a common venomous ancestor with snakes – according to a University of Melbourne-led discovery which effectively rewrites the history of reptile evolution.

This Just In, uh Out

When Di Peel read on the internet that there was a woman selling her "breast art", she decided to have a go herself. She now has a budding business opportunity in front of her. She "paints" with her breasts and signs each work of art with a nipple. Resembling abstract flowers her art is selling for $90 a painting. Quite uplifting!

Are You Switched On?

To try this little test of intelligence from Mensa, click here. Only 30 questions in 30 minutes. Mensa will compute your score.

Here Comes Australia Day!

To make the most of your Australia Day here are some handy links:

recipes for your Weber
picnic salad recipes
protocol for flag display
Perth skyworks
Sydney events
beer reviews online
wine guide

The Beauty Premium

"Attractive people are paid more, are judged more intelligent, and will receive more attention in most facets of life. This favoritism, while poorly understood, seems to be innate and cross-cultural. Studies suggest that even infants prefer pretty faces." This is the conclusion of researchers in a joint study at University of Pennsylvania and Yale University.


To read the entire article concerning the study here.

Ella Update

This is our granddaughter Ella at the end of a birthday party at Chucky Cheese's. It's very exhausting having so much fun!

"Kingaroo" No More

The son of Their Royal Highnesses The Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Denmark was christened today.

What is the child's name?
His name is Christian Valdemar Henri John.

ISS Makes Double Pass Tonight

Residents of Perth will be treated to two passes of the International Space Station tonight. The first pass will be at 8:03pm and last for 3 minutes. It's a low pass appearing at 11 degrees above NNE and disappearing at 12 degrees above E. The second pass will be at 9:37pm and last for 2 minutes. This pass will be easier to see as the ISS will appear at12 degrees above W and disappear at 23 degrees above WSW. The ISS orbits the Earth every 90 minutes. It's a moonless night and clear skies are predicted. To find out who is aboard the ISS and what they are doing, click here. To find out when the ISS will be visible in your skies, click here, go to Almanac and fill in your data. The link will predict ISS visibility for the next 5 days.

Boomerang in Corpus Christi Bay

As soon as photos of the right whale mother and calf started circulating, scientists at the New England Aquarium right whale research center knew the whale by name. Since there are only 350 North Atlantic right whales left, all the endangered whales have been sighted, photographed and named by researchers. The scar on the underside of her tail gave her the name "Boomerang". Corpus Christi Bay along the Texas coast is the farthest west sighting ever of a rare right whale. Boomerang was last sighted off the Florida coast. She and her calf were not seen in the bay today so researchers are hopeful that she has made her way out of the bay and into the Gulf of Mexico.

"Kingaroo" Gets His Royal Name

Dubbed "Kingaroo" by royal watchers, the child born to Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark will be christened today in Copenhagen. Plans are in place across Australia to celebrate the christening that has an Australian connection. Crown Princess Mary is formerly Mary Donaldson of Hobart Tasmania. Australians have enjoyed following the royal couple's life story since their marriage in May 2004.
If you want to catch up on the royal couple, visit their website here. The website will be updated today with photos from the christening. A blog with lots of photos and information on the Danish Royal couple is here.

James Blake Falls in Aussie Open

James Blake (USA) lost tonight in straight sets to Tommy Robredo (Spain) 6-3, 6-3, 6-4. Robredo will face David Nalbandian in the Round of 16. Blake was clearly outplayed in the match.