A Very Finnegan Christmas

Hi, I'm Finnegan

This blog is about me, and I'm very disappointed that I haven't been allowed to post until now. 

Richard will tell you that I'm lazy and that I never venture from my sleeping bag.  The truth is that he ties the top of my sleeping bag so that I can't get out.

However, I managed to escape, and here's what I got up to on Christmas day.

I hung out in the Christmas tree with Felicity.  I love the pretty lights

I admired, and then played in the gingerbread...I like to get up close and personal

I chowed down on big meal.  Unfortunatley I was too full and had to lie down, groaning and moaning. Then that damn pestiferous Felicity (who follows me everywhere like I'm a demigod) jumped on my chest and wouldn't get off...that didn't go down well.

I went chocolate diving...woo-hoo that was FUN.  I played in the bowl of chocolates for ages.  Of course I indulged!

Just when I was finishing a rather tasty "Crunchie Bar" and licking any remaining crumbs of the wrapper I was photo bombed by one the natives...a female Siamese cat who goes by the name of "Cricket", though Richard calls her "Duckie".  I'd like to play with her, but she always runs away when I come close...I mean, it's not as if I race up to her waving my arms, screaming "nice pussy cat...Finnegan play with the nice pussy cat", in my slightly strange frog voice

I even had the chance to observe the process of brandy being poured on to the pudding, then lit.  That was fun!

See below for pics of the fun I had!

I do so love gingerbread. It's not my fault that I ended up face first in it, inhaling its gingery goodness - I just can't help it.

Before chowing down, I scoped out the cranberry sauce...seemed a bit weird to me.

So, so full.  Do you see what I mean about that pestiferous little frog Felicity sitting on my chest when I was so full??

CHOCOLATE DIVING.  YEAH.

Chocolate bowl immersion.  So, so good!!

mmmm, a "Chrunchie Bar" - chocolate surrounding a honeycomb core.

Photo-bombed by the native.

Just when I was finishing a rather tasty "Crunchie Bar" and licking any remaining crumbs of the wrapper I was photo bombed by one the natives...a female Siamese cat who goes by the name of "Cricket", though Richard calls her "Duckie".  I'd like to play with her, but she always runs away when I come close...I mean, it's not as if I race up to her waving my arms, screaming "nice pussy cat...Finnegan play with the nice pussy cat", in my slightly strange frog voice...

Observing the process of "brandying" the pudding.  The brandy was lit and, but it doesn't come out in these photo's

Here's Felicity admiring the home-made shortbread.

That's all folks!  I've now broken free from the shackles of my evil oppressor, Richard...and I hope to post some more blog entries soon.

Gingerbread: Phase 1 - mix and bake

See below for my somewhat not-detailed description and recipe for how to make gingerbread the Dicky Day way.  *Coughs*

Step one, obtain a large amount of flour…and put it into a BIG bowl.  make swirl pattern on top of the flour.   Looks good, doesn't it!

Step two.  We need "sticky stuff".  Put a reasonable amount of the "sticky stuff ingredients" in to a saucepan. Put saucepan on stove.

Light the stove, and melt the "sticky stuff" - stirring is required here.

Add the sticky stuff to the BIG bowl of flour.   Mix it in.

Then, add the eggs and lemon juice to the bowl…but don't do it while the sticky stuff is too hot/not mixed or you'll cook the eggs!

Also, don't put your hands in to mix the sticky stuff..or you'll burn your hands.  Use a spoon.

Now, pour in the eggs, and knead/mix with your hands.  You're advised to wear gloves….or it'll get messy, and you'll spend 30 mins cleaning your hands.

One the mixture is consistent and "one", drop it on the bench with a little flour, and knead it more.  More.  More, til it's really "one".  

Voila!

Now, wrap that bad boy in plastic cling film, and put it in the fridge.

Let it cool.

Remove from fridge.

Roll it flat, to a depth of ~0.75cm. (0.25").

Choose the shapes that you want to want e.g. NINJABREAD




Cut our your shapes, maximising the use of rolled gingerbread.  Why maximise the use…because you'll have gingerbread left over, which you'll need to knead and then roll flat.  Rinse and repeat until you have no gingerbread left.

You use the same procedure to make your house.

Now, if you're like me and you leave the procedure while those lumps are cooling in the fridge at 21:30 pm, later on you receive photo from your sister, who has done the
- shape choosing
- rolling
- cutting
- more rolling
- more cutting, etc
- then she's baked them in the oven

and out comes tasty gingerbread ready to be decorated.  NICE.

Decoration is phase 2 of the process.  Stay tuned for decoration - it's where the good stuff happens…

Good Things

I'm now back in Aus, sitting in a comfy chair with my feet up, looking out the window to a cloudy sky.  
It's 7am, it's my first full day, and I'm thinking of good things….

The huge hugs I received from my mother and sister upon my return.  Good things.  That they set up my christmas tree in my apartment.  Good things.

Messages from friends when they knew I'd arrived.  Good things.

The treatment I received from Customs when I declared that I was declaring my multi thousand dollar mountain bike, and was going to pay duty on it.  They seemed to be surprised that someone was honest, and I only paid 2/3 of the amount that I expected to. Good things.

I'm thinking of the wonderful DeVall family who let me share their life, showed me remarkable hospitality, and gave me a lift to the Airport in Missoula to start my journey home.  Good things.

That the DeVall daughters each drew a picture for me to send me on my way.  Good things.  The goodbye hugs from the DeVall's.  Good things.

I'm thinking of Chad's in-law's

• I'm sad that I didn't have the chance to say good-bye to Tracy's father-in-law in person.  Earlier this year he lost his wife of 30+ years to cancer, after they both fought a brave 12 year battle.  When I was in Hamilton he invited me to stay in his camper van or his house when he wasn't there.  Good things. 
• I'm thinking of Tracy's brother and his wife.  Good things.  I had the chance to spend a week or so with them in Hamilton, but I didn't have the chance to visit them in Nebraska.

I'm thinking of the other friends I made in Hamilton (and it's neighbour Derby), and of the times and experiences we shared.  Good things.

I'm thinking of new friends.  New friends near Whitefish, Montana.  New friends in Fort Collins, Colorado.  New friends in Moscow, Idaho.  Good things. 

I'm thinking of a friend's sister who lives in Seattle.  She was very kind and generous in allowing me to have mail sent to her.  Good things.  She and her husband offered me accommodation, but I didn't have to chance to take them up on it.  Good things.

I'm thinking of old friends who I visited in Canada.  Good things.  

…and I'm thinking of my friends in Aus, and of catching up and hanging out.  Good things.

I'm thinking of a friend in Melb whose mum passed away last week.

I'm humbled and I feel privileged to lead the life I do.


Of course there's the day-to-day stuff to deal with.  My phone line has a problem so I don't have my usual internet service.  My fridge had stopped working so the food in it had gone off and it stank - I still need to give it a good clean.  I'd like to earn some money before I go back to the US next year - so there's some thinking to be done about what I want to do.  I also have the black dog to contend with - thankfully he's been mostly quiet for the past couple of weeks.

It's strange being back in my place.  It feels like home, but at the same time it doesn't - at the moment it feels like I'm just visiting!

I feel like I'm far more relaxed.  I don't feel the need to rush.  I don't feel that I have to do this and have to do that…and that I have to do everything right now.  That is a nice change.

What am I up to today?  I'm going to cut my hair - I "grew" it for a month or so to help keep me warm when it was super cold in the US.  I'd like to go for a ride.  I'm going to rebuild my old mountain bike after I pillaged it for a few parts for my new bike.  I might even go shopping  - I put on some weight when O/S and I'm lacking in shorts that fit…and I'm not sure that this is the best time of year to start a period of abstinence!!

It's funny - during my time in Fort Collins, I was chatting with Richard, who's taking a career sabbatical to determine what's next for him.  He said to me "I don't know what I'm going to do for the next 9 months"… to which I reflected back to him "how are you going to be over the next 9 months".  I feel different now than when I left, and it's for me to ponder how I'm going to be in that different feeling - and what I'll launch off to do in that way of being.   Once I was home last night I had Richard's thought  - what am I doing to do - until I caught myself and realised that my purpose for the time being is to focus on "being".

With that, I wish you farewell until I have another general update.  I'll be posting about my trip to Cleveland, my visit to the Zoo in Denver, more about my drive across the white wastelands of Wyoming and Montana, and more from my time in Canada.

If I don't speak to you first, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

My last full day is tomorrow!

Gosh,

How this past week has flown.  It's been memorable.

Last Thursday and Friday was spent very enjoyably with spent with Richard and Diane, with Richard being the head trainer of a course I did last year.  The live in the beautiful Fort Collins, Colorado.  ONe of their sons cooked a magnificent meal on the Thursday - I truly am blessed.  The even have a great dog, Lola, a big German Shepard.

I had the suspension on my bike tweaked by world renowned experts in Loveland,  Colorado - Push Industries.  I spent ages talking to some of the guys there - great guys all.

I drove to Billings, Montana on Saturday, then to Hamilton on Sunday.  I have some great pics of the roads, of of the historical towns along the way - I'll post more of them them at some point.   For at least a 1/3 of the drive the road was covered in icy snow, which was occasionally scary, always entertaining, sometimes fun.  At one point the cruise control cut off because I had so much wheelspin…at 110kp/h.

The wind in Wyoming blew a lot of snow across the road.

Ice on the inside lane.  Sketchy.  Fun.

A likely couple.

A white wilderness…and iced snow on the inside lane.

Sunshine!

Cold.  That converts to - (minus) 27 C, before windchill….

Me.  Book.  Margarita.  Billings, Montana.  Saturday night.

Sunrise in Billings, Montana

A building in a town where I stopped for petrol

 Ice covered road, snow sprinkled trees.

The house that belonged to William Clark, the biggest "Copper King" in Butte (pronounced beaut)

One of the streets in Butte.  This town makes Australian "goldrush" towns look tiny.

The Bitterroot mountains - love them

This week with Chad and crew has been awesome. 

There's been a whole lot of hanging it, a reasonable amount of talking garbage, a great hour or so watching Tracy support her basketball team on TV - including her standing up on rocking chair barely a meter from the TV giving maximum encouragement.

Of course there was the snow-bike ride, as per my last post.  It was an experience. http://daisyalpha.blogspot.com/2013/12/snow-bike-ride.html

I've really enjoyed seeing the town of Hamilton as winter approaches.  Obviously there is snow in the hills and mountains, and even at the level of the town when I arrived.  It could be me (I feel far more relaxed now then when I was last in Hamilton), but the place seems to have a softer vibe.

Last night Chad offered the 'Barn as a venue to get a few bodies together to have BBQ of Elk burgers.  Nice - it was a great night.  I was thinking of all of the people that I've met and visited as part of my trip, and wishing that each of them/you were there.  

Tonight we watched the movie "The Goonies" - I'd never seen it.  Loved it.

Throughout the week I've been packing, sorting out stuff to bring back in my luggage vs to ship back via the postal system vs stuff to leave here for my next visit.  Yes indeed - my next visit.  I'm coming back next year to revisit some areas and to do some things that for various reasons I didn't' do this trip.  One of Chad's friends will provide shelter for the Suby, which is singing now that it was expensively loved in Denver.

'bye for now.

Snow-bike ride

Chad convinced me that a snow ride was in order, and he kindly lent me some windproof pants.  I was apprehensive, but excited.

It was -1C, with next to no sunshine, and little breeze.

Chad drove up the area in which I helped he and his son chop wood a few months ago.  It's a stunning area.


At the start of the ride

Chad lent me a bike

Sam the trail dog was EXCITED

Chad doing some tweaking

Rolling hills and ridge lines.  I love the look of the snow topped trees

I can't get enough of scenes like these, it's as if icing sugar has been sprinkled on the ground

Sam again, he loves to run

Climbing, climbing

An open switchback.

Near the top of the ride the snow was about 5" deep

Chad about to drop-in to the singletrack.  Sam is his usual excited self.

At one point on the sing track descent, we came across a 100m long ice section.  I didn't realise that Chad veered to avoid the first section…that looked to me like it had isolated section of ice….but I was a bed of ice with snow on top.  I had a graceful fall as the tyres slowly lost traction on the off-camber surface.

In some parts of the descent all I could do was follow Chad's tyre tracks - I couldn't see the trail to save myself.

Post ride we went to one of the two brew pubs in town.

The End.