Short Notes - April 2004

Why did the chicken cross the road? To show the possum it is possible.

Breakfast Bars – Typically one thinks of the breakfast bars as the equivalent of a healthy cereal made into a bar for people on the go. Well, in the supermarkets here are breakfast bars based on Froot Loops and Frosties for the busy people that really want to be on the go!

Butter – Butter is typically sold in packs of 4 sticks – individually wrapped portions of ¼ pound (4 oz) each. US recipes typically require butter as 1 stick, or ½ stick of butter.

Jousting – the boys have made a new game. Dressing up as knights and listening to Howard Pyle’s Adventures of King Arthur and Tales of Robin Hood, inspired them to set up targets on chairs, pick up long sticks (lances) and charge!

Rose – Our due date for Rose is June 2. So, she may well be in the next issue!

Jousting in the backyard

Clare dancing with her doll

Positive signs.

The hardest part about adapting to the US has been the differences in food. However, this month there are two highlights.
Pavlova
For our US readers, a Pavlova is an Australian dessert which is basically a large meringue topped with cream and fresh fruit. The trick is to get the meringue crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle. Lana’s first two attempts during summer were a flop. The meringue didn’t rise and was chewy rather than light and crunchy. David Floyd tried the chewy one and thought it was yummy, so convinced Lana to try again. It worked! A perfect pavlova, light and crunchy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. Success! There is hope for Georgia yet.

The Australian Bakery Cafe

One of the directors of Greentree was traveling the US with his family and was able to visit us up in the remote NE corner of Georgia. We had a great dinner with our two families, and he imparted a critical piece of intelligence. There was a little bakery that sold Australian meat pies and other bakery goods in Atlanta and Marietta (Nth Atlanta). Marietta is 2 hours away but that is nothing for a good meat pie. I told Bretta Ogburn and this was great news for them too. They lived in Australia for a few years, and that is enough to give one a yearning for a good meat pie.
We finally made it and bought meat pies, lamingtons, bread rolls without sugar, vanilla slices, cherry ripe slices and apple slices. A great taste of home. The chaps that run the shops are from Australia and New Zealand. The baker at the Marietta store was from Northern Victoria. When he, Lana, the lady behind the counter and David dropped into straight Australian, the local girl (16?) couldn’t understand what we were saying. Great Fun. Their web site is here.

Australian Bakery Cafe (Yum)

The weather has turned!

It looks as thought the worst of the winter is behind us. Days are warming up and different wildlife is starting to emerge. Birds are chirping in the mornings and soon the trees will start turning green.
In February we had some very chilly weather, with some reasonable (for Georgia) snow falls. In one of the foggy mornings, the boys rushed downstairs and told us, “Dad! Mum! There are deer outside!”
So we crept very quietly to the upstairs windows and sure enough there were about 6 to 8 deer. We took some photos from inside the house. As soon as we opened the door as quietly as we could, the deer sensed us coming and ran off.

Deer in the mist - before we missed the deer!

The Passion of the Christ

Lana and David were able to see the much talked about film, “The Passion of the Christ” on the first Friday in Lent (Feb 27). The parish booked the local cinema for the 3:00 session. Tickets were sold out in two days. In fact, since the film started showing, every session has been booked out. One of the local churches, First Baptist, has purchased tickets for the 12:00 session every Saturday for the first 4 weeks and anyone can come and see it for free. There has been a phenomenal reaction to this film across the country with box office records being broken. The other amazing thing is that there are no middling reviews – all are either for or against, 5 starts or none. Those that hate the concept of an authentic Christian movie, faithful to the gospels have been viciously attacking the movie, Mel Gibson, the historicity and authenticity of the Gospels and the importance of Jesus’ Passion. Whilst with this movie, they have argued that it is too violent, anti-Semitic, too long, too dogmatic, or just too much – these same critics praised as “artistic” anti Christian films like Dogma, Last Temptations of Christ, vile artwork like Madonna in dung or the crucifix in urine. Those things are “Art” whilst “The Passion” is “Violent”, or terrible, or should be banned!

We saw the film and intend to see it again. We recommend it to any adult. Children should only go once their parents have determined whether they can handle the graphic nature of Christ’s crucifixion. Once the DVD is out, we will then be able to show that to the older children, pausing or fast-forwarding or explaining as appropriate. To any that have meditated on the passion of Our Lord using The Stations of the Cross, The Sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, the last Seven Words of Jesus or read the gospel accounts will not be surprised at the story. We thought it was just as we had imagined - brought to life on the screen. It has accurately been described as more of an experience than a film. It is not a popcorn and coke film! Afterwards the whole audience sat through the credits as they absorbed what they had experienced and then slowly went home contemplating what He did for us.

The Cross after Jesus is taken down.

BB Gun tryouts

After a very well organized three weeks, the phone call came. Ariel and Eric did not get in the team. They are top of the list if anyone drops out.
The instructors were very impressed with how they both went, considering they had no prior experience with guns. I suspect their main concern was that their scores were a bit erratic.
They now practice in the backyard with their “Red Ryder 1938 BB gun” using the techniques they have been taught, and are teaching James and Peter too.
Next year we will try again.

Eric (kneeling position) and Ariel (Prone).

Home Depot

In December we mentioned the Kids Workshops run by Home Depot. These free workshops provide everything and the children are really enjoying the crafts. This time we took some photos.

All six children (Lana on behalf of Rose) doing their woodwork.

Baby Sitting

We have started a new system with the Floyds so both couples can go out on a “date”. On one Saturday we mind the Floyds children and on another they mind ours. This is a great way we are able to recharge and get some quiet time.
The last time we just went shopping, hired some DVDs and had a quiet day at home. The children had a ball at the Floyds and we got together in the evening and all enjoyed ourselves.
When families grow, this is a great way to get some time alone without the chore of trying unknown baby sitters. A win-win situation for all.

Australia – Here I Come

David will be in Australia to assist with one of his long standing clients in Sydney for the last two weeks in March. The timing worked out well, as he will be able to attend his sister’s wedding. Colette had resigned herself to the thought that David wouldn’t be able to attend, but when he called her once it was arranged she was very happy. On the way TO Australia, David’s bag will have various books and homeschooling supplies Australian families can’t get delivered from the US, and for the return trip, he will have all sorts of Australian Food for Lana and the children.

Eric catching snowflakes

Rose is on the way

We’re now half way along and according to the latest ultrasound the baby is a girl. So we have named her Rose Dorothy Bruggeman. Now, instead of calling the new baby “It”, or “The Baby”, we correctly call her Rose. And in our nightly prayers, the children can pray for “Mum and Rose”, or Clare can pray from “Mum and Wose”.

Breakfast

There is a great difference between the US and Australian food tastes. For some reason, the typical US breakfast has a lot of sugar. The first time we went shopping it looked as if the cereal aisle was just full of Frosties and equivalent sugar cereals. With diligent searching we have found some less sugar enriched breakfast fare, but we have basically settled on Rolled Oats for porridge and also home created Muesli, combining the oats with raisins, shredded coconut, and other dried fruits.
This leads to other things we miss – sultanas and desiccated coconut. It could be just a regional thing, but it seems as though sultanas are not available although we can get Raisins and “Golden Raisins” which are similar. Also, coconut is primarily available as “sweetened” coconut. That is, about a content of 1/3rd liquid sugar is mixed with the coconut.

International Night

The local homeschooling group had an International night, and not surprisingly we represented Australia. Each group had to provide some sample food from the represented country and after all had tasted the food, gave a talk. Our sample foods were Lamingtons, Anzac Biscuits (cookies), Vegemite on Toast and some of Lana’s Rice Salad. Other than the rice salad, none of our choices could be made with local ingredients. Lamingtons require desiccated coconut for coating, Anzac Biscuits require Golden Syrup and Vegemite on toast requires Vegemite. Actually, we were able to get small tins of Golden Syrup at the local supermarket.
All of our food went quickly and there was some surprise that Vegemite was made by Kraft.
Our talk on Australia focused firstly on the primary difference between the two countries – water. We had a large wall map that had an overlay of the US comparing the size of the two countries. Excluding Alaska, the US is the same size as Australia. However, Australia has this huge desert in the middle. I also pointed out where the bulk of the population lived and everyone found the information new and interesting.
One of the other talks was on Greece. David asked her a question, “What is the 3rd largest Greek populated city in the world?” The girl didn’t know, so David pointed to our map and answered, “Melbourne.” Based on Greek descent, Melbourne has the third largest population in the world.

Doughnuts (Donuts)

Whilst training new Chicago dealers in Denver, David was introduced to what he was told were the best doughnuts in the world. “Krispy Kreme Donuts”. Basically, this company makes millions of donuts everyday and people go through the drive through to get hot and fresh doughnuts. They are basically soft doughnuts that are then covered in a thin icing. Most supermarkets will have their own icing covered doughnuts as well as boxes of “Krispy Kreme Donuts” as well. Whilst in Denver, David went with Zoe White from Star’s Melbourne office and they visited the local “Krispy Kreme” store.
The donut making machine is next to the glass exterior wall so you can follow the process. For your edification, here is how they are made:

Step 1:
Mixing and Extruding: “After our special mix has been combined with yeast and water to make a large ball of dough, doughnuts are cut out through an air pressure “extruder”. Some have holes, sone don’t. The ones that don’t will be filled with jelly, custard or cream later.” Note: All the doughnuts are icing coated.

Doughnuts 2

Step 2 and 3:
Rising and flipping: “After the doughnuts are nice and brown on one side they are flipped so they can get delicious on both sides” Note: Notice how many are being made at one time. They still run out. And we understand that this store is just producing for local consumption. Supermarkets are supplied from main production factories.

Doughnuts 3

Step 4:
Sugar: Now the machine has the doughnuts go through a waterfall of liquid icing sugar. Once they get to the end, the staff use long wooden skewers to pick up the doughnuts and put them into dozen lots and move them out of the store as fast as possible.
The locals were partly right. The doughnuts are very tasty, and when you get them fresh, they just squish down in your mouth, but, boy, they sure are sweet.

Guns

The local 4H club sponsors a “BB Gun Competition”. Now for some explanation of what all this means. The 4H organization is a youth organization aligned with the local agricultural colleges, primarily aimed at country youth. The 4H stands for Head, Heart, Hands and Health. They arrange courses and clubs in areas such as horse riding, archery, gun safety and lots of other outdoor activities. Volunteers do most of the organizing and the work is great.
As we mentioned last month, BB guns are air rifles that fire ball bearings. These guns are available in many department stores and are recommended for Children 10 and older. The BB Gun competition involves practicing every Wednesday and Thusday afternoons 3:30 to 6:00pm. Then in June there is the District championships and if they end up in the top somewhere they go to the State championships. However, there is only room for 14 children from 9 to 15 years old. There are 24 or so trying out.
So far after two weeks of practicing and learning, Ariel and Eric are both going well. Next week will be the final tryout week when the instructors will call all of the children letting them know who has succeeded.
Next issue we will be able to tell you if they get in.

Impending Australian Trip

David will be going back to Australia to help out one of his long time clients. He has been helping this client since he first moved to Sydney in 1993 and as they are now moving onto Greentree Accounting Software, they wanted David to assist. This means that he will be able to come back with lots of things we can’t get here, such as Chocolate, the slip on boots the children wear known by the brand name “Blunderstones”, Vegemite, coconut, passion fruit pulp, and whatever is on the list Lana and the children are compiling.

Signs seen whilst Driving:

(White on Black background)

“What part of ‘Thou Shalt Not’ don’t you understand?”

God

“We need to talk”

God

“Let’s meet at my place before the game”

God