Anniversary -- observed.

So...you would have thought that Kris could have just told me all that mushy stuff, instead of publishing it for the world to see, and me having to read it online. Sheesh!

Anyway, for our anniversary...um, well, I actually skipped hockey practice (which is a good start, right?) and we went out for dinner at a pretty decent place nearby called the Mussel Bar. Oddly enough, the folks at the table next to us were celebrating their anniversary also -- their 6th. This year it became apparent that we've been married longer than many of our (often much older) friends and acquaintances. It's, um, kind of weird.

So this year was all about the finer things -- art, wine, tractors.
As a surprise to me, Kris had one of my favorite pictures blown up (as in, "enlarged") and framed, and I made a frame for a silk-screened canvas from Terri and hung that. Neither of us knew what the other had planned, it was just a reaction to spending all this time in a house with bare walls. We also got a pretty cool print of a photo of a monk's hands during olive harvest.

Yes, a monk.

See, we went away this weekend to Australia's only monastic town. That's right, nothing screams romantic getaway like the Benedictines. It's a pretty cool town, 162 years old with some serious architecture -- and some not-so-serious. We came around the corner of a century-old building to find a series of open-air chambers. Three walls, no roofs. And built that way, not all tumble-down. Any guesses? Check below to see if you're right.

Speaking of not-so serious, the guidepost to the monastery seems to point at a row of corrugated iron sheds. Of course, we are in Australia, and it would be unthinkable for the monastery to depart from local accepted architectural practices. Right?

Also on this tour, only an hour from Perth, we went to a few wineries. I don't know about all of you, but there is only so much wine-tasting I can do, but these folks have figured out that if you also have olive oil and homemade bread at most of the cellar doors, you don't get taste bud fatigue, and you sell olive oil! And Dukkah! Mmmm. So, we finally filled up our wine rack. Something like 20 bottles of wine, and one bottle of port. And some Dukkah, of course.

Like a mobile cellar, we drove out to the coast to explore the towns of Lancelin and Guilderton, and found them to be very nice seaside towns, thank you very much. And we learned about one more use for an International Tractor that had never occured to me before. (Notice the boat trailer?)

So that was a pretty good trip. Now we've got some art on the wall and wine in the rack, ready for visitors. C'mon Down!

(Handball courts! Really! They even have an historical plaque.)