Winter has arrived

Winter has arrived in Tassie, yet the locals have said it has been very mild so far.  We are grateful for that.  It's not that it's more cold than Utah, but that the buildings are not insulated.  So, 5 minutes after you turn off the heater, it's cold.  It is surprising that as energy concious as the Australians are that they do not insulate their buildings.  Looking at the picture, Marvin said, tell them this is how they build their houses.  Let the breezes blow through!  He is joking!

We are at the MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) (more new than old!)  As with most everything in Tasmania, it is either old or very contemporary.  We found the museum to be very contemporary.

This was the coolest art.  Water is released from the track and it comes down as words.
Hopefully you can see it as a video.

This one is called the fat car.  We really liked it as well.  Even everything inside the car was created fat.

What do you do with an old train that doesn't run anywhere anymore?  You just park it and turn it into shops.  We are at the Margate Train in Margate.  During the summer, there was an advertisement about an international foods shop here, so we decided to see if they carry American food.  We didn't find the shop, but we did find a lollie shop (candy store) that had really good black licorice.  They also carried Red Vines from America. (Maybe that was the "international" part).

 Each car had a different shop.  Quite unique.  Maybe if the Heber Creeper goes out of business, they can turn the trains and the station into a shopping district! (hehe)

On one of our noon time walks we passed this tree which was full of persimmons.  There were no leaves, just bare branches and lots of fruit.

We were on our way to our friend's home, the Ross's, to bring Catherine some flowers.  She had fallen and broken her hip.  We were greeted by their herd of cows on the driveway.  They must have enjoyed that spot because as we left, they were back there again.

These next pictures are of Russel Falls National Park.  We had visited there last November and decided to see what it looked like in the winter.  There was less water, which we expected, but were delighted to see that there was any water at all.  It is still just as beautiful.

We have our Nov. pictures of the these two falls on our lounge (living room) wall in our flat.

We thought these were very colorful fungi.  We didn't get a picture of the ones that grow out from the side of a tree like a plate.  Very different and beautiful.

In our mission, the missionaries are doing a fast in June with the goal that there will be 80 baptisms this month.  In our ward, the total will be 4 baptisms.  They are all young adults who have found the gospel and are very strong individuals.  It will be interesting to see how the rest of the mission has done.  On the mainland there are many, many more missionaries (more than 200 more than Tasmania) so the numbers should reflect that.  Can't wait to find out.  It has been so fun to be in a ward where there are active investigators and growth in the Church.  One of our recent converts, Bronte, has moved to Melbourne, hoping to find a better job.  We will miss her.

As for us, we are into our second project.  It is not very big.  We are going to be doing some imaging for the justice department, but we understand that it is not a very big project either.  So, the prospects of moving to Melbourne seem greater than before.  I keep telling Marvin to slow down and not work so fast, but he doesn't slow down much.  We are both feeling a desire for a change, but if we leave Tassie, we will really miss it and the beautiful sunrises we enjoy each morning.  We will see what transpires.