Australia Day is January 26th. Every year since the Displaced Australian moved here, he has hosted a great Australian-themed party to celebrate his homeland and try to educate us ethnocentric Americans about the wonders of the Land Down Under. This year, Australia Day celebrations were a week later than usual, but Brett's invitation was as original and tempting as ever:
Hi all,
In cased you missed it, yesterday was a day of great historical significance. Every January the 26th we celebrate the discovery of the world's largest prison, commonly know as Australia. In celebration of Australia Day I am inviting you all around for a traditional Australian celebration. You will get to enjoy such Australian treats as pasties (it is a food item for those of you with dirty minds and incorrect pronunciations), sausage rolls, kangaroo meat, lamingtons and I will also be gently placing some prawns in a skillet (as opposed to throwing shrimp on the barbie). As it got such rave reviews last year, vegemite will again be available for the curious, mentally ill and those with no taste buds. As usual, there will be authentic Australian beer and an all Australian wine list.
The celebrations will be at 4:30pm Saturday the 5th of February at my place. Both significant and insignificant others are very welcome. To help cover food and beverage costs, I am asking for a $5 donation, or as we are celebrating a nation of convicts, you can simply bring over an item of value and leave it unattended.
There were 8 (I think) R.S.V.P.'s for the event, and preparations had been underway for weeks when the weather decided to be a party pooper. We had an ice storm the night before and day of the party and ended up having to cancel. I can't begin to say how disappointed everyone was. :-(
The upside was that Brett did get a chance to make some of his favorite Australian foods, learned that lamingtons made with boxed cake mix work in a pinch, and he has kangaroo meat and Cooper's left to enjoy another day.
Since I'm not much of a cook and (while learning) am not yet an expert on Australia, my contributions to the day involved cleaning the apartment and preparing the decorations. Some will be able to be saved for next year's Australia Day Party, others Brett think he might just keep up year round, lol. :-)
This little kangaroo isn't so little. About three feet tall and 16 inches across, I hand painted her and made the word bubble sign. In the weeks since the party date, the balloon has deflated, so I'll be replacing it with a paper balloon.
Note from April-Brett complained that the balloon looked menancing in the darkness, and I'm suspicious about the fact that it is just magically started deflating-we had it since December and it was fine. Did he secretly put a pinhole in it so it's darkened shape wouldn't keep him up at night???
First, the size...this cardboard cutout is the size of a door frame. It's made so you can put your face in the holes and get your picture taken looking like a "real" Australian. :-) It took me hours and hours to color this in (the material sucks up the marker ink so it takes multiple coats). I even ordered a special set of markers so our color palette would be perfect. It came out so well. I only regret that I didn't get a pic of us posing in it.
This painting was actually already on the wall. A gift from Brett's family on their visit to the States this year, the "Not Australia" sign was my festive addition.
My sister Angela found this Australia calendar and gave it to Brett for Christmas. He doesn't really use a calendar, but it never hurts to have one up (this month happened to be another kangaroo, but other pictures are quite beautiful!).
The one thing that's a guarantee after Australia Day is how much I find myself thinking "It must be great there." Why is Brett *here* again? ;-)
