Today is Sunday. We are headed to Mass in a few hours. We have many to choose from 5pm sat pm, sun 7, 9, 10:30 and 5pm. We found out 9 am is children's Mass. So that is our plan for today. We might adjust later as we found the surf club has surf lessons and lifesaving classes on Sunday morning.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at the Parr's. There were 3 othervfamilies: the Russell's, the McKeevers, the Rowlands. The only family I had not met before were the Russells. I met the Rowlands at John's going away party in Ohio. The Mckeevers lived in Wauseon and Ed worked at the Delta plant for 6 years. We had met only a couple of times. Of course, John knew them all. It was interesting because the Russells as a family had not been to the States. Anita and her children did not go as Mr. Russell only went for a few weeks. Anyway, they had never had a Thanksgiving dinner. Not just in the traditional since, they had not had a "whole turkey," only turkey breast rolls, they had not has dressing, cranberries, sweet potatoes, or even pumpkin pie. So it was a new experience for them! They loved it.

The Parr's live one block closer to the beach than us, they are on the 10th floor and have a beautiful view of the ocean. Well, it was cold 65 and rainy, so it felt a bit like Thanksgiving. But just before dinner at 6pm. The sky cleared. We ate on the veranda. It was very beautiful. Eventually the moonlight shining down on a ship was amazing. Then there were fireworks. They had just shared with us that Tami had planned this dinner weeks prior to our arrival as a welcome dinner for us--so when the fireworks started we politely thanked her and told her she shouldn't have!! The fireworks were because the Labor party had ousted the Prime Minister in the national election and they have a new prime minister after 6 years.

Voting is different here. Every person is required to cast a vote. If you do not vote you are fined about $100. That would be a money generator in the states if that law was instituted, don't you think?

Today, is promising to be sunny and beautiful. So should be a good day.