NSW State Swimming Relays at Olympic Park

In preparation for these swim relays, I was much more consistent in swimming with the North Sydney Masters squad. And I was pleased with the results (July 21).

The only near “incident” was during one of my mixed-relays.  The first mixed relay I did 25 m breast stroke. The second one I was slated for 50 m butterfly.

As I dove in for the second mixed relay, I still had “breast stroke” in my head. So I almost, nearly started to pull down in a breast stroke before I suddenly remembered “BUTTERFLY”!!  I whipped my arms through the water so fast and brought them up over the water in a butterfly stroke.  It was just a momentary lapse, so I thought nobody had noticed.

Unbelievably, the swim judge did notice and he said it was actually pretty close.  However, he also said he didn’t have much time to think about it because at that same moment he saw that the swimmer in the next lane to me was flat-out swimming freestyle instead of butterfly (that team ended up getting disqualified).  Phew!

One of the relay team I swam in earned a time that’s a club record:

• Female Medley 4x50m Relay (Age Total 200-239). Robyn Burton (Backstroke 47.69), Helen White (Breaststroke 52.29), Linda Horiuchi (Butterfly 57.14) and Motoko Kono (Freestyle 42.25) for a total time of 3:19.37. We came in 5th overall.

The other relays:

• Female Freestyle 4x25m Relay (Age Total 160-199).  Motoko Kono, Jenni Burgess, Linda Horiuchi, and Carolyn Hinton for a total time of 1:18.63. We came in 9th overall.

• Female Freestyle 4x50m Relay (Age Total 160-199).  Motoko Kono, Jenni Burgess, Linda Horiuchi and Carolyn Hinton for a total time of 2:57.47. We came in 4th overall.

• Mixed Freestyle 4x50m Relay (Age Total 160-199).  Grant Parr, Motoko Kono, Linda Horiuchi and Laurence Norman for a total time of 2:30.26. We came in 4th overall. 

• Mixed Medley 4x25m Relay (Age Total 240-279).  Peter Murray (Backstroke), Linda Horiuchi (Breaststroke), Robyn Burton (Butterfly), Robert Hayter (Freestyle) for a total time of 1:26.71. We came in 6th overall.

Freshwater Beach in the Pouring Rain

I’d last seen Venecia when my parents and I stayed with her and her husband Sam’s home in Taiwan in January 2012.  So it was wonderful to see her again on her recent trip to Sydney (June 28-30).

Unfortunately it was pouring down rain and the road to Palm Beach was blocked so instead we detoured to Freshwater Beach. There’s a 5-star restaurant that I’d always wanted to eat at – so with a little bit of luck - we were seated at a table at Pilu’s with a panoramic view of the beach.

Quick Trip to NY to Catchup with the Family

With Boston so close to New York, before heading back to Sydney I took a short flight to NY to visit my dear family.

Highlights included:

• Admiring Kai’s school project to create an iconic New York building. Kai selected Citi Field, the building where his #1 baseball team the NY Mets play.  Take a look at the attention to detail – the players on the field, the people in the stands and the score board in the corner.  To compliment the building structure, Kai also created a Baseball Program which included player stats of his favorite Mets players and on the final page his own photo in a NY Mets hat with his baseball stats.

• After visiting the Central Park Zoo with Aila and her parents Yasushi and Cindy, I took Kai and Tyler to the famous toy store from the Tom Hanks movie “Big”, FAO Schwarz, where I did what Aunties to best – spoil my nephews J  Kai selected a Legos Star Wars set that we worked to build together later that evening and Tyler selected this Angry Bird set.

• Enjoying Kalea’s performance in The Velveteen Rabbit, she performed with her jazz troupe and was beautiful smiling and dancing from the front row in front of a very appreciative audience.

• Dinner and drinks at Moto's restaurant with all my cousins, their spouses and brother.   It's been years since I was last at Moto's place and it's really snazzy!  And very popular, there was a waiting line the whole time we were there.  The food was fantastic, as was the sake and the cocktails.  If you're in NY be sure to check out Izakaya Ten (207 10th Ave. between 22nd and 23rd Street) for yummy Japanese home cooking!

• Sight-seeing Delaware with my parents.  After reading an article in National Geographic about Delaware’s first National Park, Papa was keen to visit it and the American painter that was also featured.  We visited Brandywine River Museum where we saw George and Andrew Weymouth’s paintings August and Snow Hill.  Andrew’s most famous painting “Christina’s World” is in the MOMA in New York.  They painted with an unusual medium – egg tempera – that involved using egg yolk and watercolor and resulting in startling detailed paintings and color.

• The Du Pont family built their riches on dynamite but eventually expanded into nylon and other chemicals. We visited a number of Du Pont homes including Hagley Museum and their historic family home “Eleutherian Mills” (E.I. Du Pont, founder), Winterhur Museum and Homes (Henry Francis Du Pont) and Nemours Mansions and Gardens (Home of Alfred I. Du Pont).  The Brandywine River Hotel was very charming and close to many of these Du Pont homes.

• One of the great gardens in the world… Longwood Gardens.  The lily pond had the most intriguing lily pads that looked like very large water platters.  When we saw them, they were still small, but a postcard shows what they would look like later in the Summer.  We stayed in a historic B&B called the Pennsbury Inn that has its own history and beautiful gardens.  Thank you  for planning such a wonderful, relaxing vacation Mom!  I loved staying at the very charming B&Bs you discovered and just spending time together talking and catching up.