Nora and I have been back in Australia for a week now. It was a strange trip flying straight from the blizzards of New York to the monsoons of the South Pacific. Even though Queensland is known as the Sunshine State, it has rained almost continually since we arrived, not to mention the two weeks before. And more rain is forecast for at least another week. All in all, however, the warmth of a southern hemisphere summer trumps the cold of a northern hemisphere winter, but, as Nora says, under these conditions, not by much. What's really strange is that during our last trip (May-Nov. 2009) I carried my raincoat for six months without ever once putting it on, while this trip I've hardly taken it off since we arrived. Friends keep promising us that this is unusual and that the rain will end before we know it, but as with the snows of New York, when they're happening it seems they will never end. One consolation is that our friends Helene and Kelly are letting us stay in their apartment while they're away; we're on the 22nd floor looking out on the Brisbane River as it winds its way around Kangaroo Point. It's a wonderful vantage point, come rain or come snow.