Flying High

My main reason for submitting this update is to share with you my experience of taking (finally LOL!) my 50th birthday present hot air balloon flight (see this Blog entry, here), but before I get into that, a health report is in order. It appears that Mum's heart is still very fragile, and sometimes even the littlest thing, like going to the loo, or eating a meal, can tire her out and bring on the beginnings of an angina attack. On the positive side, she is still able to manage other activities that she really enjoys, like going and getting her hair washed at the hairdresser (which is pretty much a two hour round trip), or going out for lunch or afternoon tea at my brother Phil's place.

As usual, any and all positive thoughts and love sent her way are greatly appreciated :)

OK . . . on to my balloon flight. For those that don't know I did attempt it on my actual birthday last December, but the second flight of the two they always have was cancelled due to a wind change during the first. And, so, I've been waiting for the right time to attempt it again. As it happened a good friend that I have made up here, Saddhen, and his wife, Merrily, also wanted the hot air balloon flight experience, and we decided to share it on the 23rd September, which was the Winter Solstice, and therefore an auspicious time to do so. I took my camera, but decided to take only videos in an effort to share more of the experience with you than I thought I would be able to do with still photos. I then did some simple editing, converted the resulting .mov video to a YouTube compatible .flv video, and uploaded the finished product to YouTube, as well as including it here (below) in this Blog update. Hopefully, you will get a taste of the experience, but please don't expect a Hollywood epic LOL!.