9/25 Pretzels - the German bakery is the supplier of pretzels to the German sponsors. They just baked 700 pretzels today. Although they don't open till 8:30 a.m., the owner said to just knock on the window and he'll serve coffee and rolls as early as 6:30 a.m.

What's a horse float? It's Aussie & Kiwi (New Zealand) for horse trailer.

Driving on the left is improving but I still usually put the windshield wipers on high instead of the turn signal. Even parallel parked in front of the bakery.

Lunch at the Conservation Hut -- a table by the windows with a spectacular view although hidden by the dense fog. Hot mushroom soup and cappuccino. Australia and New Zealand have "designer" coffee now. Latte, mocha, cappuccino --- and "flat white" (i.e. regular coffee with cream) or short black (regular coffee without cream). Rare fillet of lamb with roasted sweet potatoes and mushrooms and a medley of fresh veggies: carrots, green beans, potatoes, sugar snap peas was delicious. No room for dessert.

The next door neighbor was working on his garden and introduced me to Mervin -- a bold magpie who with his mate has a nest of babies in the tall pine tree outside my deck. Mervin will come right up to you for food, so I fed him a bit of quiche which he apparently thought was acceptable as he took it all back to the nest -- we could hear the babies crying for food. Since Mervin is a meateater, I bought him a meat pie and hope he will come to my deck for a snack.

The Blue Mountains are famous for their gardens, full of many species of flowering trees just beginning to bud. Camellias, rhododendruns, white weeping cherry trees. Fountains, fish ponds, winding paths with many choices of seating. The neighbor (an investment banker from Sydney whose holiday house is next door)  decided to escape from the Olympic crowds in Sydney and work on his garden. A red parrot landed nearby and several white ones were in the neighbor's yard. If it's sunny on Thursday, I'll take pictures.

The rain is light but the fog is thicker. This area hasn't had rain in three weeks, so it is much appreciated by the gardeners even if not by the Olympic athletes. It is cold and wet, sending the chill deep inside. I stocked up on quiche and rolls and a pretzel at the German bakery, bought a bottle of Australian merlot, two "take-away" salads, and prepared to stay home for dinner rather than battle the fog.

The sudden drop in temperature and the bone chilling rain contrast last week's tropical hot weather. Horses should be forward tomorrow for the first day of Grand Prix.