It was youngest daughter, Sonya's birthday last weekend. We took her to The Boathouse Restaurant by the bay at Manly. Older sister, Carol and husband David flew in from Melbourne for the weekend. No sooner had Carol settled in, she decided to cook us a Züpfa for breakfast the next day.
The first Sunday in September is Father's Day in Australia. My wonderful father passed away 42 years ago at the young age of 69 with bone cancer. He grew up in the East End of London. He was clever at school but he had to leave when he was 14 to go to work and help with the household budget. One of his jobs was pulling a heavy concrete roller over the local cricket pitch for sixpence a week.
During WW11 he was rejected by the army because he had a bad back he also had an important job in keeping the population fed. He was a truck driver for a meatworks. He had to drive to the ports and pick up the meat that was being imported and get it to the meatworks to be distributed to the butchers. The Germans tried to starve the English by continually bombing the ports to prevent the ships unloading. So it was a dangerous job but he survived. I was born during this time and when the war was over times were tough in England. Food and clothing was rationed. Mum had to queue for ages for everything. It was then that Australia and Canada were advertising for migrants to go to their countries. Dad suggested they migrate. The wait time for Canada was longer than the wait time for Australia. In 1949 they were on their way. They left their parents and friends to start a new life in a strange country. (You can read the story by clicking on "My Story" on my sidebar.)
He had a hard start in Australia. We lived in a tent for 6 months and then a garage for 5 years. He built our house in Sydney. Later he went to night school to improve his qualifications. He studied for his Leaving Certificate at the same time as me.
The weather is becoming warm and sunny, The days have been so nice that I have taken Bill a little further afield from the village for his daily walk. Last week we ventured out to Lake Dennis in the next suburb, Daisy Hill. Lake Dennis is named after a pioneering family of our district. James Dennis immigrated from Cornwall in1864. He married Mary Ann Markwell in 1867 and they had 18 children, not all survived. They acquired over 800 acres. They named it Daisy Hill after their daughters found a native daisies growing on the hill. When the land was passed onto son, Frank, he built a dam wall and after the first heavy rains the dam filled and has been there ever since. This is where we walked today.
The last few days have been sunny and warm and flowers are blooming, so its nearly Spring. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather. It was so nice that I encouraged Bill to go for a walk. We went to one of our favourite places for a short walk, Underwood Lagoon. Hoping not to bore you with more photos of this place. It is a five minute drive from home.
When it has been raining my walking buddies and I take a different walk from that in the Daisy Hill Forest. We do the Priest Gully walk because it is a concrete path and a lot safer underfoot than the muddy slippery trails in the forest. We have had more rain than usual for this time of the year so we have mostly been walking in this park. I'm just happy that I can walk with them again after being in pain most of last year. Now dosed up on pain killers I am pain free.
We turn right when leaving the village and walk along the street for about 200 metres and then turn into the bushland following a little creek , which is discoloured due to all the rain.
All the family were here for Swiss National Day on August 1. So we decided to celebrate with a traditional cheese fondu and apple flan. Bill migrated from Switzerland in 1967. The girls are proud of their Swiss heritage and have visited Switzerland many times. The grandsons haven't been yet and Sonya is hoping to get them there soon but their house has to get finished first. Anyway Bernie made a fondu with a variety of cheeses. We had chunks of bread to dip in and pop in your mouth. He also added some fruits and vegetables to dip in but Bill didn't like that idea. He said we didn't do that in Switzerland.
Our eldest daughter, Carol-Ann, lives and works in Melbourne, a two day drive away or two and a half hour flight. She was going to come to visit us when it was my birthday in June. Unfortunately, she and David had colds at that time so they didn't come. Then she had to have an operation on her hand to ease the pain caused by using a mouse for work everyday. She had tried everything to right it but eventually she had to give in to an operation. She had three weeks off work to help it heal. So she took 4 days of the last week to come and visit us. She still had a brace and a sling. She has had to learn to use her left hand for everything. Anyway it was lovely to have her here for a few days. David came too but he spends time with his parents who also live in Brisbane.
During her visit I took her and Bill to the local Art Gallery to see a small painting that I had hung in the gallery together with lots of other locals who participated in an activity to celebrate 30 years of the Logan Art Gallery. We were given a small canvas and we had to make a picture of something that depicts Logan City. We actually live in Logan City which borders Brisbane City, but people often don't know where Logan City is so we always say we are from Brisbane. They are like twin cities. Some members of the village art group participated in the activity.
