AN INVITE TO A HOUSE WARMING PARTY.

 Regular readers will remember I told you that our lovely managing director and part owner of our village had to sell the village because the other owner wanted to retire and needed the money. So Chiou See sold the village to a hotel company called Hunter. Luckily, not much has changed and we are all still happy here. Chiou See was sad to leave us but she has stayed in touch and is enjoying her new little grandchildren. She and husband, Brendan have bought a beautiful house on the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane. She invited most of the village residents to attend a party at her new house. She organised a bus to pick us up and return us later in the day. It is about a one and half hour journey.

When we arrived, we found somewhere to sit and we were plied with drinks and snacks. Her friends and family did the serving.  It is a beautiful house on the edge of a canal with a golf course next door. There was a musician singing for us. We did lots of chatting with those we hadn't seen for a while. Here are some memories from the day.

The entertainer is in the corner

Chiou See catching up with residents

Bill enjoying a red.

The pool deck

Paella for lunch. I had seafood

Bill had chorizo

Brendan in the blue shirt

Bill enjoying Tiramisu dessert.

Some of the girls got up to dance while we were waiting for the bus to return to take us home. It was a lovely day.

FAMILY CHRISTMAS

 I should catch up with myself and get into 2026. The older I get the lazier I get. I'm ashamed of myself. Anyway we had a disjointed Christmas because half the family were going away. The grandsons are on Summer Holidays and Sonya wanted to get them out of the house and away from screens. So she planned a road trip to Rye in Victoria. It is 1858 km so they hooked up their ancient caravan and headed off for a three day drive stopping at beaches on the way. Then they would stay at Rye where Bernies family have a beach house and celebrate Christmas there. So it was decided that we would celebrate Christmas early before they left. Carol and David flew from Melbourne to be with us and also to spend Christmas Day with David's family and Christmas Eve with us (Like he Swiss celebrate on Christmas Eve). 

So we had a family Christmas on 19 Dec. The young ones prepared the lunch. We had prawns and salads, it is too hot for traditional English fair but David's English parents still do the traditional turkey lunch.

When Carol arrived she baked us a Swiss breakfast bread (Züpfe). We ate it with cheese and cherry jam like  the Swiss do.

 

Gruyere Cheese and Camembert.

Carol also cooked us an Apfelkuchen (apple pie). She enjoys keeping her Swiss heritage alive.

A few days later we celebrated Christmas at lunch time. Sonya, Bernie and the boys arrived with caravan in tow so they could depart early the next morning for Rye in Victoria. They all helped put the lunch together.

Then we played secret Santa.

Sonya and Fox

After lunch Banjo played Santa and gave out all the presents. Here he received a potato from his make believe cousin, Virgil. Carol and David chose not to have children but they invented make believe children, Ruby and Virgil. They are in juvenile detention (so the story goes).

Carol received a gardening book. They have just bought a country house with a huge garden. It was fun to have all the family together. The next morning Sonya and family left for their road trip. Carol stayed until Christmas Eve and then went to stay with David's parents on the other side of Brisbane.We are so blessed that they all come to celebrate with us even if it was before Christmas Day.

RESIDENTS' CHRISTMAS DINNER

 Well I'm a bit behind in posting. Having visitors and then getting a bad cough has impinged on my posting. Just before Christmas the residents had a Christmas dinner. At most of our dinners we pick a number out of a container to tell us which table to sit at. This way we get to meet different people at each dinner. However, we mostly know all the residents from mingling at a variety of activities. 

It is a small boutique Retirement Village with about 123 units and 188 residents.

Ian in the blue shirt has volunteered to be the Residents Committee Chairman. He does a great job and gets voted back in every year. His wife next to him is Clover and she is always fashionably dressed with glasses to match each outfit. The couple next to clover is Diane and Bill (The same names as us) and they live in our street. We have known them since she and I were in the same playgroup back in the seventies. The two in front are Robin and Noela, Robin was the principal of our Local Lutheran College. The other couple is Hans and Ros from The Netherlands. They have the best Christmas lights display.

This was our table. In front is Christine and Clive, They are migrants from England and they come from the same place in Yorkshire where I was born, Newmillerdam. The other couple is Linda and Rod. Linda is the residents committee secretary. She is great at organising functions. Gay at the end lives two doors away from us. She was so helpful to us when we were new to the village, she also organises morning tea when we have a residents meeting and she also helps run the Line Dancing Group.

The Three Amigos, David, Bruce and Robin all turned up in matching shirts.

After a traditional English Christmas Dinner, there was much fun on the dance floor.

I forgot to photograph the main meal but here are the desserts, Christmas Cake, Christmas pudding, chocolate cake. (with Brandy Custard)

Traditional Australian Christmas dessert. Australians and New Zealanders always argue about which country invented the Pavlova. It is a meringue base covered in a variety of berries and fruit.

An Italian Christmas Cake

We came home full and merry.

LIGHT UP NIGHT

 Every year in the first week of December, the village community organise a Light Up Night, where all the residents who want can decorate their unit with Christmas lights. We get help from our families and the maintenance man if necessary and of coarse neighbours help each other. On Friday 5 December we turn on the lights and invite family and friends to walk around the village and finish up in the community centre for drinks and Carols. This year was different in that one of our residents organised a children's concert, where grand children and great grandchildren sang Carols for the residents. Unfortunately, I don't have photographs because I didn't attend due to having a bad cough. However, I did walk around some of the streets. The next night our wonderful Residents Chairman, Ian, gave us a tour of the village lights in a buggy, because he knew that Bill is not very mobile when it comes to hills and the village is built on a hill. Ian  offered this  service to all those not able to walk all around the village.

David and Diane open up their garage and offer a drink of Port and sweets/candy, people stop for a drink and a chat. This is the first year that my family attended, Banjo, Sonya and Bernie are on the right of the photo.

 HAPPY HOLIDAY EVERYBODY.

THE TOWN OF THUN (TOON)

Thun is a town in Switzerland in the canton (state) of Bern. It has been described as the prettiest town in Europe and the most untouched historic town. It sits on the Aare River as it leaves the Lake of Thun (Thunersee). It is dominated by the Castle and Church and has the amazing backdrop of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau Mountains in the Swiss Alps.

In 1967, Bill (Wilhelm) and his friend Ben left Thun for Australia so that they could learn English. They were in their twenties and keen for adventure. They intended returning to Thun after the compulsory stay of two years when you migrate for 10 pounds. Both married and stayed in Australia. As the river leaves the lake it splits into two creating an island. It is called, The Balliz and it is where Bill lived. After we were married we lived there for six months. But Bill decided he preferred Australia so we returned in 1971. We went back often to visit his parents and I fell in love with Thun.

The ancient castle presides over the town. It is a Romansque square tower with four corner turrets in Norman Style. It was built in 1186 by Berchtold V of Zäringen. Today it houses a museum including tapestries from the 1300's, armour, weapons, pottery, uniforms and costumes. It also has a restaurant in the courtyard. We climbed up into the turrets, we could see all over Thun, where people have been recorded as living here since 1130.

Part of the view from the castle.

The church which stands on a hill overlooking Thun is not far from the Castle. It is the City Church. It is the Reformed Protestant Church. It has old paintings but it is remarkably modern inside. When Bill was young, he and his friend Roland used to ring the bells by pulling on the ropes. It is automatic now. 

 

Bill often played in band concerts in the church.

If you really want to see how beautiful this town is go to You Tube and type in Thun, Switzerland.