UNDERWOOD PARK

 We took another walk around the lagoon in Underwood Park. It's Spring and the birds are building nests and laying eggs.

Moor Hens with eggs

Magpie Geese

Water Dragon

That's my man

GET BACK ON TRACK

 Long time readers of my blog may remember that I started writing my life story here in blogland. I also published the stories and photos into books. Well I kept on scanning photos and making books but forgot to write the stories here. So at the risk of boring you I'll try to catch up with the stories of my past. I have enjoyed scanning the photo albums because they have brought back so many memories of many trips away.

So in 1985 we were still living in our second house in Springwood in Wenlock Cr. We were both working, me as a teacher and Bill was employed by a big air conditioning company for commercial buildings. He was a sales engineer, designing and quoting the jobs. The girls were turning 13 and 11. Carol had just started High School at John Paul College and Sonya was in Year Six at Mt Cotton State School, where I was teaching too.

In the school holidays we went on short trips away for a week. We went to Stradbroke Island and stayed in a resort quite close to the beach. 

The board walk went all the way to the beach.

____________________________________________________________________________________

After this we bought a pop up camper van and started going on camping trips. This time we went to Byron Bay and this was before it became the tourist mecca that it is now. It is south of here on the coast in New South Wales. It is actually at the most easterly point of Australia.

Besides swimming and walking on the beautiful beaches we also talked the girls into playing golf. They weren't keen but struck a bargain with us. They would play golf with us if we went horse riding with them

It was a rough country golf coarse in those days.

I used some horse manure for a tee.

___________________________________________________

 Later in the year we celebrated Sonya's eleventh birthday at Dreamworld Tourist Park.

___________________________________________________

Last of all a family photo in Daisy Hill Forest in 1985.

MY BABY TURNS FIFTY

 It's a long time since reading and writing posts. Sorry friends. I have been sick with a gastro virus again and just trying to get through the day's chores was hard. I'm feeling better now but still have nerve pain in my thigh.

 However, we have beautiful Spring weather, birds and flowers. And it is my beautiful daughter, Sonya's fiftieth birthday today. She is my youngest, my baby, all grown up. The family went to Japan to celebrate. We will celebrate later when they return and her sister can come from Melbourne.

Spring is here.

Holiday in Japan with friends.

My baby is fifty.

WHAT HAPPENED TO SPRING

 August is usually our coldest winter month. This year we have gone from Winter to Summer without any Spring in between. The temperatures this week have been in the high 20C/70F and into the 30C /80F already. I love this weather but when it gets humid too that can be uncomfortable. It can get quite warm walking around the village but the flowers are looking great:

Magnolia

Grevillea

WOE IS ME

'Woe is me' is a very old idiom meaning a way to express sadness or disappointment at an unfair situation. It is regarded as a humorous idiom these days however it was first used in the bible in the book of Job, which makes it a very old saying.

Anyway I have had a taxing time of late so this felt like an appropriate title. I had spinal surgery in May. It was to decompress the nerves from L5 to take away the pain of sciatica in my right leg. The op was successful in that the pain has gone from my right leg but now I have it in my left thigh. The pain was so bad last week that I went to ER where they admitted me to the same ward where I recovered from the op. The surgeon ordered another MRI. He says I have two problems with L4 now. So more tests are in store. I was given a different pain killer and it is working well now. When I came out of hospital, Bill was coughing and tested positive for Covid and he hadn't left the unit the whole three days that I was in hospital but neighbours called in to check on him. One f them must have been infectious but didn't know. Anyway he is getting over it and I didn't catch it, thank goodness.

Views of the city from my hospital room.

I can still manage a walk around the village everyday and I love admiring all the gardens.

A SHORT FOREST WALK

 I decided to extend my short walks from the village into Daisy Hill Forest which I can access from the village as it was built right next to the forest. There is also a public access at the end of our road just outside our main gate. However, the forest access isn't the main entrance to the forest and not many people use it, just locals. So I ventured into the forest for a short walk.

I love being amongst the trees and seeing the winter sun dancing on the undergrowth.

There is a handy log for a rest.

While sitting there I gazed at the canopy and the beautiful blue sky.

Time to head back  over the storm water culvert and I passed an artistic stump.

I can see our village peeping through the trees.

The public access at the end of our road. The village Gate 2 is on the right.

Instead of going in Gate 2, I walked along the footpath to Gate 1.You can see it is a quiet street with large properties on the other side.

When I woke up and opened the shutters I saw these cockatoos having a feast of flowers from my next door neighbour, Rhonda's garden and then fly across the street and perch on neighbour Eva's roof.