THE BIRTH OF A BUILDING

As most readers know, we moved into a retirement village six months ago. The village has been growing over the last five years and the last two stages are in progress at the moment. We have been watching the quadplexes being built opposite us, well not quite opposite thank goodness so we can keep our view of the forest. It has been interesting watching the buildings grow.

 The retaining wall is up and the drainage done.

 The concrete slab is poured.

 Pouring concrete

 Blocks for the ground floor walls arrive.

 The garage walls are up. scaffolding for the upper units.

 Walls, windows and roof.

The street is developing.

Painting, balcony shutters, hot water heater, air con inside outfitting and landscaping.

People are moving into the "Upper Apartment "this week. Access is from the road behind the building while access to the lower "Garden Apartment" is from this street. So there are no stairs in the village.

NEW FARM PARK AT JACARANDA TIME

It is Jacaranda time in Brisbane. It has come early this year due to the very warm winter that we had. The Jacaranda Tree originally from South America, now flourishes here in Australia. Yesterday we drove to New Farm Park to photograph these beautiful purple trees. New Farm Park is in the inner city suburb of New Farm. In convict settlement days the park used to be a farm. In 1846 it was a race course but in 1913 the council acquired the land and made it a park. There were cricket nets, football fields, tennis courts and picnic areas. Today it is mostly used as a picnic area and there is a big children playground as well as a Kiosk, Coffee shop, The Power House Theatre and Watt Restaurant. The Brisbane River runs along the edge of the park and there is a City Cat boat terminal. The park was crowded even on a week day.

We drove around the ring road looking for a parking spot.

 Many of the old Jacaranda trees had to be removed as they were becoming dangerous. So new ones have been planted.

We found a park and set off for the coffee shop...........compulsory for my man. I like to see the city peeping through the trees.

 The new and the old trees. Fortified with coffee, Bill enjoyed walking, photographing and trying to learn more about his camera.

Besides the Jacaranda trees there are many garden beds in the park. The rose garden is especially pretty.

 After a few hours and hundreds of photos we found our little red car and drove home.

On the way home there were many Jacarandas lining the city streets. 

SELLING AND MOVING IN 1974

Continuing 'My Story'

In June 1974 we sold our house and acre block of land in Springwood Road and bought a new home at 27 Wenlock Crescent, Springwood. We didn't move very far and we only planned to stay there a short time and sell at a profit and then buy our dream home. Unfortunately, for us the bottom fell out of the housing market and we ended up staying for 15 years. It was a nice comfortable little house.  

 We moved into a ready built new house in Wenlock Crescent. We needed to establish a garden, again.

In July we visited the Lion Park in Beenleigh.

Carol was a bit wary of feeding the deer but eventually plucked up the courage, but when it had finished eating she walked away and the deer chased her for more. She didn't like being chased by the deer. I mustn't have taken any photos of the lions.

 Our new house had a back yard where Carol could play without me worrying that she could wander off like on the acre from where we had moved.

A friend helped us build a concrete block fence. Carol-Ann had turned two and I was eight months pregnant with our second baby,we didn't know the sex before they were born in those days. 

RAMBLING AROUND REDCLIFFE

Last week we went to Redcliffe with our cameras. Redcliffe is situated on a peninsula sticking out into Moreton Bay. It was actually the first site for the settlement of Brisbane but later the settlement moved to Brisbane River where there was a better fresh water supply. After that it became a place to go on weekends or for a holiday. Now it is an easy day trip. There are many restaurants and other activities to do there.

It is school holidays and many children have sailing lessons.

Bay beaches don't have any surf but fun for beach combing.

 Love the symmetry of the pier.

 We walked around the edge of the bay.

 Bill and Will on the look out for photo opportunities. The bay on one side and the swimming pool on the other.

 We were having summer temperatures in Spring. (We are back to cooler days now)

We walked back up to the road and we could see over the pool and the bay.

WORKING ON OUR FIRST HOUSE AND GARDEN 1973

Continuing "My Story"

We moved into our first house in Springwood Rd in 1971. There was a deep drain running down the side of the road which we couldn't cross in the car outside our house. There was no culvert or driveway. We had to cross further down the road and drive up the footpath to reach our house. In 1973 the council built a culvert and driveway across the big drain.  

The culvert with a maker post is just in the left hand corner of the photo. Then we had an almost proper access to the house.

This is the same road taken from the same spot in 2015. A four lane road with a nature strip in the middle.

 We had a garage built on the end of the house but Bill used it as his shed. So he decided to add a carport onto the house.

 I tried to establish a garden around the house but we left most of the acre in natural bushland. We had our first baby too. She was just over six months and sat in a little swing while mummy and daddy worked and our dog Ricky just wanted to play.

 The carport and little garden was finished. Bill was making two concrete strips as a driveway.

Carol-Ann 9 months and 10 months

                                  

At 11 months she took her first steps. She was our pride and joy

BIRTHDAY BEAR TRIES COUNTRY AND WESTERN MUSIC

It was Helen's Birthday last month but we are being late celebrating birthdays this year. The old wrinklies are just too busy having other fun. A group of them went to Fiji for a Country and Western Music Festival. Helen was one who went. So bear is dressed to reflect Helen's trip to Fiji. Bear didn't go so she is making up for it now.



It was my turn to dress bear so I took a photo of her at home just before we left for the restaurant. She has her guitar and the flyer for "Tunes in the Tropics, Fiji. 2019". Bear is hoping she can go.

She is dressed in her Fiji outfit with sunnies and a flower behind her ear.

 Helen was happy with her Birthday Bear (if you are not familiar with our tradition click on the link)

LtoR Bill, George, Crystal, Ann, Mary, Birthday Bear, Helen, Chris and Bob.

Helen chose to eat at the Sunnybank Community and Sports Club. It has been updated since we were there last time and the service and food was much better. It was lovely to have Bob and Chris with us again, even though they have a long trip to make. Helen's daughter in law also joined us as she went to Fiji too.

 I get a big thank you for dressing Bear this time. Helen and I have been friends since 1990 when I was transferred to Kuraby School where she had been teaching for years. We soon became good friends and Bill and I, Helen and Paul went on holidays together. Sadly Paul passed away 18 months ago. Helen has been an inspiration in coping with her grief.

I really enjoyed my lunch of grilled Barramundi on some fancy vegetables.

THE CARNIVAL OF FLOWERS

Toowoomba is a large country town situated on the crest of the Great Dividing Range about 

700 m/2,300ft above sea level. It is 125km/78m west of Brisbane. It is one of few Queensland towns that experience the four seasons, with autumn leaves and fabulous spring blooms. The towns nick name is "The Garden City"as there are over 150 parks and gardens. Every September they have the week long "The Carnival of Flowers". This year is the first time we have attended the carnival. We only went for a day trip and it was the day after the parade. We booked on a tour run by the historic train company. (see last post). It included a coach tour of the winning private gardens but we were very disappointed that it didn't include the city park gardens, which are by far the best. (It wasn't made clear in the ads). Anyway we still enjoyed the day. Following a just a few of the many shots I took of the gardens.

We were also taken to Picnic Point which has lovely street gardens and a beautiful view over the Lockyer Valley.

We have had a very dry winter. It has been hard for the residents to maintain their gardens.

It only takes 90 mins to get to Brisbane by car but took us much longer in the steam train.