Brisbane, QLD


Saturday, December 27, 2008

CHRISTMAS EVE

We celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve because Bill is from Switzerland and that is when they celebrate. It has turned out to be a good idea because the girls can go to their in laws on Christmas Day. It is also pleasant eating Christmas Dinner in the cool of the evening rather than the heat of the day.
The young ones have offered to organise the dinner. Carol drew up a time table for when all the chores should be done. Bernie and Sonya start on making pumpkin salad and .......

.......Bernie has a unique way of cutting onions without making his eyes water.........

............ wear dive goggles of course. He is making caramelized onions.
Sonya and Bernie were given a giant zucchini on their trip, so Sonya stuffed it and Bernie puts the finishing touches to it.

Then he starts on the two Snapper fish, stuffing them with ginger and limes.


Bill makes his famous potato salad and bean salad.


David cooks the fish in the barbeque




The guests are arriving. David's parents, Bill and Alma, together with his sisters Adele and Melody and her partner Steve.


The buffet is ready snapper, prawns, ham, potato salad, bean salad, pumpkin salad, Greek salad, stuffed zucchini, caramelized onion and garlic bread.


Time to eat.



An Australian Christmas dinner. (Many people still stick to the traditional English turkey, pork, ham and roast vegetables with plum pudding, but not us)

We sit outside in the warm Queensland evening hoping a storm won't appear.....

........it looks a bit that way........

...but no, it passes by and we continue with......

Alma's famous trifle and.....

...the girls made a fruit platter.

Then it was inside to give out the presents. David and.......

......Bernie took it turns to be Santa.

What a fabulous Christmas with all of us together. It is the first time we have had a photo of us all together including Bernie.

HAPPY TIMES

Last Tuesday our daughter, Carol-Ann and son in law, David arrived from London, where they live. They are here for a 10 week's holiday.

Dad is happy Mum is happy
When we arrived home our other daughter, Sonya and son in law, Bernie had arrived. They have been on a camper van holiday stopping at beaches on the way from Melbourne to here.
The sisters are happy to see each other again.
We have our first lunch together for a long time.
Then, for dinner, we took them to their favourite Chinese Restaurant. Kam Koon.
Bernie and Sonya
San Choy Bow
steamed fish with ginger
rainbow steak in a bird's nestcrispy, spicy king prawns
prawns in a creamy sauce
vegetables and noodles.
A great meal and great company. What a start to Christmas.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

The Best Christmas Present Ever

Tomorrow our two daughters will be arriving home for Christmas with their partners. What better Christmas present could we wish for? Can you guess how excited we are? We haven't had them all here before and it is a long time since we have had the girls together for Christmas.
Sonya left home when she was 19, she is now 34, and Carol-Ann left home when she was 24, she is now 36.
Sonya has lived in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. She has travelled with her job to Adelaide and overseas to U.K. and Europe. She has been lucky enough to have had holidays in Switzerland, The Greek Isles and Thailand. She now lives in Sydney.
Carol-Ann has lived in Brisbane, Melbourne and London. She has travelled with her job to Europe, U.S.A and Dubai. She has been lucky enough to have holidays in Switzerland, France. Italy, Spain, Singapore and now Australia. Yippee! She now lives in London.
Carol-Ann is married to David. She is an interior designer and he is a composer.
Sonya's partner is Bernie. She is a production manager and he is an actor.
So there is my brag session for the day, as you can see we are very proud of them and are thrilled to bits that they will all be here for Christmas!!!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

BARK ART

When we go for our morning walk through the forest, I always marvel at the variety of colours and patterns in the bark of the trees.

From a distance they just look like ordinary gum trees (eucalyptus)

A little closer you can see green ones and........

....white ones and......


....black ones and.....

...orange ones and.....

....pink ones and....

....brown and green ones and.....

....cream ones.... (melaleuca paper bark)

....brown and white ones and...

...blood stained ones ....

...and freckled ones and....

...dimpled ones and....

...spotted ones and...

...... brown and orange flakey ones and....

..more and more and.....

...more different kinds of bark art.