MEMORIES FROM 1986

 Oh my goodness no posts in October at all. Shame on me. Well I have been a bit under the weather and Bill had a stint in hospital but we are slowly getting back to normal. I still am scanning my photo albums and turning them into photo books along with written memories of those times.

In 1986 it was all about the girls and their schooling and extra curricular activities. Carol was in Year Nine in High School and Sonya was in Year Seven in Primary School. Now days Year Seven is in High School. 

Carol-Ann in John Paul College uniform. 14 years old.

Carol played hockey, soft ball and she was in the school marching band and concert band playing trumpet.

Sonya also played softball, hockey and the trumpet. 

Sonya was also in the Jump Rope team.

Bill played trumpet in the Redland Bay Concert Band.

Sonya received a book prize at the Year Seven Graduation night. It was a book of Banjo Patterson's poems. She named her second son Banjo.

We all went to Sydney to visit my Mum and Aunt.

While there we took the girls to Manly, a sea side suburb of Sydney.

They went kayaking on the harbour side of Manly.

They had fun on the water slides too.

I was teaching in a semi rural school called Mount Cotton State School. Sonya came to the same school.

The quality of the photos isn't the best, still they are almost 40 years old.

EASTER WITHOUT FAMILY

We had a quiet Easter with village friends. It was very pleasant having a BBQ on Caren and Eddie's back patio in the warm Autumn weather.  Although our family were not with us at least they were with each other. Carol and David live in Sydney and Sonya, Bernie and the boys live in Melbourne. However, Carol and David are on the hunt for a rural property either in Victoria or Tasmania. They have had enough of city life. So they drove from Sydney to Victoria and found a place to stay in Macedon about an hour out of Melbourne. While there Sonya and the boys visited them.

The sisters were pleased to see each other again.

After playing at making a fake moustache, Banjo helped Aunty Carol make a Pizza. Sonya and the boys returned home but the next weekend was Easter. They all decided to meet at the bush shack retreat near Gordon and spend Easter together. Bernie and his brothers built the shack out of recycled materials. There is no electricity or water connected. Mobile phone reception is poor. They take their own water and use gas for cooking. They have a composting toilet. However, they love going there as it is back to nature and quite relaxing. The boys can run wild and they cannot use their iPads.

Driving into the property, I think it's about 40 acres.

There are also a few caravans on the property, which are used as bedrooms and storerooms.

It's quite comfortable inside. There are bunks and an open fireplace.

They all love mountain bike riding.

Sonya

Carol

There is a dam nearby.

David, Bernie and Banjo, Carol and Fox.

Riding in the forest.

They stopped to collect chestnuts from an abandoned orchard.

On Easter Sunday too much chocolate.

It is nearly as good as being with them having all these photos sent to us.

 The saddest thing is that Bernie's family received a notice that this property is going to be claimed by Ausnet to put pylons through. The shack and everything will be bulldozed. The family will be compensated but they wouldn't be able to find another property for that price in the same area. So the family went to Melbourne with neighbouring farmers and protested.

FATHERS' DAY

We just had a great weekend. Our girls organised a surprise visit to see their Dad on Father's Day weekend. They arrived on Friday evening amongst much laughing, hugging and kissing. Bill had a great Fathers' Day surprise. Of course it was a lovely surprise for me too. Carol flew from Sydney and Sonya from Melbourne. Sonya left the boys with Bernie for a bonding weekend for Fathers' Day. (hee hee).

We went for a walk in the forest before breakfast.

 We went to Bill's favourite restaurant, The Des Alps, for lunch.

Happy Father

I had a salmon Rösti Pizza. It was delicious and I had a Crepe Monique for dessert. It was filled with vanilla cream and topped with chocolate sauce. I ate it before remembering to take a photo. Too scrumptious.

So nice having lunch with our daughters we were taking photos with our phones.

The most wonderful, thoughtful daughters. We are so proud of them and love them to bits.

On Sunday it was time to say good bye as they had to get back to their families and their jobs. It was nice to get a family photo of the four of us together. We had fun comparing it with old photos like the one below.

When Fox saw this photo via FaceTime he said, "Grandma looks newer." (priceless)

Too soon it was time to drive them to the airport and say goodbye. Sonya wanted to take the weather with her. It was a sunny, warm Spring day of 27°C where as it was cold, windy and 12°C in Melbourne.

Bye bye my lovely girls until Christmas.