CHINESE NEW YEAR AND A NEW VILLAGE

 Our Singaporean, Chinese managing director and owner of our village, Chiou See, has bought another village to add to our family. It is called Elements@ Con Noi, Carindale, which is a Brisbane suburb not far away from us. The hand over date was 1 Feb so Chiou See organised a Chinese New Year celebration as an event to mark the hand over day as something special. Residents from our village were invited to attend and meet the residents of Con Noi. Although, Bill and I are hesitant of mixing with a lot of people in these Covid times, we bit the bullet and attended.

It was an interesting morning meeting the other residents and comparing notes. Naturally, they were very keen to find out what it is like having the dynamo, Chiou See, as the managing director. We calmed their fears. They seemed pleased because their last manager didn't do anything to enhance their living conditions.

We enjoyed the lion dance and the Chinese snacks.

Tables and chairs were set up in their common room. Residents from both villages chat together.

The lions arrive to celebrate the year of the tiger

This one produced a lucky charm for Chiou See.

Then the lion tugs a lettuce dangling from the ceiling and spits it at the audience for good luck.

A resident representative of the Con Noi Village presents Chiou See with flowers.

CHILLING OUT IN THE FOREST

 I have been walking in the forest in between showers of rain by myself because we are at the peak of the Omicron wave so we have not been mixing with people very much. Hopefully, next week we will try walking with friends again.  It is so nice and green and calm in the forest. I love seeing the towering trees, the wallabies and the track disappearing into the forest.

I love the bright orange trunks of these trees, that are actually called grey gums or Eucalyptus Punctata.

They have a grey bark, which it sheds in summer to reveal the lovely orange colour.

We have had a very wet summer and the picnic area has turned bright green.

I love seeing different things each day. Here are some: Tiny fungi, fresh raindrops and glowing lichen.

THE SAD DAY ARRIVES

 I knew this day would eventually be on us. It was time to say goodbye to our daughter and son-in-law. After being in Brisbane for six weeks going between us and David's parents, it was time for them to head home. However, they are going to take their time and stay for a few days in Gyra and Bellingen on the way. They have loved travelling in the country for the last twelve months and they are not looking forward to returning to the bustling, Covid ridden Sydney.

They had lots to pack. Besides food and clothes, they have painting gear, David's mobile studio for composing, their cycling gear and "the kitchen sink". Carol is the master packer and David is the carrier.

Bye, Bye, sniffle, sniffle. Hope to see you again before another year passes. Love you to bits.

LET'S GET OUT

When Australia reached 80% vaccinated, the state governments, except Western Australia, decided to open their borders. Little did they know that Omicron was on our doorstep and it came rushing in so now we are experiencing a huge rise in numbers of cases. This was annoying for us as our state had been virus free for the last eighteen months. So now we have to be so much more careful. Luckily, we had our booster sooner than expected as the health gurus said we only needed to wait four months instead of six since the last injection. However, we were still wary about mixing with other people and declined lunch dates and village functions. Our daughter was still visiting from Sydney and we decided to get out of the house and go for a picnic. Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy and showery but we still went to Moogerah Dam and had our picnic but we were driven from the picnic spot by a shower just as we had finished eating, luckily. We had never been here before and it was a very pretty spot except for the grey sky.

We headed for home but the rain stopped. On the way we saw a sign to Wyaralong Dam so we decided to drive in and check out the scenery. As it happened, there was a huge rowing carnival taking place. We watched them for a while and then found our way to the dam wall. It was an interesting one as it was a type of spillway wall. It was mesmerising watching the water flowing over.

This is a weed but couldn't help recognising a coronavirus.

NEW YEAR'S DAY IN HOSPITAL AGAIN

 This is the third New Year that I have had medical issues. They say stuff happens in threes. Well I hope that's the last of it. 2020 broken ankle, 2021 bowel blockage, 2022 bowel pain but luckily no blockage this time.

Our daughter from Sydney was staying with us so she was very helpful and her husband, David is a great cook and fed us well.

Salmon with Broccoli Pasta, roasted Zucchini, Asparagus and Caramelized Onions.

Carol and David have taken a year off work and are holidaying around the eastern states. They planned this before Covid hit hard in Oz. They spent time in the Snowy Mountains in NSW then through Victoria calling in to see her sister in Melbourne and then on the ferry to Tasmania. They loved hiking and mountain bike cycling there. Then the plan was to visit country Victoria before visiting the Flinders Ranges in South Australia but alas Covid hit Melbourne and Sydney and all the other states closed their borders to people from Victoria and NSW so our kids were stuck in Victoria country. They were disappointed not to be able to discover SA and not be able to come to Queensland to see us. However, they continued to enjoy Victorian country. They stayed in Airbnb on farms or by the sea. Carol decided she would learn to bake while she had time. She hadn't done much cooking because David does it.

She made us banana bread.

Bill taught her to make Apricot Pie.

Both of them enjoy painting and they did loads of paintings of the places they visited. David prefers water colour and Carol does both water and oil. She showed us some of the oil paintings she did while on holiday. I didn't take shots of their water colours unfortunately.

Finally the states relaxed the border rules and Carol and David were able to get through NSW to us in Queensland but they never got to SA. Just as the rules were relaxed we got hit with the Omicron variant which has taken off now and all states have got cases except WA only have a few as they have kept their border closed.

                       At last we have had our Booster jab.