CHRISTMAS IN JULY

We have been lucky in our state and we haven't had any new cases or community transmission of the virus for some time. So we have been eased back from lockdown through stages where we now have a lot of freedom but we must still social distance and sanitise. The size of crowds has increased but not unlimited yet.

So we were able to return to our village monthly dinners. This month's theme was Christmas in July, which I don't really believe in celebrating because I think it is a hang over from British Colonial days, where the people felt it was strange having Christmas in summer. So some people feel it is still right to celebrate Christmas in winter in July. Even though I don't agree with the idea , I'm always up for a dinner party, so we went along and enjoyed.

The organising of the dinners has been handed over to the residents. A committee was formed and they organised the lunch very well indeed. They set the tables.

 They organised a two groups of volunteers to wait on tables, one group for mains and one for dessert. Here they are getting instructions from the committee members. This was necessary because the high school students we usually have were not allowed to come due to school restrictions at the moment. Also it's not a good idea to have teenagers mingling with oldies yet.

 Some came dressed in Christmas attire.

 There were many tables of happy retirees, being able to socialise again. Our CEO mingling with the residents in the background.

The three of us are the village photographers and it is always hard to get a photo of ourselves. We usually take each others table but this time we were sitting at the same table. The CEO organises where we sit, so we don't sit with the same people every time. Julie conned her husband for this shot.

Our CEO/owner of the village, welcomes everyone back after lockdown. She also organised a would be candidate for State Parliament to speak to us.

 About 80 of us turned up to the party.

 Some of the staff joined us too.

 The CEO, Chiou See and partner Brendan with the candidate and PR person.

 The meal was delicious, beef, ham and pork with sprouts, parsnips, carrot and mash.

 After mains we have a guest speaker and look who it is, none other than my hubby, Bill. He was asked by the committee to talk about how Christmas is celebrated in Switzerland, since that is his homeland.

 Dessert was a treat. A mushroom made out of gelato and a brownie of some kind, with a lovely sauce.

Rosa and the other volunteers did a great job.

LEARNING TO DRONE

Bill wants to widen his horizons in making videos. So he is learning to use a drone. Luckily we have a young friend who is a photographer and has a drone so she came to give Bill a lesson. The next day he was trying hard to remember what he had learnt. 

Today we were invited to friends for lunch. Surprise surprise! They had a daughter, who also is a photographer and uses a drone. So Bill had another lesson.  He knows how to charm the young ones.

Now lets see if he has remembered what to do.

Wow we have take off.

He was so excited to be able to control it.

FOGGY MORNING WALK

When I ventured outside on a mild winter morning it was foggy. A wallaby and her baby were hopping down the road but got frightened when they saw me and they quickly hopped away. The fog made the forest quiet and beautiful. The fine droplets of mist collected on the hundreds of little spider webs. It made the forest look like it was full of fairy lights.

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY

As much as I don't like getting old, I guess its better than the alternative. So I celebrated another birthday yesterday, number 78. It is so nice having lots of friends in the village. Jan invited me to a morning tea in her home with a few other ladies. Then Bill and I with some other couples from the village went to our local cafe for lunch. It was so nice to be able to go out to celebrate. (We haven't had any Covid cases for two weeks in Queensland.)

In the morning I wake up to see that the Balloon Fairy has left birthday balloons on our front fence. (A village tradition)

 Then the post person delivered a present from my wonderful Swiss husband. So we can have traditional Swiss Raclette again.

 After morning tea in the village we had lunch with village friends at our local "Cafe 63".

 Cafe 63 also sell flowers so I got a bunch from Bill.

When we arrived home there were more flowers on the doorstep from daughter, Sonya and family. I got a book from Carol, a biography, my favourite. I also got many other lovely gifts from my neighbours and loads of birthday cards.

In the evening I had a zoom party with all the family, who live in other states and cannot visit us because our border is closed. So I feel blessed that I had such a lovely day even when the world is in a bad way. I'm so glad we moved here where we have lots of friends who are like family. 

A WATERCOURSE GARDEN

Besides our village having a beautiful Zen Garden we also have a Watercourse Garden. It runs through the middle of our village, which is built on a hill. A creek bed has been built to channel the rainwater down the hill and beside the channel, gardens have been established with meandering pathways and stairs leading to each road. Here is a map of our village. Can you see the watercourse down the middle?

In case you are wondering we live in Tranquil Avenue opposite the red car. I'll take you for a walk down through the gardens from Spirit Place. This is the newest part of the village so the gardens are not properly established yet.

This is Spirit Place. The house on the left is where the CEO lives. We walk to the middle......

 ...where we come to the stairs that lead down to Tranquil Ave.

 Here you cans see how there is one apartment is on top of another. The top one enters from the street where I am standing and the bottom one enters from the street below,  so there are no stairs in any buildings. Well down we go.

 Looking back up to where we came from.

Tranquil Avenue, my street. See the forest at the end of the street. We are going to cross the road where the crossing is.

Down the stairs to Joy Place.

Joy Place.

 We cross the road and stop to smell the roses.

 Down the stairs to Serene Ave

Serene Avenue

 Stop to admire the butterfly before going down the stairs to Harmony Street.

 Harmony Street and a Curlew who lives in the garden on the right. The main road, Dennis Rd, is behind the garden on the right.

ZEN

During lockdown it was good to be able to walk or sit in our village Zen Garden. It was a place where the troubles of the world disappeared and I could relax and enjoy the beauty around me. Our restrictions are relaxing every two weeks. We have very few cases of Covid 19 in the country now and no new cases for a few days. However, after the 'Black Lives Matter' protest marches, we have to wait to see if the cases escalate before there is more freedom.      This is the gate to the Zen garden.