VISIT TO HYDEN

Here I am with the dirty car and a net over a hat to keep the flies at bay!!
Cherith has since bought me 3 so I am all geared up for
my overseas friends to beat the flies!!

On 2 November Irene drove us to Hyden, approx 370km's east of Perth to spend 5 days with our sister Cherith and her husband Ken. It was also the annual Hymnfest in Hyden. Roger and I attended last year, which is when I formed the idea I would love us 5 girls to get together and have a singing reunion!! Jillian, Cherith, Irene and myself were able to sing at the Hymnfestin Hyden on Friday night. Brenda could not make it up for the weekend as she had been to Kalgoorlie the weekend before.

What fun we had, even though darling Roger wasn't well the whole time we were there. Very weak, continual coughing and just not feeling like partying. But we all took it in turns to look after him, sit with him and keep him company.

Jillian and Jonathan drove from their farm in Badgingarra (about 6 hours). It had been raining quite a bit and they had to come through some parts with water across the road. But they made it safely on the Thursday.

We talked, ate, sang, walked, laughed and basically had a wonderful time together. It was so wonderful to get together and sing. We still haven't lost it and can harmonize well together. Maybe we will make a comeback (ONLY JOKING)!!

Cherith and Irene. Irene being very silly with a net food cover over her head.
No, she didn't wear it on the walk!!

Gaynor and Roger at Gerry's place. She cooked scones for us all on the Saturday morning. What a precious thing to do. Gerry is my nephew Darian's wife.
Their son Jasper is gorgeous.

Cherith, Jillian and Jonathan over morning tea.

Our Front Garden

At last I have taken a couple of photo's of our new garden and fence. No volunteer's to paint the fence yet!! Maybe our son Tim will do it whilst he is here (only joking Tim!!). I am very pleased with the garden and everything in it is growing nicely. The petunia's have started to flower with a flurry, especially after all the rain we have had.






So we have lavender, rosemary and roses and lots of petunia's to add instant colour. Watch this space and I hope I will be able to post photo updates.

Bathroom renovations

Bathroom renovations started last Monday 3 October. I was silly enough to think I could live in the house whilst they were taking place!! I also was silly enough to think I could work as well!! Who do I think I am! What a mess! The dust! I've never seen anything like it.

Got home from work Monday night and decided I would clean - SO I DID!

Got home from work Tuesday night and decided I would clean - SO I DID!

But as I was sitting in Roger's chair Tuesday night, I was thinking that my glasses were very dirty and needed a clean - WRONG! The dust was just whizzing around and settling where I had cleaned. Needless to say I was beside myself so Irene took me in hand and made me move to her place - SO I DID!

Irene told me I had to stay in bed all day Thursday - SO I DID!! I can't believe I actually slept all night, all day and all night again! What is this telling me! It's Friday and I am walking around in a bit of a daze and wondering how on earth I am going to cope with all the cleaning.

There were complications with the plumbing, but all is sorted now. The lovely big white tiles are on the walls and Eric has started on the small floor tiles. He has been so good and caring to me. He was the one who said STOP CLEANING!!

I had a Porta Loo delivered but have hardly used it. Roger comes home from Respite at Bethesda Hospital on Monday. He would have been there 2 weeks. Just as well it has been a lovely experience for him. It has made life easier for me not having to look after him as well, especially now he has the tube feeding, which we will now refer to as 'mains' (dear Colette's idea).

Everything seems to be so complicated at the moment and I seem to have so many little things to do. If only I had a secretary for a day.

Today I received the most beautiful card from my lovely, lovely 'Girls' in Schopfheim. If only they knew how much this thoughtful gesture has lifted my spirits and arrived just at the right time. How very special it is to have friends who care.

This post is the colour of our floor tiles in the bathroom!! Ha! Ha!

IN MELBOURNE

Roger and I travelled to Melbourne by plane on Tuesday 16 August. Our lovely son Tim picked us up at the Airport. It was so good to see him again. He drove us to Glenda and Tom's place (we arrived around 9pm) so we could have a glimpse of our beautiful grandsons Edward and Nathan.

Friends in the same street as Glenda and Tom had offered their house for us to stay in as they were away for 6 days skiing. It was very convenient and meant I could head down the road to take Peach for a walk around 8am and then back to Roger as he was waking up. It worked well for a week.

We had a lovely family afternoon on Sunday and took some gorgeous photos of the family and the new additions! We enjoyed evenings with the kids and tried to spend as much time as possible with our beautiful little babies.

I had a lovely time in the city with Jocelyn on the first Friday and she had arranged a make up treat in the afternoon for us both. We visited our favourite French Pancake Cafe off Port Phillip Arcade.

Friends Simone and Brad offered their car for us to use whilst we were in Melbourne. This was a huge help for us and a good car for Roger to get in and out of. Also easy to put the wheelchair in that we were able to borrow through MND Melbourne (Thank you).

My darling sister Irene and husband George joined us in Melbourne on 21 August so that Irene could help me look after Roger for 10 days. We moved into a nice little furnished unit together on Tuesday 23 August. Roger and I stayed there for 2 weeks.

The kids had organized tickets for us to go and see LOVE NEVER DIES - a Wednesday matinee. Oh my goodness what a magnificent show! How brilliant is Andrew Lloyd Webber. We LOVED it. We had fantastic seats (thanks darling Glenda for organizing). Would love to see it again (is that being greedy?).

We didn't really get to catch up with any friends as Roger was unwell the whole time we were in Melbourne. But Roger was able to have a couple of beers with Tom on their back terrace (Roger loves 'beer o'clock'!!), and also for Father's Day Tom organized to take Roger to the Football at the MCG to see his beloved CATS - GEELONG - defeat Collingwood by 96 points. Although he wasn't well he did enjoy himself very much. Tom handled the wheelchair with aplomb and made sure Roger was looked after and enjoyed the experience.

We were able to have breakfast with Irene and George at one of my favourite cafe's which I try and visit each time I go to Melbourne - STONEHOUSE COTTAGE in Warrandyte. I just love it. Then we took a drive to Panton Hill and just happened to bump into friends Marcus and Barbara who were cleaning St Matthew's Church (Roger was minister there from 1988 - 1992). This was truly incredible.

Cheryl helped in the care of Roger when Irene and George went back to Perth. It was a huge relief for me to have her help, especially as Roger was so sick. I wanted to be able to spend as much time as possible with Glenda and our little treasures.

Tim and Amy flew off to the USA on Thurs 25 August for 3 weeks. We were able to catch up with them a couple of times.

Tom and Glenda had Edward and Nathan Dedicated at ONE, the Church they go to in Blackburn. It was a wonderful service of celebration and rather emotional for us all. We had such a nice morning tea after the service at Keith and Heather's (Tom's parents) in Blackburn. There were about 30 people at the morning tea. As it was Father's Day we headed to Glenda and Tom's around 4pm to open a bottle of champagne I had received for my 50th Birthday. And yes, it was still very, very nice!!

It was such a shame Roger was not well, as this will be his last visit to Melbourne and quite likely the last time he will see his precious little grandsons. By the way, Roger will be called Gramps and Glenda has really decided I will be called Nana! I'm okay with that!!

Father's Day 4 September 2011

Roger with Nathan and Keith (Tom's Dad) with Edward

Edward's first piano lesson

Our Lovely Family

l-r Amy, Tim, Glenda, Edward, Tom, Nathan, Gaynor, Roger and Jocelyn

Taken Sunday afternoon 21 August 2011 at Glenda and Tom's in Melbourne

MY BIRTHDAY

My Birthday Cake at the office

Bronwen, Emma, Irene, Colleen, Grace and Joanne

Edward and Nathan

Roger speaking at Church

Our lovely friend Joel downloaded this picture of Roger speaking at Church. Small, but at least you get the idea, and the miracle that it actually happened.

OUR GRAND BABIES

Tom and Glenda with Edward and Nathan in their front garden

Their fabulous twin pram. Off for a walk with Peach

THOSE WERE THE DAYS MY FRIEND I WISHED THEY'D NEVER END

DISTANT FRIENDS

Here we are at Centrepoint in Basel back in September last year
with Mark, Kevin and Christine

Tonight, (Saturday) we received a lovely phone call from dear friends Johnny and Bettina who live in Zell in Germany. Both have come from Ghana to live in Germany. Johnny was our special driver when we lived in Schopfheim and looked after us in many ways. It was so good to hear from him and we were a little overcome by his phone call. How lovely to be remembered by such special friends.

I also received a phone call from my dear and special friend Christine from Basel, and again I was quite upset, but managed to calm down and have a good chat. It was as if we spoke to each other yesterday.

Dear Kevin from Basel rang us last Saturday to make sure we were travelling okay. What a joy it is to always catch up for a chat. We are blessed to have such dear friends who still think about us.

We miss our distant friends. Each one is special to us in a so many different ways.

WE'RE GRANDPARENTS

Our beautiful tiny baby boys (Nathan Elliot 1.8kg) and Edward Peter (1.4kg) were born to Glenda and Tom (6 weeks early) on 1 July. They will be 3 weeks old tomorrow and are still in hospital in Melbourne. They will probably be there for another week or so. Both are putting on weight and doing nicely.

Glenda and Tom are coping amazingly well, as they travel to the hospital each day to be with the babies. We are so VERY proud of them both. We will get to cuddle our babies on 16 August when we arrive in Melbourne for 3 weeks. We can't wait. How lucky are we to have 2 tiny treasures. Glenda and Tom have been giving us regular updates and pictures. We won't share any at the moment as they are so tiny. But when we come back from Melbourne, I will be sure to post some.

Roger wants to be called Gramps and I am still unsure what I will be called. Nothing seems to suit. Maybe you had better give me some suggestions, especially those who really know me!!!!!!!!!

RIDLEY UPDATE

I keep apologizing for not keeping this up to date. I am finding it really difficult to write these days, but know I must try and keep it up. I do love writing normally, but when we are going through this horrible time in our lives, it isn't easy and putting things in writing just reminds me how awful it is.

I think I will keep Roger's Motor Neurone Disease quite separate from this blog and will try and update on MND on our http://www.rogngayn.blogspot.com/. That way I can update on what each day holds, so if you want to keep up to date, then go there.

Since Roger's birthday we have had quite a good couple of months. We have both been positive and trying to do lots of lovely things together and with our family and friends. We have settled nicely into our Church family at St Barnies, West Leederville and they are very supportive and loving towards us. We are particularly enjoying the friendship of the young marrieds, no children. Rog often goes off to watch the guys play Soccer on a Monday night and friends drop in and keep him company and amused, which is quite lovely.

I went to Melbourne for 6 days from 17 June to see our beautiful family. It was rather cold and wet, but good to see the kids and have hugs! To spend time with Glenda helping her to get organized before the arrival of the twins was lots of 'fun' as well.

When I arrived home on Thursday afternoon 23 June, Irene and Roger met me at the Airport and brought me home. I unpacked and then packed again for the 2 of us. We drove to my sister Jillian's farm at Badgingarra (3 hours) and stayed for 3 lovely days. It was divine. We had breakfast in the rotunda (glorious Saturday morning) and surrounded by Jillian's amazing garden. We had a good laugh at the CWA (Country Women's Association) annual concert when all the local areas come together to perform Choir items, etc. We have lost this in the city unfortunately. Jillian was a hit. She plays the piano beautifully.

We are slowly making our little home more and more cosy. We both love the kitchen. It works very well for us both (and I LOVE the dishwasher!!). Last Saturday we bought a couple of rugs and are very pleased with them. We still don't have pictures on the walls. That's a bit sad. But all in good time!! I am hoping to have someone look at the front 'garden' and give me some suggestions. It is so hot here in the summer, I am going to have to be careful what I plant out there. It is only a small area, so shouldn't have too many problems, but I do need advice. Also I don't want people to pinch the plants that we put in there! Yes, these things do happen.

I pulled it off ! ! !

After quite a lot of planning - e.g. emails, lists, shopping, cooking, coordinating with Irene, etc I managed to pull a surprise Birthday party off for my darling Roger. Now if it had been me, I would have guessed that there was something in the wind!! But not my Roger.

I must say I was rather distraught Friday morning when I eventually left for work around 10.45. Roger was upset because he had had trouble shaving and of course he is realizing that his right arm is becoming weaker. We find once he starts getting upset he finds it hard to pull out of it. I went to work, but reluctantly, and the Irene called in to see him. When I got home around 13.30 he was still upset. I gave him lunch, then some sprays into the mouth of 'calm me down' medicine Irene had got for us. I decided I need some as well!! I had arranged for a friend to pick Rog up and take him out for a few hours.

Well, it all turned out magnificently. Irene arrived to help me out then Roger's cousin Bruce and his wife Sandra (visiting for a couple of days from Sydney) arrived so I put them to work. Friends started to arrive just after 17.00 and then the party got into full swing. Steve arrived back with Rog around 17.30 - perfect timing.

We had a wonderful evening celebrating Roger's birthday (which was actually on the 19th May) and we again realized how much energy people give us and how important it is for us, even in our circumstances, to have family and friends around us to continue to make special memories. There were 23 altogether and it was such a joy to have people in our home.

Of course I forgot to get someone to take photo's, but here are just a couple of the evening for you to enjoy.

Colette and Gaynor

Toby and Anna

Irene, Roger and Jonty

Bruce, Sandra, Roger and Gaynor (watching the football!!)

This is the card our son Tim gave to his Dad!! It does take a
little while for people to 'GET IT'

Are we besotted ? ? ?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DARLING ROGER

Here we are sitting on a bench in Fremantle when we had a lovely evening with Dave & Sue back in March. Rog just giving the thumbs up that we are having a good time (and need a rest as well)!!

Roger turns 58 today. Currently he is sitting on our lovely leather lounge entertaining Pepper, who is bringing us a lot of joy. We have given him a new toy this morning (with a rattle inside). Roger and Pepper are both cute, cute, cute ! ! !

This time last year we went to Riquewihr, in the Alsace in France with Stephen and Barbara James for a very happy day in the lovely old village which we have visited many times before. What special memories we treasure in our hearts.

Around this time we also had lunch with friends in Basel, Sheldon and Shelley Jones and said a sad farewell to Anne Scheidel who returned to the US of A.

Then our cycling tour for 5 days with Joshua, Jayne and Angela in the Loire Valley in France. Joshua visited us from Sydney last week and reminded us of the amazing time we had together. What an adventure.

So today I want to pay tribute to my wonderful husband of 35 years. With God's help, Roger has made me into the woman I am today (Mum helped as well). God still has a lot of work to do I am sure!

Roger has taught me tolerance, patience, how to be non judgmental and kind. If you don't have a positive word to say to someone, don't speak.

Nothing seems to phase Roger. Sometimes he's a bit too placid for my liking, but he also loves a good time and if I'm prepared to organize things, he happy tags along, or lovingly accepts all the people I invite into our home! I remember how busy he was on Sunday when he was a Parish Priest, but he would always welcome visitors to our table for a Sunday roast. I love and admire him for his willingness to keep working when all he probably wanted to do was have an afternoon nap!

Now, as Motor Neurone Disease (ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease) overtakes him, he is determined to keep going and being as independent as he possibly can. He only asks for help with dressing or food when he absolutely has to. He stays positive most of the time, and his sense of humour has blossomed in these last months since coming back to Australia from Germany. We don't even want to think about the road ahead, but try and live each day to make more happy memories!

I love my precious Roger with all my heart and with God's help and all you lovely family and friends praying for us, we will get through this time that Roger has left on this earth. For none of us know when our time on earth will end, Roger is just more aware of it than most.

Thank you for 35 precious years my darling. I love you very, very much.

Gaynor xo xo xo xo xo xo xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

Happenings in our lives

There is one dear friend whose care and love for Roger and me I value very much. So, when he sent a message asking for a more personal update I thought I'd better get to and deliver!!

We celebrated our 35th Wedding Anniversary last night. We started the morning by exchanging cards and having a good cry, which was interrupted by Pepper jumping up on us and wondering what all the noise was about!! It was a good distraction for us and we did have a laugh! My lovely sister Irene drove us to the Darlington Winery Estate in the hills for a lovely lunch, (which was rather late). We did enjoy ourselves and have no photos to show!!

We are getting on okay. We try to laugh more than we cry, but we do both quite well! Roger is being overtaken by Motor Neurone Disease and it is so dreadful to see a very special and very loved husband deteriorating in this way. He is being very brave and is fighting to keep walking and being as independent as he can be. I help with the odd button or two, cutting up the food, etc, but he is doing so very well to keep going. Yesterday we had a visit to the Neurologist and it was okay. A few things were discussed that were upsetting to us both. I must be honest and say I can't read anything about MND or what the near future is going to hold for me as a carer. I have asked Irene to read up and tell me only what I absolutely have to know.

I have been put in touch with a lady whose husband died of MND not long ago. I hope to catch up soon and share friendship and information with her. We just haven't quite been able to connect with our busy programmes.

We have seen all our kids in the last couple of months and this has been special for us. They do find it hard with us being in Perth and them being in Melbourne. We do try and keep in contact via phone calls, but we must try and do something about Skype soon. It would be so much better. Our internet connection is not very good here in Perth. Our daughter Glenda is now 27 weeks pregnant with twins. They are due on 12 August, but we are expecting them to come early. We were thinking of visiting Melbourne in June, but Roger is not keen to do this and would rather wait until the twins arrive. I am not sure if I might go for a few days in June. It will depend on work and how Roger is.

Speaking of work. I work 24 hours/week at Star Settlements and ijrproperty. I am the Office Manager and I do all sorts of things. I do have to laugh sometimes when I am at work and learning all these new things. When we were living in Germany I was thinking I would never work for money again! Just shows you should never say never!! I do enjoy my work but sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed about all the things I need to do. I have been so very spoilt by a husband who is always willing to lend a hand and was willing to cook, clean, etc that it is hard to take not having him do it anymore! Poor me. Not really, being in a small home is very convenient and not much cleaning to do really. Roger comes to work when he feels like it. He might do between 10 - 12 hours week, but he is a volunteer. He is in charge of scanning files into the computer so that we can get rid of all the paper files!! He is very good and thorough at this. Just last week a special chair was delivered to work so that he can rest when he gets tired. This means he doesn't have to come home and be by himself (though now we have Pepper this isn't so bad).

We have a wheelchair at home so that if we want to go for a long walk, I can take Roger in the wheelchair. It is very easy to use, but not so good to load in and out of the car. Roger has also been fitted with a neck collar which he can use whenever he likes. This will help with his weakened neck muscles. The neck brace comes from Canada. It doesn't look too bad actually.

So, how's that for an update? I'm not going to read it back, otherwise I might delete half of it. I hope it makes sense.

Roger's 58th Birthday is on Thursday. I'm trying to think what we did last year. I know we had a special celebration after one of our Monday hikes around Schopfheim. Ah, those were the days!!!!!!!!!

Introducing Pepper

Pepper on Roger's lap. Roger is sitting in his very comfy chair

As most of our friends would know, we having been looking for a dog since we dogsat Jonty and enjoyed him immensely. In fact, everyone has been looking for a dog for us. We have had disappointments, when we thought we had chosen one, only to be told "Oh, he's on hold"!! But, now we realize that one wasn't meant to be anyway.

Pepper (once named Bandit because of the black around his eyes!) became available on Friday 13 May and Joanne, my boss, took Roger to have a look at him and of course the rest is history.

We think Pepper belonged to an older lady who could no longer look after him. Pepper tends to follow me around more than he does Roger and we want to change this. So, if there's treats to be had, I try and get Roger to give them rather than me.

I don't think Pepper has been walked. He is hopeless on the lead and when I take him out in the morning and leaps along like a spring lamb! It was funny at first, but it is wearing thin after 3 days!! He is also full of energy and always wants to play. He needs to settle a little.

Pepper is a Shih Tzu crossed with something else we think! We have a lot to learn about how to look after a little dog.

Out with the OLD, in with the NEW ! ! !

About time I posted a couple of pictures for you to look at!! Our old kitchen was removed on 15 April, the day Tim/Amy and Glenda/Tom arrived from Melbourne for a wee holiday with us!! Just as well we were taking off to Mandurah for 3 days! Our new kitchen went in on 20/21 April, just in time for Easter and the arrival of lovely friend Christine on a 2 day visit from Basel and Mary and Bruce from Adelaide. So, the kitchen has been well used. I love it. It's very user friendly and I love having a dishwasher. Lucky me.


Cheryl was visiting from Adelaide when Roger took this photo of the new kitchen. She is making the most of the bench space to read the paper. One of these days we will get a couple of bar stools for the kitchen bench.

This is the old kitchen and the 'wall' separating the kitchen from the loungeroom. I didn't like this at all in our little home. The cupboards were very ordinary and hard to use. No bench space at all and the sink was very silly!!

MOMENTS IN TIME

We were blessed to have Jonty come and stay with us for 5 days. He is the most wonderful little dog and brought us both so much joy. We even took him to work for a couple of days and we thought he would make a good work mascot!! So, here is Jonty in one of his favourite positions.

We have felt a bit spoilt of late. We had an overnight stay at the Parmelia Hilton in the heart of Perth a week ago last Sunday. We were upgraded to a King Deluxe Suite and felt very, very spoilt (maybe stay 2 nights next time!!!!). This overnight stay was something Roger auctioned for at the Motor Neurone Disease Fundraiser back on 12 February! He bid and won for a very good price!

We also managed to see our beloved Geelong Cats Football Team play at Subiaco Oval here in Perth and beat the Fremantle Dockers so we were pretty stoked about that.

Now we await the installation of our new kitchen on 20/21 April. Not good timing, but at least it will be in. The tiler won't be able to come till after Easter, but we might have the dishwasher working!!

Saturday night 27 March

As you can see, we are still trying to party and this was a successful night!! Here we are taking a bit of a breather as we wait for David and Sue who were busy taking photo's!! We had a great night together, eating our way through the evening (and changing venues of course). We started in Swanbourne in a lovely restaurant overlooking the Indian Ocean then went to Fremantle for dessert. I then drove everyone to King's Park. We were a bit tired on Sunday!! Poor us!

Special outings

Roger's brother David and his wife Sue are visiting us for 4 days. Dave has been to Perth before but Sue hasn't. We have enjoyed showing them a little of Perth. We had dinner looking over the Indian Ocean last night and how wonderful to watch the sun set once again. We never get tired of seeing the sun set over the ocean.




Not a bad view eh? And our meal was just so delicious. Staff were fabulous. After dinner we drove to Fremantle. We found it difficult to find a car park. It was a balmy evening and there were people everywhere.


We ended up at Florientina's for hot chocolate/coffee and dessert! Very nice indeed! Roger ordered this peach gelati (oh yum). It was covered in white chocolate.

Then we drove to King's Park to show off the beautiful city of Perth. Truly an evening to remember.

Marching away from March ! ! !

Roger, George, Gaynor and Irene drinking a toast to the grandparents to be!!

Kevin has given me a timely reminder that I have not blogged for a very long time. There are lots of reasons for this I suppose. I haven't been keeping up with my diary, or the writing that Roger and I do together. Life seems to have overtaken us at the moment and also it has been so very hot here in Perth, we don't really feel like doing much at all.

So, what have we been up to. I was very sick for 12 days with a flu/virus and a cough is still hanging around, though isn't too bad. I don't like the air conditioning at work, so this is not helping. Rog was very good at trying to look after me but most people kept away as they didn't want to catch my dreadful virus. Roger kept very well, which was a relief!

We continue to do renovations to our little home. We had a brickie in to pull out the window and door to the laundry, brick it up, so that we can make it into a walk in pantry. We need to have it plastered and then painted. We then need to think about shelving! We also had the ineffective air conditioner removed from our bedroom wall and that needed to be brick up as well. We are slowly getting more furniture, but it all takes time and energy. The spare bedroom is starting to take shape but we still need to unpack boxes when we get our new kitchen in April. We did manage to have a new air conditioner installed on one of the hottest days in Perth! We ran it for 72 hours non stop!

As I update this blog we are having another heat wave with temps 35C/36C. Far too hot for this time of the year and NO RAIN. We haven't had a decent rain since we returned from Europe in September. The drought is very bad in Perth.

We enjoyed a lovely visit from our daughter Glenda for 4 days from 10 March. I don't think we have mentioned that we are becoming grandparents to not one but two babies. Glenda is pregnant with twins and will be born end July/early August. She is 19 weeks now and all is going very well for her. She is still teaching but gets very tired. The darling put together some Ikea furniture for us and also took Roger on a supermarket shop (in the wheelchair) for snack food that he might like. A huge success. Glenda has just sent me some lovely pictures but I don't know how to get them from the email to my blog. I need Rog to help me and he is currently away for a couple of days with Jocelyn in New Norcia.

I mustn't write too much or you won't have time to read it. So, more soon I promise!

Australia - a land of contrasts

We are getting emails from friends worried about us here in Australia! So, I'd better update.

We are both well. We have been spending a lot of time getting quotes for this and that to do with our little home. My goodness it sure does take time to do all this, and also it is very tiring trying to co-ordinate all the comings and goings of tradespeople (and we're only getting quotes). It has been hot here in Perth, but we love the blue skies and warm weather. We sleep with a fan on each night as we can't have our bedroom window open. It's too noisy with the freeway (motorway) going past!!

We have both been devastated by the flooding in Queensland and then Cyclone Yasi. Our hearts have gone out to the many, many people affected by what has been going on. Then we have just had fires here in Perth in the suburbs of Kelmscott and Roleystone. The dreadful this is that the loss of over 70 homes could have been avoided. A man was using machinery that gave off sparks which started the fires! How tragic is that!

The fires were nowhere near us, but up in the surrounding hills east of Perth. Actually we were sitting having lunch down on the Canning River with our friends Julie and Richard Waterman who were visiting us for a few days from Cornwell, England (we knew them in Basel and Richard has now retired). Roger mentioned that he saw terrible smoke and we actually thought it was a lot closer than what it was.

We've had a lovely time with Richard and Julie, though to tell the truth, we get very tired these days with extra activities and I have to really pace myself, which is not always easy. We went on a lovely cruise on the Swan River down to Fremantle and back and then met for a picnic at Kings Park. Irene joined us which was great fun. Kings Park overlooks Perth and is quite beautiful. We took them swimming at Cottesloe Beach and it was perfect. I even managed to coax Roger into the water. Then we had fish and chips and watched the sun set over the ocean. They are now traveling down the south of Perth and having a wonderful time I hope.

More later. I must get myself ready for work. The big office move is tomorrow and it's all go!!

Dass Schnapps Trinken

Just to wet your appetites!!

This has become a bit of a Roger and Amy tradition whenever they get together. So, on Christmas Eve when we were celebrating at Tim and Amy's, out came the schnapps and Roger and Amy enjoyed a drink together. They didn't have to worry about sharing the schnapps.

Here's to you!!

Up the teeth and over the gums, look out stomach, here it comes!!

You're on your own with this one guys. Looks say everything!!