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!!

Christmas Day

All dressed up for Christmas Day 2010

Ready for the big feast (we dined outside)

Roger being presented with a Family Album put together by Glenda. A VERY emotional time for us both. It is just beautiful and a real credit to Glenda

Roger and I celebrated Christmas Day 2010 with our beautiful family at Glenda and Tom's in Nunawading. We began the day at ONE (the Church Glenda and Tom go to) as Glenda was singing in the band. Then home for drinks and nibbles before the rest of the family began to arrive. Glenda and Tom did an amazing job with the food which including prawns, turkey, ham, lamb cutlets and lots of lovely salads and vegetables. An incredible spread for us all to enjoy. 12 of us sat down at the table and here we all are:

l-r from back: Roger, Amy, David, Gaynor, Sue, Tom and Tim
seated: Anna, Glenda and Peach, Amy, Cheryl and Jocelyn

Here we are with David, Sue, Anna and Amy