A Ledjendary Life

Victoria and back

2011-03-16T13:23:00.024+11:00

I recently went on a trip to Victoria to meet up with friends and see a bit of the country. It didn't quite go as expected due to circumstances but I enjoyed the journey. I caught up with Chris and her daughter Sherry.

Chris and I had decided to visit the Twelve Apostles near Warnambool, but after reaching Bell's Beach decided to change plans, as the weather was not good and the road trip was going to be a long one. Instead we went back to Queenscliff and caught the ferry across to Sorrento on Mornington Peninsula, then continued back to Mentone. We ended up driving all the way around Port Phillip bay in a day.
On the ferry to Sorrento

Our adventure didn't stop there! I was intending to surprise Chris with a visit past her daughters place on the way back from Warnambool, but on the way back from Sorrento, when I found out she was really wanting to see Sherry, we continued on to St Arnaud. A long trip in one day! But it was worth it and we spent the night at Sherrys' house, so we were able to have some time during the next day with her.

Sherry with her pride and joy

It was a most enjoyable time and we were thoroughly exhausted by the time we got back to Mentone. I took the dog for the trip and she loved it. Chris likes Shakia, so with the two ladies in the car I had an interesting trip. The biggest problem was getting Chris to stop scratching her fleas and behave! LOL

When she finally behaved I bought her a reward!

I also met up with another couple of old friends who I was concerned for, as I could not get in contact with them. On the way to Bells' Beach I took the opportunity to leave a note at Brian and Paulines house telling them I was in Victoria and was trying to catch up with them. They rang me the next day and I travelled to where they were to see them. They were in Bendigo, where I had been that afternoon. I went back there the following day and spent time with them, as their son was in hospital and quite ill. It was wonderful to see them again as I always enjoy their company. Brian and I spend a lot of time in deep discussion about many topics. He likes a joke or two and so we have a lot of laughs telling each other tall stories.

I travelled back via Melbourne to Phillip Island. The weather was blustery and damp so I continued on to Wilson's Promontory, then on to Moruya to Alan and Sues' place. I slept in the swag in the car a couple of nights. I find it surprisingly quite comfortable! The biggest problem were the mosquitoes as they were on a mission, but as it was quite cool at night I just closed the car up and with Shakia curled up at the foot of the swag I slept well. One night was spent in a rest area in a National Park. Shakia was fascinated by all the activity in the tree tops when I was setting up camp. It was very noisy with all the possums and birds, but being pitch black I couldn't see a thing out there, just hear all the noise!

I then went to Moruya and caught up with Alan and Sue where I had some more fun. I always enjoy time with them as we think alike, which can be dangerous! LOL

It was great to arrive at the Mitchells. Their dog Zac and Shakia spent hours playing around the property. She found a dam next door and would disappear every so often and come back wet, as she had been in it to cool off. Alan and I enjoy each others company very much.

Sue cornered me and I recorded some voice overs for the community radio which they are involved with. It was fun and I left her some surprise recordings as a joke. (Don't worry they were clean)

Alan and I took the opportunity to go for a paddle along the Moruya river. We went for kilometres and had to battle the wind and tide to get back to our starting point. a very enjoyable couple of hours which left us both exhausted.

In all, I travelled over 3000km in 9 days, tiring but most enjoyable!

Yep!

2010-12-08T14:06:00.002+11:00

Just do it!!!

I warned you!

2010-11-28T17:36:00.004+11:00

I said I would not write 'THAT' so I have written this! It doesn't mean I won't write THAT in the future so be warned Chris.

It seems to be the year of catch up! I have caught up with another friend from the past who I haven't seen for nearly 10 years. This lady moved to Melbourne which may as well have been the other side of the world, as who would move to Melbourne??? As an old Sydney boy that is certainly the last place to move to, pass through on the way to Tassie perhaps, but not live there!!!! Ah well having rubbed that in I should move on!

Chris and I became friends when we worked together at the AIS and we sort of lost contact after she moved to Melbourne. However we caught up this year and we had the pleasure of spending some time together when she visited her mother for her 90th birthday (Chris' mum, not Chris :) ) here in Canberra.

It is always interesting when old friends catch up and share about their families and how our children have grown. We talked a lot about our respective experiences and what had happened in our lives in the intervening years. It was a very enjoyable time and we will no doubt talk much more in the future.

Chris faces her challenges head on and works hard to be good at whatever she does. God help her having a challenge like me for a friend! She has learnt not to give me an opening for teasing, but gives as good as she gets, so maybe I should be a bit careful!!

I don't have a recent photo so this one is from about 2000/2001 that I lifted from her Facebook page for here and she has not changed!

You can breathe easy now Chris as I didn't tell everyone the story I was going to tell, I'll save that for later after I have made it up! LOL

Henk and Neridah

2010-06-23T18:14:00.004+10:00

Finally heard from some old friends! Wonderful!

Here is Nerida's website that shows her artwork: http://neridadejong.com/

Post family visit

2010-06-21T20:15:00.003+10:00

Looking through a notebook I found evidence of little hands having passed before! When Mel and Ant visited here before my trip to Cambodia the girls spent hours drawing. I had left a notebook in the loungeroom and didn't look inside until recently. I would love to know which beautiful grandaughter drew these, so Mel if you recognise the artwork please let me know so I can make a note. I keep anything like this as it tells me a story when I look at them later in time. Just like Quaids drawing for me in Mauritius. Much treasured!

How we change over the years

2010-06-14T09:01:00.003+10:00

While cleaning up my files I found these:-

Where does the time go?

2010-05-30T17:49:00.003+10:00

I have recently found out that some old friends were asking about me. I have not seen or heard from them in years so I was quite glad to try and contact them back. So now I am awaiting their reply.
I have been thinking a lot about how time really does fly past when you raise a family and work full time. In this day and age we seem to move about so much that it is quite easy to lose contact with people you know, even family. I have cousins in other areas of Australia whom I have not seen since I was a child and others who I have seen occasionally over the years. When I think of how we spent time as children we never thought about how as we grew up that our lives would go in so many diffeent directions. It is strange to think that you spend many years raising a child only to have them depart for other parts of the world and only getting to see them on the odd occasion. It will be interesting to see what has happened to my friends children and where they are!

I now have Bob living at my house until we find a new home for him. He has settled in quite well and is now starting to research what is available to him and where. I think he has started to enjoy not having to go to work whether he wants to or not. He is still quite active, so he gets in his ute and toddles off to the shops, or out to lunch somewhere and is quite enjoying his life without any pressure. We have a cup of tea most afternoons on my arrival home(when he is not out somewhere) and have a yarn before I go and spend a couple of hours working on a project or whatever.

It was raining this weekend so I used the time to get a lot done in the office. My goodness one does accumulate a lot of paperwork when you ignore it for a long time. If I can keep going the way I am, I will have caught up by the end of the week with most of it and then I can concentrate on the physical projects such as my boat and trailer or renovating the house ready for selling. I am 1/3 of the way through rebuilding the trailer roller brackets, which is a challenge as I have redesigned them to what I want so they will work better. Then I can start refitting the boat so it is ready for next summer when I hope to be in Queensland. I have a lot of things to finish here before I retire so it is pretty busy when I am home from work. Wouldn't have it any other way, as it would be boring having to put my feet up and do nothing...... errr not!

Well retirement draws closer every day and I will not be one of those who sit around in shock at not working anymore. I have so much to do, people to see and places to go I will probably have less time than now! But it will be fun and no boss to answer to.... even greater!!!
Not that I am complaining as I have enjoyed working where I am and it has given me the funds to do so much for others as well as myself. It will be hard to say goodbye to people I have worked with for over 20 years, but they have all booked in to their/my holiday house on the Gold Coast, so I won't get rid of them that easy. :)

The Big Move

2010-05-19T08:59:00.005+10:00

It has been an interesting time since my return from Cambodia. Bob had sold his house and had to be moved out by Friday the 14th! He had been in the house since 1964 and had been running his business from there for the last 18 years until he became too sick to work any longer. Still active but no longer at 81 able to work hard as he needed to for his business. It was very draining for him emotionally and physically. He could only do so much to remove all his goods and sell off what he could. It ended up that we ran out of time and he was not disposing of his stuff quickly enough. I ended up with a lot of his gear sitting at my place. We now have the job of sorting out what can be sold and what can be kept, but at our leisure and a pace that he can cope with. It makes one realise how important it is to have all this sort of thing organised properly before one gets to this stage of life. Bob has worked extremely hard all his life, even up to recently! It came as quite a shock to him to be in the position of being unable to work any longer as he had done. I am so glad to have children, as I have something to look forward to when I retire sometime in the next year or so. Being childless and only having your work as the centre of your life is not the way to spend ones last years. I can't wait for the day that I am free to go and annoy Nathan and his family in America. Leave my hair shedding dog at Mels. Have them all trying to find me as I travel the world! Spoil the grandkids with McDonalds and have their parents cranky because they won't eat their dinner. Poke fun at Nathan because he is sounding and acting more American than Australian! I'm gonna have fun! At their expense of course!

Something Special

2010-04-17T10:46:00.004+10:00

Just got to love your grandkids. At the last minute before Nathan left the hotel in Mauritius, Quaid was totally absorbed busy doing something with pencils and paper. This was the result. Needless to say it goes in my collection of special gifts from all of my grandkids. Definitely won't get thrown away!
Not that any treasure that I have managed to keep (given me by my kids or grandkids) ever gets thrown out anyway.
I am still trying to work out whether he thinks I am a dragon, with rockets on my wings, that needs to be tied up somewhere or if it is a modern version of Shreks dragon LOL

Yeah Nath keep your comments clean LOL

Waiting, waiting, waiting

2010-04-15T19:44:00.006+10:00

This is a quick post. I am sitting in Burger King in Kuala Lumpur airport waiting for my flight home. I am taking advantage of my waiting time to catch up with internet stuff.It is amazing how much we take for granted. The internet was not really that accessable or as reliable as we have in the 1st world countries and so I did not do a lot in that regard and phone communication was expensive, but hey I had a rest from technology so that was good. I have been spending a lot of the last 2 weeks travelling with lengthy stays at airports. Too long for comfort, too short to go to a hotel. I have had the opportunity to meet with Nathan in Mauritius and to attend a close friends daughter's wedding in Cambodia (more of these trips later when I have photos to share)It has been a great experience as usual.

Catching up with Nathan,Quaid, Joe and the Appadoos in Mauritius was brief but a blessing. What a beautiful island and to see what the App's are doing there, wow! I also met two pastors which was an experience. It shows how small a world we travel in sometimes. The South African pastor is a friend of a friend of mine in South Australia so we spent some time together and discussed a lot. He has invited me to see him if I ever get to Jo'burg which will be great.

Cambodia was hot and steamy! The wedding was quite an experience and I was quite involved with the ceremony which I was not expecting (another post later and "no" I didn't get married! LOL ) It was great to be there with my friends who I get to see every so many years. They are like family to me and I look forward to meeting with them again in the future. I have to wait for wedding photos from them as I was too busy with the ceremonies to take any myself.

Well only another day or so of travelling and I will be home again!! For a little while anyway!!

Inundated

2010-03-29T22:26:00.006+11:00

Well they finally arrived! Two adults, three kids and a dog. I was attacked by three little ladies who had to have a cuddle from their Grandad or as Livvy says "Gandad".
They were so excited to finally get here and I was so happy to see them. In no time at all it was bedlam as they ran from room to room exploring the house. This was the first time the three of them had been here together. Georgia had been here once before but was only a toddler so didn't remember much.
They soon settled in like it was home and are now asleep. It was funny how they each chose where they were sleeping. Georgia had Uncle Nathans' old bed, Lulu had the trundle that "Daddy" slept on and Olivia stated that she was sleeping in Grandads room, so I had to put the spare mattrass on the floor for her at the foot of the bed. They look such little angels!It is so nice to have them here!

Eddie............. RIP

2009-11-11T21:47:00.004+11:00

Sadly a young man we know was killed in an aircraft accident on Monday. He was a lot of fun to be around as he had a great sense of humour and often initiated a scene that would have an interesting effect on people, especially strangers who would often be the victim of his pranks. A lady customer in McDonalds was about to get very aggressive with Nathan when Eddie started his yes masser', don't hit me masser' joke with Nathan. She was quite embarassed when she realised they were fooling around and Eddie was the instigator.
Nathan and I had a memorable joke on him in my house where as the tale grew taller his eyes grew wider so that only the whites of his eyes could be seen in the darkness of the room. On the way back to Sydney with Nathan (who had stretched the joke even further) he finally realised I had been pulling his leg and he was very determined to pay me back if I visited Kenya. I visited him several times in Sydney before he returned and he made me promise to look him up if ever I came there. I had the pleasure of meeting him in Nairobi some time later and we laughed the whole time. He never did pay me back for the prank. I had the pleasure of meeting Mandy at their home before the girls were born and we were supposed to meet again if I had the opportunity and he was home, but unfortunately he had to fly to Mogadishu and I had other commitments that prevented me from seeing him again. He was so proud of his job and his wife. He was so excited about showing me around his unit and how he had settled down. He was also so proud of his girls when they arrived, I can't even imagine how devastated Mandy is at this time. My prayers are for his family at this time and that they will find comfort in the Lord.

About time

2009-11-10T19:11:00.002+11:00

My adopted niece Leakhena has finally set a date for her wedding. It is on the 9th of April 2010. I have been invited, so that means a trip to Cambodia next year. I am looking forward to catching up with her and her family as I have not seen them for some time. It will be good to meet her fiance Matt! The only risk is Leks mum trying to marry me off to someone! :)

What a country we live in!

2009-09-26T12:50:00.004+10:00

I have just spoken to Mel who is in Queensland. They are inland travelling to various places in Central Queensland on holiday. Where she was ringing from it was very hot and dusty, while here it is blowing like mad, overcast and occasionally raining. When I look to the south towards the Snowy Mountains it is heavily overcast and looks and feels like it is snowing! I know where I would rather be!

She was telling me that the one horse town where we had our acreage, is now a bustling small town with 600 people, in stark contrast to when we were living there. It seems that the area is developing around there due to a number of reasons, but somehow I don't think I would want to go back.

I want to retire nearer the coast when the time comes. I don't think I could live inland again with the heat and the dust. Definitely got to live near the water again!
I am even finding it hard to live in Canberra in some ways as my desire is to be closer to the family. Canberra has been good to me. A lot of people dislike it but I can't complain. I have made a lot of different friends here and it has been very convenient for me to travel to different places. However it is still a largely transient town and people come and go and accordingly so does ones friends.

It will be really good when I am finally nearer to Mel and the family as well as the other friends I have up there.

It's a long way away

2009-09-13T13:06:00.004+10:00

As I write this Anne should be somewhere in the air over America. I still am amazed at how we are able to travel to the other side of the world in such a short time! It takes me a full day with a night stopover to drive 1100 kilometres to Queensland!

I am sure the grandchildren will have a great time with Anne as she is passionate about her grandchildren. I am sure she will spoil them at every chance! I am glad for her that she is able to go as it is very important for her to be able to see them. Hopefully next year I will have the opportunity to go there. Would have gone this year but unfortunately I have used up all my Recreational leave for this year sorting out some stuff with Mums estate etc. Hurry on retirement!!!!!!!!!

Leakhena

2009-09-11T09:21:00.005+10:00

It was with great delight I just found out that a very precious young lady is engaged to be married. Her family is very dear to me and I had the privelege of having her stay with me for some time while she completed some of her early studies. Leakhena went to England when her father was posted there for his work and she completed a degree. She then found employment there where she eventually met the young man she is to marry.

I had a great time with her here as she was very much like a daughter to me. I have known the family for many years and felt very honored when her father Naren asked if she could stay with me rather than other people who they knew here. I enjoyed the time she was in my home as it was very much like having my own daughter here. She would come home from class and have to chat about her day, no matter how late it was. We would discuss her worries and be excited about her successes together. I took great delight in teasing her and she would often try to tease me back without success. She eventually realised age and cunning beats youthful inexperience every time. We had a lot of fun here and when she eventually joined her family back in Cambodia at the end of her studies, it left a very empty space in the house and my heart as she had become very much 'family' to me.

I wish her great happiness for the future and may God bless her marriage.

Fathers Day

2009-09-06T08:54:00.003+10:00

One thing about Fathers Day is the joy of knowing your children are doing well! Living so far away from them is difficult, but today we are able to communicate so much easier than years ago, which means we are never really out of touch. I take great joy in reading the blogs my daughter and son write and also my daughter in law's funny comments on hers.

It was nice to read that both Melanie and Nathan think highly of me. I know my own Dad took delight in receiving a call from my brothers or myself on special days and wish that I had been able to tell him more often about how I appreciated his hard work to provide for us.

Sometimes being a parent we wonder whether we have been good enough as no one is more aware of our failings than we are ourself, yet if we have tried to love our children to the best of our ability it comes back to us later with their love to us. Just the simple statement that I am their hero is such a wonderful thing to me. It means so much!

I think that having had the privelege of being a father and now a grandfather has been a wonderful journey. I am truly blessed by the children I have and love them both dearly. I have been blessed also by the partners they have chosen in life who have given me seven wonderful grandchildren. I look forward to my retirement so I will be able to spend more time with them all as I am able to!

Uh huh

2009-09-05T10:05:00.003+10:00

Here I am sitting in my office on a Saturday morning writing a blog out of boredom. I have to wait on a consignment that was supposed to be here by 8:30 and it still hasn't arrived. I will take Shakia for a walk and enjoy the time and get paid for it! I want to be at home getting my own work done as my back fence has been replaced and I want to re-do the backyard and get it tidy. At least the weather is warming up so I can get things done. I have to get my boat ready for summer sailing as well, so I guess I will be busy over the next few months. ......

Peanut nut

2009-08-21T20:41:00.002+10:00

I have discovered that I have an addiction to peanut butter, Super Crunchy, from ALDI. Can't leave it alone! 3 jars in the last fortnight. Will end up like the three hundred pound man they had to use a crane to rescue him from his apartment! Of course we won't mention the litre of ice cream in three nights or the block of roast almond chocolate in two either. I will have to go on a diet this spring, I already jiggle in the middle when I run. Asked the doctor for a referral to a plastic surgeon when I saw him for my checkup. He looked at me puzzled and said what on earth for? I told him I needed a breast reduction, some liposuction and a tummy tuck as I was getting too fat. Damn!!! I just had to go and have another spoonful after talking about it all! Guess I'll describe myself as cuddly instead of athletic or slim!

2009-08-16T12:05:00.002+10:00

It is cold outside and overcast so I thought it would be a good time to post a blog. I am working out how you do this stuff as I am not too fond of facebook although it has its usefulness. I have been looking at the blogs my daughter and daughter in law post and love their creativity. It is most enjoyable to read what is happening with the grandchildren in a way that I never could have even ten years ago! I can't wait to retire so I will be able to travel any time I want to go and visit with them. It will be hard to leave this house as I have become quite comfortable here. It is nice to be able to sit in my office and look out the window at the trees and with the hills in the distance. It is amazing how the houses are hidden by the trees and it is hard to realise that I am living in a quite populated suburb of the city. Still there is a time for everything and my time here is coming to a close. As much as I like this place I need to be closer to all my family. Well Shakia needs to go for a walk and so do I! So until...............

The Ledj