Yep!

• Just do it!!!

I warned you!

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

Finally heard from some old friends! Wonderful!

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

Post family visit

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

While cleaning up my files I found these:-

Where does the time go?

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

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

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

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

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!