The Sands of Time...

Don't die of shock. Yes, I have finally returned to update the blog after a hiatus of 5 months - gosh, where did those months go? The sands of time keep slowly sifting through the hourglass. You see, I regularly put my photos up on facebook, and it is not until someone asks what we have been up to and they mention how quiet I have been on my blog that I remember that not everyone is on Facebook!

So just to catch up very quickly, the end of 2017 saw Murray grow a moustache and beard to raise money for Movember, a charity that raises money for Men's Health. In the photo above we not only see Murray's moustache and beard before he shaved it off, but also my eldest brother Tracy (second from right), flanked by two of his sons (Greg and Matthew), my eldest sister Gemma (second from left), her husband Bill next to her, and one of their 5 daughters (Claire) who always has the biggest smile and is at the back (3rd from left). Then the host and hostess - my second eldest brother Tony, and his wife Yudian, and last but not least, my youngest sister Ret wearing black and white (next to me in the front) and her husband Peter (hiding behind Ret and Yudian!). This was an early Christmas sibling reunion, as Gemma and Bill had plans to spend their Christmas with family in Perth. 

Christmas was another lovely event in our Christian calendar, and we had several social celebrations. My Ballina girls group had our annual Christmas lunch and exchanged small gifts - mine were all home cooking (Thermomix) goodies. The four of us did a lot of fun things during 2017 - we exercise together on Mondays, walk together on Tuesdays, and usually manage to have lunch once a month. Three of us attended an evening at a witty show Menopause Musical - great laughs. Our annual weekend trip for 2017 was to Yamba. 

Carol, Julie, Trish, Jenny Christmas 2017

Rose made a delicious Christmas cake this year: Siblings: Rose and Ret in front, and Tony and I at the rear

Happy 94th Birthday Dympna - L-R Kath, Anne, Murray, Dympna, Pat, Mary and Marie

At the end of January, my dear Aunt Dympna celebrated her 94th birthday. She enjoyed several  celebrations, but this one was at our place, where we invited just a few of her friends to dinner. In this photo we are on our back patio having pre-dinner drinks (Aperol/champagne spritzers) before moving inside for the main event.

Some of you ask about my nephew Jackson - he turned 4 at the end of last year and is growing up into a delightful and much loved little boy. Here he is collecting easter eggs this year. 

My bookclub group resumed in February 2018 and our first meeting was to be held on a refurbished ferry owned by Dona, one of our members. Dona kindly took us all onboard, and we had a gentle boat ride up the river, with some of us trying our hand at steering the boat. 

The most exciting thing to happen to me this year has been the engagement of my eldest son Benn to his lovely Daina. Benn first brought Daina to meet us in Canberra in August 2006, and since then, they have had many great escapades together. Their latest adventure was a tall ship's experience in the Antarctic, where Benn took things to another level by proposing to Daina. Both families couldn't be happier.

To celebrate the engagement, Benn's dad (my ex) Wayne, and his lovely lady Wendy (on the right of the photo below) joined us with friends and family on the Gold Coast.

A toast to Benn and Daina's engagement

Now it is time to start packing for our next adventure - Murray and I are flying to South Africa with Jenny and Peter. We will spend almost 3 weeks in South Africa and while there at our safari camp, we will be joined by an ex-RAAF colleague friend of ours, Nadia. After South Africa Jenny, Peter, Murray and I fly to Europe where we will do a 14 day bus trip with COSMOS. We also toured the UK (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) as well as Spain, Portugal and Morocco with COSMOS on previous trips, and they have been a wonderful tour company that suits our needs. 

After our bus tour ends, Jenny and Peter fly to the UK, and we will continue on in Europe for a few more weeks (visiting Amsterdam, Dubrovnik, Medjugorje and Sarajevo) before our final stop - a week in Hong Kong. It will be our first visit to Hong Kong, and a few friends have passed on some handy sight seeing tips and general Hong Kong info to help us to get the most out of our trip. Thanks Meg, Eliza and Hume! 

I daresay the next blog update will be from South Africa. Here's hoping a few elephants and giraffes appear for a photo shoot. Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this photo taken on Thursday this week, with Gemma and Aunt Dympna - autumn has arrived, but we are still able to enjoy glorious sunny days.