It is good to get a chance to share our news with friends and family. Life gets so frantically busy if we didn’t all make this commitment to a Christmas communication I think that the years would wiz by and we’d lose touch with many – and then how could we drop in after so many years?.
Sadly Gavin’s mother died early in the year. She drifted quietly away without pain or distress and had retained her wicked sense of humour to the last. His father then decided to move to Melbourne to live with Leslie, Gavin’s sister and her family. He enjoyed several months with the fun and companionship of loving family before he too died in September. At 89 and 95 they both had a good innings.
We have had the usual travel in the Australian winter. Firstly, a nostalgic week in Cornwall where one of the highlights was a visit to the Eden Project. This amazing construction was funded by the Millennium Commission and masterminded by Tim Smit who is responsible for another favourite of ours The Lost Gardens of Heligan. It is a must see consisting of a series of Biomes, themselves a marvel of creative thinking housing plants from all over the world – but much more than that too.
We then ventured over to the continent with the caravan and met up with Helen’s sister, Jo in Geneva. Jo’s son Phil is now based there so we were able to take advantage of both his flat and his local knowledge. A visit to Mont Blanc was a must as was sampling the local food and wine. The general effects of altitude were surprising. Gavin and Phil needed a quick lie down whilst Helen and Jo remained upright and chatted but yawed incessantly!
This was followed by a wonderful week in Lake Garda with friends and is something that we have vowed to repeat. We picked up Gavin’s school friend Steve and wife Jilly as we motored through the French Alps en route to Narbonne, home of Gavin’s cousin Nancy and husband Sasha. Nancy was celebrating a significant birthday so it was party time for all. A great week in Canada with Pam and Robin and not so cooperative boat was the finale for our northern hemisphere peregrinations.
We spent the busiest ten days in Australia visiting Gavin’s father and Lianne, Glen and the girls in Melbourne, earning some money (ie working) and packing up the entire contents of the kitchen and dining area ready for renovations during our absence. We then set off for a wedding in Fiji and then on to New Zealand accompanied by Michael Sonia, Kellan, Baeddan and Aimee where we were joined by three other couples and motorhomed our way round the Rubgy World Cup. We had originally planned to be based around Christchurch to see all the Wallabies games but after the earthquake we needed to relocate. We managed to include a visit to Christchurch in our modified itinerary. It was challenging to witness the incredible devastation to such a beautiful city. Even having watched so much news footage at the time did not prepare for the extent of the damage. The locals are amazingly resilient and are moving forward with good spirits. Although many have already left the city and moved elsewhere we felt convinced that those who had chosen to remain will develop a changed and remodeled city to be proud of in such a beautiful location. http://hallingholidays.blogspot.com
Since returning to Australia Helen has continued to visit education students during their practicum for the University of Canberra and Gavin has the usual portfolio of work commitments. The renovations to kitchen and lounge/dining area or almost complete (just waiting for delivery of the Shoji Japanese screens to provide privacy and cosiness when we have B and B guests in the other parts of the house).
So we are ready to receive friends and relatives for visits. January is busy with B and B guests but Lianne and family are the first to stay in early February. Then we are looking forward to sister Jo’s visit in April for an Easter break.
The extended family continues to thrive. Kellan turned eight on Monday and celebrated with a pool party here. He was invested into Cubs last week having enjoyed two years as a Joey Scout. Baeddan is also in Joeys and enjoys team sports like Rugby Union. Little Aimee, now 31/2 is a charmer and leads her brothers and parents a merry dance. Tieve, now nearly six going on sixteen starts school in February. She attends ballet at The Ministry of Dance run by celebrity Jason Coleman. Seren tells Gran she is Seren’s best friend but we suspect that she has many of those! ‘Umpa’ Gavin just stirs up the excitement level and is lots of fun for all the grandchildren.
What a blessed life we lead!!
May your festivities be fun and family and may 2012 bring all those things you wish for.
With love, Gavin and Helen
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