Sunday, February 15, 2009

February in Ballina

Brigid and I, a good workmate from my Canberra days. She lives nearby in Alstonville and we had a great lunch catching up on the five years since she left Canberra.
Beryl and her family celebrating her 91st birthday. Beryl is bright and witty and the best dressed women in the village!! A very gracious lady.

Bill had read about the Dunoon cafe at a coffee shop in Canberra. We found it last weekend. We bought some finger limes there and have been enjoying them in our drinks since. Good bush tucker!


Billy and Dante after a big day out in Ballina. It is always great to have the little ones together and see how well they get on. It was easy to settle them both - but they sure create a ruckus in my home!

Grandma teaching Dante how to handle the waves at Shelley Beach.


Love seeing all the birds around here. Also getting quite good at catching them on my camera.


Ally sent this photo of Bill and Dante checking out the menu on their journey up with the boat.



While in Canberra we had a nice night out with some old and current workmates of Bill. We girls had a hard time keeping the conversation off work but I think we did manage in the end. It was a great night.


I have just commenced a new way of getting my weight down by considering the size and calories in my food. I thought this looked like Dante asking Grandad how many calories were in his sandwich!

The story resumes.....

Well I seem to be back into a routine again and blogging should be more consistent. Thank you to all those who kept encouraging me to continue and who respond so enthusiastically when I put up a new blog! It is quite addictive!

Anyway - This has been rather a hectic month. We though Bill had his operation scheduled for Feb 3rd so we had lots of plans around that. Ally and Joe had driven up with Bill and his boat under the strict guidance of Dante who managed the trip really well. We had a hectic week following the Australia Day long weekend making sure Joe knew how to catch the right fish here and reminding Dante of what he could and couldn't play with in Grandma's house!

We all flew back to Canberra only to find that the operation had been re-scheduled to a fortnight later and a different hospital. I came back to Ballina to join my study course and to catch my breath for a while. While she was here Ally had introduced me to the competiive side of the Wii machine and I am having such fun..and hopefully improved health.

This week we also re-commenced our Theology Study course. Our first meeting was great, enjoyable, interesting and provocative! I am really enjoying the study although I find it a bit time constraining now and then. There is a lot of reading which I can manage well but the thinking about the reading takes up most of my time....and then there is the point where you have to put your thoughts onto paper!! The current unit is Revelation.

Sha and Dympna are coming for a roast chicken here tonight. Murray is on his way to Brisbane for two weeks and on Tuesday I fly to Canberra. Last night we had a ladies night with Kath, Dympna and Marie. It was a very interesting discussion on local topics and we stayed up a bit later than we should have!!

Dympna and I went to see the movie Doubt during the week. We were both a bit uncomfortable with the movie but I am enjoying discussing it and thought it was really thought provoking. Certainly makes you aware of the dangers of rumours and how easy suspicion can get out of hand! The acting was superb.

This week we also celebrated the 91st birthday of Beryl Greenwood. Beryl is the aunt of my best friend Bev in Alice Springs and has recently moved into the retirement village here. She is in the hostel section and we shared a coffee with her family prior to their big birthday lunch.

On Friday I had lunch with another old friend, Bridgid. We had worked together in Canberra and Ally had worked with her also. We had a nice time catching up on the five years since we had met!!

Life here is busy, fun and still quite relaxed. I will talk about our 40th wedding anniversary in Perth in November and all the family gatherings we had here in January in my next blog....and then I will try and keep up to date.

3 comments:

Bev said...

Great to see you back on track with the Blog Gemma. Mum was pleased with Aunty Beryl's birthday photo that Ronnie printed out for her.

ACTing Like A Mama said...

Great to hear you managed to catch up with Brigid - she is looking well. Dante had so much fun at your house (so did his mum!) We can't wait to do it all again but this time at our place! Keep writing!

Kimberley said...

Loved the previous blog and all the beautiful photos of your trip. I am so envious and just have to travel one day!! It looks like you had such an amazing time.

All the best to Uncle Bill for today, am thinking of him.

xx