A FAMILY DAY

The Mountains, the city and the airport.

Heading up to Mount Tambourine, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Last Sunday was a busy day. We went to Mass in the morning and then left for a long drive to visit several members of our family.

Billy, Cathie and Robbie under the avocado tree.

We headed up to Mount Tambourine and had a very tasty lunch of prawns and pasta with Cathie and Robbie. It was good to finally see where Cathie has been escaping to for her relaxing weekends. Robbie has a nice property on the top of the mountains and we enjoyed chatting and eating in such a pleasant environment.

Cathie and the Wollemi Pine...a very special pine..one of the oldest pines discovered in the world.

We admired the huge avocado tree and Cathie was keen to point out a Wollemi pine they have growing as well.

This is the milkweek or thistle that is a good medicinal herb - in the NT we called it Father Christmas and blew the thistle top away.

Robbie told us about using milkweed or milkthistle, a weedy grass that has a long stem and fluffy pom pom top, as a herbal treatment for minor skin irritations . It had similar qualities to the Ti Tree oil that we had studied the day before so we were very interested. I would like to know more about our local herbs and plants.

Tracy and Bill having a chat!

We left there to head up to Brisbane to spend some time with Tracy, my eldest brother. He has been ill and is quietly recovering. We had a pleasant time just catching up on our different lives and talked a lot about planning for retirement and keeping fit and happy.

We did a running drop-off about 7pm at Cooloongatta Airport so Bill could fly back to Canberra. He feels ready for work again but still not walking as well as he would like.

Mum and I in her activity room at the Villa La Salle.

I got back to the Shutters about 8pm and slept soundly. Next morning Dympna was over and I was back in the drivers seat driving to pick up Sha for a trip to Southport to visit other relatives. I spend a lovely morning with my Mother and Rose prior to having lunch at Shark Park. We had all the Ryall girls together including Dympna the last ryall from the previous generation. Mum was quiet and relaxed but I notice she is losing some of her skills. She will be 92 in December and still looks great and seems contented with her life.

I hope to be so good when and if I get to her age!! I also pray that my children will love and appreciate me as much as I appreciate my mother.

God Bless