December Newsletter 2024

I notice I started last year's Newsletter with a picture of the front of our house which included an inflatable kangaroo/koala. Unfortunately this hit the dust with the bad weather last December - so we decided on a new blow-up for this Christmas.

Firstly we picked a kangaroo but after Kevin tried to inflate it, instead of 1.5 metres tall it was only half a metre. Back to the shop to exchange it - and we though we had another disaster - the lorikeet became  a dead parrot.

Fortunately, with adjusted guy lines, it is welcoming the festive season...

 As usual I am late writing this epistle - it is already December 13th - Kevin's 74th Birthday - but we have been pretty busy recently. Tom, Clare and Aiden moved house last weekend. We did our bit to help but probably the best bit was finally testing out the pool by dipping our toes in...

And now Sophie is moving to her new house. This was the first load yesterday. We have been moving with the two cars and our trailer - but we will have a big van to move the large pieces. She intends moving in as soon as it is sorted ... 

In the second picture Kevin is holding a box containing Sophie's surviving fish - a very special cargo!

So Kevin spent his birthday lifting and carrying. But then tonight he was in a ukulele concert. He spends more and more time with a ukulele - various group sessions but also teaching for the U3A one day a week.

Every Tuesday, while Dan and Lizzie are at work, we pick up Ollie from day care and look after him overnight and then through Wednesday. He is now three and we have great fun with him...here he is with the Advent calender that has been going up every year since our boys were little. We spend many Wednesdays at Funtopia...

We regularly look after Jas and Isa when Matty needs help. This means we go over to East Gippsland for a week at a time - 3 hours drive away. They also like to come and stay with us here - more shops and Guzman Y Gomez which is their favourite eating place.

On one of these trips to East Gippsland Kevin and I stopped on the way back in Sale to see a wonderful exhibition by Annemieke Mein.

 Aiden is now an electrician which was very handy when we wanted some lights put up:

We have now been in the house for more than two years and it is pretty much organised. The front garden is becoming much more established and the back garden has a good veggie patch.

Although Kevin has now been back from Egypt for 18 months, it doesn't seem that long since he was away for that 15 months. However the garden has really improved since he has been back! He does say it has been rather neglected over the last 10 days with all the moving...

Over the year we have had gluts of many vegetables - at the moment the beans are going well!

We have lots of opportunities when the family get together but to get all of us in one place at the same time is more difficult. This was last Christmas Eve - most of us:

This Christmas I thought we might be all together over near Matty's - however with the house moves it isn't going to happen.

Kevin and I and Sophie have been on various trips this year.

In January 2024 we went over to Western Australia to meet up with Liz, Pete, John, Julia, Chloe and Emma. We spent several days glamping on Rottnest, spending most days cycling round the island. We then went down to Margaret River for another few days exploring that area.

This was the size of the fish that John saw snorkelling.

We saw these amazing sculptures on the way down to Margaret River.

It was lovely to be with my sister! And we did some good tasting along the way.

Shortly after this cousin Caroline and John came to visit while they were travelling around Australia. This was at Chandon where they were having fun:

I am sure they would have lots to relate about that holiday!!

At Easter Sophie went over to America helping with a school trip. It sounds as though it was amazing visiting amongst other places NASA and Georgetown. While she was away she missed out on a few things as Jas and Isa came to stay and we visited various exhibitions, saw Wicked and celebrated my Birthday with most of the family. One of my treats was to go and see James Taylor - I was given his first album for my 18th Birthday! Another was when Sophie and I went to a glass modelling workshop.

During the next school holiday Sophie Kevin and I were planning another trip but Sophie ended up with a very bad back so we stayed home and she took to her bed. Our next trip was to the Adelaide area in October. We explored the history and art of the area. Favourite places were Burra where there was a history trail, many pieces of Silo art and Adelaide Botanic Gardens  where we saw Chihuli's amazing glass sculptures.

 

We liked these sheep on a trail in Kaniva.

We decorated as usual for Halloween - this was this year's skeleton by Kevin; Ollie and I made some ghosts.

We regularly visit Point Leo estate - a winery with a sculpture park. This is by Yayoi Kusama

We often go to concerts - in November it was Bill Bailey. Before that it was the Dubliners tribute band and that was after Eric Bogle. We are very fortunate to live next to the Botanic Garden here in Cranbourne. It is lovely to walk through there in the changing seasons.

And that almost brings us up to this December...

Healthwise we are both OK - Kevin is having to watch his sugar levels and I am still limping along. I had a course of 12 injections in my knees and hips over April, May and June which injected a lubricating layer into each joint. They seemed to work pretty well and I am certainly better than I was, but not a miracle cure. Over the two years since I was 70 I have gradually had to take different medications but really I can't complain.

So, here's wishing you a very happy Christmas and let's hope 2025 is a good year!

 love Sue and Kevin xx

Christmas Newsletter 2023

 Kevin says that if I don't write our Christmas Newsletter soon it will be the New Year!

Actually it's not the latest that I have ever got round to it, but as our Christmas cards are in the post I thought I better get it written... 

To be honest once again I am not happy with the post. I use both Australia Post and UK's Royal Mail a lot - usually to swap crafty items like ATCs and cards. But this year the parcels I sent to my brother and sister in the UK have both been hit with VAT, more than doubling the cost of sending them. This has never happened before and I thought I had been really careful with the rules but obviously not so! 

Anyway enough of the rant, what have I got to tell you about 2023?

We have now been in our new house more than a year. It has been amazing so see the estate behind us develop. This was our block two years ago:

This is how it looked from the drone this week:

We still have one or two things to do in the house - changing the basic lampshades that were put in by the builders, for example - but eventually the landscapers arrived around Easter time to build the retaining wall at the back and plant and mulch the front. Since Kevin has been back from Egypt, he has been working on the veggie plot and the area we want to put to lawn.

We are already enjoying lettuce, runner beans, potatoes with other crops coming on!

That is Tom's boat on the front which Kevin is also working on...However the weather has been poor in the last couple of weeks - so he started on the Christmas decorations! He came back from Egypt in June, after 15 months away, coming back a couple of times, including for Christmas. 

This time last year Liz and Pete arrived from Devon - so Sophie and I arranged a trip to spend a few days in Waratah Bay.

Most of their family... Ella and Lucas, John, Julia, Chloe and Emma... and Kevin arrived on the 18th of December and then we all got together for various events... The boat trip was our Christmas present from Dan and lizzie!

Here are Kevin and I and our kids - Sophie, Matt, Dan and Tom... and then Tom and Aiden:

 The reason for the photo with the ages on - Ella and John, Tom , Dan and Matt were remembering a similar picture when they were 8, 6, 4, 2, 0...

and another year...

We were missing Jas and Isa and Leo but otherwise the Renshaw and Briens families were all together on several occasions. The Brienses all set off for Tasmania and we enjoyed a day at the races...

Matt came over with Jas and Isa later and we managed a family dinner with Tom and Clare. Matt and the girls were impressed with my temperature blanket. Sophie and I had each made one, crocheting one row each day in 2022, colours according to the weather!

Kevin went back to Egypt on January 13th.

Sophie and I went to the Australian Open on the first day as usual.

Sophie and I then went on a round trip along the Great Ocean Road and back through Ballarat. We saw a number of interesting places en route including the Naracoorte Caves. 

As the Australian Garden is next door we regularly take a walk around it. We also visited the Lotus Garden and the Kabloom festival early in the year.

In April Tom, Clare, Sophie and I went To Cairo to meet up with Kevin. Liz and Pete were supposed to come too but unfortunately they caught Covid.

We saw all the sights, took a cruise down the Nile and stayed in Hurghada.

I/we regularly go over to East Gippsland to see Matt and the girls. I love the walk to the lake...

In May Aiden was 23.

In June, Kevin was back and our first trip was to the Whitsundays with Matt, Jas and Isa and Sophie.

Matty stayed up in the Whitsundays to take more people on the boat. We took the girls back to Melbourne and then East Gippsland.

Now that Kevin was back he could join Sophie and I on all our visits to the theatre, cinema, the Lume Connection, Women's football, Lightscape, Paul McCartney, the Corrs...

 

In September the three of us went to Tasmania where a highlight was a boat trip where we saw whales...

Kevin and I look after Ollie every Monday.

Just before Christmas the Melbourne Renshaws met up for Kevin's birthday. Matt, Jas and Isa live in East Gippsland (a three hour drive away).

And just to keep us busy, Sophie, Kevin and I have been doing a 3000 piece jigsaw.

We now look forward to Christmas festivities and holidays in January... Just one more Sunday in Advent!

So, here's wishing you a very happy Christmas and let's hope 2024 is a good year!

 love Sue and Kevin xx