Very cold morning. Quite a bit of wind too. However when I saw the beautiful sunshine, I thought: Got to go to the pool, got to go to the pool. The seven o’clock walk did not eventuate: Irene rang, letting me know that she had a sore back due to a fall. She said she felt it may be better to get a bit of a rest till her back got better. Of course I agreed and wished her a speedy recovery.
I delayed my walk to the pool for one hour. At eight o’clock (after having had some porridge) I strolled to the pool at a leisurely pace. I took the shortcut along Brooks Creek, past the Bowling Club. Arriving at the pool a sign told me the water temperature was 26 Degrees Celsius. No way would I be freezing in this kind of water temperature!
As I entered the dressing room, one elderly woman was getting dressed ready to go back home. She said the water had been so nice warm, she would have liked to stay in it a bit longer. Soon some more women came in ready to get dressed after their swim. One woman said it would be nice if the dressing room had some heating in it!
On a windy day like today there was indeed quite some breeze blowing through the shedlike area. It means you have to hurry up to get into your warm cloths. However, there is the luxury of hot showers; the shower water being solar heated of course, the same as the water in the pool.
I had had a bit of pain in my right knee for a few days. The exersises in the warm water of the pool turned out to be very beneficial. Walking home, I took some more pictures. And my sore knee felt very much better. Peter opened the door for me. It wasn’t long before we enjoyed some filtered coffee and toasted crumpets.
While I am downloading these pictures, I watch a live program on ABC TV: The ANZAC DAY MARCH in Sydney! Later on I am going to watch the Gallipoli Dawn Service and the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial Service. These are always very moving, reflective services.
AuntyUta 
What a peaceful beginning of the day.
Ninety-seven years ago the soldiers who stormed the beach at Gallipoli had not such a peaceful day. But I’m sure, they would have wished all future Australians to have a beautiful morning like you experienced today.
What a lovely, tranquil morning. I agree, may everyone continue to live in peace.
Berlioz and Caroline, I thank you both for your comments.
Peter’s grandfather, Otto H., died on the 2nd of December 1916. Er war ‘Landsturmmann’ in the German Army during the first World-War. His grave is in Beaucamps-Ligny, France, about 9 km south/west of Lille. We always think of him when we see the commemorative services of Villers-Bretonneux. Peter’s father, Richard, was only sixteen years old when his father, Otto, died in France.
We don’t know any particulars of how Otto H. died. It is possible that he was in some action against the Australians on the Western Front. The battle of the Somme was a South of where he is buried and had come to an end at his time of death.
It is interesting to to know that nineteen of his descendants live in Australia now.
I’m here via Oosterman’s blog. I see from your comment there that you have European origins like my own, though my family came from Haarlem in Holland. My parents arrived in 1951 and I was born here. My son in law is German from Mainz and my two grandsons have such a mixture of nationality: part Irish, English, Australian on their father’s side; part Dutch on my side; part German and African American their father’s side. It makes for a wonderful mix. Viva multi-nationalism.
That swimming pool looks inviting but I can imagine the cold, despite the sunny day.
Hi, Elisabeth, welcome to my blog! There’s a great mixture of nationality in our descendants as well. It’s very interesting.
Our son is a grandfather already, one of our daughters is about to become a grandmother. I am so fortunate that despite my age I can still go swimming in a solar heated pool close by to where I live with my husband. My husband hardly ever likes to go to the pool. He’s always scared of feeling too cold in the water. But he likes to run/walk a lot.
Peace be with you!
Great photographs!
Thanks, Inigo.
The pool looks so peaceful and inviting Uta, I envy you! Thank you for sharing your photos from your walk home too. It looks a lovely place to live 🙂
It was fun taking all these pictures. Usually I like to have company when I go to places like this. But since I was busy taking pictures I didn’t miss company as much. I know there is this lovely pool and I know it’s only a short walk to get there. However when nobody pushes me, I often find it hard to motivate myself. Now that I have made this plan, I hope I’m going to stick to it as much as possible. I started one week ago with this walk/swim plan. So far so good. I walked to the pool already three times: On Friday, Monday and Wednesday. Each time I enjoyed the water very much. Thank you for commenting, Pam.
Nice to be able reading your Anzac Day story, Uta. Our day was somewhat bleak with the temperature struggling to get above 10 c, very windy. I suppose suitable for Anzac ‘lest we forget’.
We ended up around a log fire at a local pub with a nice plate of chips and a hamburger. When we left, the two-up had started in the Court yard.
We used to go camping a lot down the South Coast at a place called Bendalong or Redhead, just past Sussex Inlet and before Milton.
My children have Dutch and Finnish ancestry but since their marriages our grandchildren have Australian and Croatian backgrounds. It is an amazing world and we, like you, are also planning to re-visit our birthplace and plan to rent an apartment in Paris. We are still at the planning stage and googling the Paris apartments, getting all excited.
Best of luck with your planning, Gerard. As you may have seen, Elisabeth came to my blog via your blog. Her grandchildren, your grandchildren, my grandchildren, they all have such interesting backgrounds. It is an amazing world for sure.
We know Sussex Inlet very well, that is not so much the town but the area on the other side of the inlet. We went there ‘camping’ with the children and grandchildren lots of times. The campsite had proper units with all conveniences. We have very fond memories of the place. You reach it by going along a 13 km dirt-track. Very secluded, which we loved.
Your weather looks a lot better than ours was in Melbourne!
I remembered my father, who did return from WWII, but I always remember him on ANZAC Day.
Glad to hear your exercise plan is comething through too.
Yes, I’m happy that I managed to go swimming a few times. I also went to the Thai yoga class on Tuesday and enjoyed it a lot. It has such a calming effect on me.
Today I had tiring day. I was travelling for five hours and sitting around for two hours. This made me feel so very tired! Usually a trip to Merrylands takes three hours each way. Today we cut it short because we used the car for part of the way.
Gaby’s dog Honey had been bitten by a vicious dog and needed stitches the other week which had to come out today. We met Gaby at the vet’s in Merrylands.Later on I had to look after Honey while Gaby went shopping with Peter. Twice I had to wait for one hour till Gaby finished her shopping. The whole time I could spend with Gaby was maybe twice for half an hour.
As far as the weather’s concerned, I was lucky that yesterday morning the wind wasn’t very strong yet but it got stronger and stronger during the day. When it looks like we are in for a windy day it’s usually best to go out early in the morning.
Moving, heart felt, like a journey to a beautiful, happy memory. I felt like I was home which kind of made me both happy and sad. Thank you for sharing images and words that makes us feel….they are beautiful my friend. Best wishes…
Thank you, Island Traveler. for your comment and for liking my blog. I took pictures of the trees along the way because I feel we are blessed to have so many tress in our area. I think the Dapto pools look great. (One is a pool for kids, only early in the morning there weren’t any kids there yet). It is a beautiful walk to the pool and the water in the pool is always warm enough for a swim because it’s solar heated.