It’s very early in the morning of Good Friday. I was just successful in uploading this one picture. I took this picture last Sunday (Palm Sunday) at Bulli Beach. So here now are the other pictures I took on that Sunday.
Sorry, the uploading has stopped again. It just doesn’t work anymore. Have to try once more another time.
Sometimes we need just a bit of encouragement to do something good for ourselves. When the doctor quite casually said to me the other day my health would improve if I did a bit of walking, I took this really to heart. I saw him some ten days ago and have been walking for about half an hour nearly every day since then. Last Saturday I didn’t walk because of some tremendous pain in my mouth. I did get some antibiotics prescribed for the infection in the mouth. So on Sunday (Palm Sunday) it had been much better already.
Just arrived back from my early morning walk. Peter came along with me. I appreciate this so much when he does this. Peter will be going for his little run towards the evening when it’s a bit cooler. Peter is happy to run every second day. Sometimes his knee plays up. Then he has to miss out on a run.
After my walk I’ve again been sweating a lot. Tried to get rid of most of the sweat with a towel (the way the tennis players do!). I think my body is more or less back to normal now. So I’ll soon take a shower and get ready to go out for some shopping.
Day after tomorrow (Saturday at ten o’clock) we have to be at another funeral. One of our neighbours, a dear old man age 86, died on Tuesday.
I hope I can make it to the Stations of the Cross tomorrow, Good Friday.
Finally I was able to upload this picture which I took last Sunday (Palm Sunday) at Bulli Beach.
Thank you WordPress for advising me to try again. I think with the rest of the pictures I have to wait because there’s a major delay again.
Last Sunday, which was Palm Sunday, the weather was perfect for the beach. I’m glad we decided to go there.
We have a number of beaches to choose from in our area. I said to Peter: “Let’s go to Bulli Beach. We can have a cup of coffee there.” Peter agreed.
The day before, on Saturday, I had felt really awful because of a gum infection. I went to see a doctor who prescribed for me some antibiotics. So on Sunday I felt already very much better. I had been able to walk to the church early in the morning for the 7,30 Palm Sunday Mass. I encouraged Peter to do his running while I was at church. I insisted I was all right walking. Still, it was good he could drive me home then after Mass.
Soon after lunch on Sunday we took off for our twenty minute drive to the beach. The weather was still perfect. We parked near the Bulli Beach Tourist Park. I thought: Wouldn’t it be good to stay there for a few days! Our stay in one of the cabins at the Tourist Park in October of 2010 is still vivid in my memory. We had contemplated then that we would do this again soon. It seems, so far we just haven’t been able to make time for it!
Anyhow, we enjoyed our afternoon session at the beach on that Sunday before Easter. We strolled around, taking pictures here and there. In some of the pictures you can see a perfectly blue sky over the beach and the ocean. Where the life-savers were there were still quite a few people enjoying the water. But where we were the beach looked pretty deserted.
I made it as far as the edge of the beach sitting down in the sand. There was hardly any breeze. It was probably a bit under thirty degrees Celsius. Just perfect! Peter didn’t feel like going right into the water. But he took his shoes off and tried out the water with his toes. He told me the water felt quite warm at this time of the year.
Then a bit later we had our coffee at the Tourist Park Cafe. We even had a bit of cake to go with it.
I published this post about the book ‘Unser Kind – Our Child’ about one year ago. I wanted to reblog it today but came up with some major difficulties.
Friday, 5th October 1934, Uta 14 days old. This is the day when she was outside for the first time. She had her first solid food on the 23rd December. She enjoyed eating biscuit with orange juice. On 2nd April 1935 she drank out of a small cup all by herself.
On 27th February 1935, Tante Ilse’s birthday, she wore a dress for the first time. She congratulated Aunty with some violets in her hand. When Uta was four months old she raised herself up into a sitting position for the first time. She could already stand quite well when she was six months. She was ten months and two days old when she took the first two steps all by herself. She could climb one step by herself at twelve months without holding onto anything.
Her first tooth appeared when she wasn’t quite seven months old yet. At twelve months she had six teeth at the top and two at the bottom. These teeth appeared one after another without any problems. On the 20th of March Uta wore ‘Schuhchen’ (little shoes) for the first time.
On the 24th of March 1935, a Sunday, she was baptised in the ‘Kirche zum Heilbronn’ by Pfarrer Wiligmann. Uta’s first words were “wau, wau”. Later she said “Mama” and then “Papa” and “Buh”. With “Buh” she meant ball.
She had three small pox vaccinations, because the first two weren’t successful. (Unsuccessful on 12.5.36 and 24.10.36. Successful vaccination on 13.4.37.)”
Here now is what Mum wrote on the 26th of September 1935: “Uta likes children a real lot. She wants to play with every one. She loves to play in the sand. – When I take her out she always likes to stand up in her pram and she smiles at every one. People always take notice of her. When Uta was ten months old I took her on a bike-tour. She was placed in a basket-seat which was fastened to my handle-bar. We went along the Promenade of Münster. It started raining a bit. Because of this she ended up with a bit of a cold.
She was eleven months when she was for the first time in an outside water, the Aasee of Münster. The temperature was 24 degrees (Celsius). Uta went across the German border into Poland when she was nine months. This was her first major trip. Destination Lodz.
For Uta’s first birthday we were still in Münster. Sissi and Teo were our guests. Uta loved all the presents. All day long she played with her toys.”
And there’s a list of all the presents I received, from Aunty in Berlin, from Grandma in Leipzig and also from the grandparents in Lodz. I think the photo further below was taken around my first birthday. It shows I was still quite bald!
<a href=”https://auntyuta.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/uta-before-her-first-birthday.jpg”><img src=”https://auntyuta.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/uta-before-her-first-birthday.jpg” alt=”” title=”Uta before her first birthday” width=”490″ height=”469″ /></a>
<a href=”https://auntyuta.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/sept-1935-uta-1-year-old.jpg”><img src=”https://auntyuta.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/sept-1935-uta-1-year-old.jpg” alt=”” title=”Sept. 1935, Uta 1 year old” width=”490″ height=”672″ /></a>
Palm Sunday morning was a glorious morning for me. A few minutes after seven o’clock, when the sun had just started coming up a bit, I slowly walked to the church carrying my piece of palm which Peter had cut off for me from our palm tree. I arrived at 7,30. People were already walking towards an outside table where the priest started blessing the palms. After a few minutes everyone assembled in the church for the Palm Sunday mass.
During mass the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke was read. Some parts were read by a narrator, then there were other parts being read by a different person; in bold types was printed out on the overhead screen what the crowd (the congregation) had to read, and Father read the part of Jesus.
Towards the end Jesus said: Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
And the narrator said: With these words he breathed his last.
We had a twelve hour day yesterday: Leaving our home a bit before seven in the morning and returning a bit before seven at night. We actually caught the 7,15 train from Dapto, changed trains at Refern (one stop before Central). From Redfern we caught the Western Line train to Newtown. In Newtown is one of our favourite cinemas. Since we’ve been there last time the complex was enlarged. They have now ten cinemas within the building!
Arriving at Newtown Station, Peter straight away took a whole lot of pictures along the way to the DENDY Cinema. Onece at the DENDY we noticed the milkbar had already opened. So we took seats to have a cup of flat white. We also ordered some delicious fruit salad, which we shared.
The movie was a German movie called ‘Barbara’. It was in German with English subtitles. Only a handful of people watched it with us. We thought this movie was very well made. The main actors were really, really good. They were both medical doctors working in a hospital in the northern parts of Germany at the time of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). They had a very miserable life. Under what conditions people had to work in the GDR. is very truthfully and realistically brought to life in this movie. Peter said, he can’t understand how people can feel nostalgic about a place like this! Maybe a lot of people tend to remember the things that have been good in the GDR and choose to forget the constant harassing. This is why they don’t care to think about it how in those days they could very easily be deprived of their freedom, meaning you could end up in jail or be taken in for questioning again and again. You were not able to trust anyone, for everyone could be a spy who wanted to dob you in for offences against the state of the workers.
On the way back to the station we talked a lot about the movie we had just seen. We decided we’d go by train back to Redfern and from there catch a fast train to Parramatta. At Parramatta Station we had a quick lunch. We then took the free bus as far as the Ferry Station at Parramatta river. However we didn’t venture down to the wharf but went to the foot-bridge instead which lead us to the other side of the river.
According to the map which Peter had printed out, it would be only a short walk to where the Aged Care Facility was once we had crossed the river. It turned out to be another twenty minutes for me in the heat of the early afternoon. In the end I got quite stressed and hot. However we found the place we were looking for, no worries. It turned out to be a huge place with a lot of wards, similar to a hospital. David was in a two-bed room. His room-mate was outside somewhere. But David lay in bed. Apparently he lies in bed most of the time. He smokes only two cigs a day. A nurse takes him outside in a wheelchair for this.
David was quite happy to see us. A few of his things which we had found amongst all of Gaby’s stuff, we handed over to David. He kept everything in his room to look at it later. We told David we’d see him again around the time of this birthday. He said he was looking forward to see his brother Anthony and sister Ann soon.
On the way back to the station we noticed a crowd in front of a huge building. We don’t know whether it was a demonstration or a fire-drill.
We could have gone down to the wharf to catch a ferry to the city and go from there back home by train. But it was getting a bit too late for this. So we just caught the free bus back to Parramatta Station and went home from there. We did the ferry trip quite a few times over the years. It’s lovely to travel to the city all the way on the water. Sure we’d like to do this again some other time. I’m sure there’s going to be another time.
I saw the doctor today. He let me off lightly: He said the blood-tests are okay but when he took my blood pressure it was a bit too high again. He gave me some more time to get my blood pressure down. If it doesn’t improve, he wants to prescribe medication. He was happy that there’s no more swelling and no more pain. Ah, and he said to go easy on salt in my diet and to walk frequently. So far so good. Actually, I can give myself a pat on the shoulder today because this afternoon I actually did go for a walk. I bet the doctor would be pleased about this!
A few weeks ago I walked to the pool early in the morning. Strolling along the way I took some pictures of some flowers in the gardens in front of people’s houses. I always enjoy looking at all the gardens and I thought why not take some pictures? When I arrived at the pool there were already some cars in the parking lot. I went towards the entrance along this wall full of pictures which amuse. I couldn’t resist to shoot again some pictures of this wall.
The kiosk near the entrance was still closed. Later on, after my swim, I purchased a cup of coffee there which was made with a huge amount of foam on top and tasted very good. Because there were not many people in the pool yet, I dared to take some photos. I was careful to avoid having a full view of the persons, so they wouldn’t be recognized.
The pool-site area is beautifully landscaped. Besides the big pool there are two smaller pools. I was able to catch these on camera without difficulty. Due to the early morning hour no little kids had arrived yet to make use of the pools with shallow water.
I ventured to the left side at the top end of the large pool. Paddling around at the deep end of the pool I had a great time.
A bit later that day Peter and I went to Warrawong to see Dustin Hoffman’s movie “Quartet”. Peter went to get us coffee before the movie started. We were getting to the cinema a little bit late. Upon entering we got a shock. The place was totally empty. We happened to be the only patrons. Still, they showed the movie, just for us! The movie was great. Why hadn’t anyone turned up? Well, it started at 9,45 am. Maybe this was a bit early for some people. Plus, it had been pouring while we were driving from Dapto to Warrawong. The scene of the movie was a home for retired opera singers. It was very entertaining and I liked the music very much.
Here’s our Buddha. He seems to be happy enough in this wilderness area near our house. Being the 5th Sunday of Lent today, I should have attended Mass. However so far I didn’t go out at all yet. This afternoon we’re off to neighbouring Warrawong to watch Steven Spielberg’s Movie about LINCOLN.
So far so good. I am very happy that I am very much pain-free today. Tomorrow I’ll have to see the doctor about the test results. I anticipate the blood-test is going to show that I am okay.
What else do I anticipate? Well, I anticipate that I’ll probably live for another five or ten years. I also anticipate that I might perhaps even be able to venture on another overseas trip when I am in my eighties!
For next month I anticipate that we’re going to see the family over Easter and that Peter and I are going to enjoy our planned trip to Victoria. The beautiful warm summer weather will be gone by then. However I am looking forward to see a bit of the country side and then be spending a few days with family in Melbourne.
Nineteen-fifty-seven was a mixed year. We were in the middle of the cold war and it was hotting up. The Soviet Union was sending one satellite after the other up into orbit. One satellite even had a dog, Laika, on board. That is how they celebrated their forty year existence by scaring the shit out of the West. It looked like the West had lost the Space race.
In February Uta’s maternal Grandma, Olga , passed away in an East-Berlin hospital. Uta had visited her on the night before and took some pineapple pieces to her Grandma enjoyed them very much. Not bad as your last meal on earth.
In August of that year our daughter Gaby was born. Despite our happiness having her our life did not look that rosy. For me the year started with having a new job, but I still managed to finish the year without…
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