Today, 28th of April 2019, I had a look at several blogs of mine from a few years ago. Among others, I found a blog from the day after Alexander was born. I like this blog so much, that I cannot resist copying it and publishing it again. I hope some of my readers are going to like having a look at it too, even if they have seen it before! I think it is interesting, to compare the pictures of Lucas and Alex with their very recent pictures, and to also see Carter, their two year old cousin, who came to visit them the other week. What the boys look like now, can be seen in this recent blog of mine:
And here now is what I wrote on Sunday, 28th of September 2014:
Yesterday, on the 27th of September 2014, Baby Alexander Robert, a brother for two year old Lucas, was born in Wollongong Hospital. Ryan and Ebony made it to the hospital barely an hour before little Alex was born. Twelve hours later they were already on their way back home, where the first family visits soon arrived.
Today, on Sunday, Caroline came from Sydney to see the new baby. Peter and I picked her up from Dapto Station. Caroline arrived on a rail bus. There were no trains today because of track work. Towards 3 o’clock in the afternoon Peter, Caroline and I could see the new baby for the first time. He is such a sweetie! The baby had been born soon after midnight on Saturday. So this afternoon he would have been going towards forty hours, that means he is still less than two days old! It was great that Ebony was allowed to go home already.
Grandmother Monika, Great-Grandparents Uta and Peter with Baby Alex
Lucas has a look at the cheese-cake.Soon there were cups of coffee and cheese-cake for everyone.
In the morning I had been going to church. I noticed some beautiful yellow roses and took some pictures of them after Mass.
It was a lovely, balmy sunny morning. In the afternoon the temperature reached 28 Degrees Celsius. We felt that this was a bit like a summer day already. I have not been to the swimming pool for a while. If we have some more weather like we had today, I might have the courage to go for a swim some time soon. So far we had either clouds and a bit of rain or very strong winds. But maybe the next few days are going to be very pleasant. I hope so! 🙂
Hi Peter! I am sure this day and the two posts you wrote about it are going to stay in my memory. I had a lovely day. It was such a good idea to go for this drive, wasn’t it? Love, Uta
Now, seven years have passed and today Peter sent me an answer with the following invitation:
Hi Uta, it was indeed a lovely day and I invite you to do same drive on the 1, May this year. Love Peter
I just answered: Yes, Peter, sure I’ll love to do the same drive with you on the 1st of May this year. So, this is coming up in three days!! Very much looking forward to this. Love, Uta 🙂
The following two links are to Peter’s two posts about our outing seven years ago:
Last Sunday at Mass I was confronted with the above question. As it happened it was a day when I was in quite a bit of physical pain. The pain didn’t start out to be really bad. I would be all right walking to church, so I thought. But far from it. After walking the distance, which took about twenty-five minutes, the pain was getting quite considerable. I arrived at the church at the last minute. But Father was still standing there shaking hands. He shook my hand too.
I happened to find a seat beside Sister Kevin. I greeted her and sat down. I told myself if I could just rest my knee and concentrate on my breathing, the pain would be bearable. I started reflecting on how God probably wanted to tell me something. Maybe God wanted me to make changes to my life as to correspond better with my aging body. What changes to my life should I make? What sort of changes did God actually want me to do?
I was very moved by the beautiful singing in the church. Both Fr Francis Tran and the Seminarian, Mr Stephen Varney, were singing Mass. Both have such beautiful voices! The church choir sang very well too. Stephen was given the homily that morning. He pointed out that for some people the Priesthood can offer a fulfilling way of life. They may think that it might be too hard to stick to being a priest. Even though for most people it is right to get married, you may think about it that it is also often not easy to stick to being husband and wife. It all depends on what God wants you to do, doesn’t it?
Monday has come and gone, so has Tuesday. Today is Wednesday and the pain is still there. I can cope with it as long as I don’t do too much! I cancelled the walks with my neighbour, Irene. I didn’t even go to the pool on Monday or to the Thai Yoga class on Tuesday. Peter could have driven me to the pool. But I declined.
When Peter suggested on Tuesday, the first of May, we could drive to Berry and then further on to Hampden Bridge, I joyfully agreed to this. We had a lovely day out. The weather was perfect for an outing. The good thing was, I didn’t have to walk much. Peter took lots of pictures. I took quite a few pictures too, some of them out of the window from the car.
This leads to Peter’s blog about our outing and another blog about his thoughts to the 1st of May:
At the moment I do not want to think about seeing the doctor or the dentist or the optometrist. Within the next couple of months I ought to see all these people. Just now I only want to rest and get better.
Peter looks over the coast south of Kiama
From there we drove on to Berry where we had some pies for lunch. We also bought some cake at the Milkwood Bakery. This is a newly opened bakery in Queen Street. They are a branch of the Berry Sourdough Cafe in Prince Alfred Street, which is famous for very good breakfasts.
These are some autumn leaves in Berry and the following picture shows a tree with autumn leaves in this particular street in Berry
This is where we turned off from Berry taking the Tourist Drive to Hampden Bridge
We saw some unusual cloud formations on the way. This was one of them.
This is part of the Kangaroo Valley Road
Further along the Tourist Road
A gate to a property along the Road
Nearly there at the BridgeThis sign tells us that there are wombats in the areaAnd this sign tells us our way back home
Hello, Aunty Uta. Sad to hear you are in pain. Do you have arthritis? Or is this an old injury? I hope it’s been looked at and you are getting the right treatment for it.
Thanks for your concern, dear Mary-Ann. It’s not an old injury. It’s probably old age, don’t you think:
Some mild discomfort and initial stiffness that gradually alleviates with increased movement is natural in aging but not the pain you described. I would recommend that you have it examined if it recurs or persists. It may be something that’s easily treated. The last thing you want is something that will restrict your mobility. This would be very detrimental to your continued well-being.
You’re right, Mary-Ann. What you say makes a lot of sense to me. Actually Peter has to see his doctor for his annual check-up so he can keep his drivers’ license. In the past he liked to see his doctor at the Medical Centre Wednesday nights, when he was on night duty and there wasn’t a very long waiting time. We both tried to see this doctor last night. There were already ten people signed in waiting to see him. This would have meant a waiting time of more than two hours for us. After consultation with the receptionist we decided we would see the doctor early Friday morning, because on Thursday he’s not available. So I hope for the best now, that it can be easily treated.
From Berlioz (Peter):
“What does God wants you to do?” How can an atheist, like me, answer this question? Philosophers, sages and other wise people have thought about this important question for centuries. It is practical the same as asking, “What is the meaning of (my) life?”
Let’s assume that your implied assumption is right and there is a God. I think he does not want you to do anything other than to be. His purpose for you falls under the inscrutable. Who knows what God wants you to do? Even bad people have a mission given to them by God. Think of Judas. Without him Jesus could have escaped capture or not? Even Jesus wasn’t sure what was happening when he asked, “Why have you forsaken me?” He of all people should have known that was his purpose.
To say your cross is your hurting knee, might be a bit harsh, but it is a reminder that our bodies are subject to decay and sickness; two other aspects of God’s plans for you.
And what if we assume there is no God? You have to take responsible action and be happy with what you done. Try to be sure within yourself. Every action is the basis for the next action – cause and effect. Resting in the church was the right thing to do. Seeing a doctor will be the next right thing to do.
Thanks, Berlioz, for this comment. Of course I realise that seeing the doctor is going to be the next right thing to do. It looks I won’t be able to avoid it!
Having the outing with you was the right thing to do. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the clouds in the sky were performing in an artful way.
The bakery in Berry is a French bakery and it felt like a trip to the “Provence” in the Autumn.
The cake was delicious and the bread wholesome.
The bit of “Provence” in Berry was indeed very welcome. I loved the whole outing. We are very blessed to live in such a beautiful area.
Hi Uta,
I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing some pain and I hope that you find some comfort soon.
However, it would appear that, in spite of your pain, you still managed to find some enjoyment. Perhaps there is a lesson for us in that ie even in our most difficult moments, we can still find joy in our lives.
Get better soon,
Carthage
Hi Carthage, Oh yes, there’s a lot of enjoyment in life even in old age. Pain just tells me I have to change something. Maybe just slow down a bit more?
Thank you very much for your good wishes. Uta
LOVED LOVED LOVED your pictures, and very much envy you! An excellent blog, & very interesting. I am sorry you appear to be n pain & I hope things even out, work out. Sincerely, Noeleen
Thanks, Noeleen.
Aunty Uta, I meant also to say that I think it’s great you do thai yoga & swimming. I think these things are perfect. I am genuinely sorry about your pain & I just don’t know what you can actually do, because I truly would have thought the swimming would do it. I truly hope you’re better at least today… And the pictures, sigh. Great camera! 🙂
You are right, Noeleen, thai yoga and swimming are perfect exercises for me or have been for as long as this arthritic pain didn’t overwhelm me. Yes, I found out now from the doctor that it has to do with arthritis. My knee was xrayed. So now I am on anti-imflammatory tablets.
The doctor didn’t mention diet. Personally I think I ought to do some changes to my eating habits. Wish me luck with this, Noeleen!
Thank you so much for thinking of me. I keep thinking about you a lot too!
By the way, Noeleen, if you would like to see some more of those pictures we took last Tuesday, please go to Peter’s blog. If you go to the end of my writing (before the pictures start) you’re going to find the link. I think you’ll be interested in browsing through Peter’s blog!
Actually Peter wrote about our excursion to Hampden Bridge in two parts. Both parts have some good photos in it.
I do wish you luck, Aunty Uta, all all luck! YOU CAN DO IT!!
Yes, thank you, Noeleen
Sending you healing light and love… the answers will come. 😉
Thursday is the day when Monika takes a day off to look after her grandson Carter. To make up for Thursday she goes to work on Saturdays. Last Thursday Monika took little Carter to see her other grandsons, Lucas and Alexander, who were on Easter holidays already. This is why Peter and I went to see all the boys (our great-grandsons!!) too, for we knew they would be going away with their parents for the Easter weekend.
Lucas and Alexander have two dogs: Kaiser and the smaller dog is Hamish. I think they are both pretty old already.
We had beautiful wraps, mine was vegetarian, Peter’s was with chicken.
With the help of my walking stick I was able to walk a bit along the beach in the water. I liked this very much!! And my wrap was just delicious. Wonderful ingredients, very spicy, just perfect!!
We had been lucky with the parking. We arrived a bit before 12 midday and the parking lot next to the beach cafe was already packed full. Then Peter saw a gap in the fence and ventured onto the adjoining grass. This was spot on!
Today we stay home. A day, when we do not have to go anywhere, is very appreciated since days without any special appointments seem to become rarer and rarer.
So it was a couple of days ago on Monday that we paid the Bunnings Store in Wollongong a visit after Peter had seen his dentist in Corrimal. We bought some paint for the bathroom, 3 Sanding Blocks (coarse, medium and fine), as well as a very solid stepping stool.
In the afternoon Peter went to see his optometrist in Dapto. Peter needs her to sign for him that his vision is still alright for driving. She did a lot of vision tests and then said, that his vision had very much deteriorated. On the day his eyesight was so bad that she could not give him permission for renewal of his driver’s license. (The renewel is due by the end of May. She prescribed some special eye-drops for dry eyes. Peter has to use them four times a day. The optomotrist wants to test Peter’s eyes again on Friday after Easter.
Yesterday Peter went to see his skin specialist in Corrimal. She did a bit more skin freezing on some spots on his head. From Corrimal we went to Fairy Meadow to the Leisure Coast Deli and Fruit Market, where we bought quite a lot of fruit, Vegies and a few other things. They have for instance vere good sour dough bread!
Monika came in the evening after work and made a phone call for us as promised. She contacted someone who can arrange for someone to come to our place to assess our special age related needs. Even though at the moment we can still somehow manage everything, we thought it may be better to get on a waiting list so that when we definitely do need some help we’ll be able to call on someone other than our children who definitely may not be available on a permanent basis and probably also with a lot of difficulty on some short notice.
Peter still did not get back his other hearing aids. This is a bummer!
I keep thinking what an achievement it is for Julie Shiels to have been using fabric from abandoned mattresses and refashioning it into textile sculptures!
As a said we bought something for breakfast at Woolies in Gundagai. If I remember right, among other things we did buy a few bananas as well. And as I said we had a very good salad lunch when we arrived at our son’s place in Benalla.
I mentioned in this post what we did on our first afternoon in Benalla:
At our son’s place we had some afternoon tea in the backyard. Of course it was a sunny afternoon. Benalla has not had any good rain for many, many months. Everyone is worried, the place will soon be running out of water for the residents, if they do not get some good rain very soon.
This is the lunch we had on Sunday, the 7th of April, at Benalla’s Bowling Club. Peter had roast pork and vegies and I had a ‘stack’ of vegies.
This was served for breakfast while we were at Martin’s.
I think for another breakfast we had baked beans on toast. Martin is always out to please us when we stay at his place.
On Monday, the 8th of April, was Martin’s birthday. He turned 59. We arrived in Australia by boat from Germany in 1959. So our 60th Anniversary is coming up! We gave Martin a globe for his birthday that he liked very much.
This is where we went for lunch on Martin’s birthday.
Back in Gundagai on Tuesday we had a lovely lunch at the Bistro of the Gundagai Hotel. This is the picture that Peter took of our lunch. I had plain vegies with some delicious mashed potatoes and a small beer. Peter had all the vegies and mashed potatoes as well plus a huge piece of chicken Schnitzel.And naturally a beer too.
On Wednesday morning the bakery was open for business by the time we got there. We had coffee there and some toasted sandwhiches. Then we were off to Gunning. I already published a few pictures of Peter’s about Gunning in that other blog. Here now are some more pictures that I took with my camera:
The Post Office Lady was on her own. When I bought some overseas stamps from her, she asked me for how long I would still be in Australia. Apparently she thought I was a tourist.
The Post Office woman was indeed very friendly and had quite a long conversation with me. When I mentioned that I had resided in Australia since 1959,she was indeed surprised. I told her about our trip and how tiring it was for Peter to have to do all this driving and that we liked Australia and how many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren we had here, but that we still had brother and sister in Germany.
The next rest stop for us was at Belmore Park in Goulburn where I only took this picture:
The Park is as beautiful as ever. Also there are some very good public toilets there!
We had another rest stop at the Robertson Pie Shop. I think the Robertson pies are still very good. I had a beef curry pie as usual and with tomato sauce of course. Very tasty! Peter had a beef mushroom pie as usual. We also took some fruit pies home: As usual!
The drive down Macquarie Pass went very well. And soon we were home, home, home!
The week ahead, Easter week, is going to be rather busy for us, especially for Peter. He has an appointment with his dentist in Corrimal for tomorrow. On Tuesday he has to drive to Corrimal again for an appointment with the skin specialist. Sometime during the week we’ll go to Wollongong to pay the Hearing Clinic a visist. They did send one of his hearing pieces away for repair. Peter hopes that he can get it back pretty soon. He really needs it back urgently. His hearing is absolutely shocking at the moment!
So, on Thursday is my slow movement exercise class on. Peter drives me there and picks me up again an hour later. It would be nice if he could bring himself to join this class, but alas, he’s very reluctant to do this.
So comes Good Friday. This is a Friday where my friends and I won’t have a games afternoon. That means, I may be able to help Peter a bit in the kitchen since Peter is planning to bake a few cakes for Easter, hoping this is going to attract a few visitors!
This leaves Saturday for us to do a bit of extra cleaning and probably some extra shopping as well.
Today, I already published a post with the pictures that Peter took on our last trip. I took a few pictures with my camera. I finally downloaded them yesterday with a bit of help from Peter. Now I see, that I can still publish some of my pictures as well.
Leaving home at 9 am our first stop was Moss Vale for brunch. So, here is the picture again that Peter took of our piece of cheese cake that we had at our much preferred cafe in Moss Vale. Before consuming this excellent cheese cake we had had an excellent ‘half’ breakfast each there at this great cafe. The ‘half’ breakfast consisted of two small wonderfully crispy pieces of bacon and one egg, mine was beautifully poached, Peter had a scrambled egg and toast, whereas I had Turkish bread that went very well with the poached egg. We also had delicious mugs of coffee to go with our meal.
I think it was close to 11 o’clock when we were ready to leave Moss Vale. With a couple more breaks we reached our motel in Gundagai by around 3 pm.
Of course we had our own Tea and coffee making facilities and stayed in the motel for a relaxing afternoon and evening. For supper we just had some cup a soups from Aldi with a few bread rolls that we had bought in Moss Vale. We had planned to go for breakfast to that heritage bakery in Gundagai just up the road. When we arrived there at 7 am, it was still closed. Not far away was a huge Woolworth Store that was already open. This Woolworth store had of course heaps of things. But nothing fresh from a bakery as far as we could see. We bought tubs of yoghurt and portions of cream cheese for our breakfast in our motel room. Since there were no fresh buns available, we just used the left over buns from Moss Vale. Anyhow on that Saturdy we arrived for a very good salad lunch at our son’s place in Benalla.
So this Bakery was still closed early on that Saturday morning.
I took a few pictures along Gandagai’s main road before we decided we’d buy a few things for breakfast at Woolworth.
This is where Peter took his sunrise pictures in front of Woolies.
On the Way from Gundagai to Ballina we stopped here:
Peter took some pictures with his phone during our last trip. He inserted them for me in Dropbox. Some of these Dropbox pictures I want to publish here now.
Peter took these sunrise pictures in Gundagai on Saturday, the 6th of April.
From Gundagai it was not very far to drive to Benalla. So, we arrived there at our son’s place around lunch time. After a beautiful lunch we were taken to Benalla’s Art Gallery, where Peter took the following pictures of a very interesting exhibition.
Last Tuesday we drove back to Gundagai and had a beautiful lunch at the Bistro of the Gundagai HotelUnfortunately this was closed last Wednesday when we stopped there for a while on our way home.
This documentary is a tribute to the late Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, a blind singer with a hauntingly beautiful voice. It’s hard to find words to describe his music, which portrays a purity and longing that literally makes your chest ache.
Gurrumul was from the Yoinju tribe on Eicho Island, one of the most remote islands in Australia.
Despite achieving international prominence and considerable wealth, he remained close to his family and tribe his entire life. At one point, he blew off a US tour because of tribal business.
For religious reasons the Yoinju, like other Torres Strait islanders, prohibit the preservation or display of images of the dead. In Gurrumul’s case, they have made a rare exception.
He died on July 25, 2017 at age 45.
The documentary can be viewed for the next week at the Maori TV website: Gurrumul
Last week we went on a trip to Benalla in Victoria. This morning I finally uploaded the photos from this trip. So we had left eight days ago and came back three days ago on Wednesday. Well, was it only three days ago that we returned? It seems so much longer already! When we arrived home on Wednesday afternoon both Peter and I were extremely exhausted. We both felt like we needed a long, long rest. I think, we slept in on Thursday, meaning we got up just before eight o’clock. Then we straight away found out that the date for the Federal Election had been called. While having breakfast, we listened to the News for a while. Unpacking our ‘stuff’ took a while as well as doing some washing and cleaning. Monika came for a brief visit with her little grandson Carter. Next week she wants to come on Tuesday after work. Then she wants to arrange for someone to come and see us for an assessment about what sort of home help as well as transport we oldies might be needing soon.
On Fridays I usually have been going to Marta’s slow movement exercise class. I wrote about it here:
I mentioned in that post, that twenty people were enrolled in that class in 2011. Amazingly, apart from me, there are three more people still enrolled in that class from that long ago! They had joined that class even a few years before me, and they are still there! The amazing thing is, all three of them are 97 now. Imagine this, they still keep coming . . . . ! So last Thursday they were there again. There were four other people as well. Without the three 97 year olds, we would have been only five participants. Too many people dropped out over the years. We have a lot of trouble finding new people for our class. I am surprised that it is still going at all . . . . Marta, our instructor, would like Peter to join. I hope, he’s going to consider it . . . .
For our Friday games afternoons we are usually three or four women. Yesterday our games afternoon was at Barbara’s place. We found out yesterday that Erika is not coming for the next six months or so. First she’s doing some oversees travelling. And then she and her husband want to spend some time in Queensland.
When I looked at the photos this morning, I suddenly remembered a lot again about our last trip. As I said, we went to Benalla in Victoria. On the way there and back we had an overnight stop at Gundagai. We had stopped there previously and liked it.
Our son moved from Melbourne to Benalla about two years ago. We have been visiting him there quite a few times already. The Sydney/Melbourne train does stop in Benalla. I like to go on the train. Train travelling I find far less exhaustintg than car travelling. Peter usually likes to go long distances by car. But this time he found the driving a bit too exhausting too, even though we had these stops in Gundagai! I think he’ll be glad too to go by train to Benalla next time. I have no driver’s license any more because of very bad eye sight. This is a pity. With two drivers a trip like this certainly is much better manageable.
Well now, this cheescake reminds of that excellent meal we had in Moss Vale on our way to Gundagai. This very well presented cake was our desert.
I decided now, I am going to publish some more pictures from our trip in another post.
So long, Uta
PS: Here is a link to another post of mine about Gundagai:
AuntyUta 
Thanks for your concern, dear Mary-Ann. It’s not an old injury. It’s probably old age, don’t you think: