About

 

I am an Auntie, Sister. Grandmother, Great-Grandmother,

Mother and Wife of German Descent

I’ve lived in Australia since 1959 together with my husband Peter. We have four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. I started blogging in July 2011  to publish some of my childhood memories. I am blogging now also some of my other memories. I like to publish some old and some new photos  as well as a little bit of a diary from the present time. Occasionally I publish a story with a bit of fiction in it. Peter, my husband, is publishing some of his stories under berlioz1935.wordpress.com

It is June 2013 now and I want to update the above:

Gabriele, our first born child, died on the 15th July 2012. She contracted polio on her fourth birthday. She lived for more than 50 years as a quadriplegic. For all these years she also had to cope  with breathing difficulties. She always tried to live life to the full. She enjoyed a great social life right to her last breath!

 

On the 18th July 2012 Lucas was born. He is the son of our grandson Ryan and of Ebony. So we have a great-grandson now!

Our two great-granddaughters are the daughters of our grandson Tristan and of Stephanie. The girls are one year apart, six and five this year in July!

UPDATE FOR 2014:

On the 27th of September 2014, 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 pretty soon the first family visitors arrived!

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PLANNING ON MOVING?

A few years ago we saw in a brochure that a house close to Goulburn Railway Station was for sale. It was also near a shopping centre, even an ALDI store was within easy reach. What more could we want if we planned to move to a more rural area?

We saw our dream come true, namely to sell our present dwelling, buy the new place and end up with something like fifty thousand Dollars saved in the bank! People told us, but Goulburn, this is a bit out of the way, isn’t it?

No, we said, not at all. There’s the Railway Station close by. We hop on the train and are in Sydney in no time. The pensioner excursion trip from Goulburn to Sydney would still cost us only two Dollars and fifty cents! We can even go from Goulburn to Newcastle for our two Dollars fifty!

But you cannot do such a long trip that often, was the objection. We were asked, how often we were then going to see our children. How often do we see them now? We asked back. We pointed out, that we more or less only saw them for birthdays and Christmas anyway. We could still see them on these occasions, when we lived in Goulburn.

So we were all set to make the move to Goulburn, when it suddenly dawned on us, that we could not possibly move to the new place without doing some renovations first. The new place would need some renovations to be done to it! Renovations? You are kidding! Who would want to do renovations at our age! If we paid someone to renovate for us, we’d probably end up with no money left in the bank.

This is the end of the story. We are not going to sell our home and we are not going to move to another place.

March 29, 2013
Yesterday I found this page. I think it was in draft. I was curious what it contained. After reading it, I thought, why not publish it? So here it is.

END OF STORY?

May be it is and may be it isn’t. Basically nothing much has changed since I wrote the above.

= = = = = = = = =

Today is the 17th of July 2017. I come back now to the above story. Sort of. Well, over the past years we realized more and more that suitable properties in the Goulburn area would be a bit too dear for us and not worth all the troubles of moving. However, that idea that we could perhaps live in a country area somehow stuck with us. For a while our inquiries were set on Cootamundra, a town in New South Wales, also with a Railway Station on the Sydney to Melbourne line. Quite likable properties were significantly cheaper than comparable properties here  a bit to the south of Sydney. We checked out quite a lot of properties on the internet. Once Peter and I even stayed in a hotel in the main street of Cootamundra. We did get a very good impression of that little town. People there seemed to be all very friendly towards strangers. We thought that this was a place that we could definitely like. We thought it was feasible for us to live there. But in the end it turned out we were really not determined enough to initiate some steps towards moving.

A few years have passed.Since both Peter and I are in the eighties now, should we really stop thinking of moving to  a different area, and a country area at that, which we are not used to at all. For sure, we are in old age now. We still  love to travel, We also love to go for family visits. However, with each year we may find it a bit harder to do all this. For how long can we  keep it up really,all this moving about?

We have just been on a visit to Benalla in Victoria, seeing our son Martin who recently moved to Benalla. Thia is a beautiful thriving little country town, also on the Sydney to Melbourne train line! Properties are less than half the price of the properties here in our area in the Illawarra! Of course, alone this fact of the likelihood  of being  able to purchase a good property there at a reasonable price, and that our son lives there now in his own house, made us think that maybe we could move there too.

Yes, we could, and we could not. Medical facilities, yes they are available. It  would however be  a question whether they would be the right kind of facilities for the treatments that Peter requires. We would have to find out. Also, we would need a lot of help with actually moving and sorting everything out. Of course, we could afford to pay for a professional removalist. Maybe we would have to get rid of some  of our old furniture and things that we do not need any more. And then we could buy something new for the new place. Could we cope  with all this? Is  it worth it to undertake a move  like this at our age? The more we doubt, the more years pass, and in the end we’ll really be toooo old for all this!

In the meantime we had another great grandchild, a boy called Carter, He was born on the 21st of November 2016. He is the son of granddaughter Roxy and of Scott. Yesterday we had a family celebration at the Illawarra Yacht Club. Little Carter was there with his mum and lots of aunts. Carter is a very huge and very friendly baby. And the celebrations were for Lucas, who is five tomorrow, Tuesday. Alexander, the younger brother of Lucas, did like to play with his cousin Carter. It was lovely to see the three boys together.

33 thoughts on “About”

  1. I always wanted to visit Australia and had accumulated enough frequent flyer miles for a first-class round trip with with my wife including hotel and car rental for three weeks. My problem, after accepting a teaching position, was that I had been traveling so frequently that the idea of still another trip was unacceptable regardless to where it might be. I procrastinated, and procrastinated… It was ten years before I again got on another plane. The miles went as did the opportunity but looking back, it was the right decision.

    Reply

    1. We did a round trip in 1986 on a shoe-string so to speak. But Peter had accumulated long service leave, so we weren’t pressured for time. We took our youngest daughter along. She was only seven at the time and to miss some schooling wasn’t too bad for her, so we thought. We took her to France, Italy, Austria, Berlin (Germany), and Disneyland (Anaheim). We didn’t regret doing this trip! The flight went from Sydney to Paris, where we rented a 2CV for a round trip in Europe. The return flight was from Paris to Los Angeles via Newark. After three days in Anaheim the flight was from Los Angeles back to Sydney via Honolulu.

      We traveled quite a few times to Berlin over the years. The next trip this year may very well be our last one. We leave on the 8th of September!

      Reply

  2. I am so thankful to have found your blog – you really do have a treasure trove of stories and a wonderful way of sharing them. How lucky I am that you visited my blog, so I could visit yours in turn! So very nice to “meet” you auntyuta! I hope to read more of your posts very soon.
    warmly,
    anne

    Reply

  4. Your stories are an inspiration to us all. The journey, the faith, the love that stood the test of time, of a family you shared with us so beautifully. Best wishes to you and your love ones.

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    1. Thank you for this comment, dear Island Traveler. Yes, I guess my story is proof that it’s possible that love can stand the test of time. It’s probably natural that sometimes you get some doubts. It seems to me that love did win in the end. I am grateful for this.

      Reply

    1. Hi Mary-Ann, I’m honored that you chose me for an award. Some time ago Yor Ryeter offered me an award but I didn’t want to do anything about it. I am sorry, I still feel the same. Still, many thanks for the nomination but I really do not want to do anything about it.

      Reply

  8. Hello. I have come from Pat’s blog after reading a comment that you left. I am Australian, born in NSW, now live in Tasmania. You have an interesting blog about times gone by and also current times. I hope to read more. Bye for now 🙂

    Reply

    1. Hi Elizabeth, it’s great that you want to read more of what I write. I live not far from Sydney. It’s getting quite wintry here now. I believe in Tasmania it is pretty cold in winter. So keep yourself warm and enjoy your weekend! Cheerio, Aunty Uta.

      Reply

      1. Hi, not actually that much colder here is Tassie. that is a misconception. It is colder longer, ie: the cold starts earlier and lasts longer, but overall the temperatures are not that much lower in the depths of winter.
        I come from Sydney, so I know it well. I am used to the smaller regional areas and the slower pace now.
        But Sydney is still regarded as my ‘home’ city.
        have a great weekend.

  9. Hi again, Elizabeth, I was wondering whether you get very cold winds in Tassie. I guess you live in a small country town? In the city of Sydney it is in winter always a bit warmer than in the Western suburbs. And in summer it’s cooler if you live close to the sea.
    All our children are still very much living at a faster pace because they aren’t retired yet. Peter and I could really afford now to live at a much slower pace but somehow we still seem to stress out ourselves quite often. We always say we should live at a slower pace. We probably could have this if we moved somewhere into the country. But then we’d be further away from the children! Our children live quite some distance apart from each other. Where they may live in a few years time nobody knows. There’s no guarantee they’re going to stay close enough to the area where we are now.
    We had lovely sunshine during the day today. We went for an outing to the Nan Tien Temple which is only a few minutes drive from where we live. Last year we went there twice. It was the first time we went there this year. I’m going to publish some pictures of today’s outing.
    Hope you had a great weekend. Have a good week! Cheerio, Uta.

    Reply
  10. Pingback: Dutch Cheese Please! | Not the Family Business!

  11. I find the way you write is very moving, with your openess and how you reflect on things. Lovely. I am sorry to hear about your daughter and hope that the grief of her parting is somewhat atoned for with the fond memories you must have of her. I look forward to reading your previous posts.

    Reply

    1. Hi Sam, sorry for the late reply. It is sometimes difficult to stay in touch with all fellow bloggers. Thanks for liking what I write about. You are right, we do have very fond memories of our daughter Gabriele (Gaby).

      Reply

  12. Hi! Visiting because you liked a post on Race featuring me on Holistic Wayfarer’s site.

    I love following people from other countries. I love your pledge to post stories from your life, the obvious pride you take in your growing family and the photos you post, so I am now a follower. Looking forward to getting to know you.

    Fondly,
    Elizabeth

    Reply

    1. Thanks for visiting, Elizabeth. Yes, I think Holistic Wayfarer has a very interesting site. I was especially interested in all the posts on Race. The contributions to this survey made for such stimulating reading!
      Blogging is great in getting to know people from different countries with different life styles.
      I have a vast collection of family photos, some of them going back to the early 1900s! My family always loves to look at the photos I publish. Thanks for being interested in my blogs.
      Sincerely,
      Aunty Uta.

      Reply

  14. A lovely down-to-earth ‘about ‘ page. You have, and are living a very rich and fulfilled life Una, with many heartaches along the way I guess. May your star always shine bright for you.

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  15. What a lovely blog you have, Aunty Uta! So good to get to know you, thank you very much for visiting our blog.
    All the best, have a wonderful Sunday,
    Dina x

    Reply

  16. Einen schönen Dienstag liebe Ute wünsche ich dir wieder ein sehr schöner Text den ich immer gerne lese,ich hoffe dir geht’s gut bei mir ist es nicht so fühle mich nicht so gut.Wünsche dir noch eine gute Woche liebe Grüße von mir Gislinde

    Reply

    1. Thanks very much, dear Gislinde, for reading my ‘About’ page. Es tut mir leid, dass es dir nicht so gut geht. Ich finde es aber sehr schön, dass du dich weiterhin mit Bloggen beschäftigst. Ich wünsche dir noch viel Freude beim Bloggen! Recht liebe Grüsse aus Australien von mir Uta

      Reply

  17. A lovely story. You have a large wonderful family I see and one never knows do they? How that will all turn out. I have five adult children, thirteen grandchildren and four great grandchildren (2 boys and 2 girls). I saw you on Ian’s site and thought I would come here to take a look around. I have German heritage on my mother’s side. My grandmother’s mother has the last name of Ohm. Hope you are doing well.

    Reply

  18. Sorry, Renee, about not answering to your comment. I have only come across just now. Yes, I am doing well. Have seen great-grandson Carter yesterday. He’s a lovely two year old. Already speaking a lot. In May this year Peter and I are going to celebrate our 60th anniversary of being in Australia. This is going to be another great family get together. Hope you and your family are doing well too. A few years ago Peter and I met Ian and his wife Ann in Mildura, Victoria.

    Reply

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