“A fire burning through the Royal National Park in Sydney’s south has been downgraded to advice status, although thick plumes of smoke are still drifting across the city.”
As we went home by train last night we could see and smell smoke from the fires in the Royal National Park. The guard made an announcement on the train about the fires assuring us that the fires were not near the railway tracks and that it was safe for the train to continue as usual.
Tomorrow we’re going to meet the in-laws for lunch. We’re very much looking forward to this. Today is going to be very hot. I think tomorrow it may be getting even hotter, However we had some very cool early morning hours. The temperature was as low as 18C, quite cool really for by around lunchtime we may have about 40C or more! We bought recently a portable air conditioner. So far we did not have to use it yet. But should during the next few days the temperature in our house rise well above 30C then to have this portable air conditioner might prove to become very beneficial!
We always buy fresh farm eggs. There is an IGA shop close to where we live. This morning when it was still cool enough, Peter and I went for a walk to that IGA shop and bought a dozen of these locally produced farm eggs. During our walk my thoughts turned to a few things my father liked to point out. I think Papa often looked at politics in a very philosophical way. As in a lot of things in life he very much disliked any exaggerations. So also in politics. I could not say whether he was more left or right. It seemed to me he was exactly in the middle! He often would explain how important the middle in politics could turn out to be. He called it “Das Zuenglein an der Waage!”
This picture was taken exactly one month ago on the day of our 60th Wedding Anniversary.
We visited our grandson with his family on our way back home from Melbourne. The above layout pictures are from our visit at the farmhouse where Tristan and family live now.
These are Kia and Jaki, our great granddaughters.Son Martin and grandson Tristan with his wife Stephanie
The following are some pictures from our anniversary celebrations on Christmas Eve:
Two weeks ago, on Saturday, the 23rd of December 2017, we went with son Martin to Berry for morning coffee, then to Kiama for an early fish and chips lunch, and later to Shellharbour for ice-cream. After we have had our delicious ice-cream, Martin drove us to the Beach Farm with is now a beautiful public area close by the sea.
I think our Christmas Season started already with Sunday, the 24th of December, when the family gathered at our place for our customary Christmas Eve celebrations. Matthew and Caroline had arranged that Matthew’s mum could join us for Christmas Eve and stay overnight at our place. This was really great, that Yittah could join us!
Yittah enjoys watching her son Matthew with Lucas and little Alexander
Towards evening Monika and Mark came to see us. It was the day of our Wedding Anniversary!
Martin had arrived at our place the previous night. He did arrive a bit late. He arrived at Moss Vale by coach because his train had been cancelled because of signal failure in extremely bad weather. Because some passengers arrived late at Moss Vale, the usual coach to go down Macquarie Pass had not been waiting. But a taxi to go down to the coast had been organised by the railway. Martin had had some hot take away when his coach had stopped at Yass. He messaged to Peter not to wait with dinner. We had planned to have dinner ready for Martin’s arrival. I had cooked red cabbage and Peter wanted to fry some pork cutlets. The next day, Thursday, we went out for lunch and we did not cook anything in the evening. But on Friday we had our big meal then. I did not fancy the meat, I just had a sausage instead of the meat. The red cabbage tasted very good. There was even some left for Sunday, Christmas Eve, where the cabbage and some potato salad that I had made, was served with all the cold food, and everyone liked it. Not all the food is seen here on the pictures. There was plenty of food because everyone had brought some food along!
The following pictures I took in the main shopping street in Berry where we went with Martin on Saturday, the 23rd of December for some coffee and cake.
For lunch we had fish and chips in Kiama and later on ice-cream in Shellharbour Village.
Martin did all the driving on that day. So after we had finished our take-away ice-creams Martin drove us to the Farm Beach that is a beautiful public area these days. It was lovely to walk around this place for a bit.
There is so much to remember about our Christmas 2017. I remember for instance how Matthew played ball with our great-grandsons. The kids’ mum started this ball game and later on Matthew joined in it. I was fascinated to watch how much the kids enjoyed this game and I took lots of pictures! Here are some of the pict
Yesterday we were in Warrawong Shopping Centre. We had some coffee and cake at the Imperial Cafe and I took some pictures. I also took the chance to take some photos of some of the Christmas decorations in the centre. Next time we go shopping these decorations will probably be gone.
Peter recently harvested some more baby tomatoes. Last Sunday we drove for fish and chips to Kiama Harbour. It was extremely windy in the open cafe at the harbour. We decided then it was definitely preferable to eat our meal in the car. But the fish was again really good and fresh tasting. I do like eating this beautiful fresh fish!
Two weeks ago, on Saturday, the 23rd of December 2017, we went with son Martin to Berry for morning coffee, then to Kiama for an early fish and chips lunch, and later to Shellharbour for ice-cream. After we have had our delicious ice-cream, Martin drove us to the Beach Farm with is now a beautiful public area close by the sea.
I think our Christmas Season started already with Sunday, the 24th of December, when the family gathered at our place for our customary Christmas Eve celebrations. Matthew and Caroline had arranged that Matthew’s mum could join us for Christmas Eve and stay overnight at our place. This was really great, that Yittah could join us!
Yittah enjoys watching her son Matthew with Lucas and little Alexander
Today we had lunch in the GOSSIP LOUNGE, namely pots of tea and Hamburgers. My Hamburger was vegetarian. The filling was spinach and Ricotta Cheese! Very tasty. And I had some yummy salad with it. We also bought some great products at the fruit shop in the Figtree Shopping Centre. And last but not least we were able to buy Berliners in that shopping centre.
Soon we were ready to drive to Nan Tien Temple. The place was packed full and we had to park outside a bit further away from the Entrance Gates. The rain had stopped. So we experienced another beautiful walk to this magnificent building. Peter took some photos as we walked towards the building. The open inside area at the upper level was decorated in celebratory fashion for the year’s end. We listened to some music and watched some of the dance performances. At one of the stands with a lot of things for sale I bought a colourful windmill.
Our New Year’s Eve is going to start with “Dinner for One”:
(A REBLOG of the POST I published on the 22nd of January 2013)
Our day on the 31st of December 2012 started with a trip to Bondi Junction, where we met our daughter. We had a cup of coffee with Caroline (sorry no photo). Then Caroline had to go shopping. We strolled back to the station. This time to a different entrance to the station, one that we weren’t familiar with yet. A beautiful large rest area opened up in front of us. Lots of different food and drinks were on offer at different outlets. In the middle of the plaza some delicious looking (homemade) ice-cream caught our eye. Peter and I each had a cup full of this very refreshing treat. It wasn’t expensive but tasted wonderful. There were plenty of seats everywhere to have a rest. We took the lift down to the platform. Only a few minutes and our train departed. We got off at Town Hall Station. Later on we looked at the displays of some cake-shops. We were hoping we would find some Berliners. It is our tradition to eat Berliners on New Year’s Eve. We had no luck. We couldn’t find any. We went back to Town Hall Station to catch our train to Dapto. While we were waiting for the train we took some photos. The trip to Dapto took nearly two hours. Some shops in Dapto Shopping Center were already about to close when we arrived there. We knew we had a bottle of Bubbly at home in the fridge for our end of year celebrations. But we were still without any Berliners. I felt a bit tired and was sitting down for a while. In the meantime Peter rushed into another shop that was still open. Surprise, surprise, he came out with some delicious looking Berliners in the form of stars! He got them at half price for they were the last ones that were left! At home we watched “Dinner for One”, which is a tradition with us to watch on New Year’s Eve. It is a sketch about Miss Sophie’s 90th Birthday. Very, very funny! We’ve seen it so often and every time we laugh our heads off again. Peter tried out to take a few pictures from the TV showing Sydney Harbour. At midnight he took also some pictures of the fireworks. Soon after we went to bed. But of course we did have our Bubbly and did eat the heated up little stars with it. They tasted delicious, just as good as the balls, called Berliners, do taste. Of course we did get messages and phone calls from our children before we went to bed, wishing us a HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Q
Inside Queen Victoria Building
Sorry,
So, this is a REBLOG of what we did on New Year’s Eve of 2012 (five years ago!). This year we plan on staying home again to watch ‘Dinner for one’ and the Fireworks on TV, also to have some bubbly and hopefully also some Berliners. For lunch on that last day of this year we want to go out with some friends
Here are the comments and my replies to the above post from January 2013:
Near the Queen Victoria Building we found a lovely little place where we could have a bit of lunch. The fish tasted so good, I managed to eat both large pieces! And imagine, the lunch in the center of the city was a special for ten Dollars! Great value indeed.
The Queen Victoria Building is really beautiful. And I was just thinking today how quickly we moved on from the busy Christmas and New Year’s activities. It was nice to have a reason to look back and see how you spent your last day of the year! The food looks delicious, too! 🙂
What a delightful and beautiful way to spend new years eve, love your tradition.
The pics are great and I must admit the one with the fish in it is more to my liking.
May you both relive your tradition for many more years to come.
Emu aka Ian
Hi, Ian, I’m glad you liked my little post. The fish I had for lunch was really great, very fresh tasting the way I like it. Normally I would eat only one piece of fish that big, but it tasted so yummy that I finished off the other piece as well! And I did eat most of the chips and all the salad. As a drink we only had water, which was for free.
The young friendly woman who served us asked us whether we were planning on seeing the fireworks that night. But we said, no, we were going back home to watch it on TV.
After the scorcher we had last Friday we had some cooler weather the past few days. When you go out in 40+ temps it’s like going out into an oven, isn’t it?
Hope you’re keeping well, Love, Uta.
Lovely post Uta – and so pleased for you that you can upload your photos again. I’m very impressed by your starshaped “Berliners” – they look very posh. “Dinner for one” is shown on all the German-speaking TV channels in Europe over and over again on New Year’s Eve – for some Germans, it’s the only English film they know! But surprisingly enough, although the actors were very well known in Britain, hardly anyone in the UK knows that little film. Glad you are carrying on the tradition down under!
So pleased, Cat, to be able to share some of my photos again. You probably know that Germans call these “Berliners” Pfannkuchen.
I heard about it that “Dinner for One” for some reason is hardly known in the UK whereas in Germany it is very popular. There’s one channel here in Australia who always have it in their program for New Year’s Eve. Some fans in Australia watch it every year too. 🙂
We belong to the people who are really hooked on it. Just thinking about it makes me laugh. The Butler asks: Same as every year, Miss Sophie? And she answers: The same as every year! It’s so good the way they’re acting it. But I’m afraid I don’t know the names of the actors. Poor 90 year old Miss Sophie. All her companions are already dead. And the butler has to pretend they’re still alive and have come to the dinner party.
Maxim Gorki’s play “Children of the Sun” was shown at the Drama Theatre in Sydney’s Opera House. We saw this play last Saturday. There was a matinee performance at 2 pm which suited us for we prefer to be home at nighttime. Before we went to the theatre we met Caroline for lunch in the city.
Caroline had a salad and Peter and I had beer battered fish and chips.
We told Caroline that we had lunch at the same place on the last day of the year 2012. Later at home I looked up the post I published from that day. Sure enough I did find the lunch pictures and was able to republish them.
AuntyUta 
auntyutaJanuary 22, 2013 at 2:00 pm Edit #
Near the Queen Victoria Building we found a lovely little place where we could have a bit of lunch. The fish tasted so good, I managed to eat both large pieces! And imagine, the lunch in the center of the city was a special for ten Dollars! Great value indeed.
Three Well BeingsJanuary 22, 2013 at 3:31 pm Edit #
The Queen Victoria Building is really beautiful. And I was just thinking today how quickly we moved on from the busy Christmas and New Year’s activities. It was nice to have a reason to look back and see how you spent your last day of the year! The food looks delicious, too! 🙂
auntyutaJanuary 22, 2013 at 3:58 pm Edit #
Thank you, Debra. 🙂
likeitizJanuary 22, 2013 at 6:43 pm Edit #
You both look great!
auntyutaJanuary 22, 2013 at 6:53 pm Edit #
Thanks, Mary-Anne. It was a good ending of the year.
The EmuJanuary 22, 2013 at 9:11 pm Edit #
What a delightful and beautiful way to spend new years eve, love your tradition.
The pics are great and I must admit the one with the fish in it is more to my liking.
May you both relive your tradition for many more years to come.
Emu aka Ian
auntyutaJanuary 22, 2013 at 10:08 pm Edit #
Hi, Ian, I’m glad you liked my little post. The fish I had for lunch was really great, very fresh tasting the way I like it. Normally I would eat only one piece of fish that big, but it tasted so yummy that I finished off the other piece as well! And I did eat most of the chips and all the salad. As a drink we only had water, which was for free.
The young friendly woman who served us asked us whether we were planning on seeing the fireworks that night. But we said, no, we were going back home to watch it on TV.
After the scorcher we had last Friday we had some cooler weather the past few days. When you go out in 40+ temps it’s like going out into an oven, isn’t it?
Hope you’re keeping well, Love, Uta.
catterelJanuary 22, 2013 at 9:41 pm Edit #
Lovely post Uta – and so pleased for you that you can upload your photos again. I’m very impressed by your starshaped “Berliners” – they look very posh. “Dinner for one” is shown on all the German-speaking TV channels in Europe over and over again on New Year’s Eve – for some Germans, it’s the only English film they know! But surprisingly enough, although the actors were very well known in Britain, hardly anyone in the UK knows that little film. Glad you are carrying on the tradition down under!
auntyutaJanuary 22, 2013 at 9:55 pm Edit #
So pleased, Cat, to be able to share some of my photos again. You probably know that Germans call these “Berliners” Pfannkuchen.
I heard about it that “Dinner for One” for some reason is hardly known in the UK whereas in Germany it is very popular. There’s one channel here in Australia who always have it in their program for New Year’s Eve. Some fans in Australia watch it every year too. 🙂
catterelJanuary 22, 2013 at 9:58 pm Edit #
I guess the ex-pat German-speakers were homesick for it so the TV people do them the favour!
auntyutaJanuary 22, 2013 at 10:19 pm Edit #
We belong to the people who are really hooked on it. Just thinking about it makes me laugh. The Butler asks: Same as every year, Miss Sophie? And she answers: The same as every year! It’s so good the way they’re acting it. But I’m afraid I don’t know the names of the actors. Poor 90 year old Miss Sophie. All her companions are already dead. And the butler has to pretend they’re still alive and have come to the dinner party.