Sunday, 22nd of March 2015

This is Mount Kembla among the clouds. — Mount Kembla as well as a lot of clouds.

Since last night it has been raining off and on. Today the temperature is only in the low twenties (Celsius!). Still, we decided, it would be good to have lunch at the Forest Grove Cafe. Last time we went there after lunch and had only coffee there. But we like the place for we can sit there in the open with a view onto the lake. And it is only a very short drive from where we live!

So today, we went for lunch to the Forest Grove Cafe. One of the lunch specials was grilled fish. Both Peter and I ordered this dish. It came with baskets of chips as well as a good selection of salads and a dressing of our choice. We were served a huge platter of food. It was really a bit much for me. After the meal I finally remembered to take a picture of our table with Peter’s camera. Peter had taken the photos of the lake before the meal arrived.

This is only a picture after we had finished our meal. — This is a picture after we had finished our meal.

Yesterday morning I cut once more a bit of grass using the big scissors while Peter was doing in the house some vacuuming-cleaning for the weekend. When he was finished, and it was my turn to wipe the floors, I suggested to Peter that maybe he could finish the cutting of the grass while I was wiping the floors. It did not take Peter long, to cut some more of the tall grass. Then he decided, he could really use his push lawn mover to finish cutting the grass properly. By the time I had finished with the wiping of the floors in the house. he had already finished his outside job! From inside I observed how he took to pushing the lawn mover. So I took some pictures of it through one of the windows!

The above is a view through our kitchen window (facing westwards).

I like it that we did get a bit of rain overnight, as well as a bit of drizzle today. Hopefully, very soon our little grass area is going to show a bit of green again. This grass never grows at all when it doesn’t rain enough. It is at the northern side of the house and a lot of very tall trees take the sun away from it in winter. I hope some more grass is going to grow before the dark winter months are upon us! 🙂

Carnival Spirit

Around a quarter past eleven a.m.we arrived yesterday at Circular Quay Railway Station in Sydney.

From the top of the railway station Peter immediately took some pictures of this huge ship that was anchored in Sydney Harbour.

Soon we met Monika, our daughter, as well as Mark and some friends of Mark. Mark’s mother and sister were already on the Carnival Spirit. Monika, Mark and his friends had already booked in for this cruise. They were expected back on board by around 3,30 p.m.

Mark and Monika suggested we could have lunch with them at the German restaurant in the rocks area. It was a lovely walk towards the Rocks. It was promising to be another beautiful warm summer day in Sydney. The temperature actually soon reached thirty degrees Celsius. We had only a very light lunch.

On the way to the Rocks we came a bit closer to the Carnival Spirit.

Monika and Mark posing in front of this ship they were soon going to board for their twelve day cruise. — Monika and Mark pose in front of the Carnival spirit

Just a little beer before lunch arrives.

In this courtyard we had afternoon coffee and cake. Sorry, we did not take pictures of the cake.

We liked it in the courtyard and the cakes were yummy!

Walking to our next destination we saw the Carnival Spirit again.

For good measures we went to another courtyard for some refreshing beer.

I think Peter took this picture after Monika and Mark had left to go on board.

A last look at the harbour. Then we were off to catch our train back home to Dapto.

You can find a lot more pictures of the Carnival Spirit here in google:

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=carnival+spirit+ship&espv=2&biw=1093&bih=514&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=lmQKVffIA4ju8gWsx4LYBA

Sunday, 15th March 2015

I reblog this post so my followers have a chance to listen to “Pop Corn” and to see this 73 year old family picture!

When you go to the original you’ll find two great videos as well as a family picture from 1942. In the picture you see Peter with his two sisters, Eva and Ilse. Yesterday was Eva’s birthday. She turned 83!

In May this year Ilse is going to turn 81 and Peter is going to be 80 three days after Ilse’s birthday.

Pethan35's Blog

Wie die Musik zeigt, kann das Leben sehr kunterbunt sein. Und dieser Schlager von 1969 war ja damals sehr beliebt. Vielleicht haben wir damals sogar danach getanzt. Heute ist das alles ganz anders. Ich bin ruhiger geworden.

Gestern war Sonntag. Eigentlich kein besonderer Tag im Leben von Rentnern. Schließlich haben wir Dauerurlaub auf Staatskosten. Das gefällt unserer Regierung (Australien) gar nicht und sie überlegt, wie sie die Altersrente beschränken könnte. Die Bevölkerung wird immer älter und bald gibt es nicht mehr genug Arbeitende, welche die Rente für uns Alten erarbeiten können. Das kommt davon, wenn man nichts zurückgelegt hat.

Es war aber doch ein besonderer Tag, denn meine ältesten Schwester, die in Österreich lebt, hatte Geburtstag. Ich rief sie an, um ihr zum Geburtstag zu gratulieren. Dann warf ihr Ehemann seinen Computer an und wir konnten auch noch, nach einigen Schwierigkeiten, skypen. Dann sprach ich auch noch mit meiner anderen…

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Saturday, 14th of March 2015

This is a picture of a tree at the back of our house. I took this picture about two months ago, at the same time taking a few more pictures that show how I got ready to cut into a bit of grass on one side of the house.

Above the pictures show what I needed for the cutting. Well, this was in January. It is March now, two months later. The grass has kept growing quite a bit more over the past few weeks. Some mornings I love to go out into the sun. While I catch a bit of sun, I try to cut the grass a bit shorter. It is always growing faster than I manage to cut it! But I don’t mind this one bit. I remember the years when there was hardly any rain and the grass would not grow at all. I did not like this, when there was only bare hard soil to be seen. After a lot of growth during this rather wet summer, I think the growing has slowed down now. So maybe by Easter (in three weeks time) the grass will look all right to walk on. And maybe some Easter bunnies are going to find a way to hide a few Easter eggs? The thought of this makes me feel happy. I think how wonderful it is that we have this bit of private grass land! We do not call it a lawn, we rather like to think of it as our little meadow.

All the trees and bushes near our house have recently had a lot more growth too. Some branches, that reach too close to the house, need constant trimming. It keeps Peter off and on quite busy!

This bit of a grapevine is still to be found near the house close to the rosebush.

and further down some wildlife near our house.

At the back of the house (facing west) we have a table and chairs.

Sunday Diary, March 2015

We are well into March now. It seems a bit like autumn already here in Australia. Last Thursday afternoon Monika came to see us with Lucas. After coffee we decided we could all go with Lucas to the playground near the lake. Two year old Lucas enjoyed the playground very much even though it turned out to be very, very windy that afternoon. When we arrived, Peter took a picture of a flock of corellas sitting on the grass near the lake.

There is a lot to explore for Lucas on this playground!

Not so long ago Peter and I drove up Mount Brown to have a look at the new sub-divisions. A lot of buildings have already gone up. People who buy a block of land up there have a beautiful view towards the lake.

Uta’s Diary Update, March 2015

Today is already the second of March. Yesterday was officially the beginning of autumn here in Australia. It promised to be a very warm day. We agreed it would be good to have lunch near Bulli Beach. It was about time we paid that beach another visit!

We left home at eleven o’clock. A few minutes later we arrived at Ruby’s Cafe. We ordered beer battered fish, chips, salad and a pot of tea. I did not take my camera along because it had been playing up a bit recently. But Peter had brought his camera. He took some pictures when we went down to the beach while I was resting on a sand dune. Peter and I always share our pictures. So he does not mind that I publish some of yesterday’s photos. I like these photos! (With ‘like’ to this post at the bottom I’m going to indicate that I like Peter’s photos.)

Some months ago I had an infection in my left knee. A few days ago I started to get another knee infection, however this time it is the right knee that hurts!

This is an old picture of the cafe, but it still looks like this. There were already quite a few people near the beach when we arrived. We were glad we had decided to have lunch early. Soon after we left the cafe, it filled up a lot. Also, there was hardly any more parking available!

So it turned out to be a perfect day for the beach, at least until a thunderstorm came up a bit later on. But we were already on our way home then, having picked up some cake in a Thirroul Shopping Centre. As soon as we arrived home, we made some filter coffee to go along with our cake.

This was our Sunday. How was yours?

Sunday, 22nd of February 2015

Today, after lunch, we drove to Forest Grove Estate, a gated community with some well kept garden areas, a pond, lots of water birds and a cafeteria near the water. We walked around the area for a little while after we had parked the car. Peter took a lot of pictures with his camera which he has given me so I can publish some of them.

At the cafeteria we had some coffee. Peter also ordered some cake with the coffee. It turned out to be a beautiful desert on an extra large plate. The cake was surrounded by caramel sauce, ice-cream and cream. They provided two spoons in case we wanted to share. However I decided to have just the coffee. I did not feel like having anything that sweet.

When we went to the cafeteria it was only a bit after one. A lot of people – mostly pensioners – were still having their lunch. Since it was Sunday, there was a guy playing the guitar and also singing. On a notice it said that Sundays from 12,30 to 2,30 there was always some live music. The staff were all young and very friendly. Really, a beautiful place for having Sunday lunch! We plan on going there for a bite some time soon.

Diary, February 2015 (continued)

On some of the days last week I felt pretty awful. This week I feel so much better. I took up a bit of walking again. To be able to go for walks feels so very good!

Since yesterday I have a major problem with my camera. Last week and yesterday I could still take a few photos. However after taking some pictures the camera would not close any more. Some mechanism seems to be broken. I have no idea how this can be fixed. My guess is, getting the old camera fixed would probably cost nearly as much as buying a new one. What a pity!

When I started walking yesterday, I saw this along the way!

How did this stuff get there? — How did this stuff get there, I wonder.

Walking on I took a few more pictures of some bush things growing on the other side of the footpath.

The following pictures are from Monday last week. We left out car at the service centre in Warrawong at 8,30 in the morning. Our movie was to start at 10 am. This meant, we had time for a cup of coffee. Rather than having our coffee in the Shopping Centre, we preferred to sit outside. The only cafe in Warrawong where you can sit outside is the MCCafe, which luckily provides excellent coffee.

Reflections on the past Week

Catterel is right, I did not feel well last week, but I had still such an enjoyable week. Despite not feeling well for a lot of the time, somehow I could participate in everything we had been planning. It seems I can feel well one minute and terribly unwell the next! Often I do not feel quite all right early in the morning. What do I do then? I drink warm water with lemon juice and a bit of honey. I take lots of vitamin C. On mornings when I feel very, very unwell I take some aspirin. And last but not least I take a spoonful of olive leaf extract. The olive leaf extract taken three times a day usually seems to help a great deal to keep any flu symptoms in check. Only when I get chilled for staying for too long in very cold air conditioning, then it does not seem to work anymore.

In our house we have during the day usually temperatures between 26 and 30 degrees Celsius. This kind of temperatures I find very pleasant. Anything below 26 degrees, especially with a bit of wind blowing, you’ll find me with head coverings, scarves and jackets; I am that sensitive!

As soon as everything in my body feels all right again, I forget what it is like when my limbs feel heavy, the eyes feel watery, the head feels numb, the chest feels somewhat congested. And I get so very tired!! After a bit of rest, like sitting for a bit in the sunshine perhaps, I feel much better. If not, I just have to lie down for a little while, trying to get nice warm, and then I soon feel better again. The funny thing is, I never lose my appetite. A nice vegetarian meal always cheers me up.

I forgot to mention that I drink lots of lemon/ginger tea and I eat a lot of fruit. When I felt unwell while we were staying at our son’s in Melbourne, our son Martin kept serving us lots of ginger tea which is supposed to strengthen the immune system. And it still works a lot of the time that the tea makes me feel so much better!

Diary, Sunday 15th of Feb 2015

Yesterday we left our car in Waterfall. From there we caught the train to the city. We got off at Kings Cross Station. Coming out of the station we met Caroline. Peter took a photo as we were walking along Darlinghurst Road.

A bit further on we had a pizza lunch at the “mad” pizza place. The pizzas we ordered were delicious. I had a pumpkin pizza with plenty of rocket salad on the side. It was so much I could not eat it all. I had not brought my camera. I asked Peter to take a picture of the two pieces that I had left.

The following pictures are from today.

Monika and Mark did bring little Lucas and Baby Alex along today. They were on their way of taking the little ones back home to their parents who were happy that they could yesterday have a good night out for Valentine’s Day. We had not seen the great-grandsons since Christmas Eve. It was a very nice surprise for us seeing them today!

We have had a fairly busy week. On Wednesday and as well as yesterday we have been to Matinee performances in Sydney. On Wednesday it was a performance by New York’s SHEN YUN Performing Arts Company. They are the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. We very much enjoyed all this classical dancing. It is claimed that this kind of classical Chinese dancing has a long history, going back 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.

And yesterday we saw a contemporary Asian Australian story on stage, called Through a Distant Lens. The story is built around old photographs of early Japanese settlers in for instance Broome. These stories go back more than one hundred years. The early Japanese settlers contributed much to the development of Australia’s north. Apart from narration there is naturalistic acting, soundscapes, film, live music and sound, song dance and photography. The old photographs were wonderful to look at on the large screen. They gave a feeling for this long ago life in the northern parts of Australia.

Peter took the above picture. This is the entrance to the theatre of the Griffin Theatre Company.

We did see the story of Yasukichi Murakami – Through a Distant Lens

in the Griffin Theatre.

Last Monday we went to the movies while our car was being serviced. We saw in the HOYTS Cinemas in Warrawong “The Theory of everything”. Here is the synopsis to this movie from the HOYTS Cinema page:

“Little was expected from Stephen Hawking, a bright but shiftless student of cosmology, given just two years to live following the diagnosis of a fatal illness at 21 years of age. He became galvanized, however, by the love of fellow Cambridge student, Jane Wilde, and he went on to be called the successor to Einstein, as well as a husband and father to their three children. Over the course of their marriage as Stephen’s body collapsed and his academic renown soared, fault lines were exposed that tested the lineaments of their relationship and dramatically altered the course of both of their lives.”

http://www.hoyts.com.au/movies/2015/theory_of_everything.aspx

I thought this movie was well worth seeing. It was very interesting to see what sort of relationships Stephen Hawking had to other people and how he is managing this very debilitating sickness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. (This is when the nerves that control the muscles are shutting down.) Eddie Redmayne played Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. I thought he played this part extremely well.

On Tuesday we were home. We had a very dear visitor on that day. We want to go to Sydney with Bronwyn to see a French movie during the French Film Festival next month.

On Thursday I felt sick all day. I think having to stay with very cold air-conditioning on Wednesday for long periods of time had an adverse effect on my system. I can never stand very cold wind or air-conditioning for more than an hour or two. I don’t know what I can do about this.

On Friday I still did not feel quite all right. I tried to take it easy. Luckily on Saturday I had overcome this flu-like sickness. It was a beautiful warm day. This helped a lot. The play lasted only for an hour. We were having lunch sitting outside in balmy summer weather. During the train ride to Waterfall I sat on the sunny side near the window, plus I was wrapped up warmly enough.

Caroline had giving us free tickets for the play on Valentine’s Day. Apart from lunch we also had a gelato treat at Messina’s and later an excellent cup of coffee in an outside cafe nearby. All in all we had a lovely day with Caroline, while Matthew had to work on that day.