Last weekend in July 2013

I had taken the painkilling tablets the doctor had prescribed for me. I was supposed to take three times two tablets per day, however not more than six a day with intervals of at of at least six hours. For three days I took the six tablets per day. On Friday I already felt much better. I walked a lot in the sun. The right hand didn’t feel as painful any more. There was still some feeling of pins and needles, but I was able to do a lot more house-work than during the past few weeks. Friday afternoon Irene and Marion came to my place. We played a game of scrabble as we always do when we meet on a Friday afternoon. Then we had our coffee break. And after coffee and cake it was time for some games of Rummy. Irene said she’d have to leave early for her son was to come to have dinner with them. She went home just before five. We had had three hours of togetherness. For me three hours was plenty. I honestly felt very, very tired and was glad when Marion decided to go home too. Maybe she would have liked to stay a bit longer. I don’t know. However I did not hold back and proclaimed that I felt dead tired and desperately needed a bit of a rest. I did lie down on the sofa in the living-room.

Peter had been doing his things all afternoon but he agreed that he would cook dinner. He cooked some lovely cauliflower with breadcrumbs in plenty of butter. I needed only a short rest. Soon I got up again to have dinner with Peter. I felt very grateful that Peter had undertaken kitchen duties. This bit of a rest was so good for me. Before Peter started cooking he took my blood pressure. It was extremely low, however the pulse rate was very high. Peter gave me a glass of water. When he took my blood pressure again after about half an hour, the pulse rate had normalised and the blood pressure seemed pretty normal overall. It’s amazing what a difference a bit of rest can make!

On Saturday morning I got up very early because I had gone to sleep early the night before. My right arm and hand felt like it was improving a lot. I took a shower and continuously did exercises with arms and hands. Since I felt so much better and it promised to be a calm sunny morning, I had the idea to be walking to the pool. I very much longed for the solar heated water of the pool. Just the perfect morning to stretch out in the water for a few minute, I thought.

I had breakfast with Peter. I planned to arrive at the pool towards ten o’clock. There was some time to do a few things around the house and in the kitchen. Ten thirty am is the time when we like to watch the German News Program from Berlin. At the same time we usually have a cup of morning tea. When I told Peter I would be walking to the pool he reminded me I would not be able to watch the German News then. My response was that if he picked me up from the pool by twenty minutes past ten we could both be sitting in front of the TV by half past ten. Peter agreed that he would pick me up at the set time.

So I walked to the pool. It was a very pleasant walk. I did not have to walk too fast. Very cheerfully I arrived at the pool and talked to some attendants at the entrance. I soon noticed there was a class of women in the deep end of the pool. The instructress stood at the edge of the pool and gave instructions to some lively music. I was happy to stay at the shallow end of the pool. I had the whole area to myself. The water was flooded with beautiful sunshine. Doing my movements I felt very invigorated. I loved to have this bit of music from the top end. It helped me with moving about rather enthusiastically. I thanked God for such a wonderful morning.

After a few minutes all the women from the class did get out of the pool and assembled in the shower room. I soon followed. I was ready on time for Peter to pick me up. A bit after eleven we got ready to go to Dapto Shopping Centre. It took us nearly an hour to finish our shopping there. We bought some very good food and felt very happy with our purchases. However on our list were a lot more things to buy at another place. This would have taken us another hour. We decided to buy the other things on the following day, which was a Sunday. We wanted to go home and get lunch ready.

Saturday night I did fall asleep in front of the TV. When I woke up I noticed the TV had been turned off and Peter was in the other room talking to his sister Ilse on Skype. Ilse lives in Berlin where they have a great heat wave at the moment. I could hear every word Peter was saying and also every word Ilse was saying. After a while Peter came looking whether I was awake. He suggested I come over and talk to Ilse for a bit too. I love having a conversation with Ilse. I went to talk to her. There is always something to talk about with Ilse. This talk with Ilse cheered me up a lot.

Sunday morning I was up early again, early enough to walk to the early Mass at the Catholic Church in Dapto. Our Vietnamese priest is still on vacation, however the old priest who is taking his place for the time being, is a dear old man with a wonderful singing voice. Gee, I love the way he sings his hymns so enthusiastically! On my walk to the church I had touched my ZEN stone a lot. The fingers of my right hand had not been able to make a fist for over a month. However the painkilling tablets and exercising the fingers with this stone and sometimes also with some Chinese Iron Balls made my hand much better now. It was so comforting to say some prayers during mass. I came to realise once more how important my Catholic faith really is to me.

As I said we had to do a lot more shopping on Sunday. We also bought some lovely flowers. For afternoon tea we used our red teacups. We took pictures of our afternoon tea with the newly bought flowers on the table as well.

Today, Monday, we had another beautiful sunny day. Peter and I drove to the lake and took quite a few pictures there. I am going to show these in another post.

Saturday, 27th July 2013 I left the house as the sun came up to walk to the church. — Sunday,28th July 2013
I left the house as the sun came up to walk to the church.

Since Saturday I have reduced the intake of these painkilling tablets by half. Tomorrow at ten o’clock I have to be at Southern Neurology in Wollongong.

https://wordpress.com/post/auntyuta.com/3984

caption id=”attachment_3964″ align=”aligncenter” width=”300″] The GURU Coffee Lounge in Dapto Shopping Centre[/caption]

We went there early in the morning this week for a coffee break. I had been seeing a doctor in the Medical Centre across the road quite early in the morning. At 9am I had to go back to the Medical Centre for some tests.

The following day we went to Sydney to see my Prothetist at an Orthoplant Dental Laboratory who took on the immensely difficult task of making for me some new dentures. At the moment I was provided with some temporary dentures. Once I get used to them, he can create the real dentures.

After the appointment with the Prothetist (it was already my third visit to him!) Peter and I felt like going for a special treat. We chose the Lind cafe at Martin Place.

Later on we went to Hyde Park where Peter was feeding the birds with some of his muffin.

After our train-trip to Sydney yesterday (Wednesday) I had to go back to Dapto Medical Centre early this morning to find out about the test results. It was established there is no thrombosis, the blood test was normal too. But because I suffer from pain in my right arm, wrist and pins and needles in my right hand, some other test revealed that it has to do with a nerve strung. I did get now an appointment for next week at Southern Neurology in Wollongong. The doctors reckons all this has to do with old age. Ah, the blood test showed that I have Osteo Arthritis.

Today, Thursday, I went with Peter to Wollongong for Peter had to pick up there one of his hearing aids which had been repaired. Then we had time to go again to this beautiful cafe where we had been with Sylvia the previous Saturday. On the way we saw a few little toys. We thought it would be nice to have these toys for our three great grandchildren. So we bought the three toys.

With our little bag of gifts we entered the cafe. Surprise, surprise, we met there Monika, our daughter with Krystal, who is sixteen and Monika’s youngest daughter. It was such a beautiful surprise to see them there!

Going back to where we had our car parked, we took some pictures of MacCabe Park.

https://wordpress.com/post/auntyuta.com/3963

https://auntyuta.com/2013/07/26/diary-last-days-of-july-2013/

Published 6 years ago!

THE CUPBOARD WAS BARE!

Here is a copy of ‘THE CUPBOARD WAS BARE’ from the Political Sword. I really like to copy it for it speaks the truth about all the lies, the truth that I reckon was and is very easy to detect; instead a majority of voters could not help themselves but decided to believe all the lies. Did their instincts tell them that it was important to believe all these lies?

Here is a comment by ‘DoodlePoodle’ to this ad astra blog. This comment was written on the day of the election:

DoodlePoodle

18/05/2019

“You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. Abraham Lincoln”

“So many gullible people but hopefully enough not so gullible people who will vote for Labor and change the government.”

Election Day was on the 18th of May. By the end of the day we knew already that a majority of voters had been voting for the Coalition, not for Labor and Bill Shorten. So our hope is now that you cannot fool all the people all the time. I wonder, is it going to show by the next election that you cannot fool the majority of people all the time? In the meantime we have to cope with a very right leaning government. I fear there may be quite scary times ahead. I hope, the opposition in parliament will do their utmost to preserve some kind of democracy.

Now, here you can get into the ‘nerve centre of the LNP’:

http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/posts.aspx?postid=30087b68-c709-4e14-90ad-cd2f606f0049

17/05/2019
Ad astra

It wasn’t easy getting into the nerve centre of the LNP – the secret place where talking points, election strategies and day to day tactics are brainstormed by the Coalition’s eggheads in the dead of night – but eventually, more by good luck than good management, I found myself in the inner sanctum.

The secrets of the LNP were stored there, not in neatly labeled fling cabinets, or cleverly organized computer files, such as would befit a modern, forward-looking political party. Instead, they were stored in a wooden cupboard, like those that once graced the kitchens of our grandmothers. Its surface bore that worn, ‘distressed’ look that now appeals to upmarket millennials. It was surrounded by an untidy mess: kitchen paraphernalia, a few bottles of wine in a basket and a tatty rack, and a couple of barrels, presumably left over from a late night drinking session.

Surprised as I was, I reasoned that such an ancient cupboard at least did capture the image of a well-established organisation with a rich history extending back many decades. But it did seem strange that such an old-fashioned object could be the repository for the Coalition’s visions, secrets, plans, and tactics. But who was I to judge?

Intrigued, I began exploring, pulling out drawers and opening doors via knobs worn smooth by continual use. I was surprised there were no visible labels, but soon discovered that they were inside, scribbled on bits of paper browning around the edges with the telling signs of age.

In a top drawer, written with blue Texta on half a page of yellowing newspaper, I found a telling label: ‘Good Slogans’. Underneath I found a rich lode. Scribbled with crayon on a large piece of Butchers Paper, I found:

Jobs and Growth
Coalition runs strong economy
Strong economy needed to provide services
Labor can’t manage money – would weaken the economy
If you can’t manage money, you can’t run an economy
Labor: higher taxes, more debt, weaker economy
Only the Coalition can be trusted to deliver lower taxes, more jobs and a stronger economy which underpins record spending on essential services
Under the Coalition, Australia will be stronger
Under Bill Shorten’s Labor government, Australia will be weaker
Labor’s debt and deficit
Coalition is paying off Labor’s debt
Coalition is ‘in the black’
Labor will hit you with $287 billion of new taxes
Labor will tax everything and everybody
Labor’s Retiree Tax
Labor’s Housing Tax
Labor’s Higher Income Tax
Labor’s Investment Tax
Labor’s Family Business Tax
Labor’s Superannuation Taxes
Labor’s Electricity Tax
Labor’s Car Tax
Labor’s (and Greens’) Death Tax

In another corner of this drawer I found a battered Bushells Tea Tin. On the lid, scrawled in red Texta, I read: ‘Great Anti-Shorten Slogans’.

Inside were scraps of paper, a motley collection of what the Coalition regards as telling zingers, recognizable to us all through repeated use:

Bill Shorten lies all the time
You can’t believe anything he says
Bill Shorten can’t lie straight in bed
Bill Shorten doesn’t know what he’s talking about
Shorten gets his facts wrong, again and again
Shorten is coming after your money
Shorten will have his hands in your pocket
When Shorten spends, you pay
Bill Shorten will send you the bill
Shorten’s taxes will hit you all
Shorten won’t tell you how much he’s spending
Shorten is dishonest with the Australian people

I marvelled at how much effort had been put into these anti-Labor and anti-Shorten slogans. They looked like a schoolchild’s first project, with words scratched out and over-written. Many hours of thought must have gone into refining them. No doubt the authors were proud of their efforts.

I looked for, and eventually found a tin labeled: ‘Pro-Coalition Slogans’, but was surprised how small it was. I looked inside and was even more surprised at how few slogans promoted the virtues of a Coalition government. Apart from the boast of its economic superiority and its sterling record of managing the economy and creating jobs, there was little else. I though that surely there must be more to crow about after all the years the Coalition has been in power?

What about an energy policy? In one compartment, I was excited to find a piece of paper with ‘Energy’ scribbled on it. Alongside it there were several scraps of paper. Filled with expectation I looked though them. All had been screwed up, all had different dates, all had the same word scrawled on them: NEG. I looked around for one with a recent date, but all the dates were old.

With more hope than expectation, I looked in the next compartment eager to find something on climate policy. I was astonished. In a large rusting biscuit tin I found a collection of what looked like climate change notes. They were in Tony Abbott’s handwriting: “Climate science is crap.”, “Climate change is a relatively new political issue, but it’s been happening since the earth’s beginning.”, “I am hugely unconvinced by the so-called settled science on climate change. I just think that the science is highly contentious, to say the least.”, “The climate has changed over the eons and we know from history, at the time of Julius Caesar and Jesus of Nazareth the climate was considerably warmer than it is now.”, “Are we proposing to put at risk our manufacturing industry, to penalise struggling families, to make a tough situation worse for millions of households right around Australia. And for what? To make not a scrap of difference to the environment any time in the next 1000 years.”, “Climate change happens all the time and it is not man that drives those climate changes back in history. It is an open question how much the climate changes today and what role man plays.” The notes were well fingered. No doubt they had been a rich source of inspiration and quotable quotes for his climate denier mates.

Since it has become such a hot political issue, made all the more so since the election was called, with urgent action on climate change now supported by a majority of electors and most stridently by young people, who see their planetary home disintegrating before their eyes, I looked through the other scraps of paper for the Coalition’s thoughts on climate change. There were a few scrawled in what looked like Morrison’s hand: “We’re taking positive action on climate change through Direct Action”, “We’ll meet our emissions targets in a canter”, “We’ll meet our Kyoto 20 and 30 targets”. “Emissions are falling”. I looked then for the newspaper clipping of his recent concession that emissions in fact are not falling, searching for his actual words: that emissions ‘had lifted’. I couldn’t find it.

Climate change action seemed a low priority. There were though bits of paper with “Coal will be a part of our energy mix for many years”. “Coal will remain a major export commodity”. There was even a photo of our PM fondling a piece of coal in parliament telling us not to be afraid of it!

I got the impression that there was nothing more to find about climate change action.

Tiring, I looked around for a compartment that might give me a picture of what the Coalition thought about this nation’s future, apart from its mantras about a strong economy, and more jobs and growth. How did they see our nation developing? What future did they envisage for our people. What could they promise our young folk? Surely any plans the Coalition had must be based on its vision of our future.

I was becoming desperate. I looked and looked for a compartment labelled ‘Vision’. There must be one somewhere. Eventually, I found a small door, stuck closed and festooned with cobwebs. I managed to prise it open with a screwdriver that I found in the cutlery drawer. Inside, I was delighted to find a faded, dog-eared label: ‘Vision’.

I fossicked around expectantly looking for the Coalition’s Vision for our Nation. I explored every nook and cranny. Surely there must be something that would reveal its shining dream!

The compartment was empty.

If the Coalition hadn’t got a vision, surely they must have some plans, some new policies for the next three years. Having listened to the Coalition launch, where Morrison boasted that he had ‘a plan’ for everything, I expected to find a bundle of plans stashed away somewhere. So I looked for a receptacle labelled ‘Policies and Plans’. Eventually I found a small tin. In it there were a few dog-eared bits of paper. On them were written “economy strong”, “jobs growing”, “revenue solid”, “sponsors happy”, “everything’s fine”, and a fresh piece with “surplus coming” on it.” Then on a large piece initialled ‘SM” was written in capitals: “IF YOU HAVE A GO, YOU’LL GET A GO”, “BUILDING OUR ECONOMY, SECURING OUR FUTURE”, “WE BROUGHT THE BUDGET BACK TO SURPLUS NEXT YEAR”, “THERE’S MORE TO DO. NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO TURN BACK”, “YOU CAN’T TRUST BILL SHORTEN”, “LABOR CAN’T MANAGE MONEY”, “THIS ELECTION IS NOT A HOOPLA EVENT”, “I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT GAY PEOPLE GO TO HELL”, “I’M NOT RUNNING FOR THE POPE, I’M RUNNING FOR PRIME MINISTER”, “I WILL CONTROL COALITION POLICY DIRECTION”, and last of all, his coup de grâce: “IT IS MY VISON FOR THIS COUNTRY AS YOUR PRIME MINISTER TO KEEP THE PROMISE OF AUSTRALIA TO ALL AUSTRALIANS”.

Was that all the Coalition has planned for the years ahead?

Frustrated, I looked again for clues, any clues, that might spell out the Coalition’s story, its vision and its intentions for the next three years. I ransacked the entire cupboard looking for more than the few scraps of paper that I had already found.

The cupboard was bare!

The Day after Mother’s Day 2019

Well, we had quite a few visitors yesterday for Mother’s Day. Come to think of it, all the mothers that were visiting, were already grandmothers. And I am even a great-grandmother! I was so happy, that great-grandons Lucas and Alexander were visiting too yesterday! And Peter actually did hand out roses yesterday to all the visiting mothers. I think they liked this very much.

For about three hours in the afternoon we had a large crowd in our house. Daughters Monika and Caroline did most of the catering. This was very relaxing for me.

Monika had come with her daughter Natasha and her son Troy had come with his fiancee Antonina. Troy’s twin-brother Ryan and wife Ebony spent the afternoon with Ebony’s family, but Troy and Nina had brought their nephews Lucas and Alexander along to our plae. Monika’s partner Mark had come too, and he had brought his mother Merl along.

DSCN5398 — The flowers on the right are from Mark!

Caroline’s husband Matthew had brought his mother Yittah along. Everyone was happy and had a good time. It was a really good afternoon for Mother’s Day.

On the 31s of this month we are going to celebrate our arrival in Australia. Yes, we arrived in Port Melbourne on the 31st of May 1959. We came from Germany on the SS Strathaird, a British P & O liner.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Strathaird

The Strathaird had come from England with a lot of British migrants and stopped at Cuxhaven to pick up more migrants from Germany.* So, Peter, myself and our two baby daghters were amongst all of those German migrants. We had stayed at Bremen-Lesum overnight. From Bremen-Lesum goes a direct train-line to Cuxhaven. All the migrants, that had stayed together with us at Bremen-Lesum, were taken by train to our destination at Cuxhaven where the Strathaird was already waiting for us.

https://www.google.com/search?ei=ca_YXIT3IIjZvgSZwo3gCA&q=Cuxhaven+trains+to+Bremen-Lesum&oq=Cuxhaven+trains+to+Bremen-Lesum&gs_l=psy-ab.12..33i160l3.39941.65867..70461…5.0..0.285.3445.0j17j2……0….1..gws-wiz…….0i22i30j33i22i29i30.I7vsqOa73AM

The Strathaird took five weeks to reach Port Melbourne. It was the most terrific cruise we had on that ocean liner! We were treated like first class passengers. We could not believe how lucky we were.

Here we are on the SS Strathaird on the way to Australia in May 1959. Gabriele is 21 months and Monika is a bit over five months.

DSCN5397 — Our daughters did bring some cake along for Mothers Day

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*The Hamburg America Line built a large ocean liner terminal at Cuxhaven in 1900. Connected directly to Hamburg by a dedicated railway line and station, it served as the major departure point for German and European emigrants until 1969 when ocean liner travel ceased.

Mothers’ Day 2019 in Australia

We expect a lot of family visit this afternoon for coffee and cake. It is Mothers’ Day. So Peter bought this morning these flowers from Aldi. There’ll probably be close to half a dozen mothers with us this afternoon. Peter had the idea to give each of these mothers one of the red roses.

John Lord: . . .The issue though is will the right win, will they be emboldened to move further right to satisfy the interests of the establishment, corporates and rich individuals . . .

John Lord writes in the AIM (Australian Independent Media) Network:

“By this time next week, only those who haven’t voted pre-poll will be left to cast their vote in this most important election. All the policies, or lack of them, will have resonated with the electorate in varying degrees. Some will vote in a state of confusion but most with certainty. The young have become engaged and hopefully, they might return our democracy to some form of respectability and transparency. The issue though is will the right win, will they be emboldened to move further right to satisfy the interests of the establishment, corporates and rich individuals. Or on the other hand, will the electorate be prepared to give Labor’s policies of change a chance?”

So the question is, will the electorate give Labor’s policies of change a chance?

I reckon we know the mind of some in the electorate who can’t wait for the results of the election hoping that Labor is going to get a go. I mean there are some people who definitely want to see Labor in government. Are these very determined people more than 30%? Maybe. On the other hand, there are probably quite a lot of people that are still a bit undecided which party they would like to see in government. One thing is for sure, to satisfy the interests of the establishment, corporates and rich individuals you have to be on centre/ right and vote for the Coalition, that is Liberal/National.

So the people that are still undecided, will they be going to the right or to the left? This is the question. These undecided voters, who in the end are not going to vote for the Coalition, have to be very brave to vote against the interests of ‘the establishment, corporates and rich individuals’.

Are the majority of these undecided voters brave enough to vote against these interests? We’ll see . . . .

You’ll find what John Lord says here:

John Lord’s Election Diary No13: Shorten has dared to go where other Labor leaders have not

1st of May 2019 in Australia

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We were lucky the cafe was open today, Wednesday, the first of May. We had some good breakfast there and ‘bowls’ of excellent coffee. Then we drove a bit around the backroads of this small town called Berry. Our first stop was here:

DSCN5342 — There were still a lot of wreaths and flowers from Anzac Day.

From Wikipedia:

“Anzac Day (/ˈænzæk/) is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders “who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations” and “the contribution and suffering of all those who have served”.^[1]^[2] Observed on 25 April each year, Anzac Day was originally devised to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who served in the Gallipoli Campaign, their first engagement in the First World War (1914–1918).”

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Berry Station is just down this road!

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Our next stop was the Berry Swimming Pool that was closed for the winter months from April to November.

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Berry

We passed this retirement village. We thought it looked quite interesting.

We took a few more street pictures in Berry and then drove on through Kangaroo Valley to the small town by that name.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_Valley,_New_South_Wales

Here is some Wikipedia information about this town :

“As of 2013, the small town has a variety of arts and craft shops, restaurants and cafes, a hotel, club, post office, supermarket and other businesses, including an ambulance station, general practitioner and a chemist.

Kangaroo Valley has a bus service to Nowra and Moss Vale. Priors Scenic Express also provides a long-distance coach service to Bowral, Mittagong, and Sydney as well as to the Shoalhaven and South Coast, as far as Narooma.”

We stopped at a very nice cafe in the main street.

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Oh yes, we had not great difficulty pretending it was 1995!!

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On the way home we stopped at the Robertson Pie Shop for a cup of refreshing tea and some delicious fruit pie.

Here is a link to a post Peter (Berlioz) wrote seven years ago:

https://berlioz1935.wordpress.com/2012/05/03/the-old-and-the-new-australia/

Among other things you find the following in Peter’s post:

“The other day, on the First of May actually, we were enticed by the beautiful sunshine to drive into the country site. Not far from where we live, about 70 km is Kangaroo Valley. On the way there and back we passed through Berry, a town on the Princes Highway. It is “old charm” town where on weekends well to do people from Sydney come to visit and do some shopping for things that do not come from China, like craft work etc. . . .”

https://www.warmemorialsregister.nsw.gov.au/content/berry-war-memorial

This is mentioned about the war memorial:

“When the Cenotaph was unveiled in 1921, a tree was planted for each of the dead along Alexandra Street, at the base of each of these trees a bronze plaque was set recalling the soldier to whom the tree was originally dedicated. . . .”

Peter also did mention in his post from 2012 the Cenotaph in Berry that we visited again today:

“We drove a bit further and suddenly saw the town’s Cenotaph erected for the fallen of the two World Wars. The floral tributes from the recent ANZAC Day were still to be seen. I realised then, that perhaps Berry represents, in equal parts, the modern and the old Australia, and the fallen soldiers are the connecting element of this duality. Without knowing it they gave their lives for just the Australia we have become. Migrants of the countries that were fighting in the Great War of 1914/18 are now here. . . .”

In my post from seven years ago I mentioned the Berry Sourdough Cafe in Prince Alfred Street:

” . . . 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.” So today, seven years later but also on the first of May, we did actually have breakfast at the cafe in Prince Alfred Street.

https://www.google.com/search?q=berry+sourdough+cafe&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjf_87u7fnhAhWaV30KHeXJCOMQsAR6BAgGEAE&biw=1229&bih=603

The above link is to a real lot of fantastic images to what is available at the Berry Sourdough Cafe!!

“QUALITY FIRST: Artisan baker Jelle Hilkemeijer of Berry Sourdough Cafe says small bakeries enjoy strong loyalty from customers.”

https://www.southcoastregister.com.au/story/2604353/small-bakers-focus-on-quality/?cs=4158

And now here is the link to another post Peter wrote seven years ago about our outing on the first of May:

https://berlioz1935.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/1-may-2012/

This blog he started with these words:

“Early in the morning we heard a song about the Hampden Bridge and we thought why not go there today? It seems to be the right thing to do. First of May is not a holiday in Australia. But what the heck, our life is a constant holiday and we can go to the Kangaroo Valley, that is where the bridge is, any time we want. So off we went. The Illawarra is a beautiful part of NSW and we are proud to live here. . . . ”

Today we passed Hampden Bridge again, but did not stop there but drove on to the village of Kangaroo Valley.

A Copy of a Blog of mine from September 2014

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:

https://auntyuta.com/2019/04/21/easter-sunday-2019/

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

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! 🙂

A Copy of a Blog I published in May 2012

I wrote to Berlioz (Peter) in May 2012:

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:

https://berlioz1935.wordpress.com/2012/05/03/the-old-and-the-new-australia/#comment-3299

https://berlioz1935.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/1-may-2012/

And here is the link to my post from May 2012:

What does God want me to do?

I copy my post from sevrn years ago here:

What does God want me to do?

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:

https://berlioz1935.wordpress.com/2012/05/03/the-old-and-the-new-australia/

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.

DIGITAL CAMERA — 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

Tagged: Autumn, Autumn Leaves, Berry, choir, Hampden Bridge, Mass, Priesthood

20 thoughts on “What does God want me to do?”

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. 😉

Thanks for that, Eliz.

Seeing the Great-Grandsons on Thursday before Easter Sunday (2019)

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.

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Saturday, 20th of April 2019

Today we had a lovely lunch at Ruby’s Cafe, overlooking Bulli Beach, right next to a caravan park.

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Restaurant_Review-g255333-d4845634-Reviews-Ruby_s_Cafe_On_Bulli_Beach-Wollongong_New_South_Wales.html

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!

DSCN5296