Category: Memories

Friday, 8th January 2021: A Bit about how I feel today

Peter died on Saturday, the 12th of December 2020. The funeral was on Saturday, the 19th of December.

In my blog from 27th of December it says what I did on Sunday, the 13th and Sunday, the 20th of December. And that on Sunday, the 27th, I was happy, that I could stay at home after having neglected to ring Erica to ask her whether she could give me a lift to church. Now, nearly two weeks later, I feel, I am still not ready for regular attendance at Mass. Believe it or not, I am still happy to just stay at home!

On Fridays is games afternoon at one of my friends’ places. I know, this afternoon these  games are going to be played at Irene’s place that is a few doors away from where I live. The games last for about three hours with a tea/coffee break in between. Last Friday the games were at Barbara’s place, that is also very close to my place. Because the games are being played indoors, I felt I needed to wear a mask. Barbara knew, that I wanted to come to her place on that afternoon. But I had rushed too much again and was a bit late. The others were waiting for me already: Erica, Irene, and Barbara. They pointed out to me, that they thought, it was not necessary to wear a mask. But I decided to keep my mask on, which was rather difficult for I felt too hot after having rushed so much to get ready on time!

Anyhow, I told myself, if I would go the following week to Irene’s place, I would make sure,  that I would be ready and relaxed well before two o’clock. So, games at Irene’s place, that is today. Will I be able to make it? Honestly, I do not know yet. I feel, I do need plenty of rest today after having had an exhausting day yesterday. Will I be able to leave everything as is in the house and in the overgrown ‘garden’? Yes, maybe. But at least I have to cook myself a proper meal. Do I need to clean up the kitchen after this? Maybe not. Maybe I can just leave it as it is and concentrate on getting ready. It would be so much easier if I hadn’t have to go out at all. But I love to play the games with my friends!

I slept in this morning. I am still not dressed. I had a bit of a sniffle. Am I coming down with something? Or do I just need a bit of a rest after having done hours of weeding in the backyard yesterday and then having been out for hours with Monika and little Eve —-

There are still so many things to sort out in the house. For sure, I can take it one day at a time. Tomorrow, Saturday, Caroline and Monika are going to be here to clean out a few things. Most things they can sort out without me. So what am I worried about? I thought it would be nice, if I could attempt at least to look after the few things that I want to keep for myself. Anyhow, I hope, tomorrow I am to have a little bit more energy again.

This a copy of my Post from Sunday, the 27th of December 2020:

One day after Peter died was a Sunday. I asked Martin, could he drive me to church. And of course he volunteered to do this. I made it to the early Mass at 7,30 am. I did light a candle for Peter after Mass. Then, Erica came to talk to me. She knew that Peter had died and said, she was sorry. She remarked, she was happy that I came back to church. And she asked me, did I have a lift home? I answered, Martin, my son would pick me up again. It so happened, that Caroline and Matthew had gone out to the shopping centre to get fresh breadrolls and eggs for breakfast. They picked me up from church at exactly the right time on their way back home.

The following week on Sunday Martin drove me once more to the 7,30 am Mass. So, I could light another candle for Peter. On that Sunday I did not see Erica. It was the Suday when Martin went with his dog Millie back to his place in Benalla, Victoria. He left soon after breakfast and arrived home soon after 4pm. The border was closed the following day. Martin was lucky, that he had made it home without having to go into quarantine!

Now, today, is the third Sunday after Peter died. I was supposed to ring Erica and ask her, could she give me a lift to church! But somehow I did not feel like ringing. And I am glad I didn’t! I had such a lovely morning here at home, enjoying beautiful sunshine and doing a bit of gardening. Thinking of lighting a candle for Peter, I am going to do this right now, here at home!

Daughter Caroline and son-in-law Matthew went back to. their place in Marrickville. But they did stay with me for quite a while. I wanted to visit Martin in Benalla. But this is not possible for as long as the border is closed. Daughter Monika lives not far away and can help me out when needed. But for the next week or so she is on a holiday at the NSW Southcoast with her children and grandchildren. In the New Year Caroline and Matthew are going to help me with the settling of a few things. And so it goes . . . . .

auntyuta's avatarAuntyUta

One day after Peter died was a Sunday. I asked Martin, could he drive me to church. And of course he volunteered to do this. I made it to the early Mass at 7,30 am. I did light a candle for Peter after Mass. Then, Erica came to talk to me. She knew that Peter had died and said, she was sorry. She remarked, she was happy that I came back to church. And she asked me, did I have a lift home? I answered, Martin, my son would pick me up again. It so happened, that Caroline and Matthew had gone out to the shopping centre to get fresh breadrolls and eggs for breakfast. They picked me up from church at exactly the right time on their way back home.

The following week on Sunday Martin drove me once more to the 7,30 am Mass. So, I could light…

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Uta’s Diary

Big Loss

Our Dream Home, is this it?

https://auntyuta.com/2011/11/

All the Sundays after Peter died

Today is the4thSunday after Peter died/On th 8th of November, that is just a few weeks ago, when Peter was still alive and able to visit the local doctor (with Olivia’s help that is), yes on the 8th of November I republished one of the posts from November 2011.

Now, I assume that most of my readers would not like to go to the trouble of looking up all these posts. However, for me it was most interesting to read through all of them again. It helps to give some kind of substance to what I do remember about the past nine years or so. These posts show me, that already nine years ago I could not help myself thinking about what would happen when Peter and I would come into our eighties. Well, Peter made it to 85 without any significant changes in our surroundings. I am 86 already. I must admit I am not at all used to organising some trades people to do any necessary repairs. Peter always did this. He always pointed out to me: “You can do it if you like!” But did he really want me to do it? I don’t think so. Whenever he was supposed to show me something, he soon got impatient and took over, doing whatever needed to be done rather himself. I must admit, I am a rather slow learner and always got scared I would not learn fast enough or forget soon again, how to do certain things. This also went very much so with work on the computer too. Whenever something went wrong on the computer he would take over totally, yes, maybe showing me a few things but without making sure that I had understood it properly. And it was very hard for me to ask for repeat instructions. He would just say: “But I showed you already!” and leave it at that.

In a lot of ways I am now totally dependent on the help of my children. I am extremely lucky to have three capable and loving children. But it is difficult for me to accept that I may have to disrupt their lives too much. I would like to have a certain type of independence where I feel that I am still capable of making my own decisions in every way and where I have not to told by anyone how to live my life!

One of my concerns at the moment is the ever increasing need for an overhaul of my backyard. When I look at that post from 22nd of August 2016 about the loss of three of our big trees, I am astounded how this backyard has changed again over the last four years or so!

Memories

Last Day of the Year 2012

auntyutaDiary, Life in Australia, Memories 

I did a bit of copying from my post from January 2013:

https://auntyuta.com/2013/01/22/2464/

I  want to document what Peter and I did on the last day of 2012! Our day 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 of the station, one that we weren’t familiar with yet. A beautiful large rest asrea 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 and went to the Queen Victoria Building where we had a beautiful lunch.   

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. All were wishing us a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Q
Q
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Inside Queen Victoria Building
Inside Queen Victoria Building
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Sorry,

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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My first Pictures in 2014:

https://auntyuta.com/2014/01/01/my-first-pictures-in-2014/

There are quite a few pictures in that post from the 1st of January 2014. And this is what I wrote:

At about half past eight in the morning of today’s New Year’s Day we drove down to Lake ILLAWARRA at Kanahooka and went there
for a leisurely walk. It was a fairly warm and calm morning, meaning there was no breeze.  However,  the sky was quite overcast.  And the cicadas were very, very noisy! Lots of walkers and runners greeted  us on our walk. They all had had the same idea we had that it would be good to start the New Year with an early morning outing.

Peter reminded me that we should be back home before 10 o’clock to watch the live special German News of the Deutsche Welle. 10 o’clock our time was midnight over in Berlin where Fireworks Celebration at the Brandenburg Gate were to be shown. We made it in time for the big show. Ten hours earlier of course we had been watching on TV the huge Sydney Fireworks. At that time we had welcomed the New Year with some sparkling wine. Between the two of us we had half a bottle of that sparkly. That meant we had half a bottle left. It was not difficult to empty that left over half bottle at 10 o’clock in the morning! Peter’s sister Ilse, who lives in Berlin, soon did welcome the New Year by doing some skyping with us. Isn’t the technique marvellous for occasions like this? 

🙂

Handel’s MESSIAH

auntyutaDiary  December 4, 2011 1 Minute

Yesterday,  Handel’s MESSIAH was performed in the Wollongong Town Hall.  We went there with Caroline and Matthew. The Soprano was Siobhan Patrick, Caroline’s friend, who has been performing professionally for 20 years.

Peter is not religious. But he loves music like this. The text to the music is taken from the bible. It starts with:

THE PEOPLE OF GOD AWAIT THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH, THE REDEEMER IS BORN, CHRIST BEGINS HIS MINISTRY

In Part 2 comes:

CHRIST SUFFERS FOR HIS PEOPLE

I felt weepy when they sang:

He was despised (Alto) . . . .

All that see him laugh him to scorn (Tenor)

Later on:

THE GOSPEL IS PREACHED,  DISCORD ENSUES,  BUT THE LORD GOD REIGNS OVER ALL

The Soprano sang in a very lovely voice: How beautiful are the feet of those . . . .

Then the Bass: Why do the nations so furiously rage together?

And after that the Hallelujah Chorus

Part 3  . . . . THE FAITHFUL SING PRAISE TO THE REDEEMER

I know that my redeemer liveth – Soprano

Since by man came death – Chorus

Behold, I tell you a mystery – Bass

The trumpet shall sound – Bass

Then shall be brought to pass – Alto

O death, where is thy sting? – Alto and Tenor

If God be for us – Soprano

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Amen – Chorus

It was a truely memorable performance!

Peter’s Passing

Our sad news is, that Peter died last Saturday, namely on the 12/12/2020. He is to be cremated on Monday, 21st of December, which is our 64th wedding anniversary!

On Saturday, 19th of December, we’re going to have a Funeral Service. In due time I may perhaps be able to publish a video from that Funeral Service. –

Peter’s cancer of the bone progressed rather quickly. He received right to the end good medical care at home surrounded by loved ones.

The 4th and 5th of December were the last days when Peter could still participate a bit in our lives and so was then enjoying a few things that he was still able to do. But then he got very much worse from day to day. For a while we thought he might still last up to Christmas. But eventually we realised he would not be able to make this.

We are all very sad about his passing. 😦

Uta, Family and Friends

Our Dream Home, is this it?

The following I published exactly nine years ago! We still live in this home that we moved into in 1994. It is 2020 now. So, more than nine years ago we were already contemplating a move to somewhere else. Here is what I published in 2011, November 08:

https://auntyuta.com/2011/11/08/our-dream-home/

When we saw the ad in the brochure, we thought immediately, that this could be our dream home. It was rather low priced. It was close to Goulburn Railway Station. It was also near a shopping centre with an ALDI store close by. What more could we want?

This could be our Dream Home! It was as simple as selling 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, it 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 to Sydney still costs 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 those occasions, when we lived in Goulburn.

So we were all set to make the move to Goulburn, when it suddenly dawned on us, that  the new place would need some renovations first. Renovations? At our age? Much too difficult! 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.

POSTSCRIPT

I wrote the above exactly three years ago. In the meantime we’ve become more and more aware that our present home does need renovating. Somehow we just keep putting it off. In another three years we are going to be in our eighties. Maybe if we just put our time and energy into this home we are in now, we can keep living here even in our eighties. If we don’t come up with some major health issues, then maybe we do not need to go to a Retirement Village, even though living in a Retirement Village at an advanced age would make living a lot more comfortable for us.

In our area to buy a place in a Retirement Village costs about twice as much as what we’d be able to pay if we sold our present home, which just isn’t worth that much on the market. So a Retirement place in our area is out of the question.

Then about a year ago we came up with a new idea. That is, we found out that in a place about half way between Sydney and Melbourne we could buy a Retirement place for less than half the price which it would cost here in our coastal area. This place would be further away from Sydney than Goulburn but it would be closer to Melbourne where our son lives. And this place has a railway station, the same as Goulburn! But of course the trips would cost a bit more than two Dollars and fifty cents.

It would be good, if one way or another we could make up our minds about were we want to spend the last years of our lives. It looks to me, we’ll probably leave everything the way it is. For the time being anyway. Maybe we already live in our Dream Home!  When we moved in here, the place was brand new and just perfect for us. We’ve been very happy here for the last seventeen years.

TaggedAlbury /WodongaAustraliaHealth aspectsLife in AustraliaOld AgeRailway StationsRenovationsshopping centresSydney

  1. Hello, Auntie Uta. How are you? As they always say, “Home is where the heart is.” So true in your situation. As we all get older, familiar surroundings become more and more important. Your home might need some work here and there but I’m sure it’s filled with memories—every inch of space inside and around it. How can one begin to part with such a place? I’m with you there.
    Now that we’re empty-nesters and our daughter has decided to live in the city, our house seemed too big for us. We thought about moving. We thought about “down-sizing.” We searched for an alternative place to call our own. In the end, we chose to stay. We enjoy our home and our yard. We still like our neighborhood. We like the place where we buy meat, produce, and any comforts. We like going to the farmer’s market once a week. Or even eat at the burgeoning restaurant selection in our little downtown.
    And so stay we shall!Reply
  2. auntyutaEditHi MOL!I agree with you: Home is where the heart is. As always you make me open my eyes to a lot of things. Your comments are very stimulating. Thank you so much for stopping by!In our case it’s probably time to give away a few things which we collected over the years. We accumulated too much stuff, that’s very obvious. Don’t they say: Less is more?In September 1964 when I had just turned thirty, we moved into our first home. It was a very small cottage, newly built on our block of land. We felt we were in heaven! It was a fantastic experience for us to move into our own brand new home. We stayed in this place for the best part of thirty years. On my sixtieth birthday we moved into our present home. It is a bit larger than our first home was. We love it very much. You’re right: ‘How can one begin to part with such a place?’Now, I ask myself, how on earth can we achieve to live in a less cluttered place? When our youngest daughter has a bit of spare time, she sometimes sets herself the task to unclutter a few cupboards for us. Actually she started on that a few times. Would you believe, it never takes very long for some more clutter to take up all the empty spaces! For instance, we keep most of our old video-tapes, including an old video-player. All this takes up unnecessary room. Why is it so hard to throw the old stuff out? Most of the videos we haven’t watched for ages. Are we ever going to watch them again? Probably not. So why do we keep them?Reply
  3. MuniraEditMay you be followed by good health, wherever you decide to go Reply
    1. auntyutaEditThanks, MuniraReply
  4. Kate KresseEditWe are going through some of the same decision processes…trying to decide whether to get a much smaller house to try to save $$. trying to downsize possessions. also trying to help my mom do the same thing when i go visit her. i can part with things a bit easier than she can. but oh my i find it almost impossible to get rid of books! I use a lot of different books with my tutoring—i have an entire shelf full of math textbooks so that I can show my students various examples and provide them with a lot of quiz and test questions. May you and your husband keep your health so that you can enjoy wherever you live.Reply
    1. auntyutaEditSome of our books are over fifty years old. How often have we said: From now on we’re not going to buy any new books! When we pass a bookshop and there’s a good sale on, we can’t help ourselves, we have to have a look. More likely than not we end up buying some more books. On top of it we have already a collection of E-Books. I find E-Books are a good read on our frequent train-travels to Sydney. Thank you for commenting, dear Kate. Best wishes for you and your family too.Reply
      1. Kate KresseEditAuntyuta—I know what you mean about those book sales!. We have an amazing used book bookstore one town over….about 15 miles from here….oh my son and I could spend an entire day there! And our public library has a little shop set up right off the lobby where they sell books that are excess to them. Those prices are good to begin with and a couple times a year they have big markdowns….and of course there are the Goodwill stores that have books…..sigh. I can’t help it i just love books!!! I have a kindle that has some books on it too….love to you and your hubby today—and the rest of your family too 
  5. auntyutaEditThanks. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Uta’s Diary November 2020

https://auntyuta.com/2013/08/22/recollections/

Just now, Joe Carli from ‘freefall’ gave the above post of mine a ‘like’. I read it again and noticed that I already reblogged it on February 25, 2020 and wrote: “This post from 22 August,2013, was something I just want to have a look at again. I very much like to read some of these old blogs!”

Again I now went back to the post from 22 August, 2013. I did read the whole post again as well as all the comments to it. I very much liked doing this. All these pictures to the post I find interesting too and I want to copy them here now:

(Well, this is just a bit about the lives of Gaby and David.)

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Peter and David in an outside area of the Nursing Home
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David was allowed to have his lunch outside. But he hardly touched it.
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David gave me this Mother’s Day gift on the day Peter and I visited him. He said he had bought raffle tickets to win this to give it to me. I was very touched by this.

Uta’s Diary from 31st of October 2016

auntyutaDiary, Life in Australia, Old Age  October 31, 2016 2 Minutes

By seven o’clock this morning I was outside in our backyard to take some pictures.

This is on the North side of our house.
This area on the North side  of  our house is well shaded by large trees.
Some Lavender on the South side ready to be planted.
Some Lavender on the South side ready to be planted.
I am happy that some new yellow flowers appeared on the South side of our house.
I am happy that some new yellow flowers appeared on the West side of our house.

The East side of our house is Body Corporate area, whereas the three other sides belong to our private area and are fenced in. Yesterday we had our family visiting. The two great-grandsons wanted me to take them to the backyard. They enjoy running around in there from one side of the house, to another one and another one and then back again. Four year old Lucas runs as quickly as he can, and two year old Alexander has fun following his big brother. It gives me great joy to see them running like this.

Caroline and Matthew were staying with us, and we had apart from Lucas and Alexander also four additional adults visiting us for afternoon coffee. Actually,  our daughter Caroline had spent the whole  weekend with us. Sunday  night she had to  fly back to Darwin. Mathew drove Caroline to  the Airport in Sydney. We went along with them to farewell Caroline.By 9.30 pm we were back home again.

Caroline had purchased for  us 15 small lavender plants and did clear the area that was to be planted. While Caroline was busy in the garden, Peter and I took off for a visit to the Temple. Caroline and Matthew  had advised us to do this. We gladly followed this advice!

https://auntyuta.com/2016/10/30/visiting-nan-tien-temple/

This  morning, while I did some washing, Peter took to planting the  whole lot along the fence on the South side. He used diluted fertilizer from our worm farm for the plants and then covered them with mulch. It turned out to be beautiful sunny, but early in the morning there was a very cool breeze which  I did not like at all!

By the way, today is the wedding anniversary of Ryan and Ebony who are the parents of Lucas and Alexander.

https://auntyuta.com/2015/11/02/getting-married/#comments

https://auntyuta.com/2015/11/03/the-wedding-reception/

This Camelia kind of survived the slaughter of our trees and is just starting to get some leaves again.
This Camelia kind of survived the slaughter of our trees and is just starting to get some leaves again.
Attempting to establish a bit of a veg garden on the West side;

Attempting to establish a bit of a veg garden on the West side;
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And following are some random pictures near the house on the West side:

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Now a few pictures from yesterday (Sunday):

Alexander and Lucas are keeping themselves busy;
Alexander and Lucas are keeping themselves busy;
They loved this cake that Granddad Peter baked.
They loved this cake that Great-Granddad Peter had baked.
We had whipped cream with the cake.
We had whipped cream with the cake.
Here Lucas is having a rest with his Grandma Monika after having been running around for a while.
Here Lucas is having a rest with his Grandma Monika after having been running around for a while.

Related

Sunday Brunch in our Backyard, 15th of October 2017In “Diary”

Uta’s Diary, Easter 2016In “Diary”

EASTERIn “Diary”

Edit”Last Day in October 2016″

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10 thoughts on “Last Day in October 2016”

  1. DinaEditYou are an early riser, Uta! 🙂
    Lovely impressions from garden and weekend. Juicy Marmorkuchen is my alltime favourite. ❤Reply
    1. auntyutaEditI usually rise at about 6 o’clock, Dina. I love to rise early. 🙂Yes, this Marmorkuchen turned out well. Peter often volunteers to bake something. He has quite a bit of experience with baking.In the meantime I edited this post a bit. I did add a few more things about last weekend. Actually, I was extremely tired when we came home from the airport last night and went straight to bed.Thanks for commenting, Dina. Hope you and Co had a good weekend too. Cheers, UtaReply
  2. catterelEditLovely! That looks a very authentic Marmorkuchen – do you have real German cake moulds, or can you get the tradition ones in Australia?Reply
    1. auntyutaEditActually, Cat, we’ve had this cake mould (Kuchenform) for a long time. I am not sure where we bought it.
      Have a great weekend!Reply
  3. Iñigo BoyEditI love your backyard!!!Reply
    1. auntyutaEditThanks, Inigo.Reply
  4. Robert M. WeissEditGardens can be great fun; sources of relaxation and joy.Reply
    1. auntyutaEditYes, Robert, this is exactly how we feel about it, even though we’re not expert gardeners and too often tend to neglect to work in the garden. But it gives us great joy when finally we have achieved some improvement by just putting a little bit of work into it. 🙂Reply
  5. aussieian2011EditA beautiful homely post Uta, and a truly delightful garden, unfortunately Lavender never seems to grow for us, mainly because we can only have them in pots here, their aroma is beautiful, reminds me of my time visiting the Lavender farms in Tasmania.
    Peter is a great Cake master I think.
    Cheers.Reply
    1. auntyutaEditWe hope in time their scent is going to dazzle us, Ian.
      Peter loves baking cake. He hasn’t lost his touch yet!
      Wishing you and Ana a great weekend.
      Cheers, Uta 🙂