Lunch Break at Wodonga

https://www.valentinessourdough.com.au/our-story

“The Valentine’s artisan sourdough bakery and coffee shop operates out of three locations – Rutherglen, Albury and Wodonga.”

After having left Benalla, Peter and I had a lunch break at Wodonga. We went to the Valentine’s coffee shop in Wodonga. The bread was very much to our liking. There were a variety of fresh healthy options to go with the bread. And the coffee was very good too.

On our way back home to Dapto we were staying overnight in Gundagai. Peter’s driving in our ancient Audi went very well. He loves driving the Audi long distances. The Hume Motorway is not a bad road to drive on.

This is a copy from this post:

https://auntyuta.com/2018/11/29/the-story-of-valentines-bakehouse/

Visiting the Tatong Art Show as well as the Mansfield Zoo

(Visiting Benalla in November 2018 continued)

Tatong Art Show

We went to this Art Show on Sunday the 11th of November. This Art Show a bit further away from Benalla was part of the Benalla Festival. There were some good pictures by local artists exhibited.
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The following pictures were taken at the Mansfield Zoo where we went on Monday, the 12th of November. Peter took these pictures during our visit to Mansfield Zoo. Mansfield is not very far from Benalla.

AT THE MANSFIELD ZOO

This is our son Martin with a bucket full of feed for the animals.

https://www.mansfieldmtbuller.com.au/listing/mansfield-zoo-mansfield/

When the grounds are wet you can take your pick of gum boots as you enter the Zoo.

On a hot day you can cool off in this very cool room:

How about a cool beer?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansfield,_Victoria

We stopped here on the way to Mansfield:

Driving to Benalla (continued)

The next day, on Saturday, the 10th of November, we continued driving to Benalla.

We thought this Mundoonan Rest Area was an excellent site for stopping so Peter could have a bit of a rest from driving.

We arrived in Benalla soon after 12 o’clock. Our son Martin was expecting us and happy to see us.

At 2pm we went with Martin to watch the Benalla Festival Street Parade.

In the evening of that day we very much enjoyed watching the Benalla Festival Fireworks.

This is more or less just a copy of some posts I published last November:

https://auntielive.wordpress.com/2018/11/15/driving-to-benalla/

https://auntielive.wordpress.com/2018/11/15/visiting-benalla-in-november-2018/

On the Way to Gundagai

https://auntielive.wordpress.com/tag/family-visit-in-benalla/

We stayed at Gundagai overnight on our way to Benalla.

We left Dapto early in the morning on Friday, the 9th of November 2018. At Moss Vale we stopped for breakfast at our favourite cafe where we always like to stop for breakfast. This time we ventured to a table in a snug little room. We could make ourselves comfortable while waiting for the ordered cooked breakfast to arrive.

After breakfast it didn’t take us long to reach the Hume Highway where Peter could drive the Audi at a very good speed of nearly always a comfortable 110 km.

By 12 o’clock we were already in Gundagai where we had booked to stay overnight.

We went for lunch at this very old bakehouse:

We had tea and pies at an outside table.

The motel where we were staying is called GUNDAGAI MOTEL. (We stayed there again on Tuesday, the 13th, on our way back home!)

http://gundagaimotel.com.au/

https://www.booking.com/hotel/au/gundagai-motel.html#availability

Six facts that tell a different immigration story than we hear from politicians

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-21/australian-immigration-what-do-the-numbers-tell-us/10919970

This is a fairly long article with very interesting data. I copy here only one small part, but to be more up to date with Australian migration programs please go to the above link! So this is what it says towards the end of the article:

We’ve seen more refugees — and the sky didn’t fall in

“One big change in recent Australian immigration policy — receiving little fanfare from the Prime Minister — was the increase in the annual humanitarian (refugee) intake from 13,750 to more than 18,000.

In addition, then PM Tony Abbott in 2015 announced an additional one-off intake of 12,000 refugees from the Syrian conflict. Most of these arrived in 2017 and were Christians from Syria and Iraq.

This meant an effective doubling of refugee intake in 2017. The sky didn’t fall in. While the service providers to newly arrived refugees were stretched, they coped well.”

Diary

A few weeks ago we bought a couple of dragon fruits. We had no idea what they would taste like or how healthy they are. Finally, I looked it up here:

https://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/7-dragon-fruit-benefits-the-antioxidant-vitamin-powerhouse-1247454

Looking at this article I am amazed that this fruit has that many benefits as for instance for the heart. It says: ” Because dragon fruits are loaded with fiber and antioxidants, they both contribute to keeping the heart healthy and young. They fight against plaque clogging up in the arteries, maintaining the blood circulation in the body.”

After reading this, I am determined now to buy more of this amazing fruit and use them for instance in salads and with yoghurt.

The other day I published a picture of some verses. And here now is another picture of some verses I saw recently when we were visiting the Nan Tien Temple:

DSCN5113

What do I learn from these verses? Being very elderly, for sure certain things are often not easy to accomplish. Whatever I do, it tires me quickly. Walking is one of these things. I know that this is so. None the less I face this difficulty again and again. Soon I’ll by leaving for a little morning walk.

When the body feels a bit painful, a bit of stretching before walking eases the pain. And stopping during walking a few times and do some stretching helps a lot too, especially with breathing. This I have learned. So I do not mind stopping a few times, meaning, I face up to it.

My plan is to walk for a bit every morning and as often as possible during the day. I enjoy it a lot. I love being outside in the open. Also, to walk among trees is most enjoyable! There are lots of trees where I walk along in the morning.

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On the 31st of December 2017 I wrote this:

“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.”

You can see this windmill in my post here:

Our last Day in 2017

This colourful windmill we set up on our dining room table for our New Year’s Eve celebrations.

This windmill is set up somewhere outside now. When there’s some wind, it does turn round and round. The colours still look quite fresh!

The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

61 Inspiring Quotes from Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela’s Top 10 Rules For Success

Diary

DSCN5114

I took a photo of the above verses recently when visiting the Nan Tien Temple:

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

What I feel about family: I like to feel close to family. I am most happy when I feel that my family wants to be close to me. That goes for my immediate family, but also for very distant family. Whenever people in other countries make me feel that I’d like to get to know them personally, they are like my family. I feel that all over the world there are people who could be my family.

Now my thoughts on being busy: I am 84. Has my life been busy? Yes and no. Some people would probably say of me that I am a bit lazy. I feel I often have not been as busy as some other people. Well, I try not to be too lazy. At times I love it to be very busy. At other times I just want to spend time as though I am on holidays!

It says that hard work keeps away poverty. This may be true if your hard work is not being exploited. I have been lucky all my life that I never had to work extremely hard to live a fairly good life. Even in times of severe scarcity after World War II the work I was required to do as a child I would not call hard work. I think it is good to be able to work in an efficient manner and to be able to enjoy working. Whether the work keeps away poverty, well, this depends . . . .

“Toleration keeps away violence.” Well, I love people to be tolerant towards each other. Without tolerance we cannot have a peaceful world. If people hate another religion for instance, we have to try to convince them that people of other religions have as much right to a good life as people who live a different religious life or a non religious life. Love is essential. I believe it can overcome all hate.