My Diary

To be writing regularly, oh, I find it is not so easy to get around to it at all times. I always intend to write, write, write. I seem to have lots of things to write about in my head but somehow before I have a chance to write it down, it is gone again. Maybe I should at least take some notes, that is, get into the habit to write some notes down. Maybe, what is a bit of a diary to me, is, when I take some pictures of persons and places. Looking at the pictures, it is easier to remember some of the things in my life.

Recently we have been visiting Benalla in Victoria. Unfortunately, because of bad eyesight, I cannot drive anymore. So Peter had to drive to Benalla and back all by himself. We were driving to Benalla to visit our son Martin and to see his new place. Door to door it was about 600 km only, whereas when the son lived in Melbourne (Essendon) the distance was about 800 km.

Since we are in the midst of winter now here in Australia, daylight hours are only about for ten hours, namely from ca. 7 am to 5 pm. Well, Peter had no problem driving the distance within daylight hours. However, I suggested that on the way back we could stay in a motel in Holbrook for one night to interrupt the journey, and that would give us the chance to look around a bit and familiarize us again with some things in the area. But oh no, Peter insisted on driving straight home. I like to call it ‘homeritis’!

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On our last day in Benalla, a Saturday, all of us went for lunch to the Art Gallery Cafe. We were very happy that our Grandson and his wife and two daughters could meet us there.

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DSCN2952 — Here grandson Tristan arrives with his family to meet all of us.

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DSCN2949 — Son Martin having a rest in the park.

On the terrace outside the cafe.

Martin took a picture of his parents.

Son Martin took these pictures of Peter and me on the terrace of the Cafe.

It was a bit too cold to sit out there. It was better to have lunch inside.

Here is some of the food that we had.

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After lunch we had a look at some of the pictures in the Art Gallery.

It was lovely to see great-granddaughters Kia and Jaki again as well as Tris and Steph. And now I include some more pictures from another park nearby that we took on another day.

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Uta’s May 2017 Diary

1000 METRES

The Dapto solar heated swimming pool, that is the large pool in the Dapto swimming complex, has the Olympic length of 50 metres. Peter and Astrid had arrived in Australia on the second of April. On their last Sunday here in Dapto, which was the 30th of April, they went with me to Dapto’s open air swimming Centre. We were walking. It was a quick and easy walk. The last day of April had turned out to be a balmy, sunny day. Just beautiful.

Peter and Astrid both had carried their flippers along to the pool. It did not take them long to dip into the water with them. They had plenty of room in the pool, for there were only about half a dozen people in the pool. Each person had their own lane to swim in. Peter and Astrid thought that this was extraordinary. They could not imagine that something like this could have happened in Germany where they live.

Astrid did not stay in the pool for as long as Peter. But she enjoyed her swim very much. And Peter? Well, he actually went for ten times up and down the pool. He was very proud that he made it. He said, the flippers helped a lot to achieve his goal. After his 1000 metre swim he came out to have a rest in the sun. The pool area is surrounded by beautiful lawns.

Peter, Astrid, and I were stretching out on one of these beautifully kept lawns in full sun for about one hour. All of us were in high spirits on such a great day as this. We started talking, and talking, and talking. We had immensely pleasant conversations during this one hour.

After his long rest, Peter felt like going back into the water for a bit more swimming while Astrid went already into the change rooms. I had stayed outside in the sun the whole time. The wound on my arm where some cancerous growth had been taken out, was not totally healed yet. This was why I had chosen not to go into the water. None the less I did a have a very enjoyable morning and was happy to be outside on another warm day.

Before we left to walk back home we each had a cup of coffee which the friendly guy at the entrance made for us. Peter, who is able to make himself a bit understood in English, talked to this friendly Australian guy for a little bit. The Australian wanted to know, where they were from. And Peter told him that I was his sister having lived in Australia for a long time, and that he and his wife lived a bit north from Berlin and had to fly back on Monday, that is the next day, late afternoon. He said he enjoyed the swim so much that he would like to go for another swim the following day before they had to leave to go to the airport.

One Month ago

We visited our grandson with his family on our way back home from Melbourne. The above layout pictures are from our visit at the farmhouse where Tristan and family live now.

These are Kia and Jaki, our great granddaughters.

Son Martin and grandson Tristan with his wife Stephanie

The following are some pictures from our anniversary celebrations on Christmas Eve:

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Puzzles

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This Berlin puzzle we have had for many, many years. We have had it for so long, that our middle aged children can remember it from their childhood! Amazingly it is still intact, didn’t get thrown out yet with all the other things. Martin occupied himself doing it one night before last Christmas when he stayed at our place.

After the Christmas of 2016, Peter and I stayed at Martin’s place in Melbourne. It did rain a lot. So we asked Martin, could he show us one of his puzzles. We ended up doing a world puzzle, and I think we took a picture of it after the puzzle was finished, but tight now I cannot find this picture. But I found a picture of another of Martin’s puzzles that we did all together on New Year’s Eve:

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This Australia puzzle looked quite easy to do, but I thought it was actually not all that easy.

Back home in January I wanted to try out a new puzzle that we bought. It had a lot of water and sky in it. So I expected it to be very, very difficult. The picture of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House in the middle of the puzzle, for sure I could manage to do this, couldn’t I? Well, I was wrong. It took me a long, long time just to do this little bit. I did not want to leave it on our dining table for days on end. So I packed it away again. Is there anyone who would like to do it for me? I did not throw it out yet. I only packed it away, sorted out in different little bags. Anyone is welcome to have a go at it!

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P.S. I asked Peter about the picture of that other puzzle. And surprise, surprise, he found it in the cloud! So he copied it for me to use it. It took him a while to work out how he could get it out of the cloud!

15800032_1567776623251676_7614894314032333827_o — Here is the picture of the other puzzle that we did with Martin.

Uta’s Diary, January 2017

Towards the end of last month Caroline and Matthew moved back to Sydney. Since they both work in Sydney, they save a lot in travelling time by living in Sydney again. Peter and I do not see them so often anymore and we do miss them! There are visits of course, but visits cannot take place all that often. So naturally we are just by ourselves now most of the time. Still, at least Peter and I still have each other. We cannot help to sometimes think about it, that there might come a time when maybe one of us is going to have to cope without the other. This makes it important to make the best of the time that we still are together and appreciate every day of it.

I was thinking today about what it was like a year ago when Caroline and Matthew had just moved in with us. I thought it would be interesting to look up a few posts that I published ten or twelve months ago. I ended up having a close look at these two posts:

Uta’s Diary two Weeks before Easter 2016

Uta’s Diary, February 2016

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The last month of 2016

dscn2610 — This is part of Wollongong Hospital. I took this picture on Sat. 10th of Dec 2016

dscn2606 — On Friday, 9th Dec, Peter had been admitted to the hospital. We were allowed to accompany him to this Holding Bay before he went to the operating theatre.

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The 9th of Dec was Caroline’s birthday. Since we were not allowed to see Peter for some time, we took the chance to all go out for some lunch in Wollongong, sort of like a birthday lunch for Caroline.

Soon after lunch we went back to the hospital and found out that Peter was doing all right. The procedure had been going as well as expected. (In the meantime we found out that Peter has to undergo the same procedure another time in a few months.)

The following day, Saturday, Caroline and I went to visit Peter in hospital. This was the day when Caroline had some major problems driving our car. With the help of Matthew the car ended up in the repair shop. Monika was still on leave and could help us to pick it up again after it was fixed the following week.

Late on Sunday morning Peter was allowed to go home. I had been waiting with Caroline and Matthew in the ward in his room. We were all very happy, that he was allowed to leave the hospital already on Sunday. Since our car had ended up at the repair shop, it was up to Matthew to drive all of us back home in that very small and very old good Proton. Matthew thought, there was nothing to it. Within a few minutes he had us safely in our home. Peter’s recovery did not take long. The main thing was, that he had to drink lots of water all the time (he still does!) and go to the toilet frequently.

In the meantime we have had our anniversary: We have been married for 60 years now! Someone took a picture of us in 1956 a few months before our wedding. However, we do have no wedding pictures! We thought they would cost a bit too much money.

img_20170106_0001 — Uta and Peter in 1956

We do have a few pictures of our 60th Wedding Anniversary. I am going to publish them in another post.

On the 21st of November our daughter Monika became a grandmother for the third time. Her daughter Roxy delivered in Wollongong Hospital a beautiful boy, named Carter Scott, a son to Roxy and Scott.
He is a cousin to Lucas and Alexander.

Stopping at Goulburn

From Gundagai we travelled on the Hume Highway towards Goulburn.

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We stopped at Belmore Park in Goulburn:

We always love to have a toilet break there when we travel past Goulburn along the Hume Highway. Opposite the park in Montague Street is the Courthouse and the Roses Cafe:

http://www.therosescafe.com.au/about.html

Peter took pictures of the courthouse. Then we went to the Roses Cafe for some tea and fruit salad.

Our next stop was Robertson where we bought some pies at the pie-shop to take home. One hour after that we arrived home in Dapto. It was still early afternoon of Tuesday, the 3rd of January 2017. We had left home for Melbourne on the 27th of December 2016. It was good to be back home. First of all we had to open all the windows in our house and put some ceiling fans on because the air felt rather humid.

We had had a very good time on Monday, the 2nd of January, with our grandson Tristan and his family. And it had been great that we could spend some time with our son Martin, getting to know a bit more about Melbourne again and celebrate the arrival of the New Year in Melbourne. It is summer in Australia. So we had had some pretty hot days in Melbourne, and strangely enough, also quite a bit of rain!

Brief Stop at Benalla, Victoria

Uta’s Diary, January 2017

After we left Melbourne, Benalla was our first stop. We were on the way to a farmstead near Wangaratta to visit our grandson Tristan and his family.

Peter took the following six pictures during a brief stop at Benalla, Victoria.

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From Wikipedia:
“Weary Dunlop Memorial Located within the Botanical Gardens and clearly visible from Bridge Street is the Weary Dunlop Memorial, a powerful statue depicting two Australian doctors (Dunlop being the standing one) helping a wounded and emaciated comrade. Cast in bronze and over 2 metres high it stands on a granite plinth with the words “compassion, integrity, forgiveness, humility, courage, leadership, friendship” engraved on the granite base. It was created by sculptor Louis Lauman to dramatically depict Dunlop’s work helping wounded and dying POWs. The sculpture was unveiled in 1996. Dunlop was both the commanding officer and surgeon for over 1,000 POWs on the Thai-Burma railway. You can read more about him singular life at http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/dunlop/bio/. The statue at Benalla is much better than the one depicted at the Australian War Memorial. There is also an excellent Visitor Guide available at the Visitor Information Centre. – See more at: http://www.aussietowns.com.au/town/benalla-vic#sthash.owRJLzR1.dpuf”

The Ocean Beach Hotel

http://www.oceanbeachhotel.com.au/accommodation.htm

I googled the following add about the Ocean Beach Hotel:

“Who said a room with a magnificent ocean view had to cost a small fortune? At the Ocean Beach Hotel Shellharbour, you can wake up to a beautiful Pacific Ocean sunrise for well under $100 for two people.

All rooms have their own bathroom, fridge, tea & coffee making facilities and a TV. At meal times, you’re only a flight of stairs away from one of the areas finest seafood restaurants.”

Our son had come from Melbourne for a visit. He was staying with us for a couple of nights and then drove on to Newcastle. Our daughter Monika, who is on leave right now, drove us last Wednesday for lunch to the Ocean Beach Hotel. The friendly girl, who had taken our orders, volunteered to take a picture of the four of us.

Weekends in October 2016

Exactly two weeks ago we had our son Martin here. We picked him up from Sydney Airport on Saturday morning. He had been flying in from Melbourne. Today, our daughter Caroline has been flying in from Darwin. We left at 5 o’clock in the morning to pick her up from Sydney Airport. We were back home at 8 o’clock. A bit after 10 o’clock Peter drove Caroline and Matthew to Dapto Train Station. They’re on their way to Sydney now, looking forward to a party to which they’ve been invited.

On the 3rd of October I wrote the following about Martin’s 24 Hour Visit:

Last Saturday Peter and I were at Sydney Airport at 9,30 am to pick up our son Martin who had arrived from Melbourne. Martin stayed overnight at our place. Then, 24 hours later, he was picked up by Monika and Mark for a drive to Sydney. Martin went along with them to go to the Grand Final Football game: Cronulla Sharks versus Melbourne Storms. It turned out to be a very exciting game. Cronulla earned their first Premiership crown in 50 seasons, defeating the Storm 14-12!

Monika’s twin sons, Troy and Ryan, are great fans of the Sharks. Several months ago they had purchased ten tickets for the Gran Final. So Martin, Monika and Mark were in good company with the twins and family and friends. Ryan’s two little boys were included in the party, wearing Cronulla shirts like most of the other supporters. In one of the pictures that they published on Facebook we noticed Martin wearing a Sharks’ cap.

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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2016/oct/02/nrl-grand-final-cronulla-sharks-vs-melbourne-storm-in-pictures

For 24 hours – less sleeping time of course – we had Martin to ourselves. On Saturday Martin watched on television at our place how the Melbourne Bulldogs did beat the Sydney Swans at the AFL Grand Final in Melbourne.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2016/oct/01/afl-grand-final-sydney-swans-vs-western-bulldogs-in-pictures

We had some nice meals together with Martin. Before we went to bed we played a few games of Rummy with him. During the night we went on daylight saving time, that means we lost one hour! But, anyway the sun was up already at about 6 am. It turned out to be a a wonderful day with no wind

After breakfast we drove down to the lake to enjoy the scenery on a wonderful bright day.