December Newsletter 2025

 

I get later and later getting round to writing this annual newsletter - last year it was on the 13th December - today the 20th!! My 'to do' list is getting shorter though...

I notice I started last year's Newsletter with a picture of the blow up rainbow lorikeet in the front garden. It has survived to grace our yard again - but now it overlooks a bit of 'yarn-bombing' I did on the poles across the road.

I continue to spend my time crafting - usually making cards and ATCs and junk journalling. I take part in lots of swaps of these which means our post box is often full of happy mail!

Kevin's hobby is the ukulele - he teaches it to a U3A group once a week and also participates in several 'hum and strum' sessions each week... A lovely picture appeared of him in this little magazine...

In the run up to Christmas he has participated in quite a few carol concerts... he has many 'ukulele outfits'!

And he regularly takes part in open mike sessions - I even got roped in to help with this concert. I was trying to add a video of Kevin playing - but the files are too big.

We celebrated Kevin's 75th Birthday last weekend with a family barbecue - 75 seems an awfully big number - he had to make do with 7.5 candles!

It is now a year since Tom and Clare, and Sophie, moved into their respective new houses and we have been in ours just over 3. These are photos from Tom and Clare's deck at the beginning of the year. Dan and Aiden are sitting on the hanging chairs.

Currently Sophie is very proud of her beans

Kevin has had great success with our veggie patch - at the moment it is full of yellow courgettes amongst other things. But last season we had excellent sweet corn.

Every Tuesday, while Dan and Lizzie are at work, we pick up Ollie from day care and look after him overnight and then through Wednesday. He is now four and we have great fun with him...here he is with the Advent calender that has been going up every year since our boys were little. His interests are dinosaurs, Hot Wheels, Spiderman, Ninja Turtles, Marvel characters, Lego...

We haven't  looked after Jas and Isa so much this year as they get older and Matty's routine has changed. However they were here one Wednesday in July when we took all these three to a free workshop...

In June Kevin and I took a couple of weeks driving from Victoria to Queensland - 4000 kilometres. We were taking Matty's car up so he had it for a month while he was up there. We flew back and someone else brought the car back. 

On the way to Airlie Beach we stayed in many places and saw many things of interest.

This is at Cactus world where we arrived in thick mist...

Kevin and I and Sophie have been on various trips this year - in particular she wanted to go near Cactus World as she was envious of our earlier trip. This time it was in brilliant sunshine.

One of the things we missed on the way up to Queensland was the giant Murray Cod. So that was something else we had to go see.

 Australia has many 'large' things. This is the giant mango...

In January we went camping at Apollo Bay - this was memorable as I tripped over the groundsheet and fell on a finger. This swelled up and I ended up in the little hospital having my wedding ring cut off.

 

Another trip was to Bendigo as I wanted to see the Frida Kahlo exhibition.

We decorated as usual for Halloween - and now Christmas is 'up'!

It is still strange to see Christmas decorations in bright sunlight!

 We are very fortunate to live next to the Botanic Garden here in Cranbourne. It is lovely to walk through there in the changing seasons. The picture shows wattles in full bloom.

We are very close to bushland so it was not surprising to see this echidna down the road the other day.

Well that is a snapshot of our 2025... so much that I haven't mentioned! I was granted Australian citizenship in May and now have my Australian passport. On the same day there was frost on the back garden!

Kevin too has now been granted citizenship - he had to wait longer to apply as he needed some info from Egypt. He is just waiting for his ceremony, then he too can apply for an Australian passport.

Healthwise we are both OK - Kevin is having to watch his sugar levels and I am still limping along. I am having another course of 12 injections in my knees and hips over December which injects a lubricating layer into each joint. They seemed to work pretty well 18 months ago so I am hoping for good results this time too.

So, here's wishing you a very happy Christmas and let's hope 2026 is a good year!

 love Sue and Kevin xx

Cheers!!

December Newsletter 2024

I notice I started last year's Newsletter with a picture of the front of our house which included an inflatable kangaroo/koala. Unfortunately this hit the dust with the bad weather last December - so we decided on a new blow-up for this Christmas.

Firstly we picked a kangaroo but after Kevin tried to inflate it, instead of 1.5 metres tall it was only half a metre. Back to the shop to exchange it - and we though we had another disaster - the lorikeet became  a dead parrot.

Fortunately, with adjusted guy lines, it is welcoming the festive season...

 As usual I am late writing this epistle - it is already December 13th - Kevin's 74th Birthday - but we have been pretty busy recently. Tom, Clare and Aiden moved house last weekend. We did our bit to help but probably the best bit was finally testing out the pool by dipping our toes in...

And now Sophie is moving to her new house. This was the first load yesterday. We have been moving with the two cars and our trailer - but we will have a big van to move the large pieces. She intends moving in as soon as it is sorted ... 

In the second picture Kevin is holding a box containing Sophie's surviving fish - a very special cargo!

So Kevin spent his birthday lifting and carrying. But then tonight he was in a ukulele concert. He spends more and more time with a ukulele - various group sessions but also teaching for the U3A one day a week.

Every Tuesday, while Dan and Lizzie are at work, we pick up Ollie from day care and look after him overnight and then through Wednesday. He is now three and we have great fun with him...here he is with the Advent calender that has been going up every year since our boys were little. We spend many Wednesdays at Funtopia...

We regularly look after Jas and Isa when Matty needs help. This means we go over to East Gippsland for a week at a time - 3 hours drive away. They also like to come and stay with us here - more shops and Guzman Y Gomez which is their favourite eating place.

On one of these trips to East Gippsland Kevin and I stopped on the way back in Sale to see a wonderful exhibition by Annemieke Mein.

 Aiden is now an electrician which was very handy when we wanted some lights put up:

We have now been in the house for more than two years and it is pretty much organised. The front garden is becoming much more established and the back garden has a good veggie patch.

Although Kevin has now been back from Egypt for 18 months, it doesn't seem that long since he was away for that 15 months. However the garden has really improved since he has been back! He does say it has been rather neglected over the last 10 days with all the moving...

Over the year we have had gluts of many vegetables - at the moment the beans are going well!

We have lots of opportunities when the family get together but to get all of us in one place at the same time is more difficult. This was last Christmas Eve - most of us:

This Christmas I thought we might be all together over near Matty's - however with the house moves it isn't going to happen.

Kevin and I and Sophie have been on various trips this year.

In January 2024 we went over to Western Australia to meet up with Liz, Pete, John, Julia, Chloe and Emma. We spent several days glamping on Rottnest, spending most days cycling round the island. We then went down to Margaret River for another few days exploring that area.

This was the size of the fish that John saw snorkelling.

We saw these amazing sculptures on the way down to Margaret River.

It was lovely to be with my sister! And we did some good tasting along the way.

Shortly after this cousin Caroline and John came to visit while they were travelling around Australia. This was at Chandon where they were having fun:

I am sure they would have lots to relate about that holiday!!

At Easter Sophie went over to America helping with a school trip. It sounds as though it was amazing visiting amongst other places NASA and Georgetown. While she was away she missed out on a few things as Jas and Isa came to stay and we visited various exhibitions, saw Wicked and celebrated my Birthday with most of the family. One of my treats was to go and see James Taylor - I was given his first album for my 18th Birthday! Another was when Sophie and I went to a glass modelling workshop.

During the next school holiday Sophie Kevin and I were planning another trip but Sophie ended up with a very bad back so we stayed home and she took to her bed. Our next trip was to the Adelaide area in October. We explored the history and art of the area. Favourite places were Burra where there was a history trail, many pieces of Silo art and Adelaide Botanic Gardens  where we saw Chihuli's amazing glass sculptures.

 

We liked these sheep on a trail in Kaniva.

We decorated as usual for Halloween - this was this year's skeleton by Kevin; Ollie and I made some ghosts.

We regularly visit Point Leo estate - a winery with a sculpture park. This is by Yayoi Kusama

We often go to concerts - in November it was Bill Bailey. Before that it was the Dubliners tribute band and that was after Eric Bogle. We are very fortunate to live next to the Botanic Garden here in Cranbourne. It is lovely to walk through there in the changing seasons.

And that almost brings us up to this December...

Healthwise we are both OK - Kevin is having to watch his sugar levels and I am still limping along. I had a course of 12 injections in my knees and hips over April, May and June which injected a lubricating layer into each joint. They seemed to work pretty well and I am certainly better than I was, but not a miracle cure. Over the two years since I was 70 I have gradually had to take different medications but really I can't complain.

So, here's wishing you a very happy Christmas and let's hope 2025 is a good year!

 love Sue and Kevin xx