Happy Christmas

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas as we celebrate Christ's birth together.

May God richly bless you all at this special time.

Welcome to Sydney

Welcome to Sydney to Julie and Matt from Canada. Glad to have you both with us.

Welcome home Lynda

Welcome home to Lynda and welcome also to Brooke. Hope you enjoy your time in Australia.

Happy Birthday Diane

Diane had a big birthday on Saturday 17 May with lots of friends joining her to help her celebrate.









Barbara took her to lunch at Oatley so as to give Lynda and me time to organise the surprise party.





When she arrived home about 2:15, there were quite a few people hiding and many more surprises arrived as the afternoon progressed. In all about 60 people came to wish her a Happy Birthday.











In the evening, Barbara and Theo, Lynda and Michael and Diane and I went to The Book Kitchen in Surry Hills for dinner. It is a great restaurant and the food was excellent.










A highlight of the Birthday celebrations were telephone calls from Julie, Andrew and Lucy to say "Happy Birthday Nanna".

Lynda's Birthday

Happy Birthday to Lynda.


To celebrate, Lynda, Lisa, Michael, Mum and I went to Summer Salt at Cronulla for dinner. The food was great and we had a window table overlooking the flood lit ocean waves breaking on the beach.


For the entree, Michael had soft shell crab, Lynda had squid and I had Buffalo Mozzarello salad. For mains, Lynda had flathead fillets, Michael had steak Mum had duck, Lisa had Atlantic Salmon and I had pork. Dessert was Bombalaska for Michael and Lynda and Cinnamon banana fritters for me.



Here are the duck and the pork.










When we came home, it was birthday cake time followed by presents.

We hope Lynda had a very happy birthday.

Happy Birthday Lucy

To our darling granddaughter Lucy

Happy Birthday Lucy. We wish we could be there to help you celebrate this very special birthday. We hope it is a wonderful day for you.

Lots of love

Nanna and Grandpa

Happy Birthday Andrew

Hi Andrew,

From all of us down under, we hope you have a very Happy Birthday.

We wish we could be helping you celebrate today but will have to leave that to Fiona and Lucy and your North Carolina friends.

Hope you have a really great day.

Mum, Dad, Michael and Lynda

Happy Easter

To our family overseas, we wish you all a very Happy Easter.

May you all experience God's love for us as you celebrate Christ's death and resurrection.

Our love to you all.

Welcome Home

Welcome Home Lynda,

After spending eight months at Teen Ranch Canada, Lynda has come home for a short visit before returning to the Ranch in June. She arrived safely on Monday evening having spent a week visiting Channah and Jordan in New Zealand en route. A small group of friends were at the airport to meet her and more came to spend time with her at home. It was good to have the laughter and excitement back again.

Today has been spent visiting Pop and Rose and a trip to Cronulla to prove to Mum that she can still drive (with the view to getting the car at every opportunity). It did have advantages as she picked me up at the station tonight.

There is lots of fun as bags and a box are unpacked and Mum and Dad and Michael have scored some interesting presents. Thank you Lynda.

It's good to have you home again, even if it is only for a few months.

Eastern Avenue

For those of you who can remember what Eastern Avenue looked like a few years ago, here is an updated version of "work in progress".

You will see the new gardens and lawn between the modernised Avenue and the Chemistry and Medical schools,

the new Law Building currently being built,

areas around Fischer,

The view towards City Road,

and the new bridge over City Road which runs between Wentworth and the new Union Building under construction. Notice the old bridge that once led across from Wentworth.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FIONA

Dear Fiona,

We hope you have a very Happy Birthday and that the year ahead will be a very enjoyable one as you continue to experience life in North Carolina.

Hope you have a really great time celebrating with Andrew and Lucy.

With our love

Diane and John

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIE

Dear Julie,

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday as you celebrate with Andrew, Fiona, Lucy and Lynda.

Wish we were there also.

Lots of love

Mum and Dad

Patrick Street

Do you recognise this location in Hurstville?

Australia Day

Happy Australia Day to all those Ausies living overseas. We have had a great day at home which included, of course, a family Bar B Q at Bruce and Lorraine's.

Hope you all have you flags fluttering!

State Coach Britannia

A new royal coach to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's 80th Birthday is nearing completion and we had the pleasure to inspect it and hear of its historical significance from its designer and builder Jim Frecklington OAM on a trip to Manly today. The coach named "The State Coach Britannia" has taken over three years to complete and is truly spectacular.


Jim is also the builder of the bicentennial gift of the Australia State Coach and of the chariot used to carry the bearer of the Olympic flame at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

The State Coach Britannia is shinning black above the top molding and Royal Mews Jubilee Claret below the mold. The undercarriage and wheels are painted in gold leaf. The Royal Coat of Arms and the Royal Insignia were painted by renowned artist Paula Church (who has exquisite paintings of Australian wildflowers) and scroll work was added by Brian Tetstall and highlights in relief were applied to the whole scroll work by Artist Helen Eyre Pikler, an award winning Australian botanical artist and Gemmologist.

More information about the coach can be found here.