HAPPY-AT-HOME !!

Hi Everyone

Bet you'd forgotten about us, or at least about our blog? We hadn't forgotten you;-just hadn't found the time to write out everything that's been happening !!

I'm now sitting outside in the deep shade at the beachhouse in W.Australia in perfect sunny 30+ weather ! Just thought I'd throw that in for our northern hemisphere readers !! :-) I'll try and rake through what passes for memory banks these days, and start this update back in Canada where I left off.

As soon as Tanya and wee Jamie were ready, they came down to our place at Jones Falls so James could meet all his rellies and his great-grandmother. That was a wonderful weekend and everyone was much taken (quite rightly) with the newest family member! Then as it turned out we didn't go back to Tanya and Cristina's as planned, as our time in Canada was fast disappearing and we had to put our place to bed. They came to the airport to see us off though, so we had one last baby-fix!

We had an uneventful trip home, which is really all you can hope for on that long killer-trip!! As on our way out, we stopped in Dubai to break the trip, rest up and feel human! On arrival home we found Anne's sister Audrey in hospital and very unwell. We found her a rather nice nursing home, closed up her unit, and got her sorted and comfortable, but sadly she declined more quickly than expected, and died easily and peacefully on Nov 19th. Anne was able to stay with her the last night and be with her when she went, which was good.


In the midst of sadness, there was also joy !! :-) Anne's eldest son Geoff and wife Anita had a new son, Kellan Andrew, born Nov. 6th !! A sturdy looking little fellow, with an extraordinary shock of dark curly hair. He will have to be sturdy to keep up with 4 older brothers, who adore him, and the younger of whom give only theoretical lip service to being gentle with Bub ! Being preoccupied with Audrey, we didn't see him as much as we'd hoped initially, but have since done our 'grannie-duty' babysitting, and I've been duly 'christened' !

Along there somewhere, Anne was in hospital overnight for shoulder surgery. Long postponed 'repair and maintenance' which proved to be relatively minor and she's recovering well!

And of course, through all of all this there were all the catch-up things,- everyone and everything we'd missed while we were in Canada,-family, friends, business, doing taxes etc. There were also various social events like Hallowe'en, Melbourne Cup, and the annual bus trip to a local winery for a day of jazz, wine, food and good fellowship, amongst others !

And then there was Christmas !! We're big Christmas fans, with a tree and decorations at home and at the beachhouse! Gone are the days though when Anne and I used to sleep under the tree Christmas Eve to try and catch Santas visit. True! If he can 'magic' his way up and down a non-existent chimney, surely you'd think he could help us up off the floor?!

Living on the canal brings an extra dimension to Chrissie decorations. We and most of our neighbours put lights on the water side instead of the road side, and looking along the water is a fairyland with all the lights twinkling on the water !! It's a delight to take the pontoon boat up and down various canals to admire them all and to wish all our neighbours Merry Christmas. Santa also does the rounds here by pontoon boat on Christmas Eve. He and his elves sail around throwing lolly bags ashore, and accepting pressies, mostly liquid, handed back out to them in long-handled crab scoops. I often worry about our northern hemisphere family and friends, because as you know nighttime, and therefor Santa, start here about 13 hours before there; Santa and his elves are already quite Merry as they pass here, and I hope they can go the distance!! Anyway I gather he made it again this year, so we'll just keep our fingers crossed for next year!

Anyway, Christmas dinner this year was at the beachhouse, by request and we had a lovely day!! This year Kris joined us later in the day which was wonderful; the kids especially enjoyed the ensuing waterfight!!

Boxing Day Hans and Caroline joined us for our traditional 'leftovers lunch' and then the rest of the family who had missed Christmas lunch joined us later in the day! So it was an excellent couple of days.

As she reminds us consistently during the run-up to Christmas EACH year, Mif's birthday follows right after Christmas! This year she joined the wise women's club, turning ----40----!!!! Her Mum threw her a great party, for which we tore ourselves away from the beachhouse!

Last week was a week of grandkids, with Brodie, Alex and Olivia here most of the week. They and we had a ball; they're recovered already and we're working at it!! Birthday wishes also to grandson Chris who turned 14 this week!

And on Friday as the kids were moving out, two travel club members from Canada were moving in for a couple of days! They've just left now after the morning spent swimming with the dolphins. The travel club not only gives cheap accomodation, but allows you to meet neat people virtually all over the world!

That's about it folks; written down like that it doesn't seem so much does it? We're off home later today, with no clear plans as to which day we'll be back. We have a 'P' street party here next weekend, so at least by then. Don't tell anyone, as it's a closely kept secret, but I hope to go as the Purple People Eater!!

Bye for now, from us to all of you.

Be Happy!

ANNIE and KATHIE

The Happy-at-Homes