Home again in early Sept. we were finally able to appreciate and enjoy all the house extensions and improvements we had started way last Christmas!! We have extended the roof and deck on the waterside, and more recently had ziplock blinds fitted. All of which gives us a huge area, sheltered from sun, rain and wind, and almost totally private!! We’re still wandering around shaking our heads and marvelling at how very clever (and how very broke) we are!!
We’ve enjoyed catching up with grandkids, kids and friends over the past months, as well as the less enjoyable things like medical appointments (all good), rentals, taxes, etc. Although we wander such a lot, this is where ‘home’ is, and where our ‘real life’ is. It always feels good to be home. We got to meet the three newest family members for the first 
time, granddaughter Maryanne, great-grandson Aid
en, 
and wee cousin Georgia!! All perfect and perfectly lovable!! We also got to various school events, followed our intrepid leader, Mif, through Perth CBD on the Rotary Ramble; and enjoyed Hallowe’en, as usual, me especially!
But much as we were enjoying all that, we packed up and made another brief trip away in November! Last year, we had won a free flight to Hobart, but what with cruises and Canada trips (I know –such a problematic life!) we had deferred using it until the last possible time. ‘Use it or lose it!’, so in November we went over for 10 days; met Maureen and toured around Tasmania! Great trip! Each of us had been briefly before, but had no idea of the diversity and beauty of the state. Maureen is goo
d company to tour with and we managed to accommodate our different paces (stop vs go) and interests quite well. She then came back to W.A. with us, until almost Christmas.We found her paddling ‘playmates’ (thanks Judy) and she took our old car and drove herself off to the S.W. 
for a few days of hiking. As she was heading home, they had a huge ice storm in Canada and it was touch and go whether or not she’d get stuck and have a solitary Christmas in Chicago, but she made it home with a day or so to spare!!
Did you notice how I slipped that in- ‘our old car’? Just as we were leaving for Tassie, we bought an X-Trail from friends who were leaving the country. So temporarily we’re a two car family! We hope to rectify that in April or so!
There was the usual pre-Christmas rush of shopping, secrets, wrapping, decorating, and entertaining on our new deck!! We had the traditional gingerbread houses and train to be made, and Carols by the Canal as usual. Our house 
decorations worked out very well (after Maureen and I finished fighting about who 
should/shouldn’t get on the roof!!) Geoff and Anita’s 3 youngest came down to share in all that excitement and to ‘help’. Wanda and John took us all, including Dot and grandson, and Caroline and Hans out for a 
glorious Christmas lights boat run to 
Mandurah!! And as he always does, Santa started his Christmas Eve rounds here in his pontoon boat, saving his sleigh for later I guess!! Anyway, however he travelled, he was good to us!! Anne got her very favourite present that she’d been hinting/coaxing for all of Dec.-a crocodile suit, no less! Like last year, we swapped and had our family Christmas dinner at the beachhouse on Boxing Day when there is a bit less pressure on all the families to share the kids around! Christmas Day was a lovely quiet afternoon with Hans and Caroline, with neighbours Wanda and John and then Mif and kids joining us later.
2014 and early Jan. brought a well-earned and almost total collapse at the beachhouse!! It’s not only great to ‘veg.’ out there, alternating between beach and back garden, but we also get to catch up with all our beachhouse friends, most of whom we haven’t seen since this time last year. The annual street party was a great success, as expected, with this years theme being Cowboys and Cowgirls. Anne took them quite literally!! We were ‘wandering’ back and forth between home and beachhouse for a while. At the moment, Nick is home for 28 days and we’ve ceded the beachhouse to him and the kids most of the time, going up to Rockingham just for brief visits and ‘borrowing’ our boat back as needed..
In the midst of all our blessings and celebrations, there have also been sorrows and stresses. These past weeks have been saddened by the tragic and unexpected loss of Sarah, Anne’s very special great-niece in England and Lee’s half-sister. It was such a huge shock to everyone and has been very distressing. We have been sharing the pain of Nick and Mif’s decision to finally divorce after a long separation, and supporting them both as best we can through the disruptions this entails.There has also been a very dear friend, Javier,whose health has changed quickly and who has had to go into care, which has been very sad for everyone.
Much as I hate to wrap up with our sad news, the fact is I’m up to date now; there is no more!! But despite recent sorrows and stresses, we look back over all the wonderful moments, covered in this and previous blogs; the ideal lifestyle we are still able to have; and all the dear people around the world who share in our lives; and we remain:-
THE HAPPY WANDERERS
KATHIE AND ANNIE
