Bob 70th Birthday

I attended Uncle Bob's 70th birthday lunch at the Asquith Bowling Club. It was great to catch up with Aunts and Uncles again.

This was also an opportunity to get to know David and Lyns families a lot more than I have had the opportunity to do before. I had a great time over lunch and fun doing some group & individual photos. Unfortunately, Ken was unable to attend due URT infection. It was also nice to meet June again and have a chat.

Joshua's shark boy look was pretty cool too. Wish I had as much hair to make fancy do's with too.

Click on the title for some more photos.

Leura Tunnel Open at last

I made my first trip through the Leura tunnel today. Only partially open but traffic going through nonetheless. Wet rainy conditions but the traffic is already flowing smoother.

Gloucester Flats

While returning the key for Tai Chi to the Uniting Church in Katoomba Street, I snapped this photo of the Gloucester Flats.

I have captured this particular building in Katoomba as Mum and Dad speng their honeymoon, staying in these flats in Katoomba. From here, they travelled about the mountains even out to Jenolan Caves and the excellent photo of them at Hartley Courthouse taken over 50 years ago.

Lorrina 18th

Well Mick (and Wayne) finished the deck just in time for Lorrina's 18th birthday party tonight. Lots of people here to celebrate with her family, neighbours and friends.

Sue had prepared copious amount of food. Indeed, enough so that we had not the slightest hesitation in taking home a doggy bag of chiken, corned beef and and birthday cake. Oh yes and thanks to Sue I had the opportunity to again sample the the little mushroomy things made with pastry, cream and jam ... yum... been quite a few years since I saw those.

Lorrina was quite emotional in her speech, she was appreciative of the efforts that had gone into making the night a roaring success for her.

Happy Birthday, Lorrina.

phone phun

Chand was mucking about with her phone and created these images. I guess she thought that Lisa and I are of the criminal classes or at least suspicious characters. Maybe we just wanted to lock Lisa up so she would not get away to USA again.....


The love heart interpretation stayed on my phone as a background for a few months. I guess I was glad to see Lisa back in town or even the same country for a change.

The superhero was created a few months back in the heady days of my 50th maybe I seemed larger than life back then... or maybe I had a big head.

Sebel Seminar

Alex and I held a corporate seminar on Tai Chi for Roche, lakeside at the Sebel Windsor. The group here is activating some chi via the accupressure points in the arm.

Andreas, the tall chap in the rear of the photo, arranged the seminar in conjunction with the Sebel as part of providing professional alternate therapies to the resorts in the Blue Mountains and Riverlands.

This was a beautiful morning and the participants were enthustistic for the demo and exercises. We handed out certificates at the end of the session. Then spent some time chatting to Andreas about what went well and what might be improved.

Maureen in hospital

Went to Nepean Hospital to visit Maureen in the West Wing. She was still recovering from an operation to repair the wound on her forehead.

She was happy to be out of intenstive care at last. Still a little sleepy, possibly from the morphine but cheeky as ever despite a broken bone in her right wrist, damage to her left shin and severe bruising under her left arm.

Viv and Kerry were both there at the time and we went off for some dinner at a local Penrith Thai restaurant. Riannon is sitting for the HSC at the moment and we were seven at the table. The boys taught me how to pop straws... an education in which I was severely lacking.

Thai restaurant Penrith

Mash cafe Glenbrook

After the massage today Chand and I had lunch a the Mash Cafe at Glenbrook.

Some time has passed since we ate at this place and it has changed hands. New management has changed the interior by removing one wall and making the dining area more open. The meals are more than filling and the garlic mash potato is to die for.

anniv of sorts

Well it has been 4 years since mums death today. Edna reminded me of this via an email from Janet and then I stumbled onto a clipping of her funeral notice from the paper. Some ways it seems like an eternity and in other ways it was just yesterday .

Mark Travers

Mark Travers lives in John Street and often entertains locally. We occasionally catch his show at the Lawson Bowlo, mostly on Friday Nights.

He and wife Shane, and three kids live in Ted's old house and I suspect that he has the old garage fitted out as a studio for recording, like for this album.

Katoomba Coffee Break

Here I am with Margurite and Alex. We were taking a shelter break due to rain. We did get some Qigong and Tai Chi before the weather changed. So coffee and croissants turned out to be the order of the morning, with the temperatures dropping.

Archie and Matthew were with us here but not in this photo. Tashi also dropped by with a young'n in tow. So I guess there is always a backup plan if the weather is inclement.

Leura Fair

I have always enjoyed Leura Fair and made it this year despite the usual difficulty finding out exactly what day it is going to be on. Hey I even manage to fit in a few hours of Tai Chi before the fair.

Lots of stalls as usual and we ened up eating at the lower end of the street in the pizzaria. Coming out, we ran into Monica and Ian and in the corridor and had a chat. Monica thinks we might be stalking her as we ran into her last weekend at the Carrington after Tai Chi.

While the weather was not so sure what it wanted to do, after lunch it was just frigid, so we did not spend much time at the stall on the upper side of the street on th way back.

Corridor of Oaks - Faulconbridge

Sometime during this last week, I took a look at the Corridor of Oaks at Faulconbridge. It was a brilliant idea when created. However, it does seem somewhat noisy with traffic and trains for a place of comtemplation about Australia's past leaders.

Whitlams tree (pictured) is not going to recover, as it it seems dead from the ground up. Hardly the robust representation of a vital and hardy leader.

John Howard's tree has not only ceased to grow it has been completely removed. I believe that there is a gret deal of trouble with keeping the current leader's tree viable while in office or at least remembered for by those with conflicting agendas. As time passes the tree is restablished and joins the ongoing corridor.

Perhaps we should be now looking for a corridor of native trees .. or even of the Wollemi Pine for new additions.

Muster

I attended muster club with Ron Hurst. Thats Jim Pyne taking the opportunity to make a speech and as the occasion celebated his birthday, he had every right to do so. There was a lot of laughter and merriment, aided by a few glasses of wine. The mad welshman was overwhelmingly buoyant as Tigers had won the grandfinal and England had won the ashes.

Rons forehead has healed and no longer requires surgical dressing.

google berowra

I stumbled onto the google earth image of Berowra courtesy of Berowra Online. There are a few more images there, closeups of the crossroads and the Berowra Waters area. I better go have a look at the real thing now.

Lunch at the Carrington

Miho, Andrew and Lisa came up for lunch today. So after Tai Chi we had a delightful meal at the Carrington.

Surprisingly, we were the only ones in the dining room for much of the meal. I guess that it was such a glorious day outside that everyone went walking. Was certainly pleasant doing Tai chi even if only five folks turned up this week.

We were enjoying our private dining room so much and the piano music was so relaxing that we almost stayed for high tea... as if we could fit anything in after that fabulous meal.

Lunch with Nicole at Warringah Mall

Picked up the Dr Seuss print today "They've proved they are persons, now matter how small" from the Victor Trevor Harvey Gallery. Then we arrived for cake with the Nicole and her future in-laws at a coffee shop in Warringah Mall. Which was fortunate, cause I had a few vouchers to redeem. One from Rivers allowed me to upgrade my summer shirt collection and the Dymocks voucher bought me a new book.