Simon Passing Through

Our eldest son Simon flew in from North Queensland to go to the Big Day Out, an all day rock concert. He had been to a number of previous Big Days Out and wanted to see "Rage Against the Machine", the big draw card for this year. He was not disappointed because he was in the very front row watching who he calls "the greatest lead guitarist of all time".

He packed a lot into the weekend and when he got tired he slept. That guy could sleep on anything!

Simon is at present part of a mining company drilling team, prospecting west of Cairns.

Pier Fish & Chips

Barb's sister Donna flew in from Tazzi to do some Melbourne shopping and catch up with all us. She timed it well overlapping with Simon's arrival from North Queensland, so she was able to chat with him as he passed through. Kelli made a super meal when Donna arrived. The next day we had Yum Cha in China Town. On the third night everybody braved a Peter stir-fry. And on the last evening, we came together at Station Pier for a final meal - fish and chips.

During her stay, Donna was the paparazzi, snapping at everything and anything, especially rabbits and flowers. By the end of the four days we had a CD full of these snaps that we were able to share. The final photo shoot at the Pier after the fish and chips was extended and relaxed. Simon was at the Big Day Out rock concert, so sorry, there are no pics of him at all.

It was great that Dan and Dave could both be there, those cool dudes with the sunnies. Kelli and Bruce brought our number to seven and got there early to mind a table so we could eat, protected from the strong southerly. The wind was bracing but it was a nice evening to top of a memorable visit from Don.

Three Steps Makes Four

Though this seemed small by comparison to his first three flights, Peter has found this fourth flight tricky. It required wedges to hold the treads and rises, and all in a tight little space underneath. Peter had to build a 'gig' to hold the stringers in place while the treads and rises were glued in. It was all a bit fiddley and not many people would realise the detail behind something that looks so simple at the finish.

Almost the City

On our third bike excursion we ambitiously intended to reach the city. This time instead of biking along the Ring Road bike track we took the path under the freeway, following the biking map that Kelli had loaned us. Kelli had also loaned her bike for Peter to ride, because our old bike had reached its use by date.

The map was invaluable even though it misled us once or twice. Some of the tracks in the map were hardly bike tracks in reality! We were persistent though. The romance of reaching the highly popular city bike tracks drove us forward.

Peter suggested we follow the Yarra River once we joined it. It seemed a good idea at the time but soon proved to dangerous to ride. The pictures show the state of this track before we decided to retrace our steps and take the map's recommended route. We would have been trapped on it for hours on it if we had persisted.

We eventually arrived at the Studly Park Boat House and had our obligatorily coffee at such a place. It was nice to sit under the trees by the river with the odd boat rowing past. We had a meat pie each as our 'late' lunch.

We had taken three and a half hours to reach this spot and we realised that we should cut our excursion to the city short and conclude it at Collingwood (Victoria Park Station) and return by train. The city would have to wait. It had been a good ride and we need not overdo it. There will be many other chances, God willing.

Anniversary Biking

As part of our thirtieth anniversary we agreed to purchase a good bike. We found one that suited our budget and this bike shop provided a year's worth of back up service as part of the deal. The bike brand is 'Giant' and it has 24 gears: that's 3 at the pedals and a choice of eight at the back axel. The gear changing is smooth and Barb has found that hills she would normally have walked up with our old bike she can now ride.

On our first excursion with the new bike we found that we could not ride too far because our old bike 'played up' slipping cogs and eventually could only work on one gear. But at least we had 'hit the road'. We found an easy route from our home to join the bike track beside the Ring Road freeway and we biked along that.

On our second excursion, still with the old bike in tow, we road the other way along the Ring Road bike track to a shopping centre. We found we were able to park our bikes near our table at an open cafe and enjoyed a coffee. This was like the ultimate luxury: the day perfect, we were actually biking, and the coffee and service of the highest order.

30th Anniversary

7 January 1978

- 7 January 2008.

We have now reached the 'pearl' anniversary! Because of a very busy series of weeks this day seemed like it was going to be very low key. Then a parcel arrived from Peter's Mum and Dad with special things they wanted to pass on to us, and one of them was a pearl necklace. How special is that! Peter received a pearl tie-pin. So it was a pearl anniversary after all.

We lunched in the sun at Epping Plaza at an outside cafe. The day was a perfect 25 degrees with a breeze. We planned to buy a pushbike to mark the day and selected one which we will pick up later. It looks like we'll be doing some biking soon.

When we were married in Brisbane, it was very hot and people had to be coaxed out of the shadows for photos. But we did not notice. That day was 'our' perfect day, and through God's grace we have survived awkward times to find deeper love and acceptance of each other.

Two Rabbits!

We got another rabbit just after Christmas! For a while it seemed to be a disaster because the established rabbit (Emily) became totally defensive, and aggressive as well. She went on the warpath spreading her droppings everywhere about the room as a way of staking her boundaries. The little one (Sophie), who always looks to be having 'a bad hair day', continued to be chased back into the laundry by 'Big Em'.

We had to keep them separate, and sometimes swapped their locations. By the time they were ready to share the same room we had done a lot of rabbit psychotherapy. Slowly there was a relaxing between them. There was still the occasional squabble but we found them lying together and took the picture. At least our living space can return to some sort of normality with just the usual supply of rabbit droppings.

Stair Building

Peter never ceases to be fascinated by flights of stairs since working for a stair builder in the 90's for a few years. Since then he has constructed three flights personally and this seems like the time to publish these.

The first was installed in a bedroom for access to a higher bed and mattress. The second was a high quality piece made of Victorian Mountain Ash (kiln dried) and installed to give access to a mezzanine from a living space.

The last one, still in construction, is an external flight at the Gembrook Retreat. A totally different way of stair building is required for an external flight because of the tendency for timber to rot if it cannot dry out. Gaps in the joins and galvanised brackets are "in" for external flights, quite the opposite to the internal ones.