Mill Park Blanketed

Melbourne has become very dry because the last real rain was over a month ago. A hot north wind started to blow strongly and a fire caught hold in nearby bushland on the edge of Mill Park beside Plenty Gorge. We got a number of phone calls to check if we were ok and our place not affected. Fortunately, we were a few kilometres upwind from it. The event served to give us a taste of the very real concerns that whole communities in other parts of Australia are currently facing. May God have compassion and allow regular soaking rain to come, especially in parts of Australia suffering lasting drought. The dark cloud in each picture is the blanket of smoke, taken on the day, creating a foreboding pale over everything.

Oldies Cuppa

Six of us oldies got together for a cuppa in the town of Whittlesea recently. We are all showing our age in some way. A few more white hairs, a few more wrinkles, a pain here or there. This may cause us to pause to reflect on where all the years have gone. Inside we are still our inner child, and on and off these children came out for a bit of fun in the banter we shared. It was a very enjoyable two hours spent in the café Ferguson Plarre.

above December 2019

 below February 2007 nearly twelve years ago

December 2005 fourteen years ago. 

Kelli Visit

It was really nice for Kelli to visit. The time was spent catching up, sharing a special meal which Barb dreamed up, and playing the board game "Lords of Waterdeep" which is seriously a good game, right up there with the latest and best. These kinds of times can only happen during a holiday period and conveniently at our place.

Family Christmas

This year our Christmas celebration was played out at Simon's. It proved to be a great venue. There was a park through the back gate but we didn't need it on the day. The back yard and its furniture was completely sufficient for what we needed. We were all able to seriously chill out. Everybody received gifts including Purge. The younger one was the more chance of a gift. No surprise there. Peter mad a movie out of all these snaps which you can view here.

Under Our Noses

When we moved to Melbourne with one baby in tow, we experienced significant changes to just about everything in our lives. We learnt to pray (Uncle John - Canberra), we switched work roles (Barb nursing and Peter house-husband), we left almost all family and friends (except for Aunty Gloria - Warburton) and we moved into a unit surrounded by elderly Jewish women. AND we were given a book to read about what was dangerous for our little five month baby girl. We read the book carefully and acted to address the warning. We already knew about the way how most of society has been indoctrinated to believe things a certain way to suit powerful business interests. Reading this book showed us that no position of faith, especially one with a huge official tick from the establishment, could have a foundation based on honesty and transparency. So we even had to change the way we thought in areas we thought were sacrosanct.

Imagine how packed Christian Churches would be today of the SAME amount of official backing was given to it. Imagine a Good News Bible story coming through each of the TV stations and internet channels daily with highly positive commentary both theologically and philosophically with all topics based on a rock-solid assumption that not only did Christ walk the earth but truly died as a sacrificial penalty for the lives of everybody who has lived in this created physical realm. As for why it had to be this way does sound extreme, but there would be fewer family breakdowns and hurting children as a result if the story of Christ's life of love and forgiveness under God's loving care and compassion was allowed to permeate our modern society.

Anyway, enough said. Below is the book we read that changed the way we protected our three children.