I spoke too soon....
The day after writing the last post we had a phone call from Lesley saying they were alive and well and only an hours drive away from us!
The day after writing the last post we had a phone call from Lesley saying they were alive and well and only an hours drive away from us!
Earth calling Lesley, Alan and Adam......
We have no way of getting in touch with you but were expecting you to visit us over the last few days. We hope you are having great fun "Camper-vanning" down the New South Wales coastline and would still enjoy seeing you if you are passing by.
If you read this blog we would love you to get in touch so we know you are OK.....
We went for a drive today and called in to an openday at an old fashioned house called Tocal. It is a house that was built in the 1820's and is used as a glimpse into the past with refurbished interiors and outhouses and barracks that were all originally constructed using convict labour.
You can't teach a Granny to suck eggs, especially if that Granny is actually a Nanny who lives in Wales.
Byron's Mum has a thing about eggs.
When I first married Byron he told me about how, as a child, he would put a raw egg (still in its shell) in his mouth and would chase his Mum around the kitchen where she would be almost physically sick at the sight of it.... Strangely when Byron put an egg in his mouth and chased me around our kitchen when we were newlyweds I didn't give a stuff and told him if he wasn't careful I would squeeze his cheeks and crush the egg in his mouth. He looked a bit crestfallen that this party trick wasn't going to have the same reaction on me as it did on his Mum.
The reason I was remembering this story today was actually because it has a vague connection to a story about Byron's Dad...
Byron's Dad has a thing about Lemons.
He has no problem about them being in his mouth and in fact will cut up a lemon and eat it like a segmented orange. He doesn't even make the slightest face as he bites into the sour flesh. Gareth has taken after his Grandad. When our friend Angelina sent a lemon to us from her lemon tree I thought it would get chopped up and put in cold drinks at the weekend but Gareth begged and begged to have it for himself. Finally after breakfast today I gave in and cut it up for him and he tucked in with gusto.
In conclusion I have learnt that you can't teach a Nanny to suck eggs but you can teach a grandson to suck lemons!
Monday was the last day of the kids school holidays. We decided to tear Byron away from job applications and have a family day out.
One of the people I mentioned in the last blog was my Granny Luddy who used to visit us and share my bedroom with me. She would teach me prayers and would tell me "old fashioned" poems and stories.
Only a few hours ago I went to our post box and found a letter to me from my Mum in Ireland. In it was an old piece of paper on which my Granny had written out a poem she used to tell me many years ago, "Little Boy Blue" by Eugene Field
If you click on the picture you will see a larger version of it. It gives me goosebumps to look at the old paper and know that it was written so long ago and yet landed in my hands at a time I had been thinking about her.
World Youth day has been a big part of kids school holidays since they began two weeks ago.
We had our overseas pilgrims, we went to formal and serious Norwegian masses, an "all singing all dancing" youth mass at the local high school, the huge Myuna Bay day of Mass, BBQ and Bush dancing, went to evening choir practises, sat around burning camp fires way beyond the kids normal bed time and took a zillion photos only a small handful of which made it onto the blog here. When we waved goodbye to our pilgrims we took a step back from the next group of WYD activities that were based in Sydney. We felt the kids had experienced enough WYD activities for it to be a memorable event that they would remember as they grow up.
My brother Joe in Sydney asked me a few times would I be travelling down to try to see the Pope as he drove around the city and said different masses. The media had suggested that there would be large crowds of half a million or more at some events and with the kids being so young I just could see loads of reasons why it would be more stressful than fun trying to bring them down. Joe and Rhonda had two tickets to the final mass in Randwick race course on Sunday. They were like gold dust and without a ticket I could see no point in travelling down in the hope of a glimpse of the event through a huge crowd.
Byron and a few of his friends who appreciate a few drinks decided to have a cultured evening of beer tasting (?) in our house this weekend. Co-incidentally it was also the night of a big Rugby Union match between Australia and South Africa. John Newton went off and bought vast amounts of beer from all around the world and ordered equal amounts of meat pies to help line their stomachs....
We have had an eventful week. This time last week we were preparing for our pilgrims from Norway and Byron had a job. Over the next few days we went through a roller coaster of emotions, fun and excitement with the arrival of Sabina and Angela and the shock of Byron becoming unemployed. The timetable of World Youth day events that I got swept along with was exhausting and on one hand kept me very busy and my mind very occupied but on the other left Byron home alone most days and he spent most evenings without company.
We said goodbye to Sabina and Angela today and we are looking forward to taking a deep breath, ignoring the piles of washing and messy tip of a house and sitting down with a bottle of wine to talk and plan for the future.
There were so many fun things that we did last week but I just wasn't in the mood to blog "Happy stuff" Rather than trying to write up each individual days events I thought I would give you a quick summary and post a few of my favourite photos......
We had some bad news on Wednesday night.
Byron was asked to ring into work for a company wide meeting at 2am Australian time. When he asked if he really needed to be at it he was told to take the afternoon off and have time with his family to "prepare"
This had us on edge and when Byron dialled in at 2am he was told that the company had folded and he no longer had a job. No notice. No job. No pay for outstanding holidays. He was told to just wait and see if he gets paid for this months work or not.
It is a very unsettling time. With a house full of pilgrims and a timetable to ferry them around from 9am till 9pm and the kids on school holidays there hasn't been any time for Byron and myself to sit down together and talk or just have quiet time together. We are trying to be positive. For every door that shuts another one opens, The adventure of new beginnings, Everything will be fine. These are easy to say in daylight but at night in the dark it is harder to believe.
We have each other and the kids and our health. We know we have all the things that are important. We just hope that it won't be too long before the talented Mr B finds himself a new job.
Over the school holidays Gareths teacher has given us some sight words for him to learn and practise writing.