This is Alan and Ray in the Japanese gardens at Gosford last Saturday.  We went there on an outing to do a tour of galleries and studios of artists on the Central Coast.  Desi, who lives in our building had some works in an exhibition at the Gosford Art Gallery and she suggested we go there for a visit.
Tim came home yesterday and we celebrated Matilda's birthday with him and Maureen tonight as he will be back in WA on Australia Day on Thursday and Alan and I will be camping at Lane Cove as the ladies from Amsterdam are coming on a home exchange for a week.  We move out this saturday and will return the following one.  Sadly, I think rain is forcast.

Now its 2012

 

This photo of Colin, John and I was taken on Marc's new android phone on Friday when we went over there for lunch.  That was last year now.
Its New Years Day, with the usual good intentions.  I vowed we would have more picnics in 2012 and so we started today with one at Piermont with Tim Kat, Oli and Matilda.  The weather is just perfect.  It was pretty nice last night and the fireworks were magnificent.

Its Christmas!

 We shared our Christmas lunch with Colin and Marc and Joe and Sara.  The weather was pleasant and sunny and the predicted rain did not arrive.  You can see in the photo what I had for lunch.  I had similar for dinner!  We played Ticket to Ride and Joe and Sara ended up staying the night.
On Boxing Day we went to Sarah and Dan's for a left-overs lunch.  As you can see, Jade is growing and is so cute.  Sarah is returning to full time work and Dan is thinking of going back to Uni to study bio-metrics (I think).
Today ( Tuesday), Alan and I went back to the Northern Beaches for lunch with Ray and Trish.  We were hoping to see Jennifer, but she was not there as  she was visiting friends.  Ant's Dad is not very well and spent Christmas Day in hospital.

Kat, Oli and Matilda spent Christmas Day with Maureen and Darryl at Campbelltown.  Kat stood on some broken glass on Christmas Eve and got some stuck in her foot and has been suffering since then.
Tim will be home tomorrow night and we are all looking forward to that.

Carols by Candlelight

Last night Alan and I went to Carols by Candlelight with Kat, Oli and Matilda. We got there a bit too late to see the stage, but found a nice spot on the side near a big Morton Bay fig which Matilda circumnavigated about 300 times. It was a really mild night for a change and we stayed til about 9.15. The carols were a bit of a disappointment (for me anyway) as they were all jazzed up, or were Christmas songs rather than carols. We all enjoyed it though.

On the way back, we stopped at the Cathedral and looked at the lights, which were just lovely.
Cassandra and Samantha stayed with us on Saturday night as they were going to a 40th birthday party.  We had a lovely time chatting and catching up with all the news.  This morning we went out for breakfast before they went home.
The building over the road is finished and they are advertising it for rental.  The other night they turned all the lights on to take photos of it.  Alan took this one from our place.

This week's news

Tim arrived home weary and late from Newman as his plane was delayed due to bad weather.  We had bad weather in Sydney too, but it was good enough on Friday to allow the planting of Matilda's tree in Centennial Park on Friday.  She relished to opportunity to play in the dirt without anyone getting mad!

Alan played in the Music Practice's Christmas Concert on Saturday and did not make one single mistake in his solo piece, despite being very nervous!  He did really well!  Although the Principal noted that there were "lots of right notes" in the duet he played with his fellow student Annie, I was unable to detect any of the unspoken wrong ones and it sounded really good to me.  I have to say that the clarinet students who followed played several wring notes that even I could hear, but they are all adults learning, often from scratch and I think it was a really good concert.

Afterwards we went to drinks at Rex and Helen's beautiful apartment in Glebe and caught up with several of the Bordeaux crowd, which was nice.  There wa a partial eclipse of the moon last night and we got a good view as it was really clear.

We out the Christmas tree up on Monday and Oli was the one to put the star on the top, with assistance from Kat.  He is too heavy for me to lift that high any more.  Kat and I took him to the Bollywood themed disco at his school on Wednesday in the pouring rain.  The rain meant they all had to stay indoors and dance though and he came home tired but happy.  he got his school report which was really good - well done Oli.

Its a beautiful day in Sydney today (Sunday) and Tim and family have gone to Campbelltown to visit Darryl who has been in hospital having some surgery but is home now.  Alan is at a Meditation course and I am enjoying some peace and quiet at home!