JOURNAL - GOING BACK TO FEBRUARY

As this is supposed to be my journal to look back on, I am going to look through photos and see what we have been doing this year...(smile):

Taken on a walk, flying foxes on the trees Richmond River which divides our town.  A recent spell of hot weather in October saw up to 5,000 of the animals die in the heat.  http://www.northernstar.com.au/videos/flying-foxes-casino/21685/
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Also in February, our setup at Aged Care for Valentines Day.

 St Josephs

 St Michaels

And a lovely bunch of roses from Aldi for $4.99.  I always have a peek, but haven't seen these, my favourites, again.

We also had a visit to Rob and Emi's new home on the Gold Coast at the end of the month.

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 and the lake across the road.

And a pic of Barry in August, I think when we went to my school reunion

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I'm glad I'm doing this, as the photos are a reminder, as they usually stay forgotten in my folders. 

OH DEAR, WHERE HAS THE YEAR GONE

We have had a big year with music, though a lot of my time went on the Community Garden, doing the 8 A5 page newsletter, putting it on the blog, and putting photos and news on the Facebook.  However I found myself in hospital with pneumonia, and even though I let them know, as a newsletter was due, not a word from anyone, made me realise that I could make better use of the large chunk of time I was giving to the garden admin, so I have withdrawn my services there.

We are still giving the concerts in the Aged Care homes, though we have cut back, and I only accept a rare one-off concert invite, as they give me a lot more stress than our regulars, particularly doing a one-off program to suit them.

We play in worship services on three Sundays in the month, two local and one about an hour away.

Also I have been singing with a local choir that gives concerts and visits a couple of local Aged Care homes.  We practice every week and have had a few concerts and participate in the community Carols, which I am not keen on these days with raffle tickets being sold etc.  I am looking forward to the Nine Lessons just before Christmas.

We moved the Strum and Singalong group to the Church Hall and that has been a blessing, as the church people are so enthusiastic to have us there, and the aircon is greatly appreciated. And we don't have the problem of the wind blowing our pages, as we did at the garden. We are having an end of year Christmas Party which has meant a lot of paperwork to provide everyone with books to play from.  As we now have 24 people it is an issue for next year, as I have been providing the folders and sheets to play and sing from.  I expect we will have more people next year.  People tell me it is a ministry, we welcome whoever wants to play, or just sing, and the joy I see on the faces of some who have wanted to play an instrument for years is exquisite.  One has age-onset polio, another at 82 wanted to learn all her life, and they fit in beautifully and have the satisfaction, as part of the group, of "making a joyful noise".

I moved on from ukulele to mandolin, which I have been playing in the church services also.  Very easy to play the chords, and I am hoping to move on to more skills particularly playing melody for myself when things ease off. And who knows, one day I might get to do tremolo. 

  

I stay home on Australia Day

I remember some wonderful Australia Days in the past.  Walking over the Sydney Harbour Bridge at 6.00am, the wonderful Tall Ships on the Harbour, the aerial display, all the goings on in Hyde Park and Darling Harbour.   I was there the day this pic was taken in 1988.  Pic thanks to google search.

 In those days it was maybe a flag on your T-shirt or a sticker on your bag..... that was plenty, and I was happy with that.

We've lived in the country since retirement, but it has all changed..... isn't that what people are tired of hearing from older people.   Still I don't forget the first time I saw all the staff at a local supermarket draped  in the Australian Flag. 

 Flag etiquette is an interesting read.  

"Dignity of the Flag

The flag should not be allowed to fall or lie on the ground".   etc

Now the shops are full of flag gear and the TV news shows that it is now the thing to wear the Australian flag on Australia Day.

So you can see I have turned into an Australia Day grinch and prefer a quiet day at home.

Shadow Shot

We took a drive over to Mullumbimby, Northern NSW last weekend and returned on a back road.    

I grabbed a shot of the road through the windscreen.

Happy Australia Day!

Joining in with shadow shots from all around the world at  http://shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com with Magical Mystical Teacher, Rose and Gemma Wiseman.  Thankyou!

Love, Jan

Music at the Community Garden

We woke to teeming rain, but no thoughts of cancelling our Music in the Garden. With the event scheduled to start at 9.30am, we received a couple of phone calls asking if it was cancelled.   However there was no wind to blow in to the shelter, so we said "It's still on" and headed over to the garden for 9.00am all the while praying for the rain to stop.  Our participants arrived early and the music was underway by about 9.25am. and it was a lovely day, temperature wise, nearly needing a cardigan, after the blistering heat earlier in the week.

We did not publicise it.  I asked a couple of friends that we usually meet up with, and one person asked a few more.  Not everyone made it along, with good reasons, and I did not hear from one who lives well out of town, who probably thought it was too wet.

Everyone was so pleased with it, saying 'wonderful' etc.  The music was not perfect by any means, but it was a great deal of fun, with the men's voices adding to the day.

These pages are white! 40 songs and we played 22 of them.

So it is a relief that it was so well received and everyone looking forward to next time.  

Here is a song that we added to our concert list in the past few months and is in the songbook. 

Now it is time to think about the February issue of the garden newsletter.

Love and Blessings.  xx

Looking through my photos to catch up

Some major catching up to do in my journal.

In 2013 took on a lot with the Community Garden, their 8 A5 page Newsletter every month, retyping it onto the webpage I set up for it, and their Facebook too.  The November Issue includes a blow-by-blow instruction on how to ferment vegetables at home, which are an important part of our diet for probiotics.

I don't garden there as we have a demanding garden at home, but I usually end up over there for the informal lunch on Wednesdays.

At the end of November we were invited up to the Gold Coast QLD for may wonderful daughter-in-law Emi's birthday. We were there for a few days, and Emi wanted to spend the actual day in a beautiful national park Springbook to the west.  We walked down to the waterfall, and very pleased we had done it afterwards.  It was a long haul back to the top.

Finished the celebration with the four of us sharing one of those enormous seafood platters.

Our  first concert  for December was the Christmas party for the volunteers for all the Caroona homes in Lismore, with attendance of 100+ . Those present were honoured for their volunteering, in 5 year increments, and one lady had been visiting the homes for 55 years.

After that we had a tragedy in the family on Russell Island QLD.  We cancelled the rest of the concerts for December.  We travelled up there and went out to sea for the scattering of the ashes, and the Memorial Service a few days later.  

from Facebook

 One of my favourite views west of Byron Bay NSW on the trip.

We returned home the day before Christmas, and we kept to our plan to have Christmas with friends at our place. Some thought we wouldn't do it, but all the planning and something else to think about I find helpful.

We've been out riding on our bikes without coming to grief.

I admired these street trees near the shopping centre that I would not have noticed when driving.

After being inspired seeing a ukulele group in a rotunda at Grafton on the way home from a trip south, we are starting a music group at the community garden this coming Saturday.  All instruments that people can bring with them are welcome, guitar, ukulele, mandolin, etc, as well as people who like to sing and others who just want to come along.  It will be interesting to see who turns up as 22 people have said they are coming.  We have a couple of beginners and we know most of them as they previously attended the Monday Night group which was walk-up with mikes and amplification.  This is harmony hopefully - "Playing along, singing a song - side by side", no solos, mikes or amplification - sitting around in a circle, with instrument tuned, keeping time, in the same key.

The issue was how to provide the music, one group we were in sent an email with six new songs per month.  However I googled and decided to follow the example of a group in UK that puts out a book to start with.  I have used a few songs from the Lismore group and chorded and added the ukulele chord illustrations to make up 40 songs, which took me a couple of weeks.  Was able to add number of gospels as everyone but two of the people are regular worshippers.

My most recent photo with the moon after sunset. I caught this at last light, it was dark shortly afterwards.

If anyone reads this, many blessings, and a happy and healthy year.
God Bless,
Jan