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made me realise that I could make better use of the large chunk of time I was giving to the garden admin, so I have withdrawn my services there.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.