On being 70 and filling in the day

Thanks for this gorgeous photo, Frank.

I'm so fortunate being near Philip, as nothing is as important as family.  I used to think I didn't have many more years to live, but now I feel as though I'll live forever!  Minding the grandkids three days a week gives me some purpose in life and I have so many things to do with the rest of my time I can barely fit things in.  Some people I know put off retiring as they don't have a life outside work and won't know what to do with themselves.

This morning I had my first swim of the season.  It was quite cold, but bearable.  So, from now on I'll go into the pool every day at least once.  

After my dip I drove to Hunters Hill, a beautiful suburb by the river, with huge sandstone mansions, many with tennis courts and a $M3+ price tag.  Here are a couple of typical houses with a view:

I had lunch in a restaurant with French chefs and waiters.  I wonder if there are any French people left in France!

Now I'm back home and will play the piano.

I subscribed to The Sydney Morning Herald today, out of sympathy, as it is going broke and I want to do my little bit to help.  I'll get the paper at the weekend and online access the rest of the week.  The journalists do a great job exposing corruption and it will be a shame when it dies.  They must be desperate as you get the first month for only $1.

Oh, and now that I have figured out how to work the DVD player, I can watch Andre Rieu to my heart's content.  He'll be in Sydney in a couple of weeks and I can hardly wait...

A perfect Sunday

I really am very easily pleased and have very simple tastes.  For lunch today I enjoyed red wine ($4 bottle from Aldi), white Castello cheese from South Africa (my favourite and also from Aldi), a bread roll, salad and salami followed by ice-cream and strawberries.

Then I amazed myself by actually getting a DVD to work and watched Andre Rieu in Cortona, Tuscany, which brought back sad memories.  (My friend Gemma who saw me off on the plane back to Australia after my stay in Milano died soon after.)

Yes, Winifred, I'm sure Emma will soon show me how to do these things.

It's a very comfortable 22 degrees inside today and probably 30 out, so I think I'll start swimming tomorrow.

Pink geranium

This is a poor photo, but tells the story of my life...I don't understand the first thing about how to use my camera, even though I've had it for years and read the manual many times. I just don't have a head for such technical details.  If I manage to get a good photo you can be sure it was a fluke.  I don't understand the first thing about the computer, either.  I can play a CD but have never figured out how to watch a DVD.  And the biggest mystery of all is my mobile phone - I can barely do a thing.  But at least I can watch the telly and change channels and move the volume up and down!!!

Olga, don't hold your breath waiting for the album of DJs photos.  I haven't forgotten, but haven't quite figured it out yet!

The one thing I am good at is online jigsaw puzzles and I still do several a day, with a cup of coffee beside me.  I find it very relaxing, even though I stand at the pc.

Some of you may remember the pics of my beautiful garden in Mayfield.  Since moving to Sydney I seem to have become a caterpillar farmer, providing fodder for the fattest, juiciest ones you have ever seen.  This pink geranium is the loneliest plant in the street, as it's the last survivor of all my efforts.

How lucky we are

Yesterday I was invited to lunch by a friend who lives in an apartment opposite the Opera House, next door to the Governor General and the Prime Minister (Kirribilli House, above). I arrived early, so walked down beside Kirribilli House to Lady Gowrie Lookout and waited there (next pic).  There was a group of children about seven years old, each in a little dinghy with brightly coloured sails, and all joined together by ropes, with adults in a craft at the head and tail of the procession. Just as they were passing, they burst spontaneously into our National Anthem. Beautiful!!  (Lina, I was sitting here when I SMSd you.)

The apartment block from the road and view from the front:

There were 10 guests, all lively conversationalists, and the food was delicious.  It makes me mad when Australians in general never stop complaining.  Of course there are some poor people, but the vast majority of us are doing very nicely, thank you.

Extended family

This is Georges, my other son, from Burkina Faso.  At the moment he's studying in Sweden and this was taken in Malmo.  He's positively brilliant, speaks many languages, writes poetry and one day a novel, I hope.  We've known each other through cyber space for years and years and now it's good to be able to follow him on Facebook.

Wonderful friends

A couple of weeks ago I got an email from Jacky, a French penfriend from high school days, telling me it was her 50th wedding anniversary.  She and husband Maxime had been absolutely wonderful to me in 1973 when I left my husband, and Philip and I stayed with them for a while in their country home.  It was from there I moved to live with Catherine and Jean-Claude, the couple whose 50th anniversary I went to last year in France.  I spent a few days with Jacky and Maxime in Orleans while I was there last year.  Both couples were amazingly kind and generous and I have to thank both of them for getting custody of Philip in the nasty divorce.  We have remained in touch ever since.

I sent a flower pot through Interflora and here's a photo of it in Jacky's living room.

David Jones spring flowers

For the third year in a row Olga came down from Newcastle to go to David Jones with me to see the beautiful spring flowers.  It's always one of the highlights of the year and thousands of people flock there.  Thanks for taking the photos, Olga.

We then went to The White Rabbit Gallery to see a Chinese exhibition.  These clothes were knitted from pages cut out of the Chinese/English dictionaries shown.  Truly amazing!  Some people are sooooooo clever.

Winifred, I think the whole world is in for a troublesome future with climate change. 

The other day it was 27 degrees here, so I decided to have my first swim, but when I hopped in waist-deep and nearly froze, it took about one second for me to decide to climb straight back out again!!!!  I think I'd better leave it a bit longer to allow the water temperature to catch up to the air.

Early spring not a good sign

It's been the warmest winter on record in some states and spring arrived early, confusing the plant world.  This week we're expecting temperatures to reach the 30s.  Let's hope we're not in for the hottest summer ever!!!!  Our poor old planet...

I'm enjoying the course from Israel on A Brief History of Mankind but am appalled to find trolls spoiling the Discussion Group.  Coursera had to place a warning!  What has our world come to, when even supposedly educated people (you'd expect them to be able to reason and be reasonable) behave like this.  I know it's common to find rude comments in places like The Daily Mail, but why on a university course?  So sad.

Unfortunately the link I posted on my last entry wasn't what I thought.  It didn't show more photos but apparently moves on to something different every day.