Bowls and all that ...

I've been telling you about all the refurbishment that has been going on in our Village. These pics signal the opening of the resurfaced bowling green. As past president/secretary/enthusiast and now life-member, they asked me to open the green by putting down the first bowl. That meant a few words to the assembled bowlers, and then the all important business. It was a day of rain but we had a clear period for the occasion. You can see the wet on the green. The fellow watching to see that I did it right is the manager, Ian Pendergast. A good fellow but doesn't know how to pronounce his name properly. Insists that it rhymes with eon instead of as in ion. To coin a phrase, it takes all to make a world.

All new at Abervale.

We haven't been on a cruise, or visited some distant land, but we have had our quiet share of excitement here at Abervale. I don't mean getting my hair cut - altho that's part of the story. Here I am in the upgraded hair-dressing salon. Our hairdresser, Sue, wanted me to be the first customer for I had been her first custiomer when the Community Centre first opened in 1988- I did have a hair cut or two between the two dates. Not only inside but outside there were changes. The bowling green had a make-over. Sadly I can no longer demonstrate my skill at the intriguing sport of lawn bowls.

Here is a scene of confusion taken during building ops.

But to return to inside the Centre. We are quite proud of our library. It is fed from gifts from all sorts of places and has quite a range of good novels, biographies etc.,

Here is a view of the re-designed interior - don't miss the waratahs in the fireground! On the right are the billiard tables with a cofee bar, and at the back the dining area. Meals are supplied for any who want a relief from home cooking..

And here is the new front of the centre. Those who have been here will hardly recognise it. The landscaping is not yet complete, but when all is done, it should look quite impressive. There have been additions to the Centre. It includes a gym, up-graded offices and reception area, a computer room and craft room.

Such excitement!

Darkest Tragedy!

Don't be taken in by the brightness of the wattle on the right of the picture. The general drabness of the scene strikes the right note. The pic represents the 'stiff upper lip' in the face of tragedy. A tragedy that makes the WFC and Global Warming just blips on a passing screen. It may well be found that many riots and uprisings around the world are directly attributable to the despair engendered by this tragedy! The unthinkable has become fact, the impossible has happened! Before 95 thousand spectators the Geelong Cats were bundled out of the semi-final leaving it to two negligible teams to fight it out for the AFL Grand Final next week end.

I know you will all be shocked by this news, but nil desperandum as we Bengali speakers say. It means 'wait till next year' - always supposing that there will be a next year! After all if the Cats can be bundled out at the semi-final, anything could happen!

The missing link.

I'm adding this because the important part of the "wattle throttle" bit somehow went missing. I referred to my previous blog about wattles and went on to say that they have been planted all around the Village by our gardener. I've given you three samples. The first is a ground cover, the second can be seen in comfort from our lounge room and the third is one I see on my daily walk. Our gardener reckons that there are over 200 species of wattle. It may be so. Anyway, I hope you like some of our wattles.

Wattle and throttle ...

A while ago I talked of wattles. Well, I'm still at it because, as you doubtless know, wattles of various types (I was told there are 2000 different species) bloom one after the other from early spring onwards. Our Village gardener has planted them at various spots around the place much to my delight. I'm supplying three samples--the first is one I see on my daily walk, the second is by the lake just where we can see it, and the third is a ground cover.

The pic up in the right hand corner indicates that the throttle is down. The long weeks of building and renovating are almost at an end. We now have limited access to our Community Centre with its library, coffee making stuff and the billiard tables. Here our manager and one of the residents try out the billiard table, while a painter in the background does a spot of patching up. By the way, our manager for some odd reason pronounces his name 'Ian' to rhyme with 'peon'. Some fellows will do anything to get noticed! Yes, the table felt is blue. "Where has all the green stuff gone?" as the old song might have had it.

cycling and all that.

Hi there! With Judy's new blue bike the topic of interest, I thought I should remind you of the once in a lifetime opportunity to see representatives of 50 nations (are there so many?) fighting it out - or shld I say cycling it out? - around the streets, roads and cycle tracks of Geelong. The great event - the 2010 UCI Road World Cycle Championship - takes place between Sep 29 and Oct 3. Great excitement in Geelong - come to Geelong! (I'm not getting paid for this either!).

But life continues on a quieter plane here at Abervale. The reefurbishment continues apace and we now have limited access to our community centre. Most of the obtrusive trucks and other work-related machines have gone and our roadways are once more less hazardous.

"... with blossoms for the wattle"

We can't offer any of the shining white and blue of the Greek Islands, but we can boast about the golden wattles that have come to life around the Village. This is just one of the many that bring to mind how, in school days on wattle day, we sang about the bush being alive with golden wattle.

It's interesting to read too of your cullinary delights. The only contribution I can make is to tell of the character in some novel I was reading who made himself a sandwich - sardines and peanut butter! Care to try it and tell me all about it?

Happy Birthday, Rachael xxx

Sorry we can't pop over to Pittsburgh with a bunch of roses to say happy birthday, so we'll have to make do with a sort of virtual bouquet. We hope you'll have a happy day and that the year ahead will be a good one.

Your planned trip sounds an excellent way to celebrate the passing of another year.

God bless and lots of love,

Pa and Ma xxx

It's in blue and white.

By now the whole world knows the outcome of last nights epic struggle between the two top Aus Football League teams - Geelong and Collingwood. The struggle took place at the justly famed Melbourne Cricket Ground. The ninety thousand who attended the match and the countless thousands who either watched on TV or listened on radio considered it a rehearsal for the Grand Final in September. People take Aussie Rules football very seriously here. Geelong's newspaper the Advertiser, like all newspapers, is generally printed in black and white, the colors of the Collingwood mob. To the Joy of Frank Costa, president of the Geelong football club, the Advertiser printed its match eve paper in the colors of the Geelong team - blue and white.

Their confidence in Geelong was well founded. As the whole civilised world now knows, Geelong Cats won the bruising contest against the Collingwood Magpies by 36 points.

I know you were just longing to hear about this!

"Lemon tree very pretty"

The words of the songwriter are echoed every day by residents who pass up and down our court here at Abervale. In fact so many comments have been made that we felt it would be criminal to deny you all an opportunity to behold its beauty! It has blossoms, green bulges that are promise of lemons to come, half-ripe specimens, and fruit ready for use. The singer was right when he said that the lemon tree is very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet, but he was wrong to sing of the juice of the lemon being impossible to eat! Not so our Meyer lemon. If you don't believe me Rachael, just pluck one and try it in that swish kitchen of yours! Love to you all, Pa and Ma.

Sitting in the sun and all that ...

We have had a great visit - The Aged Ps visiting their even older Ps. There was talk, fiddling with the PC, and then a visit to Queenscliff, a lunch at the Bowls Club with views of Port Phillip and then six or seven ks to Pt Lonsdale at the very mouth of the Bay. While the girls explored the adjacent shops, Phil and I sat on a bench to bathe in the sun and soak up the tang of the sea; to watch ships make their way up and down the channel; to see hardy souls on motor skis or boards catch the waves pouring over the rip at the bay's entrance; to watch the waves smash against the retaining wall and to enjoy "the flung spray and the blown spume and the sea gulls crying". Mean while back at Abervale men were busy on the refurbishment ...

We're still here!

In spite of the desolation that appears in the picture on the right, we are still here and enjoying life. Being without a Community Centre where we can hang out and talk to our friends over a cuppa, we have to devise other ways to get together. A bunch meet for afternoon tea at someone's unit, a group go out for lunch at one of Geelongs good eating houses. The men, not knowing their destination, set out for their monthly get-together over lunch.

And what of the pic on the left? Ruth had a birthday celebration on March 31 and Jenny and Ted came to see us bringing a pot of pink cyclamons, and a boquet of flowers from Megan. This latter included the beautiful protea pictured. We thought you'd like to see it, and to know that all was not desolation!

Love to you all - A couple of Pilgrims.

Breaking up the happy home...

Our beautiful Village is looking like a bomb site! Fences have been erected to keep us away from the dangers of construction sites; strange machines dig and delve, and our Community Centre is a mess to be viewed from afar. However, our eyes are on what will be! The promise is of an upgrade of our Centre, a dedicated dining room for those who want to have meals there, the provision of a theatrette, new carpets and furniture, upgrading of the offices and reception, a stylish entrance and more units! Come and see us when it is all completed. In the meantime we carry on. Instead of meeting in the Centre people are arranging home visits. Devotions are held at the local Anglican church, Groups go out to luncheons in various places and the community life goes on. Love to you all - Ian.

Some light - some shadow.

Hullo all you happy followers ... This about light and shade -

Life's like that - the sad and the glad, the light and the shadow. We've experienced that in just a small way. First the very nice part - a visit from the Judy and Phil those hoar-headed and aged Ps (!) who enjoyed a short flight from Sydney, that outer suburb of Melbourne, to see to see even more ancient Ps. Of course we put Phil to work on a highly technical problem. As you can see the metho bottle is handy for some purpose or another.

The small shadow on our lives is the temporary closure of our Community Centre. The end we are sure will justify the present denial of it as a meeting place and the place of various social gatherings. The Centre is to be upgraded and refreshed and at the same time a few more units are being added to the Village.

Love to you all.

One lizard = ten ducks?

The agedps may have lounging lizards to entertain them, here at Abervale we also have visitors to keep us happy. Mum, Dad wood ducks and eight of their progeny have decided to make Abervale their home. I like them but Ruth and others view them with some disfavour owing to the droppings they leave behind. Someone has suggested nappies but how ...? In the meantime I enjoy the sight of them. Too cold for them where you are Rachael!