2007

For our family, 2007 has been a year of sadness and of joy, of passings and new beginnings.

January and Family Holiday

We were delighted when Kim. Paul, Kris and his partner Janet were able to join us for a week in January at Lord Howe Island. The whole family shares a love of the outdoors – and there was walking and snorkelling in abundance. Kris achieved a major milestone by reaching the top of Mt Gower. John and the two Janets were stymied half way up. The Harrises didn’t even attempt the climb – a wise move as it took physiotherapy and several months before my knees stopped hurting. Because our numbers made up a tour group, we were able to snorkel in places usually only visited by scuba divers. I think the highlight was viewing the beautiful yellow sun coral in a 20m deep cave.

February

John was fortunate enough to have a trip to India in February to review the impact of the project that he had there a few years back. He had much enjoyment in renewing friendships and making new ones – spending quite some time sitting with the Indian farmers and discussing peanut whitegrubs. And the food was excellent, as always.

March

Sadly my Dad passed away in March. He had been suffering discomfort from a number of illnesses for some years. When it was finally time to go, he was happily resigned to the situation, even stating “I didn’t realise dying would be so easy”. We have endless gratitude to the Palliative Care Unit at Prince Charles Hospital.

Easter

Easter saw us again off bushwalking in Northern NSW – a truly beautiful part of the world. Despite the dryness of the landscape, we had many interesting walks around the Glen Innes region.

All Year

Things then paced along as normal for a few months, both John and I thoroughly enjoying our “pre-retirement” jobs. I am up to my ears in mapping the environmental impacts of proposed developments, and John in his business of agricultural consultancy which has led to many interesting jobs ranging from cold stress response of cotton to spray drift and pesticide efficacy analysis.

Our “day” jobs don’t leave us with much spare time, however John is an admirable brewmeister, providing us with a very enjoyable drop of lagers, pilseners and fruit wheat beers. As well, he has just discovered fruit drying, and the smell of a newly dried fruit salad leaves our mouths watering. I spend my spare time on the ‘net – updating web sites for a couple of friends and generally trying to stay up with changes in technology. Reading is my other vice, and I keep the Brisbane City Council Library service busy finding new releases for me.

June - Sydney

With great pride, we flew to Sydney in June to see Kris awarded his Doctorate in Animal Physiology. A “one-in-a-hundred years” weather event, lack of parking space, inability to find parking meter change and confusion with the lunch rendezvous left some of us wet and windy, however it did not spoil the day at all and we were very impressed by the University of Sydney ceremony. I cannot put into words the pride we felt in Kris, as he has had a long hard slog to achieve his goal, including moving to a new city where he know almost no-one, and starting a Masters degree in his new vocation, biostatistics, while still finishing his PhD.

July - October

In the second half of the year, we were drawn south – first to attend John’s sister, Lorraine’s birthday party in Canberra (in July – that’s shows how much we love her), then in October to the same Buddhist Meditation Retreat that we had attended in eastern Victoria last year. Despite its name, the retreat was hard work, with lots of learning, as well as the meditation. I declined to go with John and attend the 5am and 6am sessions, which has probably diminished my prospect of enlightenment. The Retreat is also a good test of our will – having to go without meat and alcohol for ten days.

October - Sydney

I was fortunate to have a conference in Sydney, timed for our trip back from Victoria, so we enjoyed a couple of days at Coogee Beach. While I concentrated hard at the conference, John took the opportunity to do some beach walks and renew his friendship with the animals at Taronga Park Zoo. This gave us a chance to catch up with Kris and Janet, who had just landed the job of Project Officer in the Sustainable Programs Division with the NSW Dept of Environment and Climate Change that she had been vying for.

December - Baby Sarah

The year has culminated for us in a very joyous event – the birth of our first grandchild Sarah. Kim and Paul delighted us by announcing Kim’s pregnancy in May, and we have followed her prenatal progress with interest. Sarah proved to be a very large baby (4.6kg – 10lb 2oz in the old language), and in the wrong position, so she was born by C-Section. Neither Sarah nor Kim has looked back, and they are both healthy and contented. Paul is doing an excellent job in his parenting and so far, I believe has done most of the bathing and a lot of the nappy changing. Sarah is the most beautiful little girl. We love her dearly and are very grateful that we have the opportunity to see her regularly, Kim and Paul only living a 20 minutes away from us.

Happy 2008

We send our love and best wishes for the New Year.