Life in a Victorian Seaside Town

 It's a long time since I last wrote.  Last year was not good for us but the end of the year was terrific.  We had many breakups to go to and two were held at our house.  We had a quiet Xmas with our family minus our youngest child and her  family as they are now safely ensconced in Norway in their own home.  Since then we have seen many films and still met up with lots of friends.  We have really had a great 2 months.  I hope this year is better than the last and that our health is better.
Email leda1940@gmail.com

Email leda1940@gmail.com
This year has continued on with a lot of illness for both Hal and I.  Our dog died, a school that Hal and I had helped to start went bankrupt and closed and Lee and her family are returning permanently to Norway next month.

This year has started badly. First I had bronchial asthma over Christmas/New Year period. Then I slipped getting into the shower and spent 7 hours waiting at the local hospital for an x-ray and to have the wound in my head sewn up. Hal said he wasn't taking me anywhere until my black eye faded as he thought people would think he had given it to me. :-) Just as I was feeling better the osteo-arthritis in my ankle played up and I had difficulty walking which prevented me going out much. I know the rest of the year has to be good as the start was so bad.

I am having trouble with arthritis in my hands and arms so have not been able to write. Hal has been having much comment on his stories being published and is quite thrilled. Hal jnr has been travelling overseas a lot in his job, Tom has resigned from his job and is looking around for something different, Lee has changed her position in the public service for something better, Lou has been in a musical, and Grace is doing well at secondary school.

I took Lou to the ballet Madam Butterfly at the State Theatre. Apart from the fact that the Australian Ballet were excellent as always I overcame the problem of not walking far by being pushed around in a wheelchair courtesy of the customer service. It was the first ballet Lou had ever seen and she loved it.

We had a wonderful Christmas and new year. Lee and her children came down to stay for 2 weeks while Magnus was in Norway for his parents' 60th birthdays. We took the children twice to Ocean Grove to see Louise, Lou, and James while they were staying at a caravan park, then Kate took Kathryn and Magne to Anglesea with Grace for a few days. Kate and Tom had an Australia day party where all our family came together except for Magnus who was still in Norway. Unfortunatedly I have had more trouble with the bulging disk and will be out of action for a few weeks again.

We celebrated Christmas day at our son=in-law's Tom with all his family. Our son and his family joined us in the evening and the children had a wonderful time together. Lee and her family stayed in Canberra this year. It has been wonderful having time to ourselves. New year's eve we intend having lunch at the Pancake Parlour, seeing the film The King's Speech, coming home and having a barbecue, similar to what we did last year which we very much enjoyed. Maybe this year we will manage to stay awake.