2004: summing up

This was an incredibly eventful year for us. The first half of the year we spent much time and energy in getting our house and garden back together after the flood of December 2003. However, it is now looking better than ever and the experience made us aware that we had huge reserves of resiliance and positive attitudes. Up until recently I would have written "disastrous flood", but the tsunamis that have hit Asia a couple of days ago have put that into perspective.

Our sons are now young men, the oldest having completed his first year at university and bought himself a car, and the youngest graduated from high school quite spectacularly with a score of 99.35.

I received an award from the Deafness Foundation for outstanding service to the hearing impaired, and have been feted in a number of university publications.

Mel is still employed at Kodak, which is no mean feat as the entire manufacturing plant and research lab in Melbourne have been shut down.

After only 10 years we have paid off the loan on our house, which we celebrated in style with a dinner at the Mecca Bah in New Quay.

Roll on, 2005!

Slipper days

What bliss: the weather has turned wet and cold, and what a great excuse to stay indoors and potter around on the computer and read.

So what does it mean, Slipper days?? Well, that means that on days when I don't go outdoors, or at least anywhere in public, I wear slippers all day, never bothering to put on shoes.

What is good at this time of year is that the newspapers are filled with suggestions for summer reading, so in addition to the lists that I keep throughout the year, I now have a few more titles to follow up. And tomorrow I'll go to the library to pick up two more titles in the series "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" (tomorrow will NOT be a slipper day).

One day I might start a book blog, but for the past few years I've been keeping a diary of books I've enjoyed reading. I'm posting a photo of it.

Having a slipper day.

At my desk

My book diary - bought this years ago in Berkeley. It's a beautiful handmade book with marbled cover and paper, from India.

Raining! Great day for the garden, fiddling with computer/internet...

Ah, peaceful house: sons sleeping in, husband off to buy some business shirts on sale. Good excuse not to work in the garden because it's raining. Well, I did some weeding and raking yesterday, so conscience is fairly clear. May do some baking - anybody ever heard of friands? A colleague brought them to a farewell morning tea for another colleague, and she's given me the recipe.

Damn, there's the sun, may need to get outside and do something.

Bah humbug!

It's Christmas Day, and I have achieved my goal of not going near a shopping mall for the past six weeks, and have also managed to avoid hearing those dreary sounding Christmas carols. Musically the most boring, mind-numbing ditties. And the words: "Peace on earth, good will towards men" - yeah, right.

However, we will be enjoying our time together as a family, giving thanks to the food gods and happy to be their earthly worshippers.

So what's on the menu at the Forbes' household this year? For starters, smoked salmon and cucumber salad with fresh baked rolls, followed by roast pork, a yummy red cabbage dish, and stuffed baked potatoes. Dessert will be chocolate babka. The recipe for the red cabbage can be found at Val's kitchen web page http://vforbes.customer.netspace.net.au/food.html
as well as a couple of other recipes. (New Year's resolution: must add to that page)

Enjoy the day!

Happy birthday, Keith!

Keith Richards, so cool, and a real muso. Formerly a bad boy, now grandfather and oldie but goodie. How did you get to live to the age of 61?? Just keep on keeping on.
See photo. (opens in new window)

The opening bounce

How do you start a blog at my age? And why? My 18-year-old, who I asked for help in setting this up, was very dismissive, to put it politely. But hey! He and his contemporaries think nothing of blabbing on their mobile phones, for all to hear. At least with this medium, people have a choice: to read, or not to read. But THAT'S another story.