12 Days of Christmas

It's been a busy time for us with all the Christmas festivities, another stay in Coogee, an International (and a dear friend) visitor and new responsibilities taking on the care of Sammy at Freshford while Josh, Jody and the girls are away on holidays. And most of that has been fitted into the last 12 days or so.

We had our annual pre Christmas dinner with the L and F families last Sunday and as always there was way too much delicious food and plenty of outstanding wines on the menu - along with plenty of socializing and the usual Christmas quiz. Ella and Abi are regulars at these events now and enjoy the company of our friends too.

We celebrated an early Christmas with the young ones the next morning with a slap up breakfast prepared by Joshy and Abi. I got the chance to take the yearly opening the presents pics - like I always do!

I loved the way Abi colour coordinated with this shot.

Jody excelled herself this Christmas incorporating so many thrifted (mostly brand new with labels!!) gifts in everyone's stockings. I also loved the handmade wrapping - beautiful!

Abi made hash browns and conducted a masterclass for me using her very special recipe.

We fitted in an overnight stay in Coogee that same day and were able to high five the young ones the day after as they made their way to Sydney, as we made our way back to Canberra, in the opposite direction.

Christmas Day was a busy one for us: out to Freshford twice to look after Sammy, and the arrival of our friend Haruko in the late afternoon. We only had time for a sandwich for lunch, but luckily Angus and Ollie were able to join us - picnic style by the lake which made it seem a lot more like Christmas!

A trio of Rob's borrowed hats - which well suited both Ollie and Angus, we thought!

We're looking after Sammy while Abi is away. One of Haruko's first outings this visit was to go and see him at Freshford (on Boxing Day). Luckily, Sammy was on his best behaviour for our International visitor.

Freshford, with its rolling hills, mobs of kangaroos and stray wombats is a beautiful property to show to a visitor like Haruko (who is currently based in Jakarta).

She's been prepared to join us in all the horsey care chores - it's a "unique experience" she says!

Rob has been doing all the heavy lifting with Sammy - and managing him superbly. Our only challenge each morning is getting his fly mask on - which Sammy doesn't like - but we are improving our technique.

Haruko has been wonderful fitting in around our program of horsey care, cat care and garden care for friends this week. She has been happy to appreciate quiet times and a complete break from crowded busy Jakarta - she says!

Christmas Coogee

We've been in Coogee since Tuesday this week - a very sober time for the communities around Bondi after the shocking events of Sunday evening 14th December, the first day of Hanukkah. 

We found this heartfelt message on the fence of a house near the Coogee Synagogue on Brook St, which summed up a lot of feelings at this tumultuous time.

Alongside all this - it's the week leading up to Christmas, the final days of the school year and people (and buses) everywhere preparing for the Christmas wind up - and then wind down.....

For us it was a wonderful opportunity to welcome London family back to Coogee - for a few days break before they head down to Geelong for Christmas celebrations with Ros, Pete, Erin and John (and kids). They arrived late afternoon on Tuesday, fresh from an idyllic week in Noosa.

We headed down to our fave Barzoura on the beachfront soon after they arrived, for our first meal together....

It's the magic hour on our beautiful Coogee Beach, as the sun is setting.

It's been over eighteen months since we'd seen Vincent and Jazzy (in London). They seemed to remember us well and Vincent in particular was very warm and sociable with us over dinner.

We enjoyed a slap up breakfast at our new fave Little Kitchen in Arden Street this morning before heading to the Grant Reserve Playground, which both kids seemed to enjoy.

It's been six years since Joel and Kay (and Vincent) have been in Coogee. I took this pic of Vincent in January 2020 (our summer of bushfires), catching bubbles on the sand at Coogee Beach. Look how much he's grown!

I hope Jazzy won't forget her time here at Coogee after that long flight back to her London life ...

This is one gorgeous family....

We've promised we'll try to catch up with them again in London - hopefully in 2027!

I have a new iPhone

Thanks to encouragement from Sydney niece Clare I have a new iPhone17Pro, as of a week or so ago. It's been fun to get to know the vastly improved photo taking possibilities of its 3 lenses and hi-tech sensors, compared to my 7 year old iPhone XR.

Its frightening how well it captures our 74 year old selfies!!

and I am amazed at it's macro lens capability - this is a pic of my lunchtime salad.....

The telephoto allows for much better compositions (IMO)......

....... and great close ups .......

........but I love taking people pictures! And we had a chance to experiment with my new iPhone's portrait capability when we took Charlie the Jack Russel walking last week. A good result we think - especially considering Charlie never sits still for the portrait taker!

We had an early Christmas dinner and present giving with the young ones last weekend, and I was thrilled with these happy portrait snaps - taken in low (electric) light and completely unposed........

For once, Ella was happy with getting a book for Christmas (Kamala is her hero).

And random shots of Ella over dinner........ She was extra sparky this night after putting in a full day at work with both her current part time jobs (hospitality AND retail!).

Sunday was huge for Abi and Sammy - a big Pony Club event at Equestrian Park with Sammy competing in both 70cm and 80cm Jump events. My action shots have never been great as reaction time has never been my strong point. This was the best I could manage on Sunday.......... (I need more practice!)

I loved the way I managed to capture the huge smile on her face in this pic at the end of the 80cm course - when Sammy (and she) had done so well!!

Another milestone

Our girl Ella has just finished off a great final year at College - no more secondary schools for her! She's heading out to the big world now: part time work in retail for the next little while, then more study in the future. Last night she celebrated her Year 12 Formal - with all the fun of dressing up to the nines and making a splash on arrival, while handling the pain of unaccustomed killer heels for the duration.

We were lucky enough to see her (and her friends) all dressed and ready for the event.

It was so lovely to see Ella looking so happy and relaxed, as gorgeous on the outside as she truly is on the inside!!

Abi still has a few years to go to her end of school celebrations - but it will come quickly enough!

We followed the car as Joshy drove them to the venue at Old Parliament House. Once at the venue it was slow progress for the drop off cars - most of which were stylish older muscle cars and classics, some overheating under the strain of all the revving and idling.

Joshy's beautifully restored Holden VK retained her grace under pressure (of course) while being suitably impressive in its (powerful and noisy) engine revs.

Ella and her friends all made it safely home after last night's festivities, which is always the main concern of us oldies. We'll enjoy hearing all the details in the coming days!