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DEC 05 – Early Dec, Nina dragged me
off my computer to check out St Erth Garden and Nursery in Blackwood, about
100km north-west of Melbourne. Sharon's 30th birthday celebrated
with Curry Puffs, Spicy Coconut Chicken & Black Forest cake. Christmas this
year was no different from previous ones - the creaking and groaning noises of
the laden dinner table were drowned by the sounds of Christmas cheer as our
loved ones eagerly awaited the arrival of "Santa Claus". His eventual
appearance was met with squeals of delight by the grandkids. As in years past,
it was the "silly" presents that delighted and amused everyone - from humongous
granny bloomers to plastic jewellery for the grandsons... 
My MOTH (Man Of The House) and I attended the Boxing Day cricket test match at
the MCG. While the young ones partied with their mates, we stayed home and
drank champagne to see the new year in.
JAN 06 - My MOTH, Mikey
(grandson) and I went to the Campervan & Motor-home Club of Australia
Chapter weekend at Geelong as guests of our mate, Lins, to get a feel of the
Grey Nomads’ lifestyle. After this, the search for our own motor-home took a
serious turn. Late this month, we went for a picnic at Hanging Rock with Nina,
Mikey and two of his cousins, Ellie and Dillon. Despite the legend of Hanging
Rock, we didn't lose any of the kids, though not for the want of trying. 
FEB 06 – Knowing how much I enjoyed the
Boxing Day cricket match, my MOTH took me to the Day/Night VB Tri Nations
cricket match between Australia and South Africa at the Telstra Dome. We
attended the Harvest Picnic at Hanging Rock food & wine festival with Nina
on the 26th and had a great day walking around sampling free food
and wine. As it was the year before, Nina was given more generous servings than
us by the male stall attendants. I must admit I ended up a tad tiddly by the
end of the afternoon after sampling the various sweet wines but thankfully,
didn't disgrace myself.
MAR 06 - Together with Dennis (Nina’s fiancé), we attended Nina’s Graduation at Melbourne University. After the oh-so-gripping ceremony, we celebrated the grand occasion with a scrumptious meal at an Italian restaurant on Lygon Street.  She is now a
Bachelor of Arts and Sciences doing a Graduate Diploma in Education at
Melbourne University. For being the unofficial ‘Employee of the Year’, my MOTH
was given two box seat tickets to the Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony at
the MCG. As super-model Elle couldn’t keep her date with him, I took her place
instead!
APR 06 – Grandson Nathan’s 3rd birthday
was celebrated with a noisy “houseful of kids” BBQ at Sharon’s place with our
ears still ringing long after the party was over! On ANZAC Day, my MOTH marched
under the banner of the RAAF Vietnam Veterans while Nina marched in Deej’s
place, in memory of her granddad under the 8th Division Signals
banner. (Deej was on a business-cum-pleasure trip in China and Hong Kong.) As I
was feeling slightly under the weather, I did not attend the parade.
MAY 06 - Deej returned
from another of his business trips (via Singapore) on Mother’s Day morning with
a present for me – a combined BBQ/Steamboat unit. Coincidentally, my MOTH &
Nina had planned a Steamboat lunch so naturally my original steamboat unit was
put away so we could put the new one to the test. What a fabulous day, albeit a
rather noisy one. A few days later, the MOTH & I drove up to Queensland to
visit his family for a week before driving back via Coffs Harbour where our
search for a motor-home ended. Yay!!! We progressed from “Just look’n” to “Just
Trip’n” (name of our motor-home).
JUN 06 – A quiet month except for Paul’s
(Sharon’s hubby) birthday BBQ, so I was able to fiddle around and do stuff on
my website: Oz Lady M's
Homepage.
JUL 06 - The MOTH's 60th
birthday celebration was a low-key family affair with a BBQ/Steamboat feast,
just as he had requested. On our 21st wedding anniversary we went
for a dinner ride on the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant followed by a bit of a
flutter at the pokies at Crown Casino. The 3rd week of July we flew
to Coffs Harbour to take delivery of Just Trip’n. Upon our return, I woke my my
sewing machine from sweet slumber for a sewing marathon.
AUG 06 – Finally completed my sewing
projects: fitted sheets, pillow cases, under-blanket, curtains, bolster,
cushions, etc… you name it, I sewed it! Project completion was celebrated with
a road-trip to Yarrawonga, Lake Eildon and Nagambie with an extremely excited
Mikey.
SEP 06 - Murtabak (Indian flat bread filled
with egg, spiced lamb mince & onions & shallow fried in ghee), Lamb
Curry and Curry Puffs were consumed at this year’s Father’s Day lunch. We went
on a road-trip a few days later, to East Gippsland, then up to Merimbula on the
Sapphire Coast (south coast region of NSW) before back-tracking to Lakes
Entrance and onwards to Wilsons Promontory. From there we returned to Melbourne
for a belated birthday dinner for Deej. It was school holidays so I took Mikey
to the Melbourne Aquarium a few days before a road-trip to Stockinbingal to
attend the MOTH's ex-RAAF mate's 60th birthday bash at his Gogobilly
Hill property. While in NSW, we also explored Temora, Cootamundra and Wagga
Wagga.
OCT 06 – Went on a shopping expedition for a digital camera for Mikey to take on his New Zealand holiday but apart from that, this was a quiet month. 
NOV 06 - Off to do a spot of fishing at Port
Albert after Mikey’s 10th birthday… on our last morning there, with
my last bit of bait, I landed a flathead, half a metre in length. Nina passed
her Graduate Diploma of Education course with flying colours and was ecstatic
to learn that she was the only successful applicant for a permanent position as
an English, Linguistics and Computer Science teacher at Strathmore Secondary
College, starting next year. Nina organized lunch at an Indonesian restaurant
in the city and even got the chef to cook my favourite dish on my birthday!
Woke up with a start the other morning and realized that Christmas is just
around the corner so here I sit multi-tasking: pounding away on my keyboard
working on my newsletter while watching the Battle for the Ashes on TV,
intermittently joining the supporters by yelling out, "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie,
Oi! Oi! Oi!".
In conclusion, I must say that Life has been very good to me and mine and I’m looking forward to another happy Christmas with my loved ones. I hope it is likewise with you and yours. May your Christmas be very merry and the new year, very bright.
OzLadyM 
Copyright © 2006
OzLadyM |
MERRY
CHRISTMAS
& A VERY
HAPPY
2007 