Seasons Greetings 2014 from Marie & Jay
Christmas blessings and greetings from the “olde retired couple” now living in the BIG SMOKE (Auckland).
We hope your year was a good one as even though we are now living in a retirement village, we find we are
busier than ever with different functions here, especially with Jay on the Social committee LOL! Would you
believe they had him dressed as a Grenadier Guard complete with moustache at our Mid-Winter dinner with a British theme.
Nothing spectacular to report from us this year, apart from several visits to different health specialists which may go down as 2014 Elderly Health Check-Up Year!
Some pics from our family visits and recent trip up North
Jay visited a Heart Specialist after recognising similar pains he had over 25 yrs ago when he ended up
having a triple bypass. This time he had 2 stents inserted which just took a day and it was back to business as usual.
We enjoy our Art classes on Wed morning here at our Community Center with others in the village as well as
experienced Artists outside the village here. We are learning so much from their experience, as well as much jocularity.
We thoroughly enjoy being close to family back here in Auckland and meet up regularly on Sunday mornings
with my sister Ann, Clem & their family after Church for coffee and a good chat. We keep in regular contact
with our other brothers and sisters and feel we are so blessed to still have each other.
We had a couple of trips back to Rotorua during the year, sadly one was to attend a dear friend’s funeral.
It is always great to catch up with dear friends whilst there.
We had an urgent call to Wellington in July, as our daughter-in-law Bonnie received devastating news that
her only brother in Montreal (where she is from) was killed in a motor-bike accident at the tender age of
41yrs. Bonnie & her mother sadly flew back to Montreal to attend his funeral and we helped Karl with his 3
daughters aged 16months, 5 & 7yrs. It certainly was a sad time for all.
We always enjoy family coming to stay….Clare, Marco & Joshua from Wgtn fly up from time to time. Karl,
Bonnie & the girls arrived early December to share an early Christmas with us and now Kevin, Teresa, Ella &
Amelia from Melbourne arrived on the 14th of this month.
We have all just returned from 5 days up North at a delightful secluded inlet at Te Tii Bay not far from Kerikeri.
Thank goodness for skype to keep in close contact with the rest of our family overseas…
Annemarie, Ron & Isabella in the USA, Alex, John & Thomas in France, and John, Marilyn, Connor, Aidan & Bryce in Cairns, as well as Kevin, Teresa, Ella & Amelia in Melbourne.
Happy New Year to one and all,
Love & Best Wishes,
Marie & Jay