Hi everyone,

Firstly Merry Xmas – as the year rolls near the end we reflect on the events of this year .

We are still living on our farmlet, but as our bones grow more weary and stiff, we are gradually clearing out the accumulation of mainly Clare’s belongings from “The Shed” that Jay built a few years back, which was meant to house his beloved vintage Mercedes plus garden equipment, but it has also become a storage shed for many items that have to go.

Clare & Joshua moved back to Wellington at the beginning of this year and life has now turned around for them both. They are both happily settled there again.

It was great to catch up with John, Marilyn & the boys, plus Ethel Woods (Marilyn’s mother) on her first trip to New Zealand, when we all met up in Queenstown for Christmas at Karl & Bonnie’s place with little Molly, also Bonnie’s parents and step-sister Chelsea from Dunedin. We all had a great time together, Clare & Joshua travelled down with us and then went on to Wellington. Ethel was ecstatic at the beauty of the South Island.

Jay’s brother Brian & Dale Menzies came to stay a few days early in February and it was great to sit and relax with them both. Whilst here, our weather temps rose considerably, which felt more in keeping with Sydney, where they live.

On the 14^th February Jay and a friend climbed Mt. Taranaki on the west coast side of the North Island near New Plymouth, which was quite a feat.

On the 19^th Feb. we were thrilled to welcome the arrival of Karl & Bonnie’s 2^nd daughter Lilly-Anne, who was born in Dunedin (same as Molly) with a mop of auburn hair, which has continued to grow, but has changed to golden/auburn. There is only 18 months between them and already they are great company for each other.

Kevin, Ella & Amelia flew over from Melbourne at the beginning of April for a week. It certainly was great to enjoy their company and do things together. They are a good fun. The girls are really growing up…they were feeling excited about their trip to England, Europe & Ireland mid June for a month.

As I reflect on our year’s events, it has been filled with family and good friends coming to stay which has been great. On the other hand, we have lost so many good close friends and family this year, but I guess as we are ageing, this will be the norm, and we are blessed still with good health.

We returned to Queenstown in August to meet Lilly-Anne for the first time, which was special and then at the end of Aug, we flew to New Caledonia with our good friend from Nelson; Carmen Scott. It was great to experience the French culture there. We met up with old neighbour friends whilst there, so they and Jay drove to Bourail further up the Island to visit the old town and area where Jay’s father and other NZer’s plus Australians were stationed during the last war, they found it all very interesting to witness.

I continue to play 18 holes golf (twice a week if poss) and Jay enjoys his walking twice a week where possible, mainly due to weather in both cases, as we have experienced a very cold winter this year and look forward to warmer weather as we head back into Christmas again! This year Karl, Bonnie and their two little girls are coming to stay with us, as well as Clare, Joshua and Marco (Clare’s new partner) whom all the family welcome.

Best wishes to all for the New Year, 2010.

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