Connecting with the long past and recent past

In the last chapter I mentioned that January was quite a month of re-connecting with special people. It began with seeing granddaughter Kirsty. For me it was ever so special to have her visit me in my home. Gemma and Kathryn came along as well, and we had a great time playing games, eating food, looking at photos, walking along the beach.

One of the games that has always been a favourite in our home is the dutch board game of 'sjoelen'. It is a long board with four compartments in which the player seeks to shuffle as many flat wooden disks as possible. It is energetic, noisy, sometimes dangerous and above all, a lot of fun. Here are a couple of pictures taken on the day:Kirsty, above, playing her first ever game of sjoelen, and below a picture of concentration as Gemma sends down the disks watched by Kathryn:A week later, I had the joy of welcoming my old friends Barry & Liz Holloway from Papua New Guinea days in the early nineteen sixties. Barry was the Patrol Officer responsible for Local Government in Kainantu where we started the Agarabi Primary School. He was both resourceful and of immense help at the time and was a frequent visitor to our home when he was still a single man.

Barry is a fellow Tasmanian, born and bred in Sheffield on the North West Coast. He married Liz, who hails from the same area, while on furlough in 1962 and true to the good example that Carol & I set, had twins in 1964 (I think). While sadly their marriage did not last, they remained good friends. For that reason it was good to have them both come over to see me in Lauderdale and we had a good time together:Barry, or rather Sir Barry, continues to be very much involved in Papua New Guinea in a variety of ways. He is presently heading a Constitutional Reform Committee, advising the present PNG Government on constitutional changes. He is now a PNG resident, which did not stop him from accepting with great relish, my offering of fresh raspberries that I had picked that morning out of my own garden.

Early February I was delighted to welcome granddaughters Jess & Sarah from Adelaide to spend a few days with me. We had a ball and thoroughly enjoyed the many things we did. Sarah was not here for her Grandma's funeral last year and wanted to check the place where we laid her to rest. It was a quiet and dignified moment where the three of us reflected on a very special person who we all miss: A visit to the Royal Botanical Gardens on a lovely day was pretty good with lunch that provided us with the following views of the gardens and the Derwent River:The Japanese Gardens are a treat and well worth some extra special time with its water features:The blooms in the conservatory were stunning. There were just so many of them, but here are just a couple of sample:A visit to Peter Cundal's veggies patch (of Gardening Australia fame) was irresistible, especially with a pumkin of this size:One of the most photographed section in the gardens is this pond with that lovely bridge. With these two lovely damsels, I could not resist a photograph take:A trip to Launceston and Ross was thoroughly enjoyed. While I had a meeting to attend to in Launceston during the morning, the girls enjoyed their time in the Cataract Gorge and loved it! We traveled back to Hobart via the West and East Tamar routes and stopped at the following lookout, which is near where the controversial pulp mill is to be built:My next visitors will arrive in April and then in June & July. It means that I continue to connect with wonderful people whose company I find most acceptable and enjoyable.