Friday, May 27, 2011

Friends...

Friends. Just sitting here browsing the net and looking at a Texas lady''s blog; someone who is so creative, using op-shop finds and things that are old and new together. Someone whom I don't know, lives across the other side of the world but I can enjoy what she's about, because she took the time to post a blog with beautiful pictures.
Friends I realise can be anywhere in the world. A friend can be someone I've known for years, or just met yesterday. A friend can be a person who writes down their thoughts and ideas and you feel a connection with them.
This  morning a whole bunch of new and old friends met up to celebrate a lovely friend's birthday. Everyone was invited to say something about what she means to them. An hour later the words were still coming - words like: enthusiastic, loving, kind, joyful, encouraging, amazing, wisdom, strength. Many words were said to describe what she meant to her friends.
This is who she is. Full of love and joy and encouragement, yet she carries a great sorrow in that her husband died only last year of cancer. She has such faith in God...but not a soppy, religious faith. She has faith in a down to earth way. As she said after everyone of her lovely friends has spoken " I don't understand God, I don't know why He does what He does, but I trust Him and I know he has more things for me to do. Even when I'm lonely I tell Him about it."
Faith like this puts me to shame. Faith like this makes me realise I have so much to be thankful for. A great healthy (most of the time) hubby, four great daughters, 3 wonderful grandchildren and 3 sons-in-law. A house to live, cars to drive, food to eat and clothes to wear.
How much to be grateful for.
Friends are the honey of life; they sweeten my day. Whether I go out to have a coffee or cuppa tea with them, whether they make a comment on Facebook, ring me up, send a text or even when I read a blog of some lovely soul across the globe, a friend I haven't met, I love them all.
They are special, generous and make life worth living.  God bless you my friends where ever you may be. Mwah!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Family, friends and one year on...

I was reading a friend's blog which reminded me of my own and realised that many months have gone by without an entry. It's nearly a year ago since Ross and I set off into the sunset (literally) to begin our adventure around  Australia. It seems so long ago now, but the memories linger on, especially when I plug the external drive into the TV and let the 6000+ pics roll by! That's a lot of photos and I really haven't gotten around to editing them as yet. It's such a daunting task - 6000! pics to get my head around. Never mind I'll do it 'one' day soon. :-)

Toyota HiAce HiTop Camper Van for SALE!
 As you can see from the photo, we have regretfully decided to SELL the camper. We would love to do more short trips of a month here and there, but there are just two of us, yet we own three! vehicles. With insurance and registration fees going through the roof, it's not a viable option to keep it.  Seeing neither of us want to part with our own little car, it looks like the 'FBI' will have to be sacrificed on the altar of financial responsibility.
So....if you want a vehicle in very good condition to start your trip to wherever, just give us a call on 07 32857227 or email me at pattieone at hotmail.com.

So what's been happening at home with the Holmes' this year? Not a great deal. Life goes on. Ross is back driving the Coaster school bus, ferrying just 2 disabled students in wheelchairs to and from their separate schools.  He says it's the cushiest job in Brisbane and keeps him out of trouble, plus it's a little extra income now that we are officially retired and age pensioners. Hard to get those words out! It's not a good thing to own up to - life is good, but growing older is not exactly my cup of tea. However the alternative is not too good either. It's either live or die. Strange thing when I find myself wondering how long I still have to live...is it 10, 20 or 30 years? It's something that happens to all of us, but the last thing we want to face or think about too much.
Ross just recently set up an account to cover our funeral expenses! I was NOT impressed! However I can see his point...it's inevitable that we will have a funeral and someone's got to pay for it. Just quietly...don't tell anyone...but I reckon the kids can. Don't tell them will you. :-)))
Anyway it's food for thought ...

Since January I have been taking a Cert III IT course at Captain Cook College at Nundah. It covers basics in networking, setting up PCs, HTML, CSS and creating and uploading a website to the internet. It finishes early next month. They may be offering a Cert IV and I hope to go on to do  that course too. It's pretty mind boggling, and I am by far the oldest person doing the course, not only that but there are only two females in the entire class! The young guys are really kind and nice to me, even though I ask heaps of questions about stuff they already learned at high school. I'm enjoying it  though and it fills in two of my days, which is good.

With a large family now, there is always something happening in the way of birthdays, anniversaries or school events. Jesse turned 10 in April and Shonny's birthday is tomorrow. She turns 8. Georgia turned 1 in April too, so there's been birthday parties and get togethers which is great.

Coolum Beach April 2011
Ross and I spent a week at Coolum at our dear friends Pam and Neil's unit. We had several days of stunning weather, warm enough to enjoy the waves and the pool. The rain didn't stay away either (when is it going to stop?) so we had some indoor time as well. I also caught up with a couple of my good friends. Easter was fairly quiet with most of our girls and their families doing their own thing.  Labour Day weekend saw Ross going up to Coolum again, but this time to complete some work he started during our hols.


Hillie and me at Picnic Point


Scene of the valley from Picnic Point

I took the opportunity to head to Toowoomba on Sunday afternoon to visit my fave sis Hillie. Such stunning weather, which we took advantage of by heading to Picnic Point the next day, to sit in the sun and enjoy the views of the valley below. It was great to be able to talk and talk while enjoying some yummy coffee and cake. We don't catch up often enough...must do that again soon.

Mother's day was another lovely day with 3 of my girls coming for lunch as well as Jason my SIL. So nice for them to be able to pop in. Lovely bunches of flowers from Steph and Jason, and Ross. Cards with sweet words of appreciation.  A beautiful dish from Tonia. Thanks girls. 
Life is good, even if I don't know how long my retirement will be. Cheers :-))