2024-May

 

We went for a plant tour at Riverstone where Haresh explained how everything worked. It definitely had the feel of an exciting factory tour.

Persian food! With the experts: Mohammad, genuine foodie from Iran, and Danesh, Mr Zoroastrian from Pakistan, from Iran, partly connected to India-this guy is Mr International. We have many interesting restaurants close in to Parramatta.

Went on a really lovely walk from Watsons Bay to Double Bay with Saurabh, Danesh and Mohammad from work.

Here they are at Watsons Bay. Great city views, bush views, interesting homes.

Happy birthday to one of the most beautiful people in the world, our Lou. Eeek we're all gettin old.

Had Lous birthday. Sunday said he could do anything. We went for breakfast at the local Cafe, had French toast, then the rest of the day was spent in a game mode.

 

I got some photos from Ellen, of Pop's. Some interesting ones in there of the Dorahys, my Mum when she was young, Pop and a Christmas from 1985.

On the day, we went to Sushi with Vonnie and the cousins. 

On the actual day, down at the Brighton Cafe like 30m from our front door. The boys always get French toast minus the bacon. It's kinda like pankcakes but bread, too nice.

One night i had to get up early to go to site. The night before i had vivid dreams of living in a 6 bedroom house with problems, and Marie had a collection of 15 sewing machines. Nothing unusual there.

Managed to get a snap of our lovely Oli smiling at the camera. Usually it's a grimace for the camera, fair enough.

Blurry is how I felt eventually, but had a really nice mid week catch up with Rara, Vonne, Tony, Marie telling a tall tale here, and Nick the most civil of engineers.

Parra town square. This place suddenly got fancy.

The office refurb now includes a ping pong table.

Had lunch at Fils again. Thanks Fil for your kind hospitality.

Ellen brought along a few interesting historical snaps.

Went for a walk with Goldie which invariably seems to catch some baseball. It's actually pretty interesting. I think I'd prefer to watch baseball to cricket, not that that is saying much.

I inherited these boots from Lou. His feet are now bigger, and his old boots fit me perfectly. Thanks Lou, these boots are awesome.

Random spontaneous night at our place with some local parents: Tim, Jaime, Claudia and Trish, with Andrea at the end here.

2024-April

Left: finally got to put the stepping stones down in the back yard. The grass is looking really great as it thrives when not crushed when muddy.

Mumma cat had an adventure. No idea how she got down here. It could not have been graceful. I couldn't reach her at all. Shoved this old little ladder down, and after a lot of meowing, she finally just climbed out on it.

The Golden Strangers - really excellent musicians, all with a LOT of training.

Bike ride with the work guys, from Granville out to Prospect Reservoir, then only Canley Vale for some fantastic authentic Vietnamese food.

Me and Oli at the local Chinese in Lewisham. The chili plate was hot as hell.

School holidays! Oh Lord I have to say these are so nice. We rolled up to The Entrance on the train. The 1st train was a 3 stop express but the boys wanted to stop for pizza, as it was dinner time, to be fair. So we passed up on the fast train, got the all stops to Hornsby, spoke to the owner of Mad Toppings at length. He'd just broken his foot on some steps in the dark. I worked on my laptop while the boys played games. The trip goes very fast. 

Did a paint and sip at Emily's place with 5 girls. Learned about how often people have sex these days and about their desire levels. There were a few apologies but i don't really care. There was a lot of laughing, good times. 

Mohammad came the following day for a ride around the lake via Long Jetty. Yesterday was enough rain to put the path about 30cms under in places. After rolling in the water to meet him at the station i advised him to take his shoes off to get through easier. All good, and some v nice photos too. Farnaz, his wife, called from Iran. She got to see the sunset over the water.

Saw Dune. It was awesome. 

We did a lot of lounging around and sleeping. I have to say; it was a real holiday, too good.

To the right: Anzac Day march at the Entrance.

Oli has 4 friends up, Curtis, Felix, Oli and Julian. We all went to the dog beach for a swim. They were about to go in when Marie niftiest the rip. She said to go between the flags. I came a bit later.  As me and Marie approached Lou looked like he was being dragged deeper and away from the flags. The life saver in the tower was coming down, one was already in the way, 2 more were running in.

One said, the girl in the head dress keeps going under. The young guy Sean straight to her. One on the pale board went to Felix and surfed him into shore. I started to worry immensely about the girl in the headdress who then had to wait for the same guy to get out there again to get her. Oli pushed Lou along back into the safe zone. He put his hand up while being hit by more waves. Felix lounged out on the sand exhausted. It was a great relief that the girl in the head dress was next onto the paddle board. I didn't notice but the girls gather and someone else had to get rescued. The rest of our boys made it back in, but Curtis said the drag was strong and tough to get back in. Marie thanked the life guards but i was a bit to embarrassed to express my gratitude. The girl in the head dress did not take on any water and seemed unfazed by it all.

Claudia, Jaime, Andrea, Akemi and Esteban came up.

Went for a very pleasant ride to see the sunset over the lake with Akemi.

And on the next day, this time we went a bit to the north. There are heaps of paths around here.

After months of being a long haired hippy, Lou chopped it all of for a laugh. We were very happy. he looks magnificent. 

The champions of table tennis at work. Left Mohammad versus Nima to the right. Kheli khoub e.

2024-March

< This is probably just lunch with Mohammad. I think his mum thinks he does nothing but eat.

Went Tony and Evonne's to babysit the kids. Saw a movie Friday night, had a big sleep in. Had Mohammad over on Saturday night. Met Farnaz for the first time, talked about moving to a new strange country, leaving friends and family, language exchange, cooking tips, saw her birds. A brief chat about Engineering.

 

Went to the go-carts for something to do. Lou was impressed that I actually had some skills. I tried to explain that it comes after 30 years. I can drive around in circles.

Quiet Fri, watched some movie or something. Went to the coast, mowed lawn, edged them. Saturday night went to Mixtape, Philter, Bob Hawke Breweries with Justin. Good times. Sunday went to Robbie's for a games day, played gin rummy on like dominoes with cards on them. V fun! Met Rob's sister Mandy, hubby.

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Marie told Felix's mum Wendy that we were going to the PBC "tomorrow". So we had the unexpected pleasure of meeting her on Thursday night. Lucky she is free Friday as well, so she can come along to the main event with the other parents. The others being Julian's folks Enno and Andrea.

Marie is busy doing a 888 form to help Mohammad bring his wife over from Iran to here. He is a lovely fellow.

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Left: finally got the palm trees nearly all chopped down in a day.

Friday, we tried again to go to the local bowlo. Had v nice time w other parents Enno, Andrea and Wendy (again). Boys included Oli, Oliver, Julian, Curtis and Dekux. Me and Marue went up the coast while the boys stayed and played some kind of blind his and sell with wire shades on. Too fun.

Saturday, Simon and his team of 3 chopped the umbrella tree and non natuve palms. The yard is bizarrely empty and light. Need to plant replacements. 

At Long Jetty. We had a weekend away with Tim and Trish. All v v good.

Plenty of rain, means the tanks are full. I think we burned out the pump, so it's not doing much...

The En Trance...

At right: artwork by Oli... pretty good, and recognisable sketches.

Came back for Carmels afternoon tea for Anne Sophie with all the Barberos plus Ellen. 

Sunday lunch was at Fils. We picked up Ellen and Anne Sophie to take them there. A nice idea.

Happy Easter Baka!! The usual family get togethers at the Triglav club next to the retirement home.

2024-Feb

Fri night went to dinner at Bob Hawke brewery,  fancy 80s Chinese but delish. All the pubs etc are aimed for old people like us, not the poor broke young ppl. 

Oli went to school. His buddies were whipping a rope around, then letting it loose into the ring of people at random. Oli knelt down into the rope and got it smack in the eyeball. The local doctor said there was no scratching on the outside. So then we went to the specialist, picture on the right. He could see some bruising at the base or retina. Oli was under strict orders to lay still, no sport, so he offered to run home after forgetting these instructions. Bad Oli! His eyes seem all good now, after several hundred in docs fees.

Saturday, started pulling sugar things to start mounting art on our walls. Spent the afternoon on call out on computer, put up wires for the passionfruit vibe to grab,  watched weird Western movie.

Tomorrow Jaime picnic for bday. 

16- drinks with Connaugh, caught a call half way through

17: spent 2 days at Liverpool stp. Not sure if this job is a good idea but generally it's not too bad

24: on call. 23 Fri, went lunch with John, Lilly Keanu, Vonne, Tone, ate too much pizza 

Sunday was lunch at Fils for Johns birthday. He asked if i still did my own hair cuts and told people what aunty beat said i love my food. Very f in g annoying. 

10- Bike ride in the city, lunch Milsons Pt. Met Marie at Chatswood for some shopping. Bought a couple of pairs of shorts that she reckons I need, but I don't.

Left to right: Mohammad, Danesh and me.

This was the first time that Mohammad had seen the city since arriving in Australia from Iran. 

This route is honestly one of the most scenic in Oz I reckon.

Thumbs up (mostly finger up) from Oli, and a 3 finger salute from Lou.

2nd: went for Tihana's christening. Spent day mowing, moving dirt around, trimming the pepper tree, and moving rocks to drain near the garage. Not sure who wants a holiday home. We spend more time cleaning it up than going for a swim, damn  it.

Scott the proud father, Tim the gramps, and Zdenka, the happy gran.

Not so fast Oli. I got the shot before you could swing up a rude finger.