postcards

2011 seemed like such a quiet year, though on reflection ……..
The year started with some mixed feelings. Jean had finally had to take the big step and move into a nursing home after her illness before Christmas. So with the need to clean out the family home, the McGlynns gathered for one last BBQ at 40 Wilson Street. What a sprawling, rag tag collection we have become but it was good to see lots of face in those familiar surrounds one last time.

On returning home Cath finally succumbed to my persuasion and we purchased a camp trailer which we promptly christened on a very hot weekend camp at Waratah Bay. This was followed by a more relaxing week camping by the Murray at Easter at Barham were Kiara earned her steam boat license. Alas while great fun this precipitated our next big adventure for the year as a blown muffler on the wagon propelled us into the purchase of “a new car”.
A mighty saga this became as we hunted hi and low for the perfect replacement. Having settled on a Sorento we thought we had the car by June only to be told it was on order and so we patiently waited. Meanwhile the Apollo had one last fling with some miscreants one night, much to its (and our) regret, coming home a few days later much the worse for wear. And so we became a one car family. Meanwhile we waited for the new car.
As a bit of a distraction Cath decided she would have to turn 50 this year and a party would be needed. A gathering of family and friends was commanded and much fun and frivolity was had by all. Champagne flowed and Cath never looked more beautiful – or are we bias?
And still we waited for the new car.
Come September we decided it had been too long since we saw Cath’s sister Fran and hubby Guy, not to mention Michael and Lena, so a trip to Queensland was organised. So up to Atherton for a few days. Then a few days in the Daintree camping in tent cabins by the beach was extremely invigorating.
A croc spotting tour of the rivers, a tropical fruit farm visit and a bit of canopy surfing made it an exotic trip for all. We also managed to do a bit of walking even if the girls weren’t keen.

Then back to Atherton to watch Geelong thump Collingwood in the Grand Final with Fran and Guy. From there it was down to the Gold Coast for a week. Lots of lounging around, the required trips to Movie World and Wet and Wild plus dinner with Michael & Lena and some other friends made for a good time. Finally we (Paul) listened to Manly beat the Kiwis in the other Grand Final.
What a trip. Coming home was a bit of a shock.

And still we waited for the new car.

October saw Fran and Guy down in Melbourne for Guy’s birthday so we all needed to get dressed up and head off to Darby Day and celebrate together. This was enough of an occasion for Cath to invest in a new dress & a hat as well as a new suit for Paul – only his third ever!
Finally the wait was over and the new car arrived! Was it worth it? Hope so. It is so shiny with lots of new buttons so it should be fun running it in.
Around and through our family adventures the girls have continued to blossom and grow.
Kiara is turning into another book junky and we have to remind her to turn off the lights at night. She has graduated to her own iPod, celebrated her 10th birthday in style and her First Communion with grace.
Kiara is also developing well with her netball enjoying the sport and the group of friends she is playing with. Having moved up a grade, success is not as easy but the challenge is helping her development, this season she winning the coaches award.
Siobhan has now finished Grade 6 with excellent reports and looks forward to the challenge of crossing the road to high school. While a bit daunting, at least most of her friends will be with her. We are a bit worried though as she expressed disappointment that she will lose touch with some of the boys. She even invited some to her twelfth birthday, though they mostly stayed in separate corners of the house. She also celebrated her Confirmation and is growing into a confident young lady, What challenges the future holds for us all!
Til next year, which I am sure will pass all too fast.
Paul, Cath, Siobhan & Kiara.

It is hard to imagine another 12 months has passed already.
Life has settled a bit into a routine with work and school, though we did manage one excursion to Tasmania in September. The scenery was luscious and the weather mixed.

For the girls first trip we hit most of the landmarks, walking in Cradle Lake National Park, cruise up the Gordon River, tour of the Cadbury’s factor and a walk on the beaches of Freycinet National Park. We had rain, snow and sunshine and a relatively calm trip there and back on the Spirit of Tasmania so all was good and the girls really loved it, except the rain.
Cath and I also had the pleasure of going to Hanging Rock for the Leonard Cohen concert along with about 12,000 others. While this pretty well overwhelmed the transport system, leading to an interesting trip to and from the concert, the event itself was impressive. We missed Dan Sultan but saw Clare Bowditch, Paul Kelly and the inimical Leonard Cohen himself. It is amazing how many of his songs we knew and he is still an amazing performer at 76. There is still some hope for me.

Siobhan has now finished Grade 5, quoted as one of the highlights of her year, and high school beckons in the near future. Still very much a home body, she has formed some strong friendships amongst her school mates, though a couple will be tested as friends move to different schools. She really enjoyed her 11th birthday with a movie outing and sleep over with some of her close friends. Siobhan has also developed all the trappings of a teenager with iPod grafted to hand, morning sleep-ins and clothes creatively scattered around her room and the house.

Siobhan has once again enjoyed a successful year at school with excellent reports and she continues to develop her tennis skills. Tennis also gave Siobhan her first experience with competitive sport when her coach managed to talk her into playing in a local team. Getting up early on Sunday morning turned into a bit of a drag particularly in the depths of winter but we both survived with some success though the strange grading system meant some funny mismatches. Alas she could not be talked into a second season.
Kiara has also enjoyed her school year and was most pleased to have a number of her friends in the same class. Her creative side has come out with much cooking and building going on. Most importantly with much help from her teacher this year her reading and spelling have come on a treat. This is most pleasing as we were worried we would have another engineer in the family. Though if the train she built to play in over last summer is anything to go by, this may still be the case.
Kiara has been most active outside of school as well. She has now played two seasons with great enjoyment, success and much squealing. This also gave dad a bit of a chance to get involved with coaching and do some polite and constructive encouragement from the side line, usually. (I only got told off a couple of times, honest.) She is still getting tennis lessons and has been learning hip hop dancing. She really enjoyed the dancing particularly her end of year concert.

Cath has now survived my first year of full time teaching since the girls were born and while it has been busy and stressful at times it was not too bad. The main issue is fewer jobs seem to get done around the house and the small increase in exercise that was happening is once again on the back burner. So the bike gathers cob-webs, I still haven’t made the boat I got for last Christmas, built the book shelf or put in the extra water tank. We do have some pets now as I got some stick insects for my birthday .
Cath has allegedly cut back on her hours of work to finish renovating the house but the evidence is not strong as she still seems to spend many hours working on all sorts of other projects. Some of this is a bit of private contract work; some is supporting her mum, Judy, as she copes with growing old and being alone following Joe’s death 2 years ago. A major part of her “free time” early in the year was looking after her aunt Margot after a knee replacement and eventually helping her settle into a nursing home.
Meanwhile my mum, Jean, is not travelling so well. Her dementia still means her memory is almost nonexistent but at least it remains fairly stable. Physically she is not as good this year. Her knees have gradually got worse so that she had started to use a walking frame and had quite a nasty fall in November. She is currently in hospital being assessed as she is now unable to walk at all. Once this is finished she will need to move into care at some level or another as alas she is no longer to be cared for at home.
On a more positive note the year ended with another successful, if slightly damp street party, and while we didn’t win the lights competition we are getting closer. The street kids are also getting better at their carolling which is a great relief.
And next year we need to plan Cath’s 50th.

Paul,Cath,Siobhan & Kiara.