It's been a while.......

Two months have already gone and so much has happened. Even though I have been away for most of August, I must make a resolution to be more consistent with my posts.

I feel I should start with the sad news first. As I mentioned in my last post, Paddington was diagnosed with several aggressive tumours which were malignant. All we could do was give him palative care and make sure he was in no pain. By the 23rd Padd was sleeping in the family room and that morning we came down stairs and gave him a cuddle etc and everything was fine until he tried to stand up. From that moment, everything went down hill and the tough decission had to be made. Trish flew up the next morning and by 2pm...........the 24th of July was one of the most heart wrenching days for us all. It all happened so quickly, within 24 hours he was gone.




He was a gorgeous Golden Retriever with a great personality. He belonged to Trish who is now my very best friend. Even though he lived right on the beach, he would sneak away and come up to our place whenever he got the opportunity. It didn't take long for him to work out that we had air-con and almost every day Paddington would appear at our glass door tail wagging, waiting to be let in. He would then sprawl on the cool tiles and sleep. He was a large dog and would take up most of the floor and most of our hearts.




One of the things he did that I loved was.....greet you at the door with a soft toy in his mouth (he loved fluffy toys that squeaked) and at times he could get 3 in his mouth at one time. I don't know how he didn't choak on them. He loved the beach and always headed for the water. You can just imagine how much sand a large long haired wet dog can hold and he couldn't understand why he was not allowed inside the house !!!! He also left hair EVERY WHERE !!!! I don't miss the hair but I do miss him so much.




On a brighter note, early in August I flew down to stay with my daughter Cathie and her three children while Brian was in Beijing. I don't get to see the grandchildren as much as I would like so to spend 2 weeks with them was precious. I was so excited because I was going to meet my newest little grandson Hamish for the first time. Let me tell you that he did not disappoint. He was six weeks old and so tiny, but best of all, he was so snuggly, a real snuggle bug.




Of cause I spent oodles of time with Isla and Mia as well. Isla is in Kindergarten and Mia being only 3 is still at home. Mia would get excited when the Olympics were on TV and she saw the Bird's Nest would state that "daddy was in Beijingchina" (one word).

She is so sweet and very independent and I would often get "I can do it Grammy".






Isla has grown up so much since my last visit. She loves school and even though she is still shy, she will try most things. While I was there, Isla's school held a mimi Olympics day. They were divided into groups and each group represented a country. There was a good choice of Chinese food on offer at lunch time and they even had an opening ceremony in which Isla took part. She was so nervous before hand with a few tears but when her dance was over she was wearing the biggest grin. Go Isla !!!!




I also squeazed in a trip to Norfolk Island. I belong to a local Mah Jong Club here in Emu Park, called the Emu Chicks and this year we hosted the Annual National Mah Jong Festival on Norfolk. It's a beautiful but very small island and which ever way you look out to sea, there is nothing but thousands of kilometers of ocean before you reach any other land. Our festival ran for a week and was a huge success. We played four half day sessions. The festival wound up with a Presentation Dinner. The theme was "In your Dreams" and everyone was asked to come along dressed as a charector from your dreams. I was the Black Widow.




The rest of the days were filled with tours, fun, shopping, parties or just relaxing. One of our tours was "A night as a Convict". I have never laughed so much, it was so much fun.

I am on the left Front Row