Hello to all my dear Friends,

Last Christmas was celebrated very quietly, as our dinner table was much smaller without Bert Barnes and Norman.  We celebrated at Bob and Barbara's home.  No exploding Christmas puddings, thankfully!  We took great care this time, heating it up in the microwave.  Boxing Day brought the most wonderful present.  Both Jim and Neil arrived by plane to spend a few days here in Adelaide with us.  Neil only had the week off work between Christmas and New Year.  Usa had taken herself and their sons back to Bangkok for the whole of the summer vacation.  Jim of course is a free agent.  Neil slept at the Barnes home, while Jim stayed here at Balmoral.  Neil hired a car so he was able to drive to & fro, and follow B & B whenever needed.  Neil sent me a Christmas gift with a message asking for it not to be opened before he arrived.  It was a most unusual gift, a rug woven from a collage of photos of our family!  It is just magnificent!  As well as being a complete surprise.

My Photo Blanket

As the weather was rather hot Barbara organized for us all to take a cruise around Port Adelaide one day.  Being on the water was a wonderful relief as our very hot weather continued.  Then another day we all returned to Port Adelaide for a special pancake breakfast, followed by a short drive out to Glenelg  to finish off with some ice cream and a stroll our along the pier to watch the bathers and continue to enjoy  the cool breeze.  Neil and Jim had to leave on New Year's Eve, but not before Balmoral started to celebrate with a rather large BBQ lunch, so thanks to Balmoral we had a feast before starting out to the airport.

Port Adelaide cruise

Me with Jim on the cruise

My life here at Balmoral continues to hold many special events, and gives us all a superb quality of life.  You may get a little weary of me continuing to tell you how fortunate I feel to have decided to come down here to Adelaide and live at Balmoral.  I have been here seven years this August!  It hardly seems to have been that long.  The weeks simply fly by.  We have had some happy coach trips.  Our chairman bought a very nice piano last year, and invited one of his friends to give us a classical concert.  We were all very impressed, so another was arranged at Easter time, after which the piano was presented to his grandson, so I guess there will not be any more classical piano evenings.  Our social committee runs regular raffles.  The proceeds are used to provide Christmas gifts for the staff and pay for the various entertainers.  We have had several talented entertainers but there is one group I must tell you about.  They are a family group plus friends who raise money to promote research into treatment for both breast and prostate cancer.  They perform under the title of the 'Strolling Tones'.  Their most recent visit here raised $490.00; since we only had an audience of 34 residents, I felt this was a rather good result.  Mind you they gave us a full measure of enjoyment.  We could hardly ask for more.  Most of them emigrated from England, and do several items dressed as 'Pearly Kings & Queens'.  They dress up in character; mostly they simply add a scarf, or similar.  But on this occasion they bought some new costumes and treated us to a group of songs and dances dressed as Arabian belly dancers.  The costumes featured lots of sequins.  The performers thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and certainly gave us lots of laughs as well.

The Management have had two automatic doors installed his winter, which are a great boon to all of the residents, who like myself require the use of walkers to get around.  These doors are contributing to our ongoing comfort as they keep much of the cold air from coming into the foyer and down the hall to the dining room in winter.

Also this year the management had solar panels installed.  We very much hope that they will lower the electricity bills.  Strangely, since the solar panels have been installed we have had very little sunny weather.  This seems to be contrary as for the most part this year our sky has been cloudless, until the installation.  Hope the sun will shine again soon.

After our very hot summer our winter has seemed to be never ending, and much colder than previous years.  I cannot complain as I have an oil heater placed in the lounge room, and there is the A/C in the bedroom, although just why they would design an apartment that way is beyond me.  An extra jacket is needed when going onto the walkway to the dining room.

7th Sept … I am writing this part of my letter in September and I am very excited, as we have actually had some rainy weather, even a thunder storm or two.  So much rain that in fact our dams are almost full and the rivers are so full there is a small risk of flooding.  Our lakes are very gradually filling but it will be a long time until they are full.  On TV we hear that Victoria has had even more rain and there are several towns that are flooded, and they have even called in some of the army to help with the emergency measures.  Once again South Australia seems to have been lucky, we escaped the severe bush fires experienced by Victoria during summer.  Although we thought the weather was rather hotter than usual, it was nothing compared with Victoria.

It is now 1st November.  I went over to Sydney on 25th September to stay with Jim.  Neil was still in Sydney (see more information below) so I was met there by both him and Jim.  This was a real bonus as it had been my birthday a few days earlier, and it would have been Neil's birthday a few days after we returned from our cruise.  So we took the opportunity of having an impromptu double birthday celebration on the Sunday when Neil picked us up to have lunch with Roger and Rex, then later he took us all over to visit Usa at her café for afternoon tea.  So we had a lovely family day.  It was a treat to hear the boys and Neil chatting at lunch, and to join in with them.

Jim and I went for a cruise on the Pacific Jewel from Sydney through the Whitsunday passage as far as Daintree.  It was smooth sailing, for which I was very pleased as I am not the world's best traveler, on either land or sea.  There were almost 2,000 passengers on board, but the only time I was ever aware of such numbers was at mealtimes.  There were 5 restaurants on board, but we only patronized two.  One was a buffet, which meant that Jim had to fetch my plate, then return for his own, and at the other restaurant we were generally seated at tables of 6.  This was mostly good as we got to hear different opinions as we ate.  Of course there was entertainment during the evenings, some of which we went to see and hear.  This area was on the same deck as our cabin, so we just had an easy walk with no stairs to an place reserved for wheelchairs and no steps to negotiate.

Our cabin steward was very helpful and the cabin was fitted with hand rails in the bathroom, so it was easy for me to cope, except that the flooring was like a skating rink when wet, so Jim would spread towels down to make it safe for me to get out of the shower.  We did not go ashore as it was quite difficult getting through the double sets of doors, negotiating a slope up and over the actual doorway to go out onto the deck, without trying to negotiate a gangplank then step down into the tenders which transported passengers ashore.  There was plenty to do on board without worrying about that.

We arrived back in Sydney on Sunday morning.  P&O did their best to ease our departure, and there were ample taxis to transport us all to our various destinations.  I had another few days in Sydney, which went very quickly as there were old friends to catch up with and relatives to see, as well as visiting Macquarie Shopping centre, where Jim has several friends he sees while having morning tea.  I did a little shopping, and found some nice Australian native blooms to take to Carolyn Gamble and a box of chocolates to give Tory when she visited with her friend.  Jim also took me to Concord Golf Club for lunch a couple of times.  He has been a member at Concord for many years, as was my Mum, and Mildred.  The golf course and the gardens are so beautiful, being Spring they have many yellow rose bushes and they were all in flower.  Just magnificent!  Then Jim drove around the old Mortlake gas reservoir area.  It has been demolished and is now being replaced with lots of multi storied apartment blocks.  Very swish I must say! 

While I was in Sydney the Commonwealth Games were on, so there was no shortage of TV to watch.  I was very impressed as Jim really looked after me so well and helped me in every possible way making my stay even easier than on board ship.  I really enjoyed my holiday.  Because of the very windy cold conditions in Sydney the plane was very late leaving and Barbara and Bob had a 2 hour wait here in Adelaide.  I am so lucky to have such a wonderfully caring family.

I guess you are weary of reading about me, so I want to wish you all a Very Happy Christmas and a Joy and Peace throughout the New Year.  Sending you all my love. 

Now family news. 

CHAMBERLAIN FAMILY

Kim and Rolf are keeping busy working at their business, but have been within Australia this year.  Alister is at Brisbane University, while Tory is down in Sydney doing a Nursing Course living with a friend in Wollstonecraft.  Tristan is sitting for his HSC.  So they are all studying.

Christina has also started her Science course at Brisbane University and so far her results are good.  She celebrated her 30th birthday this year, so is doing well after a later start than normal.  Heather and Greg are having a harder year, as Doug, (Heather's Dad) is not well, so Heather has had to apply to be his carer.  Greg is still plagued with his headaches, mainly migraines, but he is told he has cluster headaches as well.

GAMBLE FAMILY

All my family have had changes to their work, Kim remains in Ashland, Oregon.  She has had to wear many hats in order to support herself.  Just a few months ago was appointed to a part time job related to x-rays and is looking into taking up study with a view to re-qualifying as a radiographer; every state in USA has separate requirements so moving and keeping qualifications is a challenge.  She continues to perform wedding ceremonies, but Ashland is much smaller than San Francisco, so less potential ceremonies as she is not the only civil celebrant in town.

Barbara and Bob sold their mobile food business after almost 14 years.  She is working during the morning, six days a week, at Aussie Mobiles who bought them out.  The hours are variable, sometimes starting at 2am (glad that is not me).  Three evenings a week she works at Surry Downs Chicken Shop from 5pm to 8pm, so she is a busy girl.  Toby is working casually mainly at Buttercup Bakery and living back at home with his parents

During October Neil started work for Bank South Pacific in Port Moresby (here are some photos).  This has meant that the Family have remained in Neutral Bay as both his sons are at Mosman High School.  Roger has completed Year 11 and is now in the first term of his senior year with his HSC in 2011.  Rex is in Year 8.  Usa resigned from her job as manager of the Mosman Primary School canteen and is now the proud owner of the Take 5 Café in Seaforth.  She is working hard at improving the business and making a huge effort.  I really wish her every success.  I hope that Neil will enjoy his work at the bank and hope that while he misses his Family that he will be a success as a long distance Dad and husband.

I certainly hope the Gamble Family have an easier year during 2011. 

Well, that’s all folks! 

Love to you all. 

Cheerio, Gwen.