Feast of Honour

We celebrated the Baha'i Feast of Honour with friends at the home of Paul and Anna Gerard. We were delighted to have two visitors from the Netherlands join us ... Rebecca and Shamim Razavi. Rebecca and Shamim along with their young son Elliott, are visiting Rebecca's family who live in Launceston. It was a very happy Feast!

Cactus flower

Our friend Anna Gerard gave us a gift of a cactus plant this time last year. We are delighted to find that it has already produced some beautiful red flowers this summer.

We meet friends in the city

Morgan and her baby.

George Oosterloo

As we were in the city catching up on shopping and various tasks today, we were chatting with our friend Morgan and her new little baby when another friend George Oosterloo, who now lives in Brisbane, caught our attention as he was sitting at the same outdoor cafe. It was a very nice surprise to see George and to have a chat with him.

Our favourite Chocolates

Today I visited our favourite chocolate shop in Launceston - to purchase some more of their delicious merchandise. I particularly like their dark chocolates with chilli.

The Golden Compass

We went to see the movie 'The Golden Compass'. I enjoyed the movie very much. The action, the acting - especially Nicole Kidman was excellent. The special effects were quite spectacular. I particularly liked the interpretation of the bears. The film did not quite cover the contents of the first book of the trilogy - so we will have to wait (how long?) to see the further development and interpretation of the story.

Christmas greetings.

One of my hobbies is collecting interesting old post cards. One of my recent acquisitions is this Christmas card dated 1901.

Corra Lynn

A century old image from my post card collection.

Another old post card view of the North Esk at Corra Lynn taken a century ago.

As we approached Launceston, we crossed the North Esk River at Corra Lynn which has been a significant tourist site depicted on post cards over many years. As we have had some welcome rain over the past few days, the water flow in the river was quite fast.

Upper Blessington

After we descended from Roses Tier, we travelled through the beautiful valley of Upper Blessington on our way to Launceston.

Roses Tier Road

On our return journey from Beaumaris, we travelled on the Mathinna Road which took us over Roses Tier to Launceston. On the way, we stopped to photograph flowers and ferns by the roadside.

Happy Anniversary to Janne and Christopher

Janne and Christopher

The amazing fish.

Today we travelled to Beaumaris on the East Coast to spend time with Noel's brother, Christopher and his wife, Janne. The 23rd of December is their wedding anniversary and this year is their 35th (Coral). They kindly invited us to their dinner party which was held with a group of friends in their 'A frame' house that has a beautiful location at Beaumaris overlooking the sea. A feature of the delicious dinner was a huge fish that Christopher had caught.

Persecuting the Dead

Obi-Wan

Dorian Broomhall, a grandson who lives in Hobart, has joined with two friends to form a group called 'Obi-Wan'.
They recently recorded a 4 track CD titled "How to Hang a Left ..."

A few days before Christmas, they came to Launceston and did several busking sessions in our local strip mall in the city centre. They received a very positive reception and they were interviewed on one of the local community FM Radio statios - City Park Radio 103.7 FM.

Obi-Wan is:

Dylan Pargiter-Green - guitar and vocals
Dorian Broomhall - Trumpet, Melodica, Percussion and vocals
Cam Sibly - Flute, Percussion and vocals

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days

Happy birthday, Hespa!

Today is happy 8th birthday for our grand daughter, Hespa.

World Education Fellowship (Tasmania) Christmas Dinner

We travelled back to Launceston in time to join with a group of friends for our annual Christmas Dinner. It was held at the new home of John and Margaret Hosford at Windermere. As usual it was a delightful evening with delicious food prepared by the talented Jaqueline Horne and wonderful fellowship. Several of the friends shared some funny humorous stories.

Lichen, mosses and fungi in the forest

A devotional at Lake Chisholm

We met our friend, John MacLeod at the car park and we walked into the lake along a path that took us beneath towering eucalypt giant trees, past rainforest species and a through a thick carpet of ferns that edge the amazing Lake Chisholm. Lake Chisholm is a permanently flooded sinkhole resulting in a very large, still and deep pool of water in the middle of the forest. The mirror like surface of the lake produces beautiful crystal clear reflections. It was very still and so peaceful at the lake. It is an ideal spot for meditation and prayer. The only sounds were birdcalls and a diverse range of frogs croaking. It was brilliant.