Movember in Australia

Michael and Kathy Mason pay us a surprise visit

Noel, Michael and Kathy

Michael, Kathy and Edward

This afternoon, we had a surprise visit from our good friends, Michael and Kathy Mason. They live on the east coast of our island home, in the beautiful seaside town of Swansea. We have known Kathy and Michael since the mid sixties and it is always a lot of fun to spend time with them. We were delighted that they made time to come and visit us while they were in Launceston.

Happy birthday to Caitlin

Our 4th grandchild, Caitlin, celebrated her 17th birthday today. Her friend, Lucas is very happy too!Happy birthday dear Caitlin!

Happy birthday, Dorian

Our 3rd grand child celebrated his 18th birthday today. Happy birthday, Dorian.

Edie role playing Bindi

Toby, Nicole and Edie

We visit Belinda and Guy

This morning we were invited to morning coffee with our friends, Belinda and Guy who live at Bellerive. It is some time since we visited them, so there was a lot to talk about. They gave us directions to a house nearby,where we purchased some delicious 'Prickly Box' honey.

We have dinner at Orizuru

Edie exploring the use of chop sticks

The birthday boy!

Grandfather of the birthday boy!

Grandmother of the birthday boy!

Toby and Edie enjoying the delicious food.

Orizuru is our favourite Japanese Restaurant in Hobart. As it will be Dorian's 18th birthday on Monday, we had a special early birthday dinner with him tonight. As usual, the meal was delicious. I always like to have a Dinner Box that includes a little bit of everything in it. Yum!

We visit Anna Carins

This morning we traveled up to Mt Nelson to visit our friend, Anna Carins, who studied in the Art Education course with me in the early 60s. Before art school days, Anna attended Launceston High School with Noel - so our connections go back a long way.

Edie the artist and baker

Edie loves to cook. She had just made a batch of chocolate cupcakes (with the help of Nicole). She is also currently producing some beautiful, detailed drawings. Her use of the skyline and groundline in her drawings coincides with her progress in independent reading.

Happy birthday, Lexie

Our dear friend, Lexie Williams, celebrates her 86th birthday today. I have known Lexie for more than 50 years. She and her husband, Harry worked a farm across the road from my parents in Prospect Road, West Ridgley.

We visit Wendy and Peter Holloway

We also visited our friends, Wendy and Peter Holloway in Burnie. Wendy was an art school friend of mine. She spent her childhood in Queenstown, which was a favourite holiday destination for me, when I was at primary school.

Wendy is well known in Tasmania for the beautiful water colour paintings she produces.

We visit Dale and Emma

In Burnie, we visited our cousins, Dale and Emma Broomhall.

We visit Margaret Richmond

We travelled on to Devonport and spent some time with our friend, Margaret Richmond. Margaret has a large garden, so she gave us a tour. There were some beautiful blooms to photograph. She has several cats and one even posed for me, as I walked through the kitchen.

We visit Althea and Terry

After visiting godmother Telle, we stopped off in Latrobe to visit our dear friends, Althea and Terry Dimmick. It was great to spend time with them as we had not met up for quite a while. We enjoyed viewing some of their collections as well as their own art work. Terry is a chef and he had prepared a delicious lunch for us. What a treat!

We visit our godmother, Telle.

Birth of the Bab

These are photographs of the Shrine of the Bab on Mt Carmel in Haifa, Israel. I took the photographs in May 2007 while I was serving as a consultant at the Baha'i World Centre.

Baha'is around the world will observe a holy day - the Birth of the Bab - on 20 October.

One of nine holy days on which Baha'is suspend work, the date marks the anniversary of the birth - in 1819 in Shiraz, Iran - of Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad, known to history as the Bab.

In 1844, the Bab announced that He was the Promised One foretold in the great religions and that His mission was to alert people to the imminent coming of an even greater Divine Messenger, namely Baha'u'llah. Baha'is consider both the Bab and Baha'u'llah to be Messengers of God.

The Bab, who was a descendent of the prophet Muhammad through both His father and mother, attracted tens of thousands of followers in His native land. In 1850, by order of the government, He was executed in the public square of Tabriz, in northern Iran.

His remains were later brought to Haifa and entombed on Mount Carmel. His Shrine, with its golden dome, is the most famous landmark of Haifa.

There is no prescribed ceremony or service for celebrating the anniversary of the Birth of the Bab. Baha'is often plan devotional meetings or musical programs and gather for activities and fellowship.


To view more photos and additional features, click here:
http://news.bahai.org

Happy birthday, Caleb

Burn After Reading, a new movie by the Coen Brothers

Archbishop Tutu - Hunger and world Poverty

About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. This is one person every three and a half seconds.

Unfortunately, it is children who die most often.

Yet there is plenty of food in the world for everyone. The problem is that hungry people are trapped in severe poverty. They lack the money to buy enough food to nourish themselves. Being constantly malnourished, they become weaker and often sick. This makes them increasingly less able to work, which then makes them even poorer and hungrier. This downward spiral often continues until death for them and their families.

There are effective programs to break this spiral. For adults, there are “food for work” programs where the adults are paid with food to build schools, dig wells, make roads, and so on. This both nourishes them and builds infrastructure to end the poverty. For children, there are “food for education” programs where the children are provided with food when they attend school. Their education will help them to escape from hunger and global poverty.

Chooky Dancers - Yolngu Zorba Meets Superman

Facebook Armour

Springtime in the garden

It is springtime and the tulips are blooming in the garden ... and so are some of the other flowers.

Toby and a large Rainbow trout

Toby, our number one son , is a very keen fisherman. Like his grandfathers before him, he enjoys a spot of fishing at the weekend. Yesterday he sent me an email and this photograph of a rainbow trout that he had caught. As you can see by the smile on his face, Toby is totally delighted with his early morning catch.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Hespa

Hespa created a beautiful self portrait using large pavement-style chalks. She enjoyed playing with the soft toys and riding on the old rocking horse. Later, she displayed her collection of Felicity Wishes dolls and their frocks on the dining room floor.