Dear People,

Here's hoping you are all happy and healthy, and enjoy the season and the coming year. At this time, I reread letters and cards from the last year, and remember the times some of us had together since last I wrote. It is a joy that friends are still friends even though sometimes it is years since we saw each other. And it is a comfort that although the externals change the inner person is pretty much the same.

Poss and I are being gently reminded by nature that the years are passing. The local dental practice is now a familiar place, and our joints are reminding us of their existence. Poss has had physiotherapy for shoulder problems, and I've had an arthroscope on one knee. I damaged the knee playing tennis, and am now no longer able to play. The arthroscopy repaired the damage sufficiently that I have no problem walking as far as I like, but sideways movement is tricky. Poss is still playing, but not as long as previously. As the tennis group is people our own age, they are not averse to shorter playing time so Poss is fitting in well.

Apart from the disintegrating body, the only other health problems have been proximity to grandchildren. They seem to pick up any circulating bug, and pass it around in a generous way. So we have had our share of sniffles but nothing out of the ordinary. Joanne has helped this process along by adding one more granddaughter – Emily – born in April. She is a cute kid with red hair, it will be interesting to see if she keeps the colour as she gets older. Joanne and Scott were both blondes as kids, but are now a shade darker.

Scott and Jo have settled well into their larger house in Wallsend. Poss has made it a mission to use the back yard there and has a thriving vegetable garden. I guess our microscopic courtyard garden (less than a square meter) is not a sufficient challenge, although Poss manages to provide quite a few items for the table from it. Joanne's back yard includes a children's cubby, which was quite dilapidated. For Anna's 3^rd birthday, Joanne asked for a working bee rather than presents, to fix it up. So last Saturday a band of us 'renovated' the cubby, built and filled a sandpit, and built the surround for a soft fall area around the swings and slide.

Poss goes out to Wallsend Wednesday and Thursday to help Jo. On Thursdays, Sandra's boy Michael stays there also. Anna and Michael are only 10 weeks different in age, and play together on almost equal footing. There's lots of 'I want that' and 'Anna/Michael did this' but they are always keen to see each other and don't want to part when the time comes. Both Anna and Michael are signed up to go to preschool next year, and Jo is going back to work (she took a year's maternity leave). Poss is happy with this as she didn't know how she would go looking after three youngsters by herself.

Sandra has parted ways with her husband Adam, although there is no talk of divorce. She now lives just across from the Sunday tennis courts, so while Poss plays tennis I go there for a chat. Michael is now minded in five places: Sandra's, Jo's, both grandparents' and the house in Harrison St. At first he didn't take to the situation well, but seems to have accepted the routine now. Sandra was somewhat directionless and unhappy after the split but now is very positive and perhaps happier than we've seen her for quite a while. The whole situation seems quite amicable, Sandra frequently visits Adam and they still do some things together. It is an evolving mystery and has a 'stay tuned' tag.

Beth the chef/musician has been very active this year. She moved to Carrington as mooted in last year's letter, but in August she moved again, to Islington. It is so close we can see her veranda door from our house. You would think this would mean we see more of her but the reverse has happened as she has also rediscovered the opposite sex. We haven't had a chance to be acquainted with him as yet, but I'm sure the time will come. Not only has she moved house twice, but jobs also. She left the Travelodge for a restaurant in Carrington. It was OK work, but when she was looking to make the break from the Travelodge her preference was to work for a group where she had done part of her apprenticeship training. It looked like the group was going to offer her a suitable job, but then withdrew it and offered an unsatisfactory alternative which Beth turned down. Some months later they came back with a good offer so Beth jumped ship and is now sous-chef (second in command) in Lotus restaurant at The Junction. She's been there for over two months and is still happy. We ate there recently and it was very satisfactory.

It would seem Beth's musical pursuits are mainly for the social aspects of being in a band or two. Scott (Jo's husband) is also in a band (called 'Gentlemen') and they are sometimes playing the same venue. I've seen them both at our closest watering hole 'The Hamilton Station' which is less than a block walk from home. All I can say is going deaf (which I am) is no impairment to hearing them. Fortunately our house is just far enough away that it is barely audible at home.

Our youngest, Nicole, is now the furthest away. She moved with her partner Andrew to Melbourne in August, and are now living in Lower Plenty. They both talked of going, two of Nicole's best friends in Newcastle now live there. They moved along with Andrew's sister Louise into a house that was purchased by a lady they know, and she wasn't prepared to move in immediately. Nicole had no clear idea of what she would do and looked for jobs in fields other than financial management, but ended up working for a finance management company in Balwyn. She says the work is more varied and challenging than in Newcastle, and she doesn't have to do reception work. We haven't talked to her enough to know just how it is all working out, but it would seem to have been a happy move so far. The one down side is her car engine self destructed unexpectedly and she has the burden of paying for its replacement (a recent Toyota Corolla in good condition).

Poss's parents are still going strong. Norm has evaded the nursing home for another year and looked well when we visited recently. His now quite extensive medical team seem finally to have resolved the underlying causes of most of his ailments and his health has improved markedly. He seems positively happy, and is in danger of losing his “Australia's biggest Grouch” title (or something similar, Dawn wrote in to a magazine and they awarded the title some years ago). Dawn is still very active and seems not to get any older.

Our life seems to be very full. Poss has something to do every week day, with her few cleaning jobs and the grandchildren. I am enjoying my first year as an old age pensioner, and do a few hours at the Kooragang Wetland Rehabilitation Project (KWRP) offices most Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The rest of the week is taken up with computer fun at home and the odd job. We finally updated to a digital TV and it has an Ethernet interface. This started me down the road of computer based audiovisual activities such as using the computer as a digital TV video recorder, and DVD authoring. This seems to occupy vast amounts of time for very little output, but it keeps me off the streets. We are still eating out every Tuesday evening, and are now playing trivia in the pub on Wednesday evenings.

Very little has happened on the renovation front. The back yard paving is complete and we can now walk from the front to the back of the house via the side walkway. The back step is in place so walking out the back door is now hazard free. We were hopeful of having the balustrading for the stairs by now, but this is in limbo awaiting input from an artist who we were hoping would do the design for us. The handrails are made and stored in the roof of the garage. The long-talked-of front veranda/balcony is closer to reality. The Council (after nearly two months deliberation) have approved in principle a construction method that I want to use. But we can't proceed with a building application until we get an engineer to sign off on the design. And the engineer will not be able to start until after Christmas. Then it will take council another number of weeks to approve and THEN we can build it. So maybe it will be complete by next Christmas (maybe).

After some consideration, we installed a small flued gas heater downstairs. It is a great success, quite economic to run and keeps the house at a pleasant temperature through winter. Previously we relied on electrical heating via blow heaters which were expensive to run and not that effective. The new heater is thermostatically controlled and after a few hours running the house temperature is constant. With a bit of luck, we will have no utility costs in the near future. This is because the State Government are now crediting us 60¢/Kwh for the solar panel output. Both our gas and electricity are with AGL, and they agree we can pay off the gas bills from electricity credits. Cheering.

As usual, almost all our trips away have been near Poss's parents at Woolgoolga. I usually check out our block of land at least once per visit, sometimes more often. We finally met our northern neighbours who run a wholesale native nursery. Their setup is very much along the lines I would like to one day achieve (should I live so long). They built in mud brick and are independent of utilities (except they have a gas refrigerator. This seems to be hard to avoid without having many more solar panels to drive a normal fridge). I now have the ability to collect GPS reading while walking around, then download them to a netbook computer to see where I've been. This may sound silly but when travelling around in a wooded block it is difficult to see anything but trees. The logger cut a few more trees this year but only able to get a truck onto the block for a couple of weeks. The rain has rendered the access tracks impassable for the rest of the time. We've now decided to stop the logging even though there are plenty of mature trees left. In fact the logging seems to have had minimal impact, there are a few new stumps per hectare and the smaller trees are growing into the gaps.

We did get away to Melbourne in February for Poss's nurses reunion. Thanks to Jill, Morry, Ruth, Marylyn, Kevin, Brian, Robyn for the wonderful accommodation you provided for us. It is difficult to say which was more delightful, the journey or the destination. We had a busy and enjoyable week, one highlight was visiting Purple Hen vineyard (well worth it if you are near Phillip Island). After following its development over many years from a distance it was satisfying to get there. Now that Nicole is there, we have one more reason to return to Melbourne. It is difficult to grasp that we left there 35 years ago, but it certainly has changed since we left.

Christmas this year will again start at Joanne's. Nicole and Andrew are returning so the family will be together. After that, we have no plans.

2011 is almost an empty slate. Poss will be tied up most of the time with her grandparenting and cleaning jobs, and I have unfinished projects for the KWRP that I'd like to progress. My cousins Lionel and Yvonne are visiting in February and we will spend a week at Boambee Bay resort. I'm sure we will also do sightseeing around Newcastle (the only city in Australia to make the 2011 Lonely Planet top 10 must see cities of the world).

As always, we welcome visitors any time. Our contact details are unchanged – Phone 02 4009 1774 mobile 0432 423 927. We'd love to hear from you.

Alan and Poss xx