happy new year

well the festivities are almost over. We survived having 21 (22 counting beautiful Samantha) Kennedys in the rain. It was great to talk to everyone.Our new kitchen coped very well with drinks on tuesday ad Christmas Day. Its great to have so much more bench space. (and a dishwasher of course). Everyone here very happy with their presents (Lucy especially- now all she needs is her licence.) spent the last few days doing nothing and sitting around at home. How's the pool table going boys, have you managed to beat your Mum yet. I am putting a picture of Clare in, how anybody thinks she is a Kennedy- she is so much like the O'Loughlins it is not funny. In fact at one stage on Christmas Day I took a quick glance and thought Moo was sitting at the table! Anyway, I have just added the photo and did it right (with help from the lovely girl in the photo), that's about all, wishing everyone a happy new year, watch those hangovers. Annie

Hi All

Thanks Moo for your Christmas message. We all appreciated your calls; they drew us all together which is the real spirit. Mum and I spent Christmas Day at Glenbrook where the Jack and Fran team presented a great set up for dinner as you can see from the pictures. The Faggions lead by Fran, on this occasion, are so welcoming and inclusive that those on the fringe of the fold feel greatly at home. The olds did not see much of the young ones after lunch as they were so taken up with the pool table. I should have photographed it but you will all see it in time. Connor told me on Sunday that Liam had only beaten him 2-1. There is plenty of competition in those boys. Kate came to lunch on Monday when she and I exchanged gifts. I was the smartest dressed golfer on the course today due to the smart shirt. I cut Aunty Kate and Friz a (stingy) piece of my Rocky Road, today; but I've stashed away all of the coconut ice. Weve all been in touch with each other and the contacts will continue over the holiday period. We are anxiously awaiting Liam's next edition of Blue View News. There will be no more transport problems when we visit Canberra as Lucy is the latest addition to the driving pool.

Happy Holiday All.

Love Dad/Tjilpi/Old Man/Kev & Joan

Festive Greetings addit

I am becoming a bit of a blog hog aren't I?
I forgot to tell you about my gift from my friend Louise and her husband Chris. They have bought tickets to the Day/Night match between England and Australia to be played in Cardiff on June 24th 2010. They bought a ticket for me as well - my Christmas gift! Will be a great return from my trip to Aus for Kev's Birthday celebrations.
Will leave you all in peace for a while now and give someone else a chance to post something. xxxxx

Festive Greetings

Festive Greetings to all!
Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas day celebrations. Got to speak to Kev & Joan before they left for the Mountains. Also spoke to Kate and Hasi as he opened his present, and Anne, Steve, Clare and Lucy. I was planning to phone The Glenbrrok Isos on Christmas morning our time (your evening) to see how the day went, but had a phone call at 0620 to go to work. Didn't think you would appreciate a call at 1a.m. which is the time it would have been when I returned home.
Had a glass of bubbly whilst opening gifts. Thanks Jack, that was just the CD I had been wanting. They have been playing a couple of tracks from it on the radio here. The diary is beautiful also, and you can never have enough tea towels. Many many thanks.
I also had a gift from Maria - a beautiful pewter brooch of a circle of possums which has a celtic look to it as well. A very interesting and lovely piece which looks fab on my Welsh tapestry!
Last night (Sunday) Jules and I went into Swansea for Jules to meet up with a load of biker friends from years ago. Met in a pub in Swansea. They do it every year on Dec 27 apparently. We only heard about it last year and we were in Australia so this was our first opportunity to go. Was good for Jules to see them again and they were very welcoming to me. I drove so I was one of the few sober people by the time we left (only about 11.15p.m. - the pubs close in Swansea!).
Tomorrow we are going to my friend pam's house for an "Australia Day". She and her husband, Paul, have been to Australia three times - they got married in the Blue Mountains a few years ago. They have been wanting me to see their photos and video of their travels, so tomorrow is the day. Jules has been invited but told he can leave when he gets bored.
Look forward to reading on this page of everyone's festive frolics and gifts received.
Take care and have fun. Happy New Year to all.
Love Moo xxxxx

Welsh Greetings Addit

Hi
Just to let you know I have taken delivery of my gift from Jack. Of course, I won't be opening it until Christmas Day. Thank you very much. Love Moo xxxx

Welsh Greetings

Hi All
Our garden looks like a Christmas card today. We have a lovely covering of snow and our resident robin is all plumped up and looking like he owns it all. Actually we have had a lot of avian visitors today. It's wonderful to witness.
No real news to tell. Just wanted to say "hello" and wish everyone a very enjoyable festive Season. Hope all the Christmas dreams come true. Thinking of you all, especially at this time of year. Will hopefully speak to you all over Christmas but if not, know we are thinking of you.
Hope you like the presents Hasi & Steve. (Jules is particularly interested in Hasi's response to his gift).
Seasonal greetings and love to all
Moo xxxxx

my turn

Hi all, I suppose its my turn. I am still at work, no holidays for me yet. Everyone else in my house are on holidays, which makes it very hard to get up for work in the morning. Only two days to go. Kitchen is almost finished. Looking fab! We are waiting on the glass splashbacks which won't be in till mid January, no photos until all done. Also will need to paint. At the moment am slowly moving stuff back in and working out where to put everything. Of course our choir has been performing carols at the local nursing homes each weekend, we have two more to go this weekend, our neighbour across the road has also joined which gives us an extra voice.Had a few busy weeks at work, now we are a 7-12 school we have a year 10 and year 12 formal, (both last week, mon and wed) and two graduation ceremonies (one last Thurs and one last night), unfortunately the music teacher is kept busy at the graduation ceremonies and then needs to pack up at the end. Then of course there is all the end of year socialising and going out to dinner etc. Marty, I ordered your present yesterday and they were sending it today. You might get it before you leave, or when you get back. Hope you enjoy it. Moo, Steve got your parcel. Next week we have our traditional Kennedy drinks at our place on tuesday, then all the Kennedys will be coming to our place again Christmas Day. This year it will be quite a small gathering for the Kennedys-only 21. Jenny is spending Christmas in UK with Mark and Kelly and Greg and Bec and is heading to Scotland for the new year. Hopefully will talk to all of you Christmas Day, will have to get to Marty early while he can still speak! See you all, photos of new kitchen in Jan. Love Annie

Thanks Marty for the news; we lookforward to the photos. Let's hope you can put them on a bit better than me. Great to hear of your deputy posting in the new year; let's hope it will be confirmed after term 1.

Moo, the photographic evidence of Liam's greater height. When you were here Liam was not much higher than Fran's shoulder. Now he is a good 3cms above her.

The boat is on line on the "Trading Post" . The pictures have come up well. I have only one call so far when I was out and he hasn't rung back. It will be a sad parting.

Best Wishes to all.

Love Dad/Tjilpi/Old Man/Kev.

On Holidays

Hi All
Well day three of the holidays and I am back at work. Year 12 results are out today. The boss is really happy.... the results are really good. I'm taking the chance to catch up on the blog as I am computerless at the moment. During a thunderstorm the screen has gone a bit dodgy so it is in getting repaired and given that it is a school computer I'm not sure if I'll get it back over the holidays.

We had a big blow on the weekend. Over 500 mm of rain and winds almost up to 100km/h. We had two trees come down. A big African mahogany out the back and unfortnately the acacia on the front fence with the lovely yellow flowers. We have pruned it back however and stood it back up and hopefully it will recover. We were actually pretty lucky with the mahoganysomehow it missed the house and landed on the neighbours fence. I have cleaned it up and the neighbour and I have rebuilt the fence. The next job is to try and get rid of anything else that may come down in a cyclone. It was a good warning as to how much damage could be done and we got off relatively lightly, elsewhere trees landed on cars and houses and the low has moved to WA and become a catagory 4 cyclone.
If Claire brings her computer home tonight or tomorrow I will try to upload some photos.

Claire finishes up this Friday and we head off to Alice on Tuesday but should only be away for about a week. Then it will be sit back and enjoy the monsoon hopefully without any cyclones.

We have pulled our vegie garden out for the wet but we have planted a mango tree towards the front of the yard. And yes Zak we have bananas down near the front of the pool. Speaking of which, all the rain has started it going green so that will be a job to do before heading off.

Thats about all for now.

Cheers
Marty and Claire

Greetings to All,
No holidays in Wales either Kate. I have worked 4 shifts this week! (that's a lot for me). Hope you are recovering well Connor.
The Christmas gifts to Steve and Hasi were posted this week. Can you let us know if they arrive please. Nana should have received a birthday card by now as well.
Jules and I did our stint of filming again last week. It was cold and there was a lot of standing around. They should be just about finished all the filming by now and I didn't get to see Noah Taylor.
Had a good win in our darts this week. Seems my extra practice on a Sunday evening is paying off - and it's an enjoyable couple of hours in the pub.
Jules will be painting the ceiling in the front room today so we can move some furniture in and the house will look lived in again. Will post some photos if and when it happens.
Hope everyone enjoys their holidays. We will Kate when our time comes.
Take care and have fun xxxxx

greetings from the south coast

Hi all,
Im thinking it must be extremely hard labour to cut a tree down in the build up! you guys are amazing. My new frangapanis are just getting their first leaves, after being bare stumps for the last 18 months.The banana trees are starting to take off, have you planted any Mart? they would do well up there. Ive just delivered another beautiful fresh homegrown lettuce to mum and dad. What is the name of the lettuce mum keeps asking me. I dont know, it looks like a flower in full bloom, any takers? The tomatoes arent doing much yet, or any of the other veges for that matter, but patience is a virtue ( I think I missed out on that one.)
I so want to get started on the outdoor shower this weekend!
As usual everyone seems to be just about on holidays except me. Bumma! Never mind I'll save mine up for when Moo and I do our thing next year. Glad to hear you are getting some shifts now Moo to pay for our adventure.
Annie, are you interested in seeing Wicked in Jan when you come up? Fran says it fab! Let me know so we can try and get some tix, and what about the girls, I,ll shout them if they are keen.

Any takers for Moo and Jules free tix they won(oh shit how suprising!!) for the Illawarra folk festival. I have asked Jack, but have not heard anything back from him (how suprising) maybe I should have asked Fran, so something would be sorted out. If a pair of folks want them, I will work as volunteer, so will be there as well. If only one person is interested, I,ll use the 2nd tix. If no one is bloody interested, I'll sell them and still work as a volunteer. I think its around the 14th and 15th Jan.

Our nearly 80 year old dad had his first lot of acupuncture this week-how cool is that!
My new years resolution is to have a massage every fortnight! Prevention is better than cure, so said the community nurse to the surgeon. OK enough, Im starting to write complete shit.

That's it for now. Hope dad can get a more glamourous photo of me next time for the blog, I look like a garden gnome in the last one. Speaking of gardens, I have started my new pottery project-a totem pole for the garden. I have carved my first portion- a white bird, a beautiful mystical creature from the dreamtime that comes out at night. Amazingly,as I was about to start carving, an owl came into the garden of the studio where I was working. Ive been looking for an owl at night for ages! Its the simple things in life.

Thats really it. Love to you all,
Zak

Greg marries

Marty was able to ring Greg before his wedding and wish him well. I have his email address but my emails cannot get through even though Dorothy's have got through. I caught up with Marg who showed me the pictures of the week she had with Greg. I took a couple to enter here after I had scanned them. I can't get the scanner to work-would you believe! Moo suggested I take a photo of the photos which I have done. They are not as clear as I would like -but it captures the occasion. Congratulations Greg and AnneMarie. The photos are not as sharp as they could be. Marg was very taken with this church when she visited Greg last year. It is completely decorated with shells.

Katie spent her usual Friday with us and I captured her enjoying her day. What a way to spend your day off! Thanks Katie.

Holidays are looming. Some have already started- Tom and Lucy- and Connor has a forced start after a short trip to Penrith Hospital. Hope all plans for the holidays come to fruition.

Best wishes to all. Keep cool -the Aussie contingent; Keep warm in Wales.

Kevin and Joan.

Greetings from Wales!

Hi All
I managed to post nothing for the whole of November, which is quite amazing because a few things were going on.
Jules and I had our first experience of being "extras" in a film called Submarine. We are booked to do another shift tomorrow. Was an interesting experience. Unfortunately, it was at night and quite cold. Tomorrow is looking like being even colder. First day of winter has hit with a vengeance.
Have been getting regular work so the savings are being boosted once more.
A couple of weeks ago i saw Andy Fairweather Low at our local Arts Centre. (Google him). He has worked with George Harrison, Eric Clapton and is an awesome entertainer himself. Fantastic night! This week a guy called Gwyn Ashton is performing in a local club. He is billed as aWelsh born Australian and apparently plays great blues. Will let you know, I hope.
Last week I was in the Grand theatre in Swansea to see a locally written musical called Cappucino Girls which was agreat production. I won two tickets for the show so my friend Louise came with me. Traffic and parking in Swansea was horrible but it was worth it to see the performance.
Last night the christmas lights were turned on in Alltwen. a big event for our small village by all accounts. Unfortunately, I was at work and missed all the excitement!?
Had a fantastic day in Cardiff on Saturday when I went up, with Louise and her husband Chris, to see Australia beat Wales in the rugby. It was good to see Australia perform better than in the recent past. Consumed more alcohol than I should have but had a fabulous day and lived to tell the tale. Louise treartd our hangovers by cooking a fantastic roast dinnerfor Jules and I on Sunday evening. YUM.
Tuesday today so darts tonight. I bought new darts recently and have been playing better for it.
Nana is 102 years tomorrow. We send our regards for the occassion. haven't sent a card yet but will do it today. Don't suppose she'll notice if it's a few days late - I'll just earn Kev some brownie points!
Hope all are well and happy. Christmas gifts for Hasi and Steve going in the post this week - Don't open until Christmas!
Take care and have fun xxxxxx