question from the south coast

Hi Claire,
What do I do to see the preview, I cant get it, Its driving me crazy. Can we put videos on??
Cheers Zak

greetings from the south coast

Hi everyone,
Great to see so much news on the blog. Wish that mountain mob would come to the party.
Yes I'm home from a weekend with Annie and Clare and mum. Those mates of Annie and Steves are complete superheros in my book. It was an amazing day which I loved being a part of. Those girls are surrounded by love, and the skip day is just more proof of this.However I would just like to add, that as well as a heap of amazing blokes, and I dont want to take anything away from them, the superheros, but the women also did a fine days work alongside them. (me included), so lets cheers it to the auntys as well.
 The best thing that came out of the shed was all these beautiful photos of the family, that had been buried under a huge pile of shit for years. Annie knew they had to be somewhere., and we had a great evening last night going through them all. Thanks Clare for posting some of my favourites, I hope you all loved them as much as I do.
And Ive been in the new car!!
Hope you all have a good week.
P.S. You young ones are all very clever, and dedicated. Cheers to you guys as well.
Love to you all
Zak

News from the capital

Hello all. Thought it was about time I got back on the blog. Kate and Mum are here this weekend. We had skip day today. Cleaned out the two back sheds. So much rubbish- how can one man accumulate so much crap in 22 years- just look at the photos. We ordered one skip which clearly was not enough then had to order another one. So many bottles of home brew stored in cupboards behind a wall of rubbish that we had to break through. But now we have two huge storage sheds, the one behind the carport is garden and tools. The one next to the back room has bags and other stuff. Thanks to all of our good friends who came and helped. Paddy fixed the back door lock, put a deadlock on the laundry door and put hooks up. His brother who is a glazier, fixed our bedroom window which had been broken for years as well as putting glass louvres back into the windows in the back room which some nephew probably broke my putting a ball through them years ago!  Plus the other big news of the week is I got my new car!! It is very nice. Lovely to drive after years of driving the old commodore which was 17 years old. Did have a tear when I left the old war horse at the dealers- it's fate is the wreckers. Have put photos of all the rubbish, plus my lovely new car so you can call admire it. Moo, I will ring you in the next few days to see if you want to see The Lion King with Clare and I in January. That is all from me. Great to have such good friends!

Just some photos

  These are some old photos that Zakky really loved and wanted to show everyone.

This is one of the sheds before we cleaned it out today:

 And this is it after six hours of work by about ten guys:

Welsh greetings

Hi All,
Fab looking boat Mart.
Congrats Tom on your graduation. Looking very smart in the cap and gown. (Fran, great coat!).
Clare, well done on your impressive results.
No news from Wales really. All good here though. Summer has arrived and we are greatly enjoying it.
The log store is finished! Now just have to cut the wood we have and put it in.
Ruth and Pete are currently in Italy and will be with us next Wednesday.
Thinking of you all. Take care and have fun. xxxxx

The New Boat

Claire and I took the new boat out today. It seemed rather odd as I have been fishing with Chappie in it for years but he wasn't there and I was driving. We caught a heap of bream but threw them all back as we already have fish in the freezer. It's a bit bigger than the other boat but a heap more comfortable.

Congratulations to both Clare and Tom on their great results. Claire is still chipping away at her masters.... only 18 months to go.

Only 2 weeks to go until the months break. First week I will be at school working with my year 12 students, 2nd week I will be working on the house (finishing the balcony) and Claire's mum will be here, 3rd week I am going bush and the last week I wil be just putting around here and getting back into school. I am really looking forward to a break.

Cheers

Marty and Claire

News from Home

Hi All
What a week!
The back laundry/bathroom/toilet retiling and renewing is well underweigh. Back to living in a building site and accumulating a stack of washing while the washing machine is out of use.
Had the thrill of attending Grandson Tom's graduation. Tom was the tallest of the group, gave the Dean the finest salute, got the greatest applause, in a word, "stole the show"; (to my eyes anyway); all this as my eyes filled and throat became choked. This has happened on five previous occasions and will again I'm sure. Congratulations Tom. You'll see from the accompanying photo That I was not the only one "beaming". Jack and Fran strode back from the Great Hall as if they'd won a lottery.
I was hardly finished telling Grandma about the day when the phone rang and Annie relayed the news of Clare's results of first semester. One HD -Chemistry; 2 Distinctions -Biology, and Anatomy and Physiology; Credit - Forensics. These results achieved in exams the week after Steve's death.
To cap off - Marty rang and tipped a racehorse in Darwin which duly won at the unexpectedly high dividend of $4.40. (The owner expected evens).

Thomas Isaksen MA; the proud parents.

Clare. This was the last communication I had from Steve.
I didn't take any pictures of the renovations in progress but I'll take some of the completed job. The painter is due on the 25th June but we'll have the washing machine back in use before then.
Enjoy the long weekend.
Love to all
Dad/Tjilpi/Old Man/Kev.

greetings from the south coast

Hi everyone,
Well I suppose I will have to keep this blog rolling.
Friday morning, Hasi is off to work and Im planning my day. Unfortunately looking at the weather, I will be cancelling my bike ride,and having a much needed massage instead. Also try to get in a bit of sewing, after cleaning the house, doing some shopping and maybe visit my old mate Don, the antique man, who I haven't seen in quite a while. I know, its sounding pretty hectic, there really isnt enough hours in the day. Oh yer, I really need a haircut as well. Maybe I can just do that myself.
I also promised Hasi I would start reading up on Central America this weekend. I keep sneaking in another novel, but he's now busted me reading my third, after saying several times"as soon as I finish this one, I will start on the lonely planet"
I am always inspired by Clare K, who truly does believe that reading is like breathing.

We are surrounded by people born in 63, and so have two 50th birthday parties this weekend. Lucky its a long weekend. I am trying to go as an Africian queen to one of them, if I can get a costume organised. Add to list of things to do today!
So I cant possibly spend anymore time chewing the fat.
But I will throw in random photos for this week.
Love to you all,
Zak