Merry Christmas to all members, families and friends
Our Christmas party was a great success and despite the threatening weather and our extensive Plan B for a downpour, everyone enjoyed the festive barbecue at Warrick and Vanessa's home. The weather was fresh, the conversation was lively, the food was exemplary and the Christmas goodwill was enthusiastic. Thank you everyone particularly Pres. Warrick and Vanessa and family who organised a superb celebration. Here are some of the highlights........
Our host, President Warrick trying to herd cats to the food and beverages. Everyone was having an enjoyable time.
Stephen and our Host Vanessa enjoying a Christmas yarn.
Ross, Collette and Margita waiting for the steaks to cook.
Debbie and Russell chatting with Thomas who organised the spectacular lightshow and music.
Liz and Bill discussing plans for the next 10 years.
Olek and Michael recovering after Olek shared the lemon meringue pie.
Graham and Jess taking orders for their patented Christmas cocktail - excellent!! Jess organised the decorations too.
Eric took over the barbecue as his Army training out-ranked us.
John and Ross watching the sausages cook.
Keith is on the mend!
Juris reports that Keith is being well cared for by Wendy and the medical team however he wasn't quite up to coming to the Christmas party. However we have a few 2008 photos as a Chrissy present to talk to Keith about when he is back on his feet.
Juris reports as follows:
The good news is that Keith's health is not as dire as I feared.
He's on a drip in Canberra Hospital, attended to by a team of doctors and specialists, but without any deeper medical intervention for fear of doing more harm than good. We can all take solace in the knowledge that all old people have water on the brain.
Wife Wendy and Canberra resident daughter Nikki take alternate shifts to sit with him and share his pastimes - reading the news, reading text messages and doing crosswords. He loves the text messages. Please send them. Other children and grandchildren are planning visits.
I'm sure we all wish Keith the very best of care and attention and that he recovers as well as possible. At age 96, the road-map isn't clear.
Juris
Keith sharing stories with students at a very poor school just outside Kupang, West Timor where we donated library equipment and footballs.
Keith, Bill and President Vera on a very small boat with very little freeboard embarking on a journey to Semau Island to monitor agricultural projects, and hoping the storm on the horizon didn't come any closer.
Keith and the team inspecting the cattle herd purchased with micro-loans on Semau Island.
