Another year under the threat of COVID although no one seems to take any notice. It looks as if in the History books, COVID is going to turn into another Asian flu, Bubonic plague or Yellow fever.
We seem to have lost some of our adventure spirit: no trips overseas, no visiting other Australian places, parties, etc. We tend to stay at home, looking around, reading books, watching Netflix and finding excuses for doing nothing.
However we had some activities that deserved being recorded.
Quarter I saw us celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary, Bruno’s 50 birthday and Lena birthday in beautiful Stanthorpe.
I continued my plasma donations and coming quickly close to the 100 donation. Rita managed to instil on us the JackJampers fever, Tasmania basketball team. We attended one of their games with Miguel in Brisbane and now watch every game on TV.
In Quarter II we attended Anzac Day dawn ceremony, event that we religiously attend every year since we arrived in Australia, 37 years ago. Daniela participated in the school play Mamma Mia and the entire family attended. Rita made a short visit in May.
Our friends Odilia and Rodrigo from Portugal were here visiting their family and we spend some time with them in particular a visit to the Sirromet winery.
I had a very heavy order on my Atelier to make cushions for Rita’s outside furniture. With the weather warming up we spent a day at the Beach in Bribie Island.
We spend also two weeks in Tasmania with a trip to the North of the island, visiting friends and places that still live fresh in our mind from the 10 years we lived in Burnie.
On Quarter III we celebrated Erica’s 47th birthday. Daniela school organised their annual Academy Awards with all the students dressing up in their best outfits. We normally attended this but COVID prevented us from participating in the last two years. Only parents could attend. Daniela was glowing in her night gown.
We had a sad trip to Kingaroy to attend a funeral of a friend of ours. The annual River Fire was again a main event with some spectacular fireworks along the river. In Tasmania Ava played and won the Grand Final of Netball. She was voted best player for the final.
During Quarter IV I donated Plasma for the 100th time. Rita came from Tasmania and with Erica they made this event a memorable one.
Daniela completed year 12 and graduated from High School. Her extraordinary achievement in the final exams gained her and automatic entrance to the University with an offer for a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering.
Erica surprised us with her performance on a triathlon. She completed the three events without a hitch. Halloween is becoming huge in Australia and our friends Teresa and Rodrigo brought their kids to our street to enjoy “Trick or Treat”. Our area has now lots of kids and we run out of “Treats” all way through the evening.
With Miguel we attended a basketball game where the Tasmania JackJampers defeated the Brisbane Heat in the Nissan Arena. Filomena celebrated her 72th birthday with a brunch with Erica in Wellington Point and a dinner with all the Brisbane family in a very nice local Chinese restaurant.
We went to the the Paniyiyi Greek festival in the city with our friends Ami and Luis.
Unfortunately we contracted COVID for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic. Fortunately it was a very mild case similar to a flu.
Erica and Rita gave me for my birthday a ticket for a kayak trip on the Brisbane river with a group called Riverlife. Enjoyed a few hours cruising the river with another 10 people
