Dear all,
JULY It was Katie’s birthday in July and it was an all-weekend celebration. On Saturday night we went for a dinner with a group of six friends at Stanley’s, the Chinese restaurant at Howard Smith Wharves. It is a great location under the Story Bridge. We had pre-dinner drinks at Felons Brewery and post-dinner cocktails at Fantauzzi. The next day we had a family lunch at Popolo, an Italian restaurant on Southbank. Katie managed to pull in a couple of lunches with girlfriends the following week to stretch the birthday out even further. Matt had given Katie a voucher for High Tea as a mother’s day present earlier in the year. They finally went there on 19 July. It was at a new restaurant called Matriarch in New Farm and was a pretty swish afternoon tea with four cocktails! We had to make our own dinner. 😊
It is our 25th Wedding Anniversary in October this year. For Katie’s Birthday I gave her a mystery trip away and didn’t tell her where we were going until we got there! She did guess on the way though. We had a mid-week three-day break in Springbrook in the mountains behind the Gold Coast, staying in the same place where I proposed, 25 years ago. I had actually managed to book the same lovely log cabin in the forest at Springbrook Mountain Chalets. I had also tried to book the same restaurant for dinner one night but unfortunately it had closed down. We stopped for an early lunch in a little country café on the way and had a great short hike that afternoon to Purling Brook Falls – only about 4km but with fabulous views of the Gold Coast, mountains and an impressive waterfall. The next day we went to “The Best Lookout of All”, and it was possibly true, with fantastic uninterrupted views over the whole Gold Coast and northern NSW. We also went for another hike on the Twin Falls circuit. Another afternoon reading by the fireplace (Katie is still studying!) and a nice dinner in our log cabin. The next morning we went to the Natural Bridge for a walk and a chance to admire the natural beauty and the glowworm caves. It was a great little minibreak and nice to revisit a place which is quite special to both of us after so many years.
Katie got her first Pfizer vaccine on 27th July. She had a LOT of difficulty getting an appointment. I had signed up about a week before she did and got both mine relatively easily, while Katie had to wait for at least two months to even get registered. The Queensland online booking system is hopelessly over-complicated and seemingly random, and in the end she gave up and just kept phoning around all the private clinics until she got an appointment.
On Friday 30th July we hosted the Mortlake Fine Wine Appreciation Club (Morfwac’s), otherwise known as the Winosaurs. It is a group of 15 families who live in our street. We get together every two to three months on a Friday night, taking turn to host. Everyone brings a bottle of fine wine and some nibbles. Some people take it VERY seriously, so you need to pick a nice wine and research it thoroughly and then verbally present some form of wine tasting information. It’s actually a very entertaining evening and not as formal as it sounds. It usually runs from 6pm to 8pm, with a few hangers on until 9:30pm. It was a good evening.
The next day Covid came to Brisbane and we went into a three day lockdown which was extended a few days later to an 8 day lockdown. It was all over the Western suburbs and centred in Indooroopilly, which is very close to us. Quite a few of the university locations were hotspots as well and Katie had been at one of them and had to get tested. Fortunately, the testing system was extremely well organised with testing centres popping up everywhere, and it was quick and her test was negative. It was Week 2 of the University term so everything instantly went online for a couple of weeks.
AUGUST On 2 August Jessica had an Adenoidectomy. She has had constant problems with breathing and a snuffly nose ever since she had Glandular Fever a couple of years ago. She had her tonsils out last year and this year her specialist advised her to have the adenoids removed as well. As we were in lockdown, we were surprised that the surgery was going ahead, but the specialist explained that her nasal passages were so blocked that it wasn’t “elective surgery”, it was actually “essential surgery” as he considered her to be respiratory compromised! This was even more of a surprise as we hadn’t realised her breathing had become so bad. I dropped her in at 6:30am and brought her home at 4:30pm. Jessie was in a little bit of pain afterwards (but not as much as after the tonsillectomy) but could tell by the next day that the surgery had been a success. Hopefully this is the end of our hospital dramas for a while.
The lockdown lasted a whole nine days but was lifted in time for us to go to dinner with some ex-AECOM work colleagues Sigrid and Nathan. We went for Spanish Tapas in Botellon preceded by cocktails at Boucher. Sigrid has just got a new job so we were happy to celebrate with them. Whenever we see Nathan and Sigrid we always have big nights and huge fun! The next day we went to the European Masterpieces exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery. This is a touring exhibition of art masterpieces from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, providing a 500-year journey in art from the 1420s and emerging Renaissance, to the height of early twentieth century post-impressionism. It included works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Turner, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, and Monet, all direct from The Met’s collection which is one of the finest collections of European painting in the world. Most of these works rarely leave permanent display in New York, so it was a unique treat and a spectacular exhibition. We had a quick lunch at the Gallery afterwards before a lazy Sunday afternoon at home.
Saturday 28th August was a huge day. In the morning a group of eight of us went on the Ride for Suggy -- a 40km memorial bike ride for one of our friends who had committed suicide four years ago and had been a keen cyclist. We had a nice ride and stopped at the Regatta for a beer about two-thirds of the way through. I stopped at home briefly for a shower and then the group reconvened for a late long lunch at Jeremy Tod’s house where he had a great pulled pork slow barbecuing. I had made a chocolate cheesecake as my contribution – I had actually made it myself rather than sub-contracting that job to Katie as I thought it was a boys’ only event. Then all the wives started showing up, so I called Katie to come along as well. Anyway, it was a lovely long afternoon of socialising, eating and drinking and everyone was just settling into the red wine, when we had to leave! We were already committed to a 60th birthday party that night, starting in the city at 6pm. So we screamed home to change and headed off to the city, where the first part of the party was a private screening of the movie The Fountainhead, starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neall, and based on Ayn Rand’s novel of the same name. The story focuses on an architect who refuses to comprise his artistic integrity. The party was for our architect friend Derek Trebilcock, and this is apparently his favourite movie. We had drinks and nibbles before the movie and dinner during the movie and then afterwards went back to Derek’s to party on. It had been a long boozy day with a lot of exercise for me so by the time we got back to his home in Graceville I was starting to fade! I had to have a little nap on the front porch while Katie made conversation for both of us and finally woke me up in time to wobble home.
SEPTEMBER For Father’s Day on 5 September the kids came over and we had a roast dinner on Sunday night. Two nights later it was Jessica’s 20th birthday and we went out for dinner at the Tuk Tuk Thai restaurant in Milton which was very nice. Jessica also had an evening picnic that Friday with a group of her friends at River Quay on South Bank. She needed someone to assist with bringing picnic blankets, food and drinks so Katie drove them in. I met Katie and we had dinner at a nearby restaurant and went back and picked up the leftovers and gifts while Jess and her friends went on clubbing in the Valley.
Katie has been finding this second semester very intense with more assignments and deadlines than the first one, so we haven’t done as much. However, we did both take a day off on Friday 17 September and drove up to the Carnival of Flowers in Toowoomba for the day. We went to two orchid shows and bought a heap of orchids which are good value at the orchid show. Then we went to the very lovely Boyce Gardens for a wander around. These huge and sprawling gardens with lots of different botanical areas and species were established as private gardens by leading Toowoomba citizens Leslie and Margaret Boyce over almost sixty years, and then given in trust to The University of Queensland, for the enjoyment and education of the people of Australia. It was really lovely. We had a nice lunch and then went on to Queens Park for a wander around the expansive flower displays and a ride on the Ferris wheel.
On 21st September the Forbes Family officially leaped ahead the rest of Australia and became 100% fully vaccinated. The process has been pretty flawed and we had to be persistent to get our appointments, but it is done now. At least until booster shots are a requirement.
I went for another great hike with my friend Derek on 26th September. We did it with a group of 10, led by our guide Teresa, and hiked the Toolona Circuit at Lamington National Park. It was an 18km hike over quite rugged terrain and took us 8 hours. One of the tougher hikes we have done. I was quite pleased to see the car at the end.
OCTOBER It was Molly’s 11th birthday on the 2nd October. She is still very fit and healthy, and people still think she is a puppy but the grey hairs on her muzzle are starting to give her age away. She is such a joy to have – although slightly too barky sometimes! We took her for a day out to the beach on Sunday 10 October. We usually go to Palm Beach on the Gold Coast but decided to take her up to Currimundi Beach on the Sunshine Coast for a change. There was a nice surf beach, but it was a bit of a walk to the dog beach from the car park. Molly loved splashing and playing in the waves though and we had a nice lunch afterwards.
The next day Katie and I went to see Boy Swallows Universe at QPAC; a stage version of the novel by Brisbane writer Trent Dalton. It is a very funny story of a young boy growing up in Brisbane’s western suburbs in the 1980s and living in a dysfunctional drug dealing family. The 1980s Australian music was great, as was the fantastic story and local Brisbane references.
On 24th October Katie and I went to the Fox & Hounds pub on Mt Tamborine for lunch. It is quite unique because almost all the internal fittings of the Fox and Hounds came from the Sussex Arms pub in Tunbridge Wells. The entire pub interior was transported out, beams, carpet, decorations and all. The pub was originally built in the 1700s, so the original features of the hotel are older than the first settlers in Australia! The pub is packed with British memorabilia. They do regular monthly events to mark British occasions and this month was a Dr Who exhibit, so we went to look at their full-sized blue Tardis, as well as their English red telephone box like the one I made. I had a specific reason for going in fact, as I have been commissioned by the Spicers Hotel group to construct a Tardis for them and wanted to see how mine compared. Mine is only half constructed but I can see already it will be much better!
This came about through an interesting connection. We were interviewed in July for a Channel 7 news feature about Street Libraries. They had contacted the Street Library Association of Australia for recommendations of good libraries in Brisbane. They did a fairly long news feature, and our library was the most impressive, with Katie and I getting the most airtime. It played on the Sunday evening news and the owners of the Spicers group saw the story and decided they would like a Tardis built, as they already have a genuine red telephone box at one of their hotels. One of their staffers knows Katie and got in contact with us. After lots of planning and agonising over how much to charge them, I started construction in August, using plans from the website that I had used to build the red phone box a few years earlier. It will take up all my Saturdays for about a year! But I love doing carpentry jobs and this time I am getting paid for it – even better!
It was our Silver Wedding Anniversary on 12th October. We celebrated at Rico’s, a fabulous seafood restaurant in Eagle Street Pier. It has been a privilege to have Katie by my side as my best friend, supporter and confidant for the past 25 years. She must be a saint to put up with me! We followed this up with a family dinner at Kafé Meze on Sunday evening to allow the kids to join in the celebrations. Katie bought me a silver cocktail shaker and I had a special silver present which I didn’t give to her, as an emergency shortage of perfume made that a more critical gift. The silver present will have to wait for Christmas now.
Cheers, from Derek, Katie, Matt, Jessie & Molly
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