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'One Moment, This Year (2021)

28/2/2022

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2021 will be remembered as COVID 19 “year two”. However, like any other year it has had its ups and downs. The moment that stands out for me was when I got a phone call from our son, Declan, to say he was safely in Sydney. He had been given a seat on a repatriation flight from Bangkok. The relief and joy of knowing he was now in the same country was unbelievable. He still had two weeks of quarantine in Sydney to face before we could catch up, but that was just a blip when compared with the months he had spent trying to get back to Australia.

His original flight in May 2020 was cancelled and so began the tortuous process of  booking flights and then being notified of cancellations. In fact, he was about to give up trying to get to Australia and was in the process of returning to Dubai when he was informed about the possibility of repatriation flights being commenced from Bangkok.  He informed his father but suggested it be a secret from me for the time being. He was hoping to arrive back, do his quarantine and turn up as my birthday surprise. Unfortunately, he missed out on the first flight but was in quarantine in Sydney for my birthday- the best present possible.

Declan has spent the last sixteen years working in the Middle East as a University lecturer. When he's not working, he spends time in Thailand and visits us regularly, but Covid19 restrictions impacted his ability to visit us and of course, we could not leave Australia. Normally I am not worried about his wellbeing, but these last two years have put a different slant on things. Prior to this pandemic I was confident that we could visit him if needed and vice versa.

Declan is remaining in Australia at present.  I am enjoying the fact that all our children are presently in the same state and just a two to three hour drive away.

I know this will not last as he will return to Dubai to work when Universities resume face to face teaching.

Whether life will ever return to normal remains to be seen, but at the moment I am 
                    
"Carpe Diem".



​Marg McCrohan
​February 2022
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'A High Point in the Last Year' ... 2021

28/2/2022

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Looking over the last year, COVID dominated our lives.  There were a lot of lows - not being able to visit family, my orphan calf dying after spending months caring for her.  The grandchildren missed having graduation ceremonies, presentation balls and birthday parties, not forgetting the little ones unable to socialise or play in the park after enduring months of home schooling.

However, the highs were numerous too.  We did spend Christmas in 2020 and 2021 together, having a brief break in lockdowns.  We did manage short trips between lockdowns to see friends.

It was a wetter than usual spring and summer, so we planted a vast vegetable garden.  It was a huge success and we picked peas and beans, tomatoes and cucumbers, squash and zucchini, and gave lots away.  The corn was amazing and parsnips, which are notoriously hard to germinate, thrived.

The spring flower garden was our best ever, the bottlebrushes were weighed down with red brushes, and the camellias flourished in the wetter, cooler conditions.  The iris garden which we had worked on for years was an amazing rainbow of pink, blue, purple, yellow and white.  I waited with interest to see how my newly purchased bi-color irises would grow.   Lots of photos were taken to remember this special season.

The pair of thrushes who have nested in a flower pot on top of the hot water service on the back verandah, hatched three chicks.  I was lucky enough to be watching the day they hopped on the lip of the pot and took their first precarious flight.  One made it to the garden shed roof, another got as far as the tree line beyond the back fence, but the third only made it to a bush close by.  It paused, recovered, and followed its mates.  Rain was threatening.  I worried about them out on their own.

The biggest high was at the end of lockdown when our two grandchildren from Melbourne arrived for a visit.  A five and seven year old who love the farm.  From the moment they walked in the door they were at home. 

Thomas had missed his birthday party and I had promised to make a birthday cake on their next visit.  On the way up his mother phoned to remind me, so I hastily made a marble cake, iced it with lashings of chocolate icing and sprinkles.  The cake blowing ceremony was held, seven candles on a separate cake (due to COVID rules), and a huge amount of cake devoured. 

The calves were inspected and the chook house visited in search of eggs.  Peas were ready to pick and pod.  They learned this quickly and were a great help.   

It was a lovely visit.  Caitlin summed it up beautifully by announcing that she was lucky because she had a home in Melbourne and a home in Benalla.


Margaret Nelson
February 2022
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'A 2021 moment (or two)'

28/2/2022

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Back at the beginning of 2021 I wrote about special moments in 2020.  How we were able to catch up with both our children – our daughter living in Queensland and our son living in Tasmania.  These two states had been closed to us.  We had met our son for dinner in Melbourne as he flew through; we met our daughter and family in Byron Bay during school holidays.  I had included that I would miss the first “As Time Goes By” class in 2021 because we were allowed into Tasmania and were booked to travel to Launceston for our grandson’s 18th birthday.  It did not happen!  Tasmania closed to Victoria for a brief period just at the wrong time.  They re-opened the morning of the birthday party, but this was too late for us to get there in time.

BUT we were able to travel to Tasmania in April 2021 – exactly two months after our original plan.  A permit was required, but this was not a problem.  We were able to catch up with the family and treated them to a special dinner as a late celebration of Luke’s birthday.  Being just a family group meant we were able to see more of our son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons than we would have done if we had attended the party.

June saw us driving north again, this time to Noosa where our daughter lives.  Queensland was open to Victoria.  So we spent a week catching up with her family almost exactly twelve months after we had last seen them.  We had to obtain a permit, and of course download check-in apps for both NSW and Queensland.  No problem here.  We did find check-in was not required for retail in either state at that time.

While we were in Queensland, NSW cases started rising.  We watched carefully to work out if and how we could get home.  Should we cut our holiday short…or add extra time to our stay?  Should we do a non-stop trip from Queensland border to Victorian border?  Regional NSW was rated as orange.   What was the risk that it would be red before we got back to Victoria?  In the end we kept to our original departure date.  As we left Noosa restrictions were announced there for the day after we left.

We had originally planned to take extra time traveling through NSW but changed our route home.  Our initial itinerary had us driving through red zones, which would in theory have been OK provided we did not stop.  But one of our accommodation bookings was in a red zone.  A new route had us turning inland much earlier.  This meant we did not manage to catch up with family in the Coffs Harbour area.  Maybe next time!

We arrived home a day earlier than planned and needed to get a Covid test within 72 hours.  We were sitting in our car for the test less than an hour after we got home.  Results were back before 11:00am the following morning.

So as in 2020, we were able to catch up with both our children during 2021, working around lockdowns and entry permits.


Joy Shirley
​February 2022
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    'One Moment, This Year' 
    (...looking back on the past year)

    The brief -  ‘Looking back on this year, what single moment stands out for you?  Whether it be loss, love, discovery or disappointment, share your unforgettable moment.’ 

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    Image:  U3A Benalla Easy Walks group at Winton Wetlands in October 2020..  
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