Oh my gosh, it is that time of year again. Merry Christmas to one and all.

Gary and I are doing fairly well although Gary is still suffering with knee pain and stiffness after his knee replacement in June. He is in touch with his doctor to see if anything can be done to alleviate the discomfort. My hip replacement went very well and I have had no further problems.

We have travelled a lot this year. It started in April with a visit to Gatlinburg in Tennessee. We had a very pleasant week with weather that was nice for the time of the year. We visited the aquarium, a Rodeo Dinner Show and a show by a Red Skelton impersonator. He was very good and humorous without using one cuss word. We also visited Dollywood for a day and were surprised to find that there were not many people there so we were able to walk around unhindered.

                                     

Our next trip was a trip home to see my Mum, brother and his family. Mum is doing ok but is definitely slowing down and becoming more confused. We talk every day just to see how she is doing. She had cataract surgery earlier in the year and that was a success and allowed her to see the TV and read large print.

David, Ros and his family were well. We managed to see both of our nephews and niece and it was a pleasure to see that they are happy with their lives.

A trip home would not be complete without a visit to Hull to see good friends of ours. I managed to visit with Tina, Kathy and Pat and it was lovely to reminisce with them. They have been friends of mine for many years and I am so grateful to them for their friendship. Gary spent a day with Alan, an usher at our wedding. They had a very enjoyable day together.

We decided to visit London for a week as I am not very familiar with the city. We had a hotel booked two months ahead of our visit only to find the company I had booked the hotel through had gone bankrupt two weeks before our trip. There was a bit of a panic to find somewhere else at such short notice. I did manage to find something in central London which offered full English breakfast. Great, I thought so I booked it. When we arrived, we found the room to be very small and strange noises coming from underneath the bed. We finally fathomed out what is was. Our room was over the underground and what we were hearing were the trains passing by underneath the hotel.

We had the best weather you could wish for in May. We even wore short sleeved shirts for one day. We visited Buckingham Palace to see Changing of the Guard, The British Library, The Natural History Museum (a very small part of it), The Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament, Greenwich and two shows - “Thriller” and a farce called “A Play About a Bank Robbery” which was very funny. We took a relaxing ride on the Thames to Hampton Court but did not visit the palace. We have left that for our next visit.

                                                         Gary, astride the Meridian Line.

                                     
                                      

One of the highlights of the trip was meeting with a good, long time friend of mine at the British Museum. Joy and I met in Corfu forty one years ago and have kept in touch ever since. We last saw each other several years ago so we had some catching up to do.

Our next trip was a big one. If you have followed my blog, Kingston Rovers, you will know what I am talking about. We celebrated our 40^th wedding anniversary this year and instead of giving each other a gift, we decided to plan a visit to Australia and New Zealand. We planned three weeks in Australia and two weeks in New Zealand. This was preceded by a visit to Independence, Missouri for Gary’s 50^th High School Reunion. It was so nice to see Gary reminiscing with “old” school friends. After our quick visit to Independence we flew to Los Angeles to have a brief stay with our nephew Eric and his wife, Nancy. It is always so nice to meet up with our younger relatives to see how they are getting on and enjoying life.

Australia was nice, the Barrier Reef fantastic and the Outback boring. We visited Steve Irwin’s Zoo, a Koala Sanctuary, Brisbane, Cairns, Magnetic Island, Heron Island and Sydney. I would go back to Heron Island again but am not sure about re-visiting Australia. Gary enjoyed it and would like to see the west coast of the country.

New Zealand was great and I wish we had spent more time there. The South Island scenery was spectacular and was accentuated by snow on the mountain tops. Because it was their Spring, all the Spring flowers were in bloom; tulips, rhododendrons, azaleas etc.. We visited quite a few Botanical Gardens and they were quite colourful. What was nice, they were free.

The North Island, though not as spectacular as the South Island still was nice to see. We had a lovely visit to Auckland and saw my cousin Corinne and her husband Paul who emigrated to New Zealand fourteen years ago. I had not seen in her in many years so it was nice to reconnect with her. They were kind enough to give us a tour of Auckland, which we really enjoyed.

There was quite a difference in temperatures between Australia and New Zealand. The highest the temperature got to in Australia was 107 degrees and the lowest on the North Island of New Zealand was 37 degrees. I much preferred the warmer temperature as I had not packed for very cold weather.

The trip ended with another visit to Los Angeles. This time to see Gary’s cousin, Jim and his girl friend, Jennifer. As always, we enjoyed our visit with them and hope that one day they will come out East to see us.

We returned home to Pasadena and had four days to get ready for our annual trip to Cancun, Mexico.

Our son, David was celebrating his 20^th High School Reunion that same weekend so we vacated the house for a night to make room for David and his wife, Sara to entertain some friends of theirs.

Because Gary had done all the driving in Australia and New Zealand he wanted a relaxing vacation in Mexico. And that is what he got. We read, ate, drank and slept. We did not go on any day trips this year but just took advantage of the amenities at the hotel. We rode a water taxi to another hotel for lunch and took a one hour Hobie Cat (sail boat) lesson. The plan we have for staying at the hotel allows us to take meals at three other hotels so each day we tried to eat somewhere different. The hotel had evening entertainment which we partook in. The entertainment comprised of different musical and dance performances, the best of which was a Michael Jackson impersonator and his back up dancers. We had seen him the year before but this year he seemed even better. Gary celebrated his birthday whilst in Mexico and as a surprise the restaurant we visited on the day prepared a dessert and decorated plate for him as part of the celebration. He was tickled pink.

The trip ended with another visit to Los Angeles. This time to see Gary’s cousin, Jim and his girl friend, Jennifer. As always, we enjoyed our visit with them and hope that one day they will come out East to see us.

Well, that is the end of our travels. The trips would not have been possible had it not been for my dear friend, Linda who took care of Molly, our cat for us. We have plans to visit my Mum after Christmas, so we are looking forward to that.

David and Sara are well. Sara continues to enjoy her job as a physician’s assistant and David is kept busy with his job with the government. They are off to Cabo, Mexico in a couple of weeks which will be a well earned rest for both of them.

Well, as the year comes to an end, I wish each and everyone one of you a peaceful and blessed Christmas and hope that 2020 is a happy and healthy year for you.

With all our love,

Margaret and Gary

Hamilton Botanical Gardens and Car Museum and About Auckland

We are in the final days of our trip to down under and are making our way to Auckland to meet up with my cousin, Corinne and her husband Paul. It has been many years since I have seen her so it will be lovely to reminisce with her.

We decided to do some sightseeing on the way to Auckland so I headed off to the Hamilton Botanical Garden and Gary to a car museum.

What made this Car Museum very different was it also had a lot of old garage memorabilia, including hand powered pumps and lubricant displays. Of course, there were many early New Zealand automobiles including several manufactured by the "All Day" Company, that Gary had never heard of.

On the drive to Hamilton we passed through a small town with an unusual shop facade. Can you guess what the shop was selling? Woolen articles from the Merino sheep.

Hamilton Gardens were really nice and, again free. That has been a real nice treat to see all these lovely gardens without paying an admission fee. The garden was arranged by styles and countries. The photos below depict India.

The next garden is a Renaissance Italian Garden.

And I forgotten where the lower garden is supposed to be!!!

The next photo depicts a Tudor English garden.

The garden was holding a scarecrow competition. Some of them were quite imaginative.

I was treated to the sound of bagpipes preparing for a Scottish Band Competition.

Unfortunately for me, my memory card ran out of space so I was unable to take photos of the rest of the gardens. Maybe, that is fortunate for you!!

We finally arrived in Auckland for a 3 day stay enabling me to visit with my cousin and see the sights. The first sight we saw upon entering Auckland was the Sky Tower. This amazing tower was built in 1997 and is a telecommunications and observation tower. It is 728.3ft tall and often is lit up on a night to represent special occasions - pink, Breast Cancer Awareness, red and green, Christmas etc.. It was not lit up for any of our stay. We did go up it on our last day in Auckland. Those photos are to follow.

In the harbour we saw a nice looking sail boat.

Views of the city from the ferry at Bayview, where we stayed.

We met up with Corinne and her husband and they kindly showed us the sights of their lovely city. The first stop was to some greenhouses in downtown Auckland.

 It was really nice to be able to identify many of the flowers.

The next stop took us to a monument at Bastion Point overlooking the city. The monument was to Auckland's first Labour Prime Minister, Michael Joseph Savage.

                                                                 Corinne and Paul.

Auckland is surrounded by 48 volcanoes. The above photo shows just one of them.

After a lovely visit with Corinne and Paul we were left to our own devices to explore Auckland. We decided we had to go up the Tower to see the view of the surrounding area.

The above photo shows the shell of the burned out Convention Centre which caught fire a couple of weeks ago and totally destroyed the building. It was in the final stages of being constructed when someone left a blowtorch on and it set fire to the roof. The fire took several days to put out and made the national headlines.

                                                       Looking down the elevator shaft.

                          Our final photo taken in New Zealand as we said farewell to Auckland.

Well, the trip is over. Dear Gary did all the driving for which I offer my sincere thanks. My thanks also go to Corinne and Paul for the time they spent with us.

It has been a lovely trip. I never saw a kiwi and my tooth never gave me any more problems. I think what I enjoyed the most was the play "Tuesdays with Maurie" in Cairns, The Great Barrier Reef and Heron Island and the unbelievable scenery on the South Island of New Zealand. They will remain in my memory forever, I hope.