1990 Life in Mount Colah

1990
January 1990   Joel starts to visit us. He's 21 at the time and we haven't seen him for five years. January 1990   A bobcat cleans the border back for us so that I can install a log retaining wall. I lay kikyu turf in the back yard.
First pictures of our new cats Kali and Shaka. It's absolutely fabulous to have cats back in our lives again after being cat-less for four years. They turn out to be beautiful little creatures who bring a lot of joy to our lives. Time to install a drive way. Fog settles in the valley. We put seed out for the Rosellas. Native birdlife is a nice feature of where we live.
The drive way and the retaining wall are finished. The log wall still stands thirty years later but the drive way doesn't look as clean as this any more. Shaka. One of the cats, now gone to cat heaven, about who I have the fondest memories. January 1990   Kashi was lovely too.
That carpet has gone (replaced with timber boards) as has the leather lounge suite. 1990   I trade in my 1982 Civic for a later model Civic Waggon. It serves me well for a couple of years. The only problem I have with it is with the air conditioning which needs a new compressor. 1990   We take Jacqui and the girls to the Wombean Caves. This is Jenni's work car,a Ford Falcon. It is so bad, so unreliable and Ford is so unresponsive, we swear never to buy Australian-made again.
The countryside on the back roads to the caves is gorgeous. 1990 0130 a 1990 0132 a 1990 0133 a
1990 0134 a 1990 0135 a 1990 0129 a 1990 0136 a
1990 0131 a Kali feels the cold. We use a kerosene heater for a year or so until we install air conditioning and gas heating. 19 December, 1990   Art and Betty Adamisin arrive on 19/12/2990. We take Art to KMFC where he meets Tim Gee and John McIntyre 1990 0072 a
He also meets Alan Garland and Bryan Gardner Brian discusses, one imagines, model aeroplanes with Art. The week before we are due to leave for Bendigo, I crash my only remaining aeroplane. 19 December, 1990   Dean also arrives back from Germany on the 19th. Here he chats with his cousin Grant Cooper and his friend since school, Damian.
21 December, 1990   My 50th birthday and I get a set of Snap-On spanners. I've wanted to own some Snap-On stuff since my apprenticeship days at Qantas. December 21, 1990   A small group of friends and family gather to celebrate with me. Ian is with his new lady friend; Leslie. Notice that no one is looking at their phone? Ian moves in with Leslie but the union does not last all that long.
Dennis and Bonnie are a very happy couple. In the years to come Bonnie tells me many times that these are the best years of her life. Xmas morning, 25 December, 1990   Dean's friend Sep arrives from Germany. Betty and Sep. Art and Betty stay with us for a while but go to John and Mary's so that they can take Art and Betty with them to the Bendigo Nationals. I'd asked Betty to bring a pair of Reeboks with her because they are still stupidly expensive in Australia.
Betty gets a tin of Arnott's biscuits for Xmas. Art videos everything. Relaxing Xmas morning. The table is set for Xmas lunch.
This is Art and Betty's first hot Xmas. It's probably snowing in Detroit right now. Art used to be with Cadillac for most of his working life. Jacqui's friend Marcus arrives from Germany and stays with us for quite a while. He is a great young man who stays with us a few times during his pursuit of Jacqui. Dean and Sep. Xmas lunch.
Jenni takes advantage of Art. 28 December, 1990   I work all week to repair my crashed and I have a quick test fly. It seems to be OK. I foolishly fit a tuned pipe to my ST60. It never works well after the repairs, it can not carry the weight. 28 December, 1990   At the Elias'. Art and Betty are travelling with them to Bendigo.
The sun rises over a fog in the valley behind our house. Fog in the valley (now a National Park) behind our house. Shaka and Kali. Don't know where, don't know when.