Monday, February 13

I am busy scurrying around, getting ready for my big trip to Australia. I promised Jenny that I would go to see her family and friends in her homeland, and she asked me to take a portion of the ashes with me.

She grew up in a small town on the shore of Lake Macquarrie, (click on the blue letters to see info on the lake) about 120 kilometres north of Sydney. It is a very large salt water lake , that begins at Newcastle, where she went to high school.

We will be holding a gathering as a celebration of her life, at the home of her nephew and his wife, Carl and Helen Leary. They live in Toronto on the lakefront, and it will be a lovely setting for the celebration.

I am leaving here on Wednesday to go to Vancouver where I will stay with my friend Lynn Henkel. On Thursday I fly from Vancouver to Los Angeles. The ticket takes me from LA to Fiji, where the plane lands for a few hours, then on to Sydney.

Jenny and I had often gone to a place in the Phoenix area, and some of our friends now own their own places at this resort, which is technically an RV resort, but the lots are privately owned and most have park models on them. A woman there, Lindy Louden, from whom Jenny and I once rented a second one that she owned, has offered to loan me her place while she goes off in her motorhome. It is very generous of her, and I am so grateful to her. So - the long and the short of it is, that I was able to arrange to go over to Phoenix for 12 days on my ticket.

I also arranged to stay for 3 days in Fiji. I am amazed that I was able to do this at no extra charge. So I arrive in Sydney on March 4, and will stay until the 18th. The gathering for Jenny is on Saturday, March 17.

I am down to the wire now with my packing and organizing my life, being as I will be away for a little over a month.

I will post here with photos frequently, if you would like to look in  now and again.