Newsletter 2014

www.facebook.com/RobertAndJeanneJames
December, 2014

Yes, here we are again - we seem to have survived and enjoyed another year.  We’re all going along much as we were a year ago, so if that’s all you wanted to know – no need to read any further!

Big news for the family was the birth of Chris and Claire’s second daughter Jasmin James (another JJ!) on 22nd January.  It’s wonderful to see how she’s grown up in just these few months.  Karen and Wade are on the very brink (as at 10 Dec) of giving birth again, so we can expect a lovely Christmas pressie at Forresters Beach.

Ma and Pa Kettle have been privileged to host overlapping and separate visits from Adrian, Chris and Karen’s families this year, so our five-bedroom house at Watson continues to be well-used.  It’s wonderful to see the joyful interactions among the VCs (Visiting Cousins), as they renew family connections.  We certainly hope to grace our humble home with their laughter again next year.

At the other end of the time-line, Laurie Cox died in June, aged almost 95.  Laurie was a friend of Robert’s father in the Air Force in the 1940s.  Dad died in 1968, but we kept in close contact with Laurie for another 46 years, so his loss is being keenly felt.

Karen and Wade and Jack (Kennedy) are enjoying their  life at Forresters Beach.  Jack, now two-and-a-half is learning about birthday parties and many other things, as his engagement with people at the Childcare Centre and beyond continues to grow, and he is starting to speak in sentences!  Jack loves to help with jobs such as vacuum-cleaning, and was delighted to discover that key that came with his treasure chest can be used to lock people in the bathroom! (Fortunately, they can unlock from inside.)   He is looking forward to the family expansion planned this month!

Karen is expecting to give birth again, officially 31 December!  Jack arrived five-weeks early, so the new one could be early.  All seems well so far, and Karen was very happy with the midwives and Gosford Hospital last time, so we’re looking forward to an “easy” natural delivery.

 

 

 

 

 

Karen has done well with the Deaf Society at Gosford, seeking employment for the hearing-impaired, and devising workplace adaptions.  She has completed  Auslan and Management training, and intends to continue professional development next year.

Wade works as a chef at an aged-care facility, not far from home, with some control over menus, and congenial working hours.  This allows for some priority on golf and for childcare and transport etc.

Ralph continues as Senior Canine Companion to Jack, and is looking forward to reassuring Jack that he’s still loved as the new baby becomes a focus of attentions.

Adrian and Alycia continue to enjoy life at Phillip Island.  We recently had the pleasure of sharing celebrations for Lily’s third birthday, and observing her wonderful progress as an articulate and joyful little girl.  The sleep-over with VC (Visiting Cousin) Eloura was rather a lively affair, perhaps not as much focussed on sleep as Mum and Dad may have desired. 

We observed a garden increasingly productive of various veggies, and Eloura was a demon at finding the red berries to eat.  Lily and Eloura loved their time together in the Shearwater Festival Parade, beach activities, and romping in the garden.  It’s just as well that Lily has TWO trikes, so they could ride around the house together!


Alycia loves cooking for visitors and teaching senior school with their multifarious activities, conveniently located on the Island, and about to become more convenient as the school moves to a new property closer to Cowes!  Alycia’s parents play a valuable role in child-care, as they time-share between Melbs. and the Isle.

 

Adrian maintains a flexible schedule of work with transport and activities for disabled people, food-security research for Council, and development and promotion of the community garden.  You can find more about this at http://transitionphillipisland.wordpress.com/.



They recently had a most successful (and stressful) Community Day at the garden, with gardening activities, sale of plants and produce, and promotional activities.  AJ has become a master of communications between government, commercial and community bodies.

Chris & Claire, Eloura and Jasmin lead an active life at Montmorency, a couple of hours drive from Phillip Island.  Jasmin Lee James was born on 22nd January, and is now a bumbling, bouncy bambina.  It’s been marvellous to observe her increasing robustness, facial expressions, and engagement with the world.  Eloura gets on really well with her little’ sister, and is learning about the need to be gentle!

Claire has embraced her expanded motherhood role wonderfully, now returning progressively to the world of entertainment – singing and drumming at the Kuckoo restaurant, and multiple roles in their family business: www.thedreamingspace.com.au.  

Chris and Claire work with great passion and energy in their business, including all manner of parties, festivals, outdoor movies and special events.  Their monster Dreaming Space Dome, a great success at the Melbourne Zoo, has been a huge investment of imagination, energy, entrepreneurial spirit (and ah yes – money) – We wish them all success in these projects!  Eloura and now Jasmin seem to be following in their parents’ entertaining footsteps.

 

 

 

 


Chris has been engaged to work part-time this year and full-time from next year with Montessori teaching.  He had a six-week intensive teacher-training course in Cleveland, USA, which was quite an experience.  He is excited about the prospects and challenges of this work, as the school moves to new premises and extends into Year 7-12.  This is a great experience, but quite a demanding responsibility, and requires considerable commuting time. 

We were privileged to host visits by the family again this year, as well as seeing them at Montmorency and at AJ-ville on Phillip Isl. 

 

 

For several years, Ma ‘n Pa have been saying “We must get away on a (first ever) ‘Big Trip’ to Europe and the UK – but we don’t want to leave Bibs, (now aged 14) all alone – maybe she won’t be with us much longer! – We can go away then!”  However, Bibs lived on from year to year, so we thought that she might outlive us, so we made caring arrangements with Liarne across the road, and took flight to Geneva!

Christopher travelled with Initiatives of Change in 2006, working for some time at their conference centre at Caux, Switzerland.  He has been saying since then “Mum and Dad, you must go there!”.  So it was a sort of pilgrimage for us to make it eventually, spending a week in July at the “Just Governance for Human Security” conference. 

We encountered some pretty challenging issues, with participants from Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine and numerous areas of concern.  The MH17 tragedy occurred just as people were on they were home, so we were spared the anguish of people we know who were directly affected.  There’s lots of follow-up now to be done.  We met great people (new and long-familiar), and we felt most privileged to participate.

The TGV train to Paris, and the various towers, palaces, museums, cathedrals and galleries etc. were a great experience.  Then by EuroStar to London for a few days, and a twelve-day Trafalgar tour around Ireland, Scotland, Wales and back to UK / London.  We were pleased to catch-up with relatives and friends. 

We flew home via a few days in Amsterdam – after more than five weeks away.  See a fuller account!

Jeanne remains focussed on relief teaching (booked just about full-time!)  She seems to rise to the challenge of “special needs” children when required, but would not savour that type of work full-time.  Professional development requirements seem to be increasing, but Jeanne loves these courses and is planning Masters studies next year.

She enjoys her yoga, painting (particularly art therapy work), choir, Jung Society and church activities.  The lure of the Hume Highway (or rather the grand-children at the ends of it) continues.

Jeanne loved meeting people at the IofC Conference and the experience of what Chris had told us about.  The iconic tourist attractions such as Monet’s Garden and the wonderful history and sightseeing in Europe/UK were an enjoyable addition to the Conference activity.  Meeting her relative Joy in London, Jeanne and Joy “really hit it off”, discovered much in common, and had a great time in the one day available. 

 

We were fortunate in having far-flung families visit at times this year, but it is a big commitment for them, and we cannot expect them to make the long journeys very often.

Robert’s life continues in much the same fashion as in recent years – he thought that perhaps Humanity had learnt some lessons and come to peace with itself by now, but umm, not quite, and DFAT seems to continue to find a few issues with which to occupy itself.

Robert celebrated his 65th birthday while enjoying the generous hospitality of Helen and her parents at High Wycombe near Oxford.  We met Helen when she was working with Chris and Claire in Melbourne, so we were delighted to catch up with her and her parents “at home”.  They showed us around, shared some extraordinary dinners, and introduced us to a memorable ingle-nook fireplace.

We met Robert’s UK-family member Diana Johnson and her hubby Barry, compared family records, and resolved to return to pursue more of the links with Mother’s family at Brightlingsea, Essex, and Morayshire in Scotland.

 

 


Bibs seems to have come to terms with the framework of her daily life, and has no intention of letting a little arthritis or canine senile dementia impair her enjoyment of each day.  She tells me that she knows what happened to Flight MH370, but doesn’t consider that revealing it would be appropriate at this juncture.

 

 

Have a jolly-good Christmas, and another resolution-filled new year.

A fuller, link-infested version of these self-indulgent ramblings is on our web site.
We hope to see you all again soon.

Jeanne and Robert J.

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