Life was certainly very busy over Christmas and New Year - despite a very quiet Christmas Day. Too hot to even swim in the pool, we stayed in the air-con and enjoyed a fabulous seafood lunch of lobster, prawns, Tassie oysters, smoked trout, and Moreton Bay bugs, all washed down with a bottle of Moet. Who said Christmas was just for children?!
Boxing Day was shared with Mr & Mrs K, visiting from Sarina for ten days - with the exchange of some wonderful gifts followed by a three course meal. But NYE was a quiet event with a lovely meal at the Glenvale and an early night for everyone.Whilst Mr K was testing out his new gyrocopter at Dalby, Mrs K and the Oldies went to the movies and thoroughly enjoyed The Hobbit in 3D - even bought Maltesers and popcorn!
Two days at the Brisbane International tennis event was an anniversary gift from the Old Grey One to Mrs R back in September. So on 3rd and 4th Jan. we enjoyed some fantastic matches with some of the great players on court on both days. It was extremely hot and drinks and food were priced over the top but we had wonderful court-side seats and enjoyed a couple of those thirst-quenching Pimms one must always try at the tennis. Oh, and I forgot - those luscious ice-creams. YumO.A one-day quilt-as-you-go workshop was the next event for Mrs R. A technique I had long wanted to learn. It was very interesting (although hot and tiring for me) and I think I did eventually get the hang of it - no doubt will find out when I put my next big quilt together.
Prior to 2012 visitors were few and far between for the Raywards. But over the past 12 months we have played host to a number of overseas visitors. We were delighted this month to have our American family/friends, John and Sue Mitchell, visit us from the US for ten days. The Mitchells were host parents to our daughter Heidi, when she was on an AFS student exchange program back in 1993. So it was lovely to be their hosts for 10 days and showcase some of the wonderful parts of our region. 
Over the ten day period our local temperatures during the day did not fall below 35 degrees celsius so we interspersed sight-seeing days with days relaxing at home so that Mrs R could enjoy the days out as well.
We plied our visitors with local wines and cheese and filled them with all sorts of local information. We even went to the movies to see Les Miserables - what a wonderful movie. We all needed tissues by the end of it.
We hope they enjoyed their time here as much as we enjoyed their company, and we wish them a safe journey travelling around NZ, Malaysia, and Thailand on their way home to the States. And we wish them a wonderful 50th wedding anniversary celebration in June.
