Monthly Archives: December 2013

Christmas and Birthdays

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david, andrew, mark, nicholas and sue at blackbutt circle

We have, this year, nearly had all the family together for Christmas: in early December the two “uncles” were in NSW [Mark and John], seen here in the courtyard at 33 Blackbutt Circle.

 

 

David Andrew Mark John Nick at 33BBC

This meant  that all five of the male Coulsheds who feature regularly on this website were together for the first time in several years.

We had a form of Christmas Dinner together, using the Royal Worcester Evesham dining set that had been collected by Olive Coulshed in Liverpool, and now is kept in Australia!

Christmas at MtRiv

However the real Christmas Dinner was held with the Nicklin Grandparents, on Christmas Day – although we used the Evesham on this occasion also.

 

 

Andrews birthday 2013This has also been the season for birthdays, of course.  Andrew’s was first.  Here he is, lighting all the 16 candles, with a catering blowtorch (of course).

 

 

Nicks 18th birthday 2013

Nick’s was a larger party.  Not surprising, given that it was his 18th Birthday Party.

We are lucky: our house, especially the “Middle Room”, is just made for entertaining!

Mark and John in Australia

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John and Mark in BM National Park 2

John and Mark in Blue Mountains National Park (near Glenbrook, NSW)

Mark and John have recently been with us in NSW, having spent the previous three weeks in New Zealand.

The first couple of pictures were taken on the day when we visited the Blue Mountains National Park, which is less than 10km from our house in Mount Riverview.  We went to Euroka Clearing, hoping to see kangaroos in the wild, but they weren’t there (apparently this clearing is becoming too busy with tourists camping overnight there, and they are not as commonly seen as they once were).

Mind you, M&J had seen the wallaby which comes to visit our garden sometimes in the early morning, so at least they saw some native fauna in the wild.

John and Mark in BM National Park 1

david, andrew, mark, nicholas and sue at blackbutt circle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This picture, taken by John, is in our front courtyard.  Mark is the shortest Coulshed,  Nick (188cm) is the tallest.

 

StPauls Orchestra at Winmalee Andrew

 

 

 

John and Mark had to go to some StPaul’s activities.  This is Andrew playing the trumpet for the school group at a local shopping centre.

 

Nick recieves Top of the Year award

 

This is Nick, receiving the award for the top academic pupil in his (final) year at the school.

 

 

 

Garratt at Canberra

The fully-restored NSW Garratt at Canberra Railway Station

We also visited Canberra – Mark, John and myself.  Being train enthusiasts, we went to the  NSW train museum on the way down (at Thirlmere) and then visited the Canberra Railway station, where they have restored to working order a standard-gauge 4-8-4+4-8-4 Garratt.  A truly gigantic angine, which will be such a magnificent sight when pulling trains once more.  Actually it is magnificent just standing there ….