Newsletter No. 23: November 2003

Birthday Milestones: Melanie Camish will celebrate her 21st birthday on the 27th January and wait for it Nanna Wood will reach 104 on the 13th December. Apologies to Barbara White, Teresa White and Richard Lyell I wrote last issue that their birthdays were in October when their birthdays are in November.
Julian Wood celebrated his 40th birthday being surprised by his fiance Michelle organising a party on the 25th October, several of his uncle & aunties travelled from Melbourne for the event as well some of his siblings and friends travelled some distance to be there, a great night was had by all.
Lorraine Wood received a new bicycle from her children for her 73rd birthday and she will shortly be tackling more challenges and adding to those 4000ks she has already rode.
Amanda White arrived home from England (boyfriend Ben to follow) on the 8th November both Vic & Barbara hope they will now settle in Australia
And what must have been the best kept secret was Mandy Lyell's pregnancy. On the 3rd November Terry & Mandy welcomed their daughter into the world, Sharna Elizabeth, weighing in at 9lb 4oz, mother & daughter are both well.
Pam & I recently spent a week on the Gold Coast and we took the opportunity to catch up with Maureen Muir and her new daughter Jordyn, we also called in to Peters at Stanwell Park and Rob in Canberra where we also enjoyed the spectacular flower gardens at Floriade.

FAMILY PROFILE: Rob Wood

DOB: 28 September 1966
Occupation: Currently finishing an Advanced Diploma in Graphic Design at Canberra Institute of Technology. After a few years working as a Sport Scientist at the Northern Territory Institute of Sport I decided to follow my creative side and pursue a career in Graphic Design. At the end of this year I hope to find a job in a small studio to develop my skills, eventually working for myself from home.
Partner: I am getting married to Clare Reilly in January next year in her home town Perth. Clare is working as a Sports Dietitian at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra
Hobbies and Interests: I keep busy trying to fit all of these in: web design, creating digital art, watching sport, playing sport (netball, hockey, orienteering and rogaining), card collecting, drawing, crafts, genealogy, photography, history, travel, and bargain shopping at op-shops and garage sales.
Children: none
Favourite Entertainer: Nick Cave - I would go a long way to see him play. Luckily he is playing at the Sydney Homebake concert coming up soon!
Favourite Cd: ‘Grace’ by Jeff Buckley - This is the most played cd from my collection, I never tire of hearing it.
Favourite Movie: Life is Beautiful, the ultimate in positive thinking.
Favourite TV show: Media Watch. It supports my dislike and cynicism of the commercial current affairs shows.
Favourite Holiday destination: India - I had a very interesting experience backpacking around there for three months in 1999. Would love to go back again, as well as to Central America, Africa, Thailand, Egypt ... the list goes on.
Favourite Meal: Vegetarian Pizza with chilli
Favourite Book: Lonely Planet travel guides - wouldn’t leave home without one.
Car you drive: Clare and I share a Hyundai Excel. I sold my Mini Moke when I went back to study. That was a sad moment as it was so much fun zipping around Darwin with the top down. My next car is going to be a convertible.
Famous Person you would like to dine with: Leonardo De Vinci - an artist and scientist just like me - though with just a little bit more talent!
Event you would like to do at the Olympics: Decathlon - the ultimate all round athletic event.
Favourite Footy or sports team: Australian Cricket team
Pets: None. I’m allergic to cats and in my experience dogs either bark all day or keep running away. We had some fish when we were in Darwin.
What Talent you would like to have: to be able to speak another language.

JOKE OF THE MONTH

A blind man with a seeing eye dog at his side walks into a grocery store. The man walks to the middle of the strore, picks up his dog by the tail, and starts swinging the dog around in circles over his head.

The store manager, who has seen all of this, thinks this is quite strange. So, he decides to find out what's going on.

The store manager approaches the blind man swinging the dog and says, 'Pardon me. May I help you with something?" The blind man says, " No thanks. I'm just lookimg around."