31. January 2009 08:24
by Rene Pallesen
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Every year in Januar and February there is a big festival on in Sydney with different entertainment provided for free by the city and different sponsors. It is hard to make time to see everything, but we did have time to go and see the the Opera in the domain.
We went there with Berry and his wife and had a nice evening.
26. January 2009 06:51
by Rene Pallesen
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This weekend Andy and I were supposed to have been going to Nowra to climb Saturday and Sunday, but the Australian weather dictated otherwise with 42 degrees in the shade Saturday.
Instead we changed the plans and went to Dams Cliffs in the Blue Mountains Sunday. This area is easily accessible, mainly in the shade and had got some great moderately graded climbs.
This was great as May also could join us. She had a really uncomfortable climb in Nowra with some friends some months ago and was afraid of getting back leading climbs (from her own words she was afraid to die). Nowra cen be very different and intimidating to someone going there the first time. We had a 7.30am start and she was half asleep when we picked her up and slept most of the way in the car.
When we got to the cliffs we decided to start on an easy warmup called"The Sisters of Fatima 16" and we asked May to do the first lead and she did a really good job. After this she seemed to have gotten over her fear.
We then moved over to a more moderate climb called "Shadow of the Goat 19" where I did the first lead...pleasant enough. We continued to "Truancy Officer 20" which I also led but which we decided was far easier (probably a 17).
After this we decided to stay in the 20+ territory and moved to a climb called "Vasco Pyjama 22" and Andy too the first lead.
At the second bolt he reached the Crux (The most difficult section on a climb) and after a number of tries coming off every time he bailed. When he got down he said "This climb has got Rene written all over it, it is a move that is in your territory!', so I was up next. I got up to the same section, and had a look at it a saw 2-3 possible ways through the section, but decided to go for a very long and very balancy reach first and managed to stick the top hold in the first attempt without falling off.
After this section the rest of the climb was easy. Both and and May then toproped the same climb (This is where the rope has already been placed on the top of the climb..-2022#comment">0 Comments
It has been three years since I last spent time with my dad. This is due to Australia closing its borders for two years due to the Covid pandemic.
As soon as they announced opening the borders again in February my dad booked his ticket to come a visit.
It was really nice to have him here and different from when he has been here previously. For starters, he was here by himself which was a different dynamic and also Aiden and Lucas have grown older and really enjoyed bonding with 'Bedstefar'. Especially Aiden and my dad found that they had music in common and Aiden took great prise in being able to play some of the pieces on piano that my dad was able to sing.
I really enjoyed having a few beers (and other good stuff) with him while he was here.
A couple of years ago I bough a machine to transfer my dads and grandads old 8mm film to digital. Because of the pandemic I was never able to try it out. My dad brought one of his films to do a trial transfer. It worked really well and he'd now brought it back to Denmark with him to transfer the rest.
One afternoon dad and I went up to the Barrenjoey lighthouse. My dad is still able to do it although he is a bit slower and not as strong as he used to be.
5. April 2022 19:04
by Rene Pallesen
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Kims dad passed away 92 years old. He will be greatly missed by his daughters, grandchildren, grandsons and friends.
It was a beautiful funeral following chinese traditions with wearing white clothes to celebrate a long life.
Aiden played a beautiful song on the piano in front of everyone and we had put together slides showing his life.
Day after we did the traditional cleaning of the tomb stone and also the burning of paper clothes and money (theory is that it will then go to the afterlife for him to wear).
I hope that the boys are old enough to remember their time with him.
Even though his old body was failing him, his mind was still sharp enough to play Mahjong and other games with us. These photos are from our last trip with him down to Bowral.
5. April 2022 15:04
by Rene Pallesen
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Lucas is part of the schools chess club.
The other day he was very proud that he'd received this award.