CollinsPlus
E-news
Edition 6. September-October 2006
Editor:
Barbara Collins
You can
send news at any time to The
Editor. A reminder email will be sent out a little while before each edition is
due. So please keep the newsletter in mind whenever anything happens in your
family that you would like to tell everyone about!
Index
|
|
||
|
|
Collins Family News
Go to Collins Family in CollinsPlus
Website
Social Events
Family get together 8/10/2006
On Sunday 8th October, the whole Collins
family gathered at Graham's place in Wantirna for a barbecue. We were joined by Andrew, Sophie and Josh
Teres for the first time. The only ones missing were Carly who is doing a Lush
Dancers gig at an event, Tyson in London, Max who was studying for his VCE and
Paul who is Brisbane arranging for Pauline’s furniture to come to Melbourne.
Everyone bought food to share, and there
was plenty of it! Graham had his giant
television tuned to Bathurst for the races (for those who are interested) and
little Josh entertained the girls. Even
though the weather wasn't the best, we have a great day. Click here for more pictures. Thanks Graham for
a great day!
Make sure you put these dates in your 2007
diary yet for next years family get togethers?
March 25 (Sophie and Andrew have offered to host this family get together)
October 14
Con Collins
Con Collins is the Ground Zero man for this website.
Con's 84th Birthday bash
On Friday the 22nd, September,
some of the Collins family met at that Moonee Valley racecourse to celebrate
Con’s 84th birthday.
We caught up on news, listened to Jessica’s
adventures in Queensland, sang happy birthday and did a spot of dancing.
Highlights of the evening were getting Con
up to dance and we think we saw John on the dance floor once ….. for a few seconds.
Click here for more pictures.
Con is happy to report that his ribs,
back and ankles all coming good and with the Spring/Summer bowls season,
he is now playing bowls about 3 times a week. He recently upgraded his
Foxtel to Platinum which is all very technical for him, but he's got the hang
of it so he can now record shows directly onto the hard drive at the touch
of a button. At the same time, he still has his VCR recorder and can now
record up to 3 programs at one time. His only trouble now is finding the time
to watch it all.
Update on Bridget
Judy said, “Mum is doing pretty well. We
had a care plan meeting with all the care staff, doctor and head nurse recently
and all are happy with how she is going. They find that she is responds
well to the iron injections which are a 5 week course. She has finished
her second treatment and doctor will monitor her blood regularly to
check the iron levels do not fall too low again. If they do, they will keep on
with random courses or iron injections which are most favourable or iron
supplements. Mum is going well with the pureed food and her weight is
good. I did point out a thing that has been growing bigger on mum's face
near her left ear, that has concerned me for some time now. The doctor has
looked at it and it appears that it needs to be cut out. This will be done
by a skin specialist who can perform the surgery at Gregory Lodge. I'm
hoping that it is going to be done on a day when I or at least someone can be
there for/with her. I have to find out more details about when and how, I
do know she will have a local for it, but not sure if she will be asleep. Mum
is stiffing up a lot more now, therefore she must be encouraged to walk
even if it is only inside the complex, as you know this will help her
mobility. So if you are visiting, try to talk her for a walk around.”
A special visitor for Bridget
Judy said, “Margo Tankard (long time friend of mum) was in Melbourne for a couple of days and she rang to say she would like to visit Sue.We picked her up from the Hilton and went to see mum. Unfortunately mum was not the best when we first got there, but she soon picked up. Mum did not have much to say, but incredibly when Margo said "Bye Sue, I'm going now", mum responded by saying "Come again". What a magic moment! Having spent more time with mum than we expected to, we ran ourselves late in getting Margo back to the Arts Centre and had to have a very rushed lunch at a very ordinary cafe at the Victoria Market. However it was lovely to see Margo and Meryl and to catch up on all her news. It was lovely to experience the true meaning of a good and loyal friend.” Click here for more pictures.
Graham Collins
(Graham Collins is the first and only son of Con Collins who is the
Ground Zero man for this website. Graham
Collins Family)
Tyson
I'll let Carly explain her time in London,
it was so great having her over here, and a week just wasn't long enough, but
we made the most of it. I also got a second job, I started on Sunday, I worked
1-8pm. It's at The Larrick, literally 10 metres from my doorstep, they threw me
straight in the deep end, started the same time as the Manchester United V
Liverpool game, huge Premier league clash, followed by 2 other big football
games, so I did pretty well under the pump. As it’s only part time, I won't get
to many shifts, but hopefully enough to cover food, bills, and beers!!
Also, Kate and I booked 3 days in Derry,
North Ireland. We leave on the 11th of November and return on the 13th. We're
going with Matt & Neil, Kate's cousins, and Zara (Matt's wife). Derry is
where Kate’s Dad is from. Heaps of history there with the IRA etc, so will be
an interesting weekend. We'll do a walking tour to get a good grip on the
culture, then we're hiring a car and driving to the Giant's Causeway which
looks amazing, then we'll try and blend in with the Irish by drinking all
night! But we're looking forward to that, haven't been away for about 6 weeks
which my longest stint at home (in London) all year!
(Read about how Carly surprised Tyson in
Tyson’s Travel Blog: http://tyscollins.blogspot.com/)
Carly
Been having a great time here!! Paris was beautiful! Did all the main
sites, Notre Dame, the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, shopped along the Champs
Elysees, and, of course, the Eiffel Tower!! We went at night which was even
better cos it was all lit up! And we went to the very top too! The view was so
good! Also went to the Moulin Rouge. I think that was my highlight, it was just
amazing! From there went to London, as you've heard a little from Tys – yes, he
was very surprised! Tys and Kate took me and Lauren to all the main tourist
things, but most of our time in London was partying and shopping!! Had a ball,
and I reckon somewhere in the future I might do what Tys has done, and live and
work there for a while. I think it would be great experience! In Ireland now.
Staying at a uni dorm with a girl that Lauren knows. Here for a few nights then
we head to Galway and stay with Lauren’s dad for another few nights. So far in
Ireland all we’ve done is shop, and party!! Go via Thailand on way home, and
will be back on Fri, November 3rd. Will fill you all in with stories properly
when I get back! Yeah, I’m really upset
I missed the family get together too!! I was meant to be back in time, but our
dance got delayed at last minute. Would have been good to catch up with
everyone!! Gig went good tho, got a few more small jobs (for the Lush Dancers)
out of it for when we get back too!
Darcy
My 18th birthday was sort of split up into two different days. I
celebrated it with Dad, Brenton and Wade and about 30 of my mates on Saturday
14th, which was a few days before I actually turned 18. We polished off five
slabs of beer with a barbeque at our house before we hit the town. We went to The Hawthorn, followed by the Glenferrie that
night and we all had an awesome time. Lots of fun. My actual birthday was on
the Tuesday the 17th, which was the last day of school for the rest of my life.
How ironic. So we had a massive night with majority of the people in my year
level celebrating the end to a massive journey that night anyway. It was great
weather, I received a lot of Happy Birthday text messages and then the
celebrations that night just topped it off.
The Cabrera Family
Judith Collins is the second girl in the Con and Bridget Collins
Family. She is married to Renato Cabrera. Go to the Cabrera
Family page.
Judi said, “Renato and I went to Pascoe
Vale RSL with Dad (Con) for dinner the day before Grand Final. Grand
Final Day we had a BBQ lunch at (provided by) Gregory Lodge. That was an
enjoyable day with all the residents that were able, and their carers,
all congregated in the courtyard and the dining rooms off the courtyard.
It was all over and done with and packed up
in time to get home and watch the opening ceremonies of the Grand Final.
As the family are aware, we had a family gathering down at Graham's
house we had a really great day. The night before that Renato and I went
out for dinner and dancing and got home very late so we were a tad tired. We
have been frequenting dad's bowling club lately for it was the regular once a
month BBQ night 1st Friday of the month. Then the last episode was a Fish ‘n
Chip Trivia Night - we all had fun. We have been off to see two movies, Kenny
that was a barrel of laughs, and the Devil wears Prada both which we
recommend. Just recently we had another night out - dinner, movies and
dancing until late. We always seem to do this when we have something on the
next day (when will we ever learn). Judi has been, and will be, working a few
extra hours and days because the Bi-Lo Store is changing to a Coles Store
- other than that it's been a reasonably quiet month.”
The Gough Family
Mary Gough is the 3rd girl in the Con and Bridget Collins Family. She has 3 children Max, Alex and Zac. Go to Gough Family page.
A report by Alexandra Gough
The last news we had was at the end of 1st term
were I was at Canberra and we were going to Queensland. Well Canberra was great
and was nice and hot. So was Queensland. But the second week we were in
Queensland was very windy due to the cyclone. Luckily we didn’t get the full
brunt of it so I won’t say anymore on that coz it’s old news. Not much happened
after that. In term two I had a small production at school for drama. We
performed our ensemble pieces. They were funny sad and confronting all at the
same time. But most importantly we had loads of fun.
Max had his year 12 formal (or ball whatever you wanna call it) in June just before the school holidays. He wasn’t gonna go but came home one day after school saying that his friends wanted him to go. He hired a suit and that’s all he did to prepare (well that’s because he’s not a girl). Him and his friends met at one of their houses and had some champagne before getting into the limo that took them to their formal. He had a fabulous time and was glad he went.
I went on work experience for two weeks in July.
My first week I was at a digital photography place. I didn’t get to do much
there. Mostly watch so it was a bit boring. I spent my second week at dad’s
work. I did a heap more there like packing boxes, doing invoices, making
bookings and other stuff. Unfortunately I didn’t get much out of the work
experience coz those fields of work don’t interest me much. I really wanted to
do my work experience at Moorabbin airport but I left it too late (I want to be
a pilot for anyone who doesn’t already know).
Maddison (Rick’s daughter) was supposed to have
an operation on her hip (due to Perthes disease) a while ago but unfortunately
it had to be cancelled due to her having a cold and an ear infection. She had
been put back on the waiting list and had her operation Monday 16th October.
(See Rick’s report on Maddison’s operation further down). She is currently in
recovery and will be in a wheelchair for 6 weeks.
My netball team got into the finals but we
bombed out at the preliminary finals. But don’t worry we’ll get them next time.
I’ve started Thursday night netball now instead of training and so far we have
only won 3 games. Two because of technicalities (the other teams forfeited) and
1 was because only 2 people from out team could play so our coach got fill ins
for us from her team. Zac’s footy team made it to the finals. And unfortunately
bombed out in the semi but he had fun and is now getting psyched for next
season. Yay. Max will soon be starting exams. His first one is English was on
the 27th October and his last one is on the 9th November. He is in the process
of studying. lol. At least that’s what he calls it. But who ever hear of
studying whilst playing the PS2.
For the skool holidays we went camping with Rick
and the kids. I went up early with Rick and his kids on the Thursday night
arriving at 2 o’clock on Friday morning. We set up in the dark in a temporary
camping spot, and by setting up I mean we blew up 3 mattresses and set up
Rick’s 30sec tents without pegs. We were lucky there wasn’t much wind or we
would have blown away. We had a girls’ tent and a boys’ tent. We woke with the
sun and found a camping spot that was 10 metres away and set up our tents
again. Rick set up his closest to the trailer and me and the girls went and
found a spot furthest away from him (due to his snoring). The boys set up next
to us. With the three tents we took up 2 camping spots.
Mum and the boys arrived the following Monday
bringing with them some city folk who knew nothing about roughing it. Aka
Cathy, John and Elise. There were few facilities so we needed to bring
everything including water. The toilets were pit toilets, a whole in the ground
for those who do not know. Cathy unfortunately broke the first rule of pit
toilets – i.e. DON’T LOOK DOWN. After disobeying this rule she proceeded to
tell us how it looked until her saviour John set up their own portable toilet
and she was happy. We saw many animals, kangaroos with joeys; goannas, possums,
whales, crabs, stingrays, dolphins and we caught an abundance of fish.
Naturally I caught the biggest fish.
I have a drama solo (VCE unit 2) on Tues 30th.
Stressed and scared. But I’ve finished my script and I’ll be able to tell you
more about it next newsletter.
Maddison’s operation (Maddison is the
daughter of Mary’s friend, Rick)
Maddison’s Dad, Rick, said, “On Sunday 15th
October, Maddison was admitted to the Royal Children’s Hospital for a hip
operation. She had contracted Perthes disease which is where the ball of the
hip collapses due to a lack of blood flow. Due to the ball collapsing,
Maddison’s leg was not correctly in her hip socket. The operation involved
cutting the top of the femur bone, inserting a pin into the top piece and
rotating it back into the socket. The top piece was then attached back to the
main bone with a bracket and three screws. Click here for the x-ray where you can
see the difference in the two “balls” of the hip-joints.
At 9.15a.m. on Monday 16th October,
Maddison went in for her surgery. The operation was expected to take 1 hour. We
went to the “Parent’s waiting room” and soon after the hour the surgeon came
out to let us know the operation had gone well and all looked good. We would be
called to the “recovery” room shortly. Another hour and we hadn’t been called
into the recovery room - we were starting to become worried. Eventually we were
called in – only to find Maddison still out to the world. She had shown signs
of life but was still very much out of it. Without really coming to, she was
taken up to her ward. She had had two anaethaesists which probably explains why
she really did not wake up till Tuesday. A good thing – because it meant she
was in no pain.
Tuesday - Maddison although still on a lot of pain
relief was now starting to come to (our little space cadet). By the
afternoon she was quite with it and the Physio came around and got her into a
wheel chair for half an hour. Maddison was happy to be sitting up and took
advantage of the fact she was sitting up to do her favourite past time –
colouring – although she did complain the lines were all fuzzy. The physio was
impressed – some children aren’t that mobile for another two days.
Wednesday – Maddison was quite with us now, sitting
up in bed and playing “Barbie UNO”. The in-house television show – “Macadamia”
came around to the ward and pre-recorded some footage of Maddison for the
following day’s TV program. Maddison had the first of her two intravenous pain
relief stopped today.
Thursday – The “Macadamia” people must have been
taken by Maddison, as they invited her down to appear in the “Live” taping of
the show. (Only three children each week appear live on the show). Maddison had
the last of her intravenous pain relief stopped today. Maddison slowly and
painfully removed her own dressing this afternoon. She was very brave. Nurse
Lauren was very patient.
Friday – Ready to leave – Check-out day goes really
slow - you are ready to leave but need to wait for doctors to give the all
clear and arrange prescriptions etc. not enough doctor’s, too many patients.
Maddison could not wait to get to the Starlight room (For the uneducated – the
Starlight room is a large indoor play area for the kid’s at RCH. It has heaps
of video games, a large movie screen playing current dvd’s, stage for singing
and dancing, arts and crafts area, face painting, air hockey – a kid’s
paradise). She had been looking forward to the Starlight Room from the day she
arrived. Mum and Maddison went down to the Starlight room while Dad chose to
stay up in the ward waiting for all the red tape to be cleared. Home time.
It really is amazing how quickly kids turn it
around - From being on two intravenous pain relief drips and other oral pain
relief medications to being checked out with a simple prescription for codeine
and panadol within four days. You are very brave Maddison.
Maddison is home now but is not allowed to
put any weight on her leg for six weeks. (I guess it is like having a broken
leg – but with no plaster). She will be in a wheel chair for six weeks. It is
getting to the end of week one at home and Maddison will be returning to school
next week.”
(See Maddison before her operation in the
next picture down playing with Josh)
The Teres Family
Paul Teres is partner to
Barbara Collins, daughter of Con Collins. Go to Teres Family
page.
The Teres family
is going through a period of readjustment. Pauline is settling in well at the
Ukrainian Elderly People's Home after leaving Brisbane at short notice.
Fortunately Lisa was up there to help with her departure and has remained for a
working holiday. She is caring for the house and liaising with Real Estate
agents. Paul went to Brisbane in early October to collect some of Pauline's
possessions and delivered these by truck. He has been back to Brisbane late
October to finalise the sale of the property. Barbara and Paul are enjoying
married life but have not had much time together up to now. Some family days
are planned in the near future to give everyone the opportunity to catch up.
Pauline is VERY happy
in her new home at the Ukrainian elderly Citizens Hostel. Paul even reports
that she has seen her laughing! She has a lovely room and is enjoying plenty of
good food with a Ukrainian influence. They go on many outings and have a lot of
in-house entertainment – all in Ukrainian. Sophie and Andrew went to visit her
and Josh entertained all the residents. No language barrier when it comes to
cute babies!!
Sophie, Andrew and
Josh also came along to the last CollinsPlus get together at Graham’ place.
Here’s picture of one little girl who really caught his eye, Maddison (daughter
of Mary’s friend, Rick). In fact, he was a hit with all the girls – especially
if they were in pink! Josh is also enjoying playing in the park near his home. Click here for some very cute pictures!
Josh has his own blog: Click here.
Barb has decided
to give up Avon at the end of this year. After 3 years as a team leader to a
group 100 representatives and after reaching her goal of President’s Club, she
thinks it’s all a bit too much in her semi retirement. With the unit looking
like a warehouse, and the Paul and the garden starting to feel a bit neglected,
priorities have been put in order!
Talking about the
house looking like a warehouse – the time is coming for ruthless clean out. To
this end, Barb has done a course on selling on Ebay and will soon be selling
off all ‘stuff’ that is in excess of needs!
Happy birthday to
Wade Collins and Darcy Collins in October: Click here for your
birthday card.
If your birthday
falls in October and you are not on this list, email the
editor and send in your birth date.
Do the Dr Phil Test
Panda-Monium
Click here for story on baby pandas.
Tax Refund
Would you like a bigger one? Click here.
A good wife always knows her place
Click here to see this an actual 1955 Good Housekeeping article. This is for
women only – don’t want guys getting any funny ideas. Take particular note of
the underlined bits!
All websites featured in this newsletter are archived on the Links Page of the CollinsPlus site for future reference.
Cheapskates
Cheapskates Journal is all about
getting your life arranged so that you can have more fun with your family and
friends. Spend time doing fun things, enjoy wonderful holidays and live without
the fear of debt.
Cheapskates can show you how to save money on your everyday household items
with handy practical hints and tips. We can show you how to pay off your credit
card and any outstanding debts and begin to save money so that you can enjoy a
fun filled lifestyle.
Barb says, “ You can join this site
for an annual cost – but there’s also lots of free information on there as
well. Worth a look if you are running a household and want to save money.”
Congratulations this month to ….
ü Con on turning 84
ü John for dancing
ü Madison for such a fast recovery from her
operation
ü Alex for catching the biggest fish on the
school holidays
ü Carly for pulling off such a great surprise
for Tys
ü Graham for hosting a great family get
together
ü Con for becoming a techno head!
Passing on
this newsletter
Pass this newsletter on to people in your family who have not seen it yet. They
might like to become involved as well. All they need to do is email the editor and say they would like to be on the site, and they will be sent information.
If you want to send this newsletter to an extended family member, this is how
you can do it.
- Go to File in the Toolbar
- Go to Send to
- Go to Send – link by email (or similar wording)
An email will come up with the link in it and you just have to put in the email
address of the person you want to send it to!