CollinsPlus
E-news
Edition 6. September 2007
Editor:
Barbara Collins
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Collins Family News
Go to Collins Family in CollinsPlus
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Next Family Get Together
Bridget’s First Anniversary
Sunday 9th December at Fawkner Cemetery 2.00pm. BYO drink and nibbles and something to sit on. Also bring a favourite memory, momento or photo of Bridget to share.
Con Collins
Con Collins is the Ground Zero man for this website.
Father’s Day
Judy says, “Con had a nice Father’s Day, considering that it was going to be a quiet one (given that we were organising a surprise birthday for him later in the month). We ended up with a house full of Graham and some his gang, Cathy and John and their gang, Barbara and Paul, Judi and Renato and Bear - so we had a big day and filled up on hotdogs and cold meats.”
Con’s 85th Surprise Birthday
Party
Well - what a party!
Paul and Barb took Dad out in the afternoon to Fawkner Cemetery to see a tree the landscaping unit had planted for us in Mum’s garden. We told Dad we would be back in time for the footy game at 4 o’clock.
Everyone arrived at 3.30ish. Judy and Renato, Graham, Brenton and Carly, Mary and Rick, Cathy and John and Jessica, and Bear, and Paul and Barb trooping along behind.
Dad got a great surprise!
Judy and Renato had been preparing a feast over the previous few days, which was no mean feat with the guest of honour being there all the time. And what a feast it was! Renato sure is a great cook.
Barbara gave a speech and Judy and Graham added some thoughts. Con clarified what he meant when he wrote in a letter to Bridget, “And the least said about the time I nearly burnt the town down, the better”. Yes, Con had been a very naughty little boy.
Unfortunately, for a few days prior to the party, Con hadn't been feeling 100%. He was experiencing a reoccurring problem but he survived the party.
However, at 2.00am, it was necessary for Judy and Renato to take him to the hospital. Poor Con – what a way to finish your 85th.
More on Con’s health
Con was in hospital for five days following his birthday while his problem was stabilized and tests were carried out. In the end, the tests showed the cause of the problem but there is not a lot that can be done so he is on new medication instead. He arrived home in time to be able to enjoy the Grand Final!!
Judy also reports on Con:
“Since the last newsletter, we have had Con in hospital twice. At the end of July, he went in for four or so days. He was wheezing and very out of breath. The outcome was that he was retaining too much fluid and it was placing pressure around his heart and lungs. They cleared all that up for him and while he was in there, he scored a walking frame through the Veteran's Affairs, even though he does not want to use it. Then, recently in the early hours of the morning, just after his surprise 85th birthday, we whisked him off to emergency, with a blockage in the waterworks department. Outcome - prostate enlarged, but no surgery necessary. He was in there for just under a week and has been prescribed some very expensive medicines (thanks again to the Veteran's Affairs) to help reduce the prostrate gland. So Con says to anyone that rung and left messages or sent birthday cards, he did not reply because he was not at home, but to thanks to you all for your kind thoughts and deeds.
Good news for Con! His Veteran's Affairs pension was recently increased from 10% to 80% and he was pretty happy about that, but his representatives at the RSL(Returned Services League) want to appeal that and try to get him 100%.”
Report on Bridget’s brain autopsy
As most of you are aware, the Collins Family donated Bridget’s brain for research to the Victorian Brain Bank. Judith obtained the autopsy report which showed Bridget’s brain displayed the classic symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease. Very simply, it said that there were signs of plaque and shrinkage, the latter worst in the part of the brain associated with emotion, motivation, behaviour and various nervous system functions. There was also damage to the nervous system including tangling, inflammation and calcification (hardening) of the nerves. There was also evidence of both benign and malignant tumours. You can read the whole report here. It is really hard to read about the final state of your mum’s brain and we hope that the information that Bridget’s brain provided assists in the research into this devastating disease.
New tree in Bridget’s garden
The family love the garden setting where Bridget’s ashes are interned. However, the drought killed off a bush, leaving a big gap in the garden. The cemetery landscapers were not going to plant anything there until after the drought broke. However, we assured them that we would look after anything that they planted there for us. We have already planted numerous other plants there that are surviving well. I promised them we would look after a tree if they planted for us. And they did!! We think it’s a maple.
So if you are having a quiet visit with Bridget at any time, please give the tree a water so it survives the Summer.
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)
Graham
Graham has ALMOST retired. He is working 2 days a week to help out at his old workplace – probably until the end of the year. He is enjoying his free time by working out at the gym and playing golf.
Tyson
“We won our Grand Final a couple of weeks
ago in a thriller. Scores were level at the final siren and we won by a goal in
extra time. Amazing game! Finally after a lifetime of playing footy I've
finally got what I wanted and it was so worth all the sacrifices and injuries
along the way. Couldn't be happier! Needless to say we've been celebrating ever
since and it's taking its toll, I'm knackered!!
I carried hip injuries all season, and I need to have operations on both sides. They are going to do arthroscopies on both sides to fix up all the torn cartilage and also cut away bone from the head of my femur on each side. I'm getting the left one done on the 26th of Oct, and the right done on the 7th of Dec (need to be 6 weeks apart). I'm actually looking forward to it, hopefully all goes well and I can play on next season, and be able to walk around pain free for once!!!”
Carly
Carly has a new job as a PA and is very
excited at the change of career. Hope to have more news next newsletter.
The Zoch Family
Catherine Zoch is the 4th girl in the Con and Bridget
Collins Family. She is married to John Zoch. Go to Zoch Family
page.
Cathy had a good birthday. She took the day off and she and Jessica did step aerobics in the morning, went to Highpoint after lunch and spent her birthday money. After a visit to Dad in hospital, the family went to a Thai Restaurant for tea.
Elise has returned from her Queensland camp and was so excited, she hardly got
any sleep on the bus. But, she had a ball.
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.
Con’s surprise party
Renato planned and organised a surprise 85th Birthday for Con. This was when he was still playing
bowls and we thought that while he was out at bowls we could do all the bulk
cooking and set up the house so when he got home, he would not know a thing.
However after making this grand plan, dad gave up bowls and Judy started to
panic - wondering how to prepare all this without Con hanging around. Renato
organised it so all members of the family could just come and enjoy themselves,
so he arranged to do all the catering which he did and members of the family
all shared the cost. Well, believe it or not, we managed it. We had to pretend
the night before that we were cooking for Barbara and Paul coming for tea and I
was making extra meals for the Sunday and Monday - we had to explain why
we were doing all this cooking! Thanks to Barbara and Paul who picked dad up
and took him out for about an hour before party time. That gave us just enough
time to set up the tables and get out some nibbles. Everyone arrived on time
and when dad got home he was genuinely surprised.
And what thanks did Judi and Renato get - a big fat “Well I know never to trust you again.” When asked, “Didn't you wonder why they were doing all this cooking?” Con simply said Judi and Renato are ALWAYS in the kitchen. A great time was had by all including con. See photo of where he ended up after the party!
News on Frederick Street
We are still waiting to officially hear from the insurance assessors if the insurance claim on our house is going to be paid. Maybe they don't officially tell you! The builders that are coming out to do quotes from them say, that they normally would not go to the trouble of getting quotes from builders if they were not going to pay. So I'll keep you all informed when I know more. Can't wait for it to be all over.
A very Chilean time
We have been doing a few Chilean things lately. In August, we had a formal dinner dance to celebrate the 34 year Anniversary of this Chilean Club here in Australia. As usual it was fun, food and dance. It has also been that time of the year,16th September which is the Chilean Independence Day and is celebrated with great patriotism and pride. There is a festival that runs over two days and all the Chilean communities come together - food stalls, south American crafts, there is plenty of entertainment from all over Latin America, national costumes, traditional dancing, plenty of food (what else is new). Then whenever you feel like it, you can dance to some very exciting music, either indoors or outdoors. So it's a pretty wild weekend and as much as I love it all, it's very exhausting and takes me a week to recover. Renato tells me that in Chile all the streets are decorated and people party in the streets for a week - they even have a national holiday. I don't think I would ever survive a week of all that frivolity.
Renato and his very cute nephew, Lucas, at
the Chilean Festival. See
more festival pictures here and learn a bit more about Chilean
Independence Day and why Chileans celebrate it so passionately.
The Gough Family
Mary Gough is the 3rd girl in the Con and Bridget Collins Family. She is married to Chris Gough. Go to Gough Family page.
Mary and Rick recently spent a holiday in Vietnam. Mary said, “On our first day in HCMC we spent on cyclos exploring the city. A cyclo is a large tricycle ridden by your guide with a seat where you sit at the front. It was scary but exciting all at the same time as we were in traffic with not only motorbikes, but cars, taxis, trucks and buses.”
Here is a picture of Mary on a ‘cyclo’.
The Teres Family
Paul Teres is husband of Barbara Collins,
daughter of Con Collins. Go to Teres Family
page.
LOTS of Teres news this month!!
Fathers Day
We spent Father’s Day lunch with Paul’s
children Lisa and Andrew, and Andrew’s family Sophie, son Josh and “the bump”
(“The bump” has since been born and is now “Samuel” – see further down).
Here is a picture of the boys on Father’s
Day.
Then we dropped in to see Barb’s Dad on the
way home.
Lisa’s Birthday
We celebrated Lisa’s 35th
birthday at the Conservatory at Crown. We shared a delightful seafood buffet
with Lisa, Pauline, Andrew, Sophie and Josh. Here’s a picture of Lisa and also
one of Josh who was also enjoying the delicious food!
The new baby has arrived!
The new Teres baby has arrived safe and
sound. Sophie delivered, by Caesarean birth, another beautiful little baby boy
named Samuel Alexander at 9.42am on Wednesday 19/9/2007. All went well and Sophie
is a bit sore but in good health. Josh isn’t quite sure about the concept of
‘baby brothers’ yet. Read what he has to say in his blog: http://seretja.blogspot.com/
Overseas visitors
Paul and Barb had the pleasure of showing
visitors from USA around the city of Melbourne recently. Vince and Pat Polzer
were parents of a student when Paul taught in Denver, Colorado 18 years ago.
We met them at their hotel straight off their
16 hour flight from Los Angeles and had a brief catchup over a cup of coffee.
Then we caught the City Circle tram for a quick ride to the Casino. After a
stroll along Southbank, we stopped for lunch at Federation Square. Then on to
the Tourist Shuttle Bus for another trip around Melbourne – finishing at the
Shrine. We took a break late afternoon and then finished our day with dinner at
the Dragon Boat Restaurant in Chinatown.
It was a big day, especially after such a
long flight, but they were only in Melbourne for two days and HAD to see the
penguins on one of those days. We were exhausted and Paul said he could never
be a tourist guide – but he did a great job of planning the one day Melbourne
tour.
Barb & Paul’s Warrnambool adventure
We ‘backpacked’ to Warrnambool on September 25th! Well, we really just put our backpacks on and caught the train, stayed overnight and returned to Melbourne, via train, the next day. Here is Paul while we stopped to have a picnic lunch in the lake at Warrnambool. They weather was great.
Happy birthday to Lisa,
Con and Cathy in September: Click
here for your birthday card.
If your birthday
falls in September and you are not on this list, email admin at collinsplus.com and send in your birth date.
Cool Art
Check this out for “cool art that will mess with your head”.
See if you can get your head around this one!
Here is the answer to a question. Can you work out what the question is? If not, then question is at the bottom of this newsletter!
Answer:
“Because its dopaminergic neurons fired synchronously across the synapses of its caudate nucleus, triggering motor contractions propelling the organism forward to a goal predetermined by its hippocampus mappings.”
So what’s the question??*
Funny Stuff
Male VS Female at the drive through ATM
For men who need a laugh (and the ladies who can laugh at themselves)
And if the ladies are still laughing……
.
Congratulations this month to ….
ü Samuel Alexander Teres on being born
ü To the whole Teres and Lloyd families on
the arrival on the new baby
ü Con on his 85th birthday
ü
Renato (and Judy) for organizing a great 85th surprise
birthday party for Con
ü
Tyson on achieving his lifelong ambition of playing in (and winning) a
football Grand Final
*The question is: “ Why did the chicken cross the road?”
The usual answer to this question, in non-medical terms, is “to get to the other side”. However, the concept of the chicken crossing the road can mean different things to different people. Look here to see what it means to different people in the CollinsPlus family.