CollinsPlus
E-news
Edition 2. March/April 2008
Editor:
Barbara Collins – admin (at) collinsplus.com
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send news at any time to The Editor. A reminder email will be sent out
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Index
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Collins Family News
Go to Collins Family in CollinsPlus Website
Con Collins
Con Collins is the Ground Zero man for this website.
Con’s health
Since the last newsletter, Dad has been back in hospital with another clot. This was fixed quite quickly but while he was in there, they determined he needed a blood transfusion. Not just ordinary blood. Nosiree!! CCC needed special radiated blood. Since leaving hospital he has seen his urologist and oncologist and they both say he’s doing very well considering his medical conditions. He’s looking really well and is taking time to do some exercise each day. Barb and Con have been playing Scrabble recently. They are well matched contestants who mainly win depending on the luck of the draw for letters on the day. They have also been to see a few movies.
Easter Sunday
We decided to have an Easter picnic lunch on the banks of the Maribyrnong River. Most families were away so a select group of Con, Barb and Paul, Judy and Renato and Bear were joined by stay-at-home Jessica Zoch and her two friends Liv and Michelle. The day threatened wind and rain but ended up being a very pleasant way to spend a few hours and enjoy lunch.
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
Kate and I are very excited, settlement is
late April so it’s coming around quick. Footy is going OK, we had our first
practice game last week, I played a half and got through it OK. I'm starting to
move a lot better now. I don't really have any news to tell you, nothing much
been happening over the last month or so, just busy buying things for the new
place, working, and training.
Tyson and Kate’s
new place. Their unit is at the back.
Brenton
I'm doing really well back at AGL. Making
more money than I expected, so I've been able to erase most of my debt earlier
than I thought I would.
I'm hoping to buy a house by the end of the year to live in. It's much more of
a realistic goal now than it has been over the last few years. I'm looking
forward to getting out of this house. Dad's fine, but there are a few oxygen
thiefs who I desperately need to move away from.
With Tyson moving out shortly I think Wade will join me upstairs. As long as he
abides by some simple rules I think we'll get along.
Aside from that just looking forward to the cruise I'm going on in a few
months. It will be the first holiday I've been on since I was a teenager, so
can't wait.
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 and John’s 20th Wedding
Anniversary
Cathy said, “Well I got spoilt rotten last
week. Didn't know where I was going right up until Wed morning, had my
suspicions we were going interstate somewhere when Jess started driving
us towards the airport.
We went to Sydney and stayed at Star City Casino, right near Darling Harbour.
It was absolutely beautiful, very flash. Champagne and strawberries on arrival.
We booked into the Sydney Tower revolving restaurant for tea. Would have to go
down as the best restaurant I've ever been to. Food and views were
beautiful. Spent time eating and drinking at Darling Harbour, The Rocks, China
Town. Needless to say I've come home about 5 kilos heavier, but it was worth
it. I also was given a nice pair of gold hooped
ear rings for a present as well.
Yes, I was definitely spoilt rotten.”
Jessica
first of all no i don't have a boyfriend
lol, someone's trying to smear my philosphy of 'no need for a boyfriend', lol
uni is really good i'm enjoying it so much, maybe because i'm only there 3 days
a week, the rest of the time i'm at home doing homework, at my job at
toykingdom, yes i'm still there or going out with friends. sadly with all this
going on i haven't had too much time for my novel, but soon the mid year break
will be here and i'll have a good two months to work on the novel.
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.
Judy sent me an email not long ago with a lovely story in it. I asked her if I could put it in the newsletter. She was a bit embarrassed as she thought readers might think she is silly – but agreed as I assured her that everyone would like to hear about the experience:
Mum came to see Renato and I today in the form of a bird - a pigeon, you know the feather thing.
When we went to her grave a little pigeon was watching us from under the trees behind. I said to Renato “Oh, the poor thing must be so thirsty”, so Renato filled up a little container that we had in the boot with water and took it over to the bird. It shied away a little but stood there watching us. When Renato went back over to the tap to fill the watering can (which took forever), the little bird came out and very close to the water. I went over and it did not move and I spoke nicely to it. I even said to Renato, “This could be Mum”, so I said “Hi Mum!” It was looking at me. I went back to the grave site and all of a sudden it came walking over to me and stood at my feet (true) and lingered there for some time. As Renato came back with the watering can it started to walk away - I said to Renato “This is Mum, I know it” and believe it or not she went and got under the front of my car and stayed there until we were ready to go. So Renato picked up the bird stroked it and patted it, took it back over to the dish of water and it had a little drink, we left it under the tree. Can you believe that?
Judy and Renato have been on holidays – even though they haven’t gone away. However, they certainly fitted a lot of fun into their time off work. Here is one of the projects they have been working on. Can you guess what it is before you read their full report, with pictures, here!
The McManus Family
Helen McManus, nee Lennon, was Bridget Collins’ (nee Lennon) eldest sister. She married Patrick McManus and they had four children – Margaret, Kevin, Brian, Patricia and Gerard. Click here for more information on the McManus Family.
Margaret said, “We have been away in January and February for 3 weeks. First to Vietnam to stay in Saigon, Hoi An, Hanoi; then to Luang Prabang in Laos and finally to Siem Reap in Cambodia where we saw Angkor Wat, the most marvellous temple complex. Everywhere was wonderful and very different. The food as you can imagine was delicious and very reasonable and the people we met so welcoming and pleasant. The heat made sightseeing a little difficult at times. You needed your water bottle and sunhats. We also stayed a night on a junk on Halong Bay, about 3 hours from Hanoi. That was a very cold experience as the area had the coldest weather ever. I would always take a jumper if we return to Hanoi. Lots of great shopping for clothes, scarves, laquer, lanterns and many historical places to see. We recommend it to you.
Margaret and Terry
at Angkor Wat
The Teres Family
Paul Teres is husband of Barbara Collins,
daughter of Con Collins. Go to Teres Family
page.
Oh oh, here’s trouble! Josh and his little brother Sam
Lisa’s Hong Kong holiday
Dave and Lisa at
Victoria Harbour.
Dave and I travelled to Hong Kong
for a week to celebrate New Years.
We arrived on 29th December for a six night stay in a lovely boutique hotel
called 'The Luxe Manor 'located in the Kowloon district of Hong Kong. It was
very central to the harbour ferry, trains, shopping and all the major
attractions.
We spent our time in Hong Kong
shopping at markets (lots of great bargains!), eating delicious Hong Kong style
Chinese food, visiting tourist attractions such as Lantau Island (where the
Bronze Buddha is located), Victoria Peak (highest point in Hong Kong) and just
exploring
the sights of this colourful
city.
We spent New Years Eve at a trendy
bar on the 50th floor of a skyscraper overlooking Hong Kong Harbour. The view
was very spectacular and we enjoyed watching the midnight fireworks and dancing
the night away.
Another day we spent at Macau
which is about a 60km ferry ride from Hong Kong. This Portuguese colony is now
owned by the Chinese and has developed into a casino mecca. A bit like Las
Vegas. We spent a day here visiting the sights and went to the Venetian Casino
which was very luxurious & spectacular. Dave and I played roulette and won
$1600 HK!!! Then we had a fantastic Portuguese dinner which topped off a
memorable day.
It was a great holiday and one of
the best New Years Eve's I have ever had. If you enjoy shopping for
bargains, great Asian food and a lively city then you would love Hong Kong!
Teres Easter
Holiday
Andrew, Sophie, Josh and Sam went to Albury for Easter with another young family, Sophie said, “Unfortunately Josh became sick on Thursday with a Virus so wasn't himself most of the trip. We also discovered he gets carsick which is not much fun. On Saturday we just played some games and made Easter baskets ready for Easter bunny. The adults went out on Saturday night and the children were looked after by Karina’s mum. Sam had a ball - he got so much attention and slept all night each night. Sunday we did an Easter egg hunt which was fun and had a BBQ with some of Karina’s family, and made a pinata for the kids, which was fun (we have great video footage of it). Played some cricket and then prepared for the trip home. We came the long way home through Beechworth, Milewa, Mansfield, Bonnie Doone. We got Josh some medicine so he wasn't as sick, even though he threw up twice, poor little man. But all in all was a great holiday.”
Josh on holidays
with his friend, Cooper. See
more pics here.
Barb’s news
I’ve taken up a local paper/junk mail delivery route. Why? To save more money for holidays!!!!!!!!!! What a great way to get paid for exercising.
We’ve have been looking around at retirement villages and are very interested in one down Mornington Peninsula way. It’s called Martha’s Point. We are going on a week’s holiday a little later on in the year to check everything out. In preparation for the possible move, we have been taking loads of ‘stuff’ to Trash and Treasure markets, working in the garden and having a good clean out of rubbish. It’s truly amazing how much junk one accumulates over a 15 year period.
Our next holiday is not far away. We will be taking off to Club Med on Lindeman Island for 10 days – lots of pics for next newsletter!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve been working out hard at the gym and now have MUSCLES to wrestle Paul with (LOL)
Fun with Pa
Sophie and Andrew and the boys came to visit last Saturday and we finished off with a trip to the local park. Here are some pics of Grandpa Paul and Josh playing in the park.
Happy birthday to
Sophie, Dave, Judy, Renato and Elise in March and Mary and Peter in April: Click here for your
birthday card.
If your birthday
falls in March or April and you are not on this list, email admin (at)
collinsplus.com and send in your birth date.
Paul has been making a collection of hundreds of clean jokes. He’s going to share some with us each newsletter. Here’s the first lot.
Feel free to send any clean jokes to add to this section!
Disorder in the Court!
What people actual said in court!
Why parents drink
Thanks Sophie for
giving an insight into why parents drink!
All websites featured in this newsletter are archived on the Links Page of the CollinsPlus site for future reference.
Use up the left overs in your
fridge!
http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/ (Go to “Top chefs take on leftovers”)
Make economic use of all the odds and ends that
invariably get leftover from previous meals or forgotten in the fruit bowl or
the back of the fridge... and they all taste delicious! This is a UK site but
apples are apples wherever they get left over.
Congratulations this month to ….
ü Cathy and John on their 20th
wedding anniversary
üTyson and Kate on (almost) moving into their
new home
üBrenton on going on his first cruise
üWade on being promoted to ‘upstairs’
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 admin
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- Go to File in the Toolbar
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