"Old Town" Taiwan

When we were in Taiwan Nikki and Theo took us to a place call “The Old Town”, it was up in the hills and mile from anywhere, but it was so different in so many ways.

It was like stepping back in time, the town was at the end of the rail line, there was only one car in town and it was the Police car, it was no good having cars as the street where way to skinny to drive down, you could drive there but you had to leave you car at the edge of town and walk.

The railway line cut the town in half, on one side of the line was a prayer tree, with bits of bamboo with prayers written on them hanging from it. Besides the train cutting the town in half, there was also a river that ran through town.

There where food shops and people selling things in the street, it was just a great place to see.

The country around the town was very hilly, but just beautiful, and the people made the most of the waterfalls and open space.

S.M. Mac Arthur ©

My Dad!

Geoff and Koby are still best friends, 25 years on,ByCAITLYN PATMAN, Geraldton NewspapersJune 11, 2012, 10:08 am
What started as a way to pass the time for retired hotel owner Geoff Bailey has bloomed into a 25-year partnership with Koby Lee-Steere.
Mr Bailey saw an advertisement for a teaching assistant at Holland Street School, Geraldton and thought, “that would suit me down to the ground”.
“I went in and started right there on the day,” Mr Bailey said.
It was there Mr Bailey met Mr Lee-Steere, a 16-year-old man with brain damage and hearing loss.
Mr Bailey became his carer and has remained by his side for 25 years and counting.
“He’s no trouble at all,” Mr Bailey said humbly.
“We get on so well together.”Up until last year Mr Bailey cared for Mr Lee-Steere five days a week on a fortnightly basis but now spends time with him two days a week and on public holidays.
Mr Bailey, now 85 years old, and Mr Lee-Steere, 41, enjoy walks and coffee with Mr Bailey’s wife, Pat.
“He goes mad for coffee,” they said.
“When he arrives, he sits straight down and waits for a coffee,” Mrs Bailey said.
“If Geoff’s not around, Koby will go looking for him.”
Geoff is originally from Perth and met Pat in her hometown of Mt Magnet when he was working as a relief station master.
They married and over the years managed a newsagency, a betting agency, a roadhouse and The Grand Hotel in Mt Magnet.
The couple moved to Geraldton in 1981 where Mr Bailey retired.
Mr Bailey received a Making a Difference Award in 2002 from the Disability Services Commission and shows no signs of slowing down.
He recently passed his driving test again after having to sit again on reaching his 85th birthday.
“I’ll keep going until I cark it,” he laughed.

Taroko Park taiwn

 Taroko National Park Taiwan, is famous for its marble gorge. Taroko National Park has an area of 92,000 hectares (approximately 227,336 acres). The park established on November 28, 1986.

There’s beautiful landscape here, and wonderful waterfalls, you could spend a week there and not see it all, we where the all day and saw only a very small part of the park.

S.M. Mac Arthur ©

ANZAC Day 2012

 Many of you who know me, will know that War Vet’s and those who fight for this country Freedom, mean a lot to me, even the one I don’t know, so some of you will find this a very different ANZAC Day post for me.

I’m so very sick and tired of hearing people say ANZAC Day, is glorifying war, to me these people are fools who have never, known a Vet or Soldier or live with Vet or Soldier, and they have never been to war.

ANZAC Day is not about glorifying war, it about Death, Living and Freedom.

Death,

So many giving their live to keep our country Free, and at Peace for their children and ours, and they do it because of their love for this country.

And their Families, they lose part of their live in away most of us will never ever understand.

Living,

Those who come home, after doing what their country has ask of them, who try to get on with their lives as best they can, some who never fully come home, for part of them is still in country’s miles away across the sea with a mate who never made it home.

Freedom,

The men and women, who fight for this country and many of those give their Lives for this country, it is they who give us the give us the Gift of Freedom. Freedom to be able to live the way we want, Freedom to be able to stand and have our say, Freedom to go to whatever church we like and the list go on.

No one in their right mind glorifies war, how can anyone say we do, for even those who win the war lose, so many who fright never come home and those who do sometime, pay the price for the rest of their lives’, I have never meet anyone who wanted to go to war, but sometime we have to fight for what is right.

We are not Glorifying War in any way on ANZAC Day.

If you don’t like the way we stand with those who have died, who are fighting and those who have come home after having done what this country asked them to do, LEAVE!

We don’t need you here and I don’t care if you were born here or not, if you can’t stand with those who keep us Free we don’t need you here!!

I will always stand with those who keep us Free!

“Lest We Forget”

That we are Free,

Thanks to those who lay their

Life on the line for us

S.M. Mac Arthur ©

A Soldiers Wife

As she sits there on the edge of the bed
Holding onto sweet memories, going through her head
She has their babies asleep in the next room
But remembers back when they was just bride and groom

She takes the kids to visit his mother
Together they hold hands and pray for a son and a lover
It's been too long now since he first left
For his tour of duty at his counties request

She talks with others who have loved ones over there
Helping to support each other with loving care
Sometimes she breaks down when the kids ask 'when is dad coming home? '
She wishes she had an answer for each time she's alone

She cleans the house and pays those bills
And has her moments when all time stands still
With the love in her heart for just one man
She can't help but cry as she looks at her band

She prays someday he'll come home safe from harm
And once again she'll snuggle up in his arms
She speaks to God about her plans and wishes
As she stands and cries while doing dishes

She's trying to hold it together the best that she can
Doing all she can do for the love of just one man
Her babies are quiet, for they are sound asleep
So then she lays down, then she begins to weep

She don't know it, but he'll soon be home
Just a matter of days now and she won't be alone
They will try and make up for time that was lost
And she'll be so thankfull he didn't pay the cost

We all should be thankful for those served and those that gave
And honor them with pride, for being so brave
Though their feelings may not always show
They've been through a hell that we may never know

by Norman Hale Jr.

Dedicated to those that served as well as their families

“THANK YOU”

Happy Easter

 

Hi My Friends,

Just stopping by to wish you all a wonderful Easter,

I hope you all spend the weekend, with those you love and care about, and that they bring much joy to you,

Please if you’re on the roads travelling,

Please drive safe!

Happy Easter to you all!

Sue