Arrival

The other day whilst scrolling through Facebook, yes, I know, an extremely timewasting habit and my choice of social media showing just how elderly I am, I came upon a “poem” written by May Baker Winkel, the first lines of which run like this: “When I'm an

be so excited!”. For the rest of this tongue-in-cheek verse, I will leave it up to you to Google, lest I find myself in court for breach of copyright! On reading the entire opus, I must admit to laughing out loud! It brought back so many memories of my own children and what they got up to when young. They say that in old age we revert to our second childhood, so as well as being comic, maybe there is a kernel of truth in this verse. Let me assure my adult children though that, at this point, I have no intentions of inflicting my constant company upon them. Who knows what the future may bring, however? To get back to my own children and the things they did that drove my husband and me wild! They were not wicked or even especially naughty children. Their misdeeds were more of an experimental nature, certainly not of the kind that “the Devil made me do it”. For example, my daughter's first encounter and interest in that well-known scientific Law of Action and Reaction. This prodigy of a budding scientist was only fifteen months old when she began her career using the tools at hand, namely her three-month-old baby brother and a small pink plastic hammer. Having observed her father doing some rare DIY, she knew the use of a hammer, and Noted with interest, that on tapping her brother's head,

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he looked startled, on tapping harder, he began to cry, tap even harder, and he cried even louder. Intriguing! Like any good scientist, she began to repeat the experiment to see if the same results would be obtained when, sad to say, her Scientific Method was nipped in the bud by her interfering mother! Her brother, at a similar age, created his own form of mayhem, purely by attempting to be helpful. It was usual for both children to get out of bed early in the morning and play happily together. We left them to it, snatching as much time as possible by pretending to be asleep. Suddenly, the sounds of two happy children were broken by loud wails! Don was the first to leap out of bed to investigate, returning to the bedroom up with the ominous words, “Elaine, don't kill him!”. Yes, my infant son had managed to open the fridge door to get himself a drink, somehow lifting a 2-litre bottle of orange cordial, taking it into the carpeted living room and lifting it to his lips in an attempt to drink the contents neat! Not only was he drowned in the stuff, but my precious carpet also! Have you ever tried to remove undiluted orange cordial from a green carpet? Enough said. And all because my son, with the kindest of motives, did not want to disturb his parents just because he wanted a drink! Consideration personified! During those early days of toilet training, I will not venture into the exact reasons why we found it necessary, for one whole fortnight, to utter the evening mantra of “not in the bed, not on the carpet and NOT in the handbag. Your wildest imaginings would not be too far from the mark! To return to my daughter. It was not only Science that intrigued her but the Arts also, in particular, Pictorial Art! For this, perhaps, we had only ourselves to blame, since we had always taken both offspring on our jaunts to Museums and Art Galleries. Both children loved to draw, nearly bankrupting us by supplying them with paper, both pencil and wax crayons, poster paints and brushes etc. We would praise their efforts, the fridge door never being without decoration by their latest artistic offerings. On this fateful morning, it would seem that both children were remaining in their bedroom for longer than usual, although we could hear their chatter. Eventually, we heard my daughter's feet running along the corridor to our room and bursting with pride, she shouted, “Mummy, Daddy, come and see what I've done!”. She dragged us both into her bedroom and showed us the source of her pride. One entire wall was covered with the most enormous mural, done in wax Crayola! The older kind is totally irremovable. We looked at each other, and then Don said in the gentlest of tones, “Lovely, and I'm so pleased you like it because it will be there for a long time”. When we got over the shock, we did laugh together. We took our children fishing from an early age but always insisted that they wore children's buoyancy vests. Way before they started school, they could bait and cast a hand line and tell when they had a bite. They would begin reeling in the whiting, whilst our job was to make sure that the line did not become tangled, as well as catching fish ourselves. On the way back, our son looked thoughtful. Perhaps he was admiring the beauties of Nature, thinking about the delicious meal of fresh fish to come, surely not seasick? No, he suddenly stood up and jumped overboard! His usually mild-spoken father was heard to revert to certain AngloSaxon profanities, which being a family magazine, I will not repeat! The engine was cut, the propeller, with its chopping blades, ceased to whirl, and the son and heir were dragged unceremoniously aboard. Once safely on the beach, the interrogation began, summed up in one word, “WHY?”. The explanation was equally simple: “I wanted to see if my buoyancy vest worked.”. Yet another example of the scientific brain at work! Einstein had the same problem, that of failing to consider unforeseen consequences! Still, what goes around, comes around, and now both my children have families of their own to repay them in spades!

– Judy, daughter of Bribie Cove resident.

– Bob Jones, Edna’s son.

We believe that everyone deserves to live the happiest life they can. So by providing the right care, the very best professionals, beautiful surroundings and caring

We believe that everyone deserves to live the happiest We understand that the decision to join our life they can. So by providing the right care, the very best professionals, beautiful surroundings and caring you see for yourself the level of care and compassion our residents enjoy, you’ll want to call McKenzie home.

We understand that the decision to join our you see for yourself the level of care and compassion our residents enjoy, you’ll want to call McKenzie home. Our Local Residences:

Our Victorian Residences: Bribie Cove | Bongaree Lynbrook Park199–213 Goodwin Drive 42 Olive Road, Lynbrook The Ashley Glasshouse Views | Beerwah 17-21 Ashley Street, Reservoir96–104 Peachester Road Rosebrook Buderim Views | Buderim441 Waterfall Gully Road, 383 Mooloolaba Road Rosebud

33 Newmans Road, TempThe Ormsby | Buderim lestowe Charlesbrook 112 Burnett Street 1 Innisfallen Avenue, Templestowe Sutton ParkCapellaBay | Capalaba 260 Old Cleveland Rd East Seaton Place | Cleveland 111 Smith Street

Seabrook | Deception Bay 15-29 Bonton Avenue