Back to Sweetwaters

My sister, Clare is the glue in our family since Mum and Dad passed away.  She's the one who finds the lovely places where we can all stay together, gathers us all from our far flung homes, plans the menu, delegates tasks (like who cooks which meal).  And does it all quietly, without fuss.  She is lovelier than lovely.

This year five brothers, four sisters and several spouses returned to Sweetwater Cottage in the rainforest at Maleny, about 90 kms north of Brisbane.  It's a beautiful place, secluded and peaceful.

  

 The two photos above are from Sweestwater Cottages website

Last winter we gathered around the fire, this year the weather was more conducive to outside entertaining and the large under cover table was the perfect size for us all.  Don't know how I managed to get a photo with no-one sitting at it.

 

With a family as large as ours there are bound to be personality clashes and although we siblings learned long ago to get along, one of the in-laws rubs most of us up the wrong way.  It had to happen sooner or later.  Finally one of us had enough of being antagonized and words were spoken which would have been best left unsaid.  We are all getting on a bit in years, we span 22 years from 78 to 56 and I guess some, like me, have grown a bit impatient with our passing years. Shame, but it is what it is.

Despite the unpleasant scene we had a lovely two days.  It's ages since I spent any time with my brother who lives in Perth.  I had quite forgotten what a wonderful sense of humour he has.  He reminds me of our grandfather which is the nicest thing I could say about any man.  I'm concerned about the health of two of my brothers.  It's to be expected, I guess.  As I said, we are all getting older.