Telegram from 1952

Paris and Lara found this telegram amongst Aunty Betty’s collection of memories (her own memory isn't doing so well). Betty has a number of telegrams, including one from Jack Forrest on their one year wedding anniversary.

Getting old and retiring is awesome!

Bloomsday

As all of you who have read James Joyce's "Ulysses" will know, the action all takes place on June 16, 1904. On June 16 every year, Joyce fans celebrate "Bloomsday", named after the hero of Ulysses, Leopold Bloom.
The original story is set in Dublin and on June 16 every year, the town stops while Dubliners retrace the route Bloom took through Dublin's various pubs and houses of ill-repute. Everywhere the Irish have settled (including Melbourne), Bloomsday is celebrated. It usually involves Guinness and readings from the book.
I'm not sure what Daniel will be doing tonight but my guess is that it will involve Guinness and a toast to the greatest writer in the English language. Here's to you, James.

The picture is of James and his wife, Nora Barnacle, in Paris, where he finally managed to find a publisher for his masterwork.

Andrew's Birthday 11th of June

Happy Birthday Andrew! On June 11 in 1770 Captain Cook ran into the Great Barrier Reef. You share a birthday with ZZ Top Drummer Frank Beard who ironically is the one without a beard. You also share a birthday with Vince Lombardi and Jacques Costeau. To celebrate your birthday Ive posted a picture of Stefan Edberg. Happy Birthday!

Brendan and Kimmy visit Melbourne

The Melbourne branch of the family had the pleasure of an overnight visit by Brendan and Kimmy last night (Saturday). They were in town to pick up around 30 oak tree seedlings which are hosting truffles and the plan is to grow them at their property at Mudgee. We should all prepare for a truffle feast but, as the tallest of seedlings measures about six inches, it might take some time.
The latest news from the Seages is that Aunty Betty has moved from the self-contained unit at their retirement villiage to the total care section. Uncle Ken can still visit every day and Aunty Betty can visit the unit but it's a big change for them and it will take some time to get used to.
Uncle Ken turns 89 on Tuesday and if you're close to a telephone on that day, he'd appreciate a call. Call me first if you need the number. Oh, and Brendan says we should put this date in our diaries for next year as there will be some celebrations when he turns 90.
We had breakfast this morning at the Boathouse familiar to many of the Roff brothers although it was too cold to ride.
In other news, Brendan and Kimmy have bought a two-bedroom, free-standing house in Bardwell Park (near Sydney airport) which we toured on-line. It's not big enough for Roff christmas but all Roffs will be welcome guests.

Biggles in Canada

Here is a few pics of Flying Ace Biggles and faithful companion Sue in Canada. The first two pics are Drumheller (badlands), the 3rd is the Rockies and Waterton Lake and the 4th is Johnston Canyon in Banff. Biggles is great in regards to shooting down rogue Fockers during great wars but  has no idea about how to access the Roff Report (Come on  Jake, help him out). Anyways, they had a week in Banff and managed not to be eaten by a bear, survived a week in Calgary with Lily (much more dangerous) and moved on for a week in Toronto (not Dole Town ie Newcastle) with Sue's bro Craig. After that, the plan was a week on the big island in Hawaii with a rental of a Ford Mustang.

King of the Tipping!

Hopefully this doesn't come across as arrogant, but Rowan "the Supercomputer" Roff is back on his throne as the Lord of footy tipping. Not only did I win the 2011 Roff AFL tipping comp, I am now currently leading both the 2012 Roff AFL tipping, and the Roff rugby tipping competition. With history on my side, and a deep and thorough understanding of the sports, I think it's quite reasonable for me to announce an early victory.

See you all in 2013!

Outback tales

I'm just back from a six-day ride from Radelaide to Urulu with six other journos and just the support of two vehicles full of doctors, mechanics and liquid refreshments. The bike was the Triumph Tiger Explorer which is a 1200cc adventure-tourer. It was a fine trip with over-nighters  at farm-stays, the William Creek pub and a bush camp (fully catered, of course).
The riding was a bit quick for my comfort level but I didn't fall off. I've never seen Uluru before and it really is beautiful. I didn't climb it as the locals don't aprove but I was pleased to discover this as I could barely stand up by the time we arrived. Julia has climbed it a couple of times and says it was terrific but this was before the locals made their position clear.

The pics are of a quick stop on the Oodnadatta Track and me guarding the beers outside the William Creek pub.

Happy Birthday Joe

Happy Birthday Joe Powers. Sorry it is a few days late but to celebrate your birthday we went to Montana and had no computer. Could not find anyone to play pong with. Hope you got some nice presents. You share a birthday with lots of interesting people including Andre the Giant, Joey Ramone, Pete Townsend, Grace Jones and Ho Chi Mihn. Ive included a picture of Mrs Doubtfire because it is such a great movie. Happy Birthday

Two will do

Kate and Indy's photos got us thinking about babies again, and then we thought about Nome's prolific behaviour and thought better of it! 'Two will do' is our new motto. Anyway, here's a mini catch up for all. Happy to hear from others with the same idea (sharing photo's, not breeding, Harry!)

Some shots of 'Band 6' at the Channon markets. We (courtesy of super-manager Kelly Roff who hassles publicans to let us play 'sight unseen' for the asking price of our choosing) have been getting regular gigs - our favourites being 'Sunday sessions' where the kids run around and drunks don't fall on our P.A.

Behind the kids is the path that we used to walk to Grandma and Pop's house at the top of the hill. Since they moved out and started galavanting around the world, the path has become overgrown - hence the bottom lips.

In other Lismore Roff news, Kelly is playing A-grade hockey again, and has lost none of her skills, regularly schooling chicks half her age. And talking about fast approaching old age, one idea I have for my 40th next year (Easter-ish) is 'Band 6' in the hall at Woodlawn (all Roffs/Seages/Forrests invited obviously as they nearly have land rights)

Jordan Rees Bisley

Indy Bisley and Emma Rees are pleased to introduce Jordan Rees Bisley, born at 2:48pm on 14 March 2012. Weighing in at 10lb 5oz (4.7kg), he's a whopper. Mum, Dad and baby are all doing well, and beaming.

If you are in Melbourne at any stage, get in contact with Indy becasue "You gotta see the baby".

Happy mothers' day to all Roff mums

All over Australia (and Canada), Roff  mums have been eating burnt toast and drinking luke-warm tea. Not at Nelson Road! Dom, Nick and Annika turned up early (for them) at 10.30am to cook Julia a sumptious breakfast with lashings of vegetarian goodness. The kids fought for space at the gas range and oven, and only some of the breakfast components were stone-cold when they were finally served. Julia and Nick, who have both had a month of breakfasts in hotels where the scrambled eggs have the texture of rubber, particulary enjoyed the feast.

We thought of all the other mums out there and hope you all had a rewarding experience.
Julia got free movie tickets to our local cinema and Nick asked her not to pay too much attention to the fact that the cinema is on the way from his house to ours - a coincidence, apparently.

yonder lies the western skies....

Hi all,

Just adding some recent pics of Samuel...
He is delighting us all, and is turning out to be a very serious little man - his facial expressions range from somewhat sceptical to down-right distraught (possibly in response to our parenting techniques, or the sight of my hair style at 3am, we aren't sure which). Either way, he certainly appears to have some questions about this world he has been brought into...We've even discovered that he can raise one eyebrow, which is quite intimidating when you are trying to do something corny like sing him to sleep...

We in the West recently had a visit from Julia, who proved she can compete with Grant for the "Baby whisperer" title when she got Samuel to sleep after a solid hour of tears and tantrums for everyone else! We also got to catch up with Nick recently, who continues to impress us by getting flown around the country in a job he's still not able to fully describe but includes some fancy marketing words, like "synergy".

Mum and Dad continue to be a huge help as grandparents, Lizzy is nothing short of a saint (appearing with soup, cupcakes or cookies every time she is passing by) and we can't wait for little Sam to meet his giant godfather Zac next week when he returns to Perth for a quick visit.

Expect more blogs from us at random hours of the night!
Kate and Joe

Annika heads north

Annika has just been advised that she has been recommended for the Climate Change Research Officer position with the Regional Development Center for Northern Luzon in the Phillipines.
This is part of the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) program.
These postions are very highly contested - almost impossible to get - and Annika secured one on her first application which is probably a reflection on how hard she's worked over the past four years.
Before she flies out for a year (gasp!) in July, she's going to Timor Leste where she'll be providing reserch officer skills for two of the key people monitoring the country's parliamentary elections.

I know what you're thinking and I agree - she could be Australia's second female prime minister...

Hamburg Marathon

On Sunday i ran the Hamburg Marathon. This stemmed mainly from the fact that my mate at home bet me a carton  of Little Creatures that i couldnt run a marathon with no training prior to the race. Yes, this came directly after watching the How I Met Your Mother episode where Barney does this. Those in the know will realise that this sort of wager is fair considering how delicious Little Creatures actually is. Below is a picture of my mate and I who completed it, and then a link where, if you are bored enough, you can watch my highlights from the race. There are 9 or so different cameras, but the race synopsis was that i ran for the first half, then walked/ran half/half between the 20 and 30km marks, walked between 30 and 42 and then ran the last 195m. Completed in the very very very modest time of 5:50hrs, i am happy to take critisism from absolutely ANYONE ELSE who has completed one. This list, i believe, includes Damian. Seriously though, if anyone else is thinking about this, train first!!

Check out the VIDEO!

Anzac Day

Hey! So this morning Dad and I went to Kings Park in Perth for the Dawn Service - apparently so did about 40,000 other people! It was a very nice ceremony and then we thought we would walk down and see the tree in honour of James Seage. For today they added an Australian flag and some flowers to each one. Here are some pics:

Liz x

Who's turned 88?

Who's turned 88?

…which means Neil would have turned 90 last week. God bless him. Mum starts asking what happened to him. God bless her.

A small gathering on Saturday night. Couldn't light the candles – matches and flame guns are banned in retirement homes (it seems).

This is what our bees are doing recently. God bless the bees.

Brendan

Harry and Vicki

Hi All,

I will be lucky to have Harry's video done in time for their five year anniversary but I have a blooper to share that features 'The Roffs'.

Ad

This is what happens to naughty children

Banff, Alberta, Canada

Just had a wonderful spring break to Banff which is truly beautiful. Stayed in a flash hotel for bargain rates, and celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary (went to a nice bar and watched the ice hockey over a few cocktails)!!
Skiied a couple of days, and visited a frozen Lake Louise. Walked out into the middle wearing our snowshoes. Banff town is very quaint surrounded by snow capped peaks - any visitors???

On the balcony of Banff Springs hotel where Marilyn Munro had her photo taken in 1953

Snowshoeing on Lake Louise with the Fairmont Hotel in the background

A guided tour to the penthouse of the Rimrock Resort where we stayed at budget rates courtesy of a friend who is the head housekeeper

Outlaws in the trading post

Grant's new job

Due to a recent spike in the number of motorcycle magazine editors who have died from heart attacks, I'm now the new editor of 2Wheels magazine. 2Wheels was started in 1969, making it the second oldest motorcycle magazine in Australia. It's owned by Express Media Group which is based in Sydney but, thanks to modern communication technology, I'll be editing it from Melbourne. I'm busy at the moment converting the basement of the house into an office. So ends a very pleasant nine months outside the workforce but this will keep the wolves from the door for a few years to come and I'm probably going to enjoy it. The job entails a bit of domestic and overseas travel so it will increase my chances of catching up with family. Trip one is in May when a group of us are riding new Triumph off-roaders from Radelaide via the Flinders Ranges and Williams Creek to Uluru, which I've never seen before. Start buying the magazine from the July issue...

Kingofcousins Birthday

Happy Birthday Jake (14th). You share a birthday with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Ritchie Blackmore from Deep Purple. On this day in history the other King released the movie "Girl Happy".

The rise of Samuel

Kate & Joe are proud to officially announce (stop using Facebook as a reliable source of information!) the arrival of their son, Samuel Alexandre Powers. He was born on 11/04/12 and weighed in at 8lb 5oz. Mum and bub are doing well, making a good recovery. This little guy has paddles for feet, so we're really looking forward to getting him in the pool for the Roff swimming competition!

Thanks also for all your well wishes.

-K8

The Demise of Sunline

Not the horse but the famous family golf set. The brothers all remember the Sunline sets of golf clubs Black and Eileen bought us when we were in High School. Light, no weight, rubbish clubs that served us for many years. Black drove Ash ( or was it Stu) and I to the opening day of K Mart in Newcastle at 8am on the way to school and it was like a feeding frenzy of old ducks pushing, crushing, running and barging...what chance did two little Marist brothers Hamilton boys in uniform stand....but we got two sets and played with them for years. In our family Zac was the last user of them but with the impending move to Perth they have had to be culled. Sad but true. A little bit of history now residind in the local SVDP shop.

Rock

Passing of Jan’s Sister

Rock and Jan sent through a note to announce the passing of Jan’s sister Robyn, aged 52, on Good Friday morning after a 13 year battle with cancer. Many of the older generation Roffs would remember Robyn from occasional family get togethers and visits. She was much loved by the Geraldton Roffs for her crazy nature and showering of gifts on the children and although we haven’t seen her for a while she will be greatly missed. The funeral will likely be in Dubbo in the next week. Jan herself is understandably sad but with her own health issues will not make it back. We will probably find a nice quiet church in Perth to reflect on Robyn’s life.

Rock

Annikas Birthday

Happy Birthday Annika.
You share a birthday with Mick Mars from Motley Crue. On this day in 1967 Jim Morrison was arrested by the FBI. With no photos of you to post, I have gone with Cindy Wilson from the B52's to celebrate your birthday. Happy Birthday!