My Sister, Denise, Order of Australia Award.

My sister, Denise was honoured with an Order of Australia award
on Australia Day, January 26th, 2007.
I did a post on this award on my blog on the 26th January, 2007.
Denise was notified that her award was to presented to her by
the Governor General of Australia in Canberra on Friday 13th April, 2007.
Her husband, Dr. Frank Clapps came out from America with Denise to
see her receive her award. The award was presented at 10am.

...............Denise with her Order of Australia Award.

A label pin.....the main medal...and the small medal to be worn on your coat.

...............The Order of Australia Certificate.

On Saturday, Denise and her husband flew up to Brisbane to visit for a
few days.
........................Frank and Denise.

Sunday she had a meeting with the gallery owner who displays
her work down the Gold Coast. We thought this would be a good opportunity
for the family to get together, so we arranged to meet at my brother's
place. From there we headed off to the coast where we were going to have
a prawn, fish and chips luncheon.

Wendy (at left), Nerada (Bob's wife) Bob and Denise.




















Denise with a (healthy) salad and Wazza with some rather large prawns.

One of the trawlers that go out every evening to catch seafood.

The place we picked was a very crowded, but obviously hugely popular
eatery. There was a large selection of fresh fish, prawns, crabs and
lobsters. You selected what fish you wanted, placed it in a plastic bag
and joined the queue. Once at the counter you can have your fish, grilled,
crumbed or battered. There is also a selection of salads you can also
purchase. Every evening trawlers leave the wharf where they fish the
Pacific Ocean for seafood that is brought back the following morning to
be made available that day for the next lot of customers.

Bob, Frank, Denise, Tinika (Bob's daughter) Nerada, Wendy and me.

Today, Monday 16th April, Denise and Frank were flying off to Melbourne
before they returned to New York next Saturday.
Denise had a meeting at the new Queensland Arts Gallery, and I had taken
the day off from work, so I arranged to meet them at the gallery where I
was going to take Frank on a quick tour of Brisbane while Denise was in her
meeting. One of the places I took Frank was up to the look-out at Mt. Cootha,
which overlooks most of Brisbane.

Frank at Mt. Cootha with the CBD in the background.

After the meeting we were going to be joined by my other sister, Marilyn
for lunch and then it was off to the airport.

After a lightning visit to Brisbane Denise and Frank departed, although we
are always pleased to see them. Frank had not been to Brisbane for quite a
few years and he noted the large amount of buildings that had been built
since his last visit here. It's autum here and spring in America and Frank
commented on how pleasant the weather was, not withstanding the drought
we are experiencing here. I heard on the news today that a wild storm had
caused wide spread damage in New York and had eroded some of the beach
area on Long Island where Frank has some property.
Be it climate changes or not the weather all over the world certainly has
gone a lot out of wack. Denise told me that 20 inches of snow had falled in
New York City in February and this was quite unusual.