New Year's Eve

New Years Eve went quietly at our place. Our guests have been celebrating the New Year at our place for the last few years. This year John was absent. I usually take a group photo, but last night I didn't. At our age, any future photos of NY celebration could start to look like the photos from Back to the Future with fading images of individuals.

I would hope that this year brings peace and goodwill to all, however peace is not on the agenda for about 10 war torn countries and when they settle down, other countries will no doubt be involved in new wars.

Yesterday I received, along with 25 others in a group mailing, an email titled 'It's Our Country' which tells refugees and other immigrants to go away if they don't like Australia and the way we run it. Unfortunately one of the paragraphs is lifted from a similar rant about immigrants in the U.S.. See here:

In God We Trust' is our National Motto. This is not some Christian, right wing, political slogan. We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you
consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.

I can't think what our National Motto could be but it certainly isn't 'In God We Trust'.