The first of the month found us still at Torquay in Janet’s place. Before we headed back to Melbourne we all went for a walk down the Deep Creek path through the nature reserve to the bay and then back again. There is a stand of old Grass Tree plants that used to cover the area. They look like they come from another planet and some of them are hundreds of years old.
It was back to work and school on the fourth. I returned to a new seat on the 1st floor, a nice spot by the window looking down onto the food court that I never buy anything at. It has been busy at work for me since in August we changed over to a new pay system and we have been trying to work out how to get the reports and information we used to get out of it.
We had the General Conference broadcasts on the ninth and the tenth. Calvin and Austin came with me to the Priesthood session at eleven a.m. then I had to drop them off at work and basketball. Vern, Carmen and Austin then joined me for the session at five as Marion and Calvin had to work, following which we went out to dinner at our local restaurant. The food is not that fancy but the service friendly and the meals cheap.
On Wednesday the thirteenth Danielle and Chris Bryers came over to stay the night because early the next day they were flying out to a wedding in Brisbane. They are both off on their missions soon, Danielle to Temple Square and Chris to South Africa. Their aunt Caroline O’Grady dropped them off. Both Vern and I went to school with her when she was Caroline Isles, (her nick name of course was ‘Missiles’). She had seen Vern at the last reunion but I can’t remember seeing her since 1979. She has been living in Singapore for the last fifteen years. I didn’t know she was coming over or that she was even in the country so when she first came in the house I thought she was her sister at first then remembered who she was. It is amazing how people change but at the same time they don’t, we had a nice visit together.
The next Saturday the weather turned very cold, it snowed in Kinglake and even though it was mainly sunny it didn’t get over thirteen degrees during the day. Vern, Carmen and I braved the cold and drove around looking at bikes. She wants an old style one and of course they are more expensive. We dropped her off at her friend’s place afterwards and Vern and I went to the Fire Station cafe for some lunch. The company was nice but I would have been just as happy with vegemite on toast at home.
Sunday afternoon we went over to Richard McLean’s place for lunch. They have a lovely big house on the side of a hill in Eltham complete with swimming pool and tennis court. We had a nice meal and visit; we really need to invite more people over to our house for lunch.
The eighteenth was the start of a busy week. Sister Beck the General Relief Society President was in town on Tuesday so there was a leadership meeting with her that I attended and then directly afterwards there was a fireside for sisters than Vern went along to. It was down at Wantirna and the place was packed out. It was Carmen’s birthday the next day and Vern’s auntie’s first time through the temple so Vern went to that and then took her dad back to the airport. That day we also got a last minute call for Calvin to be an extra in a movie. He had to be in Brighton at five and as Vern was busy he met me in the city and we went down on the train. Lucky the school that they were shooting at was close to the station. Calvin had to get dressed up as a boy from Brighton High which is a rich private school. He said the school looked like something from Harry Potter. That finished at eight and Marion picked us up so we could get back to Carmen’s party.
Thursday we got a call from Chris Byers saying that his visa to South Africa had come through and that he was going the next day and wanted us to come to the setting apart. He is from Wantirna Stake and the setting apart was at their Stake Centre at six thirty so I caught the train to Blackburn and Vern picked me up on the way through with the rest of the gang. Afterwards we ran into an Elder Petty from Queensland. I had heard of the Petty family up there because his dad was a bishop at the same time as me. When I asked him if he had met many other Pettys in his travels he said no but there was an Elder Petty in his MTC and we worked out that it was William, (didn’t take much working out).
Carmen and Calvin are on the committee to raise money for the EFY youth conference in January and had organised family photos at a park in South Morang. It had been fine all week but was wet and cold on the Saturday morning. It had been washed out once before so they went ahead with it and it was ok. When I went to pick them up Sarah Whitehead brought her two dogs, one was a Great Dane. That gave the kids a bit of a scare.
I had the afternoon of the twenty-eightieth off to attend the funeral of Tasman Pickett. He was the husband of auntie Emily who is a Hippolite from Nelson. They both are in the side show ride business. Over the years she has given the children free tickets to get into the shows and free rides. Ellen and Dylan even worked as carnies when she was short workers some years back. She is a very generous person who was very helpful when Vern’s brother passed away. When Vern heard that uncleTas had passed away she went over to her place every day to help out prior to the funeral. The funeral was in St Marys in Ascot Vale. I caught the train from work and walked down the hill to the big chapel. It was a cool sunny day and the flowers were out and it smelled lovely. He was a well known and liked man judging by the number of people who came. There must have been about five hundred people there. It seemed that they all went on to the cemetery in Bulla and then back to the property behind the airport. Robyn Hippolite nee Marshall from Nelson was there, she knows the Chaddertons and told us that they were missing them very much.
On the last Saturday of the month I took Vern to Bundoora Park for a walk and to take pictures of birds. I managed to get four more for my collection. The Galah, Red Rumped Parrot, Eastern Rosella and the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo. Vern was almost as excited as I was although she tried to hide it. I must say she is a very good actress. That afternoon it poured with rain and the electrics in the garage shorted out which made all the power in the house go off. It took me a little while to isolate the problem. I now have an extension lead out to the freezer. Hopefully once it dries out it won’t trip switch.
Photos; 1.Grass Tree Plant 2 & 3.Calvin and Austin skate board boys (look closely at Austin's T-shirt) and the 4. Sulphur Crested Cockatoo.
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