Christchurch Pettys in August

As I mentioned last month, Jessica has a Work Visa,  and she has been applying for jobs. She and William seem very happy, but anxious to get things on a more satisfactory financial footing.

I’ve always found August a very busy month, because of all the birthdays. This was no exception. My brother, Michael, visited from Brisbane for a week and came over one evening for dinner and we went to a recital by Nanako Sato. We also went out for dinner as a family.

My colleague, Shane, and I are working on a new project. It is an iPad app for people to learn statistics, and it uses the videos that William and I have made and put on Youtube.  At present the name is “At Pace:Statistics”. Shane is doing the programming, and I am doing design and content. It’s pretty exciting. I feel more commitment to this than to the Rogo app, as this is going to help people learn. The ironic thing is that I am wishing William was working part-time, so I could get him to work on our videos.

Nicola at a Bowling activity with her Primary children.
Trent Edmonds, Junior Su'a, Harriet Matthews, Nicola Petty,
Tobias Fukofuka, Jonathan Petty.

The app is getting a bit more urgent as we are facing redundancy at the university. Recently there was a leak to the newspaper that 350 jobs may go. (Out of about 1000). The Vice-Chancellor said it was overstated – the number is more like 275 jobs. yay. I wouldn’t really mind being made redundant.

We fasted and prayed about our finances. The outcome is that Mark has gone back to work for two days a week. This makes the difference between not having enough money, and having enough money. We are still trying to economise, though, as there is a good chance I will lose my job soon and we need to have more frugal habits, and have a bit in reserve until I can get my income back up again. It was a nice experience for Mark getting his old job back. He rang up to ask and they were thrilled and welcomed him with open arms.

For William’s birthday we went out to dinner at the Flying Burrito Brothers. They did a very nice job of looking after Jessica, who has quite a restricted diet due to a lack of gall-bladder. The food was very nice but a trifle pricey. They used to have a restaurant in town, but as it is in the red zone they have opened up one at Northlands, just near us. The atmosphere wasn’t as good, but it’s better than nothing.

Action shot of Jonathan bowling

For Jonathan’s birthday we went ten-pin bowling with Jessica and William and Leao, and then had the Stauffers over for dinner as well. The whole thing was really fun. Jonathan stayed out in the living room for the whole time, which was a bit of an effort. He really likes Sister Stauffer. She likes him too.

Nicola, Jonathan & Mark publicity photo

Mark took photos of the three of us – Mark, Jonathan and me, to go on the Autism Victoria website, advertising us as keynote speakers. It isn’t up yet. I hate to think how many photos he took. We finally got Jonathan to do something impersonating a smile, and in the end Mark photoshopped himself a bit closer to us. Jonathan was very patient though. He is when fame is involved.

We got warning that another snow fall was on its way, so this time I made sure I had work I could do at home. They were right, though it was rather bizarre on Sunday to go to church on a lovely sunny morning, being told that we would be snowed in on Monday.  On the Saturday evening I went to buy bread and milk and the supermarket was out of both. Obviously other people had the same idea. On Monday we woke to white light again, and that wonderful stillness that comes with snow. The university was closed for two days, as were many things. On the Tuesday we went and shovelled paths to the gate for a couple of old ladies. We also cleared our own drive completely so I could get the car out the next day.

We have a new Stake Presidency, and they have asked us to all read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. We discussed it at Family Home Evening, and Jonathan worked out how much we need to read each day, and he is onto it. We are up to the end of Jacob now, though Jonathan got a bit confused and thought 3 Nephi came after 2 Nephi. Understandable when you are using a website rather than a book.

Mark and I were very happy to find out about a series of three rogaines to be held in September and October. We went to the first one, a 4.5 hour rogaine based at Cooper’s Creek near Oxford, just up from where my parents had a farm when I was a teenager. It was a sunny day and I found the first hilly bit a bit of a trial and felt quite faint. I have fairly low blood –pressure, which may be why. That and I wasn’t very fit. I got going on my running again that week, and hope to do better at the next two. They are going to be at Lake Lyndon and Castle Hill. It is wonderful just being out in the countryside with Mark.
Happy month to all!