The Brown family went back to the United States, much to the sadness of our family and the Merivale Ward. I’m sure they have their reasons. On the 1st April we went with them to the Halswell miniature trains, and ran into Tim and Allie O’Neill and their three lovely little children. Jessica and William came too, and Jonathan of course. Then we had a barbecue in the evening, with Barbara Clendon as well, eating home-made burgers.
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| Our last outing with the Browns in Christchurch |
I taught Seminary for three days and though I was nervous for the first day, once I realised what a lovely class they are, I really enjoyed it. Seminary is such a great way to start the day. Mostly.
Jonathan had some end-of-term assessment at Jazz School and got an A for performance and an A+ for Aural. It really helps that he has perfect pitch for the aural – almost cheating really. We are so happy that he is progressing so well. His piano teacher says that he learns very fast. In contrast, I am about to give up on the subject “Contextual Studies”, which is a rather interesting history of the culture of the western world, focussing on art, architecture and a little bit of music. The assessments are rather complex, and I think it is beyond Jonathan.
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| All of the steam engines really were steam engines |
Mark and I have watched the first few episodes of Big Bang Theory, which has as one of the characters, Sheldon, who acts like someone with Aspergers. It is nicely done, and it is rather reassuring to see some of Jonathan’s behaviours almost normalised. It is also very funny. I particularly liked the fourth episode of the first season where we meet Sheldon’s mother. She is down-to-earth and clearly loves, respects and understands Sheldon.
Michael and Linda’s Aunt Anne Mulcock died, and Michael came over from Australia for the funeral. We all went out to dinner in the evening, and had a very enjoyable time.
Jessica is feeling much better now, and the baby has been identified as a boy. We don’t know what name they have thought up. Jonathan likes James, and I am calling it Bruce in the absence of other instructions. I am knitting a little pram-jacket of the same style that Jonathan wore, and I also knitted for Tim’s first baby, Milan. It was nice to have the knitting for General Conference.
I have discovered the addictive power of family history. It is like computer games, with the added benefit of a feeling of self-righteousness. Several times I have stayed up late, just trying one more place, or one more person. There is a site called “Papers Past” which has digitised and searchable issues of old New Zealand newspapers. I was able to read about my great-grandmother’s funeral, and her daughter’s entry into a convent (“taking the black veil”), and my great-uncle’s, fatal motor-cycle accident. The newspapers then had all sorts of interesting stuff, such as reports about weddings, with lists of the gifts, and what everyone wore and the speeches. You could write historic novels based on these.
We had Rangiora Branch Conference. I am still trying to work out what the purpose of a ward conference is. I visited a couple of sisters with the RS President, and it went well.We had another visit to Timaru, which we all enjoy. TC’s parents and I were the speakers in sacrament meeting. We all talked about family history.
So, unlike Ray and Rosemary, we had quite an uneventful month!
Love to all
Nicola, Mark, Jonathan, William and Jessica
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