Melbourne Pettys

Vern makes a trip to Canberra, Carmen comes back from USA, Calvin heads off on this Mission and the Kombi is sold.

The first of the month was Easter Monday. It was cool and overcast however I wanted to do something so

Native Water Rat

Vern and I drove down to St Kilda beach to look for penguins. Austin and Calvin were the only others home however looking for penguins wasn’t a prospect that was going to get them out of bed. Vern and I walked out to the end of the pier but couldn’t see any penguins however it was also a reserve for a large native water rat and we saw one of those. We drove a little further down the bay and walked along the rocks then back through the mansions back to the car.

Ellen came back from her Gold Coast Easter weekend on the third and we all went down to Ringwood for dinner with the Melbourne Howes as Natalie is in town for a few days. Ellen and I left a little early since she is now the Ward YSA Leader and had a Stake YSA Council meeting with me after the Institute class. She conducted the meeting and did a great job, it is fun working with her. 

Carmen in Hollywood

The next day Vern caught a plane to Canberra with Natalie to send a few days with the family up there as it was the school holidays and she wasn’t working or teaching seminary.

Saturday morning of the sixth I went and picked up Carmen from her school trip to USA.  She had a great time but was very tired and did her best to stay up as long as she could. She made it to about seven thirty then slept for fifteen hours. A couple of her friends stayed over the night before so they could surprise her on her return from the airport. It was a lovely day and for some reason they took the drum kit out on the front lawn and entertained the neighbours if that is what you call it.

I sent the day cleaning out the bags and junk from the Kombi and then giving it a clean. It has been sitting behind the garage for three years now. I would have sold it awhile about but Dylan said he wanted to fix it up. However that isn’t going to happen. When I told him and the others I was going to sell it I wasn’t very popular. The battery was completely flat and wouldn’t take a change so I used the battery from the Mazda and got Dylan to give me a tow and it fired up ok. Calvin and I drove it around the block then I took some photos and put it on eBay.  

  

The next day was Calvin’s last Sunday before heading off on his mission. He was asked to bear his testimony which was nice. Ellen also came up and Carmen who told us how she found and attended church the previous week in New York which was a touching story. That evening Carmen and I attended the broadcast of the General YW meeting and she had a hard time staying awake.

We also heard that President Dudfield who told us he was in New Zealand was sustained as an Area Seventy at General Conference. As President Tempany said we were blind sided. We were all due to be realised at our Stake Conference in June so I guess we will just hang on until then.

Monday the eighth Vern came back from her weekend in Canberra. She was able to spend some time with Marion up there which was nice. She was feeling a little left out of the wedding plans as they are all taking care of it up there.

Setting Apart - Marion there via Ipad

Because Elder Dudfield was still in the USA I had the opportunity to set Calvin apart for his mission on Wednesday night. We rang Elder Dudfield in New York so he could listen in and we also had Marion on Skype from Canberra. Bishop Watson, President Tempany and Dylan assisted. A few of Calvin’s friends and the Judds came down which was nice.

The next day we were up at three in the morning so Calvin could catch his flight at six. Then it was home and back to bed since I had arranged the day off from work.  

And he is off

Since there was a scheduled power outage at the Stake Centre on Saturday the thirteenth we had the other wards to screen the morning and afternoon sessions at their chapels. We decided to watch it at home. We haven’t done that before and it was nice to watch it in the comfort of our own lounge room. The power was back on in the evening so Austin and I went and watched the Priesthood session down there. Ellen and Dylan had taken off down the other side of town to watch the sessions with a bunch of other YSA.

One of Ellen’s friends, Ester Cooper from Adelaide has been staying over. She is Walter Cooper’s daughter who is Richard’s younger brother. She looks like a Cooper but hasn’t had much to do with her dad since she was a small child.

On Saturday the twentieth the final bid for the Kombi came in at $2125 which isn’t bad since I paid $1500 for it twenty-one years ago. A young guy still in High School got it. He came over to see it a few days before with his father. His Dad had an Australia Post jacket and is a postie on the other side of town. I asked who his manager was and I know him quite well, small world.

On Sunday the twenty-first we had Austin’s birthday party since Ellen and Dylan weren’t going to be around on the Monday. Isaac Gibbons came home with us after church, the Judds’ came down and Max brought the baby other and everyone made a big fuss over her. Austin just wanted a Huggie which is a very long hoddie that needs to be ordered from overseas so that is what he did.     

Vern and I went out to the movies on Wednesday the twenty-fourth since we had no Stake Presidency meeting and I had free movie tickets from work. We went across to Airport West and watch the movie Oblivion. It was ok and the company was good.

Vern and Friends on the Sunshine Coast

The next day was ANZAC day and I took Vern to the airport early to catch a plane to the Gold Coast so she could spend some time with her old friends from school. They were all meeting up there for the weekend. The day before Calvin had flown back to Melbourne and will serve in the Melbourne Mission until his visa comes through. That hopefully will be in a couple of weeks. Vern suddenly realised that he didn’t pack any warm clothes so after I got home I contacted the Mission home and Carmen and I went down and dropped off a jacket and jumper.

Friday the twenty-sixth after work the young guy who bought the Kombi came over with his Dad to pick it up. I had it starting the day before but the battery was on the blink so I had to get them to give me push to start it and I drove it up onto the back for the trailer for them. I bought that thing exactly twenty-one years ago to the month so it was sad to see it go.   

Dylan was asked by the Bishopric to organise a missionary fireside for the ward and it was held on the twenty-eight. He conducted, Carmen directed the music and he, Carmen and Austin sang the hymn I Need Thee Every Hour accapella. They sung parts and it sounded really good. The meeting went well, he had asked some new converts to talk about their conversion, I always love those stories.