Melbourne Pettys - August

Vern and Ellen go to Sydney for a women’s conference, we went to Philip Island, Dylan tuned twenty-three, had an Ensign to the Nations Ward activity, Larry and Courtney came down for a wedding and Carmen and I went for a drive to Kinglake.

It was our Temple night on the first. Vern had to work at her Sisters and Misters but Ellen, Dylan and I headed down and did sealings with the rest of the Fairfield gang. It was a late night for Ellen since she has to be at her postie job at five, she slept in the car on the way home.

Off to Canberra and Sydney

I wasn’t feeling the best on Friday the second with a cold so I stayed home from work and took it easy. That afternoon Mum, Ellen and Austin drove up to Canberra, Austin stayed there with his cousins and Ellen and Mum went onto Sydney the next day with a few of the Canberra Howes to attend a time out for women conference. Vern said she caught up with lots of people.

Saturday the third Dylan went and did paintballing down the other side of town and had a great time. He came back with a sore head where someone shot him. I took Carmen to Basketball and stayed to watch since I couldn’t be bothered driving back again. After that I took her down to the last show of the school production so she could help with the makeup. She stayed for the after party and was the DJ for a time. She was surprised that not all there liked her music. One of the teachers had made up a montage of pictures from the productions she had been in and framed it for her. I thought that was very thoughtful.

Sunday Rebecca the ballet dancer came over to hang out and helped cook dinner. She also made cup cakes with icing. Dylan and Carmen just watched, they are the worst cooks.

Tuesday evening of the sixith I took Carmen, Austin and Isaac Gibbons down to the Wantirna Stake Centre for a special fireside. The President Maxwell, whom you know organized to have Brother Brad Wilcox speak to the youth. He is a well known church motivational speaker and he was very good, funny and load. Elder O’Riordon gave the closing remarks and he did well too. Steve Pollard was there, he was the guy who worked with me in the Uranium mines and was my best man. It was good to catch up with him and introduce him to Austin.

The Shack

Friday night of the nineth Austin and Carmen came with Vern and I down to Phillip Island to stay with the Tempanys’ at their holiday house for the weekend. It is a flash place in Cowes and a short walk to the beach. Of course Brother Tempany calls it “the shack”.

At the Nobbies

Saturday I went fishing with the twins and Brother Tempany off the pier in Rhyll, which is a short drive from Cowes. We didn’t catch anything and it was cold and windy but it was sunny and I did get a photo of a Pied Oystercatcher. We went home and picked up the rest of the gang and headed out to Churchill Island. It is a small island that used to be a farm. They do milking, shearing and whip cracking demonstrations. We had a picnic lunch, had a look around and then drove to the other end of Phillip Island to a place called the Nobbies. It was a little fresh there too.

Sunday we would have gone to Wonthaggi to church but they had their Stake Conference on that weekend so we had a home Sunday School and then went for a walk around the Rhyll Inlet in the afternoon. Austin had found a small boomerang the day before and we had a go throwing it around.

Sunday stroll

Monday the twelfth Vern and I were on our own since the rest of the gang went over to the Morrison’s place. They had family home evening with them since Morgan Hemi and Laura Campbell were down. I guess Vern and I will find ourselves on our own more and more as time goes on.

Thursday evening we dropped Isaac Gibbons and Carmen off at the Vermont High School to watch Mattie in their production of Footloose. Then Vern and I went onto the Temple and afterwards had a hot chocolate in Knox then called up Marion and Jordan for a chat while we waited for Carmen to finish.

Saturday morning of the seveninth Vern and I went down to the chapel to do our cleaning assignment. I enjoy cleaning the chapel for some reason, doing my bit. Then in the afternoon we went to the baptism of Josh Corps at Epping. Afterwards I was talking to Brother Fue and was telling me about Vete in PNG and Sasha Sui’s dad was there as well telling us about Sasha in England. They of course were asking about Calvin.

Sunday I was asked to bless the sacrament, something I haven’t done in about ten years. I was a bit nervous and it didn’t help when I knelt to say the prayer and could hardly see the words. Still it went ok and will remember to take my classes next time. After church we had soup Sunday which was nice then Austin and I when off to home teach Sister Hicks. Vern had to come with us or there wouldn’t have been room in the other car. Dylan took Sister Folau home and got all the way there and she realized she had left her keys at the chapel so we picked them up on the way home.

We had the missionaries over for dinner and afterwards one of their investigators came over and I sat in on the lesson. It was good it brings back memories and when you have someone taught in your home you feel responsible for them in a way.

Dylan turned twenty-three on the twenty-second so we had Janet come over for the party and we all ate too much. The next day Dylan and Ellen went to Sydney for the weekend to visit some friends.

There was a Ward activity on Saturday evening of the twenty-fourth called Ensign to the Nations. There were tables for different countries that members from that country decorated. Then items from those countries and of course food. Vernice did and New Zealand table with the help of some stuff from the Judds and her did the pio dance. Austin and Carmen joined her on stage did the stick game and sung a song. It was a good evening but the highlight was some children from a Samoan family did an Indian dance since they had invited their family Doctor who was an Indian along.

The next day Austin did talk in Sacrament meeting about Agency. He wrote it himself and did a good job. He was a little put out since he just spoke a few weeks ago when Dylan asked him to speak as part of his Missionary meeting.

Ane Afamasga got married during the week on the twenty-ninth and the reception was in Taylors Lakes. I couldn’t make the wedding because of work but caught the train out to Watergardens afterwards and Vern picked me up from there. Ane was Courtney’s roommate at BYU and knows Larry so they both came down for it as well. I got changed in the car and it was pouring with rain when we went in, just as well we had a umbrella in the boot. It was good to see all the old Samoan members, they know how to have a good time.

On Sunday afternoons and evenings since I have more free time, I have been scanning all the old photos into the computer. I also have been reading my old journals to try and date them since I like my photos chronologically listed. Each time I complete a year I force everyone to sit down and look at them on the TV. I am only up to 1991 so Carmen and Austin weren’t even born at that point but I make them watch anyway. In those early years when I first came to Australia we would often go for drives to have a look around. I realized that in most cases I have never been back so since Carmen needs more driving hours we went for a drive on Saturday the thirty-first up to Kinglake and had a walk around. It was a lovely sunny warm day and we had a great time.

Carmen and I at Kinglake. This area was burnt out in 2009

That night Vern was singing at the Reservoir RSL so since Larry and Courtney were down she got her other brothers to come and we all had dinner up there. It is nicer than the Preston RSL and when Vern and Irene started singing Carmen and Austin got up on the dance floor and did some moves. I would be surprised if they tell their friend at school how they spent their Saturday night.