Australia Sep 7, 2014
Dear Family and Friends,
Happy Fathers Day from Australia to Deven, Ruston, Loren,
Tyson, Vaun, Bob, Mike, Andy, Kelvin, Chase, Thomas and Ezra. Dad got a little candy bar at Blacktown
Church to put in his pocket, a little shirt and tie made out of paper with the
saying “You’re “Tie”rific! Happy
Father’s Day from the youth.
The weather definitely needs mentioning again. Last Sunday and Monday it was sunny and warm
in the 60’s and we were hoping spring was on its way. Tuesday was cloudy and back in the 50’s with
rain off and on. When we got home from
the Temple the wind started blowing really hard and blew all night, just like
the east winds from home. Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and today, rain, rain, rain, cold, cold, cold. We are so OVER the rain as everyone is
saying. We are ready for Spring! Everything is so green and the trees are
starting to bloom so it is pretty. The
teacher in Relief Society taught the lesson on Prayer, and she said we have
prayed for rain, and then complain when we get it. I guess we are all human.
It has been a fairly quiet week at work, we just had
Birthday Morning Tea on Friday a week late for the August Birthday’s because we
had a pizza lunch last Wednesday after a devotional, so they decided to put it
off a week. This month we will have
2. We have been on a box of hard cards
again. One interesting one was a copy of
an article that was from Woman’s Day, October 5, 1982, and it reads “My great-
great grandfather, William Trustum, sailed from England for Australia when he
was 19. The year was 1848 and he paid $4
for his passage to Australia. He married
Ann Graves in 1956 and they went on the land.
At that time, men were able to buy land from 50 to 300 acres through the
Crown for $2 an acre. Originally, it was
50 cents an acre. Each settler had to
guarantee that he would live on the land for at least a year. The staple diet of pioneers like my
great-great grandparents (who had 11 children) was damper, tea and wallaby or
rabbit meat. Some prices they paid for
goods in the 1860’s were: Tea—25 cents per lb, bread—8 or 9 cents a loaf,
butter—20 cents per lb, cheese—10 cents per lb, eggs—20 cents per dozen. By Miss C McLaren, Byron Bay, NSW.” We have 5 ½ boxes left so we are slowing down
and taking our time. Mark wants us to
have at least 2 full boxes in October.
We are just going to go ahead and do the rework that Danny is trying to
get cancelled because it was with the Canon Camera but it has been 5 months and
still no cancellation. That is almost 2
boxes.
Last week Sister Archibald called all the Sr. couples and
the Barr’s and told us she was having a dinner for us on Thursday the 4th
at Buckland House at 6pm. We were not to
bring anything and wear a pastel shirt.
When we got there the tables were set up with name tags and fabric at
our place, each piece a different color, all Polynesian prints. There was also a shell necklace for the women
that our husbands put on us and then give us a kiss on the cheek. She had pictures hanging around the room from
their recent trip to Samoa. She said as
she was wondering around the villages while Elder Archibald was working and she
found this little store with 1,000’s bolts of fabric, and all she could think
of was she wished we had all been there with her. She said she could see all of our
personalities in the fabrics, so she bought enough for a sarong for each of
us. She had us get ours, take shoes and
socks off, men roll up their pants, and showed us how to put them on. She had asked Dad to bring his camera so he
took pictures. It was so much fun and
you really could see the fabric matching the couples. She had prepared slow cooker pork over rice
with coleslaw on top and gravy, with fresh fruit. She had an oatmeal cake for dessert. After we ate, she and Elder Archibald showed
some slides and told about the pictures she had hanging around. It was a great night.
Yesterday when we got up it had rained all night and was
still raining. We had told Kailee we
would take her to see the bats and to Windsor for fish and chips. The Smylie’s decided to go with us. When we
got down to the bats it was sprinkling so Kailee and I got out and she got some
pictures of them. We then drove to
Windsor and by the time we got there it had stopped raining. We walked up and down the streets and went in
a few shops. We went in a used book
store and I found a children’s story book by a local author, and is about a
horse born on a farm. It looked cute so I
got it, and when we got outside Elder Smylie gave me a book he had bought
“Henry Lawson’s Best Stories” He said he
grew up on these stories and thought I would enjoy it. We have been talking in the office about our
love of reading. This book was first
printed in 1966. The introduction starts
out with “Henry Lawson is the most-loved Australian, and seems likely to remain
so for as long as anyone can see.” We
ate fish and chips then walked up the other side of the boardwalk and went into
a little store I have loved looking around called “Tahlula’s Eclectic Bazaar”
handmade antique. As we walked in the
door Sister Smylie picked up a little doll and said it was a collywog and she
played with them as a little girl. She
had no idea they were still available. I
found a girl and a boy one I really liked so Dad bought them for me. I am so excited to get them home. Google the name and see what you find. We got home about 3 and ran to the store for
a couple of things, and I took my Collywogs down to show Sister Killebrew. While there we decided to go the movie “100
Foot Journey” Some of the other couples have seen it and said it is really
good. Dad and I went over to the office
to use the internet to get discount tickets and seats, then we left with the
Killebrew’s about 5:30 and had dinner at a Mexican Restaurant before the
movie. It was really a good movie, and
the scenery was beautiful.
We wish Mike a Happy Birthday on Tuesday the 9th. Hope you have a great day.
In closing a thought that was on our Relief Society
newsletter today: “ As we GIVE, we find
that ‘sacrifice brings forth the BLESSINGS of heaven’, and in the end, we learn
it was no SACRIFICE at all.” President
Spencer W Kimball.
We Love you All and Pray for you!
Mum and Dad
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