Sunday, 12 March, 2017

This week was pretty much the same as last week as far as what Dad and I got up to.

On Thursday evening, two Relief Society sisters came to visit teach me.  They are assigned to visit teach any sister who is new to the ward, visiting the ward for an extended time or newly re-activated.  Sarah and Jackie both have a Canadian connection, too: Sarah's Dad was born in Manitoba and Jackie was born and raised in Montreal and spent some time living in Mississauga before she moved to Australia to do nursing here.  She was originally coming for one year, but loved it so much, she stayed and has been here for ten years now.  We had a lovely visit together learning more about each other - they wish that we were moving here, they told me. :-)

On Friday, I walked to Dad's work (about 32 minutes) for a luncheon they were having for one of Dad's bosses, Melinda, who is going on maternity leave.  Sarah, her assistant, arranged for chicken, fries and garlic bread to be delivered and also bought a white chocolate mud cake.  All of the staff who were here that day were invited to the staff room (along with me, Dawn and another wife (who couldn't make it)) to give Melinda a send-off.  It was nice to see all of Dad's colleagues again and to celebrate the coming of Melinda's baby (who will be named Ava Grace).

That's it for this week - short and sweet - hopefully, next week, we will have more to tell you since we are going to go out for the day on Saturday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of my 29th birthday. :-)

 Woodwork on the doorframe leading into the dining room from the living room - and bars on the dining room windows so that the windows can be left open when it is hot  (no screens on the windows)

 We think that they used to have a woodburning stove in this space where the oven is - there is a smoke chimney and a couple of air vents above where the stove is now

 The back of the house - we park in the back and have to climb those stairs to get to the back door  (good exercise :-) - just to the right of the top of the stairs, you can see a part of the house which sticks out - that is where the stove used to sit in - you can see the chimney sticking up from it - this kind of house is called a Queenslander as it sits up high so that the breeze can help keep the house cool and keep it from flooding back in the old days - often, the bottom of the house is open, but a previous owner constructed open slat walls around the outer edges so that it can be used as a secure storage area - there is also a washing machine plus a second bathroom and shower down there

Woodwork above our bedroom door - I just love it - so much character - it is hard to see, but there is an emu on the left side and a kangaroo on the right side which are on the Australian coat of arms