Family letter 24.5.08

Last Sunday I went to St John's 11 am service with Chris, Maryanne and Noel Golding. Graeme Begbie gave a powerful sermon on Jephtha's promise which led to the death of his daughter, and I hope to hear it again broadcast on a Sunday night in a few weeks' time. Afterwards we went to lunch at Parramatta RSL and I chose chicken schnitzel with chips and vegs. The schnitzel, larger than a bread and butter plate, was shaped like a map of Australia. I ate the eastern half and kept Western Australia to finish at home.
An email from Stephen Rout said his sister Jenny had been working in the Panda centre in China but she had left and arrived safely in Singapore.

The recent issue of "Village Voice" quarterly ARV magazine, included Isabel Young's name as having passed away in Henry Fulton Nursing Home on l Feb 2008. She is the second member of our family to be listed among ARV residents.

Andrew wrote that Win had been on the Wm Cape bus trip to the Entrance and enjoyed it. Grace had a lovely time last Wednesday when Heidi came for the day. There was still a vestige of Autumn colour and the day was sunny (that calls for gratitude when the mountains can be wet and dull, disappointing for visitors. HH) Heidi, Chris and Grace worked together in the garden for a few hours after having morning tea. After a late lunch Heidi returned home on the train. She will be having a holiday in Ballina in June, doing nice things with the family. There was to be a working bee today to get the Blackheath rectory ready after having no resident minister for almost 2 years. Tomorrow they farewell their locum minister and his wife and next Saturday they welcome the new minister.

Jo sent an email up-date: "I am having a great time. I did another talk for Spotlight (the Christian group) on Thursday. It was easier to prepare, as I have joined the Oxfordshire Library and had access to good resources. I am now taking a group of Yr 3's by myself for recorder lessons on a Tuesday and have been asked to supervise some music practice. Sailing club is a new addition this term. I try to think of myself as a missionary to the Dragon School and wait to see what more God has in store for me. The weather warmed up suddenly last week but it has now cooled off a bit. The long evenings are lovely and I was woken this morning at 5 am by the light - such a difference to a couple of months ago. Half-term holiday starts this week (Thursday till Wednesday) and I am going to be spending time with my godmother Roz, who is over here at the moment. We plan to see a lot of shows around London and in Oxford as well as museums, gardens etc."

I don't know why my posted letters took so long to be delivered this week. I did forget to leave them with the Goldings on Sunday but took them downstairs after tea and asked a friend, who is always keen to help, to put them in the box which should have been cleared on Monday morning. I found out from two people that they had not been received them by Thursday and would have enquired at the office this morning but both Joan G and Betty P rang last night, and Ruth Thrift and Lindsay rang this morning to let me know theirs had been delivered. Lindsay told me he and four ladies had been taken by bus from Wm Cape to Kanwal Anglican Church for a luncheon The Goldings are away this weekend but the Stanleys are going to pick me up for the 9.30 am service at St John's tomorrow, where the Meriden school choir are to sing.

I went on our Kilvinton bus trip on Tuesday to 'Pie in the Sky' near Brooklyn. We left at noon and had hot steak pie with gravy, green peas and mashed potato, followed by hot apple pie and cream and cappuccino. The cafe is situated on the old Pacific Highway overlooking Brooklyn, with some tables inn the shop and others under the trees. We had to miss church, but I chose my hymns for next Tuesday and did some practice after the singing group on Thursday afternoon. We had our Bible discussion on Wednesday afternoon. I saw several movies this week, including a Shirley Temple one and one with Nicole Kidman in it. The old films have no bad language, unlike the present TV. Next week we will have morning tea in our large hall to raise funds for cancer research. I used to go to that when my Parramatta hairdressers served lovely home-made cakes and slices.
The brake cable on the left side of my walker broke (last time it was the right-hand one) and I put a repair request into the box downstairs just before lunch yesterday. As I came back from lunch the maintenance man was waiting to fix it. I asked him to turn my room heater on and he did that, too. When my bed linen was changed on Thursday I was given a warm bedspread. It looks nice but is too heavy and I don't need it with the room heater on.
Tonight I had my usual chat with Jean in Ballina.

All send their love,
Hilda

Family letter 17.5.08

I have wasted many hours this week trying to recover the Excel data recorded for WCTU 2008 and my personal affairs. The latter disappeared, leaving blank worksheets, and turned up mysteriously in the internet, not to be saved. I printed it out once and I can't find it again. The WCTU workbook opens at one page but the bottom tabs for the other worksheets appear to be covered and I cannot open them. I hope Chris G can come in tomorrow to undo my errors.

Andrew Rose sent me an email after he and his family (Carmela, Josh and Melanie) and Lindsay had been to visit Win on Mother's Day. He said Lindsay has joined the local Anglican Woodworking Group on Thursday and made some small articles, but has now embarked on a project of repainting all the outdoor furniture at Wm Cape Gardens and they've happily supplied him with the materials. Lindsay has tracked down the home library service and got to watch several of his steam train DVDs which he received each birthday and Christmas. Carmela had a stall at the local Anglican church fete and her cards sold well. Josh is working at the butcher's three afternoons a week as well as Saturdays and some Sundays. He has grown as tall as Michael Weaver and Chris Forbes and is currently doing his School Certificate exams. I talked to Win by phone this afternoon.

I went to church on Sunday morning and got back in time for the roast chicken dinner, a small tender thigh, really delicious. On the breakfast tray that morning was a sprig of dark pink-mauve chrysanthemums, and a bunch of them in a water jug on our dining-room table. Other tables had smaller bunches in their vases, usually containing artificial flowers (but ours has been missing for a while). On Wednesday the waitress was throwing out the drooping flowers from all the tables but our bunch was still fresh from the extra water in the jug and she let me take them, so I still have them in my room in the vase I brought home from WCTU. I would have used the Venetian glass vase but it is out of reach on the top of my computer desk.
I didn't get into the quota for the St Alban's bus trip on Tuesday, but the RN arranged for me to see Dorothy's doctor to get the prescription for morphine I would have run out of before my doctor came back from overseas. I was able to go to church here in the afternoon, and Clare Percival (Chaplain, who had been was at Blacktown and knew Win) said she hopes to visit Win some time and will take me with her.
Margaret McKay rang to arrange transport for me to the CMS meeting on Wed afternoon, as their car was written off in an accident. My new chauffeur was Dorothy Wheeler, whom I had met, and her husband John, from Warrina Village. The car is a Toyota Prius Hybrid, ie it runs on electricity as well as petrol. It was very smooth and quiet. Joan Begbie would have come but she is recovering from a fall. I saw her at the hairdresser's yesterday when she was brought by her son Graeme (our Senior Asst Min at Parramatta). The hairdresser noticed that my eyes were yellow and I explained that I had been to the eye specialist on Thursday and had drops in them. The doctor said the eye had no signs of haemhorrage and the cataracts had not grown but he wants to check in six months. On Friday afternoon Marj Leseberg (former neighbour in Hunter Terraces) brought me fruit jubes and a big Club chocolate.

I rang Wal's Jean this afternoon and she is OK now but missed Mother's Day with her family because she had an upset following lunching out in Sydney on the previous Thursday. I had my usual chat with Jean in Ballina tonight. She had a lovely Mother's Day with her family in Victoria Park near Alstonville. Stuart had taken his BBQ and they were able to use it and help other picnickers when they found the one provided was not working. David had taken extra chairs and was able to lend them to other elderly picnickers. This week Stuart, Megan and their girls are having a week's holiday in Coffs Harbour at the time-share unit owned by Stuart's parents. Jean is minding their two little dogs with her own two.

Tonight I rang Grace on her mobile at the Mainstay Motor Inn at Dubbo, where they had just dined with the BCA family as guests. There are several acquaintances on the tour. It is very cold but she has been wearing the scarf "made in Scotland" which Greg had given her. Michael came to Blackheath last Sat and stayed overnight. On Mother's Day he cooked breakfast and went to church with Grace and Chris. Grace led the prayers in the service and Michael made some complimentary remarks about them.

Everyone sends their love
Hilda

Family Letter 10.5.08

On Monday night Les and Marian rang from Wales, having just returned from a few days' holiday in North Devon. Monday 5 May was a public holiday in UK and they had been to meet Graeme, Steph and Frederik at an Arboretum between Cardiff and London where Les and Marian had taken Grace and me on one of our trips. The weather was disappointing. It was Frederik's 1st birthday. He is trying to walk holding on and is very active. He is to be baptised at the Lutheran Church in London (near Harrods) on Sunday 8th June. Les and Marian will go and stay at Gillian's for the occasion.

On Tuesday morning I went on the shopping bus trip to Carlingford Court. I had only a few things to buy and walked in just two aisles in Woolworths but that was enough for my arms to get tired of holding me up. Then we sat down at the Donut King tables for a cappuccino. I chose a large cinnamon bun priced $2.50, with the intention of having a couple of bites and bringing the rest home. Having not been there before I didn't know that we could have a coffee and two donuts for $2.50, and that was the total charged for my coffee and large bun. When I got back to my room my room keys and tape which they were on were missing. I remembered having put them in my denim jacket pocket before I left home, and I had taken the jacket off when I got into the bus after shopping because it was quite warm. When I took the jacket off the walker downstairs a little battery fell out of one pocket but at that stage I hadn't missed the keys. When I discovered they were missing I went back downstairs to look for them and enquire at the office. After lunch it was time to go to the 2 pm church service but as I picked up the jacket I felt something heavy in the cuff and to my relief it was the keys! They had fallen from the pocket into the cuff. On Wednesday afternoon we had our Bible Discussion with the new study book. It was announced that the vacant position of chaplain to take David Luke's place had been advertised.

Yesterday morning I went downstairs to meet Bernice as she drove up to leave the latest WCTU receipts etc for me to continue this year's accounts on my computer. I had interesting conversations with three different people, including our hairdresser's mother, who now lives in Hunter Terraces, and a lady whose 90th birthday dinner I had attended over 2 years ago. Since then she has had a hip replacement. I was able to check with the Village bus driver that I could go to Castle Hill next Thursday afternoon for my eye specialist appointment. That was made 11 weeks ago and the time has flown!

This afternoon our Village Singers, 5 men and 17 ladies who reside in the various villages or nearby, gave a concert in the hall upstairs. The conductor, Enid Penney, neighbour of Isabelle, and another lady who knew members of our family, came to speak to me afterwards. I had met this lady and her husband at Cafe Church two weeks ago.
Next Friday Grace and Chris leave for their BCA trip, travelling via Bathurst, Orange and Wellington to Dubbo, staying 3 nights. On Saturday they see the Radio Telescope at Parkes, meet BCA workers at Forbes for picnic lunch and return via Yeovil to Dubbo. On Sunday they travel to Gilgandra to meet BCA workers and worship with the local congregation and have lunch with them before returning to Dubbo. On Monday they visit Western Plains Zoo and after morning tea travel through Dunedoo, Gulgong and Mudgee, to be dropped off at Lithgow Railway Station. The coach will return to Sydney via Bells Line of Road.This morning I rang Win and had a phone call from Ruth Thrift. I had my usual chat with Jean in Ballina tonight. They had enjoyed an interesting time at a fete in the Alstoneville Anglican Church this morning. There were pickles for sale but no jam. Tomorrow they will meet for Mothers' Day picnic lunch with the family in a forest park between Ballina and Lismore. The hairdresser gave me and all mothers a little bunch of cinnamon sticks to put in my drawer,

I hope to go to St John's for 11 am service tomorrow and be brought home for lunch. Chris and Maryanne were to take her mother out for lunch today to avoid the Mother's Day crush. Chris's father has not been feeling100% and will stay at home. I put my name down for the bus trip to St Alban's on Tuesday but it is well below the booked-out line so I don't expect to go.

Everyone sends love to all
Hilda

Family letter 3.5.08

I received an email from Grace, in answer to my enquiry about her visitors (she probably had told me they were coming). They were an Australian missionary couple and their 7-yr-old Mongolian son Daniel whom they had adopted when he was 3 weeks old. They used to live in Katoomba and have been working in Mongolia with an American organization called Asia Connect. They stayed with Grace and Chris for 4 days and Daniel went for l day to the Kids Club, held in St Aidan's for the first week of the school holidays. (Corrections to my report of Grace's visit to Castle Hill: It was Harold not Stuart whom she visited and she didn't see Glenhaven Village.) Greg, Cath and Jack came to Blackheath the previous week and set up a new TV and DVD player. Blackheath had a fall of snow on Monday and it was freezing but the snow did not settle. They have never before had snow so early in the year. On Thursday Grace had a good start back to school Scripture.

Cousin (Dr) Robert Weedon, Western Australia, has sent several interesting emails and here are some extracts: 20.4.08 "Nyole (wife) is in Coffs Harbour visiting her daughter and family. She has played bowls each week but has come home very tired. We went to "The Magic Flute" and it was a stunning performance. About 25 of the 30 singers were WA grown, some just graduating from here or Sydney. We have tickets for Elgar's Cello Concerto after Nyole returns. We had only 2 days' rain in the first 3 months but this month has been good. Most vegetables are in and the fruit trees coming on well. The new mango and custard apple trees like the rain. Every tree needs a guard against a trouble-some rabbit. My Scripture class is a split 4/5 with some of last year's students still in the class. We use "Connect" from Sydney Diocese." (Grace uses that at Blackheath.) 'You may have heard that a lady priest has been elected to be consecrated as bishop and is warmly welcomed here." (I fully agree with the ordination of women. HH.) Robert's sister Judy and husband Ron have moved back from Melbourne to a unit not far from their previous home in Eaton. Judy played the organ at Easter.

On Tuesday I went on a half-day trip to Ebenezer in an ARV bus driven by one of our Diversional Therapists. There is a tree marked as the site of the first prayer meeting in Australia. The church ladies served coffee with scones, jam & cream, then we looked inside the little church, and bought some dried-apricot jam and lime-and-ginger marmalade and pens from the shop. I kept one small jar of marmalade and gave the other two away. Some people made a tour of the graveyards with many tombstones. We were back home in time for lunch and our usual church service. On Wednesday afternoon we had our Bible discussion group with Louise, who had printed out references on the topic "Peace for Anxiety". Several of my correspondents have asked for copies of the previous references on "God values you" and I will send them this sheet too. Louise had asked what we would like to study in the future and one member suggested "Prayer", so Louise bought copies from Matthias Media of "Bold I Approach" by Tony Payne, paid for by the ARV Chaplaincy. We will start that next Wednesday.

We were to see a DVD called "Sergeant Stewart" on Tuesday night but while it was being rewound it became tangled in the machine, so we enjoyed seeing "Anne of Green Gables" instead.
Yesterday afternoon we had our monthly "Spiritual Guest Speaker", advertised as a writer of short stories. That was only a small part of his activities, but like others in the same category of "Spiritual Guest Speaker" he gave a summary of his life story, concluding with the way God had used his singing to bring him to take part in church services where he learned hymns and scripture
verses which led him to be challenged to become a Christian.

This afternoon I was taken to St John's for a "Scripture, Song and Scones" afternoon tea, with 49 ladies present. We started with a quiz, followed by coffee with scones, jam and cream. The scones came from Sara Lee and were very deliciously light. Then four ladies (Jenny Pearce, her daughter Morwenna, her daughter in-law Laura (daughter of our Rector), and Lyn Halton) read their favourite verses and said briefly why they were special, and we sang a hymn chosen to go with each.

I rang Wal's Jean before lunch and she is well. Jean will miss the session "Singers of Renown" presented by John Cargher, who had recorded his last session just before he died this week aged 89, planning to retire. We haven't heard from Wales for a while. I rang Jean in Ballina tonight. All are well there and send special love to Win & Lindsay.. David and Lyn have been busy caring for 5 sick koalas at the park, and visiting their quadruplegic friend in hospital.. Lots of love to all, Hilda

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