Winter

Jessye finished an interschool Saturday morning netball season a couple of weeks ago with her team just missing making the final four but having made terrific progress over the months. They have a few weeks off then start another season on September 3rd which goes till the end of the year. The girls and some parents enjoyed a wrap-up pizza lunch at the home of one of the girls.

Wilma's old friend, Helen Liley, and her family came to stay for a weekend. Wilma and Helen were at Epsom Girls' Grammar together and later flatted together in Boston while Helen was doing her medical residency at Children's Hospital. While Wilma and Peter were in Wellington, Helen and her scientist husband, Masato, were living in Christchurch before moving to their present home in Brisbane. Just before they moved back to Christchurch from America, Helen, who already had a son, Zenta, sent Wilma a card telling of the birth of her daughter, Akina, on January 6, 1998. She felt a bit sheepish because she hadn't even informed Wilma of the pregnancy but Wilma was able to respond by telling Helen that, guess what! she had had a daughter too (Rosie) and on exactly the same day! Since then Rosie has been intrigued by knowing she has an almost-twin in another family and when she came out of hospital earlier in the year, Akina rang her and they had a long phone conversation. The two girls had met in Christchurch as one-year-olds but this was the first get-together since then. They had come to Melbourne mainly to attend a friend's farewell party which was an F party hence the frogs, feathers and fish.

Rosie was happy to be able to participate in the school athletics day and wondered if she would fare as well this year. She was very pleased to collect a few ribbons again - 2nd equal in the high jump, 3rd in the 100m and 1st in the triple jump. She
helped with writing down statistics too.

Then it was time for Sophie to perform in the Prep, Grade 1 and Grade 2 concert. The items were all very good and displayed commitment from the prop and costume-making parents. Unfortunately, it wasn't really possible to take close-ups of Sophie but
she performed with great aplomb.

Russell Cooper, Wilma's newly discovered second cousin on Margery's side of the family, has been researching up a storm and has discovered that his and Wilma's great great grandparents, Letitia and Thomas Woodhouse, moved to Melbourne from Ireland with their four children in the mid-19th century. At some point the family or some of it moved to Fiji but Russell has found that Letitia lived in Melbourne a few streets away from where Wilma and Peter are now, perhaps after her husband died. In any case she and her daughter who also lived in Melbourne until her death are buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery in the same grave. Yesterday Rosie and Sophie had a curriculum day (day off) so they and Wilma went exploring and were tickled pink to find the grave in good nick with a clearly legible headstone confirming details of the family. What a shame Margery missed these discoveries by two years because she was always a keen genealogist and would have loved to have visited her great grandma's grave.