Albany

I am now located at the beautiful seaside town of Albany, WA. Home of my fathers and currently home of my Mother and two sisters. I finished my high school here before enlisting in the Army and I am back here do my bit in settling the family home. Weeks of sorting out the life of my 85 year old mother as she is now resident in a retirement home. It is typical of her that she postpones retirement until her 86th year as her days still include lessons in the Hebrew language, writing stories and poems (she is published) and doing Grandmother things like writing to her many descendents. Like many of her age, she has had a fall and took some hours to get to the phone and she locks the house up like Fort Knox…a very dangerous combination making the retirement home move very welcome to her family. A lifetime of memories. A receipt for the rates paid for the family farm in 1946…a letter from Mum’s youngest bother from Borneo dated 1944 where he was helping to sort out the Japs at the tender age of 19. He asks…is that Navy chap still visiting? He was and stayed for more than 50 years before the ravages of WW2 service took our father from us. A report card from Pemberton primary dated 1953 pointing out that Kevin James had more potential than substance and a telegram I sent in 1978 saying twins born, all well, innings closed. As the twins were our 4th and 5th and the eldest was yet to turn six I clearly found substance somewhere along the track. The trip over in the Discovery was not new to me. I have travelled Sydney/Perth and Brisbane/Perth more times than I care to remember but each time I do the trip I find something to break the monotony. New nickel mines at Ravenswood….petrol at $1.52 per litre…that’s enough I am now setting up in my BIL’s computer shop. Poor bastard can’t refuse me – he’s married to my youngest sister. Later today I’ll start posting again.