Daily Notes & News
The Month of
January 1999
New Year's Day
After Mass this morning some friends stayed for a coffee and a chat. It was really great with a lot of banter flying backwards and forwards and old friends meeting new friends.
I then joined a family for a BBQ lunch before racing off to spend time with friends in Glenorchy and meeting up with mates from interstate who are here for a few days. From there I headed to town to pickup the daughter of a friend who has been working in an ice-cream van during the Taste of Tasmania.
From there I joined some other friends to actually have a meal at the Taste and managed to catch up with my younger brother, his wife Lisa and their daughter Grace as they were leaving the Taste. It really is a great place to catch up with all sorts of people and enjoy some great food, great wine and some terrific company.
Home to bed and a reasonably early night in the midst of everything else that has been happening seems like a good idea.
Saturday, 2nd
Today has been a good day. I managed to sleep longer than normal this morning and still get a few things done early in the day before heading off to Glenorchy for the family BBQ and photo session.
The effort was worth it although by the end of the day both dad and mum were tired out of their brains. Dad said that they were heading off to the doctors on Monday so I hope that they can get some help - Dad is having a lot of trouble breathing which probably means further heart complications.
After arriving home and finishing off the newsletter some friends called in for a drink on their way out - a forty minute detour - just to say hello. They are returning to Victoria on Monday so I appreciate the effort that they have made.
Off to bed and hopefully another good night's sleep so that I can tackle the country run tomorrow and not be too tired.
Sunday, 3rd
After Mass at Ouse today I went for lunch with some friends at the hotel at Hamilton - at one stage my great grand father was the licensee of the Hamilton pub.
There was not very much else to do today except to stay awake which later in the afternoon proved more difficult that I ever would have imagined.
A member of the Lithuanian community called in late this afternoon to go through some of the Parish records to find any records of births & marriages in the Parish from about 1948 through to 1965.
Hopefully I will have a good night sleep and be in good form to start my leave tomorrow - and a good break I hope it will be.
Monday, 4th
After Mass this morning I spent time putting the Christmas crib figures away in the Church before coming over to the house to start clearing away the Christmas Festive things from the lounge. Just after 10.30am I answered the phone and left the house immediately to spend time with the family of the late Trevor Hastie.
I'm certain that there will be some things that I will now be involved in over the next few days as we prepare for and celebrate his funeral but that's alright - I'll still be able to relax and sleep for as long as I like or hope.
The rest of the day has been spent completing letters to the various Community Service announcements outlets asking them to advertise our Australia Day Fair as well as preparing the letters to the members of the Sick & Retired Priests Fund asking for their subscriptions for the current year. Both lots of letters will be posted tomorrow and that will be work well done.
Primary on the program however is an early night and a good sleep in in the morning.
Tuesday, 5th
I started slowly this morning because there was no real reason to go fast, Ruby called in for a while but as I wasn't up and about she headed off after she had done some ironing.
I got some information regarding Trevor Hastie so that I could start the leaflet for his funeral and will complete that tomorrow. The photo worked well even if I was not able to print in colour because my HP colour printer still isn't talking to my computer. Hopefully, when the new motherboard goes in next week, that problem will be solved.
The rest of today has been taking it easy and not doing anything too strenuous - actually doing almost nothing at all - it is great to be on holidays.
After I had prepared this note I went to visit one of my parishioners and spent some time talking about some issues that I will need to take further with Archbishop Doyle. They concern the relationship between clergy and the funeral industry and have been of concern for some time but really do need to be looked at closely for the future good of our relationships.
Wednesday, 6th
I managed to print the booklet for Trevor today and will finish off what ever else needs to be completed for tomorrow. I still haven't got my tickets for the trip away and I'm starting to get a little bit anxious but until the time for the plane to leave arrives I am still in with a chance.
The remainder of today was quiet and easy and I managed to get a bit of a rest so hopefully it won't stop me getting a good night's sleep tonight.
Thursday, 7th
Today wasn't really a good day.
The tickets haven't arrived and I've started the people at Australia Post off on a search hunting for the Express Post Pak with them - they are wondering whether the package was posted at the time I was told it was sent.
All of the rushing around meant that I was a bit distracted by the time I got to Trevor's funeral service and I managed to omit the name of someone important who should have been mentioned and they, and some others, were a little bit upset (& they had every right to be). After apologising members of the family assured me thhat it was alright but I still didn't feel that happy about life.
I took the computer in to get it's upgrade (which means that all of these notes are being put in almost ten days later - just to keep the diary up to date). I then stopped off and had a meal with some friends before coming home for an early night.
Friday, 8th - Friday, 15th
The best sight in all the world was Ruby walking in this morning with a yellow package tucked under her arm - the tickets were here. Anna arrived a few minutes later to take me to the airport and then I was on my way.
The plane was a bit delayed which meant that there was very little delay in Melbourne before catching the flight to Sydney.
Jan was waiting when I got off the plane and then I knew that the holiday had really started. We collected some groceries on the way to the Gap and prepared for a meal with some more friends of Jan's - and I got the blame (again) for keeping people up all hours of the night and causing people to be tired and hung over the next day.
We travelled to Manyana on Saturday with a full car - people and baggage. Annabel, Jeff and Ben piled into the car together with Jan and I. The poor little Lancer did a good job to get their although the airconditioning had to go off whenever we tackled a hill. We stopped at Dapto for a late lunch and then couldn't find the way out - eventually we headed back towards Sydney and cut across the highway to be heading in the right direction.
The rest of the group hadn't arrived so we spent some time with Don & Moya (Jan's parents) who were staying at a holiday house belonging to another daughter at the other end of Sunset Strip. I stayed the night with them as everyone else got the main house ready for the influx of people that were going to arrive over the next two weeks.
Sunday morning we went around to a beach called 'Washer womans' and celebrated Mass in a small shelter area - it was a great celebration. By the time we got back to the main house the international contingent had arrived so that meant that we had to teach them how to play cricket (at least Aaron started to learn 'French Cricket') and Kathy watched.
After going for a walk along the beach towards Green Island a couple of us stopped off to have a swim and struggled with the rip which was quite strong but not dangerous. When we got back to the house we found that Don, Moya and I had been evicted because of the early arrival of the next house guests at Sue & Claude's house up the road so I settled into the verandah area for the rest of my stay.
The rest of the week was a mixture of eating, drinking, sleeping, swimmimg, enjoying the company of a whole new group of friends and relaxing in a wonderful atmosphere. In fact it was such a great time that Jan decided on the Wednesday that she wasn't going home until after the weekend whcih meant that I was heading home on the bus on Friday.
The time for leaving was difficult because I had thoroughly enjoyed my stay and didn't want to come back home because I knew that almost as soon as I arrived back there would be lot's of things needing to be done.
The trip back was comfortable but by the time I arrived home I had been travelling for well over 12 hours - by bus, plane and car - so bed was really welcome.
The trip was over - now work begins.
Saturday, 16th
The monthly prayer breakfast was on this morning so when I woke at 7am I knew that I was on my way. It was good to see people from the community again and to be able to join them in prayer.
I left for town early to catch up with the family of the late Venus Sparks - a funeral that I had been rung about on Friday morning before I had left Manyana. We started the preparations for her funeral to be celebrated on Tuesday - collected the stories and everything else to help me prepare the funeral liturgy.
From there it was off to see Tom Young to collect my 'new' computer. New motherboard, more RAM, new video card and a bigger hardrive means that things should really be good.
Knowing the Adrian (Archbishop Doyle) was providing lunch for the clergy today I continued on to see if I could lend a hand. Also had a chat about the funeral business I mentioned from my conversations with a funeral director last week. It was a great lunch with almost a 'kiddies table' for the latecomers needed.
On the way home I called to see mum and dad and found that they had finally been able to get their cable TV connected whilst I was away. From there it was home and an early night - well reasonably early any way.
Sunday, 17th
Just as Mass was due to start this morning a bus load of tourists arrived - they said they could only stay for 30 minutes. I panicked for a minute and then sent an altar server out to the bus driver to see whether I could crib another 10 minutes if I promised they would be ready to go by 9.40am. Without too much haste we managed to get them on their way - the tourists were happy and Mass hadn't been disrupted by 40 odd people walking out part of the way through.
The trip to Hamilton was warm and the trip home was warmer. By the time I sat down after having lunch I fell asleep - I was even too tired to do any work on the computer to check out what programs needed to be re-installed - that will just have to wait until tomorrow.
After the evening Mass I decided that going to bed was going to be the best decision I could make.
Monday, 18th
Most of this morning was spent trying to reload programs - my printer drivers have all gone west. The reason I haven't loaded any web pages is because the modem driver is gone and even after reloading the driver I still got no joy. The HP printer is still not functioning and every now and then the Canon drops out so I've decided to get a new 56K modem and hope that I can download some of the drivers to improve things for me.
I went to the Casino for lunch with the Gang from Bellerive days - it was good to be with them for a couple of hours.
From there I called into Graham's to see Venus' family when they arrived for a viewing. I had managed to print most of the leaflet for them to have a look at and with the photo for the front cover they were happy.
I decided that because tonight was a birthday party for one of my friends that I would leave my car in town and catch a taxi back to my 'safe house' to avoid doing anything stupid. The birthday party was a great night - one of the best nights of the year and a real pleasure to be part of the group that helps John celebrate his birthday each year.
Tuesday, 19th
The party started again at 12.01am this morning as we celebrated Mary & Leon Walsh's Silver Wedding - champagne and all.
Home to the 'safe house' but not for long enough as I was on the road again by 7.30am to get home to finish the work on the funeral leaflet. Managed to print both pages before the printer dropped out again - but only for one program (Publisher 98 - WordPro works OK!).
Loaded the new modem and then spent two hours getting the new printer drivers but the HP still doesn't work so I'll have to take it to get some work done on it.
The funeral went OK - I was a little worried because the son who wanted to speak about his mum had had a few disagreements with her and I was uncertain as to how he would handle it but there were no problems.
From there I headed home to prepare for the couple who called in to sign papers and collect the material for the marriage leaflet. They have just left so there is only the matter of a meal before heading off to bed and an early night (desperately needed after last evening).
Wednesday, 20th
Today has been an interesting day. One of my email messages asked me to contact the organiser of the New Norfolk Australia Day events regarding being the main speaker at the Australia Day Award presentations and also be part of the selection committee for the awards.
So off I headed to the Council chambers and with the mayor and the local organiser we selected the locals who are to receive Australia Day Awards for 1997 - sorry but you'll have to come back next week to find out who they are.
I then made a dash to town to drop off my printer at Computer Solutions to get serviced and sign a letter of condolence on behalf of the Tasmanian Council of Churches at the death of Archbishop Gibran from the Antiochean Orthodox Church in Australia who died recently in Sydney.
My couple for marriage preparation are a lovely couple and I'm looking forward to working with them over the next few months. It is really great to meet people who are so open about their relationship and how they have grown over their relationship.
Now for an early night and a good sleep - he hopes!
Thursday, 21st
Working on replying to Sick & Retired Priests Fund details meant that I spent most of the morning in the office. I also worked on a couple of marriage programs - photocopying in the background.
During the morning I was also asked to contact a possible speaker for our next New Norfolk Community and Police Consultative group with a view for a better appreciation of the process for sentencing offenders. More about that next month after the meeting.
There were lot's of people who called in during the afternoon dropping off items for the Fair next Tuesday - the back porch area looks like a jumble sale so will need to be cleaned up tomorrow.
Early this evening I met with a young couple to complete the paperwork for their marriage and start work on their marriage booklet. They are really a great young couple and I'm looking forward to celebrating their marriage with them.
Frriday, 22nd
I'm still having trouble with my faxing program and everything I do seems to make no difference. I can send faxes and manually receive them but I can't get the program to automatically receive - which is a real pain. Sadly, it also meant that a lot of time was spent yesterday trying to correct the problem.
I downloaded the latest pact from Symantec for the program; I contacted and downloaded the latest driver for the Modem and spoke to Symantec and removed some files from the registry (under guidance) that may have impeded the process.
A couple of people called re baptismal preparations so that took some time and I also did some physical work - something that I'm not used too.
The courtyard where the Fair will be held had some rather large weeds getting in the way so I spent a bit of time cleaning up - there is still more to do so I'll get on to that tomorrow.
Now for bed and a good nights sleep or at least an enjoyable read before I turn the lights out. I've just started reading "Jessica" by Bryce Courtenay and looking forward to what should be a good yarn.
Saturday, 23rd
First thing this morning I got out my shovel again and set to work on the weeds growing in the back yard - by the time I had finished the trailer was half full of rubbish but the yard looks heaps better.
The rest of the day was spent with priests at lunch at St Canice, firstly helping Adrian with the meal and then talking for some time later in a small group discussing some meetings that are coming up on the mainland and here in the next month.
When I got home the train for the fair had arrived so I drove it off the trailer and put it in the shed so that it was protected from the elements.
Some work on the baptismal certificates for tomorrow and then an early night is on the cards - hopefully without any interruptions.
Sunday, 24th
Today has been a busy day - three Masses and three Baptisms (all separate - the last one being celebrated at the Catherdal).
Mass at Ellendale was great - we celebrated it at the picnic area so that we could have a BBQ following Mass without anyone feeling that they had to leave. It worked well and we will do it again next month.
The Baptisms went well without any difficult children or parents so that was a blessing - all three children behaved well so I wasn't under any pressure from children crying all the way through the ceremony.
Now it I'm off for an early night because I am really tired and unless I get some sleep I'll be useless for the setting up of the Fair over the next two days.
Monday, 25th
After Mass this morning I got started on my Australia Day address which needed to be at the local Gazette before mid afternoon as it will be pre-published for sale on Wednesday. It was a bit daunting because I never write my homilies or talks - I might have a note or two but then I work without notes as I feel a greater freedom in what I am saying. Anyway it got done and although I'm not terribly happy with it I'll basically stay with what I have written. John and Ruby were quietly working away in the kitchen on the finances, Mary was pricing items for the craft stall and all was going well in the place.
After lunch I had to go to town to collect some things for the fair and also called to collect some chocolates which had been made by some good friends in Glenorchy. When I got home Addie Graham was there finishing off the lawns and Milton arrived to complete the building of the stall framework.
Then John and Alice droped in a couple of times to bring items for the White Elephant & Book Stalls so there was a steady stream of people coming and going. I am going to bed tonight slighty apprehensive about whether the stall framework is safe or not as there have been some vandals attacking shops and structures throughout the town over this past weekend.
My final thing tonight will be to tie together the tarpaulins that will be used for the bacing to the stalls to ensure that they are protected from the wind - whichever direction it comes from later tomorrow afternoon. Also, the very final thing will be praying for fine weather and a successful fair.
Tuesday 26th,
Australia Day
Today has been a really great day, we had our fine weather and we had a great crowd at the Fair.
The Australia Day events at Tynwald Park were also a great success and the award ceremony went off well. The people who received the awards were very deserving people who have made a great contribution to the community. The senior award winner, Margaret Goss, over a long and distinguished career has been an important part of St John Ambulance and volunteer rescue teams assisting in the Valley in times of accident and emergency.
If you would like to read my Australia Day Address it can be found here.
The fair preparations have gone well but, amazingly, we have just had a fair in the 'country' where there was not one sponge for the Cake Stall. I deliberately didn't make any because every other time I have been a little bit embarrassed by the splendid offerings from other parishioners - well this time no-one made one.
The other stalls that were a little down were the White Elephant ( last year we had couple of very big items for sale) and the Cake Raffle - not as many tickets sold on the day.
Otherwise we managed to make over $1900 from our small Fair so things aren't too bad. We did get a great deal of support from the local community so a little thank you note will go to the Gazette thanking people for their support.
Now to bed and sleep.
Wednesday, 27th
Today has been a basically a tidying up day after the Fair interrupted by a visit to the Dentist - which I had completely forgotten about until I looked at my diary just before celebrating Mass.
I also called to see my parents whom I haven't seen for a week or two so that was good. I also dropped off some papers to a family in Glenorchy who had asked me for some references a few weeks ago - thankfully I had remembered to do them which is something I can easily put aside to do tomorrow - which as we all know - never comes.
My couple arrived for their next stage of marriage preparation and we enjoyed a good discussion on several areas of communication and finance and how to avoid some of the traps. Our next session will be focussing on the Sacrament of Marriage and what marrying as a Catholic really means.
Later some people arrived to collect a few of the items from the White Elephant Stall whcih were too big to move on Tuesday and the train was also collected so just about everything is under control which is a good start.
Now for an early night and some sleep - I have felt so tired today that it is an effort to get moving.
Thursday, 28th
This morning John,Ruby and I looked at what we would be doing for Fundraising this year and managed to get the dates for selling tickets on the High Street and at the Local Supermarket set down so that we have been able to put all the dates for all the events for the year onto paper for distribution.
After Mass I worked on the program for the people coming to Mass this Sunday evening for the combined Ecumenical service - all the prayers and responses so that they are able to join in everything and feel a real part of the ceremony.
Some friends called in for a meal so that was a pleasant way to finish the day. They didn't stay late so I was able to get an early night which was good - I need it at the moment so I think that I'll also be trying for another one tomorrow night.
Friday, 29th
What a terrible day - time wasting whys.
After Mass I travelled to town to collect my printer. It needed cleaning so that was ok but the real problem was in fact a faulty colour cartridge - as soon as we replaced the cartridge the rotten thing worked. By the time I got home it was well after lunch.
From there I visited the family of a girl who is to be married in a fortnight's time regarding some of the final details of her wedding ceremony. Whilst there we also looked at the agenda for the next meeting of the Police and Community Consultative Committee meeting. I then rang the speaker who was in a meeting at the time so will speak to him on Monday regarding the venue for the meeting.
Then it was back to work on setting up the printer here - well it worked on one cable and on one setting of the print box but refused to work on the other. So after swapping ports on the back of the printer switch box everything now works perfectly.
The newsletter is now finished and the calendar has been printed and I'll staple that together tomorrow morning. Hopefully I will be able to upload the newsletter as well as the other pages early tomorrow.
Saturday, 30th
Thankfully I didn't have too much to do this morning so I was able to start slow and work up to what needed to happen. I printed the newsletter and I stapled it to the calendar early this afternoon. I looked at the calendar and wondered if there was a way to upload it as a web page and after a couple of eforts have managed to put it up (from Lotus WordPro) as a html document. You can see it from either the newsletter (back arrow) or from the Daily Notes & News Page (up arrow).
I went and helped Adrian with lunch (he is very glad that his three weeks have ended - not a bad effort for someone who doesn't claim to have any cooking skills). Next week we go to Lenah Valley to Denis Allen's and I've been booked to help. It will be the first anniversary of Adrian's episcopal ordination so it should be a good day as well.
I called to see my sister-in-law to wish her a belated birthday but they were out - I passed them as they were returning home from seeing my parents as I was on my way to see them. I stayed for a short time before coming home and finsihing off the work that needs to be done for tomorrow.
Now for bed and hopefully a good night's sleep.
Sunday, 31st
Today has been a hectic but good day. When I checked my e-mail this morning I found that I had received an award for the opening page of Daily Notes & News from an Irish site for being a Great Site - you can check out the award by returning the Daily Notes & News [see the back arrow below].
I stayed for a coffee after Mass this morning instead of leaving immediately for Bronte and put myself under a little bit of pressure timewise to get there by 11.30am. I managed but found that I had left some of the things I needed behind although I was able to improvise quite easily.
After Mass we all enjoyed a very pleasant lunch before I climbed back in the car for the 90 minute drive home. Just near Wayahtinah I picked up an American tourist who had just climbed Frnechman's Cap and was travelling to Hobart to arrange some other walking in the SouthWest. It was good because he kept me focussed for the rest of the trip home.
I did a little bit of work on a booklet for myself for the evening Mass so that I would have all the same prayers that the visiting members of the other New Norfolk Churches would have in their hands at Mass. It was a great time and the supper afterwards was enjoyable.
In the past hour though it has got really busy. I've had two couples drop in information regarding their marriage booklets and a family from Glenorchy called in after being out on the road today for a drive. They have now all gone and I have missed the end of the cricket and the movie is now on so I'll have to wait until the morning to learn what happened.
Hopefully I'll get a good night's sleep so see you on the February page tomorrow.
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