Daily Notes and News
The Month of November, 2000
Wednesday, 1st
I managed to get most things done this morning before I headed off to see the Archbishop. I printed the Rural Newsletter so that I could take a copy to him; I updated the files for my laptop so that I could do some work when I arrived in Sydney, which I am now doing (or at least - have done); I collected all of the material for the two meetings for CWS (Christian World Service) as well as the Education and PR Sub committee; printed off the letter formally applying to attend the Marianella Course in Dublin next year and made sure that I had everything packed for the trip away.
I left with just enough time to get to the meeting at the Archbishop's Office and managed to present some possibilities for him regarding the staffing of the Rural Unit for next year and presented some of our concerns and hopes for the future. Unfortunately he didn't have a copy of Adobe Reader to be able to read the Marianella Course program that I had sent him and there was no time to load a copy because his next appointment was waiting so I'll have to do it another time.
From there it was off to Glenorchy to collect Anna who was collecting her mother's car to take me to the airport after I dropped mine off to be serviced. It all went very smoothly and the car is now garaged back at New Norfolk so it will be there when I get home on Saturday night. Anna stopped in the Qantas Lounge while we waited for my plane.
The trip to Melbourne was without incident but we were late leaving for Sydney and when we finally arrived we had to circle for some time because a plane had slid on the runway so there was a hold up as planes were only able to use one of the approaches.
Finally got away from the airport and headed for Edgecliff where I am safely ensconced in the Friary for the night. I had hoped to be able to spend some time with Peter McGrath who had worked for some time at Riverside (suburb of Launceston) but he has been out tonight at the other Church in the Parish and I've only been able to chat with him for a few minutes.
I had a wander around Double Bay and headed back here and now I am about to head for bed because I am tired and I think that I will make good use of the time that I have. We are not far from New South Head Road but I can't hear a thing so that is good.
Thursday, 2nd
I went to Mass for All Souls this morning at St. Joseph's, Edgecliff, a Franciscan Parish, not far from the city and not too far from HMAS Watson and the part of Sydney I know best. There was a good number of people there which was good. I then spent some time with Fr Peter McGrath and shared with him some of the pages on the Web which I have found helpful.
From there I headed off to the Offices of the National Council of Churches where I dropped my bags before heading around to a few places to try to find out why the internet wizard wasn't working on the laptop - it seems that I will have to reload the whole of the operating system to get the final file loaded.
The Education and PR group meeting was a good meeting with lot's of good things achieved. The Christmas Bowl promotion and TV spot for this year is good and we have started making suggestions for the theme for next year which is also a good start.
I managed to contact the Quinlan's and have just got back from spending a very pleasant evening with them. I also managed to catch up with Don and Moya which was good and spent some time with Don down at the Watson's Bay Hotel with a group of friends who have been meeting there for the past thirty years.
Now for bed - the next two days with the level of discussion at the meetings - will be quite tiring and demanding.
Friday, 3rd
Today has been a long day. The Commission Meeting was a good meeting but it was very demanding. The first session was on the situation in the Solomon Islands and the two guys who presented the session were excellent and provided us with a great deal of information that was previously unavailable.
The rest of today went well but there is still heaps to do tomorrow so it will be difficult to get everything finished before I have to leave to catch the 4.30pm plane home.
I've just arrived home from a meal at a hotel called the Slip Inn, just around the corner from Kent St. Where the NCCA has their offices. It is a yuppie pub but the meal was really great but it has a very different business practice. It seems that if there 10 or more people then there is 10% surcharge. We were supposed to have been told when the booking was made but it wasn't so there were a few slightly peeved little people around the table when the bill arrived.
Now, it is time for bed and I think that I'm going to enjoy it immensely.
Saturday, 4th
The meetings have all finished and I'm home - tired as all heck but happy to be home.
Tonight is late and I still have a few things to do including the printing of the newsletter which will take some time and mucking around. I managed to get a bit done while in Sydney but not enough to get it all together.
There was an interesting group of us lined up outside the Centre in Randwick this morning to head off to the NCCA Offices for the meeting. We managed to get three taxis for the trip because there were nine of us and that many do not fit into two.
The meeting went well although there was one major item that didn't get touched - thankfully the papers hadn't been completed before the meeting so we didn't have time to prepare for the discussion.
After lunch there was a good deal more discussion and thought put into the Education and PR committee report which took longer than expected but that's the way of meetings.
Travelled to the airport with the head of the Lutheran World Services Commission, the Divisonal Secretary of The Salvation Army Unit charged with caring for their overseas aid and Government liaison programs and the chair of the Victorian CWS commission. An interesting group with lot's of chatter along the way.
The trip down to Hobart was uneventful with a couple of notable people on board but not a lot that I needed to worry about. The trip home was also uneventful so shortly I will have the chance to settle back for a good night's sleep.
While I've been working on this the newsletter has been printing away in the background and so my day is nearly at an end.
Sunday, 5th
It is always amazing how some people (facetiously) think that Sunday is the only day priests work - but why does it seem to always be so busy. I woke early today because of the time away in Sydney and have been running ever since.
Mass in the country was at Ouse which was good, a couple of people who hadn't been for awhile were able to be there. Sadly I wasn't able to stay in the area for the Ecumenical event because I had to come home for the Baptism at 2pm. It gave me a chance to make a start getting things ready for the Pudding making tomorrow before heading over to the Church for the ceremony.
As soon as the Baptism had been completed I visited the family of the late Shane French to make arrangements for the funeral for Tuesday. There is a lot that will need to be done before Tuesday so that will keep me busy.
After Mass this evening I have been working away at getting ready for tomorrow but I'm heading upstairs to watch SeaChange and then I'm hitting the sack.
Monday, 6th
I woke early this morning and since then I have been running all day. Things took much longer to get going than I had hoped so by the time Ruby arrived I was ready but had spent a long time getting there.
After Mass I headed for town to drop the photo of the late Shane French into Photolith to get a bromide done for the front cover of the leaflet. I also collected some more eggs for the puddings and still managed to get home before the start of the morning's Journey Session.
People started arriving and working away in the kitchen while the morning session was on so that at midday the team swung into action and we mixed our final 250+ 1 kg puddings. Many of these will be broken down into the 150 gm puddings so all of them will be cooked for 6 hours so that the maximum time they will need to be cooked is 5 minutes in the microwave.
It was a long afternoon, even though it was all over by 3.30pm but we were all burnt out by the time we finished - if we had had to make any more puddings I think many people would have really objected. Hopefully there will only be another day of making small puddings and wrapping and everything will be completed.
Sandy Cowling arrived just after 4pm to complete the work for the First Eucharist Celebration for the 19th Nov. As soon as we had finished I headed for town to collect the bromide from Photolith - foolishly had not accepted an offer from a friend to collect it because I didn't want to "put them out" by asking them to then come to New Norfolk - really stupid.
I have been extracting the air from the second pudding bag both before and after the Journey session tonight so that all of the puddings that will go into the boilers tomorrow are now ready. There will be about 130 to cook tomorrow in two sessions and about 70 to cook on Wednesday.
Now, however, it is time for bed, and hopefully not an early wakeup tomorrow.
Tuesday, 7th
After my very early wake up call (midnight by accident) today has been a long day. Just after I posted Daily Notes and News to the web I opened my email and found a request from +Adrian to speak to the Rural Pastoral Unit at the Council of Priests. I had hoped to be able to get home after the burial at Sorell and have some time but it was not to be the case.
So, back to the start. I printed off the colour cover for the funeral booklet and then did up the Big Book. While that was all happening I managed to get the boilers going for the puddings and everything under way before Mass at 9am. My mobile rang (vibrated) just as Mass finished - it was a call from Millington's just checking that everything was right for the funeral. When Dennis arrived he asked whether I might be able to do a funeral on Friday so after everything else this afternoon I have been to see the family of the late Athol Mitchell to make the preliminary arrangements for the service at Millington's Chapel on Friday.
There was a large crowd at the funeral but there were some people there I am concerned about so will follow up some members of the family in the next few days. On the way to the burial I dropped off some puddings at one of the outlets who have been good to us over the past three years so that is good.
The Council of Priests Meeting went well - I think I presented some material about the Rural Unit with enthusiasm and hopefully I've managed to enthuse some of the Consultors with ideas about how the project might succeed. Unfortunately I missed a great deal of the discussion so I'm not sure what else, exactly happened - I'll have to wait to read the minutes.
I used the time before the PPC meeting to do some work on making 150 gm puddings - I have an order being collected in tomorrow which needed the small puddings and we didn't have any left. As we have been boiling the puddings for the 6 hours it means that we only have to break them down to size and pack them and it is all done.
The PPC meeting went well so that means that everything for the night finished early enough for the members to help unload the last of the puddings for the day.
Now I'm heading for bed.
Wednesday, 8th
The day of Reflection at Oatlands for the members of the Catholic Women's League went well. There were 11 members of the League in attendance so that was good. I led one session before lunch leading into the Sacrament of Reconciliation and then lunch followed by a session after lunch leading into Mass. It meant that there was no Mass here this morning but things will be back to 'normal' tomorrow.
Then I made a quick dash to Hobart for the Executive Meeting of the Tasmanian Council of Churches where I was reinvented as the Vice President of the Council. This was necessary because the present President is going to Bendigo at the beginning of 2001 and the Vice President is being appointed to complete his term of Office. Rather than preempt the appointment of a person to the position of Vice President at the Annual Meeting in May next year it was decided that I might reprise the role I had some 5 years ago. At the Annual Meeting I will return to being the Immediate Past President.
I've just returned home from the meeting and shortly I am going to set the computer to defrag as it is slowing down again and needs tidying.
Then I'm going to bed.
Thursday, 9th
Work this morning was the boiling of the last of the Christmas Puddings. I think that I might have made a mistake in the initial number of 2 kg puddings made - however, during the day I have boiled 51 x 2 kg puddings and they will now form the basis of the 150 gm puddings that we need for the orders received. In fact when they are broken down there will only be about just the odd few that are left for future orders so we will probably have to boil some more at some stage.
There was a rehearsal this morning for the children who will be celebrating their first Eucharist on 19th - we simply worked through some aspects of the ceremony and the actual reception of the Sacrament. It was follows up this evening by a Celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the Children and their parents and for the first time we had a complete attendance.
After Mass at midday I waited for a couple of phone calls - we are now supplying Hayes Prison Farm with their Christmas Puddings as well as NuShape Foods (The Diet factory) with 100 gm puddings for their Christmas packages.
I headed for town to see the family of the late Athol Mitchell to drop off the leaflet for the funeral tomorrow. Then I called to see Mum and Dad but Dad was out so I chatted to Mum for awhile before coming home for the night.
I've printed the leaflet's for tomorrow, celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation and finished some work on the newsletter for the weekend so now I'm heading for bed.
Friday, 10th
Mass this morning was at 9am and almost immediately followed by Mass at Corumbene at 10am (a late First Friday Mass as I was in Sydney last week). But just as I was leaving the phone rang and it was the Campbell Town team asking if I had sent through the Rural Newsletter last weekend - somehow or other it hadn't gone through I checked back and some how I hadn't done it so I sent it through then. Unfortunately there was some difficulty and it took time for the file to finally arrive - about 4pm!!
After Mass I headed to the District Hospital to catch up with Eileen Taylor after also missing her last Friday because of my Sydney trip. The I headed home to collect some puddings for the Glenorchy Parish and the material for the funeral of the late Athol Mitchell.
The funeral went well - I knew one of Athol's sisters really well - Ruby had said that she had been here for my Jubilee celebrations but didn't mention her surname - as soon as I saw her I knew what was happening.
I called into Graham's to see Annie re her Christmas Pudding order and then headed off to have a haircut - badly needed. I had then intended to call into Navy Office to pay for my ticket to the Navy Ball next Saturday night but remembered that I had a boot load of puddings for Glenorchy so I headed there and then had to come home to complete some work before the wedding rehearsal at the Cathedral this evening.
Before I could head back to town for that I needed to take some of my Navy Whites to Greg to get him to have them taken up - my hemming activity from my time away would not be good enough for a Hobart Cocktail party or Navy Ball.
I've finished the rehearsal and arrived home from town in the midst of major storms (for the second night in a row) and now I'm heading for bed.
Saturday, 11th
I started today a little slowly and have paid for it ever since.
It took forever to get the dining room tidy enough for the clergy lunch and then set up. The preparations for the Baptism this morning seemed to take forever and getting some extra ingredients at the supermarket was a real difficulty because the rain had short-circuited the fridges and they were short of some stock - things I needed.
The Baptism went well - I managed to salvage my reputation by recalling a guy whom I had met some time ago and who came up to me full of cheer& daring me to remember his name. I happened to look over his shoulder as he stood in front of me and recognised another guy whose wedding I had done, remembered that this guy had been the best man and managed to drag the name out. The look on his face was a pleasure to behold as I managed to miss making a fool of myself.
Then, for whatever reason, there were only five who joined me for lunch which meant that there was a lot left over - I didn't have a chance to clear everything away because of the need to head for town for the wedding at the Cathedral this afternoon so I will need to do that tomorrow morning because I have just arrived home after having a meal with Jennifer and some of the Glenorchy friends for her ..th birthday.
The wedding went well and Maree, the first child I have baptised and witnessed her wedding, looked radiant. After the wedding I went to visit a girl at the Royal Hobart Hospital. Her grand mother had rung yesterday evening and told me that she was in hospital and asked if I might try and see her - today looks like the only opportunity I will have for some time. She is well and is improving rapidly after making a silly mistake and losing her hand and the lower part of her forearm in an accident. I also managed to see Harold Cornelius from Bronte who is recovering, slowly, from heart surgery.
When I got back to the car there was a note from a young lady asking me to contact her regarding the Baptism of her child - this will be the first Baptism of the child of a child whose Baptism I had celebrated. The years are wandering along and I am getting older.
Now it is time for bed.
Sunday, 12th
After the New Norfolk Mass this morning I headed off to Maydena where there was a good little gathering including the young Queensland Family who are staying in the Parish House for a few weeks. They were here at New Norfolk for Mass on Friday and we chatted for a while before I headed to Corumbene.
The rest of today has been spent quietly, doing a few things in preparation for the Retreat - making sure that I will be able to get away tomorrow and not leave too many jobs incomplete.
I also managed to make 100+ 150 gram puddings which means that there is at least a quantity for use during the week if anyone wants to collect some puddings. I'll check tomorrow to see if I can get rid of some of the Northern Parish Puddings to guys who are on retreat this week.
I'm now heading for bed having said the evening Mass and completing a couple of letters.
Monday, 13th
The first day of the retreat has ended well - there will be 24 of us when everyone arrives (the last ones are due tomorrow evening).
Today, however, has been hectic. There are always a million things to do before you leave the parish for a few days and the phone always rings whenever things get busy - a variation on Murphy's Law.
The morning session of Journey decided that we would work a little longer next Monday evening and complete the program a week early (I have the launch of the Christmas Bowl on what would have been the last night). Denise is doing the session tonight so that is good.
During the session I was interrupted by a phone call from ITIM telling me that there had only been a couple of responses to the Five Questions invitation to breakfast on Wednesday. I made an executive decision and canceled the Breakfast and told Jennifer at the office to contact people and inform them of the cancellation. That has taken quite some time to do and we have been all during the afternoon checking to see if people have been contacted. I'll probably get some calls tomorrow (while on retreat) asking for some extra details.
I brought with me to the retreat the puddings for the Burnie Parish which I have asked Joe and Smiley to drop off on the way home. I also managed to print some more labels for the 150 gm puddings which will be made up on Thursday so that I can deliver them on Saturday around the various Parishes of Hobart.
I've also managed to pay for, and collect, my ticket for the Navy Ball on Saturday night so that is another job that is completed. After collecting that I headed for Blackmans Bay to the Retreat Centre and dropped my things off and had a quick chat to Sr. Sarah and the staff before heading for the airport to collect Fr John Thornhill, the retreat master, and bringing him back here.
The first session has finished and now I am heading for bed - it was a long day because I woke at 2.30am and wasn't able to get back to sleep so I will make use of what is an unusual opportunity for sleep.
Tuesday, 14th
I slept well overnight and woke just before 7am this morning - in itself a little unusual but good.
The morning session has been good with two sessions on 'Hope'. He is a good speaker and a good thinker to go with it so that should make the rest of the week interesting.
I was right about the calls from ITIM. Just after lunch there was a frantic call asking if I had some extra addresses for people that Jennifer had not been able to contact. I gave her the names and phone numbers she needed before ringing Karen, my sister, to get the final phone number.
I had jokingly commented to John Wall that he had snorted during the morning session - it all came back to roost this evening when, half way through the time of Exposition I woke myself, and half the others, with a rather loud snore. I have decided that I will now head for bed without further comment.
Wednesday, 15th
Today started slowly with some more sleep - desperately needed.
The two sessions this morning have both been good and (Fr) John gave us some information for our reflection this evening from Oscar Romero - powerful reading.
The last of the people coming to the retreat arrived late last night after funerals and meetings etc. so we now have a very full house. The centre can accommodate 24 and there are 26 here so it is the best numbers for quite some time.
Now, it is time for bed.
Thursday, 16th
Another good day with (Fr) John providing some good reflection points leading towards the Reconciliation Service tonight. It all went very easily so the day worked out well.
Sadly, our Retreat time is too short and tomorrow morning we will be packing to head back to our Parishes - it would be good if we were able to make more time and if there were less distractions but I think we would actually need to be out of the State for that to happen properly.
Now it is time for bed.
Friday, 17th
I looked out the window this morning (from the Chapel) hoping to catch a glimpse of the three ships entering the harbour but there was a sea mist that completely enshrouded the river so I saw nothing. I've finally managed to get most things completed for the Navy Visit to New Norfolk on Monday although I will have to confirm with the Recruiting people re the availability of anyone as the visit is now in the afternoon and not first thing as I originally thought.
After the retreat had ended I dropped Fr John Thornhill at Sandy Bay Presbytery before paying some money into the Ministry to Priests Account at the Church Office. From there I headed down to HMAS Sydney to say hello to people on board and have a few drinks. I caught up with some people before they headed off to HMAS Tobruk - they were hosting a few drinks for the officers from the three ships.
While in the Tobruk Wardroom I was reminded that the jacket I needed for the ball tomorrow night was a black, not white, jacket as I had thought. I headed off, after the drinks, to a suit hire firm to see if I could get a dinner suit for the night and managed to arrange one which I will collect in the morning - sold some puddings at the same time so it was a good day.
I collected a friend who had also been invited to the Cocktail Party onboard HMAS Sydney and headed for town. It was a good night and a chance to catch up with some friends whom I hadn't seen earlier in the afternoon and it was also good to say hello again to some of the crew whom I had also missed during the day.
Saturday, 18th
Today was very busy.
I woke reasonably early and came downstairs and immediately got onto the newsletter which I hadn't manage to finish before I went on retreat. As I was doing that David Jensen brought round the box with the breakfast ingredients - I had completely forgotten that the Prayer Breakfast was on this morning so I missed out badly.
I also managed to pack the car with puddings for Richmond, Lindisfarne, Moonah, Cathedral, Kingston and the Tolosa St Butchery to take with me when I headed for town to go to lunch at St Joseph's. The car was heavily laden in the rear and it was good to off load all the puddings but it makes the space in the back room look rather empty. I will need to do a stocktake tomorrow to know how many puddings are available and how many more we might need.
It was a good lunch and a good gathering of people. It is also the one day of the year when a good representative group of religious women also attend so it is a bit different from our normal Saturday lunch.
I collected my hire suit for the Navy Ball and it fitted perfectly. I was a little upset when I got to the Ball and there were a reasonable number of people in the S3 uniform (Officers were meant to wear W3) but I suspect that I might have been able to get away with the white jacket but the suited fitted well so that was good.
It was an interesting night but it is difficult to make groups mix and so I seemed to be working away at building bridges all evening and saying hello to people - none of whom knew each other before the night but I suppose that's the way it all goes.
Bed is looking good and that's where I am going as tomorrow is going to be another big day - First Communion and all that goes with it.
Sunday, 19th
This morning we had two celebrations at New Norfolk - our normal Sunday Mass and then a special Mass for the First Communion Celebration. Nineteen children received Holy Communion for the first time today so that was good. After the Mass there was a gathering down at School so we continued the joy and celebration of the day for a short time. I stayed and helped a couple of the staff clean the activity room so that the whole place looked reasonably tidy and ready for school tomorrow.
Thankfully, this afternoon was much quieter as I was tired after these past few days and needed to get some rest before the evening Mass. One job that I did manage to complete was a stock take of the puddings to check what we still needed as stock for sale as well as ensuring that we had sufficient quantities to cover stock already sold. I got a phone call to say that I had delivered a couple short to Bellerive so will need to drop them off later in the week. Mary Murray also was able to take the Sandy Bay order with her as she headed off to take her mother for a drive later this afternoon which made life a little easier.
Now, it is time for bed.
Monday, 20th
After Mass this morning the girls arrived to wrap the last of the 1 kg puddings for sale - there are still a few 2 kg puddings that need to be finished as well as some 150 gm puddings that need to be made up. That will all happen next Monday.
I had a Baptismal appointment just after lunch which gave me just a few minutes after the team had left before I needed to get ready for the trip up o the High School for the Helicopter arrival. After all the mucking around last week about the Navy Helicopter visit to New Norfolk it finally turned out really great. Children from St Brigid's and the High School had time to look over the craft and learn a good deal about what happens with helicopters and Navy Flight Crews. It was also beautiful weather and it was a good afternoon..
The final session of the Journey Program has just finished with an even dozen joining with Sr Denise for the final session of a two year program. We had a supper after the session and presented Sr Denise with a gift as thanks for her wonderful work for us over these two years.
Now it is time for bed - the room has been tidied and I am ready to sleep.
Tuesday, 21st
Mass this morning was down at School for Presentation Day - St Brigid's has a long association with the Presentation Order and Sr Janet remains on the staff as part of the Religious Education Team. I was presented with a staff top which I will be able to wear with pride around the place.
I've done some work on this weekend's newsletter and the Calendar for December but forgot to get details of the Christmas timetable from Sr Lorraine before she went on Retreat so I will have to complete them before the weekend and before she returns and hope that they are all correct.
I headed off to Sacred Heart for the Rehearsal for the Grade 10 Graduation Mass tomorrow evening - an opportunity to catch up with some of the young people from New Norfolk as well as say hello to some of my friends there. I also collected a couple of pudding order forms from the Office but they didn't break the bank so it looks as if we will only need to make a small batch of puddings to complete the orders.
I then dropped off the Dinner Suit - a day late - and didn't have to pay a penalty. Also dropped off some puddings at New Town and other places along the way so things seemed to be completed today without too much difficulty.
This evening I have done some more work on the calendars but have decided that I will be having an early night as I am really tired. So now it is off to bed.
Wednesday, 22nd
Today has been a busy day of 'graduating' ceremonies.
After Mass this morning I headed for the Cathedral for the major celebration for the Gr. 6 children from around the 17 Primary School in the south of the state as they gathered for a Mass celebrating the end of their Junior School lives and in preparation for their journey into, for many of them, new schools as they enter High School next year. This is the second year that the Mass has been celebrated and it is a great event with lot's of colour and participation.
It was a quick dash back from there to New Norfolk for the Presentation Ceremony at the New Norfolk High School for their School achievers during this last year. The format for the afternoon was different from previous years and seemed to work well with items presented by students added throughout the ceremony. It is always a great community event as well as being an important recognition of school and individual achievement.
I had a little bit of time before heading back to town for the Gr. 10 Mass at Sacred Heart this evening. This also was a great event but somehow as I walk away there seems still to be a sense of separation between the celebration and the sharing - I think that it is because it is not a school in my area and although I have a good deal to do with them - I don't (if you know what I mean).
There has been a lot of running around today and now that I have stopped I really feel tired so I am heading for bed.
Thursday, 23rd
Mass this morning was at 9am - I'm not sure why but on Sunday I announced that the Mass times on the Newsletter were correct - so I had to stick with it.
I spent some time today fixing the 100 gm puddings for the Diet Factory for their Christmas deliveries as well as the fixing the order for the Hayes Prison Farm - not quite completed by reasonably close.
I also managed to visit St Brigid's and leant that Peter Lucantonio and his family are moving to Warrnambool, Vic, next year to teach at St Joseph's so that will be a loss to the Parish and the School.
This evening I had the wedding rehearsal for Stefan and Sharon for Saturday afternoon and I have been working on completing their leaflet for the ceremony which should be a great event.
Now it is time for bed.
Friday, 24th
The plan for today started with Mass at 9am followed by a visit to the District Hospital and then back here to complete the newsletter and the booklet for the wedding tomorrow as well as the certificate for the Baptism at Pontville tomorrow morning. I ran around trying to refill the ink cartridge for the printer but mucked it up badly and had to throw the cartridge out and get a new one later this afternoon.
I was collecting up some Christmas Puddings to make deliveries both too and from the meetings at the Church Office this afternoon when the phone rang and I was asked if I was coming to the meeting - this morning. That left me in a quandary so I headed off and attended the meeting, had to leave Fr Peter O'Loughlin in the lurch as I was not able to help him with some work on his finance package for the Parish.
I came home and found out how many I needed to take to town to deliver which then took me the rest of the afternoon. I managed to collect the ink cartridge I needed as well as visit Mum - I hope to get another chance to visit tomorrow.
At this stage it looks as if we will need to make at least another 6 batches - effectively another 150 x 1 kg puddings which means we will have made the equivalent of 1400 x 1 kg puddings this year up from the 1330 puddings of all sizes last year.
I've spent time on the newsletter this evening and the booklet for tomorrow as well as a booklet for next week and now I am heading for bed as I am really tired.
Saturday, 25th
First thing on the agenda this morning was the newsletter (both editions) as well as simply having a surf - something I haven't had time to do for, it seems, quite some time. I found some of my bookmarks had disappeared so will have to spend time one day checking them all out and deleting the one's no longer live.
The Baptism at Pontville went well although part way through the service I started to feel faint, as if I was coming down with the flu or at least displaying flu symptoms. By the end I felt better so continued on to Lindisfarne to drop off their extra puddings before giving John Williams a lift to Kingston where we had lunch. I managed to also drop off Brian Rosser's puddings and delivered Sr Denise's puddings to Phil Green to deliver over the weekend.
After dropping John Back at Lindisfarne I continued on to Glenorchy to drop off the extras for them and checked with one of my friends at Glenorchy to ask if she needed, or at least, how many puddings she needed this year.
Then it was back here for the 4pm wedding. Just before the time for the bride to arrive I started to feel really giddy and my legs had the real 'flu' feelings of numbness and lethargy. I got through the wedding exhausted and immediately rang my friends who were due to come to tea and cancelled and headed off to the chemists to get some cold and flu tablets to see if I can beat it off before tomorrow.
The time is just before 6pm and I am heading for bed - I've taken the afternoon tablet and I expect to wake sometime during the night and then I'll take the night tablet to help me sleep.
Sunday, 26th
I did wake during the night and the second tablet did work - so much so that I have had almost 10 hours sleep - something that has not happened in quite a long time.
The day has ended with the news that the body of Kim Bester, the New Norfolk Taxi Driver who went missing last weekend has been found. I've spoken to the family and will be in touch with them over the next days as it doesn't seem as if the funeral will be able to take place until sometime after next weekend.
There was only one Mass at New Norfolk this weekend end and that was tonight at 6pm. It was a normal 6pm number of people with a few different faces which is sad because it meant that the people who normally come to the 9am and who didn't go to Oatlands just didn't go.
The Mass at Oatlands was, however, well attended with a good representation of people from our Parish Community who made the effort to get there. Altogether there was over 80 people there from all parts of the community and it was a good celebration - hopefully it will help to build the community and develop links that can be easily developed over the next twelve months to make the Unit a real showpiece of the Call to Change Process.
When I came in from the trip back there was a message on the answer machine asking if we had 120 puddings for a group to distribute to their members as Christmas Gifts. I naturally presumed that they were talking about the 150 gm size and thought that the pudding make-up that we will be doing tomorrow will easily meet that order but when I rang they actually are looking for 1 kg puddings. This means that the extra we would make if we did another 10 mixture cookup are almost all gone in one order so we are back to square one - I'm going to have to do a lot of talking tomorrow to see what we do after this.
Now, however, it is time for bed.
Monday, 27th
The pudding team gathered, with a few extra hands, to make over 500 x 150 gm puddings this morning which now means that we have some in excess of demand. I contacted the supplier re extra ingredients for one and a half days making next week and hope to hear from him tomorrow. The team worked really well although there are some which haven't been wrapped in calico yet..
Just before midday I headed off to Parliament House for a Lunch with the Polish Ambassador - courtesy of an invitation from the Speaker of the House. I think that the invitation was extended because he had invited a group of the Board of St Brigid's to a meal at Parliament House last Wednesday night, the same night I had the Sacred Heart Graduation Mass so I got a second chance - it was a lovely meal with an interesting group of people and wonderful conversation.
When I arrived home I only had a short time to complete some of the paperwork that has grown up over the past few weeks before I headed back to town for the launch of the 2000 Christmas Bowl Appeal at St David's Anglican Cathedral.
After the service I joined (Fr) Brian Nichols and met with the Rev Philip Turnbull who is back in Hobart for the funeral of his mother which will be celebrated tomorrow at St Mary's Cathedral.
Now for bed - most of the things that I needed to do today haven't been done but I've managed some things.
Tuesday, 28th
I only had a short time after Mass this morning to complete some pudding orders and collect some puddings to deliver before heading to town for the Launch of the Foundation 2010 Book "Living Faith in Public Life". On the way to town Jenny rang from Graham's to say that the family of the late Myles Dinsdale were at the Funeral Home making arrangements for his funeral on Friday so I called in and spent some time with the family. I had spoken to Patricia last evening and had intended to visit Myles in the Whittle Ward today after the book launch.
There were a reasonable number of people at the Launch (although it could have been better) and we managed a 30+ sec slot on the local news tonight - it will be interesting to see if there is anything in the newspaper tomorrow.
I then dropped off some puddings to the TCC Offices before heading out to Claremont to collect some clothes to take to Dad who is in Calvary Hospital for a few days with a chest infection. From there I headed to Bellerive to look at simplifying the accounts list for the Parish Financial Return. It took a couple of hours of working through a different version of QuickBooks but we managed to get things going in the end.
I then headed further down the road to visit Patricia Dinsdale and worked with her on the arrangements for her late husband's funeral. I dropped off a photo at Photolith and arranged with Jenny to complete the booklet and will email it to her tomorrow morning and get her to fix the photo and do the copying.
Now it is time for a quiet night and, hopefully, a peaceful rest as I am off to Devonport tomorrow for Launch of 'Living Faith in Public Life" in the North of the State.
Wednesday, 29th
After Mass this morning I only had a short time before I was on the road to Devonport for the Launch of "Living Faith in Public Life' - the Foundation 2010 project involving 52 Australians from various backgrounds writing about how their faith and their values have influenced their work and their workplace. Yesterday's launch in Hobart was by Russell Patterson, former head of Lactos, a dairy and cheese producer in Burnie; today's was by Mary Binks, the Mayor of Devonport. I got to the bridge at Granton and it looked as if I wasn't going to get any further, at least for some time, because the bridge was up for what seemed no apparent reason and it took some time before traffic was flowing again. I did manage to get there in time, and even had time to call into the Devonport Presbytery to say hello and change my shirt.
I also visited the Australian Weaving Mills and collected some towels and other odds and ends for Sr Lorraine - she (and her team of helpers) work on the 'seconds' from the factory and sell them through the parish and through various stalls around the place.
Before heading home I also called into the Ashgrove Cheese factory and had a coffee with Michael Bennett and tasted some of the new cheeses they have in stock. I had hoped to catch up with his wife Maureen to check details of an email query about a Delaney who came to Tasmania in 1849 (two years before my ancestor arrived) but she was away at a funeral so I'll catch up by phone some time over the next few days.
The trip home was uneventful. I've managed to get a few things towards completing the Rural Newsletter but will need to do some more work on it tomorrow so that I can complete it after the meeting in Oatlands and leave originals with the team to publish at their leisure.
Now it is time for bed.
Thursday, 30th
As usual the more I worry about things the less I am able to get done - today has not been an exception.
The meeting this morning of the Christian Leaders went well and all the things we needed to resolve before the end of the year have been resolved. We have managed to arrange for the end of year function and clear up any doubts about the things that need to get done for the Carols by Candlelight evening as well.
It was then a quick look at the Rural Newsletter before receiving the ingredients for the next pudding making exercise for Monday and Wednesday. During the morning Greg Hudson threw a spanner in the works by informing me that the funeral of the late Kim Bester will almost certainly take place on Monday at 10.30 to be followed by internment at Malbina - but that will all work out without too much trouble. Kim was murdered almost two weeks ago and because it took some time for his body to be found the coroner has been slow to release his body for burial but it is likely to be released some time this weekend. I've just arrived home from visiting the family and will be able to get the photo to Photolith tomorrow so that everything can be completed sooner rather than later.
The meeting at Oatlands went well even though there were not a large number of people from other denominations there. It has been decided to approach Archbishop Doyle for permission to engage in an active conversation group with Anglican and Uniting Church groups working on the same concerns with the possibility of working towards a creative response to the concerns being experienced by people in rural areas. This will take some time but it is hoped that we will be able to achieve something in the not too distant future.
I have completed the Rural Newsletter and am ready for bed - I will email it tomorrow morning and make some copies for the people at Bronte as I will be seeing them at the funeral of the late Myles Dinsdale tomorrow. I still have the Big Book to do tomorrow but that will be the least of my worries.
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