Daily Notes and News
The Month of January 2001
New Years Day
Happy New Year to you All!
The day started slowly with Mass at 9am followed by a Baptism at 11am. Unfortunately the young lady being baptised (almost 18 months old) was tired and distressed after arriving from the mainland on Saturday after having experienced a rough sea crossing - it made the ceremony a very tiring experience for everyone because she was so distressed all through it.
I then called to see the family of the late David Davis to make the arrangements for his Funeral Mass on Thursday. This took some time to complete so it was close to 4pm before I headed down to Rokeby to visit a young fellow at the Hobart Clinic at Rokeby. He has had a troubled couple of years and a number of suicide attempts. I will be contacting his wife and other members of his family over the next few days.
I then headed off to the Taste of Tasmania. To catch up with some friends but somehow it didn't work out as intended. I did manage however to run into a number of people whom I hadn't seen for quite some time so it was good all round - another pleasant experience.
Now it is time for bed as there are some busy days ahead.
Tuesday, 2nd
After Mass this morning John and Ruby cleaned up the things that needed to be done for the Parish after the weekend whilst I did some work on the material that will need to be sent to the Church Office/Archbishop's Office regarding the makeup of the Rural Pastoral Unit for inclusion in the Catholic Directory and the national Council of Priests Green Book. I've sent it out to the other members of the Team and we will discuss it tomorrow at our gathering.
I then headed for town to take with me the photo of the late David Davis for a bromide to be produced to use on the funeral leaflet. Because there is always a wait of an hour or two for it to be produced I headed down to the Taste of Tasmania (for the third time) but again it was in pouring rain so I wore a raincoat and didn't take a hat - silly move. Before I had finished wandering around the Taste and catching up with another group of friends the sun was burning down and it was a completely different day.
I collected the bromide and called into Graham's to see how they were going - flat out - and was asked if I might be able to do another funeral on Thursday for the late Noel Madden-Hallett, the father of a fellow I had known at Bellerive and of a lady whom I had known at Glenorchy. I managed to catch up with the daughter this evening to collect a photo which I then dropped off at Jenny Searle's for her to get a bromide done which I will collect from Graham tomorrow afternoon. I enjoyed a couple of G & T's on the back verandah at Jenny's in the early evening as we chatted about things and, especially, the past few weeks at work and the effect of the Clergy changes on them and their business.
I also managed to get the leaflet for the Davis funeral completed for Tony and Jan to peruse and I'll catch up with Tony in the morning to make any corrections and then print it off during the day.
Now it is time for bed as tomorrow is going to be busy.
Wednesday, 3rd
I headed off to the supermarket before Mass this morning to collect food and ingredients for lunch today for the members of the Rural Team able to attend our meeting. The only one missing was Sr Maria Goretti who is away at present so the four of us had lunch and then chatted about a possible Mass timetable which will need to be presented to the various Mass and Parish communities as soon as possible as we will need to kick off the program on the second weekend of February.
Fr John Hayres arrived before the other two so we managed to have a chat about the background process that led to the formation of the Rural Unit and some of the steps that we had undertaken in the lead up to the present. The whole day was an interesting process but there are still a number of hurdles to address and get into place to ensure that the Unit is up and running in time for the second weekend in February.
After everyone left I got back to work on the printing of the booklet for the Davis funeral tomorrow. Tony had called in after Mass this morning (before Fr John had arrived) and suggested some minor changes - including changing his father's date of birth to the correct date (some people are so pedantic!!) - and so that has been completed.
I then headed into see the people at the funeral home to collect the bromide for the cover of the leaflet of the late Noel Madden-Hallett before visiting his family to collect the information for his funeral - which is to be held tomorrow afternoon.
I've come home and spent the past three hours completing the printing of both booklets (there had been a minor delay in the Davis booklet) as well as preparing and printing the Bog Book for both funerals. I will need to staple the leaflets for the Davis funeral tomorrow morning but now it is time for bed - it is really hot so I doubt whether I will sleep well tonight but I have the fan on so there is hope for me yet.
Thursday, 4th
I had very little sleep last night because of the heat especially upstairs - it seems that at times like this I really should think of sleeping downstairs somewhere - I will need to think about that.
The stapling of the Davis funeral booklet didn't take too long and I then printed off the Big Book for both funerals and put them all together so I was ready reasonably early for the two funerals.
Just before I headed over to the Church I got a phone call from the mother-in-law of the young fellow I saw at the Hobart Clinic on Monday asking whether I could catch up with her daughter - I visited her this afternoon on the way home from the funerals but she was heading out with the children so she is going to ring me tomorrow morning to make an appointment to organise a few things.
Neither of the funerals had big congregations although both of the deceased were 85+ so many of their friends had already predeceased them - I think that the family of the New Norfolk funeral were a little disappointed because he had been very involved in the community and had done a great deal for the Pensioners Union and the local elderly community. Both funerals, however, went well and I felt as if there had been nothing that would have indicated any disappointment on my part for the lack of support for the families of the deceased.
After both funerals there was a reception although I was only able to stay for a short time after the Davis Funeral at New Norfolk as Greg Hudson needed to be at Graham Family Funerals by 1pm in preparation for the Madden-Hallett funeral and it was easier for me to take him down rather than using two cars as he had to be in town for a meeting of the Presidents of the Southern Football League this evening.
After the funeral I called to see the lass at Bridgewater (as mentioned above) but will try and talk to her tomorrow.
I arrived home to a hot house but it is cooler upstairs as I have had the fan going all day and it has kept the air circulating. I've had a bite to eat and now I am heading for bed in the hope that I might be able to get a good night's sleep - especially after the broken sleep last night.
Friday. 5th
I had two Masses this morning - our normal 9am Mass at St Peter's and then the First Friday Mass at Corumbene. There was a good number of people at both celebrations although a couple of the normal congregation at Corumbene were missing. I then visited Eileen at the District Hospital - having missed her last weekend.
I had been searching for the Clergy Lunch Tattslotto ticket which needed to be renewed for this weekend for the next ten weeks - thankfully I found it this morning and headed off to get the ticket - $365.50 worth so I will have to ask for some more cash asap.
I tried, unsuccessfully, to contact the young lass from Bridgewater I had called to see last night on the way home but she was either out or not answering the phone. I also tried to contact the girl from the funeral yesterday who had asked about the possibility of the baptism of her child before her brother returns to Queensland soon.
While I was at Corumbene this morning my mobile rang and Dave Mundey from the Church Office rang to tell me that the new car will be available on Monday so I have arranged to have it cleaned and detailed first thing Monday morning and then I will collect the new car and keep it for a few minutes. Then I'll take the present car to Franklin and drop it off at the presbytery before getting a ride back with a friend who is going to be at Cygnet (just across the river) who will bring me back to collect the new car and then I can come home.
I also managed to find some time to work on the newsletter (partially done) and the materials I needed to have for the two weddings tomorrow - I've just got home after the rehearsals and most things are right but I forgot to check on the second names of the two witnesses so I will need to do that in the morning.
Late this afternoon I had a couple come to make the final arrangements for their wedding in two weeks time - we finished the leaflet for their wedding and the pages are printing away in the background as I type this.
Now, however, it is time for bed.
Saturday, 6th
I'm still not sleeping too well - hopefully it only the hot nights because I don't want to start off being too tired into the new year.
I contacted the best man of the second wedding today to get the middle name of the two witnesses for the marriage - Matthew and Jennifer have come down from Darwin for the wedding and only arrived during the week so I met them officially for the first time last night and forgot to get the names of their witnesses - makes it difficult to complete the paperwork..
The Clergy lunch went off well although there were only 10 of us - a few guys have weddings today so they find it hard to get to lunch because they are getting ready for the weddings - funny that - I have two weddings today and it doesn't stop me.
The newsletter has been completed (save for the web edition) and everything else is ready for tomorrow so I'm heading for bed.
Sunday, 7th
The country Mass today was at Ouse so I headed off after the 9am Mass here at New Norfolk, a Mass celebrated without Ruby who rang to say that she was unwell - an unusual situation. Otherwise there was a good congregation with some visitors from Queensland who seemed a very nice group of people.
I travelled to Ouse via Ellendale to collect Lorraine and Sr Monica (Lorraine gets the stitches out of her foot tomorrow but is uncertain when she might be able to drive again). We stayed for lunch with Ellen Jones at Ouse and then I headed back home (again via Ellendale) to do some work on the car in preparation for it being swapped tomorrow.
No sooner had I walked in the door than the phone rang and it was Greg Hudson saying that his brother-in-law, Keith King, had died that morning. I quickly washed the car and then headed out the Lachlan to see Carmel and the rest of the family. Keith has been sick for some time but went very suddenly in the end - his funeral will be celebrated on Wednesday. I'll take a photo to town tomorrow to get the bromide fixed while I'm waiting for the car to be detailed.
There was only a small group at the evening Mass, a couple of the regular families were away and that makes a big difference to a small congregation.
Now it is time for bed - I found a book that I am enjoying but I've been so sleepy that I hardly get a chance to read more than a few pages at a time.
Monday, 8th
Today has been a funny day with time spent at home making sure that the computer went through with the scan disk and defrag programs - a time consuming process because even after I turn almost everything off it still comes up with the message that it has to restart because of programs working in the background - and none seem to be happening (although now I think of it I didn't turn off the screen saver so that might be the rest of the problem).
As soon as I was able I headed to Moonah to drop my car off at the detailers to be thoroughly cleaned and prepared for the changeover. Whilst this was happening I headed for the city to get the bromide for the leaflet for the funeral booklet for the late Keith King made and whilst that was happening dropped off the marriage booklet (unstapled) for Tanya Riley's wedding to be celebrated on the 20th.
I also had a chat with John Picot, part of the team that is meant to address the different collaborative units regarding the unsuitability of our date as it clashes with the Oatlands District Fair held to coincide with a major Stock Market at Oatlands on the 22/2 so he is checking re a change of date - hopefully back to the 6th which would be more suitable for us but we have to wait and see.
Then I wandered down town for a bite to eat and a quick read of my book before collecting the bromide and heading back to Moonah to collect the car. During the day Graham Howard had rung and suggested that we drop the car off to him and then when Peter Fraser returns his car there will be transport for him back to Franklin and will only involve one person in the transfer. For me it meant that after I had collected the new car I parked it at Co-Op motors and drove to Kingston with my old car (with new plates EJ 1921) and waited until I was picked up to be returned to Co-Op to collect the new car and headed off home.
I called to see some friends at Glenorchy on the way but didn't stay long as there was a Fair meeting here tonight (it has just finished) and I had wanted to make sure that the defrag program had finished. The meeting went well with some new faces in the team and some new offers of help - in fact there was almost a 50% increase in the number of people willing to help which is wonderful. I will need to add something to the New Norfolk newsletter (as well as to the BEACON) asking for donations etc. as well as sending out Community Service Announcements to the various media outlets asking for info to be broadcast or announced over the next few weeks.
Now, however, it is time for bed - the defrag has finally finished, otherwise I wouldn't be doing this - would I!!
Tuesday, 9th
I finished the leaflet and the Big Book for the funeral of the late Keith King for tomorrow and managed to catch up with his wife Carmel during the morning so that I was able to provide her with a copy so that there will be less of a shock tomorrow when the family arrives for the funeral.
I managed to tidy up the Christmas decorations and started work on the BEACON, the monthly Rural Unit Newsletter as well as send off some emails regarding various events which are to occur over the next few weeks.
Visited Mum this afternoon to see how she is getting on - Dad had gone to town to get some medication for her and was out so I'll have to catch him some time soon.
My couple for marriage preparation have come and gone - they did all their preparation through Centacare in Darwin so it is simply a matter of bringing together the material for their leaflet and for the signing off of their paperwork - that is now completed so they are well on their way.
I'm heading upstairs to watch the Bill and then I'm off to bed.
Wednesday, 10th
After the 9am Mass this morning everything went into overdrive as we prepared for the funeral of the late Keith King. There was a good sized group of people there and it was a fitting send off to a lovely fellow. It was also a time of healing for his son-in-law Mick who had not been able to go to the cemetery since the funeral of his daughter Claire almost two years ago. He joined Keith's sons in carrying his coffin and then was able to sit at the grave of his daughter and allow some of his grief to come out. It has taken some time but the two graves are on opposite sides of the same headstone line - coffins are head to head so a visit to either grave site is a visit to both.
The time after the wake I've spent doing work on the Rural Newsletter which I hope will be able to be printed tomorrow and emailed to the various people so that it is available for this weekend.
I've just arrived home from having a meal with the Davis family as a thanks for the efforts last week both before and following the death of Tony's father. The bottle of wine Tony promised was a Pinot Noir from the Stefano Lubianco vineyards and it was superb but now it is time for bed as I am really exhausted.
Thursday, 11th
Thursday mornings always start more slowly than usual because of the midday Mass so I started the day by doing some work on the BAS Statement for the Church Office and emailed it when I went online. I also managed to do the books for December and handed off the papers to John Maher to check against his records.
I completed the work on the BEACON, the Rural newsletter (at least until I received the material from Fr John Hayres to complete it when I got home this evening) before midday Mass. After Mass I headed out for a drive and took the car for a bit of a spin down the country - it was a really pleasant afternoon but I was disappointed with the quality of some of the things in the various antique and craft places I visited - they seemed to be of very ordinary quality with little stock.
Just as I stopped to have a bite to eat with some friends my mobile rang and it was a friends from my seminary days, Des Dalton and his wife Carmel, who are in Tassie for a few days so I said that I would meet them a little later after they had got back to Hobart. Unfortunately I developed an upset stomach and I have come home after taking some Imodium and now that I have finished the BEACON I am heading for bed in the hope that I will not be troubled tonight with continued visits to the loo.
I managed to phone Des and Carmel and explain my plight so will need to catch them next time I am in Melbourne.
Friday, 12th
Today has been a good day. I received an email this morning from the Marianella Renewal Centre to say that there was a place available. I also managed to get most of the things done that needed to be done; the newsletters are printed, the BEACON has been printed and sent off but I forgot to contact Helen Clark at Bothwell and Vera Fisher at Oatlands to tell them that the newsletters had arrived.
After Mass this morning I called to see Eileen at the District Hospital with Holy Communion before organising payment of the deposit for the Marianella Renewal Course for later in the year. I then headed home for an appointment with one of the staff of Sacred Heart College who is dealing with a difficult family situation and has expressed some concerns about her ability, and the ability of other staff, to deal with it. I'm not sure that we managed to find any solutions but when she left I felt that we had worked out a few strategies that she can discuss with the new principal who takes over next week.
After lunch I headed for town to collect a Marriage Form that I had inadvertently left at St Joseph's last Saturday afternoon and then visited the Church Office to sign some papers for the Sick & Retired Priests Benefit Fund Annual Audit and managed to stay a few minutes for afternoon tea as Wendy, one of the staff celebrated her birthday.
I also managed to collect my video recorder from the repair centre and have set it back up although the reception isn't as good as it should be and I'm not certain how to make it any better without the expense of an external aerial.
Everything else is finished so now I am heading for bed.
Saturday, 13th
I tried to go slowly this morning and quietly worked away at printing off information for the Tattslotto group for their dues for the next few months; stapled the BEACON together as well as printed off the Guidelines for the Formation of a New Parish, material to be given to the members of the PPC and other interested parishioners.
I thought that a couple were coming to do some work, one in the house and the other in the gardens but they didn't arrives so I headed off to see my parents and to find out what mischief they have been getting up to. Mum has had a number of trips to the doctors in the past week and expects a few more this coming week and Dad has not been much better,. Dad had another fall last week and bumped his head badly on the ground outside in the car park but headed off to his Lion's Meeting - it is hard to stop him.
There was a good gathering of people at lunch at Sandy Bay today with a slightly different feel about the gathering . People seemed to want to talk a bit more about what is going on so I stayed for a little longer than normal.
When I got home there was a message to say that Pat Murray had got the framed photo for the gift to David Jensen, the Uniting Church Pastor who retired last year and who has moved home to Bridport. We will need to find some way to get it to him as soon as possible.
While I was watching the news I received a phone call from Jan Quinlan to say that Cath Barmes, one of the lovely ladies from Sydney who holiday at Manyana, had awakened this morning at Manyana to find that her father, who was also holidaying with them, had died during the night. I rang her mobile but the phone was off so I'll try and ring her in the morning and find out how they are getting on.
Sunday, 14th
Mass in the country this morning was at Maydena - Lorraine lead a Liturgy of the Word with Communion at Ellendale at 9am so that meant that both centres had a celebration today. I was due to celebrate a Baptism later this afternoon but the mother of the baby is sick so it has been postponed - I will contact her later and find out what she wants to do next.
After Maydena I headed down to Glenorchy to have lunch with a couple of families who get together a few times over the summer - it was good to catch up with them all, especially the children who normally aren't at too many of the adult functions that we have.
I then headed home to potter around before the evening Mass. When I was about to start the Mass I thought that there was going to be almost no-one there but not long after we got underway there was the normal crowd there.
Now it is time for bed - there is nothing on TV other than the One-Day cricket so if I stay away to see the end so be it otherwise I hope to enjoy the sleep..
Monday, 15th
After Mass and the normal clearing away of the things left over from the weekend I started on backing up files from the computer - something I haven't done for some three months. I did a tape back up of Windows a few weeks ago but hadn't backed up any files so I started with the Program Files (zipped) and then backed up all the data files. Hopefully I am covered for all eventualities - but Murphy's Law says that there will still be some problems or other. I will re do the tape backup tomorrow when I head to town to complete some of the things I had hoped to get done today.
I had hoped to get to the Navy re the visit of the USS Abraham Lincoln but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I did manage to get the flyers and letters off re the Australia Day Fair to the media outlets for their Community Service Announcement Bulletins and to the Parishes for inclusion in their Newsletters for this coming weekend.
Sr Louise Cotton has just rung to say that the date we had proposed for the Rural Unit Meeting (6th February) was OK with the team so I've rung Lorraine and we will now get everything underway to make the whole thing happen. I'm now about to go upstairs to watch a little TV and then I'm hitting the sack.
Tuesday, 16th
These January days are the closest thing I have to holidays these days so I am making the most of the slower time to have a rest.
After Mass I headed for town to visit the Navy Headquarters to find out if I am needed at any stage for the visit of the USS Abraham Lincoln which arrives on the weekend. At this stage there will be little for me to do except perhaps to be available as backup for any situations that arise.
I then called into a stationery shop to collect a couple of ink refills for the Canon printer before visiting Tom Young at Computers + More re an increase in the amount of RAM in this machine. After installing Netscape 6 it seems to need a lot more RAM to run than the machine has at present so I've arranged to get that done tomorrow afternoon. I think that there might also be a problem with the CPU fan as the computer is continually slowing down. When I arrived home I found that the tape backup of Windows (& Registry) had all gone through without a hitch so everything seems to be OK for backup at the moment.
Late this afternoon I Mary-Jane arrived (without Peter) for the final stages of their marriage preparation. Peter has recently changed jobs and is now working for MBF and is frequently travelling to the mainland for meetings. It only took a few minutes to complete the booklet and sign off some of the paperwork that needed to be done so Mary-Jane has headed off with all the things she needs.
Now I'm heading for bed via the lounge to watch The Bill.
Wednesday, 17th
I sent off a long fax this morning to the family of the late David Barmes, the father of a friend who died whilst on holidays at Manyana, a seaside town on the South Coast of NSW. The fax contained Scripture Readings that might be helpful in preparing for his funeral that is due to be celebrated next Tuesday in Queensland.
I started work on the copyright material but didn't get far because (duh!) I finally worked out why the computer kept locking - the CPU fan was playing up and I couldn't do more than a few minutes work before it locked so I turned it off and, early this afternoon, I headed off to Moonah to see Tom Young re a new fan and some extra RAM. I'm happy to say that I now have both as well as having the speed boosted a little and things are really humming along now. Over the next few days I will see how the computer is running and be able to tell how much better the whole thing is.
I called to see Mum and Dad and stayed with them for a few minutes before Dad headed off to his little shop to sell the little extra's that people in a Retirement Village need like toothpaste etc. When I got home I mucked around with some candles - and made a heck of a mess as I tried to pour the molten wax into some (empty) Guinness Stout cans. The cans are just about the right size and shape for the top of the Paschal Candle so I thought that I would give it a try - I will take one of the candles to a craft shop to work out the width of wick that is needed for a successful burn.
I'm now heading upstairs and I'm going to hit the sack - there is nothing on TV and the Aussies look like they are going to beat the Windies in the One Day Cricket match so there is nothing to do but have an early night.
Thursday, 17th
Thursday's are a good day (during holidays anyway) because Mass is at midday.
I started this morning with an easy setting up of the web page for the day with the faster machine which made things a little easier. I was having a cuppa with Ruby when my friend Anna arrived to make a Mississippi Mud Cake as a birthday cake for a friend who turns 21 on the weekend. She was a little unsure of what to do so she asked for help - it didn't take that long to mix and while we waited for it to cook she and I, and then Ruby, did some work in preparation for the Fair. Anna and I remoulded some puddings into 30 gm mini mini puds which I will dip in white chocolate and add a glace cherry and sell through the Cake Stall at the Fair. Ruby broke down some chocolate so that it can be used to make small chocolates for the fair. All in all a good morning.
Just as we were finishing (Fr) Mick Wheeler rang from Melbourne - I had tried to call him yesterday but he was out so he chatted for a few minutes about what was happening there and I shared what we are doing here. While we were talking Annie Graham arrived - she was in the district on business so she called in for a cuppa and a chat.
By then it was almost time for Anna to collect her (now cooled) cake and I said that I would be down her way tomorrow so I would help her ice it and get it ready for the party. I had a few minutes to get some financial paperwork done for the Diocese and emailed it off to the Office as well as dropping an email to the Catholic Chaplain on the USS Abraham Lincoln telling him that (Fr) Brian Nichols will be expecting a call on Saturday (or a return email) re what Mass he would like to celebrate at the Cathedral on the weekend.
After Mass I had a pleasant lunch with Eva Dunn who called in unexpectantly. I always enjoy having a meal with her and I must head off down to see her - the last three times I have spent any time with her it has been here in New Norfolk.
I then came in to work on the newsletter and the Marriage Papers for this weekend but had to boot the second computer to get the newsletter file as I had been working on it yesterday when this machine was off colour with the faulty CPU fan. When I tried to load the floppy it kept reporting that the floppy was unformatted so I pulled the cover off and checked all the leads and repositioned them in the hope that I might be able to fix it. Nothing I did seemed to work so I called Tom and chatted to him and checked the CMOS to see if any settings had been changed when he worked on it yesterday. Nothing was different so I rechecked the leads again and still nothing so decided to take it in tomorrow. I hate being beaten so I reseated all the leads another time, then again and whatever I did worked because everything is now back on line.
By then it late in the afternoon so I headed off for a drive so that the car would have completed 1000 kms by the time I take it for a service tomorrow morning. Along the way I decided to go to Mt. Lloyd to see the Readman's and had a chat to them - Jeanette is only a short time away from the birth of her first child and is not dealing with the hottish weather to well at present but otherwise everything is going well.
I've just had a bite to eat - checked that everything is right for the wedding rehearsal tomorrow night, the newsletter is basically finished and I can head off to bed with a clear conscience.
Friday, 19th
Today has been a sad day. My sister in law Wendy took their foster child and a friend to a small beach near their home this afternoon and died while playing with the children. Luckily they were able to use the mobile phone to contact my nephew Ben who called the Police and Ambulance but the two children, as well as all the members of our family, are devastated. I've just got back from being with Martin and the boys and members of Wendy's family - the two girls re being cared for by the mother of the second little child and my brother Martin was just leaving to go and be with the girls. Nobody is really certain what happened and the Coroner will investigate - and funeral arrangements etc. will be made after that time.
The rest of the day happened before that and everything seemed to be going well. I managed to get most of the newsletter, including the web page, done - for some reason I didn't print the outside page which included the names of the deceased so I have been able to add Wendy's name before printing.
I visited Eileen at the District this morning and took her Holy Communion as well as helping Anna finish off the cake for her friend Brooke's 21st party which is tomorrow night. I helped my friends with the collection and installation of their new computer and have started the training so that they can use it and not be frightened by it all.
I had dropped my car to have it's 1000 km service early this morning and borrowed the car of another friend to get back to New Norfolk for Mass so I took that car back, collected my own and was heading to Richmond for a difficult wedding rehearsal when my mother rang to say that Wendy had died. The difficulty surrounding the wedding rehearsal has arisen because the bride's grandmother's funeral was celebrated this morning and they are all struggling to keep it together for the wedding - imagine how I felt trying to boost them as I struggled to come to terms with my own news.
I have just finished an extra time of prayer and quite reflection and now I'm heading for bed - I'm not certain whether I will be able to sleep or not but the weekend is going to be a difficult time so I at least need to hit the sack.
Saturday, 20th
Today has been a very busy day. It started with the Monthly Prayer Breakfast at the Salvation Army Hall and finished with visiting the family of the late Gary Hankin arranging his funeral to be celebrated on Tuesday.
In between we celebrated the Baptism of Mary Coy, the daughter of parishioners here in New Norfolk. Then it was a visit to the District Hospital to anoint Doug Haddrick who is seriously ill with stomach cancer before collecting Fr Gerry Cunningham, the Catholic Chaplain off the USS Abraham Lincoln to take him with me to lunch at Lindisfarne. +Adrian arrived home from holidays yesterday so I asked if he might be able to write a letter of recommendation to be sent off to the Marianella Centre with my Application Form for the Renewal Course later in the year.
From there I headed off to Richmond for the marriage of Tanya and James. I mentioned to their Best Man the reason for not being able to attend the Reception but as it turned out I was so tired after spending time with the family of the late Gary Hankin that I didn't go down to Clifton to spend time with my brother but came home and I've done some work on the leaflet for the Hankin funeral.
I'm now heading upstairs to watch The Bill and then I'm heading off to bed.
Sunday, 21st
After the 9am Mass here at New Norfolk I took off for Hamilton for the Country Mass, joined by Sandy Cowling who offered to come to make life a little easier rather than simply driving by myself all the time - I didn't realise how much better being able to talk would be at this time.
After the Mass I dropped her back at the Parish House and headed for Clifton to spend time with Martin, Ben and Sam to make the preparations for the funeral. Everything went well so it means that I have been able to spend some time getting things ready for both Tuesday's and Wednesday's funerals although I will have to get bromides done tomorrow for the covers of the leaflets.
There is nothing but the cricket on so now that I have done the work on the leaflets I'm heading for bed.
Monday, 22nd
Looking at the way this week was going to unfold I thought that I would need to have some time out today so I headed off early. I headed to town to drop off the photo's of the late Gary Hankin and my sister in law Wendy to have bromides made and then headed down the Peninsula towards Dunnalley to have some quiet time walking on the beach and just simply being away from everything.
I wasn't away all day because I wanted to get the work done for the two booklets but needed to collect the bromides so I headed home and dealt with some phone calls and other things that needed to get done. There was a call from a friend who belongs to the Australian - American Association asking if I might like to attend a reception at the Yacht Club for some of the Officers of the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Cheyenne (a submarine which arrived this morning).
In hindsight it was a mistake to say yes but at the time they rang everything was under control. I had done most of the work for the funeral tomorrow and I was well on the way to having everything under control for Wendy's funeral. On the way to town to collect my friends (yes I had become the designated driver) my mobile rang to say that Bessie Beven, a lady whom I had visited a number of times at one of the Nursing Homes had died this afternoon and the family were asking if I might be available to do the funeral on Thursday morning. That seemed all right so I arranged to spend time with them after the funeral tomorrow.
During the trip I joked about a time several years ago when I had 4 funerals in the one week and I was organising and celebrating the funerals in a kind of leap frog fashion. I arranged funeral 1 & 2 before celebrating the first funeral; then organising number 3 before celebrating the second; organising the fourth before celebrating the 3. Little did I realise that before I got home tonight the mobile had rung and I would be off to visit a family and make arrangements to celebrate the funeral of the late Don Boswood on Thursday afternoon.
I've just arrived home from collecting the information about his life and have started some of the preliminary work for his leaflet so I can hit the ground running in the morning. I needed to do a few things because the booklet for the funeral of the late Gary Hankin is just finishing being printed as I type this and I need to go to bed with at least that finished tonight.
What started out to be a day off has ended up being busy, not in the numbers of things done, but in the work that has been generated and which will change how things happen for the rest of the week.
Tuesday, 23rd
Long days and sleepless nights seem all the go at the moment.
I managed to complete all of the work for the funeral of the late Don Boswood to be celebrated on Thursday. I also managed to prepare my application form for the Marianella Centre and collect the envelope and other details that needed to go down to the Archbishop for him to prepare a letter of recommendation to be sent off.
The funeral for the late Gary Hankin was not as large an affair as I would have thought - in fact there were many fewer than I had expected. Everything went well although it is really difficult to be celebrating a funeral and people coming up and offering words of condolence to me and it has been really difficult to keep focussed on the celebration before me when people are drawing me into our family tragedy - I suppose I am trying to serve others and not leaving time for my own grief but it is very difficult for me when I have a responsibility to support others in their needs as well.
After the service at the Crematorium I spent time with the Beven family preparing the funeral liturgy for their mother, the late Bessie Beven. I started school with her son Peter and continued through most of our school life. Her celebration on Thursday at Glenorchy will be a big celebration of the faith community - it may not be that large a congregation but it will be faith filled. After Mass this morning the daughter of Don Boswood had dropped off a photo her father so I was able to take both into Photolith for bromides to be produced which I will collect tomorrow afternoon after Wendy's funeral.
This evening I've been working on Bessie's booklet but I will have to wait until tomorrow to get the words of one of the hymns that they would want included - the revised words in current books is not the one they would like.
The cricket is on in the background and Zimbabwe have just defeated the Windies after themselves having been bowled out for less that 140 runs - a big turn up for the series.. The Bill has started but I'm taping it and will watch it later - now I'm heading for bed.
Wednesday, 24th
Today has gone well with everything wandering along without too much hassle - but even then nothing goes as smoothly as I had planned.
Just before Mass this morning the District Hospital rang to say that Doug Haddrick was very low - his sister had rung late last night (just as I had hit the sack) and I had already promised her that I would visit him immediately after Mass this morning. I headed up there and met one of his sons and spent a little bit of time with him. The hospital rang back less than an hour later to say that he had just died so I headed back and prayed the Prayers for the Deceased. I will visit Lindsay's home tomorrow on the way to the Beven Funeral to collect a photo from which the bromide for the leaflet will be prepared.
The Cathedral was being transformed as I arrived and looked a wonderful display of flowers and colour for Wendy's funeral. The whole place looked lovely and the Cathedral was packed for the service and the expressions of support for Martin, Ben, Sam, Shayanne and Louise were just wonderful.
After the service at the crematorium I headed to town to go to Photolith and collect the bromides for tomorrow's funerals and called into Graham's to photocopy the front page of the leaflet to take to the Beven's for their own use. I was only there a minute when members of the family arrived for a viewing so I was able to get that done without any great difficulty.
I then headed home to do some work on the two Big Books for today and to print the front cover of both leaflets. That is now all completed and I have just spent some time with some parishioners who are setting up for the Fair - the scaffolding for the stalls has been erected and some ladies have completed the task of weeding out the rubbish from the White Elephant Stall so things are heading in the right direction. I will need to make some phone calls in the morning to check on the availability of a large tent from Dominic College - something I was supposed to do last week but which I let completely slip my mind.
Now, it is time for bed and hopefully a good nights sleep.
Thursday, 25th
There was no midday Mass today as I celebrated Mass at Glenorchy for the late Bessie Beven but there were heaps of things that needed to get done before I managed to get away from here - especially the Big Books that needed to be done for both of the funerals today. It took some time to complete the ordinary leaflets for the Beven funeral because they needed to be stapled together but I managed to get there on time.
On the way to the funeral I managed to get to Bridgewater to visit one of the sons of the late Doug Haddrick who died yesterday to collect a photo that I was able to deliver to Photolith after the Beven Funeral and collect this evening just before the rehearsal for Carolyn Beven's wedding on Saturday - Carolyn is a granddaughter of Bessie.
On the way back from Photolith early this afternoon I managed to get most of the things I need for my contribution for the Fair from the wholesale supermarket but I have not organised the large tent so we might be in a little bit of bother without it.
I called into the Beven wake just for a few minutes before heading back here to New Norfolk for the funeral of the late Don Boswood. That was another successful celebration of the life of a New Norfolk identity and it went well. After the internment at Malbina I headed back to the house to do some final work on the papers for the rehearsal and then dashed out to the wake for just a few minutes before heading back to town to collect the bromide and get to the Cathedral for the rehearsal.
As I was starting to open up the Cathedral parishioner who normally locks the Church was there and said that there had been a break in last night - or rather a break out because it seems that someone had hidden in the Cathedral after the funeral and had tried to find money etc. They had broken into the Sacristy by bashing in the door - no mean feat and had found a key but didn't know what it was for and had tried to get money out of the St Vincent de Paul Box when they were caught but they took off before he could apprehend them.
After the rehearsal I went to my brother Sean's house for a BBQ with Martin and Shayanne and Brendan who is going back to Woollongong over the weekend. It was good to see everyone again and this time in a slightly less hassled state than yesterday.
I came home and fixed the mini Christmas pud's for the cake stall but will worry about the sponges and scones tomorrow - now it is time for bed.
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