The wedding went well and I pretty sure that Allison and Hayden and their families enjoyed the service and seemed likely to enjoy the rest of the night.
I've been working away at the pudding labels which have now all been finished, printed off the newsletter whilst listening to the Cats being thrashed in a very sad end to their 2001 Season and am now ready for bed. Whilst I was working I had a phone call from Greg Hudson to say that Ruby is in the District Hospital because there aren't any beds in the Royal Hobart Hospital. I've just come back from seeing her and she isn't a happy little person - she hates being in hospital so we will wait and see what the outcome of her time there is like.
I opened an email from Christ Toms, a classmate from Melbourne, who said that he'd heard a rumour that there might be a class mate of ours, also from Melbourne, who might be attending the Marianella Course with me so I will ring Mick Wheeler when I get upstairs to see what if he has heard anything - otherwise it is time for bed and a good night's sleep.
I updated the Tour of Ireland page - the Little Monk is getting a bit tetchy about the trip, especially after his trip with me to Sydney on Friday and our return yesterday. I can't help it if I'm busy and that there are things I need to do before we leave but that's his problem and he'll have to work that out.
Today was the first day of the new Mass timetable - there weren't large numbers at Mass this morning so I hope people remembered that there was no 4.30pm MAss tonight. One family arrived at Kempton so that was good.
There were good numbers at Ellendale for the Mass and Country Meeting. There is still some confusion about money but I hope that it will all work out in the not too distant future. There was some discussion after the meeting finished about the (Fr) Paul Connolly who is well well loved in the area but there are no matters resolved in the process and still a deal of hurt that needs to be addressed.
After the meeting I headed for Bothwell to drop off the BEACON before continuing onto Kempton for the Reconciliation Service for the young people preparing for First Communion. The service was held before Mass and, with the big crowd present, we celebrated Mass with the biggest congregation for quite some time. All in all it was a good visit to Kempton today.
After Mass we headed out to the Allwright's for a little gathering and I've just got home and I'm tired because it is after 10pm and it has been a long day. Now bed and, hopefully, some sleep.
Ruby is still not well so I helped John with the money (after I had taken her Communion after Mass). When we had finished I waited for John to come back before heading off to see Mavis Beattie about the Little Monk - she is going to make a model for me to take. I collected my second set of glasses from the optometrists and dropped off a banner at school so that it could be used at Mass tomorrow.
I came back here and did some more work on the printing the calico for the small puddings for Ireland, set up more of the pages for Beryl and Jannette before heading to Town to get keys cut for Denis Allen, a compact flash card for the digital camera, dropped the completed marriage papers off the Registry Office, caught up with people at the Church Office and informed them of what was happening, met up with Michael Callinan about the YHA Membership and forgot to call to see Jack Johnson in his office so will have to do that tomorrow.
Back home and did some more calico printing as Sandy, Mary and then Sr Lorraine called in to do little jobs before the got too much further down the line.
I then headed out to Davis' for tea and have come home and it looks like I will be in bed by 10pm so that is a really good start.
I didn't do a couple of jobs today so I will need to get onto that first thing tomorrow to make sure that things get back on track, including seeing Mrs McKay at Corumbene, Jack Johnson in town, the finance file for Jannette as well as a few other things.
Today started with Mass down at school at 9.15am as an end of term Mass celebrating the things that have happened in the School this term. I then headed out to see Ruby who has made it back home before going to Sacred Heart for the Forum. I arrived at 11am (the forum started at 12 noon). I stayed and joined in with the various aspects of the forum rather than heading for town so now there are some things that I will have to do on Thursday but that's all right.
I then headed home and managed to arrive just before Jannette and Stacey to work on the finances for the last month. There are some things haven't been completed so Jannette will have to work on them next week solo.
I remembered the Staff Photo just after 3.15pm so I headed down there in a hurry - we hadn't quite finished the finances - but we managed to get everything done as far as we could so that is good.
Earlier I had managed to get the CV done for the Tasmania Together Progress Application which will go to the TCC Executive Meeting tomorrow for a decision. I still haven't completed the minute of appreciation for the meeting for Rob Brown, the retiring President of the Uniting Church. It is needed tomorrow evening and I might be in trouble if there is no information tomorrow morning before I leave for Ulverstone.
Several members of the Christian Leaders group wanted a meeting as a follow up to a meeting re the Local Youth Group that we had on 23rd August. The meeting was to either be tonight or this Thursday - it was tonight and it went a little longer than planned but things seem to be settled for the remainder of the year.
I'm taping the Bill and heading for bed in the hope that I might get some sleep but I doubt it.
I left for Ulverstone at about 8am to take my car to Mark Freeman who will use it for the time I am away. His car is now in the garage and I will use it until Monday when it will be handed back to the Catholic Development Fund on Monday and they will sell it. By doing this the Parish will save three months Lease costs - which will basically cover the cost of the supply priests whilst I am away.
On the way to Ulverstone I stopped at Oatlands and Campbell Town to collect and to drop off some financial papers as well as calling in to see Terry Yard at Westbury. I was tired on the trip up which is part of the reason why I stopped so often.
I had lunch with Mark and we changed the things out of the cars before I headed off to Launceston for the meeting of the TCC Executive. This was my last meeting for the year and, as there were a number of issues that I have been involved with on the agenda, I was kept on my toes throughout the meeting. I had been asked to propose a minute of appreciation for the Rev Rob Brown who completes his term as Moderator of the Uniting Church shortly which I duly moved and it was passed by acclamation.
The trip back was easy because I had three passengers so it was easy to stay awake - I'm not sure how I would have managed travelling alone.
I'm now heading for bed - leaving behind a long fax from Foundation 2010 to look at tomorrow. I didn't realise that the Foundation Teleconference had been moved forward to this Friday and have made an appointment for Friday that I am now not really able to change so I will be need to be an apology but I'll deal with that tomorrow. Bed!
Mass this morning was at 9am, immediately followed by a visit to Ruby to take her Communion. She is better but not brilliant but hopes to be here for Mass tomorrow. Then there was a meeting of the Christian Leaders Association which wiped out the rest of the morning.
Today was the final session of the ALPHA program around lunchtime which I had hoped to attend but by the time we fixed the bank accounts and I did some of my own transactions it was time to head towards Glenorchy to drop off some papers and then to have a haircut. It feels good when the little Italian barber goes to work on my head - I almost always end up dozing whilst he is cutting my hair.
Then I headed off for a chat with Annie Graham before finally catching up with Jack Johnson (Deputy Commissioner of Police) who gave me a whole range of Tasmania Police memorabilia to take with me to link up with an interested Police Officer in Ireland. I also met up with quite a few friends (other Police) who wished me bon voyage.
Then it was off to see Frances Morgan in the Whittle Ward and Mrs Shirley Reardon at Calvary. I had had a phone call this morning telling me that she would like to see me so I called in - she is the grand mother of Donna Ball, who as a young Police Officer, gave me my first (one of only two ever) speeding ticket. I witnessed Donna and Glen's wedding a couple of years back and baptised their child at the beginning of last year.
Then I headed down to K-Mart to collect a Space Bag to enable me to add a few more things to my bag -it removes the air from the contents but the house vacuum cleaner nozzle is too small so I will have to take it to the Church tomorrow morning to fix it up.
Back home to collect the Little Monk from Mavis - it is really brilliant and will be great to have on the trip work. I've also managed to do a few other things as well, including -
the labels for, and sorting of, the Planned Giving Envelopes for November;
most of the newsletter for this weekend;
more labels for the Christmas Puddings;
follow up information after the TCC Meeting yesterday;
contacting ITIM about the meeting on Friday;
doing some planning for lunch on Saturday;
contacting the rest of my family about being at Mum and Dad's on Sunday afternoon;
and it is still only 9pm.
Now I'm heading for bed and hopefully some sleep.
This morning was busy. Mass at 9am and then I took Communion to Eileen in the hospital then Mass at Corumbene and then I went to see Doris before heading down to School for Morning Tea. I also managed to get the mail and sort all that out before heading to town to visit some friends for lunch.
Then it was back home to do some more tidying up and getting rid of things that have been sitting around for ages making everything look untidy. I will attack the Office in the morning and get rid of a heap of things.
A couple of people said that they might call round tonight - it ended up being about 20 so I've just had a pleasant time with some nice people and now I'm heading for bed - three sleeps to go.
I cooked for the priests (about 10 of us) and it was good because a couple of guys made a real effort to get here and several others, including + Adrian, rang to apologise for not being able to get here and to wish me all the best. It was a very pleasant meal and good company.
The printer and laptop are talking to each other - it seems that I stopped one try short because as soon as Tom tried it it all worked perfectly. Humbug! I love using computers but sometimes they frustrate me to all blazes.
When the priests left I continued the cleaning and am now ready for bed and there is only my bedroom to finish off and it is all done. I'm sure there are a million other things I should have done but I am happy with what is completed. I've also managed to tackle some mail and things as I have found letters etc not dealt with so that is satisfying as well.
Bed and, I hope, a good nights sleep as I think tonight I deserve it.
After the 9am Mass this morning we had a Morning Tea and a farewell - there was a good number at Mass and a good gathering in the house.
Sr Lorraine looked after the Country areas of Ellendale and Maydena this morning - not great numbers there which is sad. She called in last night just as I was going to bed - arriving home from the Conference in Canberra full of great new ideas and possibilities. It is unfortunate that I will be away as she works through some of the things that we might have been able to look at.
There was a Baptism here after lunch and then I headed down to Claremont to see the family - I sent out an email on Thursday suggesting that today might be the better time to catch up with everyone and everyone was there so it all worked out rather terrifically. From there it was off to Bothwell for the final Mass and there was a good crowd there as well. I was tired when I arrived (a little early) so I drove around the corner and dozed for a few minutes.
I headed home after Mass and still had heaps to do to repack the bags - finished now but everything is at straining point - I only hope that the shoulder bag is not too big.
Now bed and hopefully a reasonable nights sleep as the next few days are going to be long days until I finally get to bed in Dublin on Tuesday night - 10 hours later than Tassie time.
This will be the last of these pages for a while - for future updates please go to The Little Monk's Tour of Ireland Pages where you can read all about the adventures of the Little Monk (& Mike Delaney)
