It was also tiring in that there were three Masses - the normal Parish Mass at 9am, Mass at Corumbene for the First Friday at 10am followed by my normal Communion Round and then the Funeral Mass at Ellendale this afternoon.
In a sense it wasn't all that bad but just tiring.
Also on the agenda today was the World Day of Prayer gathering at the Seventh Day Adventist Church and then a gathering of the new Parents at St Brigid's School this evening.
Now it is time for bed and even though there are still things that haven't been done this week I'm hitting the sack and looking forward to it.
I woke really early this morning and spent time fixing the BEACON for the Web which took some time because I hadn't closed the computer down for some time and part way through the process the system froze which meant that I lost some of the work but when I rebooted I'd lost some passwords to various things which made it difficult to do some work on the net later on.
Eventually everything, or at least most things, were done so that I had a chance to pray before getting ready to go the Fun Run at Bushy Park. It was a great day, not too hot nor too cold and there was a good crowd for the inaugural event, won by Daniel Smee and Kylie Risk, both noted Tasmanian Runners and Kylie is an Olympian so that was good. The 6km run (womens section) was won by Hayley Boucher who also won the U16 female section while the male section was won by Craig Downie (a teacher down at St Brigid's) so that was good.
Then it was back here for a Baptism before heading down to St Therese's for the reception of the reliquary - it was a grand ceremony with lot's of people involved in the reception and a great crowd in the Church. I suspect that it would have continued to be a busy night at St Therese's, Moonah, all night.
I then called to see my nephew Aaron who celebrated his 8th birthday today and I've come home and finished off the newsletter and stapled the Football Competition application forms to all the newsletters and now I'm heading for bed - I'm taping the BILL because I doubt whether I'd stay awake long enough to see it.
Both the morning Masses were well attended although we were missing Sr Lorraine at Ouse. She rang at about 10am as I was having a coffee before heading off to say that some issues had arisen at the Ellendale Market and it might be better for her to stay and be with the people. I chatted with her at Kempton just a short time ago and she felt that she might have to miss Ouse every second month because there were quite a number of issues that need to be addressed - today was a stall holder not coping with the sudden death of three members of her family - in unrelated events - in the past two months.
After Ouse this morning I had a meal with Enid and Ellen before coming back for the Baptism at 2pm. This was followed by a visit from Sandy re the School Mass on Thursday before I headed off to Kempton.
Stopped and chatted with one of the parishioners who was struggling over the death of her daughter before coming home to do some work on some birthday invitations for a friend.
It isn't late but I'm ready for bed so good night.
Anyway, I took it up to the Post Office and sent it off and managed to get a number of other jobs out of the way including some banking and shopping before calling into school to get some info from people intending to go to the St Patrick's Night Bash at Glenorchy - there are a few more details that I need to get but it is on the way.
This afternoon I've been to town to get some things from the Book Shop for Easter, dropped off some papers at Births, Deaths & Marriages, left some info for Mike Callinan at his office, checked out some travel details with a friend who is heading off overseas shortly and printed off some invitations for a birthday party which is coming soon. I'm still managing to say 'yes' to too many things and sometimes I'm actually able to complete them but it is getting a little more difficult everytime.
Now it is time for bed - I'm still tired and the meeting of the Council of Priests tomorrow will be draining as usual.
The morning started with an urgent phone call from my brother Sean asking if I could send some info re the family for his daughter Caitlyn to do some work on a family tree so I did that before heading off to town to attend a meeting of the Council of Priests.
It was a good meeting but it took a far degree of effort and I struggled to keep my attention going and my comments appropriate - there were times when I made some extra comments that were not appropriate so I knew that I was really tired.
When I got home I immediately tackled some of the things that have been haunting me over the past few days and they are now completed so I'll wait until tomorrow to see if the Bank Statements arrive and if they do I'll copy them and post off the letters in the morning. Actually some I'll be able to take to Ouse for the luncheon and others I will take to Oatlands on Thursday to their Fair and distribute them there.
Tonight I spoke to Sarah in Ireland to find out how she was getting on with her thesis and with the new intake at Marianella - she said that both were going well although she is still wondering what is in the water in Melbourne because the most interesting person on the Course is another Melbourne Priest - at least in her view.
For me it is now time for bed - ecumenical prayer at 6.30am tomorrow so that should keep me out of mischief.
The Bank Statements arrived so immediately after Mass I sent them off to the various peoples around the Parish, one I will deliver tomorrow when I go to Oatlands for their Fair. Several I was able to deliver when I went to the luncheon at Ouse so that was good. The luncheon was successful if you consider raising $500 at a lunch for some ladies (and myself) successful - I know I do.
This afternoon I took Sr Lorraine's mobile back to Telstra to try to get the Messagebank option activated. It seems that with the CDMA phones it has to be done through the Telstra network and is not able to be activated by the person via their own phone. It took some time for us to work that out - even the Telstra person I talked to was unaware of that - it seems we might have helped someone else with their knowledge of what is happening.
I had a phone call from Chap Peter Tinney from WA re a Navy death and I spent some time on the phone ensuring that contact had been made with the family. Thankfully it had but the call raised some other issues and I will need to follow those up ASAP re my situation/standing with the Navy at the present time.
I've been working tonight on the Condolence Register and have almost got it completed - it WILL be out this weekend. I've spoken to Dave at the Church Office and we should be able to print off the Cards using their printer which will give it a nice finish.
Now bed - I'm still tired and I don't seem to be able to get too much sleep once I'm there.
Mass this morning was down at School and that went alright and I managed to get to the meeting of the New Norfolk Community and Police Consultative Group by 10am. Normally the meeting lasts for just an hour but today it lasted for 90 minutes and there were a couple of phone calls waiting for me back here so I was an hour late heading off to the Oatlands Fair and Sheep Sale. It was a good day and they had a good result at the Fair raising $2,700 but I will need to look at how best to challenge them that this money isn't just for the local scene but needs to be used wisely for the whole Parish.
While I was there I got a call to say that there had been a death in Hobart and the deceased had written instructions asking for a private funeral at Ellendale. It is now to be celebrated tomorrow afternoon - sadly just as a graveside funeral with only a very small number of people there. I called to see the family this evening so that was good but it will be difficult to talk about Resurrection when all the family really want is that it should all be over as quickly as possible.
This evening I've gone slowly but that's OK so I will head for bed and try for a good night's sleep.
This morning started with Mass at 9am followed by my Communion Round. After seeing the last of the ladies I came back here and finished off the Book for the funeral - since it was a graveside service there was not a lot I could include so I had a much longer Liturgy of the Word and all of the opening prayers but it was still less than what should have been the way of celebrating the Liturgy. It was a very small funeral - the deceased's wife, daughter & son-in-law, daughter-in-law and grandson, and two sisters of the widow, two staff of the Funeral Directors and myself.
On the way up I'd called to see Lorraine and caught up with 'Sandy Bay' who did some work on the finances and found numerous errors and so they are now corrected. Later in the afternoon the man from Oatlands rang and he has a number of things that need to be corrected so I'm taking the laptop up there on Thursday to work on that with him - if Campbell Town have mistakes as well I'll probably continue up there and work with them as well to get it out of the way.
Before I headed off to Ellendale this morning I also went to see the School Swimming Carnival down at the local Pool. This morning it was really cold weather - what the old timers call 'Hop Picking Weather' - and I had visions of the children trying to swim in icy water but the day turned out very beautiful so that was good.
I've just come back from Stations of the Cross and there was a mix-up about the time so I will have to make sure that it is well advertised this weekend for 7.00pm. I've almost finished the hard copy Newsletter and will work on the copy for the Web in the morning - along with all the other things that need to be finished off.
Now bed.
I headed off to the Prison Farm and was there at about 8.40am so didn't cause too much of a hassle with people wanting to catch up with visitors. I'm going to try and get there on the 2nd & 4th Saturday mornings for Mass - possibly even catch up with another couple of people while I'm there as well.
Lunch was here today and I prepared for 16 and had 8 so there will be some eating of salads etc over the next few days to get rid of us much as I can before it starts to go bad.
This afternoon I've done a little bit of work on the Condolence Register but not nearly as much as I would have liked so that job is still to be done tomorrow.
I faxed off the material for the newsletter and Prayers of Intercession to Lorraine so that she can have them for the Ellendale Service in the morning - the rest of the things I will take with me when I go to Maydena later in the day.
Now, however, it is time for bed and a good night's sleep.
After the 9am Mass I headed for Maydena into a beautiful day - I'd got an email from Josie in Ireland to say that it had been snowing all day Friday; I'd spoken to Jean in Chicago and the wind was so strong it was rocking the buildings but here it was brilliant.
After the Baptism I sat back down and worked on the Condolence Register with the help of a friend who checked the phone book for the addresses - this was the part that was taking so long as I had to stop and look each time I needed an address - she was able to check names well ahead of where I was up to.
This afternoon on the way to Bothwell I stopped off at the Pontville Cemetery and took a couple of photos of the headstones so that we could have a look at the various styles available so that we could work on something for dad.
After Mass I've come home and now I'm ready for bed - it has been a long day and I'm afraid that I will be waking early tomorrow to put out the garbage - I don't trust the dogs around the place well enough to put it out tonight.
After doing some work on the Football Competition - setting up the roster and the result pages for the web and all I need now is to get enough people to join the competition so that I can get it up and running - I'll fax out details to the local businesses tomorrow to see if we can get a few extra people involved in the competition.
I then headed off with the Brereton's to Kettering for the Taste of the Huon on a beautiful day and there was a good crowd present. The food was good and I saw less people there I knew this year than other years so there seems to be more new people going each year - and that is good.
On the way home my mobile went off to say that the Stevens Family were asking me to go to the Royal Hobart Hospital to anoint Jay as he was to be moved from there to the Palliative Care Unit at the Whittle Ward. When I arrived Fr Gerald was there from St Joseph's but that's alright. I spent some time there before heading home and flopping onto the lounge and basically dying. I was so tired.
I managed to work on some of the photos that I'd taken over the past few weeks that were loaded in the digital camera and have sorted them so that is good but now I'm ready for bed - there are some shows that I have taped to watch later but I have the feeling that there not going to be seen so will probably tape over them before I see them so that whatever.
The next part of the morning was Monday morning things because of the public holiday yesterday so basically it was the start of the week.
I faxed out to the various Businesses on the town application forms for the Football Competition and then went down to school to say hello and see how people were after the weekend. I also had tickets for the St Patrick's Night Dinner for this Saturday to deliver to a couple of the staff so that worked out alright.
I got home to receive a phone call to say that Jay Stevens had died at the Whittle Ward after being there for less than 24 hours so immediately after lunch I headed into town to see the family who were still there so that enabled me to make some arrangements with them and to organise a time for tomorrow morning to see them to plan the liturgy.
Then it was off to the TCC Office to work through some ideas for Jenny to take to the Staff Meeting in Sydney this weekend - some of the work that I've done with CWS came in useful for background for her first foray into a Staff Meeting.
Back home for a meeting with a couple preparing for their marriage and to print off their booklet and now work for the day is finished and I'm heading for bed - the tape is on to catch the TV programs especially the Bill but my bed is calling because I have an early start - 6.30am prayers - tomorrow.
After they had left I headed for the shower, then breakfast then off to see the family of the late Jay Stevens to make the arrangements for the funeral liturgy for Friday morning. A good deal of the work had been done as Ann is the Parish Organist so much of the parts of the Liturgy were finished but there was still some work to be completed.
Then back for an appointment at 11am before Mass at Midday and then onto the completion of a draft copy of the funeral booklet before I went back to the family and found some glaring mistakes but as it was a draft there were no great problems.
I've completed all the preparations for the trip to Oatlands for tomorrow and now only need the Cheque book from here and the info from Campbell Town and Swansea to finish everything off for this month's GST to be able to be sent in so will need to get onto people in the next day or so to find out what is happening.
Now bed - not a busy day but a day when I've got a lot of things done so I'm feeling reasonably good.
The rest of the day was either traveling to Oatlands, calling to see Sr Maria, travelling back, having a long chat with Lorraine this evening or printing off the Funeral leaflet for the late Jay Stevens for his funeral tomorrow.
A funny day but tiring because of the crazy early start to the day so bed is looking good right now.
I think that the most difficult part of the day was the funeral of the late Jay Stevens - I felt under more pressure than usual to get things right and thus spent a lot more energy on celebrating the Mass. Luckily we managed to get to the cemetery and were just preparing to leave when the rain started.
The rest of the day has been spent working on the newsletter, answering phones, going to the School Fair and doing the Stations of the Cross tonight. Thankfully I was just getting ready to print the outside cover of the newsletter when a phone call came through asking me to include the name of the mother of a parishioner in the deceased list so that was fortunate.
That done, I'm heading for bed and hopefully a good nights sleep.
After the breakfast I came back here to do some work on the Newsletter for the internet as well as preparing a slide show to take with me to St Brigid's on Monday morning prior to the Paraliturgy celebrating St Patrick & St Brigid.
Then I headed for town and called to see the daughter of the late Dorothy Brown but they were out so continued on and caught up with my sister and we chatted about some of the details for the headstone for our father's grave. She will send out something during this coming week to explain what we thought might be the best suggestion.
Lunch at Lindisfarne went well so that was good and there was a fair bit of chat about a whole range of things including conversation about Marianella and the place for in-service training and renewal. In one sense it was good because I had to really think about what happened there and what it meant to me.
Then I called to see Mum and chatted with her for a while but she rang just before I went out tonight to say that there were a couple of things she wanted to check with me and had forgotten so we went through them.
After coming home and having a shower I headed back to Glenorchy to attend the St Patrick's Day Dinner (definitely Irish as we celebrated a day early) with a dozen people from New Norfolk.
Mass this morning was followed by a cake stall raising funds for one of the young people from the PArish intending to go to the World Youth Day in Toronto in July.
Mass at Hamilton was well attended so that was good. I called to take Communion to an loverly parishioner on the way home before celebrating a Baptism at 2pm.
A couple for Marriage preparation at 3pm and the printing out of a Wedding booklet filled up the next hour and then it was off to Kempton for the evening Mass and a celebration for Tenille Forster, Brice & Reece Pennicott and Sam Woodward as they received the Eucharist for the first time. We followed the Mass with a BBQ tea and bit of a party.
I've not been long home and now I'm ready for bed - it has been a long day.
This morning started with Mass for St Patrick's Day (a day later than usual because of the Sunday). Then it was down to school to check if the laptop was compatible with the litepro projector. After quite a number of false starts we managed to get it working and everything going in the right direction in time for the paraliturgy in honour of St Patrick and St Brigid.
After competing the work at school I headed off towards Launceston. There was a strong, almost gale force, wind most of the way and driving was not easy. It was also disconcerting to look over to the west and see smoke from what was obviously a large bush fire and even worse to learn that it involved a number of properties in the Hamilton, Ouse, Gretna and Bothwell areas and quite a large number of stock as well as property was lost.
The meeting I came to Launceston for was a good meeting concerned with preparations for the Priests Plenary that is to be held from 28th April - 4th May. As well as some of the locals a priest from the Lismore Diocese was also present - he is to be the facilitator for the week and he provided quite a deal of very good info for thinking about at present as well as for what needs to be done into the future.
We finished off tonight with a meal and now, as I mentioned above, I'm heading for bed in very different surroundings to normal.
Today started slowly. After a broken sleep, with the different traffic noises waking me a number of times, I woke and started the day feeling exhausted.
The Pastoral Conference at Emmanuel Centre went well with lot's of good input and some good discussion around various topics that went back into work that is ongoing from the Call to Change Process as well as material being updated from the Collaborative Ministry workshops from late last year and looking forward towards Building smaller communities and the World Youth Day and what that can mean in the community. All in all it was a good day with some very positive outcomes.
After the meetings I headed up to the Carmelite convent to collect some things for the parish and for Bridgewater before going off to visit some friends for a meal and to make arrangements for a wedding that is to be celebrated towards the end on the year - December 28th to be precise.
The drive home was not too bad but I was lucky to get petrol just outside Launceston because all the way home the stations were closed until I reached Brighton and I might not have if I'd tried to be too clever.
Now bed.
The rest of the morning was spent trying to work through all the Christmas Pudding details trying to determine whether things had been paid off or not and deciding that many of the details would not be able to be checked out completely so things might end up as they are.
Then it was time for Mass and after Mass I sat down for a while and dozed off - I only hope that I sleep tonight after it because normally I don't.
I went to see a couple for Baptismal Preparation later in the afternoon and then returned and printed off the material for the two wedding rehearsal I have over the next two nights - I still have to print off the actual books for the ceremonies that I will use but that's all under control.
I've just got home so I'm heading for bed and hopefully a good night's sleep - I will need to go to the supermarket early tomorrow to get some things for lunch but that should be OK.
Before Mass this morning I headed off to the supermarket and got some extra ingredients for the lunch today - we hosted the members of the Parish Team as well as Eva Dunn, the Pastoral Planning and Formation Team Member who is working with Parishes in the process to form Neighbourhood Church Communities - also known as Basic Ecclesial Communities.
The meeting went well but I was all 'meetinged out' by the time they all left because the morning had started with a meeting of the New Norfolk Christian Leaders group - so it was an all day affair.
I've just returned from the Bridgewater/Brighton Parish where I had a wedding rehearsal, the second of the two there on Saturday, as well as assisting at their Celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and now I'm ready for bed.
This morning started with Mass and then the normal Communion Round - less a couple of people who were off at a doctor's appointment.
Then it was back to the house to work on the Newsletter for this weekend; the Brochure for the Parish so that we have sufficient copies for the Hamilton Show tomorrow; the Reconciliation Service for tonight as well as organising the supply to cover for Fr John when he goes on holidays in July and the first week of August.
Thankfully all those things got done so that was good.
I also managed to spend a bit of time with mum before calling into a farewell party at Graham's - one of their staff left today and people gathered to say farewell so it was good to catch up with everyone and to say hello as it has been some time since I have managed to see people.
Whilst in town I also checked on the price of a particular bit of software and now have confirmed for myself why I don't really like a particular software company. A particular product is used by thousands of people and it is a good product so I thought I would check to see what it might cost to get a copy - over $800. But if I were to buy the total suite that would cost around $1,200 and would include 4 other components- was not impressed and, as you might have guessed, have not purchased a copy of that particular product.
Reconciliation is over; I've had a bite to eat and now I'm heading for bed.
From there I headed off to the Hamilton Show and helped Lorraine set up the final part of the display and I stayed there for 4 hours before having to head off to Pontville for the weddings. The Show was good but we still need to work at a few things to bring it all together. It is also obvious that we still haven't got a real identity so we need to work on that.
Luckily I got to the Church on time because the key to the front door snapped off as I turned it and I was lucky to find a good Samaritan with a Phillips head screw driver so that I could dismantle the lock and open the main Church Doors. At the end of the ceremonies I was able to secure the door but a new key will need to be made so that everything can be put back together.
The weddings themselves went off well although it became a little bit tight when the first wedding group were still having photos outside the Church when the people for the second wedding were arriving.
Then I drove to Glenorchy to get the organist back to a pickup point for her husband and I've come home, checked the phone and my email, done some work in the Church in preparation for tomorrow and now I'm heading for bed and, hopefully, a long nights sleep.
I was late leaving New Norfolk this morning after Mass as I couldn't find the keys to the Church and thought that someone might have stolen them. Thankfully I found them but I had wasted a little bit of time which meant that getting to Ellendale was a little bit more hectic.
As I was driving through Bushy Park I am certain that I was travelling too fast and will be getting a speeding infringement notice in the mail this week - just what I need but a fair cop.
There were a couple of people missing from Mass today so I will need to follow them up over the next few days - one is in hospital so I will need to tie in a visit when I'm in Hobart on Tuesday afternoon.
I have been working on a booklet for the Triduum Liturgies - I'm not certain what I will be doing with it but I thought of trying to get all the things together into one folder might be useful for the Altar Servers and for the Organist to know exactly what is happening when. There is still some work to do on it tomorrow so that should keep me busy during the morning.
Mass tonight was at Bothwell and I had company for the ride so that was good - it makes the coming and the going that much safer because I'm able to stay awake for the whole trip.
Now bed - I'm really tired but it is still early so I have a chance of getting a good night's sleep.
The rest of today has included a visit to School and collecting the Minutes of the last Board Meeting; a visit to one of the group homes in the town to see a parishioner and organise some transport for him to get to Mass and some people for an appointment this evening. Also during the afternoon a friend called in after having been to National Park and chatted about the finance package I have been using and suggested that there is an option in the package that I haven't been using that might be of assistance - I'll need to do some work on that.
Now it is time for bed - I'm really tired and this week is not going to get any better.
I also managed to get a haircut so that I look half decent again and not like a shaggy dog - I was feeling distinctly uncomfortable over the past few days so it is good to be feeling good about myself at this time.
As well as the finances this morning there were also a couple of visitors which meant that we were able to have a quick break during the marathon effort. When we stopped (with some work still to be done) I went to work on the Easter Liturgy and have also managed to get most of that completed as well.
I stayed for supper after the Mass tonight and have collected the Holy Oils so now I'm home and heading for bed.
Next on the agenda today was some work for the Sick & Aged Priests Fund and that took some time and with a couple of people calling in re various other needs the morning was gone. After posting the letters I then headed to town with some cheques that needed banking before the end of the financial year (the Diocesan Financial Year runs from April - March) so these cheques needed to be dealt with before tomorrow is finished.
Then back home for a brief time before the School Board meeting at 6pm followed by the local Parish Council meeting which has just finished. And as I'm very tired at the moment I'm going for my bed without any hesitation.
We started at the High School for their Assembly, this year with Capt Simon Damen of the Salvation Army. He did a good job with some good feedback from the senior kids at morning tea after the event.
Then it was back here to work on recording the finances for the Christian Leaders Association which went almost until the time I was due down at School for their Easter Assembly. That also went well although a little crowded in the classroom. In previous years it has been outside and the children have struggled in the prevailing weather conditions.
Then it was back here to work on the BEACON which is almost finished although there is still work that needs to be done. The other job I have completed today is the setting up of the web page for the Football Numbers and Results for this year - they can be found by following the links from The Football Page.
I've just come back from the Church and I'm ready for bed - I don't think I'll even wait until the football is over.
This morning started with work on the Big Book for today and for tomorrow evening before Stations at 10am. There was a reasonable congregation and a few came over for a coffee and Hot Cross Buns after the service. Then as I worked on the BEACON two of the 'artistic types' completed the Easter Banner. By the time we all finished our jobs it was close to 2pm so then it was a quick dash off home for them and I came back to the computer to start work on the Newsletter for this weekend.
The Celebration of the Passion of the Lord at 3pm was better attended and went well except for one minor glitch - I left out one part of the ceremony but returned to it as soon as I realised my mistake and every went off without a hitch.
After the service we erected the Banner and it looks really great. There were a few other small things that I needed to tidy up so I completed those and then came back to the house and got some tea, did some more work on the newsletter and then headed off up to the local Post Office to join other members of the New Norfolk Christian Community who gather for a Prayer Vigil on Good Friday. The Vigil normally goes from 6pm - midnight and I managed to hang in until about 11.15pm before I tired and now I'm home and ready for bed.
I'll print the newsletter tomorrow - I'm too tired at the moment - because I need to head for bed.
I woke a little later than usual which was brilliant and finished off the Big Books for the Liturgy but forgot to include the Prayers of Intercession into my book so I pasted them into the book tonight just before the Liturgy started and managed to reverse two pages which caused some confusion when it got to that part of the liturgy. I managed to get it back on line when I thought that there needed to a prayer that I'd missed. Hopefully I'll get things together a little better in the wash-up.
Back to the start of the day. I was about to head out to see the parents of a little child who died during the week when they rang and asked could they see me tomorrow afternoon so I worked away at some other things and then tried to help Ruby find her keys. Somehow she had put them down and no amount of checking where she had been could find them. I found them late this afternoon in the rubbish she had thrown out when she first arrived.
After having arranged some spare keys for her (at that time she needed them) I headed to Glenorchy to see another family about the funeral of their Mother and we worked through a whole range of things - I'll take a booklet to them tomorrow afternoon on the way back from the Easter Festival.
Then I tried to get some things in Glenorchy but all I managed was my Tattslotto before heading up to the Salesians for Lunch. There was a good gathering and people were in fine form so that meant that I came away relaxed from their.
I then headed out to my sisters to gather with others of the family to wish Mum a Happy Birthday - only Karen and her family weren't able to be there so that worked well as I doubt whether I will be able to see them all tomorrow.
Then home to finish off the preparations for the Vigil tonight. I was really uptight and nervous at the time it was about to start and made a few simple errors in the Exsultet but and the blessing of the Baptismal water when I had reversed the order of two pages but everything else worked out.
I've just said good night to the last of the people who came for supper after the Vigil and now I'm ready for bed - thank God daylight saving ends tonight which means I have an extra hour in bed tomorrow.
I woke latish this morning - that's because we have changed off daylight saving and there was an extra hour of sleep and I needed it. The Mass here at 9am was better attended than a usual Sunday so that was good; then I headed off to Kempton and there was a bigger crowd than usual there as well so things have really been looking up.
After Kempton I headed down to Hobart for the Easter Festival where there was a good gathering of people for the activities on the gardens of Parliament House. In fact the size of the crowd during the afternoon was bigger than any of the crowds that have gathered after the Easter Marches that have been held over these past few years.
Then it was into the car and heading out to Glenorchy to drop off the booklet for the funeral of the late Stani Novak which is one of the two that I will be celebrating on Tuesday. From there I continued home to see the family of the late Bridget Rose Mapley-Crosswell, an infant whose funeral will also be celebrated on Tuesday.
I've got home and done some work on the second booklet but there is still more to do tomorrow - I have the Big Book for both, a Baptism in the morning, the BEACON to put on the web, this weekend's newsletter to get on the web as well as a number of the other little things that go with the newsletter and the BEACON.
But now bed and at 7.15pm it is calling out loudly.
