Went down to school for Morning Tea before being with Peter McBain for a meeting. It all went very well so that made life a little easier before heading to town - it is always good when some things work out and look like they might be heading towards a resolution.
On the way to the airport I called to a Pathology Unit in order to get blood drawn to send to Queensland as the last part of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research project involving Families of Twins and any disposition for particular addictions or behaviours. I think that I might need to contact them tomorrow because when rereading the info pack I noticed that there might have been one item I didn't sign off on so will need to ensure that the process can go ahead.
I then headed to the airport to collect Mick Wheeler and Wayne Edwards who have come over to attend the Ordination of John Harmon on Friday. I also collected a RAN Commander who is in Hobart for the next few days - he was waiting in line and offered him a ride which he accepted. At some stage he has come in contact with my brother Steve but I'm not sure where or when.
Then, after dropping Wayne and Ben (RAN) off I went to visit Jan Busch at St John's Hospital. She is getting low and it doesn't look as if she will have too much longer before she completes her journey on earth.
From there I headed home with Mick via Moonah where I stopped off to collect the CPU for the second Computer. I will work out later what I will do about loading programs on the computer and how I will use it whilst mine is getting upgraded.
Just finished tea and now will make some phone calls to follow up things that I have not done over the last week or so. Then bed - it is a cold night and nothing seems to help in the warming the house stakes at the moment.
I went to see the family late morning as well as collecting my laptop from Computer+More and then headed home and have started working on the booklet (draft format) and will take it to the family tomorrow for them to see.
This afternoon I also had an interview with Emily and Cam about their wedding early next year before catching up with a couple of other people who wanted to see me about various issues in and around the Parish - a little more work and some slight concerns that we will need to work through over the next few days.
Just finished tea and now I'm heading for bed - it is still cold but we now have a couple of heaters to throw around the place which will make life a little better. Bed is definitely looking good at the moment.
There were a couple of the Christian Leaders who came to our weekly prayer time at 6.30am so that was good to catch up with them - it was almost two months ago since the last time I was with them.
After Mass I finished off the draft copy of the leaflet before heading off with Mick towards Crabtree for lunch. We stopped at the Busch's to drop off the leaflet and the photo and got all of that under control before calling to see Mum. She didn't look too good as she had had another fall during the night. Just as I was typing this my sister rang to say that she had been transferred to Calvary Hospital with pneumonia - something they said she didn't have just over a week ago!
After seeing mum we headed down the Huon to Crabtree for a very pleasant lunch and chat with Eva and taste tested the pasta she had made with her new pasta machine. It was a very nice lunch and a pleasant day all round.
On the way back we stopped off to do a little job I had promised a friend that I would do and then came home to get the things that Mick needed to take with him as he headed off to see his niece Andrea and her family at Rokeby.
I've had some tea and done some work with a couple as part of their marriage preparation and now I'm heading for bed - it has been another long day.
After Mass this morning I had a few minutes before heading off to the Community & Police Consultative Meeting. There was a good discussion which, hopefully, will lead to some new choices in directions for the future. I will need to write a brief report to another meeting for Monday night sometime in the next few days.
Then it was off to what was left of the Christian Leaders Association Meeting - luckily it was just next door so I didn't have to do too much about that. We organised a couple of events which will be coming up shortly.
After lunch I finished the booklet for the funeral tomorrow in order to be able to take it to Rod and the family this afternoon as they wanted to add another page into the booklet. As well I went to visit Mum in Calvary before heading into town with Mick to get some special card he uses to make Certificates.
From there we headed out to have a meal with some friends of ours and that had finished off a great day.
Now bed.
Mass this morning was at Corumbene followed by a quick visit to a couple of the people in the District Hospital whom I hadn't seen for some time. Unfortunately one of them wasn't that well so I'll call and see her sometime over the weekend.
Then it was off to Glenorchy for the funeral of the late Jan Busch. It was a big gathering and a great celebration which all went well. The wake which followed was another gathering of great people celebrating together their stories of Jan and her life. I have had a lot to do with Jan and her family over the years - started school with her brother, celebrated the marriage of one of her daughters and buried her parents, as well as doing things for other members of her family. It was good to be involved and to be able to help them through the day.
On the way home I called into Computers+More to drop off my computer for Tom to work on it while I am away and take the necessary things out to prepare it for Lorraine and to put the extra pieces into my new computer.
Then home to have a shower and change for the Ordination. 54 priests from Tasmania and the Mainland gathered around Archbishop Adrian who conferred the Sacrament of Orders on John and raised him to the priesthood. The whole night, and the gathering which followed, was filled with a real joy and peace and John really shared in the celebrations.
Now, however, it is time for bed.
The Mass was another great moment and people really enjoyed the occasion and the party which followed. It was another opportunity to catch up with people and to share in some of the extra stories - we have so few occasions to meet with people that I tend to really enjoy the chat as much as anything else.
Back home I got a call to say that there was a parishioner in the District who was seriously ill so I headed there to see him - arriving just as he was about to be taken to the Royal because of his condition. It is just after 10pm as I write this and I've just heard that he died a short time ago and the funeral will, most likely, be held on Thursday afternoon or Friday - depending on when I can get back from Melbourne.
Bed - these past two days have been very tiring.
Lorraine represented the Parish at the Mass to farewell the young people going on the pilgrimage to Toronto for World Youth Day so Mick and I headed off to Ouse and lunch with the ladies after Mass. It was a small gathering there as people were also away.
After we arrived back in New Norfolk I went to see the Family of the late Angus Donaghy to prepare his funeral. It will be celebrated on Friday at 10.30am at Ellendale so there will not be a 9am Mass here.
I've just arrived home from Kempton where there was a great crowd - 15 - the best that has been there for a while. I also went to visit Mum in Calvary as well as catching up with a young fellow at Millbrook Rise so it has been a productive day.
Packed my bags for Melbourne and now I'm heading for bed.
Interesting but I'm not sure that the first day has done anything for me. It might be a chance to get a bit of rest so I'm heading off for an early night.
Looking forward to tomorrow as I will be meeting up with Josie Berry (a friend from Ireland who is coming to Tasmania for a few days) at the airport in the morning.
After catching the flight to Hobart we travelled to Port Arthur and toured around the settlement there, looking at the Convict ruins as well as being part of the memorial process after the 1996 Massacre. It was a different experience to the last time I was there.
Just arrived home from a meal at Kelley's Restaurant -an enjoyable meal with the added good company of Lexie who stayed with Josie when she was in Ireland recently.
Josie is already in bed after a tiring few days travelling. I'll see in the morning what else we can visit and see in the few brief days she is here.
I had to head off early to go to Ellendale for the funeral of the late Angus Donaghy which took up all the morning so that meant that I had very little time to make too many arrangements for Josie and Lexie - except come and collect me at Ellendale after the funeral.
That all went off alright so we then headed off to National Park & Russell Falls. The water racing over the falls was brilliant so that meant that I was able to take a couple of good photos.
Then we came home and organised ourselves to go for a meal at the Bush Inn before meeting up with some other friends who came around to the Parish House for drinks to meet Josie. It was a good night and people seemed to enjoy themselves. Thankfully, it hasn't been a late night and everyone has left at a reasonable hour.
After breakfast Josie and I headed into town via New Town and caught up with Mum before continuing on to Salamanca Market. Mum was in good form so that was helpful and it was pleasant to be able to show Josie some of the crafts produced by people using Tasmanian Woods - she managed to get some to take home to family and friends as souvenirs of her journey.
Then we headed up the mountain to see the view from the top of the world (well at least our little world). It was cold but enjoyable and the view was grand.
Then we slowly meandered along the highway to get to Oatlands for the evening Mass so that was good. We managed to arrive just as the last few minutes of the Geelong v Collingwood game was being played and I was able to savour the Cats and their continuing series of wins.
There was a smallish crowd at Mass - it was quite cold - but we managed to farewell the two youth of the Oatlands district who leave tomorrow morning to go to the World Youth Day in Toronto later this month so that was good.
From there we have come to Campbell Town where we will stay the night and have been royally entertained by Judy Gregg and Sr Marjorie for tea but now it is time to hit the sack and, hopefully, wake in the morning and find that Josie has not ben frozen to her bed during the night - it has the feeling of being a cold night.
There was only a small gathering at Mass but a very friendly group they were. At the end of Mass we drove towards Coles Bay and the Freycinet Peninsula, stopping off at the Freycinet Vineyard on the way and getting a bottle of wine for Josie to take back to her sister as well as getting one or two for myself.
From there we continued on to have a meal at the Freycinet Lodge before starting to walk to the Wineglass Bay lookout - unfortunately, Josie's blood pressure kicked in and we didn't get there.
The drive home this evening was pleasant but it was dark by the timne we got here. We have had a bite to eat and now I'm ready for bed - the end of a very pleasant few days but I suspect that I will be just a little sad to see her leave in the morning as we have had a very pleasant few days travelling round Tasmania.
I've spent the rest of the day at the desk reinstalling programs on the computer and getting everything back into order - there are still one or two things that need doing but things are almost back to (whatever is) normal.
This evening I'm having an early night and hopefully will get a good nights sleep - all the travelling of the past few days have made me very tired.
Heaps of work still to do to get the computer back up to speed with programs. Just as I was about to do something this morning I knew that there were some files that I still needed to load so that took some time before I headed off to Ellendale to set up my old computer for Lorraine - it also has been upgraded and is now running Windows XP as well. There are still two machines that need to get delivered and re-installed - I have Marjorie's here and I have the programs for John's so hopefully by the end of this coming week that will all be done. Then it just needs me to complete the Internet connections and we should be right.
After setting up the computer there was an Ellendale fair Meeting so I stayed for that and, by being there, I managed to support the group as they worked through the various things that need to be done to make the October Fair another successful day.
Bed is looking good - more programs installed and shortcuts etc are now being fixed up so that the whole machine is once more starting to look like my machine - cluttered and busy.
After Mass I worked on the newsletter for a few minutes before sending it off to Beryl at her home to complete. Then I headed down to school to get some information for the School Mass tomorrow before coming back for a bite to eat and then more work on the Parish GST Statement that is now completed and forwarded to the Church Office. I will need to go and see them tomorrow to get a few extra things sorted.
Some people called in later this afternoon and evening for appointments so I have been busy tonight and now I'm ready for bed - hopefully having completed a reasonable amount of work although there is always more to do.
The morning started slowly because we had Mass down at school at 9.15am - it is amazing how much extra gets done when there is a few minutes difference in starting times. Last week was NAIDOC week and since I was away for much of the week we decided earlier in the year that we would celebrate it with Mass this week. It was a great celebration with some really good feedback from the parents who were there.
Then I headed back to the house for a Meeting of the Derwent Valley Christian Leaders Association. A couple of people were missing and as we didn't have a lot of things that needed dealing with the meeting didn't last as long as it might have.
In a sense that was lucky because just as people were about to leave a friend arrived and stayed for a coffee - in another way I felt bad because one of the Leaders had just asked if I might have a few minutes as there was something that they wanted to discuss and I said that I was about to take off to do some other things and then I stayed!
After lunch I headed off to Moonah to check out about the drivers for my web cam and arranged to get a new scanner so that the cost might be included in the total cost for the new Parish Computers. Armed with the new account I headed for the Church Office to arrange payment. While I was with Tom I checked what I need to have with me when I attempt to upgrade the computer at Campbell Town on Saturday afternoon. I also checked off some details re our finances and the restructuring of the accounts to make life a little easier. I will head back to town next week to check the current status of the accounts.
Then I headed out to Glenorchy where I helped set up for the party tonight and have just arrived home - more than a little tired after the work as well as the party. There was a good crowd of people who gathered and who helped make the celebration something worthwhile for Lexie - I'm sure she enjoyed it all.
During the evening she got a call from Josie (my Irish friend) who rang from Bangkok where they have stopped on their way back to Ireland. It seems she has injured her arm moving some cases and was not a well little person when she rang - I will try and ring her tomorrow to see how she is.
Now bed because I have an early start tomorrow as I'm on the scone making team for a Business Morning Tea and Luncheon - a bonus to our fundraising venture.
Then I came back to the house to finish of the newsletter and managed to get some of it done although I will need to wait until after the football tonight (not yet completed) before going to press.
I spent quite some time on the phone after lunch trying to suggest ways to help Lorraine as she worked on her computer and then decided that I was hungry. No sooner had I eaten lunch and checked the time and found that it was almost 3pm so I headed for town to collect a new floppy drive for Lorraine's computer (that was most of the problem she was having), collected the new scanner for New Norfolk and the glasses and other things I had left behind after the party last night and continued on towards town to call into the Church Office for a quiet little Friday evening drink.
After a pleasant chat I headed round to the Royal Hobart Hospital and caught up with Eileen Taylor and Murray Freeman and chatted with them before continuing uptown to Rozzini's for the meal with the School Staff.
Now that was a pleasant event - sad to say farewell to Loretta but happy people celebrating great friendships. A bit loud but that's OK so now I've come home and I'm heading for bed.
Voted on the way home - easily because the polling booth was just across the road in the Local Primary School.
Then I set up the scanner and tried to download some files for Lorraine and had trouble because my ISP kept dropping me out - I'll check on that on Monday. I also printed off the letters for the Confirmation Candidates to take to all the areas of the Parish this weekend. Then there was a Baptism before I packed the car for the weekend and headed off to Ellendale to do some work for Lorraine, replacing the floppy drive and checking the connections to the video card - that might need further looking at.
After doing as much as I could there I headed for Oatlands and it took much longer than I would have thought but I did some work with Maria checking some of the settings for her computer and getting things ready for her to do some more work before racing off to Campbell Town for the Vigil Mass.
I arrived a few minutes late but managed to get there so that was ok and I've now come over to the Parish House and stopped for a few minutes and had a bite to eat and I'm ready for bed - it has been a hectic day.
After a quick bite to eat I was back on the road heading for Oatlands and the 9am Mass. There was a good crowd there and some good craic after Mass so that was good. Had a cuppa with Maria and looked at some of the pages on the computer and collected the files I needed for the BEACON so that means a bit of time saved.
Then it was off to Colebrook for Mass - it is some time since I've been there and it was good to go back to the place where my family first gathered when my great, great, great grandfather arrived in Tasmania in 1851 - 100 years before I was born.
From there I headed to Sandy Bay to join with friends of Fr John Williams who celebrated the 40th anniversary of his Ordination with a luncheon after the Parish Celebration earlier in the day.
Then it was off to Kempton for the evening Mass and by this time I was really starting to flag with the travel. After Mass I stopped off for a coffee and have just arrived home and I'm going to have a coffee and something to eat and hit the sack.
I've done some work on the finances so that I could take the flash memory stick with me to the Church Office this afternoon - we eventually ended up at Centacare because my version of the software was a later version than the Office and the two would not read across versions. The work we did is going to help in the long run but it will mean doing some setting up of the accounts to better reflect the cost codes but that shouldn't take too long if I work through some of the facts first.
I had a major hiccup this morning. The back up of the Marriage files is three months out of date and the latest additions to the file have been lost so I'm in a little quandary about how to get them back - one suggestion is to advertise in the daily newspaper asking people to contact me - I'll need to do that tomorrow.
Most of the day has been lost in running between things and searching through backups for the Marriage file so now I'm going to bed for an early night in the hope that I'll sleep and have a clear head in the morning to tackle the things that are waiting for me to deal with - I have the BEACON staring me in the face and I now have a funeral in Campbell Town on Thursday to prepare for - working with Marjory who is seeing the family tonight.
Then I had my marriage couple - unfortunately it was a couple whom I already had on the books so it wasn't someone new (or old) to fill in the gaps.
Then I got to work on the BEACON and managed to get some more done although there are still some things that aren't quite finished. Made a little more difficult by the fact that I have dropped a disk into the system somewhere and will need to go through and check each spare disk around the place to find the one I need.
Had lunch at Splash of Paris with a friend. The owners are selling up because the wife has cancer and they only have a few more days before they finish. It is a lovely place and has been a great venue - I pray that the next few months are kind to her.
Then it was off to see my mother and managed to catch one of my sisters as well - bonus. On the way back to New Norfolk also managed to visit a patient at Millbrook Rise so that was good as well.
Needed to deal with a couple of phone calls at home which took some time before having a bite to eat and sitting down to do some much needed reading before I go to Sydney next Monday. Hopefully, I'll be able to do a little bit more background work before the weekend is over.
Now bed.
I've finished the BEACON which is good although there is still some work to be done on the Calendar for August and I'll do that in Oatlands in the morning.
I've been doing some work on the new accounts (as suggested by one of the Diocesan Accountants) and I've started entering the data from the Parish to see if it works - so far it is, which is good.
I've been down to school this morning to check on anything I needed to have done for the Confirmation Preparation meeting tonight - I was OK and now I've just returned from two meetings - the first was the Confirmation Meeting followed by a rather long Board of Management Meeting and I'm heading for bed.
Also, during the day I've set up the Big Book for the funeral tomorrow at Campbell Town and I'll finish that off when I get there or maybe even before I leave depending on what happens in the morning.
Bed, however, is calling.
After Mass at New Norfolk this morning I managed to get a few things done before heading off to Oatlands for the midday Mass. I was able to do a couple of quick jobs for Maria Goretti and leave her with the files for the BEACON and the August calendar as well as some other files that I thought she might like.The Church at Oatlands was cold but the people had a real warmth about them - it makes me feel good to celebrate with them.
After a quick bite to eat I headed for Campbell Town and the funeral of the late Jean Siggins. There was a good crowd there but I'm pleased it wasn't any later in the day because things were getting cool by the time we left the cemetery.
I spent a little bit of time with the family at the wake before heading off to Conara to set up the new computer for Marjorie. That process went well although I probably spent longer there than I might have hoped and I will have to look at getting a new printer for her as the one she has is a Mac printer - not compatible, at least that's what I suspect.
Home, the house is cold and the computer here will need to wait until morning - but I have a terrible feeling that I might have mucked more than the installation up.
The journey back to New Norfolk went alright - very little traffic and no hazards on the road. Arrived back well in time for the 9am Mass and managed to get a few things done immediately Mass was ended before heading out on the Communion round.
Back to the house and, with Beryl's help (with assistance from Ruby) have managed to finish the newsletter, the BEACON, Prayers of Intercession and a few other things that needed doing for the weekend and by lunch time all the weekend jobs had been completed - what a wonderful thought.
I then headed up the town to get a few things I needed and to do a couple of activities for myself.
After lunch I did some work for the Police & Community Consultative Committee and printed off some letters that need to be delivered re a meeting next Thursday morning - I have delivered a few and will spend some time in the morning get the rest ready for posting.
Then I headed for town - got a haircut, called to see about collecting another printer from my Computer Man and chatted about the Flash Drive - by then formatted to accept Mac but still didn't work on PC so went to the supplier who was amazed at what had happened but who managed to get it fixed and up and running - still no files though for Fr John.
Then I headed off to drop some mail at the Church Office as well as pay a couple of bills and have managed to check a few things out and we seem happy about what is happening - the whole in the Parish Account seems to be getting bigger.
I had hoped to see some people at the hospital but ran out of time so I've headed home and have done some more work on the finances but there is still a way to go before everything is up to date before heading off early next week.
Bed tonight is looking very enticing and is only as far away as a quick run up the stairs.
back here to do some work and then I celebrated two Baptisms at 11am before heading off to host lunch at Claremont on behalf of Michael Tate who had gone to Ulverstone to concelebrate the funeral of Robert McIver who had died earlier in the week.
From there I headed into see Mum and found that she was struggling a bit because of the weather and feeling quite uncomfortable - there was not a lot I could do so I stayed and talked for awhile before I started on the road to Oatlands for the Vigil Mas.
There was a slightly smaller crowd than usual because some people were involved in the Community farewell to some parishioners who leave the district in the next few weeks and who have been part of the place for some time and have made an impact. I went with Sr. Maria to their function as I will not be at Oatlands for the Parish farewell in a fortnights time.
Done some work on the computer here in Campbell Town and now I'm ready for bed - it has been an exhausting few days.
Mass at Campbell Town was well attended and then I drove Sr. Marjorie to Swansea for the 11am Mass. There were fewer there than usual but still a faithful crowd. The trip back to Campbell Town went well and after collecting a few things from the Presbytery I hit the road to head back for the evening Mass at Bothwell.
I've now arrived home and I have to say that this weekend the trip has taken more out of me than I expected so I'm hitting the sack early tonight - there is still more that I have to do before I can head off to Sydney tomorrow but bed is more important at the moment.
The trip to Sydney went ok and I managed to get some things done at the NCCA Office that eventually might help with the Web Site and updating pages and then headed off to Paddington to stay at the Franciscans for the two nights.
All in all it has been a bit frustrating (I'm going to have to upload these pages when I get back to Hobart) because none of the phone connections in the NCCA Office would take a modem lead and I couldn't find anything at Paddington to upload any data for the past few days. So I have typed it on the laptop and will update everything when I'm home.
Bed tonight is looking good - I'm really tired.
The day started slowly - I didn't sleep that well - but I managed to get some things done before arriving at the NCCA Offices for a gathering at 10.30am where one of the Staff was having a farewell.
Then it was on to some work with the magazine - IN UNITY - before talking about the website and realising that there are some serious demarcation issues that need to be looked at before the process can develop in a positive way. The first steps have been taken so that is good.
The work this afternoon has got even heavier as we looked at where the Christmas Bowl has come from in the past and where it might be heading into the future. The effort, however, was worth it so that was good and it was a positive effort with things that can be looked at tomorrow at the EPR Meeting - the actual main purpose of the my being in Sydney for these three days.
Now bed.
Peter is in fine form and looking good although there is a huge workload in the Parish (which consists of two communities - Edgecliff & Paddington). The bus trip to town was ok although I was a bit concerned re carrying my big bag on the bus but it worked out.
The EPR Meeting went well although there was some heavy work involved and will be more work that needs to be done in the weeks ahead to get it all together - especially the final parts of the Christmas Bowl for 2002 which is reliant on a prominent cartoonist to provide the final drawing.
I also managed, with the help of the EPR Staff to do a simple update of the Christmas Bowl Page which can be found at Christmas Bowl 2002 - it is only an interim page but it is there for the moment.
The trip back home was interesting. I managed after walking round for some time to get a seat in the Qantas Lounge - it was really busy. Chatted at different times - polite conversation - with a fellow who was sitting beside me (asked if there was anyone sitting there when I first found a seat) and then laughed with him when someone else arrived and sat in his seat while he was getting something to eat and I was elsewhere. Everyone still had a seat but in different spots to when they had stood up. He left to catch his flight and I followed a bit later when my flight was called.
I got into my seat and two minutes later the same guy sat down beside me - spooky.
Home now and ready for bed - I've been mucking round with loading these pages onto the computer but will wait until tomorrow morning before finally uploading them because I will have to change the Archives page as well so - bed!
