To read about my time in the Navy please feel free to visit Navy Trip 2002 where you will find the story of my time on board HMAS Tobruk.
Mass this evening was at Kempton and I travelled well for that so that was good although I had a quiet afternoon and spent some time in bed trying to keep my back warm and out of mischief.
Bed is now looking very good.
I thought that there was to be a meeting of the TASDEC Committee this evening (the third Monday of the month) but it has been postponed until next Monday so most of the reason for going to town had disappeared although I was able to drop off a Pugin Chalice to the Church Office for Brian Andrews to collect for the exhibition that is going to happen in the near future.
Bed and. hopefully, a good night's sleep.
After Mass this morning I rushed around and completed some work for the newsletter as well as completing some of the preparations for the Business Morning Tea for tomorrow - I've made some ANZAC biscuits and left the rest to the others.
I called to see my friend Tom with my laptop and he will check out the problem and I've also managed to get some envelopes for the Planned Giving Program and they have been set up so that they can be put together for this weekend.
Before coming home I also called to see a patient in St John's Hospital and have arranged to call and see her next Sunday evening to celebrate the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick with her and her family.
I've also made some other appointments for next week so that was useful as well.
Some last minutes things tonight have delayed my packing so I'm now heading upstairs to do that and then I will hit the sack as I need to be up at 4am tomorrow for the flight to Sydney for the CWS Meetings.
Visited Brian Rayner at the Chaplaincy Centre at Garden Island and chatted with him both before and after lunch as well as reporting back on my deployment with HMAS Tobruk with the Senior Maritime Chaplain (Eric Burton) and managed to get a quick visit on board Tobruk. Saw a couple of people but didn't manage to see Lee or Engines so will need to be in contact with them at some later stage.
From there Brian took me to Kensington and I settled in and had some pre-meeting chats with some people before the Roundtable discussions with the members of the State Ecumenical bodies and CWS commenced. My first meeting some four years ago was as a representative of the States and that was quite acrimonious because of the attitude of one or two people with a big axe to grind. Today wasn't too bad but there are still some issues that will need to be addressed over the next twenty four fours and months ahead.
We just arrived home from a meal at a local Italian Restaurant which was very pleasant although there was quite a lot of chat around the tables that needs to be dealt with - we'll see how it goes.
Bed .... it has been a long day.
Today has been a really hard day and it finished with things being decided, a little bit on the run, but after sufficient thought that there is a framework for the next stage of the Partnership agreements to be formulated with the possibility of people being, at least, satisfied that every effort is being made to address some of the concerns and issues that have been present in the past.
I'm looking forward to bed and the Commission meeting which starts tomorrow after the Committees meetings but an early night seems to be in order.
The day started with Committee meetings and then the Commission started at 10.30am. It is interesting to see the different dynamic between the Commission and CWS Staff and that between the States and the members of the Commission at the Round Table.
The meeting has gone well and we have covered lot's of ground - hopefully tomorrow will see some more good work and I'll be back up to speed after missing the last two Commission Meetings.
Bed is looking good - my back is playing up but a good night's sleep should help.
The remaining sessions of the Commission went well but there looks like there might be some more meetings coming up in the not too distant future - I'll need to wait until early next week before I know whether I have to be in Sydney at the end of July for one day or three.
After the meeting finished I travelled to the airport with Vandra Harris, a young Anglican PhD student from Adelaide and we chatted before our flights. An interesting young lady and will be a good contributor to the Commission into the future.
The trip home was uneventful although my back is still not well and I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and with my own creature comforts.
Goodnight.
The country run was fairly easy although I stayed and chatted with Lorraine for a short time which meant that I was close to being late for the baptism at 1.00pm but it all worked out OK.
After the Baptism I went up to the Golf Club for a cuppa and a bite to eat before heading off to Bothwell for the evening Mass. After Mass I stayed for a cuppa with Mary Bales before heading back to St John's Hospital to see Jan Busch and celebrated the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. It was good to catch up with her and her family and hopefully the next few weeks will see her improve more than a little.
After Mass I had a short time to work on the finances for the past few weeks before Virginia Miller from the Church Office arrived to talk about the structure of our finances within the Parish. There is still some work to do but we are heading in the right direction.
After she left I managed to do some work on the town before lunch and then after lunch worked on some material for an interview with a researcher from Queensland who is looking at Twins and their health and interviewing siblings to determine other aspects of their genetic makeup. That was interesting but put a hole in the afternoon.
I then headed to town to attend a meeting of the TASDEC Global Learning Centre Committee of Management - I dropped off to sleep as I sat in the car waiting for a few minutes for the meeting to start. I've just got home and done a little bit on the BEACON and now I'm ready for bed.
Then I had a meeting with Eva Dunn from the Pastoral Planning and Formation Team reflecting on the work she has been doing with Neighbourhood Community Church and the time spent with Lorraine and Maria Goretti during the past few weeks. Both experiences have helped her understand something more of what this Parish is about but there are still a number of questions we need to adress re our understanding of the needs of a Rural Based Church.
I thought that I had arranged to meet with Mike Newell today but it seems we had our wires crossed and he thought we were meeting tomorrow. The meeting is now being held over until August when I will meet with Mike and Paul Eaton (Diocesan Property manager) as well as someone from the Building and Sites Committee.
I managed to catch up with people from Telstra Countrywide and Church Resources to begin making decisions about getting the Team onto the internet - there are still some things that I need to do including writing a letter to Telstra to acknowledge that I have authority to be the signing person for the accounts. I also got in the mail the application forms for our corporate cards to assist in the restructuring of our financial arrangements at the Church Office.
Just as I was sitting down to write up this page the power went off (at 5.00pm or just after). It was off for well over 2 hours so I jumped into bed and stayed there when it came back on. Unfortunately it has meant that I have woken early so it almost seems like Tuesday as I write this!!!
After Mass this morning I headed out to buy some of the groceries I will need for the Clergy AusMas Dinner to be held here on Saturday. I then headed down to school to collect some ink cartridges to take to town to be refilled. I caught up with mum for a few minutes as well as calling in to see a friend who was asking for help to work through an incident at work.
Then I dropped off the keys to my car at the Service Centre so that they will have access when I leave it there on Friday morning early (on the way to the airport again) so that it can have it's 1500km service while I don't need it for the day.
Then it was back to Moonah to collect the computers for Oatlands and Conara as part of the upgrading of our Parish Systems. Unfortunately I couldn't fit the second CPU Unit into the boot as I also needed space to put passengers in the car to take them to the TCC Meeting in Launceston so will have to take one complete computer with me tomorrow and worry about the rest of the computer for later.
The TCC meeting went well although I was a bit sore with the travelling and the sitting round but it was a good drive home and it is just after 10pm so I'm heading for bed and, hopefully, a good night's sleep.
Mass was down at school at 9.15am and I followed that with some work with the young people who have indicated that they would like to be assistants at the altar - this year we have an all-boy group, for the past few years the people who have wanted to help have been mainly girls.
Then spent a few minutes working to get the Thanksgiving envelopes sorted to take for Oatlands and Campbell Town before heading off with Lorraine to the Team Meeting at Oatlands. It was an easy trip and the meeting went well. I think that Lorraine and I manage to get a few things done while we are on the road so that when we get to the meeting some things are already well planned.
After the meeting I spent time setting up the new computer for Maria and checking that it worked with the printer so that all worked well. Hopefully she will be able to do some things on it to make good use of it. The next step is to get the internet connection fixed so that she can send and receive emails and make contact with the world.
The PPC Meeting has just finished. One of the members asked what seemed like a simple question but opened up all sorts of issues and this took quite some time. The things needed to be looked at but it was difficult to keep everything in focus. However, ultimately, the meeting was a good meeting and should have some positive outcomes.
Now bed, it is another early morning tomorrow so that I can fly to Melbourne for the ITIM Board Meeting in the morning.
Getting up at 4am to get ready to go to the airport is probably too early but it gave me a chance to check my email and put up this morning's Daily Notes & News.
I managed to get the car to the Dealers to have it's 1500 km service so that is now out of the way.
The meeting was a good meeting although there was lots of discussion about whether we needed all the material provided for the meeting and that took up most of the morning. There was also discussion around the type of links we need to re-establish with the Heads of Churches but that will take some time to think through.
On the trip home I sat next to a couple whom I have known for some time and it was good to chat with them and hear some of the things that they have been up to recently - although I must admit that I did a lot of the talking.
I've arrived home and made the stuffing for the turkey and now I'm heading for bed - there is little else I need to do and I have plenty of time available in the morning.
Cleaning up took some time because I needed to have the room basically ready for the Ecumenical Service tomorrow night and I know I won't have tie tomorrow to do it.
I've just come back from a very enjoyable Parish Function at the Bush Inn. It was an Ausmas Dinner and the people who came had a realy grand night - 38 people and we raised in the vicinity of $200 by a few little games and things.
But am I ready for bed!!!!
I'm heading for bed after having led an Ecumenical Service which is regularly held on the 5th Sunday of the Month. This time was a little different for us Catholics as normally we would have celebrated Mass but I chose to base the service on Evening Prayer but with elements of the Simply Sharing Week Program completing the material.
Boy and I bushed!
