Miss M goes to Newcastle part II

Whoo hooo! There is growth! I said I would tell you about Newcastle AND I AM!!! David will be so happy with me.

SO I had a BALL in Newcastle. Seriously loved it. I got up some ungodly hour and got ready and made my way down to my nearest Tube station which is Tottenham Court Road. Scary at 5:30am let me tell you! ANYWAY it wasn't open as yet (1st train is 5:45) and so we had to wait outside for a little while. Seriously. There are CREEPY people in this world. Shiver.

Got To Liverpool Street Station and hoped on a Stanstead Express.... to Stanstead which was quite a nice ride. About 45mins with two stops... which kind of deafeats the purpose of an EXPRESS if you ask me... but it's not a bad trip.

THEN I got to the airport which is actully a nice little one... SOOOOO much better than Heathrow. I HATE Heathrow. A lot.

We had a slight delay, but all things were good (Easy Jet you are great even though you have that horrible orange which makes me gag) and I got into Newcastle at about oooooo 9:45ish and was met by the lovely Maria.

Had a really lovely time with her and her beautiful family who just made me feel right at home! Was really just nice to feel at home when you live so far from it! Maria then spend the day showing me and another friend Liz around the town which I loved. Seriously can you believe this. The council (or what ever they call the council of the town .... not up with local politics here!) have decided that most of the buildings which were built in the 60s and 70s were ugly and so are now systematically going through a knocking them all down! Man... I have never HEARD of such sense coming out of a bureaucracy!

Across the river is a bizarrely familiar sight... I looked at one of the bridges and thought... hmmmm... familiar... where have I seen that....

Yep... from what I can gather... this was kind of the proto type for Sydney Harbour Bridge... it's pretty much exactly the same... but... titchy! Even the lamps are the same. Apparently you can climb this bridge too and it doesn't cost a mint.

We had a great time wondering the streets checking out the Art Gallery which had some interesting stuff... as well as this installation which was... in effect a massive dark room with mirrors. We had NO idea what we were meant to do once we got inside. So after clinging to each other.... we edged our way to the light of the door and came out rather confused. Weeeeeeird.

We had a great lunch which between the three of us came to £11... £11 FOR THREE of us.... I'm not sure you understand how amazed I was .... but I'll leave it at that.

We then had to rush home and get dressed for Mass and a poshy dinner which was marking the 40th Anniversary of Humane Vitae and we had a really nice night. Great people, great food a BEAUTIFUL surroundings. It was a the Assembly Rooms which kind of made me think of Pride and Prejudice. I can't find a pic of the inside so this one will have to do!

The next morning we got up and Pat, Maria's lovely mother made us all breakfast. We hoped over to the Cathedral for Mass which was really lovely (Mass and the Cathedral!) It's a Pugin church and it's BEAUTIFUL! Here's the link to some photos of it. I don't have any :( my camera had run out of battery and I forgot to take my charger up. Seriously beautiful... scroll through til you get one from the nave of the altar. The ceiling is just brilliant.

Anyway we had a nice time just hanging around. Then it was time to go again and I flew back into Standstead at about 10ish and got into bed around 1pm... sooooo tired the next day but it was worth it of course!

WHAT!!!


Ok... I just realised that I am going to have to get up at 4:30 in the morning tomorrow... man... why I do these things to myself I have NO idea!

Miss M goes to Newcastle Part 1

Am heading up to Newcastle EARLY tomorrow morning ... Standstead... oh the joys of cheap airlines.... Actually I should complain... it actually takes me a shorter amount of time to get there than it would if I was taking public transport from home in Melbourne anyway!

Am going up for the weekend. I am LOVING weekends! I think that they are truly sent by God and a glimpse of heaven. Ok... so I am exaggerating... but it's my blog and I can exaggerate if I want to! I have been away alot recently... Cambridge, Dublin, back to Australia for WYD, going to Rome next month, doing other random trips where ever! LOVE IT!

I do hate packing for weekends though... it seems such a waste of time! A little bit of this and that... pah... boring. SO boring that I would rather POST then pack... Says a lot yeah?

So anyway... I should do something about it all! (and try not to be disterbed about the strange noises outside my window... someone is TRYING to sing and it makes my ears bleed!)

Yes... I'm back again!

Greetings from London Town... although I am assuming that by now you have all left in disgust believing that I would never return. Well... in true Monification style I have returned... but who knows for how long!

MEANWHILE.... I'm having a ball over here!

Working... meeting people... going places... seeing new things. Learning a BUCKET load about myself... including a nice heathy dose of humility. Nothing like knowing nothing! Does wonders for the soul!

Bit amusing!

I was googling the website for the Archdiocese of Westminster today (as I now have a need for it!) and I just typed in Westminster, then thought ... well that was stupid... Westminster is rather broad topic. Then, to my surprise it was fourth on the list AHEAD of Westminster Abby... just thought it was surprising!

Wow...
So those 10 points go to Jackie! With her very quick hand on the buzzer! Don't worry Jackie I'll keep score... and you'll end up winning SOMETHING I'm sure!

Hmmm I'm very bored without pictures on here... I'll try and put some up soon.

Steps

David has asked howmany steps exactly there are in the building... Well from my office in the basement to my room in the house there are 67 steps, but to the top of the house there are 87 steps but then that doesn't count the tower steps ...which I haven't even been up yet... so, there's probably something like 100...but I'll give you an update when I go up there!

Hay Fever

 Is truly, highly over-rated... Ah ah ah Choooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! Snif snif snnnnnnnnnnnnif! Am in the most beautiful countryside for my long weekend... but my gosh... rapeseed (Canola in Aussie terms) is KILLING me!!!! Mum, Dad, don't you remember how it used to knock you out for weeks?????

Books

Books are heavy. Did you know that? I couldn't take a SINGLE book with me to England... :( was heartbreaking. HOWEVER I was telling this to Hannah, the most lovely girl who works across the desk from me..... and SHE told me that there was a Borders around the corner. So this little Monification took her little self down the street and low and behold there it was shinning in all its bright neon glory. OK so as a rule I'm a "cute little bookshop around the corner" (ten points for the movie reference - Meg you can't play, it's not fair to everyone else) kind of girl. But people. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I raided the place good and proper. I bought North and South, Tale of Two Cities, Picture of Dorian Gray (or i it Gray??) , Jesus of Nazareth and Shakespeare, by Bill Bryson. I know that it's kind of a bit of an English theme apart from the Benedict book but it doesn't matter where I am I STILL would have bought those books! Am now very excited. I have reading material!!! And I really don't want to convert all those pounds into dollars... it might make me weep!!! Time for sleep.

Night!

Monica Arrives in London...Pt1 (I think!)

Well so I sat in the airport lounge at Melbourne airport on the 25th of April....yes ANZAC day (which I felt was quite apt) trying to psych myself up for the super long flight I was about to get onto. I was also pinching myself trying to work out if this was really happening or if it was all part of some bizarre dream. But it was true... crazy , but true. While I was trying to carry all my stuff onto the plane I kept on getting calls (THANKS guys...) which caused me to drop just about everything I was carrying  on more than one occasion! I felt like it was some kind of bad omen! Lucky for me I don't believe in omens so I just got on with it! 

First part of the flight was about 8 hours and I was so happy that I was able to sleep though a good proportion of it! My lead up to leaving was so intense and crazy that I was completely exhausted! AND my most wonderful youngest brother Tim let me take his really great pillow with me which made all the difference in the world! You never understand how far away your head is from you shoulder until you have to sleep sitting up without a pillow! 

So we arrived at about 6am into Hong Kong and spent about an hour and a half in the airport. It was SO good to be able to stretch out properly. Things were all running very smoothly so we got back on board and started the longer stretch which was about twelve and a half hours. It was really fascinating to fly over China (yes James you're right, it's even interesting from the sky!) and Russia, Germany. 

Just at the point where I thought I would never be able to watch another movie ever again we started to fly across England. It was super busy at Heathrow (for a change) and we had to circle for a bit first,  even when we did touch down there were no gates free so we had to get out onto the tarmac and catch a bus to the terminal. It too FOREVER!

THEN we had to get through Immigration which just seemed like it would never end. Poor Jeanine who was waiting for me outside was beginning to think she had missed me coming out!  But, yes of course, I did finally come out! We then made our trek on the tube with my massive suitcase... we made a couple of strategic plans " just in case" one of us get held behind because of the massive proportions of this suitcase of mine. But luckily people in the tightly packed tube carriage somehow managed to let us squeeze past. 

I kept on having that weird feeling of  "am I really here" going through my head over and over. But we finally got to St Patrick's in Soho where we climbed the stairs (lots of stairs) to my room! Al I really wanted to do was curl up in a ball and go to sleep. But (and it was a good plan) the girls wouldn't let me and i was shown around the place, and then taken out to dinner. It was a really lovely and absolutely hilarious dinner. But I was beginning to fade rather badly so as son as we got home I climbed (I'm serious... there are a LOT of stairs) up to my room and just fell into bed! 

Ok .... stay tuned for part 2!!!!!

Ahhhh!

The "@" key is in the wrong place on the keyboard! Really quite annoying! You just don't realise how many times you use it until it's not where you want it to be!

I'm here!

Ok so I am now in London but things are so crazy that I hardly have time to write anything decent here just yet! Give me a couple more days and a few more nights of solid sleep and I'll be much better!

Photos from my party.

Ok So I had a farewell at the beginning of the month. I've been meaning to put up some photos but have only just got the time to do it now. It was themed "all things British" and I had a ball!!!! Not so sure if everyone appreciated that I had made them get dressed up but I thought it was great!

Here's a few from the night! For some unknown reason they are coming up tiny.... will fix that another day!

5 Sleeps To Go!

Who would have thought! Works finished...pretty much, my last weekend is nearly over and I have only a couple more days to sort my life out into three piles... taking, leaving and piffing.

I'm not really sure what I think of this whole business... I actaully feel exhausted but I don't feel like I am leaving! Really bizarre really.

Yesterday I began my "rounds", as Nick called them, in earnest. I met up with Frank for Breakfast, Greg and Richard for Lunch, Nick for Coffee and had dinner at Alex and Helen's place with Jackie, Connor and Connor's brother Nathan and finished up the night playing poker. Which I was appalling at because I had faboulous hands with atrocious kickers!

Today I went to my favourite Breakfast place... Richmond Hill Cafe and Larder.... Otherwise known as "Stephanie's". Then I went to work for four hours clearing everything out and pulling down all my "girls" on the wall. I love my girls. They will certainly be coming with me! If you've ever been into my office you'll know what I'm talking about!

Then I went to the Seminary for the Family and Friends day. I will really miss those boys a lot! I love them heaps and am so proud of them (most of the time!). They really do inspire me a lot and keep me grounded. Sometimes the try and ground me too much... but hey, I guess I need it!

Then I caught up with my beautiful Bernadette for a coffee which was just lovely.

NOW I am heading off to Mass and THEN I have to take all of my stuff back to Mum and Dad's place. PHEW! What a weekend!

That's just the beginning... The next week is INSANE. I fly out on Friday night and I am almost frightened about how much I have to do in the next week. Well... enough for now!

Woooohooooo!

I don't have heaps of time but I just thought I'd say that today I got word that my visa was accepted and I will be leaving on the 25th of April! ANZAC day....hmmmm interesting!

Little Matt
I haven't yet posted about my new little nephew Matthew. He was born onthe 10th of Jan and he's the cutest little thing! Look!

Thanks for the photo Meg. Yes. You're the best.

Good point!

Alice, although rudely making fun of my visa issues and my very much Australian-ness, has a good point. I haven't actually explained WHY I am going to London.

When I went overseas over Christmas I just loved London. Paris was the most beautiful city...but London was the most interesting. And as we all know it is interesting that I like the most! (Yes Meg, interesting things and exclamation marks.) I have never seen so many fabulous things jammed together in one spot.

So anyway I came away from London thinking that "Yes, I could live here for a while". But I didn't think that it would actually happen.

To be honest, I love my life here in Melbourne. I really do. I really wouldn't have actually thought about leaving had not a great opportunity come up to work with the Parish of Soho in London. I will be taking over their fundraising campaign to help restore the Church there and to renovate the basement under the church for a Parish Centre.

SO. CRAZY. I can tell you right now. God works in bizarre ways. He's good. But bizarre.

Oh and yes... I took that photo at Christmas time.

So much to do.

You know when you have so much to do and ZERO time to do in? So much that the very THOUGHT of it all makes you want to crawl into a hole in the ground and weep? That's me. Right now. My Dad calls me Optus girl. (A telecommunications company who's catch phrase is "Yes".) If someone comes up to me and asks me a favour, I will usually say "Sure why not!" Seriously need to stop this. It's beginning to mess with my brain. (Shut up Shannon. I know you would comment about that.)

OK .... things on my list to do.

World Youth Day is coming up and I have a most faboulous group of young people that I'm taking. (Yes, I am coming back from London for WYD and taking the group up with the help of a group of stella leaders!) I love them a lot BUT it's driving me insane at the moment.

There are about 55 people in this group and collecting money from that many people is like trying to make me go to a navel gazing meditation service where you worship fat candles and bolts of chiffon... very hard...

Plus we have a get together this Thursday we have a weekend away helping out at a Parish Mission in three weeks AND I have to work out how the whole this is going to be run whilst I'm in London... which means a LOT of delegation and I am one bad delegator!

So that's just WYD.

Meanwhile I have to do all my normal things at work PLUS get it all ready to hand over which is crazy... and you should SEE the state of my desk. It's APPALLING!

Then I'm trying to work on my visa. Can't even explain that to you or I'll break out in a sweat.

FINALLY I am trying to pack up my life into a managable, suitcase, amount of things. Praise God I don't have to worry about taking sheets, towels and all that! They take up WAY too much room. Biggest dilemma... which books do I take????

Ok. Enough with the whining. I'll just get on with it!

New Profile Pic!

So the first thing to do is change my profile pic to the one that is my favourite because it shows my love of red dresses, posing and lipstick. Enough said.

Right... well then...

Hi all! I would like to work out the percentages for this blog. How much are actual posts, how many are pics and then how much are me saying how sorry I am for not posting! I think that the later might be about half!

OK so so much has happened to me in the last few weeks that I have realised that this pretty much dead blogspot needs to come to life again. I am moving to London in about 6 weeks and so thought that I would use this to let everyone know what's happening with it all!

For now I have to clear my desk of work and then I can tell explain the why of London.

Because they are just so lovely...

I thought I'd put up another photo of Cat and Blair! (Photo by Ryan!)

AHHHHHH!!!!!
You know when you know you're working hard but the pile on your desk never gets any smaller??? What is the why of this?!

Another Wedding!!!!

I forgot to mention the wedding that I went to two weeks ago. It was just so beautiful! It was another friend marries friend scenario. My very gorgeous house mate Catherine married my friend and former work colleague Blair. It was so exciting. Cat and her bridesmaids came over to our house to get ready (we have a HUGE room at the front of the house) and we had such a great time! I don't think I have ever cried so much at a wedding before!!!
Here are some pics! Ta to Ange, who came out all the way from California, for the photos!

Ang and I waiting for the bride!

The Vows

The Bridal Party

Me and the Kitten!

I love…

Waking up with enough time to sit down and have breakfast and a cup of tea!

Going outside in the morning from a warm house in the dead of winter and having the cold air hit you like waves reminding you that yes... you are alive!

Walking (not running!) for the train because you are most certainly not late.

Arriving on the train platform and see that the next train is only 2 minutes away.

Seeing that the train is an express.

Standing on the platform and having the doors of the train stop right in front of you and all you have to do is press the button and step inside!

When the fog is so thick it really does feel like a cloud and almost like its raining…but it’s not!

When you look up at St Patrick’s Cathedral and, because of the before mentioned fog, you can hardly see the tops of the spires.

OK….. so I woke up in a good mood today!!!!

2028 Congress

Like I said the conference was just AWESOME! I don't have time to write anything myself right this very second BUT I thought I would put up an article by Br Barry Coldrey who went to the conference and his impressions. It's long I know but I think it gives you a good idea what it was like! (Thanks to Daniel Kenny for the Photo!!)

Australian Catholic Students Association (ACSA)
Conference, Canberra, 6-8 July 2007

There are older Catholics concerned at the empty pews

they observe in many churches and the few younger

Catholics who appear to practice their faith. The

'corrosive message of the secular society and the

uncertain - lowest common denominator - focus of much

'Catholic' education have wrought havoc with Catholic

practice.

However, there was no sign of this numbing malaise at

the Abbey Function Centre, Gold Creek, on the edge of

Canberra on the weekend of 6-8 July. Three hundred

young men and women, from all states of Australia,

tertiary students and workers, gathered to pray,

inspire and celebrate their faith. They were cool and

confident, ardent and enthusiastic, untroubled by the

'a la Carte' belief patterns, agnostic prayer,

unorthodox liturgies and sterile, soft-Left political

correctness of so many 'Catholic' meetings and

conferences.

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, Colorado, a

Capuchin friar, gave the keynote address: 'I am

neither liberal nor conservative' he said,'I am

Catholic. I teach the life and message of Jesus Christ

and His Church, full and entire.' The audience roared,

stomped and whistled approval. (They are young

people!)

At the Conference dinner in the Great Hall of

Parliament House, Senator Ron Boswell (National Party,

Queensland)represented Prime Minister, John Howard. He

remarked, inter alia, 'You are a minority among your

peers'. True! However, there were 350 young men and

women in the Great Hall, a large, far from cowed

minority.  Bishop Anthony Fisher, O.P. gave a dazzling

address and was given a long standing ovation by those

present.

 It was the vitality, confidence and deep faith of the

young people,bursting with life and talent which

impressed the few 'oldies; present in support. The

young men and women worse jeans and casuals at the

Conference sessions, but they had 'scrubbed up well'

for the dinner! They were like the young people your

Dad always wanted you to be.

The Conference was organised by the ACSA executive

(2006/7) led by the sophisticated and articulate

President, Aaron Russell, a final year Engineering

student at the University of Adelaide. During the

Conference at the AGM, a new seven-person executive

was elected. Camillus O'Kane, a Town Planning student

at the University of New South Wales, is the new

President. He is supported by a strong team:

Vice-President, Nikolai Martinovic, an undergraduate

at Campion College; Secretary, Ruth Russell from South

Australia, Treasurer, Elise Nally, from Queensland, IT

Manager, Patrick Gian, from South Australia; Functions

Manager, Pat Langrelle from Sydney and Victorian

Representative, Claire Anthony who is Public Relations

Officer.

Camillus has a broad vision for his Presidency

focussed on World Youth Day and the chances WYD opens

for the Australian Church. 'Our next Conference will

be held in Sydney, close to World Youth Day. We will

be looking for international 'Superstar' speakers to

fire the event. I want a close relationship with

Bishop Anthony Fisher who is head of the WYD Planning

Team. Overall, I hope to be a humble worker in

Christ's vineyard and a tower of strength to my

awesome team'

Twenty-one-year-old Camillus, has the drive and

intelligence to lead, as a personal Conference memory

might illustrate: on Saturday evening, we arrived in

the underground car park of Parliament House around

the same time. He had dropped off Cardinal Cassidy and

Archbishop Chaput at the front door. Camillus was

hurrying for pre-dinner drinks with the Bishops,

parliamentarians and other dignitaries, but he said:

'You're with me, Brother, and I'm President, stick

with me and no-one will say a word.' So I walked

beside Camillus into the Great Hall and sipped

champagne with the Bishops, parliamentarians and other

VIPs and no-one questioned by presence!

Conference organisation was sound, the AGM went

smoothly and the new ACSA is awesome. However, at the

Conference, prayer and liturgy had come first. The

event opened with Mass at the Changi Memorial Chapel

at the Royal Military College, Duntroon. Archbishop

Max Davis, was principal celebrant. 'I've never had so

many young people in my church', he said.

On the Saturday, Archbishop Wilson of Adelaide led

five other Cardinals and bishops presiding at the

Eucharist in St Christopher's Cathedral, where

Archbishop Chaput preached the homily. Before the

Conference ended Sunday, the whole group was bussed to

John XXIII College Chapel at the National University

for a final Mass celebrated by Cardinal Edward Cassidy

while Bishop Geoff Jarrett of Lismore, preached. It

was a moving occasion.

At the Gold Creek Chapel throughout Friday

evening-Saturday morning, relays of young men and

women maintained constant prayer before the Blessed

Sacrament. When the writer arrived at 7 a.m. to

participate there were eleven young people praying in

silent adoration before their Risen Lord. It was a

good omen for the Conference.

At the working sessions, there was a fine array of

apeakers including Health Minister, Tony Abbott, who

spoke on 'Life and Death in 2028; Archbishop Chaput,

discussed the 'Church and the next Generation'; Rev.

Dr John Fleming, President of Campion College,

explored the 'Liberal Arts and Technical Training

while Archbishop Wilson looked at the media over the

next twenty years.

Sincere Catholic educators, exhausted 'in the

trenches' of the Catholic education system,

marginalised by feral careerists in the schools and

agnostic 'trendies' in the Catholic educational

bureaucracies, might wonder: 'Where did such

dedicated, intelligent, confident young Catholic

emerge? We have never seen them.'

The answer appears to be that they have been formed in

a delightful 'underworld' of vital new movements and

Congregations in the Church. Some are Home-schooled!

Others are attending Campion College. Some attended

Anglican, or other Christian schools and colleges.

Some attended elite Jesuit colleges where family

wealth and high social status gave them the personal

confidence to buck peer group pressure and the toxic,

anti-religious aggro around much of the Catholic

system.There are also the passionate members of Latin

Mass communities.

Family and group associations are common: there are

many family groups: the three O'Kane brothers, for

example, from Yarrawonga; the three Bielecki brothers

from St. Aloysius's Caulfield, Latin Mass community,

Brad and Tristan McLindon from Hamilton, James and

Clair Anthony from Hawthorn in Melbourne.

In addition, some Religious Congregations support

youth ministry. Young men and women from their circles

were present in numbers. Some are associated with

Disciples of Jesus Covenant Communities and the

Missionaries of God's Love; others with Franciscan

Capuching Youth Ministry. Altogether, they provided

the 300+ young men and women who made the 2007 ACSA

Conference so inspiring an experience.

New Photo!

Since the photo that WAS up on my profile was about 4 years old ... I thought that in might be a good idea to have on that is a touch more recent. :) This was taken at in Canberra whilst at the ACSA conference. Which, by the way was BRILLIANT!

Rhymes with slap-you

That's what I was told by a very esteemed priest friend of mine when I so clumsily said the name of the Archbishop of Denver, Archbishop Chaput. He told me that it rhymed with slap you and that the man himself had told him so!

ANYWAY, the Archbishop is giving a public address tonight in Melbourne as part of the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy (otherwise known as the ACCC -not to be confused with the OTHER ACCC , the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. VERY different!) Conference being held at the moment.

I'm actually not going. I need a night off! I'm just going to hang around at home and pack for the conference in Canberra (which he will be speaking at anyway). Anyway, I happen to know that tomorrow the transcript of the speech will be up at www.melbourne.catholic.org.au so I can see what he said even if I'm not able to get there myself.

Ok need to go home now!

Meg!

Aren't you so proud of me??? Two days in a row!!!

2028 Congress

I'm heading up to Canberra this Thursday night to attend the ACSA conference which has now become a Congress for both students and young adults.

It's focusing on World Youth Day, specifically on the effects of what it can achieve for the future of the Church (hence the 2028 part of the title!)

You can check out what it's all about here:

http://www.towards2008.org.au/

It should be heaps of fun, they've got about 300 people attending which is a record for them.

It's really awesome to see this group grow steadily over the last few years.

I was part of the executive back in 2002/2003 and at that time we were holding onto it for dear life! Seriously there were times were it felt like there was no point and that everything was against us.

Times have changed however, and the leadership over the past six years or so has been just brilliant. They have built on and added to each year so that today we have this fabulous conference which six years ago I wouldn't have dreamed of wishing for!

So three cheers from me guys, I'm very proud of you!

In Other Exciting News

My sister Kathleen and her Husband Chris are having a baby! First grandchild for both sides so it’s very exciting. Not that if it was her tenth child (just kidding Kat) that it would be any less exciting but it’s all NEW and exciting.

They just had their first ultrasound last week and so it's all feeling so much more real. She's due on the 1st of Jan. Potentially interesting New Year for them!

PS I just love that picture!

It’s a bit late but…

My beautiful friend Helen got married to Alex (who is also my friend but not beautiful like Helen!) in May.

It was really just beautiful. They had a Solemn Pontifical Mass with the Archbishop Denis Hart in the Classical Roman Rite and it was magnificent. They had it At Our Lady's of Victories Basillica, which is one of the most beautiful churches in Melbourne and it just set the scene perfectly.

I’m not a “Latin Masser” as it were but I really do have a strong appreciation for it and the reverence, rich symbolism and silence which is almost tangible in it. This is not a Latin Mass post but I just thought I’d mention it since it was one of the significant aspects of this particular wedding!

All up I had a ball! There were people all over the place who had come to celebrate this wedding! We’d all waited a long time for this one and I’m just so happy for them! It’s just so cool when two of your friends get married! It does make choosing where to sit a little difficult though.

Here’s some photos from the day Helen sent me

The Bride and Groom!

The view from above

The Vows

The Bride and her lovely assistants!

Sorry

I’m really sorry. What more can I say? Forgive me?????

Lou and Me!


OK I don't have time right this very second to write about what I've been up to. HOWEVER I thought that I would post this picture of two very fabulous people in the meantime. I got to see Lou this weekend when I went up to Sydney.We took over this couch at the pub we were at for lunch. She's just such a gun and I don't see her enough!

PS. Thanks James for the pic!

Something that made me laugh

Well....

... there’s been a lot happening in my life and I’ve had ZERO time to blog about it. Sorry to all my disappointed fans who have been waiting with bated breath to find out what happens next to Miss Monification. What WOULD help me is if all these people who APPARENTLY visit my blog ACTUALLY left me a message. Then I might actually have some form of motivation to tell you things.

Maybe…

More Photos!!

The Fam... Aren't we lovely?



A beautiful Melbourne day!

Kat and Tim... so much of an age gap, yet so much of the same dramatic flare

Now who would have though a bunch of homeschooled girls could turn out so stylish!

Baby Stella! The cutest little bub at the wedding. (The proud mum is in the photo above on the left of the bride)

Well that's all for now... I've gotta run and make sure some stuff makes the post!

Ahhhhhhh...

So here are my sister Kathleen (aka Kat) and my new brother-in law Chris. Actually, when my youngest brother (then 7) first heard the phrase "brother-in-law", he miss heard and told Chris he was going to be our Lord Brother. So now Chris goes around telling us that we need to kneel at his feet and be at his beck and call, as befits his station in our family!

Anyway, they are a great couple and we had a BLAST at their wedding at the beginning of December. I’ll post a few more when I have time.

Uploading issues

I've got issues at the moment with uploading pictures onto blogger. Such a shame! I was trying to put a picture of my sister Kat and her new husband.... will try again another day. Your loss!

No....

I'm not dead. Just in case you were wondering. I have been just so incredibly flat out at work and in life generally, that blogging has simply not been on my to do list! It's not entirely a habit with me, so I don't find it hard to drop. Anyway, just thought I'd let you all know that I'm still around. I'm going to blog on my sisters wedding ASAP. I'm sure you are all waiting with heightened anticipation!

PS did you know that Blogger's own spell checker doesn't let the word "blogging", or "Blogger" for that matter, through? So weird!

Thank you God for Rain!

For those of you who don't know, we here in Australia are in the midst of a really dreadful drought. I was up in Rural NSW about a month ago and was just shocked at how bad it really is up there. In my old town where we lived for a time everything looked kind of like this:

Everyone's been praying for rain and we've had a little bit here and there, but today in Melbourne it's been pouring with rain...and hail. It's also been absolutely freezing, and it's meant to be summer in two and a half weeks! Anyway, please God it has got to places that need it.

Well FINALLY!

Ok so I know I'm posting this a bit late but, after living in this fair city of Melbourne for eight years, I have finally attended the Melbourne Cup. I've been wanting too for so long but because of the fact that universities across Melbourne have colluded together to prevent as many students from going as they possible can by placing exams in that Spring Carnival Week, it has been impossible...until now.

Ok so it was FREEZING but I've become very savvy in dressing for Melbourne weather (literally four seasons in one day - except that on this particular day it was predominantly winter) and I brought a cardi with me so it wasn't so bad. It was interesting watching the poor girls who really weren't as prepared. I mean seriously girls some modesty is actually PRACTICAL!

I forgot to take photos, which is a shame for all of you 'cause you won't seem how very fabulous I looked! I got to wear a little red fascinator and everything! I posted at picture of what my fascinator kind of looked like!

I didn't win on the race but I did come second. Not that I got anything for it as I had tipped to win. I just thought that it was kind of cheating to bet both ways on "the" race. It's much more exciting to just go for a horse to win and to just miss out! Well I think so anyway.

People were warning me about the crowds, but I didn't find them all that terrible. I think that once you've been to a World Youth Day or two, your perspective is somewhat broadened in the way of crowds.

The upshot... did I have a fun day? Yes, even though the weather was not the greatest. Would I go again. Certainly...but on a warmer day.

Because I haven't put one up for AGES.....

The Bane of My Existence ....

My ankles!!! Sigh. I've sprained my ankle for the third time this year. So highly overrated.

Someone asked me this morning how many times I had sprained my ankle and seriously (pausing for deep contemplation) I have NO idea! I can't believe that I have sprained, rolled, crunched, torn, bruised both of my ankles so much over the past 12 years that I can't even remember them all. My most memorable one was when I did it on the very first day I arrived in Toronto for World Youth Day. Now THAT was a drama and a half...wasn't it oh Acolytus!

Well, THIS time I did it in the family room and I triped up over a toy. I am so vertically challenged!

Note to self #3

Have attained purpose of "Note to self #2" in said post. Good girl!

Note to self # 2

Perhaps try to write a post without a single parenthesis or exclamation mark.

Fishers of Men

I know that most people have already seen this. I first saw it ages ago myself, but I just want to put up a link to it because I LOVE it so much and want to make sure that as many people as possible can see it. It just makes me cry (almost) every time I see it. (And that says something. Trust me I'm not usually the soppy kind) It is one of the best example of the Catholic Church using new technologies/media to impart its message of truth. It also is a beautiful depiction of the Priesthood and what it really is. A priest is Alter Christi for us, in our everyday, and I love them for it!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1289350721

I'm all Official!

Ok so last time I posted I said that I was going to be graduating. Well that happened yesterday and so now I am officially Miss Monification BA, BComm (Deakin). Woooo!! Mum, Dad and I had to go to Geelong (where one of Deakin's campus' are) yesterday morning. I had to be there by 9.30 (even though the ceremony didn't start til 11) and trying to get to Geelong from the other side of Melbourne in the morning is a bit of a chore. We got there however and I got my buttercup yellow.

Ok so graduations are not exactly the MOST exciting thing you could go to (except that you get to wear the most fantastic clothes. I mean seriously, why can't we go around in capes and hats like that all the time!? So cool.) But I was lucky 'cause I had the midyear one so there wasn't as many as usual. There was 250-300 ish but that's better than 500.

To pass the time way I graded the "doffs" of the trencher that everyone does. (Hey, it's pretty boring otherwise) Some people really have no idea. I'm sorry, but tapping the side of your trencher just doesn't cut it! It just looks like you are keeping it from falling off your head. Those people got a score of 2/10. Why not a 1 you ask? Well because some people miss it all together and "doff" the side of their head. Now THAT got a 1/10. (I'm too nice of a person to give someone a 0)

Well I now have two pieces of paper for which I (for the main part) worked very hard for. We are very well pleased!

Heeelllloooo! Are you in there? Don't hide!

At work I've been looking up pictures of BXVI for some promotional material I've been working on. I came across this one and saved it 'cause it's just great! If you feel so inclined you can leave a caption for me in my combox. If not and you think that mine really just sums it all up ... that's fine too!

Oooopppps!

Ok, sorry about the lack there of posting. You see my dog ate... Ok maybe that won't work. Haven't been able to keep up with my own life let alone tell other people what's happening.

Sigh.

“You can’t be Silent!”…..

…..or so they thought! I just spent my weekend on a (predominantly) silent retreat and the doubting Thomas’ around these parts just laughed and said I wouldn’t last an hour. WRONG!!!! I didn’t say a word (Talking to the priest doesn’t count). I did laugh…but for me not to laugh would require my voice-box to be removed, so laughing doesn’t count either.

I haven’t been on a retreat for quite a while. I’ve been too busy, which, as Fr Denton pointed out to me, was a reason to go in itself. He was right (as hard as it is for me to admit such things). It was really nice just to stop, refocus, and spend time with God, in the company of other women doing the same thing.

The retreat was run by the Vocations Office here in Melbourne and there was about 17 or so women who took up the opportunity. Although I had no blinding flash from God about my future ( I actually see this as a positive. No falling of horses and being blind for me!!), it was good to just sit and look at God, with Him looking back. I’m so thankful for the gift of adoration. I really don’t know what life would be like without it. Actually I do. It would be a whole lot more confusing!

Damn Straight!




I'm sorry for littering this blog with these pictures but they are one of my favouite things at the moment!

Awwwwwwww!

How cute. There is a little old man sitting on the grassy median strip outside my window having a lovely time in the sun. It’s such a nice day today. Lots of sun and blossoms and general cheeriness.

It’s Finally Over! There is Much Rejoicing.

Yes, after what seems like an eternity, I , Miss Monification, will finally become:
(clears throat)
Miss Monification B.Com, BA (Deakin).

I graduate on the 26th of October.

You can have no idea how much I wanted to cry with relief when I got that news. I finally get to wear my trencher, cape and colours. Well, one colour. I’m wearing my Commerce colour because that’s the degree I really wanted. Arts was like my sidedish. The colour is described as buttercup yellow. What a lovely name for a colour! It will suit my very happy mood perfectly!

OK ……The Five Things Meme (Damn you Shannon)



Things:


…in my Freezer
1. Mince
2. Almost finished tub of frozen yoghurt (you know when there is too much to throw out but not enough to have a decent serve??)
3. A heck of a lot of ice around the edges (Hey girls, we should really defrost this thing)
4. Packet of Frozen Vegetables
5. A bag of frozen chips that have been there since before I moved into this house ten months ago.

…in my Closet
1. A bag of green material for my bridesmaids dress
2. A lot of shoes
3. Well, my clothes
4. OH!!! THERE’S my walkman!!!
5. I’m a hoarder (much to my Mum’s chagrin) so there are boxes of stuff that I have saved from various events in my life from my Deb to my last day of school and piles of World Youth Day stuff.

…in my Car (which is sitting miserably in the driveway because it has not worked for AGES)
1. A broken Radiator
2. A potential blow head gasket
3. A sun-stained note book
4. Dust
5. More dust

…in my Backpack (I’m just going to say handbag here)
1. Lots of pens
2. Lipstick
3. Lip gloss
4. Phone
5. My Pope Benedict Rosary beads

DONE!!!! Hopefully I'll post something more meaningful later!

Just to keep things rolling a little....

My First Meme!

Shannon gave me my first meme. It's this bookish type one. Well...here I go!


1. One book that changed your life: Introduction to the Devout Life St Francis de Sales - See post I wrote on it for reasons. Keys of the Kingdom by A.J. Cronin had a huge impact on me as a kid as well. I think that it was this book that began my understand about what Priesthood really was.

2. One book that you've read more than once: One?! Um The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe CS Lewis -Also the first book I ever read.

3. One book you'd want on a desert island: Desert Islands for Dummies

4. One book that made you laugh: My Family and Other Animals Gerald Durrell - Who knew that natural science could be this good?

5. One book that made you cry: Seven Little Australians Ethel Turner - How DARE Ethel kill off Judy. I've never been able to get over it.

6. One book that you wish had been written: Hard one. Have been thinking about this one for ages. Will get back to you 'cause I want to post this before I leave work!

7. One book that you wish had never been written: Any Jane Austin sequels. Why set yourself up for failure?

8. One book you're currently reading: Return to Modesty Wendy Shalit - Very good read!

9. One book you've been meaning to read: Well I've been meaning to read Return to Modesty but I'm actually reading that now, so .... CS Lewis' Sci-fi Trilogy. Have been meaning to read them for AGES.

10. Seriously, all the people I know have been tagged so if you haven't been tagged by this one ... consider it done! Also if Meg ever gets herself organised into the blogsphere she's tagged too.

Now how absolutely fabulous is this??? I thought that I would work out how to post pictures AND put up one of my most recent favourite ones! I got a magnet of this picture as a present and now it is stuck up on my door at work.

Busy Busy Busy

Things have been so busy today and I haven't had time to post anything too substantial. Two pieces of exciting news though:

1. My oldest, and one of my most dearest friends, is coming down to Melbourne tonight for a week or so. I'm so damn excited. I haven't seen her for two years and both of us are really ordinary at keeping in touch and so therefore we have a multitude of topics to catch up on. I credit myself with helping her to find her brilliance in the world of Science (She is 23 and doing her Doctorate in some kind of Biological Chemistry thingy) by doing all sorts of experiments with her has we were growing up. One being some kind of celery, water, food colouring thing which we kind of forgot about, only to find it in a most disgusting decaying state. I blame this rotting celery experience for my complete and utter rejection of both this vegetable and science. I do digress.

2. I have a computer! I know. Primitive. But for the last nine months I have been computerless at home and it has been a sad existence. True, I don't have internet connection, but at least I can write things for this blog at home and bring it in to upload, instead of cramming it into my lunch hour or some other break. How joyous.

Well, I have broken my record for posts in a week, it's Friday, nearly the end of the working day, so I think I'll celebrate with a pint or two tonight! :)

Note to self...

Learn how to post pictures and whatnot!

Our Lady of Fatima

In Melbourne at the moment the "traveling" Our Lady of Fatima statue is visiting various parishes. I went along to the first of these parishes last night in St Fidelis,Moorland . It was a blockbuster! Car parking was difficult to say the least and then you really had to look hard for a spare inch or two or pew to squeeze yourself into! I don't know when I last heard a packed parish church say a Rosary. It's really quite an amazing sound, try it yourself! See if you can fill a church one day, just for fun. The confession line was busy and people kept on coming and coming! All the while there, at the front, was the really lovely statue solemnly gazing over proceedings. (Just a note to random visitors...no I don't believe that the statue is actually Mary.)


I have a personal devotion to this particular, "version" I suppose, of Our Lady. It captured my imagination when I was very young and it stuck. Perhaps this was helped along by my very devoted grandmother, who would tell us the story of when she was carried the statue when she was in her 20s, around the age I am now.

When I heard this was going to be on I decided to make sure I could get along to one of the nights. As wonderful as it was, it really was quite an old crowd that was there which really quite saddened me. Does this mean that in say ten years the Fatima message will pretty much be forgotten? In our climate of war and violence, is this a time to forget that in order for peace to be even a blip on the horizon, prayer and even sacrifice (oooo extreem concept I know) perhaps might be a way to go. Just a thought.

Mea Culpa ect...

Shannon has chastised me for not writing properly. For writing the way I talk and for general “word vomit” (a phrase he is very proud of coining). I know he is right. You can do a lot more in this world if you write out your ideas, premises and whatnot, with a certain finesse – read here “literary structure”.

For my lack of style at present, I blame the years and years I have had to write ordered and coherent essays. Sometimes I just want to vent…without the confines of structure and without having marks deducted from me because of the lack there of. This is what I have been doing here, on the odd occasion when I do actually DO blog. Childish, I know.

I really should practice my writing. I actually need to work on explaining what I think. Therefore, I will, for the main part, make sure that I write properly and avoid my stream of conscience (word vomit) style. As long as I can be forgiven for every now and again, having a rantish type post in which I let my inner Miss Monification think straight onto the blogpage and in which I can make up as many words as I like.

Mass Preferences

Something that has become an increasingly asked question around the Catholic traps is “What is your Mass Preference?”, "What kind of Mass do you go to?" or some other varient.

I have a problem with this. It really doesn’t sit all that comfortably with me. Why? I’m not overly sure. However, I’ll try and give some kind of reason.

Firstly you are talking about MASS here. You know, Christ, transubstantiating Himself into the form of bread and wine, the most incredible and wondrous mystery that we have been given by God. So when asking what is your Mass preference it can seem a little like they are saying, “So how do YOU like YOUR Jesus?” Whether they mean to or not.

Secondly, whether it is meant or not, this kind of question seems to me to breed a kind of snobbery. A “My Mass is better then your Mass” kind of mentality. Now I have been accused myself of being a liturgical snob. In some of my most formative years I was lucky enough to have as a Parish Priest Fr William Fitzgerald, who is an incredible liturgist and who now resides in the States. Because of this kind of formation, I cringe every time I see a glass/wooden/clay/ “insert other obnoxious material here” chalice/pattern/ect. Or when women, who don’t understand their own feminine genius, get up and perform various roles and tasks of a priest. The other day I saw a women exposing the Blessed Sacrament while THE PRIEST WAS ON THE SANCTUARY Ahh!!!! It nearly killed me!

Yes liturgical abuses make me cry. But this is because the liturgy has been fomed in oder to link back to salvation history and to our faith. The Church has guidelines on it because if you do something wrong, then it can be like preaching a heresy in action rather than in words.

The snobbery I can’t stand is where if you say that you like the Novus Ordo, done well, and without a navel gazing focus, there is the danger that some will either see you as a liturgical fool who knows nothing, or as some kind of psycho-conservative who doesn’t understand the “ebb and flow of the spirit of Vatican II”.

Sheesh… I just can’t win!!!! You know what? I am not a “Traditional Catholic” but I don’t mind going to an Old Rite Mass every now and again. I am not a “Charismatic” by any stretch of the imagination, but I have been to “Charismatic Masses” which don’t abuse the liturgy. I am not a “Liberal Catholic”, I am not a “We are Church” Catholic, I am not a conservative Catholic, I am not a Feminist Catholic, or a “Neo-‘insert favourite phrase here’ Catholic”. Do you want to know what I am? I am a Catholic. That it! Just that. I have no Mass preference so long as it is in the truth, beauty, goodness and oneness of the Church.

Hmmm this is starting to sound like a rant. I might post part two of this later… hey!! At least it will mean that I have to post again! That will keep Shannon happy.

Awesome Book!

For a long time now I’ve been looking for someone or something to help me in a practical way in my prayer life. Any time I ask for some kind of ‘how to pray’ advice I pretty much get the ‘just do it and it will become easier’ kind of answer. But seriously, that just has never helped me at ALL. Where do you start to be able to ‘just do it’?

The other day I went to go to do an hour or so of Adoration for and was browsing through my bookshelves for some kind of book to take along with me. I found St Francis de Sales Introduction to the Devout Life and though “Well, never read this one,” and then ran out of the house.

Ok, so now I’ve found the best book in the world! Big call I know… but sometimes God puts the right book in your hands at the right time and boy did I need this book. Seriously if you need a pick me up in your prayer life this one really helped me. I know that heaps of people have already discovered it but if you haven’t, discover it now!

It’s not just a why you should pray, it is more of a why wouldn’t you want to pray. If you want to become closer to Christ, then here are some prayers, things to think about and guidelines which can help you. Practicalorama!

One of the best things is that he is writing so that the normal person who is trying to live in the normal world can come closer to Christ.
Sigh… in case you hadn’t picked up on it: I. Love. It.

Hmmmm let’s try this AGAIN!

Ok. So I am, perhaps, the most inconsistent blogger in the world, who also consistently breaks her blogging promises...I’m not going to make any more promises about this blog. I will blog when I want to and I make no apologies.

Ahem….sorry.

Anyway just in case you were wondering … yes I bought that suit. Minutes of trauma ended with me just saying “Eh! What the heck!” Besides it’s a very cool suit.

Ok lets see if I can come back later and blog again. The bets are ON.

Materialistic Dilemmas

To buy or not to buy.... this is a question that is haunting me today (apart from my work which of course I am doing will my utmost attention). It has also proven to me that I really should NOT get a credit card.

You see I am now working in the corporate world. A suit-wearing world. A childhood dream of mine actually. All I wanted was to work in the city, have a brief-case, and a suit. When I was little I didn't really care what it was that I was actually doing. Y0u see as long as I had those three things, I didn’t really care.

It seems that I was a very unambitious child and have now come to the brink of realising my dreams! I work in the city, I have a brief-case (type thing) and now...drum roll.... I am suit shopping.

Now suit shopping is great fun. I love it. But it has one most awful drawback. Cheap suits look cheap. Shocking in fact. Ergo anything worth buying costs me about a weeks wage.

Then, I found it. Exactly what I've been looking for. With a $700 price tag... jacket, skirt and pants... all just gorgeous! If I had had a credit card I BET I would have just bought it then and there on the spot. Luckily for me I don't and have had to think about it! Is it an investment or is it a waste of money?

So...to buy or not to buy!?

Knowledge

Have you ever met some one who knows everything? Now I don't mean that the person thinks they know everything. That is something different all together. Rather they actually seem like they do know everything.

Well I have and he is the most fascinating man I have ever met. He's a De La Salle brother in his eighties and seriously if you bring up a topic, he knows all about it and more.

My family had him over tea last night and I was wondering, while he was talking, whether or not, if I stared hard enough, some of his immense knowledge would seep its way into my empty chasms of brain space. Unfortunately this exercise was fruitless and probably looked somewhat scary to the poor man.

I am however resolved…I need to fill this very empty brain of mine with knowledge and though my own efforts and not by trying to steal excess brain from others.

Well that’s all very well, good, noble, ect ect but how on earth do you do it? Where in the sphere of knowledge (don’t know why I called it a sphere but it sounds good) do you begin? I do have my own interests. History, in particular the history of the Church, is incredibly fascinating to me. I have majored in linguistics at University (I have another bone to pick with education which deal with another day) which I just loved. And then there’s a myriad of other areas, literature, philosophy, anthropology, politics… I mean it’s just ridicules! There is just too much to know and too much to be interested in.

Perhaps it’s just my good Catholic upbringing but I don’t really see all of these things as separate ‘subjects’ as it were. I hate compartmentalising things. They are all interrelated and so, in order to really understand one area of study, you have to study everything else as well!
Yes, Miss Monification even Maths and Science (shudder).

Sigh, so perhaps you see my dilemma. Where do you start?

I’ve been thinking…perhaps the best way before you start looking at everything around you, maybe you should start by looking at you. Not you specifically but you, meaning, what are you. What is a human person? Hmmmm me thinks I might start there.

Next dilemma…..how to fit it all in between everything else that goes on in my life!

PROMISES AND FULL-TIME WORK

I do solemnly swear that I will update this blog much more often and to use paragraphs…. I promise, I really do. I also will ATTEMPT not to write massive, long posts…..attempt being the operative word here.

I have been so busy this week it’s incredible! I have just started a new job and am learning all the ropes and believe you me… there are a hell of a lot of ropes to learn. But I’m up for a challenge. The main one at the moment is learning to work 9 – 5. No one ever told me that you actually have to get USED to this! Who knew that it can completely drain you? Perhaps someone should write a short "Guide to Full Employment". Particularly for graduates I think. They have been taught the idea that one should only work in single hour chunks and that if you must work for two hours, you will be given a ten minute break in which you can stand up and release your massive desire for talking to someone, anyone, even that strange person in black makeup sitting two seats away. Now where in the real world does this occur? That's right ...NOWHERE!

Well such is life! My lunch break is nearly over so I must get this posted and attack the massive piles of work in my desk before they attack me!

Ok so we're back! Due to popular demand (thanks Credo and Meg) I have returned to the blogsphere. I really should be doing an assignment.....but hey my public need me. Its been a while since I got back from World Youth Day but I can tell you it seriously has taken me this long to get over it. Physically it takes a lot out of you and spiritually it will always pick you up where your at and then plonk you down somewhere else and you have to learn how to deal with life as you left it in your new state. I went on WYD 2002 in Toronto and that was difficult, rewarding of course, but difficult... This time it was even more difficult. I would probably say that it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. In saying that though, I probably have got more blessing out of it. I think that on this trip the things that became most apparent to me was that you can't just say "yeah sure I trust in God" you actually have to live it. I know...sounds a little crazy but I mean I don't know how many times I've heard from various people "Trust in God" and I've just been "yeah yeah sure I do whatever" But to really trust in God means so much more. It's a whole way of life. For me it's kind of been easier to trust God on the big things, like perhaps my vocation, what does God want me to do with my life...hey trust God and it will become clearer. But it is SO much harder to trust him in the little things day to day type things. Like oh my goodness I have just put about 40 pilgrims on a train in Cologne that's going the wrong way what am I going to do. I would normally panic at this point but I had learned that panicking just gets you no where. Say a quick prayer of help and trust. We get of off at the next station and hey whatd’ya know there's a bus here that goes straight to where we are staying! Another example. We all were going to Düsseldorf and my group of about fifty had about one and a half hours of free time then we were all meeting and I would get them on the right train (REALLY made sure it was the right train!) the right platform the right time ect ect ect. Now I had everything planned to the minute and my group were a (generally) on time bunch (good on you guys!) and so I knew that it would all be fine. But my plans went out the window when two of the priests I was with decided that everyone should go to the Church around the corner and pray for a short while as there was adoration there. Adoration, RIGHT NOW. 5 minutes before the train leaves.....ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!! Actually I was quite appalled at myself!!! Sigh, fine…go pray I’ll go and work out the trains….. again. I went to the train station and as I was looking up the new train with the new time on a new platform an announcement came over the speakers, first in German then in English….The train (whatever it was that we were catching) had been delayed for 30 minutes sorry for the inconvenience….I just had to laugh, shake my head and chastise myself for not trusting God! Ok and mildly annoyed that Fr Mark and Fr Anthony would be able to say “See we were right” and they so love being right….don’t you Frs! Of course we made the train. Hmmmm Credo, has commented that my posts are like I open up my brain and let the thoughts out on a page….I have a terrible feeling that he’s right! I think I’ll leave it here and post on WYD a bit later, just so it’s not broken up a little…besides I REALLY have to do my work! Cheers!