Riverina is very large - not sure off the top of my head if it's larger than Bathurst.
Much bigger - geographically speaking ... not least because officially it reaches up to Tibooburra and Cameron's Corner ... my kind of country
Thanks - I did not check but thought it ended at Broken Hill, andrestore the rest to Cameron's Corner was Bathurst. I wonder how few nominal Anglicans there are there, let alone those who attend regularly.
An aside - Wentworth used be served by a priest from Adelaide, who'd fly to Broken Hill each week and then drive the 300 km to Wentworth. Not very sensible, and the Rector at Mildura* very imaginatively took over the provision of a priest from his parish. Only a half hour drive and able to give pastoral care though the week as well as taking the Sunday service. So the parish is served with a priest from a different diocese in a different state. The congregation is probably tiny, but somehow or other the NSW govt was persuaded to restore it from Heritage monies. The work was excellent, the church now looking as good as new. (I have a cousin on a property about 70 km further west and we visited there on a winter break a half dozen or so years ago.)
Anyone else concerned (directly or from afar like myself) by the recent (RC) Episcopal Announcement from Christchurch?
A friend there said it was put up as a video in the Mass! (Instead of the homily!)
Which I thought irresponsible as it could've caused medical emergencies. Both in and of itself and also being yet another re-traumatisation of a community who between the earthquakes and the Mosque Events have had enough trauma in the past few years.
Basically they are planning merge 12 churches to form 5 super parishes by 2023.
I couldn't make the link work (technopeasant) but if you google "Five super parishes for Christchurch Catholics you should be able to find it.
Since I stopped volunteering at a Catholic school I have missed contact with what is happening in the local Diocese, there are some upset letters to the editor in The Press, Christchurch's daily paper.
Thanks Huia. That sort of proposal often causes problems, but I'm surprised to hear of it in a Catholic parish. I don't know of NZ, but Catholics here seem less attached to the parish than the rest of us.
13 yo grandson is currently having left hand stitched. I am not sure what he did but he was chopping either ironbark or the bark from a piece of ironbark for the smoker, Actual wood is extremely hard and bark only a bit less hard. His dad and uncle took him to the smaller hospital up the mountains instead of the much bigger one down on plain. When he went there with broken arm and knee needing stitching, he was almost five hours. Was triaged on arrival and is now being stitched up. Transport time was similar.
Today we took part in the wonderful consecration liturgy for our friend Donald as the 11th Bishop of Riverina. ++Glenn presided. As were to present the cope and mitre, we attended the rehearsal yesterday evening, and I was most impressed with his desire that the elements of the service be always visible to the assembled congregation and his flexibility in achieving this, rather than having a fixation upon traditional patterns.
The liturgy was meticulously accomplished, the atmosphere warm and welcoming, and the support of friends and former parishioners from across the five dioceses in which he has served, and further afield. The sermon rather than relying upon the well-tried theme of the shepherd was rather focused on the casting of the net, ensuring that the knots of the net were securely tied and using that network to advance the Kingdom of God. It was among the best sermons at a service such as this that I have heard - so many are almost fading from memory as reach the west door.
A small miracle occurred for me as we were preparing for church. After five weeks of post-surgery laryngitis with hardly any speaking voice and unable to sing, this morning my voice had returned, so that I was able to speak clearly my small part in the liturgy as we vested our new bishop, and to join in all the hymns and responses. The best day since my attack!
Good on you, Barnabas - so glad your voice came back at the right moment. You were obviously meant to make the trip - are you able to have a few days of R&R before you have to head back home?
They're thin on the ground in these antipodean parts - though I notice one recently (ie in the last 15 months or so) visited a pad that was once for a while "my" pad.
Good to see you again, Climacus. The finger is healing well and he seems chastened for a 13 yo who could easily now have had one finger fewer. I don’t know if there was a slip in concentration on splitting kindling or if he even really knows how it happened. He says it is not painful.
Climacus - good to see you again. I hope you are managing this horrible winter. At least it will get lighter soon, although it will be colder. I hate the dark mornings.
Shortest day — glad I don't have to go out. But 18° from the heat pump isn't enough without my cardy. The thi is singing (I think) in my winter kowhai but I have to keep windows shut and curtains drawn to keep warm so I only hear some of the louder squawks.
Actually we were lucky here because the sky was clear, what little wind we had was coming from the north west, which is relatively warm, and the temperature reached 19c!
When I walked down my street to catch the purple bus I could see the sun shining on the snow covered foothills of the Southern Alps. It's one of my favourite sights, closer to the city you lose that view.
Around here we are surrounded by abundant bird life ... tui and the native bellbird (makomako or korimako) confuse matters because the former spend a lot of time mimicking the latter.
Australians may be amused to know that eastern rosellas (not the crimson afaik) have crept into over recent decades. Rumour has it they were originally released in a fit of pique when an immigrant was told he/she couldn't bring them into the country. So far the jury is out on whether they are a pest.
Kookaburras otoh are, and I hear they have crept in tai tokerau (far north) regions.
I didn't realise about the kookaburras, Zappa. I guess we can attempt to limit the undesirables with border control measures, but have less control over those that hitch assistance from the prevailing winds. The ones I enjoy most are the swallows. I love watching their aerobatics as they swoop and dive catching insects by the river.
I had a stint in your city about 20 years ago and the story I heard about the rosellas then was of a small zoo or aviary that released the birds before closing, but I don't know whether or not that's accurate.
After a wet week too dangerous for work kn the roof, the solar guys arrived at sparrow fart this morning. A few tweaks needed to the system and some tidying up in the meter box, but we are up and running solar. A lot of money but system should pay for itself in four years and we had done our sums well. 75 solar panels, pitched garage roof covered. on both area and the road front, facing NE of large roof area.
Eldest son has done a good job on tying in rate to sell back to the grid. Not the heady 60 cents/ kilowatt hour of early days, but a good rate with some other concessions made.
I'm at Auckland airport waiting for my flight home. Celebrated finishing one semester at least by coming up and seeing Nick Offerman in a show -- he was very good. But as a fellow leftie liberal I would say that.
It is nice to have a break...I got a bit obsessive with the study and let it crowd out all else. I'll hopefully do better balance-wise in semester two.
Son does not do things by halves, Climacus. However, he researches every decision carefully. The business owners who have come to give various quotes have been astounded at the grasp he has. No chance of anyone putting anything over him. His calculations of various costs when they moved in three months before I did, have proved spot on. Down to electricity daily costs.
My wonderful brother sent me some possum and merino socks for my birthday. I love getting totally unexpected late presents because of the surprise factor.
We spent a glorious winter Sunday after church picnicking at a fellow parishioner's bush property, along with others from our country church. A campfire to heat the soup and boil the billy, shared homemade lunch treats, accompanied by pleasant conversation, bird calls and the occasional passing kangaroo made for a most relaxing day, topped by a grandpa nap int eh armchair after we returned home.
So cosy with so much of winter to come, Huia, and colder than last month.
Grandson has just had finger stitches removed, due last week but not well enough healed. Cut is now bound together with steri strips. Splashes of water are fine but to be covered with glove for shower. Allof us here have said that a slightly different angle of tomahawk would have meant no finger. Doctor today said the same. Three weeks down the track now and deep cut is not really healed.
Weird weather here. The overnight low was 13c last night, which is about 10c higher than expected. The forecast low tonight is 4c, which is more in keeping with this time of year.
Sunset was at 5.06 pm, which is 5 minutes later than the shortest day, while sunrise was 8.02am, which is a minute later than the shortest day. That doesn't make sense to me, but all the times were supplied by the Metservice. I might write and as them about it. Is someone stealing my daylight?
Huia, that is normal. Daylight not stolen. If you search for something like sunrise, solstice you will probably find a long explanation as there was for over here,
A bad start to the day. Heavy cloud and rain when I planned on washing clothes. Taking my breakfast to the table, I bumped my smll stainless steel coffee plunger and it fell over, spilling half its content on the tiles.. Yes, kitchen and dining room tiles needed a wash, but now they need it even more.
That's a relief What dissuaded me from asking Metservice was that I wasn't sure I would understand the answer.
Someone remarked to me (probably once a year) that curiously after the solstice the evenings get lighter but for a while the sun rises a bit later. I forget and have to be told again ...
Camped near Queenstown one summer when the kids were small. Because it is so far south of what we were used to there was the problem of getting the kids to bed at a reasonable hour, and it would have been hopeless calling two kids in when the others were racing round outside. So the mothers ganged up on them, and we all called them in together. Problem solved.
In fact Queenstown is also west of Wellington, so rising and setting times from the Met Office were a bit out. Check on the map.
GG the sun rising and setting times given with the area forecast are specific to the location of the place, I just checked. I shouldn't have been surprised at the variation, having been at Oreti beach in Southland at sunset in December. I can't remember what time it was, but it was very late compared with here.
Though I'm currently in the Western Isles, the sun sets at out "Souther than 45" pad just before 2.00 p.m. But that's because we're on the south east slope of a reasonably big hill (it would be a flippin' mountain in Oz)
I was thinking 2 p.m. sounds very early for sunset at 45° from the equator - where I grew up at 59° north, even on the shortest day the sun doesn't set until 3:15.
Then again, in the summer it barely sets at all ...
I've just realised - now you're about the same distance south of the equator as I am north of it (45.96°).
I spent a week in Rakiura while my house was being fixed after the quakes. I'd love to go back again for a visit. A local told me that it's been known for summer visitors to fall in love with the place, buy a house, then change their minds when winter hit.
Comments
Much bigger - geographically speaking ... not least because officially it reaches up to Tibooburra and Cameron's Corner ... my kind of country
Thanks - I did not check but thought it ended at Broken Hill, andrestore the rest to Cameron's Corner was Bathurst. I wonder how few nominal Anglicans there are there, let alone those who attend regularly.
An aside - Wentworth used be served by a priest from Adelaide, who'd fly to Broken Hill each week and then drive the 300 km to Wentworth. Not very sensible, and the Rector at Mildura* very imaginatively took over the provision of a priest from his parish. Only a half hour drive and able to give pastoral care though the week as well as taking the Sunday service. So the parish is served with a priest from a different diocese in a different state. The congregation is probably tiny, but somehow or other the NSW govt was persuaded to restore it from Heritage monies. The work was excellent, the church now looking as good as new. (I have a cousin on a property about 70 km further west and we visited there on a winter break a half dozen or so years ago.)
* I think he's now an Archdeacon
A friend there said it was put up as a video in the Mass! (Instead of the homily!)
Which I thought irresponsible as it could've caused medical emergencies. Both in and of itself and also being yet another re-traumatisation of a community who between the earthquakes and the Mosque Events have had enough trauma in the past few years.
I couldn't make the link work (technopeasant) but if you google "Five super parishes for Christchurch Catholics you should be able to find it.
Since I stopped volunteering at a Catholic school I have missed contact with what is happening in the local Diocese, there are some upset letters to the editor in The Press, Christchurch's daily paper.
The liturgy was meticulously accomplished, the atmosphere warm and welcoming, and the support of friends and former parishioners from across the five dioceses in which he has served, and further afield. The sermon rather than relying upon the well-tried theme of the shepherd was rather focused on the casting of the net, ensuring that the knots of the net were securely tied and using that network to advance the Kingdom of God. It was among the best sermons at a service such as this that I have heard - so many are almost fading from memory as reach the west door.
A small miracle occurred for me as we were preparing for church. After five weeks of post-surgery laryngitis with hardly any speaking voice and unable to sing, this morning my voice had returned, so that I was able to speak clearly my small part in the liturgy as we vested our new bishop, and to join in all the hymns and responses. The best day since my attack!
They're thin on the ground in these antipodean parts - though I notice one recently (ie in the last 15 months or so) visited a pad that was once for a while "my" pad.
Hope grandson is healing well, Lothlorien.
Lovely to see Rowen. Off to check out that page...
When I walked down my street to catch the purple bus I could see the sun shining on the snow covered foothills of the Southern Alps. It's one of my favourite sights, closer to the city you lose that view.
Australians may be amused to know that eastern rosellas (not the crimson afaik) have crept into over recent decades. Rumour has it they were originally released in a fit of pique when an immigrant was told he/she couldn't bring them into the country. So far the jury is out on whether they are a pest.
Kookaburras otoh are, and I hear they have crept in tai tokerau (far north) regions.
I had a stint in your city about 20 years ago and the story I heard about the rosellas then was of a small zoo or aviary that released the birds before closing, but I don't know whether or not that's accurate.
Eldest son has done a good job on tying in rate to sell back to the grid. Not the heady 60 cents/ kilowatt hour of early days, but a good rate with some other concessions made.
I'm at Auckland airport waiting for my flight home. Celebrated finishing one semester at least by coming up and seeing Nick Offerman in a show -- he was very good. But as a fellow leftie liberal I would say that.
It is nice to have a break...I got a bit obsessive with the study and let it crowd out all else. I'll hopefully do better balance-wise in semester two.
They make my feet feel like they're being hugged.
Grandson has just had finger stitches removed, due last week but not well enough healed. Cut is now bound together with steri strips. Splashes of water are fine but to be covered with glove for shower. Allof us here have said that a slightly different angle of tomahawk would have meant no finger. Doctor today said the same. Three weeks down the track now and deep cut is not really healed.
lol
Sunset was at 5.06 pm, which is 5 minutes later than the shortest day, while sunrise was 8.02am, which is a minute later than the shortest day. That doesn't make sense to me, but all the times were supplied by the Metservice. I might write and as them about it. Is someone stealing my daylight?
In fact Queenstown is also west of Wellington, so rising and setting times from the Met Office were a bit out. Check on the map.
Then again, in the summer it barely sets at all ...
I've just realised - now you're about the same distance south of the equator as I am north of it (45.96°).
[Not actually true: my work takes me to Rakiura (Stewart Island) which resides at 47°00′S 167°50′E]