Confessions of a Free Range Prolapsed Catholic

Today I attended the funeral of a good man. It has prompted this brief digression from my new knee saga! on Holy Saturday night in 2015 The Knights played St George and I went to church in Moree! The image is what I captured when I sneaked a picture of the Paschal Fire. I saw…

About twice a week we get a delivery of catelogues. I don’t mind them really. Often times they provide much more interesting information than the daily delivery of the newspaper used to! I grew up in a journalist family. As a Catholic this always made ” media Sunday” a bit of a challenge. My Dad…

11.54pm and I have just got into bed! Triple L is snuggled under the covers on his side of the bed, the dog’s rhythmic snores will soon become, I hope the obstinato accompaniment to my lapsing into refreshing sleep – as much as is possible with the wedge under my bum, legs elevated and feet…

4.13 am! Been for my third walk around the house courtesy of the newly awakened muscles etc that surround the new knees and have developed a penchant for twitching, flexing, “guess who’s back” wake up calls post PHYSIOTHERAPY!!!!  Endone eventually belts them into submission but it’s a battle which often ends with Long Lean and…

Oh dear! I have been away journeying through the highs and lows of bilateral knee replacement. Five and a bit weeks later I am slowly starting to emerge from what has been an experience that is beyond description really! Dear reader, I am typing this on my iPad at 1.05am, lying in bed beside my…

Going International In 1987 I took my first ever long service leave. I had managed to accrue ten weeks leave on full pay. I was proud of this achievement and thrilled that it coincided with a time in my life when I really needed it. “Oh she went to Rome, Paris, London, Monte Carlo” I…

I have been having a middle aged – oh blow it I’ll tell the truth from the beginning – late in life love affair with Melbourne for the last few years. On one trip, some years ago I purchased a book by a well known female author cashing in on the stereotypes of: being a woman (so…

I wrote this piece in February 2016. The place to which I refer has just been sold to the Diocese so that the school can be extended to include a senior section.  Many people have no idea of what the likes of the Josephite Sisters laid as the foundation of quality Catholic Education available to all…

I love the water! The picture above shows my favourite place to immerse myself. Its the Ocean Baths in Newcastle on a particularly stormy day. Actually on this day the baths were closed. I learned to swim there. My older siblings, already well able to swim, belonged to Newcastle swimming club and would compete each…

In 1994 I went to Ireland. I was 43 and I travelled alone. It was my first overseas trip. Prior to that, my only experience of plane flight had been in a 24 seater plane to Brisbane and a mystery flight to Adelaide. I had always proclaimed that nothing smaller and a Jumbo Jet or the…