Spring has sprung

 Even the Banksia Rose thinks Spring has arrived.

 

Sunday 2nd October

Welcome
Opening Verses
1. Rejoice 51 Holy, Holy Holy - Organ
Prayer of Confession
2. Rejoice 251 I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say - Organ
Community News
Prayer Meeting
Friends of Mission: Speaker Geoff Powell of Barnabas Fund
Kids Talk - James
Pastoral Prayer - Jasmin
3. Holy Spirit Living Breath of God - piano
Bible Reading -  Isaiah 32 & Luke 7:18-35 - Michael
Sermon: Hope and Despair for Planet Earth - Alistair
4. Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me - piano
Closing Verses
5. The Steadfast Love of the Lord - piano

After church, 50th anniversary concert of the Theatre Organ Society's local branch today.  A good crowd turned up to the Collegiate school hall to see the Wurlitzer being played, to welcome guests including Chris Waterhouse, to watch awards being presented and to hear messages from people overseas like Nigel Ogden and Simon Gledhill.  I was sorry to hear that Alan Rider has passed away  -- his long-running radio show Theatre Organ Showcase was a useful outlet for promoting TOSA for many years.

Oct 5th
Tuesday the Croquet Club wasn't quite as busy in the afternoon, possibly due to an indifferent weather forecast;  in spite of that I spent most of the day in a short sleeve shirt.  First time I remember playing on a lawn 15 minutes after it had been mowed though.
Went in to pick up some office supplies that I hadn't been able to get when I was off the road for two months.  There are some things you just can't carry home on the bus.
The quiz night this week wasn't a great success.  The puzzle question was particularly elusive, and some of the other rounds were mediocre [1/10 for music for example].  We finished up with 68 points, one point more than our friendly rivals at the Minerva's Disciple table.  The Jambag team romped home yet again with 89 points.

Oct 14th
Took Helena to the Playhouse to see the Noel Coward classic Blithe Spirit.  It is many years since I saw it, and I was surprised I had forgotten nearly all of the third act.   Good cast included Petr Divis, the son of my old GP.
Just as well we didn't leave it any later  --  the next day the state government announced a three-day lockdown to control a Covid scare.

Oct 19th
I've never played croquet wearing a mask before, but there was no way of getting out of it this week.  At first I felt like an astronaut playing the game on Mars, my sunglasses kept threatening to fog up because of the breath from under the mask.  Not so bad though  -  won the first game comfortably (7-2) and lost the second on a tie-breaker (6-7).
Contestants were a bit thin on the ground at the Tuesday night quiz, probably because people didn't want to mask up for a whole evening. Walt Quizney won with 78 points, while we finished in fifth place with 70  (did I mention there were only six teams?).

Oct 21st
The Hobart Show holiday is notoriously unpredictable and often turns out to be wet or miserable.  But once again this year it was warm and sunny.  I sat out on the patio and ate lunch while browsing through the latest issues of The Phantom comic book.

Oct 22nd
Met up with Keith on Friday for a visit to the Salvo store and lunch across the road.  We walked in to be told they had just announced the mandatory masking period was over  -- made eating lunch a lot more fun.  Keith tells me that as part of his spring cleaning phase last week he was reading three books a day to try and reduce his To-be-read pile.  I don't know how he does it.
When I got home,  I had a cup of coffee and looked through some of the stuff Keith had passed on to me,  including a 1962 edition of the children's annual KNOCK OUT  (not a pristine copy, but some interesting strips and stories, inluding one of my personal favorites Battler Britton).