Tress and I went to this little local Italian place on Friday night. 
If the front of house wasn’t so plain and lightly glassed, it could have easily passed as one of those “meeting” places of certain Italian family business interests.
As in the previous week, we sat down to a very nice Friday night dinner over a few glasses of red. 
The Italian setting was a bonus, especially the very delectable home made light, airy, fresh and unpretentious pizza and pasta. As usual, the Italian accented wait staff was a real kick too.
We took away some leftover pizzas, which were taken home in a very nice pizza cardboard takeaway box, offered in a most courteous fashion. This place (Via Matta on Canterbury Road near the Mitcham Road junction) is a real keeper.
We had to leave home early the next day, to keep an appointment with the Manningham “Corp” – the local Salvos at Doncaster East – to do some volunteer work in the form of driving a few ladies to a few Op-Shops in Doncaster and Ringwood. We met with Anne Hill, one of the two Captains of Manningham Corp and after some forms and introductions I got busy familiarising myself with the 12-seater Toyota HiAce.
We finished up just before 1 and after a quick lunch at Madam K’s, we headed home to walk the little fellow. I was a little bit upset with discovering the little guy’s deteriorating eyesight so when we got home after the walk I gave his eyes a good wash and ensured he had his ointment. We then headed back out to Ringwood to keep another appointment – this time with the Blood Centre of the Red Cross. I hadn’t donated for a while and the call centre rang me a couple of weeks earlier and I told myself I needed to do this.
Day’s Trek
We got home late in the evening and after settling back home, I poured myself a glass of red and said to Tress that after a long day it was time to spoil myself. We sat down and watched TV for a bit before going to bed, but were looking at the lines we had to say the next day and very conscious that we had another earlier than usual start on Sunday morning.
We were to be communion assistant and had “practised” the lines to say when we served communion. 
We were early in church, and met briefly with Mike McNamara to receive some last minute instructions.
It all went smoothly in the end and after another longish walk with the little fellow – eyes noticeably cleaner and he looked like he could see much better – Tress spent the wonderfully balmy arvo in the garden with the little fellow while I pottered around, and cooked the week’s work lunches.
Life’s whirring away now. I said to Tress we needed to start doing more volunteering work so that when paid work fades away, we could start giving back and step on the volunteer work with more focus. So I was grateful to have been able to do that this past weekend. Clara, one of the Salvos ladies, had also pencilled me for another gig early next month so hopefully a momentum of sorts build up and maybe in a year or two, this portfolio could build and I could do a more wide ranging and engaging volunteer work. I had also forward booked the next blood donor appointment for November, so maybe on that front too some form of momentum can build. And with the church front slowly gaining traction, there’s only one other front I hope for more to happen…
Ante 