At the start of this winter, some weather experts predicted a balmy and dry winter. Like many statement of experts these days, that proved dodgy, to say the least.

It rained all weekend, and it was cold.

We had trekked to Doncaster for a Friday night dinner with Jason and Mel and they said pretty much the same thing – that it has been a wet winter, and the four of us sought solace at a Friday night catch up over some nice familiar food and a bottle of pretty decent red.

The week had been busy as usual, but it was broken up in the middle of the week, when I took a day off to help out with the school holidays program at St Alf’s. I (together with a few blokes) ended up cooking a few hundred sausages for about 150 kids and their parents/carers. That event started at 9 and finished close to 2pm. I had started the day with a work call at about 8.30am.

There was also a Steer Board meeting late that arvo, which finished around 8.30pm. So, while my regular work week was broken up with a day’s break, the “day off” was a busy and long day. That meant the Friday catch up was welcomed as an end of week sigh of relief, the wet conditions notwithstanding.

We stayed in on Saturday and after a bit of a sleep-in, we busied ourselves with some housework. We changed the sheets and after Tress had them washed, we took them to a laundromat to have them dried. Braving the cold and rainy conditions in our trackies and beanies, we had the sheets dried, and we then went home and did some vacuuming, general cleaning and we also gave the little furry jedi a bath.

We then ducked out for a warm lunch, then did some grocery shopping before getting ready for the “Dinner Tonight” duty at New Hope, at 4pm. It continued to be cold and wet outside so being indoor serving a warm dinner to sections of the community, was a winning winter warmer. When we got home close to 7pm, we were tired but contented. Particularly when Hawks got up over Fremantle Dockers in Tassie. We wound down the night by streaming an obscure and rather ordinary movie titled “Edie”, which was a story of a widow who decided, after a long, servile and sterile marriage, to relive a childhood dream to climb Mount Suilven in Scotland. The movie was as dour as the Scottish skies and I fell asleep for a bit, but strange as it was, an unexciting movie was a refreshing change to the usual razzmatazz expected of a good screening.

After the movie, I was surprised to catch United playing the Perth Glory team on a free to air channel and so I watched the whole of the second half. Pogba and company prevailed and it was good to see Pogba play like all the crap news surrounding his desire to move on to a more glamourous team like Real Madrid weren’t his making. One is inclined to think his agents simply wanted to milk more from this client.

At St Alf’s the next day, the “All Age Going Bananas” service provided a warmth that a very good antidote to the continuing wet and cold conditions. The people who were tasked with planning and implementing the weeklong program were evidently gifted, talented, hardworking, dedicated and very abled people. For the umpteenth time, I told myself St Alf’s is such a fount of talent and resource. I wonder if the “return” fits the endowment. It does in so many ways I guess but I also sense some contentment amongst many, not least yours truly. I was asked, the week before, to take on an additional task and I guess it is another way to break out of this contented mode but I’m still not sure at this time, if I’m prepared to perform that task (leading in prayer at service).

After lunch and a bit more grocery shopping for the week’s lunches, we came home and Tress did the ironing while I prepped the veg we bought to roast them up and pack them away. Tress then went for her ethereal pursuits while I cleaned up and watched the Bulldogs beat the Dees. It was another close match, as has been many of the week’s games.

It continued to rain and was very windy and cold, when Tress came back and settled down to wind up the weekend by watching that heart warming cooking competition.

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The distractions we surrounded ourselves with – volunteer activities, cleaning and cooking, ethereal pursuits, footy, church, etc. – to deal with miserable weather this past weekend, didn’t distract me from events back in Malaysia. Sim’s medical conditions took a turn and she now faces a long-ish chemo laced months ahead. I relished in the photos of David my brother and Jean visiting them in Penang, spending time with Sim and her  whole family over meals and other activities. It made me want to visit them. I don’t know what is possible now, but for now, prayers are what I can do, and have done. I sincerely hope Sim will come out of this strongly and get well soon.