Sunday had us up in good time to go to Eastern Suburbs Meeting, one of three in Melbourne and the nearest to Tricia's home. It was a smallish gathering in quite a large rented hall: there were sixteen or so at Meeting for Worship. A Friend read the passage about 'walking cheerfully over the world answering that of God in everyone', and after a time I felt moved to share my feelings about trying to walk cheerfully over parts of Australia doing just that. I had felt a little overawed in the preparation for the trip, but in quiet moments remembered that I could and should act in the power of the Spirit - or, I said, put another way, trying to feel that what I was doing was in harmony with the music of creation. I'd deliberately given two quite different descriptions because what I had experienced was really beyond words, but it was an experienceI thought many others will have had too.
After Meeting, we had a shared lunch: Tricia had brought a cooked chicken and sliced it up, and this was the centrepiece of the meal along with salads and various veggie offerings. Then, with some Friends having needed to go and others arrived to join, I led a discussion on the diversity of Quaker belief. We had ten altogether for this, a nice intimate gathering, and it seemed to be of interest: in fact we could have gone on for a good deal longer, but in fact it came to a very natural end and fell to a deep silence before ending with handshakes.
Trisha then took
Next stop was a picnic spot - I've forgotten its name, but it wasn't important - where there were lots and lots of tame birds, mostly sulphur cockatoos and Rosellas, that would come and feed out of your hand. Tricia had a packet of mixed seeds for the purpose, and I was able to get some lovely video shots of the birds feeding borh from her and from me. It was amazing how tame the birds were: apparently they sometimes land on people's heads, and we saw a lad with one on each hand, eating out of seeds he held.
So altogether a busy day! We went home and indulged in a Malaysian takeaway and some white wine, a pleasant end to a full and enjoyable day.
Monday was also busy. First task was to finish packing, as Tricia was taking me to Friends House in Melbourne (the main Meeting House, which also has accomodation) to stay for the next three nights. I'd not wanted t
By now my knee was telling me it had had enough for the day, so we took the train back to Toorak, a short walk from Friends House, and Tricia left for home. I had a cup of tea, a piece of toast and a lie down to rest my knee. Then there was a knock on my door: my friend Liz Anderton, who I've known for over twenty years, was calling to ask if I'd like to share a scratch meal with her and her husband Jim. I was delighted: Liz and Jim were wardens here in Melbourne for a year a few years back, and have relatives out here, and it was a very happy coincidence that they were here at the same time (in fact they arrived in Melbourne on the same day!). So in due course we shared a tuna risotto and peaches and ice cream, and some catching up conversation. Again, a pleasant end to another good, if busy, day.
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