I wish to share the striving, risk and chaos I have experienced in my life as well as the growth and fulfilment that has come my way. It is a way of “writing upon the wall of humanity”, sharing with innumerable people the task of searching for the meaning of all that is around and within us. I invite you to join with me in this enlightening and creative process.
For seven years – 1975 to 1982 – I lived as a Catholic Missionary Priest in the Bicol provinces of the Philippines, working almost exclusively in the smaller towns and barrios. As time progressed, I was confronted in an ever-deepening way by the poverty and injustice experienced by the people I lived among in these rural areas. This became a radical challenge to my faith: in a...
In the early 1970s seagulls made a dramatic intervention in human life via Jonathan Livingston Seagull, thanks to the fable book of one Richard Bach. A something parable about achieving self-perfection, Jonathan the seagull took the world by storm. Within a couple of years over a million copies of the book were sold as it found its place on bestselling lists. Jonathan also found his way into...
“O Little Town of Bethlehem” has always been a must-be-sung Xmas Carol, ever since it was written in 1868 by Phillips Brooks, an Episcopal Priest from Philadelphia. However, the sweet, lilting melody and the serenity of the town as painted by the lyrics are in harsh contradict to the history of Bethlehem. Going back some 1300 years before Christ, up to the very present, Bethlehem has...
Article 3 in a series of 5 Articles Our franchise contract with Elders Financial Planning (EFP) was for five years, to be renewed for a further five years in September 2012. From the outset in 2007 it became obvious that the contract we signed was presented in a deceptive manner. Our cash flow was dependent upon a share of income from the business – with the remainder going to EFP –...
Article 5 in a series of 5 Articles The famous ABBA song speaks the truth, but only partly. Clear Waters Financial Planning won the battle against EFP but we did not emerge unscathed. Our business was wounded and carried scars inflicted not only in the period since September 2012, but since the beginning of our franchise contract in 2007. Those long years of conflict with EFP...
Article 4 in a series of 5 Articles There was chaos in Queensland airports during the last week of January 2013 as Cyclone Oswald lashed the east coast of Australia from Cairns in the north to Tweed Heads in northern New South Wales. John and I were on the last plane out of Rockhampton before the airport closed. Arriving in Brisbane we were met by frantic scenes in that airport as people...
From “The Olives” to “Dovedale” Richard and Irene (aka Dad and Mum) performed an amazing feat in 1960. In June of that year they bundled the six of us kids into a Ford Customline and transferred from Howlong – a village in New South Wales on the Murray River – to Baralaba, a village hidden in the Dawson Valley out from Rockhampton in Central Queensland. We migrated...
Without lifting a finger, without any contribution from us, we are gifted with an incredibly rich and diverse environment of water birds and other water creatures. Ours it is to simply enjoy, be awed and entertained by such a display of life. AND TO PROTECT IT All these photos are my own. Most were taken at the Rockhampton Botanical Gardens , including the sunset. Life is One Big Yawn Family...
I am a Gardener, I garden. Like, I think, I breathe. I don’t DO gardening. Gardening is not an occupation. It is a way of being. Our first garden way back in the mid-nineties was a scraggy bit of lawn out the back of the house with a practice cricket pitch for the boys. The cricket pitch got most of the attention. There was an attempt at some shrubs and flowers out front and some...
The town of Santa Magdalena lies between Bulusan and Matnog in the southern part of the Sorsogon Province of the Philippines, which in turn lies at the southern tip of the main island of Luzon. The three towns front the San Berdanino Strait, ultimately a connector between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, with its powerful tides and swirls of ocean power. We were dropped off at the Parish...