Stormy Weather

I know, I said no update this week. Here's a short take on the stuff of the past week:

We've been in a major heat wave. And when it's not hot, it's very humid. Which makes it uncomfortable all around no matter what it is outside! On a day of less humidity, I went for a hike to a familiar place with a friend. The place is called Berowra Crossing. There's a nice little boating area there (1). As it is school holiday, it seemed like people were taking advantage of the sun and heat and water. We went for a hike.

The day's high was something like 95 and we arrived around 1 pm with a couple of water bottles. The trail's not for the faint of heart with steep climbs and deep dips into a valley and out the other side. I have some shots of the trail (2-5) to show you that the park service here is even more extended on shoe string budgets than in the US! Either that or they want the trails to stay as pristine as possible and so don't do much to them at all. Sometimes it's even hard to find to where the trail leads! I had to back track in two spots. Here are some wild flowers along the way (6-7).

Here is a shot of a Christmas present from a friend who thinks I need to hang more stuff on my walls (8). It's a clever little thing that arrives in a box with plastic X's and bars that connect to the corners of the numbered squares. When assembled you have a big wall hanging. The company is caled "IXXI" after the shape of the plastic connectors. They have all sorts of images and you can even have them print out your own photos. Very cool! They even give you a wall mounting chart to help you hang the mural straight...and of course, I messed it up! Ugh! Crooked it stays!

We help out at Our Lady of the Angels, one of the newest churches in the diocese of Parramatta. We (the friars who go there) just don't really like it. It seems very cold and too big. The altar is huge—two of me could sleep on it without knowing the other were there! Here is some details of the newest murals (9-11). A student friar visiting came to Mass with me one morning and noted of the angels: they are all anglo and they are all women. Angels are supposed to not have sex. And in this place where so many people come from so many countries of so many skin tones, why are they all white? Perhaps because the current pastor is? Hmmm....

Finally here are some images of the weird weather we have been having. A sky one afternoon earlier this week (12-14); the clouds seemed to press down on the earth like someone kneading dough!

This past Friday we had a high of 104! The lowest it got that night was 82! The full moon came out and it was so big, and orange, and hot looking! Here are some cool pictures from hot Friday night (15-18).