Greetings from Sunny Perth!

I arrived here in Perth on Tuesday afternoon, with mixed feelings- it was great to be here again after 20 years, and lovely to see my old Fusion friend Rose, and her daughters, but a problem with my eye meant that I wasn't exactly up to my usual bubbly standard, and wasn't really able to fully enjoy being here because of that.

Fortunately, the eye issue is now pretty much resolved, after seeing three different eye specialists (2 in Melb and one here in Perth), but in the course of the 6 days between when I first noticed the problem (fri), as it got progressively worse, and then finally resolved (wed night) it was a pretty emotionally draining time for me, partly due to the pain (felt like I had ground glass in my eye) and also fear that it would get worse and might have some long-term effect on my sight, and also the appallingly bad timing for this to happen just before I was due to leave for my trip to WA. (although I am very grateful that it happened after all my assignments etc were completed for first semester!).

I am sure that there is a lesson from God in this all somewhere.

I am very grateful to the small group of friends who upheld me in prayer during this time, and especially grateful to God for leading me to the right doctors here in Perth (a very conscientious and lovely GP who referred me to an equally competent and lovely specialist), so that my eye is now pretty much back to normal in time for my trip to New Norcia.

So, this afternoon, I meet up with others from my UFT course, and we will all head to New Norcia, where we will spend a week living in the Benedictine monastery, fitting into the daily rhythm of the monastic community, as well as doing some historical research as part of our church history unit, making use of the extensive archives at New Norcia.

I don't expect to have any internet access during my week there, and my mobile phone will be out of range, so it will be a truly delightful 'retreat' from the rest of the world, to experience the solitude, quiet and prayerful atmosphere of the monastery.