A Journey to Silver Wattle: reflection and nourishment among Friends

As Lewis Carroll had the King say to the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland - Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
 

To-day is a new beginning. 

Quakers in Australia have long held a dream

- a dream for a study centre. 

To-day the dream comes to fruition

as Quakers move into Silver Wattle 

beside Lake George in New South Wales. 

In the next few hours, I will be leaving my home in Melbourne to drive to Silver Wattle where I will serve as chief cook and bottle washer for the interesting collection of people who staff and organise the Centre and who will come to the Centre for courses and retreat.

My trusty eleven year old station wagon is packed to the gunwhales. I really don't know how to travel light. But food is a serious and creative busines and I want to be sure there are certain things in place.

In the wagon are

• boxes of herbs to begin a kitchen garden
• boxes of preserves - jams, marmalades, syrups, chutneys, pickles, sauces - with thanks to Pat, Tessa, and Belinda.
• there is a large plastic container full of recipe books.  I am sure there will be people at Silver Wattle who are passionate about food.  They might like to leaf through the recipe books and chose some favourites. Communal menu preparation, perhaps?
• There is a shopping trolley full of books for study and for reading: a variety which includes Eric Rolls and Teilhard de Chardin and books about the Tao.  Also in there is Advices and Queries and the Rule of St Benedict, that classic of Christian communal life.
• Then there are various kitchen appliances like my Kenwood Mixer, the Furi knives, the cafe griller, the blender.

So the journey begins. A new project at Silver Wattle. My journey from Melbourne to Lake George. A new chapter in my spiritual life. New friendships to make. A beginning to be held in The Light.  Click on the Silver Wattle picture on the sidebar to go to my journal.

A desert retreat and camp oven cooking

If you look at the doily with the map of Australia in the side bar, please note that the left hand bit with the embroidered Kangaroo Paw floral emblem is Western Australia from where Miss Eagle's good friend, Ian Robinson writes:

May 17-20 VOICE IN THE DESERT .

A national retreat on desert spirituality is to be held actually on the edge of the Australian desert 70km east of Southern Cross, Western Australia. The official launch of the Australian Research Institute for Desert Spirituality (ARIDS) will be held in the Koora Retreat Centre, hosted by Rev Anna Killigrew and Rev Peter Harrison. Costs are still being finalised, but they will be modest! They include good food, campfire, desert plains, salmon gums, toilets, showers are beds. We will keep silence. Trisha Watts is our keynote prayer leader. Out of our times of silence will come the sounds of a ‘still small voice’ that she will help us to share and to welcome. Many of you know Trish’s outstanding music and gracious workshop leadership, and you others are in for a treat. There will also be time for words. Papers on some aspect of Desert Spirituality are hereby called for, and if necessary will be selected by the working group composed of Rev Dr Anna Killigrew, Rev Ian Robinson, and Rev Tracy Spencer. Only a smallish number of papers will be offered. Access to Koora is via Perth or Kalgoorlie by air, train car or bus. Contact Ian Robinson, at idtr@westnet.com.au, and Ian will help you find share transport.

Picture: Rabbit Proof Fence 25nm to the East of Southern Cross

In August last year, Miss Eagle was on another desert trip led by Ian. This was to a sheep station, The Nine Mile, near Broken Hill in the Western Division of New South Wales. If, dear Reader, you visit The Trad Pad you will find a number of posts on the topic. On the last night, Miss Eagle cooked a full camp oven meal in the creek for ten people. Below is the roast beef - a corner piece of topside with the selvedge of fat left on - sitting in the camp oven. Not in the picture was the accompanying Yorkshire Pudding.