"Like Persephone of Myth . . ."

As I prepare to once again leave my life in Australia and return to my life in the U.S., I find myself relating to Queen Aleta's predicament in the above panels from Prince Valiant. Rest assured, however, that neither of the two "domains" that I find myself "caught between" are comparable to Hades!

Anyway, tomorrow I return to the U.S. It's going to be a long and arduous trip but the thought of Doug waiting there to greet me and my resuming of work with the inspiring and Spirit-filled folks of the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities and the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform, will make it all worth it. I'll share in a future post what these two groups have planned for the coming year. For now I share a few pictures of the wonderful family and friends I'll be leaving behind, and of some of the things I've been up to these past few weeks. Enjoy!



Above: Mum and Dad – January 2011.



Above: The Baylys of Melbourne in Port Macquarie – January 2011.



Above: My nieces and nephews. From left: Mitch, Sami, Liam, Layne, Ryan and Brendan – January 2011.



Above and below: My younger brother Tim and his band!




Above: My youngest nephew Brendan with "Grandpa Bayly" – January 2011.



Above: The Baylys of Port Macquarie (and in-laws) enjoying a meal at the Riverbank Cafe in Gladstone.




Above: An uninvited lunch guest!



Above: Perusing the art gallery and gift shop at the Riverside Cafe in Gladstone.



Above: At Coffs Harbour's Butterfly House – January 26, 2011.



Above: The view of Swallows' Ledge from the south end of Port Macquarie's Town Beach.



Above and below: A visit from Jeremiah and Kristy! – February 5-7, 2011.




Above and below: On Flynns Beach – February 7, 2011.



See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Sydney Sojourn
Twilight
Christmas in Australia
An Afternoon at Flynns Beach
Summer Vocation!
The Australian Floods
Rising Waters
"Flooded In but Lovin' Life"
In Maclean, an End to the "Siege"
Angourie
A Bushland Wedding
Yaegl Country
Boardies, Budgie Smugglers and Euro-Togs
Responding to Cardinal Pell
Journey to Gunnedah

Opening image: Panels from an early 1980s Prince Valiant strip. Art: John Cullen Murphy. Text: John Cullen.