Prayer and faith there is a deep connection that humans have with people who share the same faith, a deeper connection they have with their God.
During these trying times of despair and uncertainty we come together - there was a community of prayer during the start of covid that the pope had live streamed from the Vatican around the globe- for us all to come together and pray the rosary as one.

Then there was a weekly rosary that was held every Sunday in Croatia. The local church and priests, even families and communities came together in prayer. We even had the coach of the Croatian world cup soccer team host one of the prayer sittings, where he led the rosary and we prayed with him the ’hail mary’ in Croatian.

It took me back to when my grandmother was alive, she would always pray with us before bed time in Croatian. It's been a while since I've prayed in that language, but everything came flooding back. It was really great watching live and praying the rosary with a few hundred people. Something that I don't think will ever happen again.

I've always looked to prayer all my life, in times of need, in times of the good and the bad- the rosary has been a very special thing for me.
Recently in April/May this year two beautiful neighbours of mine had passed away. One was very young who had leukemia we grew up with him as kids around the corner from us, he was 59 - the other after Anzac day in Batemans bay - an amazing man who was a great carpenter and tomato gardener. I recently did the book cover about his own life for him earlier this year, he was 92.

I've been praying for them and their souls / its something very therapeutic and at the same time a release of ones grief and sadness that they are no longer with us. It's funny when someone dies, they may not be on this earth, but in prayer and spirit they do live on in us.

And it's true, I've never stopped praying for my loved ones, my grandparents, my two school friends who were killed in a car crash when I was in college, I've continued to pray for them. It's been 21 years since their death this year, and they are constantly in my prayers and they still live on.

We all don't know what is beyond this life, but for the ones who have faith in God know that we will see our loved ones again in paradise. That's why praying the rosary is so powerful. Prayer is so powerful.

’I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I'm supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I'm praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things’.
Mother Teresa

In memory of Carlo De Luca and Jim Cleaver of Yarralumla. (06.02.1962 - 23.04.2021 Carlo)
(14.03.1929 - 26.04.2021 Jim)

Jims article on tomatoes - Canberra Times

Fresh off the press!

My story begins in 1933 in Wongarbon at the age of 3 during the great depression... ’Run Jimmy Run’, our neighbour the author Jim Cleaver’s first published book. He’s in his 90’s what an achievement!

Dad and I designed the book cover.

Last week I watched the film ”Stutter School”. As a stutterer myself, I have participated in the smooth speech intensive program at the Lidcombe campus NSW, back in 2014. I found this documentary very real, it's exactly what I had gone through, except using a different speech technique. I’ve had a few re-lapses over the years, due to unemployment or when I had to go back into tertiary education. It's an ongoing exercise to keep up the technique and maintain smooth fluency on a daily basis.

It's fantastic that people are becoming more aware of people who do have a speech problem. It was never spoken about or educated at school, when I was growing up. I hope the younger generation who have this, are encouraged to speak in class and not bullied about how they say things.

Positivity and acceptance is what we need, when it comes to people who stutter. Especially in job interviews, which I've attended quite a few over the years. You are judged on how you speak, which can be very tough for someone who needs to break into the job market and who has a severe stutter.

Great documentary, very emotional and real for those who experience this on a day to day basis. I hope when someone sees a person who struggles with their speech, that they see a resilient and strong person who is able to take on any challenge. I hope this documentary shows that!

#stutterschool #sbs #untoldaustralia #maguireprogram #smoothspeech

Spanning 450 years, Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, Londonpresents 60 paintings by some of Europe’s most revered artists, including Titian, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Velázquez, Goya, Turner, Renoir, Cézanne and Gauguin. Exclusive to Canberra, it comprises the largest group of works to travel outside of the United Kingdom in the history of the National Gallery, London.

The exhibition explores seven key periods in Western European art history: the Italian Renaissance, Dutch painting of the Golden Age, Van Dyck and British portraiture, the Grand Tour, Spanish art from the seventeenth century, landscape and the picturesque and the birth of modern art.

Highlights include Rembrandt’s Self Portrait at the Age of 34 1640, Vermeer’s A Young Woman seated at a Virginal c.1670 and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers 1888.