Saturday,
we arose to our typical relaxing morning of coffee and TV. Mary
ran off to the grocery store for provisions and upon her return we
ventured to the beach stopping on the way to get the registration
renewal for the car we have here in the mail. It expires the end
of April, and hopefully the sticker will get here before we depart for
home. We live near what is called the Curlew Causeway which
leads to Honeymoon Island State Park which has a ferry ride (the
only way to get there) to Caladesi Island. We did not go quite
that far stopping along the Causeway and placing our chairs on the sand.
It was a short lived visit as the predicted breezy day had turned down
right windy. We decided that since it was otherwise such a nice
afternoon that we would take a sightseeing ride down Alt Route 19 near a
motel we stayed at when we first started coming down more than 10 years
ago. We went down as far as the new bridge to Clearwater
Beach, passing the area of the Church of Scientology. This
weekend, the so called church was celebrating the birthday of it's
founder L. Ron Hubbard and the expectation of demonstrators had been
mentioned on TV. Luckily the trip was uneventful and we made a
circle to return home. Saturday night our dinner was a salad
followed by some very good it's not delivery it's
Di Gorno pizza.
|
May you live all the days of your life.
~
Jonathan Swift |
All of a sudden it is Palm Sunday. Wasn't
it just New Years? The mass schedule at Espiritu Santo had been
adjusted slightly to account for the normally more lengthy celebration
of the Lord's Passion. The day started rather cloudy and foggy.
Coupled with the fact that the time change causes the morning to
wake up slightly later the ride to church was somewhat gloomy and we got
a few drops of rain on the way. We debated in the parking lot
about taking an umbrella inside but decided against it. A wise
move since the sun appeared brightly through the stained glass midway
through the liturgy. The celebrant was the parish Parochial
Vicar. The term Parochial Vicar is more in line with canon law and
is the same as Assistant or Associate Pastor. His homily was
wonderful pointing out how quickly one can fall from favor. Jesus
entered his own city of Jerusalem in triumph which soon turned to hatred
as the citizens demanded their hero be crucified. His modern
example was Mel Gibson a Hollywood favorite and important celebrity
until he proposed to make The Passion of Christ. His so called
friends disappeared and nobody would step up with financing.
Following his own heart and convictions he fronted the production with
$25 million of his own money. Still he and the movie were vilified
by some who had not even seen the film. Looks like his convictions
were right on as the movie has so far banked $650 million and still
counting, DVD sales and rentals etc. even though he remains
somewhat persona non grata. Father closed the mass by commenting
on the number of annoyed people we would run into on the way out who had
forgotten the time change, arriving a bit early for the 12:30 mass.
He pointed out the schedule would be identical next week (they have
added extra concurrent masses)
since as he said next weeks attendance could approach or exceed upwards
of 10,000 attendees. He then asked current parishioners to welcome
the extras and pray they return again, before blessing us and sending us
forth. We are not parishioners and have been using a visitors envelope
(found in the pew from week to week). What a pleasant surprise the
other day as we received a pleasant note from the parish welcoming us
and inviting us back on a future visit. I should point out at this
point that following the inspiration of my web guru Grandpa Don that
this page is being constructed using the new Microsoft Expressions Web.
There is a learning curve but I'll learn as I go. Tonight it was
dinner at Kathi's as she tried out a Barefoot Contessa Lemon Garlic
Chicken recipe that Mary had done previously. Kudos as she coupled
it with some spinach and some new rice preparation which Mary means to
try soon. Dirk who had been swimming this afternoon fell asleep on
the couch and was quietly carried off to bed. We stayed a bit
later than usual. We normally try to leave earlier so as not to distract
Dirk from his bedroom preparation. Stopping for gas on the way
home we put out the trash and laid our bodies down.
|
To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top. ~ Robert M. Pirsig |
Monday afternoon I missed the big St Patrick's Day Parade in Briar Creek. While I was gone, Mary said she heard some unusual music. Seems like somebody had organized a makeshift band complete with tuba and arrangements apparently were made with Safety Harbor to provide a fire truck and admin sedan. All that was accompanied by decorated golf carts which I saw on the way home. I just noticed the Easter Sunday bulletin in my email box and converted it to pdf before sending it on to some web team colleagues. After a wonderful traditional dinner of Corned Beef and Cabbage, I also edited the bulletin page in preparation for their upload tomorrow evening. This year, Mary cooked it in the oven rather than boiling it on the stovetop.
Tuesday afternoon we did a bit
of Easter Bunny shopping for Dirk. We played it smart by bringing the
chocolate
bunny home to the safety of the refrigerator rather than leave him in
the car which even in March here is not a smart move. We then went to
a local Radio Shack to purchase a bit of coax cable. We had rearranged
some furniture in my bedroom and I needed to extend a cable TV
connection. Tuesday night we had our weekly rendezvous with two hours of
The Biggest Loser on TV. I got so involved in the TV that I
completely
forgot to upload the St Julie Bulletin.
|
When you pray rather let your
heart be without words than your words without heart.
~ John Bunyan |
Wednesday morning while Mary was at her exercise I corrected my mistake of last night and uploaded the St Julie bulletin. While in my email box I discovered that the St Terrence bulletin was there so I continued on and put it on line, updating the home page with some new information and putting the revised copy online also. Tonight Mary and I went with Dave's dad Mike to the weekly prime rib night at the golf club. Kathi had a girl's night out and David was working on a project. They missed some good prime rib.
I cant believe it is
GOOD FRIDAY. The diocese pattern here
is somewhat different then down here as local parishes celebrate the
Liturgy of the Good Friday Passion at 3P.M. instead of in the evening.
This appear to be more in line with what the story tells us about that
first Good Friday. Shame on us, instead of going to the service we
went to experience God's wonders at the shore. It is hard to
refute the splendor of his creation when looking at the vast expanse of
a bay or at what today was a crystal sapphire blue sky. This after
breaking with the tradition of the Holy Thursday Mass of the Last Supper
and the Compline Prayer at St Julie's has me wondering if I have become
part of the C and E crowd. Just kidding we will be there as normal
in weeks to come. In addition, because of a family commitment we will
not be at Easter Vigil. We will have Dirk Saturday night and for
two reasons will stay at home. First, the Vigil is usually the
longest liturgy of the year and second it starts at
8:30 pm. The length of the Liturgy is much to long for a 5 year old and
second the 8:30 start time means it is likely to be midnight C and E group. Normally, I have
sung at Easter Vigil and then returned Easter Sunday morning to sing
once again, secure in the knowledge that I have a reserved seat.
This year we are staying until the end of April because of an impending
visit by the Rochester N.Y. branch of the clan. Next year, Easter
moves a bit over a week later to April 4, 2009. In some ensuing
years it moves even later so we are planning to be home. As a
matter of fact, if I can get my legs under better control I visualize
myself in the choir space at Easter Vigil, if they'll have me.
|
Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We
are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song. |
I can now go to bed. I just watched Villanova come back from a 38-16
deficit to complete a historic day in the NCAA tournament. At the
St Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Villanova's upset of Clemson completed the
only day in tournament history in which all the underdogs at ONE site won. Two
number 12 seeds and two number 13 seeds
made history.
Have a blessed and wonderful Easter
