A Day in the Garden

What a lovely day!  We spent most of the day outside.  So did the keeper. She was determined to work in the yard all day.  She did. She really did.  She filled dumpsters and bags full of weeds and leaves and pine needles which she had used as mulch all winter.  We watched in horror as she emptied the compost maker she had been filling since last summer.  It was full of rich dirt and tons of worms! She spread the new compost all over the side beds.  We suggested she shoot a photo but she didn't think that people would appreciate the beauty of worm filled soil. she found that plants which she had declared DEAD last fall had sprung back to life, with tender shoots. She planted new things, and chased us. She came inside covered in dirt and mud, and was very happy.  We came in exhausted from watching her work so hard. It was a great day!  We hear she has to go back to her work tomorrow.  Too bad.  We could use more days like this one.  We hope we are still alive when she retires.

National Hairball Awareness Day

Yes, we know all about the Octave of Easter, but we would like to draw your attention to a day which is an important one on feline calendars.  National Hairball Awareness Day happens to be today.  We realize that our keeper is concerned about this issue, and she is aware that we swallow 2/3 of the fur we clean.  And she has helped us deal with this condition by brushing us and cleaning up after us.  We are grateful.

Cookies Fit for a Royal Wedding

Our keeper has been taking a vacation this week.  She didn't really go anywhere far away. But  she is too busy to write our blog for us. Mostly she has been reading, or she is in the yard when it is not  hailing or snowing.  She has been at the garden stores and the gym and got new glasses.
She took me, Alice, to see Dr. Smalley, the vet, for a 90 day checkup to see if my radiation therapy worked.  It did.  My thyroid is perfect now. I also came home with new allergy meds.

But more important than anything right now is the royal wedding.  We refuse to wear hats. We doubt she will actually get up tomorrow am at 3, but one never knows.  We will sleep through it.  At the Hilltop Bakery she found special wedding cookies. She bought them and a pain au chocolat.  We prefer the lemon custard ice cream she also brought home.

Easter Sunday

The keeper moved our food bowls to another room, the clear sign that company was coming.  They came and brought delicious food.  The keeper cooked a pork which was taken from W's grandmother.  They did not share.  But we ignored them mostly, and waited for our food.  It was delivered, without candles or fancy china, but we were grateful. Then everyone left and everything got back to normal.  We are now listening to the happy cantering of the dishwasher.
Happy Easter!

Holy Saturday

 It was sunny.  It was warm.  We all hit the deck.  And took the sun.  It was lovely.  Then the keeper went inside to make two pound cakes.  We stayed outside.  She was supposed to clean the house for her guests on Easter Sunday, but she went back outside to work in the yard.  Then she went for a walk  through the neighborhood.  The smell of the freshly cut lawns was everywhere.
Everyone smiled.  The neighbors had a craw fish boil.  They had 50 # of craw fish shipped up from Louisiana that morning. But she didn't leave us for craw fish, she left for the cathedral and got home at 1 AM.  The service lasted 3 and 1/2 hours!  But it was beautiful in every way.  She felt she was Eastered by the time it was all over.  We were happy to see her come home because she always gives us treats when she stays out late.

The Good Friday Passion Presentation

 The Young Adults which the keeper accompanies are in charge of the telling of the Passion of Christ every Good Friday.  They practice for months.  They carefully select the characters, especially Jesus and Mary and John.  Every year the costumes are better. A young man name Josue makes most of them.  They memorize all the lines.  Last year a theater director helped them with their staging. It's very dramatic, more Mel Gibson than what the keeper is used to.

But they tell the old story with such devotion and energy, it's hard not to be caught up in it.

 And she knows that many in that community are bearing very heavy loads of pain and suffering.  One woman will be deported to El Salvador next week with her baby and young son.  They are not deporting her husband who has asylum.  But her family who will receive her has received death threats and have had to move several weeks ago.  No one could help her, not even the senators. So these young people are really telling the contemporary story of the community whose faith is unbreakable in the face of loss, rejection, injustice.

The Friday Which is Good

Holy is God!

Holy and strong!

Holy immortal One,

have mercy on us!

Ancient acclamation for the Veneration of the Cross

This being Good Friday, there was some coming and going today.  The keeper headed back downtown for a Tre Horae Service at the cathedral.  She was so taken by the preacher, an Irish Dominican, that she didn't want it to end. He had the rare ability to weave short scripture passages, poetry, writings of the early church, contemporary writers, including those on death row, into homilies which spoke to the hearts of all in very accessible ways.  And the combination of the Haydn music for the Seven Last Words and the sun pouring through the oculus made for a profound afternoon. We have a feeling that she will soon be bringing home a CD of this so we can listen with her.