Much of Saturday was taken up with the monthly newsletter for colgaffneyis. The theory here is that we have gone to an on-line format, with a paper copy being available by request. We have an editor for the on-line version, who does a very nice job. The theory is that this will leave me the relatively small task of preparing a “few” hard copies.

The reality is that hard copy is a completely different medium. You have to allow for physical page breaks and a more sequential mode of reading–not jumping from link to link. Hence I have to re-edit the whole thing. This takes some time.

Then I have to print it and prepare it for mailing. The “few” hard copies now number nearly 30, so this takes a while as well. I now have to weigh the envelopes (do I need one or two extra postage stamps?) buy and apply the stamps, then mail them.

No one part of this is particularly onerous, but it all adds up.

Sunday morning started out with Tom waking early. I took the job of watching him, and thus Mia was able to sleep past 9 AM. Not too hard–he was reasonably well behaved–but I had to be there.

Church was good. First Sunday in Lent–Old Testament Lesson being about Noah building the ark. This took a long time. The preacher’s point was that Noah stayed on task–sticking with the work until it was done. She said that today a lot of people want instant spirituality–enlightenment without work. You must do the work, and sometimes the work is quite mundane. This was good to hear: My life is filled with mundane tasks.

Note: Whether or not the story of Noah accurately reflects historical events is totally irrelevant.

Because of Lent the parish was doing some liturgical experiments, with a temporary altar closer to the pews. At one level this did not look right–the esthetics did not fit with the architecture of the church. I was reminded of a saying: When liturgy argues with architecture, architecture always wins. However, I noticed Tom was paying close attention during the first half of the prayer of consecration. Anything that helps him “get it”, at whatever level, is worthwhile.

The service had two of my favorite hymns: The Glory of these Forty Days and Humbly I adore thee. Checking the notes I found that both are period for colgaffneyis, if sung in Latin. Of course, in 17th century Scotland their content (very Catholic) would have made them very much underground classics, at least in the Lowlands.

In the evening Mia and I watched Iron Chef America. The theme ingredient: Kobe Beef. During the commercial breaks I prepared a couple lunches to eat at work in the upcoming week. Main ingredients: Beans and rice.