Sunday, January 21, 2018

A walk in the park


I went for a walk yesterday in Delaware Park and I could not stop taking pictures.

The colors were just so beautiful!

I took the picture up above, I think, on my way home. But before that I took other pictures.

The one is slightly different from the one up above. I think it was taken a few minutes earlier.


Then there is this.


Such exquisite pictures! I am sorry, I am not being a big ego. Taking pictures like that is stupid easy these days. You just aim your phone in the general direction and hit the shutter, or whatever it is they call it now.

It is almost a pain because you feel obliged to take pictures wherever you go. Pennario told me that back in the day when he made concert tours all over the world he did not bother. He said, "Because the pictures in my head were so much better than any pictures I would have taken." Which, I totally understand that.

But now that we have these darned phones, you cannot help it.

You have to take pictures!

So you are skiing, or whatever, and all of a sudden you have to stop and fish in your pocket for your phone and take a picture. Well, I have to fish in my pocket. Other people probably have their phones more accessible. Whatever, it is a pain.

Until you see the pictures. I have to say this, I am looking at that sunset picture and I like it.

I am a camera!

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

The Latin lettering challenge


My New Year's Eve resolutions include getting better with lettering. And while I was at church on Sunday, thinking about Latin, I had the idea to put together a Latin lettering challenge.

Everyone else initiates these challenges. Why not me?

Well, one reason why not is I am not techie enough to print out the challenge neatly on a computer the way everyone else does. My printer is kaput. However where there is a will there is a way and so I printed it myself. That is it up above.

You have to start somewhere! It was Dec. 31 and I did not want to wait.

I squared my shoulders and put it up on Instagram. It was liked by 10 people! That is a relief. It is not a lot of likes but enough so that it has something, you know? So people do not look at my little grassroots challenge and say, "Look at that loser, nobody likes what she put up there."

Then I set to work actually doing my challenge.

That was easier said than done!

But I am thinking, if you are the host of a challenge, you have to put something up there so something is there, even if no one else is doing it. Which, if no one else is joining me on my Latin challenge, I can totally understand that.

The first phrase was purposely short but a challenge nonetheless. It being the Seventh Day of Christmas I had gone with "In Excelsis Deo." I am trying to work on my flourishing and tying letters together and arranging them artfully. On the other hand I did not have all day to fuss. I had many other things that had to be done.

Signs of a struggle ....


But the beauty of these challenges is that you have to get something done. It does not have to be perfect. You do your best.

This is good therapy for me because I tend to hesitate too much on certain things. I ask Howard what he thinks. I ask all my friends what they think. I waffle.

At work at The Buffalo News I fortunately have deadlines. Because then things get done whether you are ready or not. And about this Latin challenge, you know what, maybe nobody else will do it. But I am happy that I had the idea and then just went forward with it, without consulting anyone, and just got it done and up there, within an hour.

Veni, vidi, vici!

Now for Day Two. It is "Dona nobis pacem."

Wish me luck!



Monday, January 1, 2018

The Low Mass


Today we had a Low Mass, on account of we could not get our music act together. The organist was sick and there were not enough choir members.

Well... Perhaps there were enough choir members. I showed up at the last minute and by that time they had canceled the choir and the Low Mass was just beginning. The door to the choir loft was locked. Darn, because I had left my missal there the day before, duh.

This has to be the day there is no choir. Plus, of course someone has to be all correct and lock the organ loft. Now I cannot get my missal.

This was one of the many times when I feel like one of the Foolish Bridesmaids. Any one of these gals, that is me. Totally.


So.... the lowdown on the Low Mass is that what happens is pretty much complete silence, broken only by the squeaking of kneelers and an occasional word spoken aloud by the priest. From time to time, in sync and in silence, everyone kneels, or everyone stands, or everyone makes the Sign of the Cross. This goes on for, oh, 45 minutes. Anyone looking in would think we were crazy.

As I was participating in the Low Mass, missal-less, I begin -- well, I know this is a stretch seeing we are talking about the Catholic Church, but I began feeling guilty.

What if I had arrived earlier? Maybe we would have had enough singers in the choir.

What if I hadn't slid in at the last minute the way I had the day before?

As it was, I had gotten only about four hours' sleep. But what if I had left the party I was at a little bit earlier? It would not have been easy because it was at my friend Gary's, and Guy Boleri was playing, and it was all we could do to leave at 1:30 a.m. Try leaving when Guy is launching into a set of Cole Porter. What's a girl to do? But whatever, I should have done it. I should have left at a decent God-fearing hour and then I would not have gotten here earlier and we would have been able to sing.

The choir members who were here earlier must all hate me, I thought, looking around the church uneasily.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, as Pennario said once when we were arguing about something.

Finally I thought: Mary. Get a grip. So we had a Low Mass.

It is not the end of the world!

No one is dead or bankrupted because you slid into church at the last minute.

End result, as we say here in Buffalo, when after Mass I was approached by my choir buddy Dominic, I was ready.

Dominic said, "Mary! If you had only gotten here earlier --"

"Oh, Dominic," I said. "It's New Year's Day at 9 a.m. for heaven's sake. What do they expect?"

A woman's got to know her limitations!

Hahahaha ... I just happened to look back and came upon this other New Year's Day when I was late. Two years ago. And Dominic figured in this one, too.

I never grow up!