It’s Sunday afternoon and I thought I catch up blogwise as I discover my memory is fading!

Wednesday began with School Mass, the first after the Easter break, and all went well including the singing of my new psalm ‘Their message” really intended for the Feast of SS Philip and James which falls next week.

I did a bit more admin after this and then departed the office to relax. I returned in the evening for Choir Rehearsal which turned out to be a shorter one for which all were most grateful!

Thursday and Friday were days off. I was pleased to receive somewhat earlier than I had expected the batteries for my most recent ‘bargain’ from Goodwill. My mum always used to proclaim “it’s only a bargain if you want it”. Well this robotic vacuum cleaner seemed attractive to my wayward mind. However I suspect that it will join the hoard of malfunctioning bargains I have stored under the bed! It doesn’t seem to work at all.

Last Sunday I chipped one of my new crowns and so on Thursday morning the dentist was my first port of call. I feel as though I must be one of the most generous funders of my dental practice but on this occasion there was no charge for the immediate repair and the promise that he would replace the crown at no charge at a later date! Thus gratified I went and had my hair cut. A rather large man with 10 inch length of hair arrived after me but I did not wish to pull rank as you never know if this might incite a man to reach for a firearm! My next stop was the Bank of America where I needed to enquire about setting up an account to receive funds from UK which I wished to use for a possible mortgage downpayment. No, I haven’t even started looking for a house but my awareness informs me that I would be in a stronger negotiating position if such monies are in place. I was struck by the efficiency of the manager I met. I would make the transfer sometime next week.

The next two days were spent between the beach and the bar. The temperatures rose to the high 90s and on Saturday my car recorded 100F!

Saturday morning was the annual Yard Sale in the Community so I was ferreting around people’s yards at 8am. I walked away the following items:

• with some china storage pots for onions, garlic and potatoes;
• a bed comforter set
• a portable beach chair
• a book on choral directing
• a boxed sampler set of teas

I had a leisurely start to the morning after that which involved the comparative rarity of a cooked breakfast before venturing into work. There was nobody in the office so I got a lot of work done. During the week I had heard that my setting of psalm 121 (our help is in the Lord) had been selected for a Diocesan Evening Prayer for the Vigil before Priestly Ordinations so I thought I’d better check out the piece again before sending it to them!

Sunday morning began with a very interesting BBC America programme about Donal Trump’s first 100 days. Unfortunately I had to leave before the inimitable Jeremy Paxman summed things up  in a way in which only his facial expression had hitherto implied. I’ll try to catch it again some time soon.

Masses today went really well. The 1100am choir Mass was also the Mass at which the Youth who normally meet elsewhere (not sure why?) joined us and thus the music selection reflected in part what had been agreed for their First Communions in a couple of weeks time. My old choir friends in Sheffield will remember ‘In the breaking of the bread’ by Michael Ward which we sang today.

I’ll be heading back to church soon for the final Mass of the day and a few beers to mark the end of another weekend!