Since my last post the weather really picked up with temperatures in the mid 90sF. Accompanying this were some pretty spectacular storms but this is all good for the garden which, I have to admit, is looking quite healthy. It’s August and you can expect a lot of rain.

On Wednesday 21st I went in and played for the school Mass and did some more admin before leaving the office around midday to get the second of two immunizations for shingles. The first produced a bad reaction and I was fearful of the same. I got a slight fever and joints ached but I’d already decided to take the day off and get through the time by watching Netflix. In the event Frontier’s internet provision went down for 36 hours and I was unable to use this as a distraction!

On Sunday 25 August I arrived at church for the first Mass at which I also had to serve as Cantor. At the end of Mass Lei Ray Yu came up to me. I had met her and her husband Brandon during an NPM at an Italian restaurant in Cincinatti at the invitation of Paul Inwood. A few months ago I learned that Brandon had accepted the music job at nearby St Ignatius, Tarpon Springs.  I had reached out to his wife to cover an absence from St Lawrence in October and she had come along to hear how our Masses went. It was a delight to have her company for 3 Masses and I look forward to future encounters.

This coming week I have taken time off work in order to host a Columban Lay Missionary from El Paso. El Paso has joined a growing number of places which have become associated with a mass shooting. Unfortunately the weather looks as though it will change for the worse: more rain I suspect and thunderstorms. This could rule out the planned kayak excursion.