There aren’t a lot around my place but some. And so the other night I looked down on the floor and there was a green light blinking on and off and I thought it was a message on my phone. It turned out to be a lightning bug, blinking away. It had a message for something somewhere but none that I could decipher.

Happy Easter!

Great service this morning, our Easter anthem went well, I did not trip over my choir robes, the church was packed to overflow which meant a long communion time and we sang our ‘background’ communion songs until we ran through the usual two, stopped in confusion as there were at least 20 more people still coming for communion so then Diane started up ‘One Bread One Body’ on the piano and so we just went right into it.

Lovely day (for me at least) meaning clouds and drizzle. I like it. It’s wet, it’s grassy, it’s moist out there. The wren couple has come back and the roadrunner/chaparral bird is making that mourning noise which means he is looking for a mate. Every year he flies up into a Spanish oak and makes mourning noises. It’s his ‘I’m lonely’ call. A hen bird will soon reply I am sure.

Next week; new sink, plumbing, fallen pumphouse shelter to be hauled off and a new one brought in, landscaping — oy, all the stuff neglected while I was traveling so much. And Buck has lost a shoe.

GOOD FRIDAY     

Take thought, man, tonight. Take thought, man, tonight when it is dark, when it is raining. Take thought of the game you have forgotten. You are the child of a great and peaceful race. You are the son of an unutterable fable. You were discovered on a mild mountain. You have come out of the godlike ocean. You are holy, disarmed, signed with a chaste emblem. Deep inside your breast you wear the number of loss. Take thought, man, tonight. Do this. Do this.

Thomas Merton; from ‘The Early Legends’

It has been years since I’ve seen this and just recently refound it. There was nothing as funny as the old National Lampoon.

Deteriorata – National Lampoon

Go placidly amid the noise and waste,
And remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
Avoid quiet and passive persons, unless you are in need of sleep.
Rotate your tires.
Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself,
And heed well their advice, even though they be turkeys.
Know what to kiss, and when.
Consider that two wrongs never make a right, but that three do.
Wherever possible, put people on hold.
Be comforted that in the face of all aridity and disillusionment,
and despite the changing fortunes of time,
There is always a big future in computer maintenance.

Remember The Pueblo.
Strive at all times to bend, fold, spindle, and mutilate.
Know yourself. If you need help, call the FBI.
Exercise caution in your daily affairs,
Especially with those persons closest to you –
That lemon on your left, for instance.
Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most souls
Would scarcely get your feet wet.
Fall not in love therefore. It will stick to your face.
Gracefully surrender the things of youth: birds, clean air, tuna, Taiwan.
And let not the sands of time get in your lunch.
Hire people with hooks.
For a good time, call 606-4311. Ask for Ken.
Take heart in the bedeepening gloom
That your dog is finally getting enough cheese.
And reflect that whatever fortune may be your lot,
It could only be worse in Milwaukee.

You are a fluke of the universe.
You have no right to be here.
And whether you can hear it or not,
The universe is laughing behind your back.

Therefore, make peace with your god,
Whatever you perceive him to be – hairy thunderer, or cosmic muffin.
With all its hopes, dreams, promises, and urban renewal,
The world continues to deteriorate.
Give up!