Of Jesus, Good Eats, Raccoons, and Wine
Now Playing: Bono's "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" from Across The Universe
Topic: Personal Commentary
No doubt you have observed a curious lack of entries on the blog since last week. I know, I've been neglectful. But I can explain!
The 'busy' started during Holy Week, particularly on Maundy Thursday. Maundy Thursday is the specific feast day commemorating Christ's Last Supper with his apostles. From the time our evening service ends to the first mass of Good Friday, various parishoners "stand watch" at the church symbolic of Christ's request that his guys pray with him in the Garden of Gethsemane.
I stand a watch every year. It's a favorite tradition of mine.
This year, I had the Midnight to one a.m. shift.
The Wife sent me off in style with a mighty meal. She prepared Suzanne's World Famous Maundy Thursday Dinner to celebrate the Last Supper Jesus had with his Apostles. The meal was comprised of Herbed Cornish Game Hems, Twice Baked Yam, and Fresh Collard Greens with Shallots and Garlic. Suzanne said that Jesus and the boys dined on this exact dish, but since the dudes who wrote the Bible are biblical scholars, priests, and prophets, they could not be expected to write an accurate restaurant review.
The hen is prepared breast-down to keep it juicy. That's why it appears upside down in the image. Everything was great. I'd never had cornish hens nor collards before. Both were terrific. And me loves the yammage! Yummage!
That wife of mine is awful good to me.
It was with a full belly that I arrived at church. Our men's ministry, The Brotherhood of Saint Andrews, coordinates men on the street ensuring that the faithful get from their cars to the church unmolested and also provides a person inside the church as well. I volunteered for street duty. It was a lovely crisp night with a big moon beaming down.
I prayed my Rosary while I stood my watch. I chatted with the Most High (we go way back). I pondered.
I heard a noise across the street. Something was rustling about in the far shadows. The form moved fast from under trees, leaves crunching...
Its movement was too bizarre to be a cat or a dog...
Moonlight hit its eyes. They were large, focused on me... as he crossed the street.
"Oh crap..." I took a step back.
Into the street light it moved, the biggest freakin' raccoon I have ever seen in my life. He was a monster!
He slowed as he approached my sidewalk. Pausing, he considered me. Something passed between us.
One might have taken from the encounter that even the wild creatures come to the Garden to pray with our Lord.
I know that the raccoon was really wondering, "What's this fat dufus doing here so late?!?! I bet he'd be good with mustard..."
He gave me the stink-eye and moved away.
The remainder of my watch was uneventful. But there's no denying it... I was very nearly devoured by a rabid, atheist raccoon!
With four hours of sleep, I plowed into Friday. I hit the hardware store and picked up stuff for the garden (two daisy bushes and a whole bunch of dirt), picked up a couple of DVDs (30 Days of Night and Threshold: The Complete Series), hit the bookstore (and despite seeing a couple of good books, didn't pick up anything - see! I can delay gratification!), took The Wife out for lunch (some terrible Thai), won a valuable prize (I'll tell you about that later), took The Wife for a mani-pedi while I drank beer at the brew pub around the corner (Irish Red!), went back to the hardware store to look at more plants (with The Wife this time), replaced the lever on the toilet (which necessitated a THIRD trip to the hardware store), and took The Wife for dinner (Panera!).
Being dissatisfied with Loews' selection of plants, Suzanne and I embarked on a voyage to Dallas' Farmers Market where we picked up all kinds of stuff. I'll post pictures later. Returning to the house, I spent the remainder of the day in the dirt getting the plants in. At about five o'clock, I went inside to shower.
We had dinner Saturday night with two other couples at a great restaurant south of town, Joey's. The owner/operator shouts out my name when I come through the door. Love that guy!
It's an Italian joint where you can bring your own bottle. I think we had five different bottles on the table. We had a blast.
I was so sore, the wine was truly welcome. I quickly reached a warm, happy state.
At dinner, Rodger gave me the Across the Universe disk. That mutha is da' bomb diggity! I'm getting a kick out of Bono's Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, but I think Jim Sturgess really steals the show with EVERY freaking song he sings!
Sunday morning, Easter, Suzanne and I both served at church - I read from Acts and the Psalm. Suzanne led the prayers.
I brought work home this weekend, spending several hours in computer based training in preparation for more training I have at the corporate office this week.
So, it's been a busy few days.
Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net
Posted by Aron Head
at 9:30 PM CDT
Now Playing: Nine Inch Nails' 36 Ghosts IV from Ghosts I-IV 
I've got a couple of gaming related PDFs that I've been needing to print, largely because I hate reading large documents on a monitor. Our printer at home is aged, unable to handle anything too graphics intensive. We're shopping for a new one. 
On the way back from 
Suzanne and I like Costco. We enjoy shopping there because one never know what wonderful things will be found.
Arthur C. Clarke, Hugo and Nebula award winnging author of such sci-fi classics as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End, and Rendevous With Rama, died yesterday.