“The feeling of Sunday is the same everywhere, heavy, melancholy, standing still.”
Today will be warm, close to perfect, maybe even 60˚. The sun is brilliant. The sky is a dark blue. The trees are still. The wind of yesterday is gone. The dogs appreciate the weather and have been in and out all morning. They wake me up every day far too early. Both of them sleep on the couch then follow me upstairs usually after one. I spend time with Jack and then read before turning out the light always after two and even closer to three. The dogs’ schedule has to change.
When I was a kid, I was up and about early even on weekends, especially on Saturdays. I didn’t want to waste a single minute of my favorite day. Sundays were different. The day was out of my hands. I had to go to mass. I hoped for mass downstairs where there was no sermon, and the mass went quickly. Sometimes it was so full I had to stand in the back. I didn’t mind as it meant I was among the first to leave. The downstairs was small and dark. The altar too was small.
The main church, upstairs, had long stain glass windows on each side. I used to read the names, the dedications. The sun sometimes poured through and lit the church. There were three altars, two small on each side and a large one in the middle. Pendant lights hung from the tall ceiling. Everywhere was wood.
In the winter I sat in the warm church toward the back. In the summer I stood if I could or even sat outside on the steps when the church was full. The priest always gave a sermon. We were his captive audience.
Sunday afternoons we often visited my grandparents. The house was filled with aunts, uncles and cousins. On the stove was the pan of pasta so we could help ourselves. Usually it was shells, my favorite. The sauce was already on the shells. The cheese and the grater were on the table. The women sat in the kitchen. The men usually watched football upstairs. In the summer we often went to the beach after mass and stayed all day. I loved those Sundays!
Today is dump day.
Explore posts in the same categories: Musings
May 1, 2022 at 2:49 pm
Hi Kat,
Today, is a beautiful day with a clear sky, a strong south breeze, and a high predicted of 84°. May is usually our wettest month and next week there’s a prediction of rain each day. We need rain badly.
Yesterday, I read an article that had a picture showing the water main uncovered by water in lake Mead. That opening usually supplies the water for the city of Las Vegas. Fortunately, there’s a deeper one that will keep the water on in sin city for awhile. The drought out west is putting a strain on the water in the Calorado River basin down stream. At lake Powell, which is located above Lake Mead the water level is so low that they may have to chose between releasing water down stream or producing electricity. These two reservoirs are the largest ones in the country. In Los Angeles, they are permitting watering of yards to only one day weekly. They may have to ban watering completely in the summer. Here, the city of Grapevine prohibits watering between nine in the morning and nine at night to conserve water.
When I was younger I always enjoyed poking fun to the Rabbi concerning the fact that every room in the Temple was dedicated to the memory of someone’s relative. They made a large donation to get a plaque with their name and the dead relative’s name on the door. Once during the High Holiday service, I went to the men’s room. The Rabbi was also using the facility, I stood next to him and asked, “Who’s urinal are you peeing into? I’m using the Harry Rabinowitz Memorial Urinal”. 🙂 Of course the restrooms don’t have memorial plaques, but every other room does. Religion is big untaxed business.
This Sunday afternoon, I’m getting ready to watch the Rangers play the Braves in Arlington. Today is Nolan Ryan Day. He will throw out the first pitch because today is the day he pitched his 7th. no hitter during his long career. Nolan was 44 when he did that feat.
May 1, 2022 at 7:54 pm
Hi Bob,
We actually got over 60˚ today The sun stayed around al day. Maybe it is a sign of weather to come.
When I was in Phoenix for the first time, I was amazed at the number of golf courses where everything was green. There was water from fountains spewing into the air. You’d think Arizona had a hidden cache of water to waste.
I’ve seen pictures of the water levels so frighteningly low. I don’t get how people sort of just ignore that. We didn’t have much snow this winter so there could be a shortage of water. We have already been Tod the days of the wee we can water our lawns. I don’t remember having to conserve that way before this.
That’s funny, your urinal talk with the rabbi.
St. Patrick’s church, my church for years, was build in 1887. The Irish had moved into town to get jobs in the shoe industry for which my town was once famous so it was called St. Patrick’s. I don’t know when the stain glass was added, but they are trying to refurbish the windows before they fall out. Many of the church fixtures came from other parishes.
My Red Sox have yet too find the sweet spots with their bats.
May 1, 2022 at 9:01 pm
Golf courses and probably fountains are watered with grey water in arid parts of the country
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greywater
May 1, 2022 at 11:57 pm
Regardless of the cleaning, that is gross going into soil were stuff grows.
May 1, 2022 at 5:55 pm
Labour Day today which is a public holiday. Too bad that it’s on Sunday this year, no extra day off.
I never saw so many old churches in one place when I was at the Baltic Sea this month and I’m glad I could see most of them from the inside too.
A nice short video of that town to tease your travel bug:
May 1, 2022 at 8:18 pm
Birgit,
That video whipped my travel bug into a frenzy!! What a beautiful city, so many church spires. When my mother and I went to Florence, she told me she didn’t want to go into many museums. They weren’t her thing; instead, we did the churches which were almost mini-museums with all the art work. She never noticed.
We have our Labor Day in September, at the of end of the summer which seems like the appropriate time. It is always on a Monday.