Palm Sunday (and the usual excuse)

I'm all out of kilter today (again). I took a ridiculous number of photos at church this morning (over 70, I think), dropped off my friends, had lunch, browsed a flea market but didn't buy anything, went home, slept past 6:30 PM, got up...um...read email, cleaned up the photos, watched a bit of tv, and suddenly it was past 1 AM. I promised to get the sermons page caught up today, but today's over and it's not gonna happen. It's taken me past 3 AM just to get the schedule page and church news blog entry done. So I'm just going to show you some of the photos I took off the camera today, and then go the heck to bed. I'll do better tomorrow - I hope!

Palms frame the entrance to the church. When I was
a kid in Manlius, palm leaves were exotic curiosities
from some far-off land. Here they're homegrown,
and come in a variety of sizes and shapes.

This courtyard is near the old Parish Center. What you don't see
here is the grackle who was carrying on in one of the treetops.

Hey, aren't those pussy willows attached to the biggest palms?

Mass on Palm Sunday begins in the Creswell Courtyard, pretty much at the other end of the church and school complex from the church proper.

The palms have been blessed. Now (in the immortal words
of the Mouseketeers), "There's your hat! What a hat!"

The choir gets us started singing All Glory, Laud and Honor. By the time we all make our way to the church, there's always a time lag between the singers in front and the ones in back, and it kind of becomes a round. Or people get confused by the competing singers in front and behind, and have to stop and get synched up again.

Father Douglas (left), Father Smith, subdeacon Bob Howe and
acolytes stand by while parishioners enter the church, still singing.

Holy Week is always a busy time for me, especially later this week. Fair warning: I may not have my usual long-winded entries on Thursday through Saturday. But I'll try to give you quality, if not quantity.

I want to thank Bea for her entry about the Heirs of Mâvarin excerpt in my fiction blog, and all the other Mâvarin stuff she explored today. It really means a lot to me when someone gets interested in my fiction, especially in the novels that are my life's work. Someday, I hope a lot of people will be interested enough to buy them, once a publisher makes them available. Until then, it's the enthusiasm of the occasional online friend or casual reader that helps to keep me going.

Oh, and I keep forgetting to promo the next Round Robin Photo Challenge: "New Life." You know about that, right? The posting date is Wednesday, April 12. I think the timing is about perfect - new life is a part of spring, and Easter, and even Passover if you think about it. Check out the details on the Round Robin blog, RSVP, and then, as Carly says, go be photographers!

Karen


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