Everyone in the house has gone to the Aquatic Center, the daughters and grand daughters to swim, Eileen to watch. It has been a while since I posted here.

Picking up from last Wednesday (my last post), the evening choir rehearsal went well. I finally have a handle on how to choose anthems for my current crew. We spent some serious time on two anthems I substituted for harder ones.

Thursday I tried to bounce back a bit, but I was exhausted. Friday was the funeral for Eileen’s Mom. As you might expect it was a wrenching experience. There was Mass at her tiny little home parish. Experiencing church as a worshiper seems to drive me away from all churchy kind of stuff. But this wasn’t about me. Eileen was comforted by having our daughters and granddaughers with her. Plus my brother and his wife drove all the way over to be there and that helped her as well (Hi Mark and Leigh!).

Saturday I made the programs for Sunday’s recital. Sarah pulled together another poster for Grace Notes, this time the one for November. She had difficulty accessing her computer remotely and had to have the assistance of her lovely partner, Matthew.

Sunday was a marathon for me. Eucharist followed by a rehearsal of Stewardship: the Prequel, recital at 2 PM, and a blessing of the animals at 5 PM. Nothing was very stressful or difficult in and of itself. The choir knocked it out of the park. I had a visiting musician give me many compliments including nice words about how well the choir sounded. He asked about the service music I wrote that we used and I directed him here. By the end of the day I was exhausted. I’m tired now but don’t have to do anything today. Tomorrow we drive to Hart, Michigan to put the ashes of Eileen’s Mom and Dad in a grave.

NYTimes: Susan Collins Is the Worst Kind of Maverick

I’m finding the comment section at the New York Times fascinating. The  NYT selects certain comments and puts them in a subdirectory called New York Times Picks. This saves some time. Lately they seem to be choosing comments from the right wing perspective. In this article, these were almost half of the “picks.” But a quick perusal of the “Readers Picks” (i.e. those most recommended by readers) restored the liberal bias of the readership.

I wasn’t impressed with Collins behavior around the Cavanaugh confirmation. Neither was I surprised.

NYTimes: The Coming Storm Over the Supreme Court

Some history and background on how the Court has been challenged and changed.

Spend It All [by Robert P. Baird] – The Best American Poetry

This essay was  mentioned in the latest Best American Poetry collection. Bookmarked to read.

NYTimes: Hoaxers Slip Breastaurants and Dog-Park Sex Into Journals

The fact that these writers managed to fool professional journals seems to have pissed off many people. I think it’s funny and evidence of how bogus scholarship can be at its worst.