Yesterday I was glad to be working from home because I felt awful. I had a surprisingly productive day but felt very lightheaded, especially when walking on my breaks. At ten our neighbor helped us bring our boat in, and I did manage to help with that. It was a brisk morning, but calm on the very blue water, unlike the previous two days that had been so windy. I felt even worse as the day went on; I'd been planning to go to a church on the east side for All Saints' Day Mass at 7:00 but didn't feel well enough. Finally I checked my Daily Readiness score, which had been a perfect 100 the two previous days, and it was 16. What?? No wonder I felt so awful!
This morning I felt a little better but still not great. I checked my Daily Readiness score right away and it was 56, which seemed way too high for how I felt. We had a relaxed morning, then we went to the co-op to buy the ingredients for street corn, which we were bringing to a potluck at R Van the Terrible's house. Travalon's two favorite teams, Wolverhampton and Crystal Palace, were playing each other in the early afternoon, which was fine with me because I wasn't up to a big hike and just took a gentle rosary walk in the neighborhood. Wolverhampton is his favorite team, but ever since he gave me Jerry the Kraken, I've had a soft spot for Palace, so I hoped they would tie... and indeed they did, 2-2. Travalon did some fishing off the dock while I recovered from my walk (pathetic), then he made the street corn with minimal help from me. I honestly had thought I was going to die on my walk, so I thought about skipping the party, but after doing some word game puzzles, I had recovered sufficiently.
In theory All Souls' Day should be my favorite day of the year, since everyone knows what a devotion I have to praying for the souls in purgatory. I wore an orange lei that kind of looked like a garland of marigolds like Mexicans might wear for the Day of the Dead, which confused everyone at the party - they kept saying, "I didn't know there was a Hawaiian theme!" It was a lot of Night Prayer regulars, my OTHER choir director, a retired priest, and some other people like the local Chesterton Club leader. My OTHER choir director brought a red wine from Spain that was so delicious I felt like I owed him a kiss. People seemed to like Travalon's street corn (a Mexican delicacy), and the other food was so good too. The Dairyman's Daughter brought red cabbage, Jilly Moose brought orzo salad, Cecil Markovitch brought southwestern corn, the Chesterton guy brought ribs, and Luxuli and Prairie Man brought an eggplant dish with goat cheese from Portugal that was so, so good, among other delicacies. The guy who always brings fabulous desserts brought a blueberry pie and an almond cake.
Most people sat at a table in the living room in front of a roaring fire, but I was too hot and sat on the fabulous porch, where I talked to the Chesterton guy and the priest and various other people who cycled through. R Van the Terrible mentioned that she had flavored moonshine she had bought at a tourist trap in Tennessee, which the Chesterton guy thought sounded atrocious. I asked what flavor, and she said apple and watermelon. I said "watermelon moonshine" sounds like the name of an album put out by a bluegrass band, and while I am usually a terminally curious person who would have wanted to try both flavors, today I had no interest - why follow that delicious Spanish wine with something so... unnatural? When most people had left, Rich and Kathbert came out onto the porch, and of course I started talking about fata morganas again, and Rich said he had seen them years ago. I said, "Oh yeah, you used to live on the California coast, and they frequently have them there." He said, "No, this was in the desert." (He lived in Kuwait for over a year.) They can happen there too. What he saw looked like water hovering just above the horizon - I'm not sure if that's an actual fata morgana or another type of mirage. It sure could be one.
When we got home, I was delighted to find this:
I got this rick rack cactus almost two years ago, when a local greenhouse sent me a birthday discount coupon. I was attracted to its crazy foliage, and I picked it up, but then I felt sad and thought, "Poor plant! I'd probably just kill you! Do you really want to come home with me?" and in my heart I heard the plant say, "Yes, I do!" That was startling, but I did bring it home, and it has been happy ever since. And now this! It smells even better than it looks!
I think these cacti only bloom for one night, so it seems fortuitous that it bloomed on All Souls' Day. As my regular readers will remember, ever since the start of the pandemic, I have been buying antique rosaries and then praying for the previous owners, most of whom I assume have passed on. To my surprise, I became aware that they were also praying for me. People say, "Things go so smoothly for you! You must have good karma!" but maybe it's because I have an army of souls praying for me. And this seems like a sign from them, like they begged God to let my cactus bloom on this particular night to thank me for all my prayers. I mean, I know it could just have something to do with the days getting shorter, but it still feels significant that it happened on Day of the Dead.
Famous Hat
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