MOTHER'S DAY

This is a painting I finished last night - A Dispatch of Angels. It is for an art trading buddy, who I hope will like it.

Today was the May Crowning before Mass, and I was busy with that. It was kind of difficult to coordinate this year, since it slipped up on me, and the drought has made wildflowers and home garden flowers pretty scarce. There were few children there for it, until the last minute when they absolutely poured in. I always take extra flowers from home, just in case, but this year I had almost nothing - a few decent blue plumbago stems and one lone red canna stem. So I was running around before Mass all over the parish grounds cutting flowers from the rectory border and the large flower pots in front of the church. There weren't that many flowers blooming there, either, and none that were really cut flower types, but by that time, I couldn't be too choosey. Many of the kids didn't have flowers to bring either, but fortunately some parents bought a bunch or two of daisies or carnations. So we did have enough - barely.

The procession and crowning went well, with kids from around 2 years old to about 15 participating. Briana C. crowned the statue of the Blessed Mother. The honor always goes to the recent First Communion student with the best class attendance.

The church was very crowded, so after attending to the children, I found I had to sit in the very first pew, with no kneeler, along with a young family, since all the other places were taken. So Chuck and Mathieu sat a couple rows back in our usual place, while Zachary served at the altar. At least this way, I was close enough to where he saw me giving him 'the eye' to quit whispering to Eddie (the other altar server) during the homily. Halfway through Mass, Chuck sent Mathieu up to me to tell me he had to go to the restroom. Chuck was pinned against the wall, in his pew, so I did the honors.

After Mass, all the mothers came to the front for a blessing and to receive a red carnation and a small rosary, in a case, as a gift from the parish.

Speaking of red carnations, this was the first year that I didn't get to buy Shabree a red carnation corsage, since she has been old enough not to eat one. Living too far away to come down on a normal two-day weekend, we didn't have her this Mother's Day. I had ordered and picked up my white carnation corsage the evening before. I almost let it slip by me this year, but did squeek by with the last minute ordering. She and I always observe the old tradition of wearing a white carnation (denoting and honoring a deceased mother) or a red carnation (honoring a living mother), to Mass, each Mother's Day.

In the afternoon, Andrew called and invited me to dinner out, so I met him around 5:30 and we went to Taqueria Jalisco for dinner.

Back home, later that evening, when Chuck returned home, he said that Garrett came by to wish me a happy mother's day while I was gone. Then Reagan called too, and said he had a gift for my hopefully non-purple thumb, which he'd bring by tomorrow.

Tonight was the Survivor Panama finale. I wish Terry would have won, but I was okay with Aras winning. This season's Survivor had the biggest number of really good, likable, normal people of any of the previous ones. Not all of them - Shane for instance, and that fire dancer woman - but a really large percentage of them.