The Week

It has been an unusual week. My mother-in-law has not been in good health for a while. And now the family thinks she is dying. Although, to be sure, there is no medical opinion to that effect, Mary flew off last Monday to be with her and be what help she can. So if you have an extra moment and can say a little prayer for Rosie, it would be appreciated.

In the meantime, I am once again pottering about here on the ancestral estate by myself and alternately enjoying doing whatever I like without regard to anyone else's wants and needs and missing having Someone Else's wants and needs to take into consideration. There's no one here to read to from the morning paper. Yes, I can read it out loud anyway, but nobody laughs or asks me questions about it. Usually, I take Herself's absence as an opportunity to cook all those things I like that she doesn't really care for. But, wouldncha know, it's Holy Week. Since I can't really do a proper fast according to the rule, in its place I try to keep things fairly bland and moderately unappetizing.

And I had nothing to do on St Patrick's Day. This is not only highly unusual but a major financial hit. It's like a retailer being closed in December. Some things were cancelled by the client and I had to pass on some other things to help get ready for the trip. "There is no shame in being a poor man," as the Reverend Canon Sidney Smith reminded us, "but it is confounded inconvenient."