What a Weekend!

On Friday night... Well, I don't even remember Friday night. But On Saturday morning Athanasia had to go to work because one of her employees called in sick, which threw a wrench in the gears, and messed up our breakfast plans. But when she cam home, Anselm Samuel and I went to the Scout-O-Rama, which was pretty fun, except for the Scout who fell 30 feet from the slide for life (ambulance, no broken spine, but sprained neck & broken ribs). Anselm earned his marbles belt loop, carried a 20 pound boa constrictor, played some really very hard coordination games, made a new kerchief slide out of a square knot, fired a marshmallow rifle, ran obstacle courses, and a bunch more stuff. We saw one very old scout who seemed to have every patch ever awarded. He was very old and frail looking, and was in a wheel chair. He had one patch that said something like "70 Years of Scouting". I wondered if that was the 70th anniversary (which would have been in 1979) patch of the BSA or if it was an award the scout received for 70 years of service to the BSA.

Saturday night Athanasia and I went to my sister's house for a Baby shower for my nephews wife. That was a lot of fun, except, my brother-in-law's mother died that morning. And I was already feeling kind of sad because as I was getting ready to go tot the shower this thought entered my mind, "I haven't seem Mom in a long time. It will be good to see her tonight." Then, of course, I remembered that she died more than a year ago. So, Dan's mother dying, knowing Mothers Day was just a few hours away, and my mother's absence from an event she would only have missed because of the grave... It was an effort to keep from crying at that party last night.

This morning, zipped up to the cathedral. How beautiful to hear the words "Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!" the day after learning the sad news about my brother-in-law's mother's death. We had her commemorated during the Liturgy. She is a fine Christian woman who has labored her whole life in service to God, her husband, and her children. Her name is Lois, if you are able to pray for her.

There was an army of altar boys serving this morning. Altogether there, were 8 altar boys, 1 reader, 2 priests, 1 deacon, and 2 subdeacons serving. The Little and Great Entrances resembled a river of vestments flowing though a hole in a dam. It was almost startling. We prayed "God Grant You Many Years" to all the mothers. Then we prayed "Memory Eteral" for all the mothers who have fallen asleep. I do not think there was a dry eye in the building after that. And Orthodox accuse western Christians of being sentimental... Sheesh!

For those who have never heard the song, here it is in Russian.



After Church I had to augur some drains in one of the townhouses, but when that was completed we went out and had some fun. We went for a hike in Castle Rock State Park. All over the mountain, which is covered in oak, redwood, bay, madrone, and pine trees are large outcroppings of rock. Many large enough to be of utility to rock climbers. At the summit of the mountain is the park's namesake. The Castle Rock is enormously huge. It is riven; many fissures, caves and crevasses throughout the giant stone. The boys found one cave that had two large rooms. One was designated the kitchen (complete with an imaginary fire place) the other was the bedroom.

After the hike we came home. It was about sunset. Athanasia made a salad. I baked kielbasa and sour kraut. We drank mimosas. Desert was berry pie and ice cream.

In other news, I heard a song on Prairie Home Companion while driving home from the Divine Liturgy today. The version I heard on the radio was pretty amazing, and I wish I had a copy of it, it was guitars, banjos, a piano, (maybe a mandolin, too?), and at least 5 very talented singers. I googled the song when I got home and learned that it was recorded by a Kentucky preacher named Alfred Karnes in 1927. He had seen an ad in a newspaper asking for people to come down and audition for a record company. The instrument Rev. Karnes is playing in this recording is a Gibson Harp-Guitar.

Well, before I go, I'd like to point out that there seems to be a war on scouting here in the West, and it seems the homosexuals are behind it. Item #1 and Item #2. Other than praying and calling congressmen to complain, I don't know what to do about it.