The Tenebrae service at Central United Methodist Church last night was beautiful and moving. Tonight is the “Great Getting’ Up Mournin’ celebration” with the Chancel Choir and a Baptist Gospel Choir. It’s supposed to be fantastic and not to be missed. The celebration is at 7:00 pm, 201 University Blvd NE. 243-7834.
I was out at midnight under the full moon — the silence was peaceful and the shadows cast by the moonlight were beautiful, yet somewhat sinister like a dragon or Scylla ready to rise up out of the serpentine shadows when your back is turned.
The ways of the world, and even more so, the ways of the Internet can be so very puzzling. I participate in market surveys that earn money for charities. The surveys are mostly about technology, automotive products and architecturally related merchandise like doors, windows, flooring, etc. I don’t know what the surveys will be about until I start them. Yesterday, after Stretch died, I received an alert that I had a new survey. The first question was “Do you own a pet?” I answered yes, and the rest of the survey was about if I would be interested in receiving text messages from my pet during the day, how much I’d pay for such a service and if I’d like to get continue to get messages from pet heaven after the pet died. Not only was it one of the weirdest things I’d ever heard of, it really creeped me out coming the day after Stretch died. I answered no to all questions and commented how weird it was when comments were allowed. I guess someone is thinking that people who don’t have time to spend with their pets would like the feeling of having a personal connection by getting text messages throughout the day from their neglected or even their dead pets. Trying to imagine why anyone would consider paying for such a silly service was like the kernel panic in the last photo.
René, the Eclectus Parrot formerly known as Joey (see Joey’s Big Adventure) has come to live with us. Tristan’s household has too much activity for him, so he was getting over stimulated and stressed out. He is already happy only having to share a room with our Conure, Beakers. Laurie had Beakers out in his space in the kitchen and René was still in the study, so the birds started ringing their bells back and forth. I told Laurie they were “texting” each other. Rene’ came out when I got home and had dinner with me. Rosencrantz was sticking his tail in René’s face while he was pestering me and René was seriously thinking about biting Rosencrantz’ tail, otherwise René and Rosencrantz didn’t react to each other in the least.
The almost full moon was beautiful peeking through the clouds tonight. I can’t resist moon and cloud photos.
I photographed all three services for Palm Sunday, but with everything else I had to do, I didn’t get start looking at the photos until late, so I processed a few of the more abstract photos that represented the story. One of the boys played shadow guitar in the play.
We had a cold wind all day, and when I went out at 10:30 tonight to shut off the water, I found everything had ice on it. When I checked the temperature it was 20 degrees F. Now it’s midnight and the temperature is 15 degrees F.
As a passed some clean, sparkling Harleys parked at UNM on my way out of class today, I couldn’t resist doing a couple of close up shots. We got our midterms back in French 385 this afternoon, and we both got A’s — but Laurie scored a half point higher than I did so now the heat is on!
I went out at 3:00 am to check for water. The sliver moon had gone to bed, but there was a ghostly glow from the clouds reflecting the city lights. Not a creature was stirring in the dead silence that was occasionally punctured by the distant sound of a car or truck on I-25. There was water in the irrigation ditch, but the gate was still locked, so the only thing I got out of stumbling out into the pre-dawn hours was a cottonwood silhouetted against the light reflecting off the clouds.
We’ve been reading “Lucky Luke: Les Dalton dans le Blizzard” while we give Stretch his fluids. When we got to page 36, I noticed the kids at the desks had what look like iPads. They are supposed to be slates, but the kids don’t have chalk in their hands, which make them seem even more iPad-like — but since this edition of “Lucky Luke” was first published in 1965, Steve Jobs was himself a mere schoolboy and the iPad only a twinkle in his eyes.
The sky was cloudy most of the day with occasional sunshine slipping through. The temperature got up to 80 F, and our early blooming pear tree popped its first bloom. A few of the red tulips are blooming and a lot more tulips are thinking about it — with the positive signs of spring, I got out my macro lens. I also got the rest of the iris separated and planted this afternoon, and ran drippers and soaker hoses, but I really need to irrigate. I’ll go out at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning to see if there’s water in the irrigation ditch, and if the gate’s unlocked, but I’m not counting on either.
Rosencrantz eyed Diné in the dry grass and attacked. Diné held her ground, while Guildenstern lounged on the deck watching the standoff.
A couple of Harleys parked downtown and The Fusion Factory.
Off Center & Not Even 