Envelopes and fig trees

Have taken a day off today in order to use up my holiday days before the end of March. So I now have five days left, which I'm allowed to add to next year's holiday allowance, hurrah. And, hey, a day off is never unwelcome.

Anyway, this morning I have done my Christian duty for the month and spent an hour and a half at the Rectory helping to stuff envelopes. You can never have enough secretarial-type jobs, in my opinion. It was quite a pleasant way to pass some time, but it does make me smile (or perhaps groan is rather the word) that, in Anglican circles, it's very rare for anyone to ask about anyone else's life unless they've been a feature of church life for years, if not generations. Is it something they put in the tea? There was a flicker of surprise when I actually asked one of the men opposite at the table what he did for a living, but they swiftly moved on ... Ah well, still several years of stranger-hood to go through, I feel.

Back home, I have written a short story about Zacchaeus. I'm calling it "Purity and the fig tree", for the time being but I'll see if anything else pops up. As it were. I'm fairly satisfied with how it's worked out (the present tense, first person view seems the closest to the tone I wanted, so I've used it), but as ever these things need to mull for a while. I've also written a poem about death and whisky (the ideal combination of course), sent out a haiku submission and re-sent out the poems that were rejected yesterday. Or was it the day before? I forget.

Whilst still hanging by our fingertips onto the subject of religion, here's this morning's meditation:

Meditation 94

Five pieces of silver
redeem a child

but the fate of cows,
sheep and goats

is sealed
in blood and sacrifice.

I might be tempted
to swop that order

if it were me.


Ah, children. I couldn't eat a whole one, you know. Now I think it's time to do my relaxation back exercises (my arms have been aching recently, and I have no real idea why - is it the new Alexander Technique kicking in, I wonder?...) and maybe some puzzles. Tonight, I've got the Lent Bible group (will I ever escape from the strange siren call of the rectory today??) so I'm hoping for a chocolate biscuit to keep body and soul together while we look at part three of Job. Well, something has to.

Today's nice things:

1. Stuffing envelopes
2. Writing a short story
3. Poetry
4. Thinking about the book of Job.

Anne Brooke
Anne's website - an expert in envelope co-ordination