AKMA’s Random Thoughts

I ran my miles this morning, coffee and fruit breakfast, Morning Prayer, shower and dress for the service at St Nicolas’s, went to Waitrose for particular groceries (gluten-free and veg, since the small Cooperative location doesn’t devote much of its space to our dietary oddities), met Margaret and the dogs on East St Helen’s Street, walked home and relaxed for a bit. Then we needed some groceries from the Cooperative, so I walked back to town, then we treated ourselves to curry and a chat with our dear friend Phil, and now it’s getting near bedtime. And tomorrow, term begins.

Last night, Margaret — whom all will agree is a fine cook — was preparing a spicy roast vegetable dish, when it became clear that she needed to deploy two separate roasting pans. That, in turn, mean preparing two separate batches of spices… (You may see the plot twist on the horizon…) So she administered the mix of spices onto the first tray, and then another onto the second tray, and it wasn’t until both trays were in the oven that the penny dropped and she realised (ominous chord) that for each tray, she had mixed the same quantity of seasonings as she had originally calculated for the entire batch.

So the roasted vegetables were exactly twice as spicy as she had intended that they be — and she had been aiming at the hot end of the spectrum from the start.

In the end, with copious dollops of improvised yogurt dressing, I was able happily to finish my serving. Margaret got most of the way through hers, but gave up for fear of causing irreparable damage. I finished the leftovers today for lunch — with yogurt support. Very tasty, but very spicy.

Two miles of slow, steady jogging this morning, hot breakfast and coffee, and work on my sermon for St Nic’s tomorrow.

Ran my morning two in lovely weather (I am going to be so relieved when spring/summer settles in), fruit breakfast, washed up, Morning Prayer, ran some errands in town, returned and settled in to close out my backlogged marking. In the meantime, Margaret had taken Flora and Minke to the vet, whether Minke got a clean bill of health and Flora’s known health issues were addressed to Margaret’s satisfaction.

Yesterday was a very full-on working day, with my usual run first thing, coffee, hot breakfast, shower, Morning Prayer, coffee, Chapter Meeting, Pastoral Care Committee meeting, home for writing a blurb for the weekly pew sheet, implementation (including a mind-creasing interaction with Scottish Power relative to their site’s refusal to let me log in), financial research, hymn-check and edit the ordo, and collapse in a heap.

This morning I ran my two miles again, coffee and fruit, shower, Morning Prayer, Churches in Abingdon meeting, stops at banks, and home for lunch before mopping up marking in the afternoon. Not caught up yet, but within shouting distance, I think.

My short route (1.7 miles) in chilly, windy drizzle, coffee and fruit, shower and dress, Morning Prayer, second coffee, reading and transcribing Mieneke Cox’s guide to St Helen’s. Marking this afternoon (making headway).

Two miles at a non-demanding pace, fruit and coffee, cleaned up, Morning Prayer with particular intercession for Holly, then in to town for coffee and a pastry with Margaret and Fr Paul. Grocery shopping, a tutorial (cancelled, as it turns out), and marking in the afternoon. It’s Eastertide, but we’re back to a routine, and Margaret’s home, and that’s comforting.

Two miles at what would no doubt have been a decent pace if it weren’t for the blustery wind — at one point it felt as though there were a hand on my chest holding me back. Coffee, Morning Prayer, fruit breakfast, then Margaret came home after weeks in the US (first and last to work toward clearing her mother’s house to prepare it for sale, and in between to keep vigil with my sister as Holly moved onward to death).

We’re together again, a family of two along with Minke and Flora, till her next trip to finish the job in Maine.

A pleasant two miles this morning as Storm Kathleen brings 14° temps and clear skies (before wild winds and, no doubt, downpours, since every change of weather somehow has brought rain this winter). Next, Morning Prayer, then hot breakfast, then I’m determined to finish marking and move on to some writing. Edit sermon (almost twice as long as it should be).

I only took the short route this morning, and waled most of that, because as I turned onto the first main road on my morning run, I felt a little flutter in my lower back, as though my back muscles were warning me ‘Just give us an excuse, mate, and we’re going to coil up tight as a watchspring’. Then about a block further on, they sent another message to the effect of ‘Were you not listening?’ I decided that discretion required a gentler approach to this morning’s exercise, and walked the rest of the way.

Fruit breakfast and coffee, Morning Prayer, shower, second cup, clearing email (mostly involving my sister’s obit), then a wee bit of reading, marking, then walking the dogs, lunch, morning contact with Margaret, and now back to marking.

Two miles this morning, fruit and coffee, Morning Prayer, sermon prep, and developing prayers for an Easter service of Lessons and Carols… and I still haven’t gotten to the backlog of work that’s threatening to topple over and flatten me.

Two miles in the morning, coffee and Morning Prayer, hot breakfast, midweek Mass at St Helen’s, lots of time answering emails and editing an obituary… End-of-Life Hack: write your own obituary. Your survivors can edit it anyway, but give them as much as you can to work with. Save a photo or two or three that show you as you’d wish to be remembered. They will have enough other things to do, and it will increase the likelihood that people will recall you as you’d wish to be recalled.

(Pot, let me introduce you to Kettle. /bows and tips hat)