During Tim's reconciliation service, Jeff messaged me that Kenny needs a book on Hawaii from the library. So after the service (and after getting a bite at Tim's favorite restaurant, Subway), I traded him in for Kenny at home. We returned his Lindbergh biography which he'd had since January because he had already given his presentation to parents at school a couple of Fridays ago. The overdue fee was only $2. Whew.

I sat Kenny down at the WebCat PC/terminal in the children's section and without any prompting from me, he typed in "hawaii." The results weren't very impressive. I told him to scan the results for call numbers beginning with "J" and we would walk to that section of the children's collection and scan the shelves for titles that looked promising. None of the results tended to cluster around any particular call number but we decided to walk to the 970's in the stacks.

There wasn't much on the shelves that caught our eye. So we walked over to the fiction section to locate a librarian. We told her we were looking for fact books on Hawaii and she countered, "Not in this section you aren't." I know it's their tendency to think patrons stupid but I resent being considered also lazy. No, but over in the 970's. She told us to try 919.

So we walked back and found a much wider selection of books. We took home two. To her credit, she stopped by and checked up on us. I just don't know why these 919 books didn't turn up in a catalog search.

After that, I took a few minutes to sashay over to the grown-up 200's. I'm beginning a study of the Book of Exodus and I thought I could find the Anchor Bible commentary. But I didn't see that particular volume even though there are some, mostly prophets. Instead I picked up F. F. Bruce's The English Bible, 2^nd edition (OUP, 1970). It's my cup of tea. I'd forgotten how much I love looking at OE and ME texts. I can't read the texts, can't pronounce or translate. But I nonetheless find the words fascinating, always have:

Ne beoth ge thy forhtran, theah the Faraon brohte
sweordwigendra side hergas,
eorla unrim! Him eallum wile
mihtig drihten thurh mine hand
to daege thissum daedlean gyfan,
thaet hie lifigende leng ne moton
aegnian mid yrmthum Israhela cyn.
Ne willath eow ondraedan deade fethan
faege ferhthlocan! fyrst is aet ende
laenes lifes. Eow is lar godes
a-broden of breostum: ic on beteran raed,
thaet ge gewurthien wuldres aldor
and eow liffrean lissa bidde,
sigora gesynto, thaer ge sithien!
This is se ecea Abrahames god,
frumsceafta frea, se thas fyrd wereth
modig and maegenrof mid thaere miclan hand.

When I was a kid looking at this sort of stuff, usually the word origins in the dictionary entry, I always thought that I'd one day learn how to read it. Or even that I could ever learn to read it. Ha.

Bruce says that this section is an OE translation from Old Saxon, centuries before the Norman Conquest. Follow the link and look at all the quaint names.

I haven't gotten very far in Bruce's book and probably won't before it's due back at the library. But I found the third edition available at Amazon from book sellers. I guess it's interesting because I don't think many people are trained in these ancient languages anymore. And so far I've found his writing style irenic.

I took Ella to an afternoon birthday party at the park in town. It was sunny and a little breezy. Chris was home from school with a mild fever but came along.

Ella wanted me to swing her almost exclusively. And that was alright with me. How many more opportunities will I have to do that? But as usually happens at these things, I looked after the other children on the playground as well. Chatting moms were more than happy to let me push their kids on the swings or help them down the rock climb.

Believe it or not, I'd actually forgotten how it is. Has it been so long since I've been to the playground with a group? But I'd rather look after kids. Except one kid there who had seemingly boasted about his age turned out to be the one who could do the least for himself.

Chris mostly sat. Occasionally he'd come over and wanted to push Ella. Just as the pizza was served, they both told me they were hungry. What good timing! They both had a slice. Ella walked around eating hers in order to keep tabs on the swing. After the cake, the hostess brought out the "goodie bags" because one child left already.

Those goodies bags caught Chris's eye. Before long, he asked whether we could leave, after receiving a goodie bag. I told him that I hadn't told the birthday kid's mother that he was coming, it was last minute because he was home sick, and she might not have enough goodie bags. But that the best thing to do was to wait until the party was almost over and then there would be a good chance that she had enough. It seemed reasonable to me but he could not accept it.

The pull-a-part cake had a Cars theme which my two younger children know and love. A significant episode in the movie is Lightening McQueen being ordered to pave the road he ruined in a car chase with police. Icky, gicky tar or asphalt is a big part of that scene. That being said, I saw no esthetic reason for the cake icing to be mostly black. When Ella got her chocolate cupcake covered in black icing, she stuck out her tongue. She ate most of it and her face was, not black but a deep purple. A lady with a white jacket sat backwards on the picnic bench, leaning against the table and got black frosting all over her coat. After that, everyone was lamenting the absence of baby wipes from their travel packs.

My two kids spent the last half hour of the party with their heads under the picnic table watching the ants take away bits of cake and frosting that had fallen to the ground. They know A Bug's Life quite well, also.

Chris had asked me to bring a travel pillow from the car so that he could rest his head. Ella insisted on having one too. At one point, I sat between them on a park bench while they each rested on either side of me. It probably seemed ridiculous - why not just go home? But, I thought the fresh air was good for them.

When it was time to leave, I offered to take things to the hostess's car but she said she had it under control. Chris got a goodie bag which was a blue pail with some candy and toys, including bubbles. We drove over to the older boys' school and I let them out to blow bubbles near the playground. They used the tiny bottles all up, so from my perspective, it was a success!

Sunday Snippets - a Catholic carnival hosted by Rann at "This That and the Other Thing."

• My submission this week: "Resuming Bible studies after Easter break - the Book of Exodus"

We had last Thursday off because some school districts were still on spring break.

After dropping the younger kids off at school, I headed over to church and was nearly halfway there when I realized that I hadn't brought my bag.

The first session is always review, starting from Creation and working historically forward to the biblical book in question. In this case, Exodus. I wouldn't need a Bible but I keep a couple in my car, for no particular reason. So I grabbed one, Zondervan's SRSB (NIV) and entered the building.

These lawn signs (pictured upper right) guided my path to the employee entrance. I hoped the answers were printed on the reverse but, no, just the same question repeated. The web site only invites inquirers to a Sunday service which promises to answer questions beginning April 10th. That must be their mystagogy program.

I climbed the spiral staircase and noted few in attendance in the Fundamentals class, at the top of the stairs. I entered our room right next door and found a seat in the back row, between the study leader's teaching partner and the Lutheran who had an "Extreme Teen" Bible unopened in front of her. And the lady next to her had the same, also unopened, only its front cover had been ripped off. So I figured that I wasn't the only one who'd forgotten my stuff as the ladies had helped themselves to the stray Bibles that litter the meeting room.

Class had started long ago and I struggled to join the discussion, which at the moment, sought to fit dates of Egyptian kings into the history of the Abrahamic people. The presentation was unavoidably confusing due to very foreign names and working backwards in years BC. But the presenter kept her head and didn't give up and straightened us all out. Her knowledge and ability keeps me coming back.

I have Sarna's commentary on Exodus too. The eleven lesson study runs until just before Independence Day. I am excited about the study and hope I don't get frustrated.

tags technorati : precepts exodus

In Memoriam - Michael Spencer

In order to stay up past his bedtime, Tim opted to come with me to the Holy Thursday service in Hamilton. We were a few minutes late getting there only because we hosted my brother-in-law and his two boys for dinner. We took our seats as the catechumens were presenting the blessed chrisms from the bishop.

Tim had wanted to light a candle but I always forget the protocol: the gates were drawn closed until after the Vigil.

There was quite a bit of incense. The readings were short enough. I had Tim follow along in my missal but he was really only interested in the psalm, especially the word "psalm." The homily was about the ministerial priesthood and the sacraments, particularly holy eucharist and reconciliation. About how the priest doesn't say "Christ absolves you," but rather, "I absolve you." Very basic stuff but I guess people need to hear it. I tried very hard to pray my rosary to drowned out the homily but I couldn't focus. I was too interested in what he was saying.

Twelve people, men and women, had their feet washed by the priest. Conveniently, they went up barefoot. I prefer when the priest does the lot rather than hands off the task. But I read somewhere on the internet that only the feet of males are to be washed. I wouldn't even know where to look to confirm that. This parish seems to take pains to be by-the-book. More about that later. I was just glad that the choir sang things other than that repetitive Gregory Norbet song.

At some point, I got the sense that the intent of the liturgy was to separate the true Catholics from the pretenders. As I looked about, everyone was especially enjoying the incense and reverence. No one seemed disgusted at the pretentious air, pardon the pun. So, I was just reminded that there are plenty of Catholics who'll come out of the woodwork to appreciate such a service. It was fine for me. It didn't bother me.

The procession used an umbrella instead of a canopy. Maybe the parish doesn't possess a canopy. I suppose I could check back at Corpus Christi. A friend of mine told me she's switching to an ELCA church because this parish asked for $50,000 towards church ornaments, like candelabras, etc. She just thought the money could be better used to fight poverty instead of worshipping God properly. I should have told her about the time I heard a pastor ask for $60,000 in one weekend, but that still doesn't make it right.

When it was over, most people just seemed stunned, just sitting there, not knowing whether to move or not. I whispered to Tim that it's done, that we could leave quietly. And I read in the paper a couple of days later that the bishop was at St. Al's in Jackson - a relatively new church building that I have not visited yet. It would have been perfect had I only known!