Ash Wednesday
Mar. 2nd, 2022 08:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ismoNothing says "Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris” like getting up and going to church before the sun has really come up. The ashes on the forehead are just icing on the cake, as it were. I wore my grey cloak, because in it, I can pretend that I'm still swathed in a blanket! It's kind of appropriate, too, due to the back story. When I was pregnant with Tron, my third child, my mother was planning to make a chasuble for the priest at their church. She bought some beautiful thick, red, silk twill. She sketched a design that she planned to embroider on it. But when she showed it to the priest, he said testily, "I don't want to be a liturgical signboard." This was in the era when even priests were mod and abstractions were all the rage. My mother got mad in her unique way, and decided she would just see about that. My coat no longer fit because I was too pregnant. She made me a hooded cloak of grey wool with silver buttons, and a beautiful lining of red silk twill. Too bad for Father Jackson! That cloak is now 43 years old. I should probably re-embroider the button holes. Otherwise, it's in fine shape.
Then I went off to the bookstore to meet Madame. I had to eat the vegetarian chili, and I was worried about my stomach, but it wasn't very spicy. We had a nice chat, and then her daughter who lives in town showed up. She and Madame were planning to go out for a little shopping. Her daughter is the same age as my Nipper. She's beautiful, charming, and bright. I imagine that she was somewhat concerned about this mysterious friend of her mother's, and wanted to make sure I wasn't a crazy person or a con artist! I hope that meeting me was reassuring. I was happy that I'd put on a nice scarf and some earrings so I would look more like a solid citizen. While her mother was in the bathroom, she said that she was so grateful that her mother had a friend, and that Madame really looked forward to our meetings. So I guess I must have made a good impression. We exchanged phone numbers, and I urged her to feel free to call me any time she thought there was good reason to. This is a relief to my mind, because now I know that if anything happens to Madame, someone will let me know.
Once I got home, I made a few more corrections to the text and then sent it off. It remains to be seen if the editor likes it. I'm really looking forward to getting both eyes fixed. By the end of the day, I'm pretty tired from squinting at everything and trying to bring it into focus!
Then I went off to the bookstore to meet Madame. I had to eat the vegetarian chili, and I was worried about my stomach, but it wasn't very spicy. We had a nice chat, and then her daughter who lives in town showed up. She and Madame were planning to go out for a little shopping. Her daughter is the same age as my Nipper. She's beautiful, charming, and bright. I imagine that she was somewhat concerned about this mysterious friend of her mother's, and wanted to make sure I wasn't a crazy person or a con artist! I hope that meeting me was reassuring. I was happy that I'd put on a nice scarf and some earrings so I would look more like a solid citizen. While her mother was in the bathroom, she said that she was so grateful that her mother had a friend, and that Madame really looked forward to our meetings. So I guess I must have made a good impression. We exchanged phone numbers, and I urged her to feel free to call me any time she thought there was good reason to. This is a relief to my mind, because now I know that if anything happens to Madame, someone will let me know.
Once I got home, I made a few more corrections to the text and then sent it off. It remains to be seen if the editor likes it. I'm really looking forward to getting both eyes fixed. By the end of the day, I'm pretty tired from squinting at everything and trying to bring it into focus!
no subject
Date: 2022-03-03 02:28 pm (UTC)How lovely you have a cloak made by your mother.