Checking in

Quite the absence, as always, without blogging.  In the meantime, while I wait for my blood sugar to recover... here we are.  Interesting day today -- last Sunday of normalcy, if you will, and there was church/gym/coffee and Communion with my friend in Edgewater... she asked me if I was being paid to take her Communion.  I was amused by this, because, well, I guess she can ask, but I was like, of course not, and nor would I accept such cash -- this is my "job" as EM, and quite frankly, we are friends now, so... 

Then it was off to the volunteer appreciation picnic for Hunger Network... interesting.  I got some info about food rescue for the Hot Meal -- I am not sure we can use all the stuff they can provide, which may or may not be a concern, and then I had an interesting conversation with one of their managers; basically, he shot down my concerns about the (lack of) accuracy in the reporting of the monthly statistics.  Let's just say I passed those comments along to the Board, and they were... as snarky and cynical as I was about it.  I do not think it is a concern as of now, but as with everything else about the OC, it simply requires...monitoring.  

Then it was home for some work, paperwork, a walk outside (it was quite beautiful), and some reading.  Quite nice.

Saturday was OC duty -- 152 and we had 518 for the month -- a bit high, especially considering it was a three-Saturday month.  It was a bit chaotic up front -- not sure why, though I have my theories -- and the other November co-manager and I agreed that we would have a bit more order up there.  The upsurge in count was interesting; could be the much-rumored increase in site visits, could be an early start to the Turkey Day season, or...

Late lunch -- it was the Grainger Township Volunteer Firefighter chicken dinner, so I met my cousin-in-law and fam for that (quite good this year), and then that night I had a late dinner at St. Mary Magdalene European Festival.  It was after 7 when I arrived, and the menu was...truncated, as I should have expected.   I had the schnitzel (will have chicken paprikash next year), noodles, and cucumber salad.  Quite good, actually, so I will go back (and early).  After dinner I went to the church itself; it was dark out, and I couldn't out the windows from afar, but it was quite nice; sepulchral and adding to the contemplative nature.  Speaking of, I was praying and an older woman tapped me...she was giving a mini-tour, and would she disturb me.  I rushed through my prayers (finished later) and joined her; it was very informative and detailed; I learned quite a bit about the Byzantine Rite in the 15 minutes she was there, and I thanked her profusely.  I have NEVER had that happen to me, and I was...fascinated.

The Six-Year Quest to Find the Mystery Woman in an 18th-Century Painting - WSJ
Interesting -- we all know I love stuff like this.

A World War II-Era Feud Is Threatening a Pivotal Alliance for Ukraine - WSJ
This would be funnier (if you will) if I didn't hear stuff like this in church with regularity, especially from our Polish community.  To be sure, these are recent traumas, with living memories, so I should not be so dismissive of them, but...the whole damn eastern half of the continent is a morass of these things, and I could not even begin to unpack them....