ROME 23/10 – Day 20: Emotional roller coaster day

Today when the sun rose at 07:26 … well… more on that later. It will set at 18:24. The Ave Maria bell won’t ring, though it should now at 18:30.  New cycle.

In the Vetus it is the Feast of St. John Cantius.  It is also the Feast of St. Maria Bertilla Boscardin (+1922) whom I’d almost be willing to bet none of you know anything about.  Am I wrong?   Without looking her up?

It’s been a day of strong emotions.   It started out as such and has continued to build.

For example, today I was in the Campo at the market chatting with the veg venders about their family doings.   The matriarch of the stand has been at the Campo now for sixty years.  I’ve know her, them, since about 1989.

Here is a lovely “Roman broccoli”.  Sort of like fractals, no?

At the fish monger I want “sette etti” (700g) of vongole, clams.  He measures out 850 and says, “Okay? Uguale?” “No, it’s not the same!  By definition. 8 and a half isn’t 7.  Where’d you go to school?”  He responds with good natured strong words, as do I.  Finally, I say, “Okay, uguale. I’ll take the 8 and a half.”  “16 euro.”  “I’ll give you 10.  Uguale. Okay?”  That was that.

At the same fish monger was an old woman with strong observations of her own about Francis.   She had about the same idea of him as the owner of a bar at the Campo who was originally from Buenos Aires.  Funny how that works.

In the meantime, these lucky guys are being taken out for supper tonight.  With the restaurant prices it is usually best to be taken out for supper.  Not sure they’ll agree.

Moring encounters continue.

The guys at the butcher waved to me as I walked by. I shouted “Friday” with a shrug.

The florist and I shout at each other about alstromeria, a running serious joke.

The bakery … the bike shop guy… the garbage collector…

… all members of the morning post-Mass muster.

I have in the back of my mind a movie I can’t name in which someone is going through the neighborhood and has an exchange with everyone.

These cordial neighborhood encounters came in swift order after breakfast with the pastor and The World’s Best Sacristan™.   I was informed that I can be admitted to the Archconfraternity that St. Philip Neri founded at the parish.

Just that morning in the sacristy, I had taken this shot of the “schedule” for the members – waaaay back in the day – for Adoration.  At the bottom are slots for the “jubilarians”.  At this point, I doubt I’ll live long enough to be in that number.  I see a time in the future, however, when this board will be full again.  Please, God.

As I was saying, the whole day has been a roller coaster.

Today I again did some sewing on my better cassock, which has some pesky tears right at the pockets.   I really should have kept it for occasions rather than daily use.   Ratz.   I over stitched a bit and this time applied an iron-on patch on the inside which hopefully will stabilize the area a little.  I need a new cassock.   On the old one, my worn back up, I did some buttons, just to be sure.

Fathers, there is nothing quite like doing your own mending to drive through to the heart the significance of the cassock.

“But Father!  But Father!”, some will interject, “you say it was emotional.  But everyone knows that you backwardists don’t have emotions, because…because you like Latin and…. you hate Vatican II and YOU HATE THE SYNODAL WAY EVEN MORE!”

What started the emotional ride today, anyway?

It was triggered before dawn on my arrival in the sacristy.  I found an anonymous note on my alb with a few euro.

I promptly choked up and used the edge of my amice rather than the maniple.

It’s been that way ever since. If the priest who left it sees this, “Thank you, Father.  You made my month.”  As the years pile up, there are times when you wonder if you have made a difference.

Today I also paid my landlord for the first chunk of the stay, which of course reminds me both of the kindness of my benefactors who got me here and the fact that, each day, pages are coming off the calendar I post at the top of these entries.

I shall have to leave again soon.  To those who might doubt, it is possible to be happy and sad at the same time.

Meanwhile, let’s get this silly mawkishness under control and figure out this puzzle.

Black to move and mate in FOUR.  Yes.  FOUR.  NB: You are looking at the board from BLACK’s perspective.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

In chessy news I could write about Qatar, which is interesting, but this is fun.  One of you commentator puzzle solvers posted it in a response yesterday and it needed to be shared.

“Take it like a man!” The theme for the rest of my day.

A question for readers.  I’ve been using Wise for international money issues.  For those of you traveling abroad or who want to send money around, WISE is a very good service.  You can have a “bank account” in many currencies.  Transfers have favorable exchange rates and low fees. WISE. HERE

QUAERITUR: I also want to test out RIA.   Anyone have experience with RIA?

Don’t forget the wonderful Summit Dominicans and their online shop.  Get stuff and it’s win win.

Also, in addition to using my Amazon links (a big part of my income, especially since some daily donors have departed), here is a good book. I saw an interview with Fr. Sirico who wanted to make sure that this book was in several languages at the time of the “Walking Together about Walking Togetherity” and he sent a copy to all the Cardinals in the world.

He wanted to assure that Card. Pell still had a voice in the “W-T”.

Pell Contra Mundum

US HERE – UK HERE