Anyway, when I have too many things to think about my brain tends to shut down. I’m going to a funeral tomorrow in the Extraordinary Form, so I’ve been hunting for a copy of the Mass in Latin and English. I discovered that my mother’s old missal (1947) is missing pages in the middle of the Mass parts. It’s actually very touching since those pages are absolutely ragged, and desperately mended. In fact the whole missal is falling apart in the middle. I’m not sure how to deal with it.

On the other hand, the Mass for the Dead is in slightly better shape though it references parts of the Mass in the pages I’ve pictured above, including a prayer called “Cor mundam” (I think), and that page is entirely gone.

I have three other missals, of 1965 vintage and two of them are entirely in English with about ten pages giving the Mass parts in Latin, but not on the same pages. Very odd. I do seem to have one with Latin and English on the same page and I have NO idea where this particular missal came from. But I think I can copy the correct pages.

I am writing a short story. Here’s the process. I think up a scene. I get it all straight in my head. I realize it is too complex for a short story. I remind myself that the overall story idea is simply not up to the weight of many pages. I try to simplify. Currently, I’m trying to imagine a scene at night in Texas in 1925. I already checked on the moon phases for the date I’m working on, and it is the new moon. I realize it would be so dark that I’m not sure what anyone could see. Including the bad guys. So here’s a picture I found of fishing in the dark. I’m pretty sure there’s a moon off to the side but it is dark in the shadow of those trees!

Spearing by Moonlight – Chaco by George Catlin. NGA public domain

I’ve also been trying to learn about color, and using light and dark and contrast. I’m practicing on my little inkle loom. Sooner or later I’ll have to figure out what to do with many beautiful bands in one combination of colors after another. Each band is about four feet long. See, here’s a thing I have trouble with. If I wanted to make… let’s say, placemats. Once I found a color combination that I liked, I would need to make it over and over and over. For some reason I find that hard. I don’t want lots of different color combinations around but I struggle to make the same one more than once. This is actually … stupid… on my part. I can do better.

My house is full of workmen and that’s distracting. My granddaughter wants fairy wings for a doll and I have tried but so far failed to make something that works. I have important reading to do for a friend, and two trips out of town need planning. One of them doesn’t have a date yet.

As I said, my brain is ready to go on strike. Maybe Saint Michael can help…