Miracle on Sacramento Street

I must have some powerful Prayer Warriors in my corner here. I went from 4 mg V yesterday to Not a Damn Thing today. The dread I have had upon waking up is gone, as is one of the notable physical side effects of this whole episode.

Last night as I was finally driving home (after useful therapy and acupuncture appointments), a snatch of the angels' song from Auden's For the Time Being (which I had managed to read over the weekend) burst into my head:

Sing Glory to God
And good-will to men,
All, all, all of them.
Run to Bethlehem.

So I've been running to Bethlehem. And the joy is starting to break through.

Christmas blessings to you all!

In the bleak midwinter ...

I'm under enough work stress at the moment that my Enjoyment of the Season has been officially cancelled.

It's really, really bad. Prayers appreciated.

In happier news, we had a wonderful Lessons and Carols at St. Spike's, I met a Ship person who wandered in there, I learned all about candle lighting (adding to my Store of Useful Church Knowledge) and Jennie brought her well-behaved little dog to 8 am last Sunday, which added a certain something to the service. It's not like we don't have precedent for well-behaved pets.

All blessings to you and yours. I hope to come up for air over the weekend, or New Year's at the latest.

Kitty!

I went to 8 am this morning because I still don't have much of a voice. (Well, that, and I have a lot of work to do around the house.)

I was thrilled to see our less-social church cat walk down the chapel steps and join us just before the service. She came when I made the "This is the hand that loves cats" gesture, and I had her in my arms for a while. Had to put her down (I don't have the Song of Zechariah memorized so had to fish out the prayer book) and she explored some more, then beelined for the altar area. I was a lot concerned about entropy, or her jumping on the small table that has the Advent wreath, but she settled into chairs and relaxed.

It was lovely to have a cat in the beautiful sunny chapel again. I'm also pleased to see Julian being more social.