The Good and the Bad

This past week has really been something. I had the week off from chemotherapy so there were no infusions intruding upon my “busy” schedule. 

Sunday was our first choir Sunday, if you will, and we sang a couple of special numbers, had some brass accompaniments and generally “whooped it up” a bit.  It was fun and challenging. I had a lone rehearsal throughout the week since I missed our Wednesday night gathering. 

Wells Cathedral Chapter House

Following the late service, we had our monthly Chapter Meeting. For those not familiar with Benedictine practices, the Chapter Meeting is usually a daily meeting to attend to any business on which the Chapter must make decisions. It is held in a special room. Some of the Chapter Rooms remaining attached to the English Cathedrals are stunning examples of architecture.  Whatever business is discussed is kept strictly secret. The Chapter advises the Abbot or Prior in making the decisions necessary for the good of the community. There is also a reading of the Rule of Saint Benedict, and a reading from the Benedictine Martyrology, a book which lists all the Benedictine saints who died on a particular day. Sometimes there is a Chapter of Faults in which each member confesses that he or she has not kept a part of the Rule and asks for the community’s forgiveness.

Then it was home for another quiet Sunday afternoon with the paper and a few naps thrown in for good measure. Nice! It was a good nap day, weather-wise.

Monday, as I recall, was another rather gloomy day. One of the side effects of the chemo is a malady of vision. Things close or far are blurry and this changes throughout the day. I had made an appointment with the eye doctor because it was bothering me. The chemo nurse said not to rush out and buy a new pair of glasses because one’s normal vision would ultimately be restored. So I cancelled that appointment.  I opted instead to walk at the Fitness Center and to go to aqua chi.  It was good to be back with most of the regular crowd.  The classes at the Fitness Center become mini-communities. You see and converse with the same people on the same day of the week and become concerned about them when they are missing from the class.  Get-well, sympathy cards, and reports about health concerns are shared with the group. It is just a nice place to be. 

After lunch I headed for the AFLAC office with a pile of papers so they could choose those they wanted for processing my claim.  I have been paying on a cancer insurance policy for practically ever. Now it’s time to collect!

Tuesday I went to the Fitness Center again to do some walking and go to Just Stretch, a wonderful class taught by my friend Joni.  Great people again and sincerely concerned about you.

Tuesday evening is our regular Benedictine time. We celebrate the Eucharist, pray Evening Prayer and have a little time to visit which the Benedictines refer to as “recreation.” It doesn’t involve ping-pong, volleyball or other physical activity. We just talk and catch up on how things are going in our lives.

Returning home for some dinner, my phone notified me of a flash flood watch for this area. I could understand that since we had over five inches of rain Sunday and Monday nights. The rain began later in the evening and around eleven o’clock the wind noise became pretty awful. I checked my phone again and there was a tornado warning. It’s been thirty years since a tornado touched down in this city. Sophia and I headed for the basement.  I heard that a tornado was headed down 57th Street toward the east and that was a little too close for comfort. 

It turned out that three tornadoes touched down in the city causing a lot of damage to certain areas. This was at midnight. Check out the link for some pictures.

https://secure.brightcove.com/services/mobile/streaming/index/master.m3u8?videoId=6085352343001&pubId=28911775001&secure=true

A good number of warning sirens did not sound because of human error. One of the tornadoes hit the Heart Hospital on 68th Street and caused some damage, but next door is the Behavioral Health Center which was nearly destroyed. It was full of patients, many of them in fragile condition.  A decision had to be made about those patients. They could not stay in the building. Now it is estimated that the repairs needed will take 6 to 9 to 12 months before the building can be used again. My Benedictine brother Mark works there. He will be traveling to Yankton to serve the patients that have been transferred to the Human Services Center there. There have been numerous news articles about the staffing at that place. Thank goodness they have room, and the Avera system will be providing the staffing necessary. There was one broken leg and some other minor injuries. There could have been many deaths.

My neighbor's tree

That is truly a miracle that no one was killed in this fierce storm.  Parts of the city look like war zones with roofs missing, houses shattered, and trees uprooted. One tornado did hit a business district along 41st Street. Most of the signs are empty shells. Several of the businesses have no idea when they might open again.

My property was fine.  My neighbor on the east lost a large tree which mostly blocked the avenue. There were a lot of twigs, branches and leaves, but one can cope with that kind of damage. I’m just thankful that so many neighborhoods were spared any damage at all. 

I made it to the noonday Eucharist at the Cathedral on Wednesday and to my usual post at the greeters’ desk at the Washington Pavilion. It was a rather quiet afternoon. I picked up my “Father Friend” and we went out for coffee. I also went to choir rehearsal and lasted through the whole thing!

The work crew dealing with the tree. 

Thursday was the usual round of working with my trainer Glenda, going to aqua chi grabbing some lunch and going to the Eucharist at Good Shepherd. That church is in one of the neighborhoods that was hit  harder by the storm.  It was an adventure getting there because of downed trees blocking the streets and/or equipment dealing with the effects of the storm. The church lost some trees on the property but the building was not harmed. 

My usual stop following that service is at Costco for fuel for the car and whatever else I think I need. This month’s special is cat litter which I can always use so I picked up my limit of three bags (42 lbs each) and a few other things. There was quite a line-up at the fuel pumps. Many business in that area were hit by one of the tornadoes.  Costco lost some trees and there was a roll-off dumpster full of twisted sheets of metal that I assumed originated from other locations and had been deposited by the winds.

Friday was a quiet day at home.  My lawn-mowing friend came over to do his task and I went to visit with the daughter of the friend that I will bury on Saturday.  The American Guild of Organists held its first meeting of the season with a banquet and installation of officers. There was some very fine music by the choir (augmented with a few AGO members), and an excellent trumpet player and organists. Get a few musicians together and we can make quite a production out of most anything!

This morning I rose early to make it to the Farmers’ Market when it opened. I rushed back to change clothes and get to the Cathedral for the 10 AM funeral. The friend who had died the previous week was the great promotor of the arts in this city and in the state. She had served as the executive director of the symphony and then as the head of the state arts council. Her daughter had asked the string quartet from the symphony to play the prelude and postlude, and the principal flutist from the symphony to play as well.  The music was exquisite. It was a fine tribute to a great lady who really brought the arts to life in this city and state. Her daughter had expected a small crowd since her mother was 97 years old. The church was full!

As we drove through the cemetery we could see the damage the winds caused there. There are a lot of old trees and now a lot of limbs, split trees, and other detritus that still need to be cleaned up. 

There was a very nice reception at my friend’s home following the internment. Then it was off to the Cathedral again for another reception for another old, old friend’s ninetieth birthday party.  It was a great time with a number of parent’s of former students and other friends to see and with whom to visit.  I came home and took a nap!

That’s it for this week in which I expected virtually nothing to happen! How wrong I was.  

P.S. Sophia evidently invited all her friends to lunch.

Sophia's luncheon party.