The News from South Philly

Part of the fallout of Valerie's death is that Roy has turned to the consolations of religion. And so we have been to the Holy Week services of (so far) Palm Sunday, tenebrae, Maundy Thursday. We have work obligations and thus will not be going to this afternoon's three-hour Good Friday service, but we will go tonight, and to the Saturday vigil, and of course to Palm Easter Sunday.

The fine old Episcopal church where we worship has a couple claims to fame -- one of its former pastors is the author of the beloved Christmas carol, "O Little Town of Bethlehem," inspired by his travels to the Holy Land. This same pastor was also a fervent abolitionist, which cost the church a couple of affluent and southern-leaning parishioners in the 1850s and 1860s. It was built in the 1850s and is modest by European cathedral standards, but I find it charming, with its 1940s mural commemorating the carol:



I'm finding the theology underlying Passion Week more than usually disturbing, and last night's foot washing sermon and ritual reenactment (with handwashing option) left me sitting sullenly in my pew, wanting to run screaming down the aisle and into the relatively pure air of Rittenhouse Square. I'm also feeling pretty rebellious about the proposition of anyone dying to assure my redemption for my sins. That's not comforting -- it's sick.

Still, it's comforting to Roy and I do appreciate the community in communion if not the ritual cannibalism, so I'll stick with it through Easter and for the occasional Sunday thereafter.

In other news, Roy bought an Apple TV dingus on Tuesday and a neighbor contributed a spare HDMI cable, but we still haven't hooked it up because...Holy Week. Also Netflix, which delivered a three-episode miniseries on one disk on Wednesday.

Other things I'll want to remember: on Wednesday we went to THE DREADED IKEA, where we found two acceptable and unpricey club chairs to replace the love seat we kicked to the curb a couple months ago. The lawn chairs have now been returned to Anderson House and we declare our living room just about complete. If an inexpensive occasional table with a small drawer jumps out in my path I'll buy it so that we'll have a place to store coasters and such-like, instead of having them on the bookcase. Also...the bottom is falling off the piano bench and Roy will need to have at it with some small nails. Then I'll fill it with placemats instead of heavy music books.

Also, the hippeastrum report: gervase is about done. The pollination attempt is probably a dud. The one I dabbed with pollen from my Valentine's Day arrangement is doing nothing; the other one, with the year-old papilio, is swelling a little bit but I suspect a false pregnancy. Downstairs the the first of Class of 2006 is opening, with a second not far behind. The first Class of 2009 is also opening and is displaying its 'Apple Blossom' parentage a bit, which pleases me. And I spy a scape coming up from a second bulb. Maybe I'll get a couple more. Wouldn't that be nice? Photos will be posted eventually. It's a sunny day, with two more queued up behind it.

Finally, I'm still stalking the Macy's Flower Show. The Bouquet of the day turns over today (actually, it turned over last night), so I'll be going in to check it out. Then I think I'll go look at the "Time Machine" that's been installed in the Kimmel Center for the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts. It looks a bit like Dr. Who Meets 2012 Flower Show's Orchid Wave and I wonder whether the same razzmatazz designers were involved.

Temps are currently (8:30 am) around 60F, so a good time to go sweep up in front of our house and the neighboring houses. Philadelphia's "Hidden City" festival starts today, and Shiloh Baptist Church across the street from us is one of the venues. If all kinds of folks, including tour buses (!) are going to be showing up on our street, I'd like it to look good. I have an email list of block residents, so I sent them a hortatory email on Thurs. about keeping the place looking nice because company's coming.

( A few notes to myself: )

Two things I will want to remember about today:

1. My next door neighbor Tanya called me and asked for a piano tuner referral. She and her boyfriend had -- wait for it -- trashpicked an upright piano. They were walking down the street and came upon a piano under a tarp with a "free to good home" sign on it. Someone found they couldn't get it up the stairs and/or around the corner into their apartment.

So I went next door and played their badly out of tune piano, assured them that the action was sound, and encouraged them to insist that it be tuned and only tuned, twice, before embarking on any repair work. If the pin block is shot and it won't hold a tune no sense spending anyt money.

Then they wanted to see my piano, so we trooped back to our house, and they were blown away by the sound.

2. I think I mentioned that I watered all my amaryllis, adults and babies, a few days ago. One of the offsets from the original Trader Joe amaryllis is putting up leaves. Also one of the larger seeding bulbs is putting up what is unmistakably a flower stalk, this one probably larger than the first one. Perhaps several of them will come into bloom.