2008-07-20

After our early-morning time of puzzles and newspaper perusing, Mick cleaned house while I sang the service at St. Luke’s.

Over lunch, we half-slept through The Final Inquiry, a film about the supposed investigation into the crucifixion of Jesus the Christ by Rome. Daniele Liotti was very good as the tribune sent to determine whether Jesus rose from the dead.

Also very good was the music, which haunted and played with the ear, not overwhelming but filtering in as part of the background. The costumes were seamlessly appropriate to the period and full of color and movement. The cinematography of the Holy Land was excellent.

So why did we keep falling asleep? The weak spot in the film was the script. It was the joke told when the punch-line is already known, and it rather nattered on. Perhaps it is the difference in cultures. The film was originally released in Spain, and in Spanish.

Melissa came for an overnight stay and joined us for popcorn and our second film, Cassandra’s Dream. Where has Woody Allen’s sense of humor gone? Where has his sense of drama gone? Colin Farrell and Hayley Atwell played hapless working-class brothers who kill a man for their uncle and then spiral downwards into self-recrimination and tragedy. OK, no comedy there. But if the story is a tragedy, I should feel some modicum of pity and terror. Instead I felt an increasing lack of interest. The moral, I take it, was that the times are increasingly violent and that the violence is increasingly meaningless. Tom Wilkinson rather stole the show with his portrayal of the uncle who covers amorality with easy rationalizations.

Gary joined Melissa, Mick and me as we joined over 100 parishioners from St. Luke’s at the Louisville Bats’ baseball game. Our choir sang the National Anthem, with Mick attending my wheelchair and mouthing the words, since he was not up for learning either the tenor or bass part. Lisa, our choirmistress, complimented him on a great final cut-off! He said he "Milli Vanilli'd" the anthem!

It was a delightful evening, although stifling hot and very muggy, over 95 F at Slugger Field. I love the atmosphere of a baseball game. The crowds are always happy and the vendors make a grand business out of selling their beer and cotton candy to the crowd. I enjoyed seeing one woman of color who was carrying her giant cookies in a huge basket on her head. Now that is a skill not often seen in Kentucky!

The Bats were on their game, beating the Knights 9 to 4. We left early in the seventh inning and missed the Bats’ last three homers because it was coming on to rain. We could see the black skies to our north and west and as they crossed the river, we took me and my wheelchair out of the raindrops’ way.

And it poured! Mick was so happy! We were getting desperate for rain in these parts. The ground was cracking and the grass was beginning to yellow. By the time we got home, the downpour was mostly finished, but we probably got a quarter-inch of rain in that short time, enough to replenish the earth and feed all our grasses and plantings. And it is likely to rain more tomorrow evening! Jim’s Lawn Service thanks you, dear Creator of the rain!

We arrived at Camelot just in time for the Gaia Meditation, at which I offered the closing prayer.