Today is done

First evening commitment: Maundy Thursday/Tenebraes service.

These are actually kind of different things joined together. Maundy Thursday is a commemoration of the last supper (and yes, being good DOC, we had communion). I did my reading (I was the first reading, I think the minister scheduled that so I could also serve at the table without it being too awkward).

I made it through the prayer okay though I made it simpler than I was intending because I could hear my voice bobbling a little.

I like the evening services; I kind of wish we could do a Vespers sometime even though I know it's not possible given how small we are. I also find it interesting and moving to hear people of the church - the people I see on a regular basis in other capacities (the church secretary, one of the other elders, the young husband of the pianist, who I normally see carrying their little daughter around) getting up and reading the ancient familiar words.

I'm glad the minister didn't try to give me the account of Jesus' death in the Tenebraes part. This year, I wouldn't have made it. (Tenebraes is a service where you progressively read through the arrest and death, and as the readings go, the lights are gradually extinguished. Right before it, it is traditional, at least in my congregation, to remove the paraments from the pulpit and lectern, and take all of the items (the communion elements, the candlesticks) off the table - and even to clean the top of the table, which the minister did). It's pretty emotional.

And once again, we walked out in utter silence, which is always surprising to me, given how talky we are after a normal service - asking after family members not present, making plans for lunch, wishing one another a good week. Even the KIDS in the service were silent.

Of course, come Easter, we will talk again after the service, but that is well and right. (As I said before: the only real way to Easter is through Holy Week.)

These kinds of things are meaningful to me. I find the liturgical year comforting; in a world that so often seems chaotic to me and where there's a lot of change for the worse in this world - it's something to hold on to, figuratively speaking, and something that is the SAME. And for someone with my particular brain-wiring, that's essential: to be able to walk into the church during Advent and have the same readings and the same sights and music and stories and all that have been every year in the past, and to have the inexorable progress through Christmas and Epiphany and then Lent and Easter. To be reminded, partly, of the existence of something bigger and more important than the silly things that happen in this world, but also to be reminded of those who came before - that, even though the church was different and how things were done was different, my grandmother would recognize the Scripture passages used and some of the music, as would her mother and her mother before that, and on back. (A few of the hymns we use have composition dates - for either words or music, sometimes both - back into the 1600s even. There was one we sang on Sunday that was a translation of one from the 8th century. And yes, that MATTERS to me.)

And then, after that, on to AAUW.

The meeting was nearly over by the time I got there. Someone else was taking minutes but I'm pretty sure I can interpret what she wrote. We have a new president for next year, which was a concern, because the person who is the current president said she was done after this term. (I am secretary again, but I genuinely do not mind that: I am well-suited to it, it is not a burdensome job.)

But the biggest thing? One of the other members, who is originally from Germany, called me over after the meeting: "I brought that yarn I keep promising you," she said. She has been doing so for some months and I never pressed to remind her because in my experience, "I have some yarn to give you" often means it's the tag-ends of an acrylic used for something and while acrylic is good for many things....I don't use it much for garments and there are only so many amigurumi I can make.

But then I saw the boxes - two cardboard boxes with red lids, labeled "anny blatt."

REALLY? Now it gets interesting.

And yes, it's actual-factual anny blatt yarn - this is a French brand, I'm not even sure if it's still made. Two different lots.

The one I was most immediately taken by was this one:

It's called "Angora Givre" - it's lambswool and angora (I presume, like, from bunnies?). I have 9 full balls (64 yards each) and a tenth ball that might not be a full one. But 600 or so yards of what is essentially a worsted weight, ESPECIALLY if knitted in a lacy pattern, would make a warm rectangular shawl, which is what I envision it as. The color listed on the box (if that's the original box) is "Cedre," which I assume is "cedar" - the yarn is a blue with a greenish cast to it and while I might be more prone to call the color "spruce," yes, cedar would work.

The other one is a bit odder and at first I felt like trying to demur and not take it but maybe I've changed my mind. It's a dk weight, and there's somewhere on the order of 900 yards.

Kind of a thick-and-thin yarn, cotton and viscose:

The woman who gave them to me is TINY so I can see how 900 yards would be enough for something for her, but POSSIBLY it would be enough for a short-sleeved cropped summer cardigan (the most useful garment I can think of for this) for me. I'll have to hunt around on Ravelry and see if I turn up anything. Failing that, I might be able to crochet a big round doily-style thing to use either as a shawl or an occasional-table cover, I don't know. It's a light slightly bluish green. I like the color but I admit I'm less a fan of cotton yarns to work with...

(Maybe something like Anaheim would work for it. I'd have to buy the pattern; first I will scout around in my books and see if there's anything that suits better. Though I do kind of like the style of that...)

Obviously, one cannot get MORE of these so I'd have to plan carefully for a project that I'd be *sure* to have enough yarn for. (I'm thinking the angora shawl I could knit edge to edge and just make it shorter if that last ball - the one she first tried knitting with - is less than the full 64 yards).