well, ain't that swell?

-Meeting Sandra for coffee at Avoca and her greeting me warmly with lovely flowers and a card thanking me for "all you do in Fitzroy and for the wonderful way in which you do it." It's always a great thing to be given flowers and was so encouraging. We had a lovely chat and she loaned me a great Catholic theological journal. She shared a particular thought-provoking writing from Peter Fisher:
"As each of us, baptized once, is being repeatedly bathed in the gospel, being rehearsed in the art and practice of living as receivers and givers of grace, so our lives, our personal aspirations and difficulties, are changing day by day. We may be seeking to play the same tune every day of our Christian life ('Love the Lord your God, and your neighbour as yourself'), but we keep on being given different instruments to play. The intimate spheres of personal relationships, our own places of work and leisure, our own ailments an pleasures, keep throwing up new challenges and openings that compel us to rethink and re-act what it means to be a receiver and giver of grace."


-Going with Catherine to Derry to see The Swell Season, one of my absolute favorite bands. They're the folks from Once. I love the drive to Derry...just gorgeous.


-The funniest thing happened when we got to Derry. We didn't know how to get to the concert venue, and were heading up a main road, when Catherine suddenly shouted, "There's Glen Hansard!!" We pulled over and I rolled down my window to call him over. Over he came, even though he was on the phone, and I proceeded to babble "We're seeing you tonight! We're so excited!!" and then Catherine reminded me to find out where the venue was. I asked him, and he said in his velvety Dublin accent, "Well, I think it's up that way, but as you can see, I'm not from here." He then grasped my hand to say goodbye (!!) and we went on our way to park. Realizing that he was probably still there, we walked back down to where he was in search of food and Glen. He was still there, and we took a picture with him! I look really pregnant (love you, Sista!) because the wind caught my blouse, but I don't care. He was lovely! What a thrill. The rest of the night, every 5 minutes, Catherine and I said to each other, "I can't believe that really happened!" During the show, he mentioned the "lovely people" he met earlier. I'm still smiling from it!

-Having time before The Swell Season went on (after the amazing Glen encounter) for a glass of wine and yummy salmon cakes (which we gulped down in between gushing about meeting Glen).


-What an amazing night!