gloria Patri

 Morning in 7H started just after four with coffee and watching the Queen's funeral in London and on to Windsor, lasting past eleven o'clock,

at which point we had a bowl of hot soup because our plan is to be at Hunt & Gather when they open at four-thirty. It's been a bucket list item for me for quite some Time, but we have to do it quickly now, because we no longer drive after dark, and the hours of daylight are diminishing as Fall comes on, what, tomorrow? 

Reportedly, H&G's offer a changing, remarkable selection of oysters, which is why I want to go. There are other exotic dishes on the menu, including lamb ribs, foie gras; and even sous vide* octopus and bone marrow something which I may order for Linda; but I'm going to sample the oysters. If it's crowded and a wait, we'll come home and try again another day, because after one distressing experience some months ago, driving home after dark has become a real issue for us! 

The funeral service in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle was the best of the week. Splendid music, I even heard the sound of Anglican Chant, which incidentally is the only music sung by the angels round the heavenly throne. The sound of it took me so far back in Time as to make me an Episcopalian again. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be; world without end, Amen.

Ah, Anglican Chant. Old Mr Grumpy does not mean to go there again this afternoon, but today's closing service for the Queen stirred the smoldering embers in a dark corner of my closet. Until the mid-20th-century liturgical reform of dumming down into the banal, Anglicanism could be described as a sound, a sound in worship, the sound of Anglican Chant. The last of it for me was our first few years at Trinity, Apalachicola, where it was done beautifully; but when the 1982 Hymnal arrived it evaporated into common, ordinary protestantism with a hint of post-Vatican II aspirations. Oh, but for the week honoring Queen Elizabeth, I was almost home again.   

The old ways aren't always best, but sometimes they were.

RSF&PTL

T

* Sous vide, which means “under vacuum” in French, refers to the process of vacuum-sealing food in a bag, then cooking it to a very precise temperature in a water bath. This technique produces results that are impossible to achieve through any other cooking method.