Yikes! It's Late

A month of lots of activities did not include keeping up this blog. This is sort of funny, since normally I enjoy spending a little time ruminating on the keyboard, sipping tea and going through recently taken photographs. Don't know what could be the problem (well, perhaps I do, but I'm not going to write about it here).

Current points of interest in my life include the following:

1) Things are settling in quite well at Mont La Salle. I'm still working on getting my office and room up to snuff, but that's really a long-term project. I did finally get a good, comfortable chair to sit in and read. Actually it all looks quite cozy now with the heater with lights (electric fireplace), bookshelves, small carpet I researched and bought on Ebay, keyboard, and easy chair. The chair was found at Penney's in Concord, where I happened to stop on impulse and discovered a floor clearance sale, ending up with a well-built chair that cost 25% of it's initial price. And the office is small, but cozy, if I'm to believe the nearby secretaries. For me, it suffices.

2) Vocation ministry is up and running. I'm negotiating a contract with a graphic designed for producing a new brochure, a information template, and a design palate that can be used in various forms of communication. Soon I'll be on the road to visit our Brothers communities and contact local colleges, speak in classes, and do whatever else will help get the word out about the Brothers. And conversations with interested individuals continues with some success - but no guarantees.

3) Once again I'm teaching the novices about De La Salle, using a thick book by Alfred Calcutt which is the best thing available in English. It's a bit of chore to read, but eminently worthwhile. No one has put so much material together in an accessible format. Br. Richard Orona from the Holy Family Community is on sabbatical and doing an English translation of the definitive book in Spanish on the Founder, but until that one comes out, Calcutt's my main man. When I emailed the Brothers in England to send me copies of the book, and asked if there was a study guide, it happened that Br. Alfred was in the office, and he said jokingly: "A study guide? How can you improve on perfection?" Nice guy.

4) Just today a very providential thing happened vis-a-vis the movie about De La Salle, called "Who Are My Own", that Br. Leo Burkhart had placed in my trust about a year ago. While attending a local showing of "Bella" for the Catholic community, I met several people from Ignatius Press who live in the area. They directed me to someone in their organization who deals with videos, dvds, an the like. For some time, I'd been trying to figure out a way to turn the original 35mm reels of the movie into a good DVD for popular use. Having emailed the person in charge, and simply asking for some advice, I received an email saying that they might be interested in helping me transfer it to DVD and then distributing it as part of their catalogue. I hope that something can be worked out. The movie might be a bit sappy or cheesy according to some, but it's still the only thing out there on De La Salle when it comes to movies.

5) Tomorrow the RCCB begins to arrive at Mont La Salle for one of its yearly meetings. That means that all the Visitors (Provincials) of the US Region will be here, along with several Brothers from Rome. Unfortunately, it just started raining here today, so their experience will be wet. But from what I hear they've got so much material to cover that they may not even be able to go outside at all. It's like when Gery Short went to Rome for some meetings and people told him: "Oh, you're going to Rome? That's be great!" And he said: "I'm not going to Rome. I'm going to a building in Rome." This is indeed what happened - to the building in Rome and back to the airport. We'll try to see that the RCCB members have a chance to see a bit more of the area than simply a building in the Napa Valley.

Lots more I could write, but I won't do so now. Just wanted to let people know that I'm still here and kicking. Maybe with more thoughts pestering me in the next few days, I'll put in another entry sooner rather than later.