Never judge too quickly . . .

In this case, that maxim would apply to the weekend.

I took off Friday afternoon to rent a chain saw (28" bar!) to take care of the rest of the downed tree in my backyard. Well, I simply couldn't get the thing to start; it kept flooding, even after I returned to the rental place for additional instruction. This was basically the same saw I used to drop a tree in my front yard last year, but basically all I accomplished with my afternoon off was a nap, after which I was still ticked off. The whole situation just evoked a lot of emotional baggage from my youth. Finally I decided to pull on my cycling clothes for a vigorous evening ride, which was just what I needed, though with riding so hard I ended up staying up later than I'd planned . . .

Saturday morning brought a nice men's fellowship meeting, and a short rehearsal with a new guitarist who's joining our parish music ministry. Then we had plans to visit an area lake, where some friends were hosting a get-together for our marriage encounter group. We took along some freshly-picked corn to share with everyone; early in the season, so the ears weren't too full, but they certainly were sweet! Spent some fine time on the lake; took lots of pictures, which I haven't had a chance to download yet or I'd include one or two (maybe will add later). There were storms in the area, but only one while we were there, which came through when we were already indoors. The drive home was quite stormy - I don't think a minute of the hour-long drive passed without lightning illuminating the sky, and it absolutely poured for about half the drive - but uneventful.

Yesterday we had a couple new musicians join us at Mass, and welcomed back a young choir member who just finished a year in Latin America; as it happened, we were starting our communion hymn with a verse in Spanish, so she and I did a duet on it. In the afternoon we were going to a festival at one of the area churches, as a friend's band was playing. But it was such an incredibly gorgeous day that I decided to ride my bike, with the mrs. and another friend meeting me there. Nice group, very tight, did a great job covering a broad variety of tunes, from In the Mood to Spanish Eyes to Black Magic Woman. By the time they'd finished, we'd decided it was a fine day for a picnic, too, so I rode the bike to a nice park in the area (which, conveniently, I had to ride past to get home anyway) and staked out a picnic table while everyone else went and got the food and supplies. We hung out there for a couple hours as we cooked and ate and cleaned up. A brisk bike ride home completed the day.

With as wonderful as the weekend turned out, it's hard to believe I was in such a sour mood on Friday.