State of Alarm - day Sixty Three

I woke up to a lovely warm day and got up slowly, thinking of the Ascensiontide prayer video that I started preparing late last night. Things can be better to return to after sleep, and fortunately this was so when it came to completing the text. As there was a slight breeze, catching the trailing vine and the lemon tree at the front of the house, I positioned my HX90 where it could see both, and set about recording. 

After half a minute a car and some cyclists passed. Stopped and re-started. Then another half a minute into recording another car in the opposite direction. This time I paused to let it go past, then repeated the section which was being drowned out. It's what I have to do when I make a mistake with audio, and edit the errors out later, so why not with video? It was easier said than done. 

The Windows 10 video editing app is simply laid out, but far less easy to use than the old Windows Movie Maker which I have at home. There's simply not enough on screen help to use its editing tools, or it presumes you know exactly how it works. Well, you learn by trial and error hands on. Who wants to spend ages on YouTube bombarded by irrelevant ads and suggested videos, just to access a simple 'how to' guide? 

In my vocabulary the word 'trim' refers to removal of some kind of excess - hair, overgrown hedge -

using the 'trim' tool left me with only the bit of video I didn't want. How perverse is that! After several attempts, I worked out how to remove the redundant section of video, and then it was ready for uploading. Will I retain this information the next time I come to use it?

After a late lunch, I walked to the village nearest to the house, 3.5km away, St Agosti des Vedrà. It's perched on a ridge above the main road, with the 19th century Parish Church in a prominent position with a large patio just up from the village store. The whole area is being re-paved at the moment, in a way that complements the essential simplicity of the building. Its architecture is in the traditional Ibiceno style, thick fortress like walls with tiny square windows, like the older houses. In fact, I could only find one window in the north wall and none at all in the south. I'd love to have seen the interior, but it was locked. There was a notice stating that a capilla could be found at the east end of the building for personal prayer.

As with other churches I've seen here, the priest's house is behind the sanctuary, with its front door opening on to a patio with a tree shaded garden area beyond that. The door was open, and the lobby inside had been turned into a prayer room. I'm not sure how that would work in terms of social distancing, but in a country village few people would visit at the same time anyway. I wondered if a priest lived in the house or perhaps a caretaker, and if it was possible for people to arrange to consult with him. My photos are here.