Lost and found

I left Owain and the girls to enjoy the sunshine and a walk in the park before lunch, and drove over to St German's to celebrate Mass. Everyone I spoke to there is delighted at the prospect of a priest appointed for the Ministry Area to be based at St German's. This won't happen until the autumn. Fr Stewart has already booked me for locum duties until the end of September. Then, for the fourth time in my relationship with the church over ten years, I'll be able to step back, having worked myself out of a job. For me, that's quite a satisfying position to be in. 

What else there'll be for me to do after that remains to be seen. It may be that I'll be able to do much less. I'm having to take on more of the domestic tasks these days to support Clare and enable her to carry on doing things she loves, while she can. Another really long locum spell abroad seems unlikely, and I have stated my limitations for accepting future invitations. It's quite possible no more euro-locum duties will come my way, but I'm thankful for all that I have been able to do in the past ten years. There are so many twists and turns in life, unforeseen set-backs, surprise blessings and encounters.

I skipped coffee time after Mass and drove straight home for lunch. When I reached the front door, I realised I couldn't find my front door keys. I thought I may have left them on the sacristy desk at St German's or dropped them by the car. I had a panic, and contacted Peter and then Angela, who was kind enough to drop by church and check. Thankfully there was no sign in either place so they had to be in the house somewhere. We searched from top to bottom three times and found nothing. I didn't feel like eating, and had a rest instead. 

Later in the afternoon when a drive to Penarth was proposed, when we were leaving the house, Clare discovered both her house keys and mine in her bag! Then I remembered  I'd left the house, and then returned, realising I'd forgotten my best reading glasses, and on the way out left them in the door. While I was out Clare Jasmine and Owain went out of the house and he found my keys in the lock, but Clare assumed she'd done the same thing as me, going out then returning and not removing the keys. It's easy to get distracted when doing non routine things, we find as we get older.

Penarth was as busy as expected on the summer weekend. We drove one circuit of the seafront without finding a parking place, and then on the second circuit found one right in the middle section of the main promenade. We did the usual things, a drink and photo shoot on the pier, then a walk half way along the clifftop, before heading back home so that Owain could collect his bag and go for a return bus to Bristol. After supper, Jasmine and I walked down to Blackweir, and were delighted to one mallard family with five chicks four weeks old, and two more families, one with six chicks, the other with nine, foraging on the Bute Park side of the weir. These two groups of chicks were only about two weeks old. A delightful sight!

We returned in time for the final of Cardiff Singer of the World, won this year by Adolfo Corrado, a statuesque Italian bass with a huge resonant voice, charming grin and sense of fun. He was the only male finalist. The four female finalists were also impressive. It can't have been an easy decision with such a high standard of accomplishment all round. I was delighted that voters in the international poll for the Audience prize went to the Colombian soprano Julieth Lozano Rolong, one of my favourites, doing a little dance while she was singing at one stage. She prefers to sing barefoot, and wore a ground sweeping flared gown to avoid drawing attention to this. The versatility of her song programme choices was also attractive. I hope more Latin American opera singers are encouraged by her to take part in future. The continent's operatic tradition has its distinctive characteristics and composers, as we'll here more about this autumn with the WNO performing Osvalido Golijov's opera 'Ainadamar' in Spanish.