Dear Bruce - How utterly charming and interesting your saga is - I look forward to more installments! Charlie Petersen, Washington state ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce Fletcher" <ricardian@btinternet.com> To: <ORCADIA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 12:57 PM Subject: [<orcadia>] Fletcher saga 05 June 2004 > I sent the Fletcher Saga for 25 May 2004 to the usual email list but > accidentally added the Orcadia-L email list address > (www.orkneyjar.com/maillist.htm) because I'm still not used to using > Microsoft Outlook Express. To my amazement I received several complimentary > emails from people who actually liked reading it. > We have been attending the local kirk (Church of Scotland) since we moved to > the island. I offered to help out with their organ rota but the kirk is > extremely fortunate in having two organists who are quite content to play > for all the services between them. When I heard that the local Roman > Catholic church had no "official" organist I volunteered my services > although I am of the Anglo-Catholic tradition, have never attended a Roman > Catholic service and have no intention of "moving over to Rome". But it was > Pentecost and it seemed right and proper to offer my meagre gift of > musicianship. On Sunday 31 May I found myself playing for a Tridentine Mass > in the tiny church on the Stronsay jetty. The church, which seats about 30 > people, is only a few hundred yards from our house and is run by the monks > from Papa Stronsay (www.papastronsay.com). Like many people I thought the > Tridentine Mass was "illegal" after Vatican II in the early 1960s but it > isn't and its use appears to be on the increase. Gregorian chant is > something that I was aware of - I attended a very short evening course at > Tewkesbury Abbey a few years ago - but am not really familiar with it so > accompanying it was quite a challenge. The church has a keyboard which looks > a bit like the flight deck of the Starship Enterprise and can produce an > amazing number of sounds, not all of which are appropriate to the Tridentine > Mass or any other church service, so I have been allowed to take the > keyboard back home and find out how to get the best sounds from it before > next Sunday morning's service. I think that I managed to play the right > thing at the right time thanks to the helpful priest who stood next to me > and indicated what I should play and when I should play it. It is a good job > that all the monks are so familiar with Gregorian Chant that my mistakes did > not put them off too much. Anyway, they have asked me to play for them again > next Sunday. I was too busy keeping up with the music to pay too much > attention to the precise order of service but it seems terribly complex (and > is in Latin as well!) so I shall have to start studying it. That's one of > the joys of retirement - having the time to do something completely > different (in theory anyway). > In this part of the world Bank Holidays do not appear to be noticed by > anybody apart from the churches, the tourists, the Post Office and the > doctor's surgery. Each and every Sunday one of the two shops closes for the > whole day and the other only opens for a couple of hours over lunch-time > (but cannot sell alcohol before 1230). However, for the remaining six days > of the week both of the shops open very early and close very late. > In one of my previous Sagas I mentioned the garden ornaments that we had > brought with us from Scarborough. One of these is a large and very heavy > stone carving of a wild boar (emblem of Richard III) that was a gift from a > friend many years ago. Maureen is a keen Ricardian and insisted on calling > the boar Antonius but I prefer to call him Horace. Well, Horace has now been > installed in his new location in the garden and looks quite splendid. The > reason I mention Horace is that Maureen was delighted on Wednesday when she > saw a wren sat on the wall, just behind Horace. The wren did not stay long > but it is good to know that at least one of them is around. > When I was collecting a sack of compost from one of the shops this week the > proprietor was concerned that he would soon have to open a new pallet which > would mean disturbing a hen that had decided to sit on a clutch of eggs > right on top of the last pallet. However, I believe that most of the chicks > have now hatched thus relieving the proprieter of the problem. > Regards, > Bruce Fletcher > Stronsay, Orkney > uk.geocities.com/ricardian@btinternet.com/ > www.caytonwitheastfield.btinternet.co.uk/ > > > ==== ORCADIA Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from the Orcadia mailing list, send an e-mail with the word > 'unsubscribe' in the message body to orcadia-l-request@rootsweb.com > >