Deaths in the community

This week our community has been saddened by the death of five of its members including the 92-year-old mother of a professor, to whom my father has been taking communion every Sunday for the past few years. She passed away early Tuesday morning soon after being administered the last sacraments. A renowned retired professor from another college at our university also passed away around the same time. Then just this morning we received news that another well-respected professor passed away after a short bout of pneumonia. He, like my father, had been serving as a Eucharistic lay minister at our parish. Despite his advanced age--he was 80 years old I think--he remained very active until sometime the middle of last year when he suddenly got confined to bed after overexerting himself one day and was subsequently diagnosed to have bone cancer.

A bird and its song

The bird that sings tunes is back in our garden. I have no idea what kind of bird it is as I have never been successful in spotting it among our trees here. But I have heard it sing short tuneful songs which seem to change every year. Some years ago, I remember distinctly that it kept singing a motif of descending notes that went C Bb A G F. I was fascinated because it wasn't the usual twittering of most birds. Just earlier this morning I heard it sing E A F#.