AFTER MARDI GRAS

Miss Louisa, a retired professor, dropped by on her daily walk down the lane. She is frail but I bet'cha she will out last the more robust of us.

"Belle, is that a new pot of mint growing here by your back door? " she asked.

"Shure is, Louisa...puttin' some in my taboule right now," I said.

"That is one of your Lebanese dishes, is not?"

"Thas' right. Today is a day of fast and abstinence, so taboule is one the menu," I replied.


"A day of fasting, my dear?"

" Why yes, Ash Wednesday, no meat today" I looked at her, puzzled that she had forgotten.

" Well, I declare, I had not remembered. Do people still observe Ash Wednesday? Oh, I see...I suppose that is the smudge on your forehead, ashes?"

"Of course folks still observe Ash Wednesday--same day it has been fer'ever...the day after Mardi Gras," I smiled slyly.

"Mardi Gras?
But, with New Orleans rather out of sorts, is there still a Mardi Gras?"

Now ain't that an odd question, I thought ter myself.
"Well," I said patiently to a professor who ought to have knowed better, "Mardi Gras ain't akshully about N'awlins, though the city made it sorta famous, I reckon. No, Mardi Gras--means Fat Tuesday in French--is the pig out day before Lent begins. Folks eat rich food and gorge a bit, an' mayhap they party a wee mite more'n they oughta since Lent means days of fast and abstinence, and simple livin'.

Miss Louisa looked aghast. "Do people do that still? How punitive!"

I tried to hide mah smile, "Why shure they do 'that' still. An' of course it is 'punitive' cause that is the whole idea--it is a penitential season. Doan look so surprised--looky, folks is always fastin' and abstainin' fer they own causes--to git skinny as linguine. So, why not fast fer Lent?"

"But why the ashes? You look dirty, you know."

"Louisa, I knows youse raised a Christian woman an' you must know the words: Man, thou art dust and to dust thy shalt return."

She looked out the doorway..."I recall--vaguely. I suppose I am just past smearing dirt on my head, Belle."

I was choppin' parsley and mint on the cuttin' board. "Ashes--not dirt," I said, "the ashes are from the palms of last years' Palm Sunday--we burn the leftover palms, bless the ashes and use them on Ash Wednesday. "

"Belle, my dear, I mean no disrespect, but why? Really, what is the point?"

She were lookin' out the door still, and I was quiet. Finally she turned to see why I was silent.

"Because I ain't been so good this year, thas' why, Louisa. Some days I try hard, thas' so...but many days I doan. Truth is some days my heart jes' ain't soft, but stony and proud. I ain't loved my neighbor as I ought, ain't always been kind when kindness were called fer...and I is guilty of smugness here and there...why I even entertained a few hateful thoughts toward Uncle when he set his dern jaw, stubborn as a baboon.

"I'se wearin' these ashes for the times I did the least I could git away with when I shoulda and coulda done a heap more. Fer the days I'se mewlin' around thinkin' about what I did not have when I have such a wealth of love and light and laughter that I need ter count my blessin's, but was blind to 'em. These ashes keep me from flights of fancy about my own worthiness.

"Why Lent is a time we'uns is called away from our self-absorption, excesses, and petty complaints about each 0ther. We'uns is called out of our dark lairs, out of our comfort zones, out of the moldy corners where we hide what we don't want to admit about ourselves--Ya' could say Lent is a house cleanin'! We are called in from the cold, off the moor, out of alienation, away from the precipice.....invited to come sit by warmth and light of the hearth, be kind to our neighbor, do good to our crotchety boss, forgive our mother-in-law, encourage the fainthearted, console the grieving....see how we can be good and useful to those around us.

"These ashes remind me that I did not make myself. Know what I heard right before I got these ashes? Listen now, Louisa, how true these words is:

"Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."


Louisa turned her head again, lookin' back out the open door, over the trees beyond. She stood still, jes' lookin'. I worried I had sounded real preachy. (Ya'll knows how Aunty Belle is!)

After a minute she stooped over and picked a sprig of mint. I could smell its fresh clean fragrance. She put the herb ter her nose and smiled as if rememberin' ....then she said,

" We rubbed our Easter Lamb with mint and pepper. I used to give up chocolates for Lent when I was a girl. Easter Morning the smell of chocolate bunnies was intoxicating!

"Well..." she mused, "do people still give up something for Lent, Belle?"

I laughed, "Why, yes, some do. But others try to do something positive, like visit the nursin' homes or serve food to the homeless down at Daily Bread."

She looked back at me, "What have you given up for Lent, Belle? Something more difficult that chocolate, I hope?"

I glanced across the kitchen at the computer. A lump formed in my throat an' I almost choked. Forty days!! Groan.....

"I'se givin' up bloggin' fer Lent, Louisa, an' it is shure is harder to let go of than chocolate."








Pssst!! Not blogging? What about reading blogs, huh? Huh?