Westward, Ho!

Living in an area where palm trees are ubiquitous changes the Palm Sunday experience a bit. This morning we waved palms which had been contributed by parishioners who snipped branches off the trees in their back yards, rather than ones purchased from some palm-farm in TX or Fla or Africa, which is what congregations elsewhere have to do. Having ready and free access to large palm trees also means that the church itself was more decorated than is the case when you have to pay exorbitant prices for "palm fans" shipped in hermetically-sealed bags... There was an arch over the entrance to the nave made from palm branches, and some *very large* palm branches forming elegant V's in between the pillars of the nave (or the closest thing All Souls has to pillars). I remember the most obnoxious part of Palm Sunday from the behind-the-scenes church worker's perspective was managing to find enough space in the parish frig. to store the bags o' palms from the time they arrived to Palm Sunday, which was often a week or more, and keeping them just moist and cool enough for them to stay fresh and flexible but not so moist that they mildewed. None of that necessary here in San Diego, where parishioners just snip them and bring them by the day before....