So I'm putting ashes on people's foreheads...

don't worry... this post isn't 'religious' in nature.

We have a couple corks, (wine bottle corks), that someone, (definitely not me), carved into the shape of a cross to use in applying ashes to the foreheads of parishioners. Me and another guy have the applying ashes duty.

It's a very simple technique... lightly dab the cork into the ashes and press against the person's head. You can't mess it up, can you?

I'm doing great... perfect little ash crosses on one person after another.... until... I press against a person's forehead and notice that it's a very light, weak, cross. It needed more ashes...so...

For the next person up I dip into the ashes a little harder, rocking the cork.... next person steps up and I stamp her head. Yikes!

When I pull away there is a blot of jet black ash on her forehead that looks nothing like a cross... AND.... globs of ash are streaming down... first hitting her nose, then her mouth, then her chin, then onto the front of her shirt. She isn't aware of this.

People wear their ashes, usually, for the rest of the day... my guess is that the lady I stamped had to shower.