"... the first is exec'd when the simplate is first loaded, and the
namespace it populates is saved for all subsequent invocations of this
simplate."

Does it only get executed once then?

But in my sites it is getting executed every time.  I set a trace to
verify this.

What am I missing?

The reason is that I have a largish pickle that I'm loading there and
I'd really like to do it only once, of course.

Mode.