Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Becoming a teenager

This Friday PA governor Tom Wolf has announced the opening of golf courses, marinas and campgrounds if they follow the new virus precautions. He will also soon be announcing which counties in PA can begin opening as early as May 8. We think that Erie County will be among them as our cases per 1,000 residents are quite small.

Through today we have had:
87 cases, 2 deaths
53% of the infected are female
63% are Caucasian
32% are in the 25-49 age group, the largest group affected
Zone 1, the City of Erie, has had 54 of the 87 cases.

Forsythia at Benetwood Apartments. Beautiful this year.

Thirteen years ago, on April 30, 2007 I began this blog. There was no photo accompaniment, not much in design or colors. Just a little text and a really humble beginning. Can't believe it's been that long, it feels sort of like 6-7 years, at most. Here's the very first entry of over 1,300 posts since. Geeessssh!

Stained-Glass Windows

We are all still reeling from the "official" opening of the renovated chapel this weekend. This morning's Morning Praise was breathtaking. The no-longer-carpeted floor, now ceramic tiled....and the no-longer acoustically-tiled ceiling, now Pennsylvania natural wood have transformed the sounds of the chant and music. It is overwhelming. The 16 floor to ceiling stained-glass windows still make up the north and south walls. I'm taking a seat on the north side, facing south, so that I have a view of the morning sun through the windows and their reflections on the tiles.

One of the most popular Benedictine mottoes fits the day: That in all things may God be glorified.



Sunday, April 26, 2020

A to Z

This weekend I had experiences from A to Z.

The A is courtesy of the National Arbor Foundation who sent one of our sisters 10 Douglas Fir saplings as a thank you for her support. I'm very excited about more evergreens. Somehow they help us get through the winters, as they keep their beautiful greenery all year round. Here are the newly planted firs in one of our garden areas.


Then, on Saturday, at our annual April Community Weekend, we organized our first all-community "Zoom meeting" with over 20 sisters who live in Erie/out of Erie, joining in via the popular online meeting option. Even our presenter, from St. Benedict's Monastery in Minnesota, gave her presentations courtesy of the ease of Zoom. Well.....I shouldn't say ease. It came off without a hitch and looked very easy--however, it took one of our very "techie sisters" most of two weeks to offer tutorials to every house to get them Zoom proficient. But, they did it and should be very proud of themselves. Everyone could see, everyone could hear and the gathering came off without a hitch. Even when the sisters at the Mount divided into smaller groups for discussion, the Zoomers were a discussion group, too. Historic, for sure!

Here's what the big screen at the Mount looked like.
There's our speaker, second row from the bottom, far left.
One of the large views of the Mount, top row, second from left.


Wednesday, April 22, 2020

We are very much alike

Commonalities are starting to emerge from columnists writing about spending 6-7 weeks "at home." One of the ones we can relate to is that of appreciation of nature, particularly, the coming of spring. When you're indoors looking out the windows for hours, walking the dog or even taking a short drive in your car you see a lot of the coming of spring, that you might in a normal year walk quickly by.

Here are some parts of our spring this year that we are seeing with different eyes. Two geese are really hanging around. The female is obviously with eggs, as she wobbles rather than walking straight. They travel around and around our place, day and night. We're hoping they may have their goslings under a bush or other semi-private place nearby. The birds...we have so many birds. It's probably because we are on the lake and also just 5-6 miles from the east end of the peninsula where their bird sanctuary lies. A bald eagle flew over this week, as did two blue heron. The red cardinals are everywhere and they are just as stunning on our blooming magnolia tree as they are on a new snowfall. And finally, of course, the flowers. How do these daffodils and forsythia stand the fluctuation in temps (from 60 to 35) and "water" from warm rain to icy hail? But survive and thrive they do--as have the hyacinths, the primrose and the beginning stems of the bleeding hearts. How's your spring?

Sunday, April 19, 2020

One world

Wasn't that 2-hour concert last night, One World: All together at home, just great? And that final number...oh my, WOW! It's on youtube, BTW, in case you haven't checked yet and want to hear anything again. And, one more thing, how about the three major TV networks all broadcasting it?!?! When has that happened for such an event?

Here are some more things to counter the anxiety, worry and just general seriousness of the times.






Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Holy Week & Easter


Friends keep asking how we're doing, how has the week been at the Mount? This gives the answer better than anything else I've seen or heard. Enjoy: Holy Week and Easter at the Mount.




Sunday, April 12, 2020

Easter eggs

In the late 19th century a series of special jeweled eggs were commissioned by the Russian Imperial family from Peter Faberge. Some were for display, other could be worn.They are known as Faberge eggs.

Every Easter I wear my mother's replica of one of them. It's one of the only pieces of her jewelry I kept. Being the wife of a jeweler she had quite a collection of sterling silverware, watches and jewelry and even some nice costume jewelry. After my Dad died and she was downsizing she and I had a wonderful time together choosing and sending pieces of both the silver and then the jewelry to all of her nieces. They sent her lovely thank you notes, which meant the world to her. When she died I finished off the project including dividing up her 200+ collection of shot glasses! That was fun. Finally, to many of my friends in community, I gave one of her Swarovski crystals. I kept the peacock, but all the others went to friends. Happy memories this holiday. Odd as it was this year I hope that your Holy Week/Easter brought unique memories for you and yours, too.


Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Seriousness and humor co-exist

You can join our annual Good Friday Peace Pilgrimage here anytime during the day Friday.
Hope to see you next year--live.


And in another vein:

My social distancing dress just arrived.

Grammarians--just laugh, don't correct it!





Sunday, April 5, 2020

Jan. 1918-Dec. 1920

There are innumerable things to read during this far from "normal" time. Many of them medical and many of them historical. Here's one that caught my eye and led me to a little research. The 1918 influenza pandemic was also referred to as the Spanish Flu and is measured from January 1918 through December 1920. 500 million people or 1/3 of the world's then population were infected. 50 million (10%) died. In the USA the number of deaths was 675,000. One unusual characteristic about it was that the high mortality rate for those 15-34 years old.

This led me to our necrology board as I wondered if any of our sisters in that age group died during that time. Sure enough I found two: Sisters Germaine, 28 and Angela, 32. I'd have to go to the archives to verify if their causes of death were influenza.

But once I got in this vein, I wanted to see who, how many and when did young sisters die...say under age 25.
Here's some of what I found:
In the 1860s and '70s were these deaths: Placida, 22---Walburg, 19---Austraberta, 21---Hilda, 24---Boniface, 22---Hildegard, 15.
In the 1880s and '90s: Bertha, 21---Thecla, 21---Stephanie, 17---Angela, 18---Eustella, 21---Pauline, 18---Agnes, 19---Sabina, 22.

And two others that stood out: Sister Zita age 18 in 1904 and Sister Antonia age 21 in 1916.

If I'm remembering my community reading correctly, most of these deaths were from diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia, as the conditions under which they lived were quite basic and rough, but maybe some were from a type of flu, too.

There are many things to mention in our daily prayer, but those who are dying without any family member present and the families that must live with the memory of their loved ones dying under these conditions, are truly heartbreaking.

Let us remember all of these and the other sacrifices and sufferings that our brothers and sisters around the world are experiencing these weeks. God's blessings and mercy be with you and yours during these days of Holy Week.




Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Quarantine Follies


In an effort to offer activities for a variety of interests we have sisters coming up with a wide range of suggestions of movies, documentaries, art, writing and music efforts and just about anything else that we think of. Every day there is at least one offering for the sisters to choose, sometimes more. Friday night "The Quarantine Follies" is being presented: a talent show type event that has seven acts already, with, hopefully, a couple more at the planning meeting Thursday.

Since parents are bending over backwards to keep their school-age children engaged, we can certainly do the same for the 64 residents of the Mount community.