Feast days and feasting days!

We're having one of those schizophrenic days this coming Saturday. In the morning we'll pray the psalms for any Saturday, but by evening prayer it will be the Vigil of All Saints for November 1. And not to miss that Saturday night we're having a Halloween party!

I was thinking about going as RBG, especially after I found a roll of 3" lace in the sewing room...but I'm just too tall to make it real. (If any of my shorter friends are reading this, see me for the lace needed for your black robe!!)

All Saints, November 1, and All Souls, November 2, are really lovely feasts to celebrate. Lots of special hymns, readings and prayers. Our community's November program allows us to dedicate the entire month to remembering our living and deceased family and friends--a very nice practice. 

The realities of hunger

This community weekend brought a number of discussions and information on topics in the community right now. One that caught my attention was a summary of our local Food Bank's programs by a sister who has been there for over three decades! I didn't know the particulars that she shared and was impressed by the 12 programs that they currently run and the scope and range of the people they serve in the 11 counties of northwest Pennsylvania. 

The amount of food they provide and the variety of places and people that receive it range from school children to military veterans, food pantries to low income seniors. It was heartening to learn how much of their food is donated from local stores, farms and agencies.

In conclusion she reminded us that if we come upon people in need of food there is certainly a program in the Food Bank network that can help them. I hope that if all of this exists in Erie, that there might be something similar in the place where you live. Thank you, Karen, for your longtime dedication to the hungry poor among us.

 

Current events

 This week my friend's "blog door" is more of a visual current events meditation. Always good for a smile or head shake. Interjecting humor into some of these issues is a real challenge.

Leaves

 

This weekend we welcomed two women to the novitiate. You can or will be able soon to read about the ceremony on our website. We are blessed and I hope they feel the same.

Otherwise it was a very fall-like weekend: cooler temps, rain occasionally, college football on Saturday and the Steelers vs the Browns on Sunday afternoon. Another sure sign of the change in seasons is the change in clothes. All of a sudden all the browns and oranges, tans and olive greens appear. The sister who sits right in front of me in chapel has a sweatshirt that has a bouquet of fall flowers on the front. But it's the single red-orange maple leaf on the back that catches my eye every time she wears it. It's trimmed in a sort of muted gold glitter with gold rope-like tails coming from the single leaf. It screams "October," but in this scenario...of course, whispers it.

There was even a "West Wing" showing in the community room---in connection with the upcoming West Wing reunion-type show to encourage voting and, I'm sure, to remind us of better days through a great TV show and its message of hope and promise.

Four Seasons or not

One day at lunch this week I was in a conversation that included two young 20-something gals who are living and working in Erie with us for awhile. At one point the talk got around to the beautiful colors of fall that are quickly encompassing our area. I'm still chuckling inside at the differences that came out as our weather conversation continued.

You see, one gal is from Michigan, close enough to the Great Lakes so that her experience of autumn and the-sure-to-follow-winter is pretty much as ours is. The other one, however, is from the Atlantic shore area--eastern Maryland. I knew that she (and we) were in for a great time this year when she, proudly, mentioned that she had bought and brought with her brand new snow boots and a heavy winter coat---already, in October! Oh my, as they say, our reputation precedes us.

Not to worry--we talked about how beautiful a white world becomes with fresh snowfall, and a white Christmas, and cold, fresh walks on the snowcovered sidewalks. Have you ever tried cross country sking, someone piped in? Or ice skating? 

I finally summed it up, as I often do before a visitor's eyes glaze over, "Erie's weather is really beautiful, you just have to appreciate (and love?) all four seasons--because we have each one--intensely." 

And BTW, our summer WAS just beautiful! 

The leaves are coming down

We had a chance to do a very "autumn-like" thing this week, we visited the updated and expanded Wintergreen gorge trails--about 6 miles from our place, just south of the Penn State Behrend campus. I hadn't been on the old trail in ages and found the new ones quite marvelous. There must have been 25-30 cars in the parking lot, many overflowing from the designated places to the No Parking areas along the road! But, it didn't seem crowded at all, a testament I suppose, to its size, I think it's about 4 miles long in its entirety. Anyway, we were among families with children, people walking their dog, Behrend College students and miscellaneous folks such as we were. 

This is my favorite shot from the day, a four-year old walking with her older sister and her Dad, shaking the tree to see the leaves fall. Happy autumn.

Our leaves haven't reached their peak yet, but they are close. On the other hand one of our sisters said to me this weekend, "Are you getting your first-day-of-snow contest ready to put up?" I said, "No, I am not!" Imagine---(But I will have to get it up before the end of the month.)

A Trip to the Zoo

 Cape May Court House, the shore town we spent some time in recently, has a marvelous zoo. It is quite large and includes a large playground for the 3-10 year old age group. The day we were there, a cloudy,  non-beach day, we were part of a big crowd of pre-schoolers and their parents. The variety of baby carriages and strollers was amazing! Did I mention that admittance is Free? Amazing!

Here are some of the best pictures I caught.

From shore to shore

Along the Atlantic shore.

 

A sweet summer wildflower along the Middle Township 

8-mile nature trail in southern NJ.

 

The Atlantic shore with boats and bathers--mid-September.

 

A family-owned vegetable and fruit stand--

with a strong box and the honor system for payment! Amazing.

Back home again--the Lake Erie shore.

A pumpkin from our compost endeavors.

 

A fishing family at the Presque Isle Marina pier.

 

A blue heron hanging out at the marina, too.