The first trellis flowers.
Why do you press harder on a remote control when you know the battery is dead?
Why does lemon juice contain mostly artificial ingredients but dishwashing liquid contains real lemons?
Do Roman paramedics refer to IV's as "4's"?
Why are there 5 syllables in the word "monosyllabic"?
Whose cruel idea was it for the word "lisp" to have an "s" in it?
Why do banks charge you a "non-sufficient fund fee" on money they already know you don't have?
The Mysteries of Life (Part 1)
Why do they call it the Department of the Interior when they are in charge of everything outdoors?
Why is a carrot more orange than an orange?
Tell a man that there are 400 billion stars and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint and he has to touch it.
How come abbreviated is such a long word?
If you're sending someone Styrofoam, what do you pack it in?
Pentecost Sunday is one of the community's favorite and most celebrated feasts. This year was no exception except of course we had it to and for ourselves. The three prayer periods and Sunday liturgy were full of Holy Spirit songs, inspiring scripture reading on the coming of the Spirit to the first apostles and to the entire church...down through the centuries and even today! Creative expressions highlighted many parts and good music had a part in everything.
To that end, I am trying something new on this blog and I'm not sure that it will work. I'm going to try and link one of the organ/oboe duets that Sisters Charlotte and Anne W. played this weekend. This one was written by our Sister Mary David Callahan. She is best known to us and to others through her songs, but she has a music book of instrumental Preludes and Postludes that are quite nice and these two excellent musicians played her "Veni Creator" beautifully.
I hope the link works because we'd really like to share this wonderful music with you. If it doesn't, I'll read up on it and try again next time!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p5o42zxwj3jaj7g/VeniCreator-Callahan052321.mp3?dl=0
Our very kind physical resource director has succumbed to yet another of my crazed ideas for our property. Oh, they are not huge expensive projects but they do take time and sometimes a great deal of effort---on her staff's part--with as much help as I, myself, can offer.
It all started with my finding three trellises at the back of the monastery, with no plants growing up on them. "Could we move them to the inner courtyard?" I asked. "Sure," she said. They were bolted to the bricks, you see, but now enjoy three beautiful climbing plants every summer on new walls.
Then came the sighting of bluebirds and googling that told me they only nested in birdhouses that were on posts in the middle of a field or large lawn area. "Could we put one up? I'll buy it," I asked. "Sure," she said. And now we have two, in a row, to help the mowing--and both get used by bluebirds (or sparrows) every year.
Then, I think came the dogwood trees on the path to Benetwood to replace the trees that came down. "I have two young trees in the garden that I've been nursing along for a couple years, could I plant them along the path?" "Sure," she answered. And in they went. Totally done by myself, by the way!
Now we're up to the cemetery plots: 250 of them. "Our flat stones look terrible," I reported. "They don't have a nice border around them and the crab grass and tree droppings fall all over them. You can hardly see some of the names. Can we get them a border and mulch?" I pleaded, as I showed her pictures that I had taken of the various conditions. This was a much bigger project then previously, but she said, "Yes." Sure enough the next spring our regular landscapers went out and dug all around them. What a job! I found them at it one day and those young guys were working hard. Digging out grass is very difficult as you might know. But once done it's much easier to keep it up, which I can help with now.
This saga brings us to this month: "Do you know that there are two beautiful Benedictine crosses with PEACE etched into them on the front sign building?" I said. "Yes, I do," she responded. Because she really does know every inch of our land and properties. "Well, I'd like to try and dig out the overgrown bushes that are totally covering them," I continued. "Hmmm, that'll be a big job," she noted. And she was right. It took me five sessions of an hour or more each, until I succeeded in clipping off enough of the branches to expose the trunks so that the guys could get a chain around them. Seems the only way to get the (huge) trunks/bushes out was to pull them with the tractor. With the tractor?! I thought. Holy moly. Well, our great guys did it this week and look at what we now have.
The upper photo is the east side, the lower one is the west side. Aren't they beautiful?
Hopefully now, similar to the gravestones, it will be easier to keep them exposed and visible.
My great, great thanks to "Charlie," as we affectionately call her--for her patience and kindness to me over and over again as I presented her with my "latest scheme."
Hmmmm, let's see, what shall we do next?!
Yes, the theme this spring is trees. You may already have seen a photo-story on our community website of the first of two tree planting sessions that we had across East Lake Rd on the Glinodo side of our property. Next Friday will be session two and it will be planting a sort of nursery in which 100 trees will get a good start. So I thought it would be time for an update on the trees we've been putting in previous to this effort, albeit in a much more modest program.
Here are two evergreens that we planted about 6-7 years ago at the end of a long, long line of evergreens from the Glinodo cabins to the lakefront.It was like lining up high school senior boys and adding two from kindergarten at the end. But althought they started at about 12" high, they are now about 4' high and holding their own very well...among the giants.
This is a 12" Douglas Fir that is one year old. It survived the winter in a plastic tube and seems to be hanging in there. A smaller version is also still with us.
Here's the best of five others, I believe this is a Tulip Tree, that made it through last winter, too, and is doing very, very well. Here's hoping that next summer we can transplant them somewhere on the grounds. The two dogwoods that we transplanted along the path to Benetwood two summers ago are small, but alive! If they can survive the deer they'll be very pretty some day.
And that's the latest update on our tree-planting efforts!
As Pennsylvania continues to open up as the pandemic decreases in our area, the delight of going out for a meal has returned. This week I was able to visit a local restaurant that I had only been to one other time. It was really enjoyable and even with obeying all regulations was a relaxing and fun experience. Here is my pineapple chicken entrée.
Spring continues to unfold in Erie as we entered the pink/red phase this past week: azaleas, bleeding hearts, tulips, rhododendrons are leading the way--oh I almost forgot: ruby-throated hummingbirds and Baltimore orioles are passing through also.
Which leads to one of my all-time great teaching Geometry stories. Here it is in outline form:
1) teaching rhombus and rhomboid shapes;
2) including other words that start with the unusual "rh" beginning;
3) kids coming up with rhesus monkey, rhubarb, rhythm, rhododendrons, Rh factor, rheumatism and after a long pause, "Wasn't there an old time car, my grandfather talked about it, a Rhudabaker?" Which sent me into gales of laughter...which kids love to see happen to their teachers! Not that I remember Studabakers personally--but the visual of rutabaga going down the street just killed me!
The ReLeaf program is an effort to plant 275,000 trees, one for each citizen of the County. Our Glinodo property is becoming a temporary tree nursery this month as over 150-200 trees will be nurtured along our creek and on a protected area of Glinodo until they can be transplanted to their permanent home in a couple of years. A number of our sisters have already helped in the planting, with the second planting day to come at the end of this month.
My Dad told me that one of Erie's nicknames, when he was growing up, was City of Trees. If you've looked down whenever flying into Erie in spring, summer or fall, you know that this is true. It will be even more so now thanks to ReLeaf.
