Happy New Year 2024!

 

Chapel's lit up tree in the dark.

Our children's creche.

Christmas at our house-2023

Modern Advent wreaths

 

Our Advent wreath is not a wreath at all, but instead is this really cool (sorry, I grew up in the 60s!) contemporary expression of the season of Advent with the traditional four candles, but set in a quite artistic and contemporary "wreath-like" setting. The candles and accompanying ribbons are set on four pyrex stands with a long sprig, well it's more like a branch, of an evergreen tree from our grounds, put inside.  Here's a close up of one of them and another photo of the whole group in the center of chapel.

This is one thing I really love about our creative liturgist, musicians and artists--they can take traditional and valued expressions/symbols and put them in a more contemporary, meaningful setting. They do this with so many of our religious symbols and signs, songs and prayers. 

Recently I re-connected with a gal that was two years ahead of me in high school and, as things are at that age, was one of the basketball players I looked up to when I was in 9th and 10th grade (as she was on the varsity in 11th and 12th). Here she is, back in Erie after quite a number of years on the west coast and, lo and behold, has found her way to the Mount and is experiencing our prayer through our Saturday night Advent vigils. After pulling away from formal religion for a while she seems to love our prayer and find it meaningful. I am thrilled to see her again and isn't that what it's all about? 

 

I am using this photo (taken in the summer) because this is exactly what our shoreline looked like this week, as we had 1-2 days of 50+ degrees and smooth waters on the lake. One of my friends mused that it seems as though our worse months of winter (cold and snow) have settled into January and February in the last few years--a change from former snowy Novembers and Decembers. Despite the non-lake effect weather, we continue to celebrate Advent and see Christmas erupting all around us. The amount of house decorations is greater than ever. Up and down the residential side streets we see roof lines outlined in lights, blown up Santas, deer and all sorts of characters on lawns, and, of course, the traditional decorated trees and nativity scenes. 

Our own inner courtyard's line of azalea bushes have grown large enough and strong enough to hold Christmas lights, too. Finally, in the Christmas spirit many of us are attending local holiday concerts. Manheim Steamroller was in town last week, the Philharmonic orchestra has special Christmas performances, as did the North East choral club this weekend. 

The Week Between

The week between Thanksgiving and the beginning of Advent brought these two scenes to our place that I'd like to share with you.

The first one happened during the early part of the week (Nov. 27-29)--our first real snowstorm:

The second one happened near the end of the week, this past Friday, Dec. 1--an Advent display of Brother Thomas' blue pots---perhaps his rarest color--at least in our collection:

Winter feeding begins

I've been delaying beginning my "winter bird feeding" until I was pretty sure that the natural world was not supplying enough of what they need. Of course I don't really know when that is, but when the birds started to check the empty feeders more vigorously I thought that it may be time.

These plain old common chickadees are just about my favorite. Yes, they are everywhere and yes, they don't seem too special, except for their coloring, but I love them anyway! It probably has to do with the hand feeding they let me do a couple of years ago...what a treat that was.

Ditto for these, just plain old brown sparrows, I think. There seem to be scores of them around and they aren't too nervous, as they let me get close to them---which I certainly can't say for both the male and female cardinals, woodpeckers and others that appear at our feeders only in the winter. 

I have this window feeder in my room, one on a pole outside below my windows, and one right outside the inner courtyard doors. Keeping them all in food and with a little water in the nearby bird bath, takes some real dedication, especilly when the snow piles up. But, the sisters (and I) love to see them throughout the winter months, so it's certainly worth it.

Building update

Back on August 13th I posted two photos of what seemed to be clearing of the woods west of us across Troupe Rd. Rumor had it that a developer was looking to build an events center in the midst of these woods. Anne and I had trooped through the woods and ruts to get some early pictures of the progress.

This weekend, three months later, we trooped out again, albeit easier this time. Not a whole lot has happened except that it is greatly cleaned up and the entrance from the road now looks like it could manage trucks without their risking being stuck in the mud. With colder temps and snow coming my guess is that things will stop now and pick up in the spring. One of the sisters reminded me that she read that the new building was scheduled to open in 2025. So, if that's true, there's a lot of time to work on the project; especially if the builder is doing much of it himself, as we also heard!

 

Archives

 

The larch in our backyard has started to drop its unique pods /seeds. I'm not sure of the proper name.

They are so very unique, we never get tired of looking at them.

This week the archivist for our Federation is here for some business. It is such a treat to have "access" to her expertise and advice. She'll be meeting with our community archivist and I hope to get her in town to look at what we're doing with Sister Joan's literary works, too. I am such an amateur at this but I really love the work. It is such a joy and so rewarding to organize and preserve the best of an organization for the future. 

I've called myself "Sister Nancy Drew" for the many times I find something out of the blue, that we didn't know we had, and turns out to be so valuable. Archives seems to be a subset of detective work.

Remembering

Every November, the month of All Saints Day and All Souls Day, our Catholic bishop has a Mass in remembrance of all of the sisters, priests, oblates and associates of the diocese who died in the last year. This year three of our sisters were among those remembered: Sister Mary Lou Kownacki (January), Sister Mary Miller (May) and Sister Mary Therese Egan (September). 

One of our litugists put the liturgy together, the readings, the hymns and other appropriate rituals. It seemed to go particularly well this year, helped by the addition of new songs and the fact that it was held on a clear Saturday morning and not what was often a windy and cold November evening. 

It is a rather sad time, the remembering of good friends who are greatly missed, but there is some consolation that the people of faith who attend are joined in prayer and fond memories of these friends who have recently died.

Advent calendars

Our larch in the backyard.

I have a couple unusual things to share with you today. Whimsical in some ways and clever in others.

Here is the first: the latest, at least that I've seen, "Advent calendars"! It's not that they aren't a blatent homage to American capitalism, but why call them "Advent"...maybe just December calendars would be better...Do non-Christians or even Christians for that matter, really know what and when and why Advent is?!

2023 Advent calendars.

Secondly, a friend passed on two pages of word-play/puns to me as she knows I enjoy such. They make me laugh and groan and be amazed at--Who thinks these up?

I hope you enjoy them in some way, too. Here are five of the best:

1) I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.

2) How is it that one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

3) Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?

4) A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5) Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

Happy week--hard to believe it's November already...where do the months go?!

Autumn scenes

 

Five or six of our sisters hail from the Philadelphia area--or at least close enough to have grown up in the midst of a Phillies, Eagles, 76-er fan base and the city-wide craziness when one of their local teams makes it to an end-of-the-season playoff spot. This week is a bonanza for them, and for us, as the Phillies are in the final series for a spot in the World Series next week and the Eagles are at the top of their division in the national football league...so we've been enjoying both of these teams and the fun and excitement of their games. 

This week our trees reached their peak and we are in a yellow, orange and red world, especially when the sun is bright. Here's a box of gourds at a local fruit and vegetable stand--yellow, orange and green, too. 

A humorous, personal aside: this month has brought me a new intimacy with needles from the medical world. I've had three vaccines: RSV, Covid and flu, and given blood once. Talk about the proverbial pin cushion!  

Finally, a couple of weeks ago when we finished the Astrid series on PBS, we couldn't imagine that we'd get another series that even came close to our liking as that outstanding series did. Were we surprised when we found another that is just terrific and comes surprisingly close to the acting and creative and engaging story line of the first one. This is Professor T and if you haven't tried it, do. It's great.

Three memories from the week

 

So how was your week? If someone asked me that I could easily brush it off by saying, "Oh it was fine, normal, same old, same old." And I admit I often do that. But in reality I could share some not so same old, same old experiences, that make a week different from every other one. So here are three such for this past one.

1) We took a walk Sunday on the path that goes along the ridge of the Bayfront highway for a mile or so and overlooks Presque Isle Bay. It was its usual wonderful place, beautiful now in a kind of early autumn way. The experience worth sharing is seen in this photo: a homeless person has set up their evening place, I believe, complete with bedding and a shopping cart of goods. The place is the large gazebo that is in the west Bayfront Park, the gazebo used for picnics and gatherings for summer family outings.

2) Last Thursday we held another Take Back the Site prayer vigil at the site of a murder in late August. This one was a double murder and suicide event. November will mark 24 years of these, with about 160 public prayer vigils being held. Each one is still as haunting, sad and sobering as they all have been.

3) On Friday, I visited our local community blood bank and was able to donate a pint of blood for the first time in 5 years. (Lumpectomy time-off). Since I began giving blood in the early 1970s I regaled my young phlebotomist with some of the most memorable experiences at the various blood bank sites where I had been. (The best being when the blood spurted out all over a white sweater I was wearing and the staff sprang into action with a cold water treatment that got all the redness out within minutes!) She listened kindly and seemd interested (or faked it well), laughed when it was appropriate and it at least passed the time for the procedure for both of us. I always feel like I'm directly helping someone in need when I donate. The clever T-shirt they offer after 4-5 donations, doesn't hurt either!

So, how was your week?!

Autumn is definitely present

We are only beginning the second week of October but already there are early, early signs of autumn. Here is one of the numerous mushrooms that we've seen on our grounds. Secondly, I had my first day of having to use headlights on the car to go to work in the morning (a very overcast and rainy morning). Third, the local weather report displayed a Fall Foliage graph this weekend. The graph included categories of: None, Slight, Good, Best, Fading and Over. We are currently in the "slight" category, and you can spot isolated yellow and red and orange on bushes and trees. Our "best" is usually around the third week of October. And there are still quite a number of both wine and Halloween events scattered throughout the area this month.  

Our guest list for October was just posted and it is long. October is a popular month for family visits, end of the summer retreats, and other activities and nearby events before the holiday months. We have a major visiting time for our oblates, too, during the last weekend of this month. It's nice to see these annual visitors.

Blessings of the final harvest times and the dwindling daylight hours of fall to you!

GUTD

I know that I have written about the monthly booklet/missalette Give Us This Day before, but when I started to read the beginning of the October issue today I was reminded of what is really my favorite part of it: the art.

Many readers like the daily "saints." Others the daily one-page meditation by such fine writers. Some like the fact that it includes daily Mass in it. And still others like the music or the weekly theme writings, again by such great spirituality/theological writers. But although I like all of those, too, my favorite really is probably the front and back covers.

Here are October's: John August Swanson's St. Francis on the front and Alisha Monnin's Our Lady of the Rosary on the back. They are just beautiful, admittedly two different styles, yet each lovely. 

If you would like a Vatican II, very creative, yet solid "daily prayer book" ask for a free sample and see what you think. It's very nice and quite conductive to fostering and supporting a daily prayer routine.

Of words and pictures

 On Saturday, the autumnal equinox (although that odd word, autumnal, is not always used--I hear "the autumn equinox," whereas autumnal is the adjective). Don't you just love words?!

So, continuing: on the autumnal equinox, Anne and I spent a couple hours at Presque Isle, stopping at three or four of our favorite places to walk and watch for autumnal scenes. And here are five of them. Happy autumn to all--but especially to four-season residents. 

Looking across the channel into the marina on Presque Isle, to the other side where locals and late season tourists were taking in the beautiful day.

Looking across the Bay to the grain pyramids that come and go on the Great Lakes barges.

The park was full of fishermen in boats and on the shores, kayakers, bikers and walkers.

Here's a look at a windsock and two purple martin "hotels" that are empty now for the winter.

Here's the Lady Kate with one of the houseboats on Misery Bay showing in the background.

Last week of summer

In this last week of summer before the autumnal equinox next Saturday there is lot of activity going on here. First and foremost, we will be celebrating the life of our sister, Mary Therese Egan who died early Saturday morning. If you haven't read them yet, you can read her obituary and prayer card by clicking  on her name.                                                                                                                                             

Then, on Wednesday we will award our annual Prophet of Peace award to local teacher and environmental leader, Doreen Petri. I first met Doreen in Algebra I class in 1969 when I was a very young high school teacher and she was a freshman at VMA. She returned to the school and taught biology there for a decade or so before going to a local college-prep public school where she was pivotal in making its science dept. top notch. She is really a wonderful person and so worthy of our award for her decades of environmental science work, leadership and innovations.

We are still having a continual stream of summer visitors, including a large group this week who must be a parish group or something similar, as they have every guest room and all the hermitages reserved for a couple days. We really are the perfect venue for groups to have day-long of weekend gathering for planning or retreats. Our garden room is large, spacious and the furniture is easily rearranged for small and large numbers. It has its own kitchen, nearby bathrooms and the grounds are perfect for walks and private time. Meals are available or they can bring their own food. I wish more local and nearby groups would take advantage of our facilities...and we really enjoy having them, too.

 

Cleaning and weeding

The saga of cleaning our 250+ headstones continues but made a giant step forward this summer. 

Over the last few years I've been trying, somewhat successfully and somewhat not, to clean the "gunk" off of our headstones in Trinity Cemetery, especially the ones that are near trees. I was able to get most of the recent mold and nature stains off of them with a commercial cleaner made just for cemetery stone. But, on the really old ones there was a layer of black "gunk" that covered the marble completely. You could make out the names, but just barely.

This summer our maintenance crew, at my request to TRY anything, used a concrete cleaner and voila the black stuff came off and they are almost totally clear. Above is a photo of the worst one, a gravestone with the names of six sisters from the 1860s. I don't know if their remains are really there or if, because of circumstances of that time, the names are the only commemoration.

Anyway, here they are and it's great to see them. 

PS  Just like dusting and vacuuming are a major part of indoor cleaning, weeding and picking up are a constant job for outdoor areas! I just returned from a short vacation and I'd swear the weeds knew I was away--they just went wild in our gardens! It will take me a couple weeks to get them "back in shape."

Astrid and Raphaelle

 

If your area PBS station has the PBSPassport program this post is an encouragement to you to look into it. From what I read, PBSPassport is offered to donors who give say $60/year ($5/month) to a PBS station, Your "membership" entitles you to various PBS (in)famous extras: mugs, umbrellas, pens...just kidding. But one of the best is this passport site where you are granted access to all the programs that have been on the PBS channels, such as Masterpiece theater, etc.

The one we are watching is "Astrid." It is set in Paris and its two main characters are Astrid, an adult autistic gal, and Raphaelle, a commander with the local police Crime Squad. In a word, it is magnifique! The crimes and mysteries are their usual BBC best, but the characterizations of the main and secondary characters are wonderful. As Harry Potter's world had to deal with the non-wizard "muggles," the autistic adults here have us neuro-typicals to contend with!.

Please give it a try and see what you think.

Spoiler alert: It is is French but the English subtitles are perfect. I'd advise you to keep the volume high enough to hear the French. Even if you never took it in high school, the mannerisms and facial reactions add to the flow. It is not at all distracting and after a surprisingly short amount of time, you'll even catch on to some of the words yourself!  

Shore life

 

One of the many great things about the web is the ability to put local newspapers online so that when you're out of town you can keep up with all that you're missing at home! To that end I read our paper every day. And, of course the continual surprise is that the same things that are going on at home, are going on here! At least in the summer.

Here, for instance, is their local Hereford lighthouse where they have tours, a museum, a gift shop and lovely gardens and surroundings. Every year we come and walk around it and enjoy the atmosphere of a working lighthouse, just like two of our three ones at home. The whole summer tourism "industry" is still in full swing right now as the last weeks before schools open and the weather changes in mid-September come soon.

Here is a view taken from the seawall that protects an area of one small town built right up to the ocean. The view is similar to many lake views we have, but we don't seem to have the need for so many protections, as we have no real tides to speak of nor the storms and water damage that can come in.

Erosion, however, is common all along the Lake Erie shoreline, especially difficult for property owners.

But, there are some very nice differences to enjoy: Jersey tomatoes and corn, white sand, an outstanding 12-mile county walking trail, and very warm days/cool nights. 

Parish visitor

 

I admit to soft feelings toward Madonna and Child statues/paintings/photos. I especially like all the seemingly eternal representations of the Mary/Jesus pairing. Be it from the Middle Ages or the 21st century, there are all sorts of poses, clothing, colors and ethnicities (which is very nice).

It must be a rather common Christian and even non-Christian spiritual symbol because they are very popular---for example, the United State Postal Service chooses a different Madonna every year as one of its special Christmas stamps.

On vacation again at the Jersey shore we are trying a new church that we found in a neighboring shore town last year when we decided that we just couldn't continue with the Mass at the nearby parish. I take full responsibility that I am spoiled from all of our monastic liturgies--Mass, LOH, etc. I have totally forgotten what it's like to be a parishioner. 

At this new church, St. Paul's, I noticed this Madonna and it has a look that caught my eye. It's quite lovely in person. I like the way her mantle drapes around her.

Of course, I will unabashedly name drop and admit that my most favorite of all the 100s I've seen is the actual "Pieta" in Rome. I could have just stood there forever...

New Neighbors?

Along the western side of our property, across Troupe Rd, is a thick, wide, wooded area extending from East Lake Rd. about three-quarters of the way to Iroquois Ave. It seems to have been there since the monastery came onto the east side of Troupe Rd. in 1969. After all these years, it appears that we may be getting neighbors there! 

I honestly haven't heard anything "official" but the chat is that a person has bought the property and their first project is to build an "events' center." Read: a place for wedding receptions, anniversary parties, graduations, whatever one may need for a large event.

My friend Anne and I, being of a surprising adventurous spirit, took it upon ourselves to hike into the new area this week and this is what we found: the picture above is right at the entrance on Troupe Rd and is, as expected, a wide clearing made up of large boulders, muddy tracks from big equipment, and difficult going for foot traffic.

 Undaunted, we took to the woods where the going was much clearer and cleaner and here is where we landed after a short 10-minute walk north, toward East Lake Rd.---a very large clearing, though surrounded by a thick boundary of trees. An events' center?

Stay tuned to this site as I will bring you updates every month or so as our new neighbor grows into whatever it will be.

LLL

 
For the "leisure" part of our LLL Community Days (learning, leisure and legislation) we were able to have a leisure day that included some options that most of us hadn't done since pre-Covid years. One of them was to go putting at our new mini-golf course, right beside the main branch of the library downtown. The sisters report that it is a great "course" and that they had a wonderful time.

Another option was an afternoon cruise on the paddleboat, The Victorian Princess. The day was warm and sunny and the time spent on Presque Isle Bay was so beautiful. Here's Sisters Judith, Anne, Michelle and Rose Ann, with Lucia and Kathy in the second photo.

Finally, another large number attended our Double A, Detroit franchise, Seawolves baseball game. They lost, but are still in first place and the night at the ballpark was full of fans, families and a "take me out to the ball game" atmosphere.

Other events included a music duo in the morning at the monastery, trips to Presque Isle, the Zoo, and visits to our local wineries, as the grape crop this year is on its way to being one of the best ever!

And looking forward to 2024 already, today's local paper ran a long article on the solar eclipse next April 8, as it will be passing right over Erie, in its path across the US. Hotel rooms are already filling up!

Billy Collins finale

 

Snow Day

Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,

its white flag waving over everything,

the landscape vanished,

not a single mouse to punctuate the blankness,

and beyond theses windows

the government buildings smothered,

schools and libraries buried, the post office lost

under the noiseless drift,

the paths of trains softly blocked,

the world fallen under this falling....

I will make a pot of tea

and listen to the plastic radio on the counter,

as glad as anyone to hear the news

that the Kiddie Corner School is closed,

the Ding-Dong School, closed,

the All Aboard Children's School, closed,

the Hi-Ho Nursery School, closed,

along with--some will be delighted to hear--

the Toadstool School, the Little School,

Little Sparrows Nursery School,

Little Stars Pre-School, Peas-and-Carrots Day School

the Tom Thumb Child Center, all closed,

and--clap your hands--the Peanuts Play School.

So this is where the children hide all day,

These are the nests where they letter and draw,

where they put on their bright miniature jackets,

all darting and climbing and sliding...          Billy Collins

Living on the Great Lakes Plain, in a little town that averages nearly 100" snow a season, though it's been much less the last few years (climate change??), this reflection on snow made me smile, first for Collins' wonderful imagery and clever vocabulary, but primarily for remembering a recent snow day here. Part of the snowstorm forecast is listening to the radio or checking alerts on your phone or TV. One evening, on the brink of an incoming blizzard-snow, we were reading the runner under a TV program as it announced all of the next day's closings....schools, of course, and some major events. But the one that sent us into gales of laughter as it passed by, was this one, "The Dining Alone group is cancelled."

What?!

Our world in July

The Washington Lilies are out

and daisies are everywhere.

 

                                                  A summer thunderstorm came through last week                                                    and brought this to the patio's sky at about 8:15 pm

We've been hearing what sounds like 100s of birds singing and chirping in our inner courtyard all                       the time.  One day I was weeding under our magnolia tree and happened to look up.                         Five very large nests at the very top.

A huge crocusmia plant in our inner courtyard has been in full red bloom for a couple weeks now.