Holiday #1

 

Our hummingbird feeders have been standing ready for a few weeks now, but the hummers are few and far between so far. Our deer are a little scarce right now, too. That's more understandable as these weeks of late May and early June are the time their fawn are coming. 

This Sunday, Pentecost, we had a full house of friends, family members and guests for a glorious liturgy to end the Easter season. Our monastery choir and handbell choir performed their final pieces of the season, as both take off during the summer weeks. Add to that that our patio furniture came out Friday and you have a true beginning of summer for sure. The weekend also brought 70 degree temperatures, adding warm, sunny days to the mix. I remember many a summer when local radio personalities would give an ongoing report on the three holiday weekends: Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day. In summers when cooler, rainy weather hit one of them, we'd hear about it for weeks. If all three were that way, it was a true disaster. Whew, this year we're 1 for 1 already.

It is still possible

 

After Her Death    Mary Oliver

I am trying to find the lesson
for tomorrow. Matthew something.
Which lectionary? I have not
forgotten the Way, but, a little,
the way to the Way.

The trees keep whispering
peace, peace, and the birds
in the shallows are full of the
bodies of small fish and are
content. They open their wings
so easily, and fly. 

So. It is still possible.

I open the book
which the strange, difficult, beautiful church
has given me. To Matthew. Anywhere.

On the road to Emmaus

A very sad day for us this Sunday, as our 42-year director of Emmaus Ministries, Mary Miller, OSB, died after a short illness. Please see this link to our community website for the obituary and details of this week's rituals: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Two of Mary's nieces were able to be here throughout the weekend and entered into our prayers, meals, etc. An hour or so after Mary's passing her one niece turned to a couple of us and said, "It has been so wonderful to be able to be here with all of you. I am so grateful...this place is magical!"

She whom we love

And lose

Is no longer

Where she was before.

She is now

Wherever we are.

- St. John Chrysostom

Black, orange and ruby-throated

This weekend, due to beautiful spring weather, I spent a bit of time in our inner courtyard garden. There is always weeding of course, but this summer I'm really going to see if more hummingbirds can be enticed into visiting the garden. Ditto for Baltimore Orioles.

The Baltimore Oriole  feeder, see above, has two little cups for grape jelly and two metal posts for orange sections. At least that's what our late Sr. Mary Margaret Kraus used and they worked. She had orioles in the garden all the time. I didn't have much success last year, but I'm going to give it a really serious, check-it-and renew-it-every-day attempt this summer!

Ditto for hummingbirds there. I get them visiting my bedroom window feeder every summer, but that's on the other side of the monastery, in a more remote section than this courtyard. But I put up two window feeders, one near the front foyer's door and one at the side double doors. Both of them have nearby bushes, which they say is important for these skittish birds to "escape to" when they detect movement. So here's hoping. Both the orioles and the "hummers" will make wonderful viewing for our sisters as they pass by.