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!