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.